I was probably looking to stir up sentiment, similar to how someone looks for meaning in their horoscopes (ahem) - but my trip from Adelaide to the airport and off to Sydney seemed to replay my 12 years of Australian experiences. Start at the Austral - a classic Adelaide pub, of course, where else to go for a last pint of pale. Then up O'Connell Street and past the Oxford, which we frequented about a decade ago and haven't been to since, and into Prospect - where I first lived in Adelaide. The flight to Sydney was quick but passed over Canberra - where I studied that first semester in 1997 - and Goulburn - where I had a farm stay my first week in the country. The flightpath over Sydney CBD was clear and passed over Balmain, where I lived in 2006 and 2007.

Anyway...a very brief stop in Sydney before boarding a flight to the states the next day. Sarah, Philip, Matt & I went on a mini pub crawl through Double Bay and Paddington before calling it quits. By this point I was reasonably comatose between the beer and the physical exhaustion, which meant Sarah had to listen to some fairly incoherent ramblings from me about...I don't know what. (Poor thing!)

Thursday morning I had 3 hours in which to get a Chinese multi-entry visa and get myself to the airport. The Chinese would do well to work on their consulate hospitality as their current set up isn't particularly welcoming - a grey concrete building with tall imposing walls, barbed wire and stern faced security guards. Already I got a taste of the developing world with hawkers outside the consulate pointing me in the direction of 'visa shops' across the road, which I refused given the consulate signs clearly pointed in the opposite direction for visa processing (HA! I'm on to you!). But all in all it was a relatively painless and efficient exercise - particularly given my Russian visa saga - involving a short queue and strict instructions to pick it up at 11:40! sharp! with cash!

Luckily Dan was able to catch up to pass the time and we had a deep and meaningful philosophical discussion about life over a strong coffee in Newtown and then...well...it was 11:20, we were both unemployed so...sure...2 pints of pale to finish it up thanks. Schooners, technically I suppose, since we were in NSW.

Picked up the visa - whew, passport in hand - and whisked off to the airport where United quickly and rudely reminded me of how crap american airline service is compared with Qantas (or just about any other airline on the planet):

- no individual tv screens in the seats with select-your-own entertainment and...

- NO. FREE. ALCOHOL. (how un-Australian!!!)

Thankfully the good people at Adelaide Bank had the foresight to provide me with mini bottles of vodka in a care package and I had the foresight to pack them in my hand luggage!