Archive for the ‘Trip’ Category

Shopping

Friday, May 23rd, 2025

I’m with mum now, and things are good. This is the part of the trip where I eat too much and spend lazy evenings watching game shows and writing postcards. I stamped 47 this morning, including using old stamps which were a gift from Sue:

Today the awesome rains that have caused widespread flooding ended and we went to the local mall for lunch and some shopping. It’s a shame I hadn’t seen these pants earlier because they could have been useful during the downpour:

Australian shops are similar to American stores now, but the dollar stores have an entirely different selection of ‘copyright be damned’ toys in them. Many times I have showcased unusual finds here but this sword I saw today was uniquely eye-opening:

Whether it’s called The King Swords Weapon or The King’s Super Swords or The Kings Weapon Of The Most Fun Toys, the obvious feature that caught my eye was the character Lightning from Final Fantasy 13! The sword is garbage of course, but one day this item will be covered by completionist FF collectors. Looking at this photo now, I should have bought one!

We won’t speak of this Lionel Ritchie cutting board, except to say the fact it’s wood would make incinerating it quick and easy!

Lastly, a new installment in the abandoned Salt & Vinegar chip reviews, with these ‘Epic Salt & Vinegar’ chips from Smith’s.

I never revealed here but the reason we stopped reviewing Salt & Vinegar chips was because eating them in large quantities is risky business. The vinegar often hurts my mouth and if ignored, even my eyes. The flavour may be good, but surely the pain suggests the opposite?

But these particular chips were insanely powerful, and to be honest difficult to eat. Mum even said she was surprised they were ‘allowed’ to be sold! I may have eaten half the bag, but we’ll blame that on jetlag and simply state that even one single chip is enough to convince me never to buy these again ๐Ÿ™‚

The Amazing Secret Of Air Travel That 99.9% Of Flyers Donโ€™t Know

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

Last semester a student told me her dad was a commercial pilot and he carried trading cards he’d give out if you asked for them during a flight.

I thought this fanciful tale absurd, and yet found myself asking a flight attendant about it yesterday while chatting with her in the galley.

She laughed and confirmed it to be true, and said she wasn’t sure there were ‘any left’ but she’d ask the pilots in their break. A few hours later she came to my seat and handed me this:

A super glossy – almost plastic – foil trading card of the very plane we were on! Card number 67 to be exact! I was astonished: not only was it true but the cards are extremely high quality.

A quick glance online reveals they’ve been doing this for 22 years now! More than my student has been alive. As a frequent Delta flyer I lament the countless cards I missed and have decided this won’t be my last ๐Ÿ™‚

A Game For Men

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

Australia is famous for the ferocity of its fauna, and therefore it’s not at all surprising that yesterday I came upon this:

Yes my friends, this is Animal Kaiser Plus: The King of Animals. This is nothing less than an IC card game based around animals fighting to the death! I sat on the tiny and suspiciously close to the ground seats and could hardly throw my $2.80 in fast enough to give it a play.

An ‘IC card’ game refers to a game using physical cards that are read/scanned by the machine during play. These are very popular in Japan and this is my first time seeing one in English. If you don’t have a card to scan you are giving a default player character, which for me was Leo, The Lion Cub.

The ‘gameplay’ consists of pushing one button to get a random number (between 10 and 50) which – if higher than the opponent – leads to an attack. It’s so simple even a child – a toddler – could do it and it’s obviously no major challenge for a venerable gamer like myself.

So when my Leo, The Lion Cub was repeatedly beaten senseless by the ‘Teck’ attacks of an Asiatic Black Bear I suspected this ‘playing without a card’ business was a handicap.

Happily the game vends a card every game, and after humiliating ursine defeat I received my first card. I hurriedly fed in more credits and purchased two more cards: and thus my team was complete:

Philistines may say it was pure luck I happened to get exactly one animal, one ‘strong’ and one ‘miracle’ card in three rolls – thus providing one card for each team category – but those heathens don’t understand my level of gaming skill.

Those Philistines also wouldn’t begin to observe that this game is a simplified reskin of Japanese arcade classics such as Mushiking or the various Ultraman or Kamen Rider games I often play in Japan. I’m intrigued the system has ‘gone west’, albeit in a non-licensed form.

And so I unleashed my empowered Black Panther upon the animal kingdom, and his righteous fury made mince meat of a bear and a Goblin Shark before he was in turn blown back by the juggernaut of all beasts: an elephant.

It’s perhaps fitting the game then provided me a Goblin Shark of my very own – with evocative attacks including ‘Kande Burst’ and ‘Sledge Gauer’ – although my lethargy by now was absolute and I had to tear myself away from Animal Kaiser Plus: The King Of Beasts without seeing how the shark fared. What other fabulous cards were waiting inside?

Even if I never see this game again, I’ll remember it forever.

Like A Drifter I Was Born To Walk Alone

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

My personal hell would be endless solo travel, like what I completed today: flying halfway around the world alone, spending 23 of those hours in-flight and 8.5 in airports. Everyone says “Oh you must be used to it now.” It’s the opposite: my experience gives me a deeper understanding of how uniquely awful the experience is.

But once again I have made it here safe and sound so I can now forget about the travel ๐Ÿ™‚

The hotel wasn’t ready of course (I arrived at about 7:30 am) but they smiled a lot and took my bags, told me they’d contact me when the room was done and even handed me an umbrella! I shuffled off for an early lunch, it having been about a day since I’d eaten anything.

Like a fool I chose a Big Mac meal (yes, at around 8 am) and the pretty girl at the register laughed aloud and then apologized (did she think I was serious?) when I commented how healthy my breakfast was. That said, kudos to Maccas Australia for having Big Macs on their all-day menu!

I then walked down to Circular Quay to see the harbour and ride a ferry. It was raining when we landed but the rain let up for my walks. I had to brighten these outdoor photos a bit though since the clouds were ominous.

The ferry was full of Chinese tourists taking selfies and was initially fun but when we got under the bridge the waves became very choppy and the boat started bouncing. At that point my Big Mac regret was absolute and I really thought I was going to bring it back up. Like a soldier I fought back and my belly was intact when I reached my stop near Darling Harbour.

Vivid starts in a couple of days and I’ll see it the day before I fly out. There’s a surprising amount of installation of attractions going on for an event that starts in 48 hours, but I trust it’ll all be ready. It wasn’t clear how the above will be a light up exhibit, but maybe I’ll be able to go and see it when I return so we can compare to the daytime photo.

I’m only in Sydney for the night, but apparently I chose the right hotel since the room has blackout curtains and now when I fall asleep with the sun still out I can pretend it’s a normal bedtime ๐Ÿ™‚

The Longest Day

Monday, May 19th, 2025

I’m traveling again; today I fly to Sydney. The total travel time is about 30 hours, and as usual I’ll lose a day (May 20). If you’re keeping track, I believe this is my 19th flight to Australia.

Australia is only the first half of this long vacation, with another trip to Japan on the way home.

You can expect the usual narration on this blog ๐Ÿ™‚