Today marked the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime, the chance to experience something possible nowhere else. The adventure began with a muster at the Canberra airport, parents and children alike scrambling for information and reassurances of the trip to come. Through the chaos we were able to assemble briefly to take a couple pictures before heading off to the bag drop and praying our bags would make it through with us.

We bid a final farewell before stepping through security and taking one final photo overlooking the tarmac. We headed to our gate – took a short break to do pushups – and we were off.

The first flight was quick and easy and we were in Sydney in no time. We disembarked at gate 5 and headed across to gate 13 to catch the international transit. We took one last photo Infront of the Sydney sign before heading through immigration to gate 31. unfortunately we hit the first issue of the trip. The entire gate was locked off. There were metal gates blocking the way and the plane was yet to arrive. We grouped up next to a nearby gate and debriefed before splitting up to get dinner. Jake and I walked around for a little before we came across a sushi shop mid close. Everything was priced 30% down but we managed to haggle the guy into giving it to us for free. Our plane was still in repairs when we got back to the group though and it wasn’t until almost 10:00 that the boarding began. They managed to get us on pretty quickly and we were off at around 10:30. After the post boarding shenanigans and the dinner service I got to sleep at around 11:50. I got a quick 5 hours on the flight and stayed awake for pretty much the rest of the trip. We arrived in SF at 4:30 local time which, despite our delayed departure, was only 30 minutes later than we had been scheduled. We departed the plane in style, and as the last ones off the aircraft we thanked all the flight crew for their work before heading off to US customs. We were through the TSA surprisingly quickly. They had recently updated their infrastructure and there were no forms to fill out and the questions were brief. We mustered on the other side, next to the baggage claim, and waited for all to join us. Unfortunately all of the groups bad luck seemed to collapse on jake as he was asked question after question about the group. When he finally got through, keeping in mind that he was the first one to go up, almost the entire group had gone through security around him. But once through it was smooth sailing. We collected our bags from the baggage claim, did a brief check in to make sure everyone was okay, and then headed out past security to our bus. The airport was an hours journey from where we were staying so once boarded we settled into the world around us. It was fascinating to say the least. We passed numerous big tech companies, lit up in their evening splendor, many different car brands and models that we don’t often get in Australia, and – the holy grail – We spotted many a cybertruck, still yet to release in Australia. after that much enjoyed bus trip we arrived at the hotel, the Maple Tree Inn in Sunnyvale,

to discover the last of the problems for the night. Unfortunately One of my friends, Ollie, had lost his travel money card and could not find it on the bus. He was adamant that it had been in his possession after departure of the flight but it could not be located within the confines of the bus, much to his dismay. We headed in after this for check in and then headed out for our first taste of American food. We stopped by an In-N-Out 300m from the hotel and got a quick burger and fries. We also learned what an American small looks like.

We walked back to the hotel after the quick meal and after a final briefing we headed up to our rooms. the briefing went by quickly and without a hitch. Jake and I unpacked before settling down. I taught him how to play poker and we had a couple fun rounds before heading to sleep