Jim Travels

Itinerary

QF Flight 175 - Brisbane to Los Angeles
17th, August - 11.05am to
17th August - 7.00am

QF Flight 107 - Los Angeles to New York City
17th, August - 9.20am to
17th, August - 5.20pm

Staying at The Gershwin
17th, August to
20th, August

Greyhound Bus 2243 - New York City to Washington DC
20th, August - 2.00pm to
20th, August - 6.50pm

Staying at Brad’s
20th, August to
23rd, August

Visiting Joey in Richmond by train
22nd, August, Morning to
22nd, August, Evening

Greyhound Bus 2232 - Washington DC to New York City
23rd, August - 11.00am to
23rd, August - 3.30pm

Staying at The Gershwin
23rd, August to
25th, August

QF 175 - New York City to Los Angeles
25th, August - 7.10pm to
25th August - 10.10pm

AA Flight 1920 - Los Angeles to San Francisco
26th, August - 7.15am to
26th August - 8.30am

Staying at the HI SF, Fisherman’s Wharf
26th, August to
31st August

Greyhound Bus 8322 - San Francisco to Calgary
31st, August - 6.00pm to
2nd, September - 11.45am

Staying and studying at Mount Royal College, Calgary
2nd, September to
20th December

After this I’m heading to the UK and then Denmark. Not sure of these details yet. It’s going to be a killer bus ride from San Francisco to Calgary.

NYC Booked

When I first arrive in NYC I’ll be staying at the Gershwin Hotel

Time Travel

Just went to add my flight to NYC into iCal before realising that I arrive two hours before I leave. How does iCal compensate for that?

Money

I’ve received both my scholarship and money from the government. I really need to start thinking about planning now. It’s only 23 days until I leave.

I Went To Sydney

To get my US Visa approved. It was the most surreal experience. Three levels of security, I spoke to people through a microphone because they were on the other side of 2 inch glass, everyone was American and there’s TV shows about people “livin’ the dream”.

Sydney is brilliant, the trains are so much better than Brisbane’s and self check in when you have no baggage is the best thing in the world.

Visa Application

After two hours of painstakingly filling out my name and address I will be heading to the US Consulate at Sydney for the day on the 27th of this month.

Visas

Trying to decipher the application process and fees that need to be paid is probably the most confusing thing in the world. They should use this kind of thing on general knowledge exams as a problem solving question - “You are a student attending university in Australia, you are going on student exchange to Canada for 6 months stopping in the USA on the way there and back. How do you apply and how much in fees will it cost?”

Tickets Paid For

Just paid the remaining $2200 on my QANTAS tickets to New York City.

The Consulate

Spent some time today enquiring about a Visa for the United States. I have to go to Sydney for them to make sure I’m not a terrorist. On top of that, there’s a bunch of things I have to take but I’m not allowed a bag of any sort, how annoying! I guess bags = bombs.