Travel

I am sorry for how long it has been since my last post. The promised internet access has been a bit slow in coming. I hope that from here on out things will be a bit more regular.

I need to constantly remind myself that whatever discomforts and inconveniences I experience in international air travel, it is still amazing that I am able to come to this place at all in the time that I have. Rather than weeks or months aboard a ship, I have traveled quite literally halfway around the world in a matter of hours. Now, it was 15 hours on a single flight, mind you. I have been told that the flight I took, non-stop from LAX to Melbourne, is the longest comercially scheduled non-stop flight in the world. I do not know if that is true or not, but it certainly was the longest I have ever been on.Technology has advanced significantly. Every seat on the plan had its own personal video screen. You had hundreds of movies available to you on demand. You could watch what you wanted when you wanted. I ended up watching four movies from start of finish. (Horton hears a Who, the Spiderwic Chronicles, The Waterhorse, and Dan in Real Life) Now, the price of this is that there was a small computer installed beneath every seat. So, legroom was reduced even more. Entertainment was better was comfort was worse. Frankly, I am not sure that this was a very good tradeoff. This is especially true for someone my size (6'1") who has trouble folding myself into airline seats. I probably slept about a grand total of 4 hours on the flight. I was certainly envious of those who could sleep more.

We arrived in Melbourne on time and without any major problems. When you travel in a big group, everything takes more time. You have to gather the group at each stage - after we get off the plane, after we pass through immigration, after we claim our bags, after we pass through customs. Still, despite the time, all of that was largely smooth. There was one guy from our group whose bag did not arrive. It turns out that his lay-over in LAX was too long and they forgot to transfer his bag because it sat there so long. They gave him a couple of free toiletry kits (that included some clean underwear) and promised to deliver his bag as soon as it came in. He recieved it later that evening. The immigration and customs agents in Melbourne were very professional, polite, and efficient. I appreciated their work very much. There was a film crew there as well. It turns out that there is a weekly TV show here in Australia where they show people who get in trouble with the border folks. I am glad that none of us are going to be part of a weekly episode!

Once everyone had cleared customs one of the volunteers working for the Days in the Diocese program in Melbourne called our bus and we were taken to Endeavour Hills.The parish of St. Paul the Apostle in Endeavour Hills (a suburb of Melbourne about 30 miles south east of the city) is the host for this Passionist Youth Encounter that serves as our run-up to the WYD events in Sydney. There are about 200 young people traveling as Passionist pilgrims from around the world gathered here.The parish has opened its arms to us and hundreds of families have volunteered as hosts. I am staying with one other fellow from my group at the home of a gentleman named Trevor, a high school teacher originally from South Africa. His brother and sister-in-law are also hosting two members of our group. The generosity and enthusiasm of these families has been wonderful.

When we arrived at the parish we were greeted by part of the parish staff and volunteers and told our host family assignments. There were no events scheduled for Tuesday (the day we arrived) so our only task was to begin to settle in.By the time we arrived at Trevor's home, it had been approximately 33 hours since I had left mine in Houston Sunday morning. Operating on about 4 hours sleep, the first order of business was a nap. It was about 12:30 in the afternoon, so I did not want to sleep long so that I would not destroy my chance for a regular night's sleep. About 2 and a half hours and a shower later I again felt somewhat human. In the afternoon Trevor showed Shatomi (the other member of our group staying with him) and I around town. We went into the local shopping center. I was surprised that two of the large grocery stores were Safeway and Aldi's, names that were quite familiar to me from the states.

In the evening we went to his brother and sister-in-laws house for supper. The two women from our group who were staying with them had not taken a nap directly on arriving and had fallen asleep around 5:30 in the evening. At 7:00, when supper was ready, they could not be roused. In the end, Trevor, Shatomi and I dined with his relatives while they slept. I heard tha they did not wake up until 7:30 the next morning, sleeping a full 14 hours! They are both a bit younger, one just graduated from high school and one is going in to her third year of college. I can remember how easy it was to sleep when I was younger! In the end, I probably should have not slept as long as I did in the afternoon. I fell asleep that evening at 9:00 but awoke at 2:30 in the morning unable to fall back asleep. It will take my body some time to adjust to the 15 hour time difference.

It is a humbling experience to be welcomed in this way. To be welcomed into someone's home and treated as an honored guest, looked after in so many ways, simply because you are on pilgrimage reminds me of the responsibiity I carry in taking on the name pilgrim. People expect, and rightly so, that I am taking this very seriously and that this is a significant undertaking. They want to be a part of something holy and special. I would make a mockery of their commitment and generosity if I did not uphold my part, to be active and open in seeking the movements of the spirit in my experience.

More details on the opening of the Passionist Youth Encounter in my next post.