24 October 2026
The big bus to the short flight
Melbourne airport Virgin lounge
Today I will take a slightly less idiotic route to Japan, but still not direct.
Normally I go via Singapore which adds hours of flying time but not much airport waiting time. Today I will go via Sydney, cutting time spent in the air but adding time getting from one side of Sydney airport to the other by train. More on that soon.
Before planes and trains, there was of course a bus, the Skybus, which I take almost weekly for work, which I boarded safely after a rainy pre dawn walk through Melbourne where I saw 2 different guys urinating on shop windows. It looked like fun but I already had my hands full with bags. Getting to the bus safely means the most dangerous part of my trip is over.
Prediction markets suggest that Typhoon Champi is champing at the bit to wrestle my ANA plane out of the sky later today, with the doom watch currently focused on Taiwan, some 2000 miles away from my expected flight path. There is a reason I do not go to Taiwan in November.
The absolute scenes out the front of where I live, with the London plane trees causing widespread respiratory devastation. This photo was taken yesterday, to make sure my camera still works and that I know how to work my convoluted website. It still works and I still know what I am doing, mainly.
Since this is a domestic flight to Sydney, behold the Melbourne domestic airport food court. Checking in for an international connection these days is painful. No priority queue for wankers like me, and I was stuck behind the Junior Special Olympics team (not joking). Luckily I still had plenty of time to write this nonsense.
I even had time to tour the Lego store as I regularly do at the airport, and lament what I once had but am no longer allowed to have because apparently I am too old to have Lego proudly on display in my house.
And after all of that excitement, still time to head into the Virgin lounge for some fruit toast. I always sit as faaaaar away as possible from everyone else, to try and stay out of the sneeze radius.