Long flights are long. I dont do well sitting for hours at a time. Never really have. Currently I am on a plane at almost the exact half-way between Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Seven more hours to go. And then 5 hours from Vancouver to Toronto and another hour from Toronto to Ottawa. Wow I’m so happy at myself for writing that hour because now I know I have ONLY another 13 hours of flying left… yay.
My dad recommended to me the best way to deal with jetlag coming back is to not sleep from Sydney to Vancouver and then sleep from Vancouver to Toronto. I guess we shall see how well this works. So far that hasn’t been a problem as it is only about 5pm Sydney time so I don’t really have any urge to sleep. Well, except for the fact that about an hour or so into my flight I started getting a migraine. I should have brought advil, but with my stomach problems I’m technically not allowed to use it so I didn’t. Hind sight and all that.
On my way flying to Sydney I passed a lot of time by either sleeping or making use of the in-flight movies and didn’t end up using a lot of the other activities I brought to keep myself amused. This time around I am giving up less time to that whole silly “sleeping” thing, which mean I am actually opening my computer or my book (um, aka, computer as I’ve been using my kindle program) or my magazines (Scientific America because I am cool like that). Of course this may not be the best idea as atm I am blogging through turbulence which really isn’t helping my head. But let’s just pretend I dont have a head, that will make it all better right?! I may not go as far as to start editing my vlogs/videos I’ll be making about my trip, that may take a bit more concentration than I can give at the moment.
So I had a couple random thoughts-about-Auz blogs lined up that I was planning on writing this trip but, as it turns out, when you don’t write down what exactly it is you plan on writing you often end up forgetting it. Weird eh? But I do remember one, so I think I will write about that for a bit. Therefor I present to you:
Random Thoughts about Auz – Restaurant Service
So on my flight down to Australia I sat beside a very nice Australian couple just coming back from a month bus tour from Vancouver, through the Rocky Mountains and up into Alaska. We started talking about the differences between Canada and Australia and I got warned not to expect as good restaurant service in Auz as we get in Canada because it is not custom to tip your waiters in Australia. Since they do not have to work for it, often service is slow or just not that great. So I suppose in a way this blog is also a response to them (although they’ll never actually read it.)
Australian service is slower. There is no doubt about that. Which has its pros and cons. For example pro- more time to just sit and talk and relax with the family, not feeling like you are being rushed through your meal. Con – when you are in a rush, honestly, it’s probably best just to avoid eating out (*does NOT make a “that’s what she said” joke).
However from my own special point of view, past the slow factor, I have had some amazing service at restaurants in the Down Under. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs (at least, I’m pretty sure I have… right??) I have annoying dietary problems. *Read more at http://paigrsbrain.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html.* So I’m sure you can imagine what a joy it is to try and find a restaurant I am able to eat at. And while my parents were still travelling with us we ate out at LEAST once a day. It honestly became almost a game “Find a Restaurant Paige Can Handle.” Not the most funnest game ever when everyone playing is hungry, let me tell you.
Unsurprisingly we failed, during the entire trip, to find a restaurant with a dairy-free, spice/herbs/seasoning-free, red meat-free, oil/butter/fat-free, acid-free (etc.) choice on the menu. And this is where my own special point of view came in. Because what I would look for is a fish or chicken dish with little or no seasoning (past salt and pepper) or covered in some sort of sauce. Then when we would sit down and the waiter would (FINALLY 
) come around I would always be the first to order. And it would sound something like:
Waiter: Hi, I am *name* and I’ll be your waiter this evening. Do we have any questions about the menu?
Me: Ummm. Yes. Sorry.
Sister or mom: She has digestive iss-
Me: SHHH! I can tell them! Sorry. I have annoying diet problems and I was wondering I could have *menu item* but with no sauce, no seasoning, no tomatoes, no onions, no *blah blah* and on the side instead of the chips, can I have some sort of unseasoned vegetables instead?
Waiter: I’m not to sure, I’d have to ask the chef. Is *this* ok?
Sister: No she can’t hav-
Me: Jen!
Sister: Sorry! I’m just trying to help.
Me: *gives sister look and turns back to waiter* No, sorry, it’s just that I can’t have *lists off*
Waiter: Ok, I’ll see what I can do
And to the credit of like 95% of the waiters, they would figure out something. Many restaurants would be able to bring what I asked for, but others would have something like the fish has been pre-package or marinating in the sauce all day or comes pre-seasoned or something like that. But the waiters would so often go out of their way to find an alternative solution, running back and forth from the kitchen as the messenger between the cook and myself.
I was worried at the beginning of my trip because my first 3 or 4 days of meals out were salads. Although I can’t eat a lot, I do like to eat. A month of salad (sans dressing remember) would have been hell. So it didn’t take me too long to realise the more specific I was to the waiters (and nice, polite, understanding, as un-demanding as possible) the more like I was to get a real meal. And I had (as per my limitations) some really good meals while I was down there. I discovered crab (and never looked back), ate more fish this month than I have in my life (and I LOOOVE fish) and had some incredible vegetable mixes. So kudos to the waiters of Australia.
Of course, it wasn’t all wonderful and roses and whatnot. I had my share of times leaving restaurants where I was still hungry or just didn’t away something I should have and suffered the consequences afterwards (eg. best meal was at a backpacker resort in Port Douglas. Best because they had put butter all over the vegetables, making it the tastiest meal of the trip. But one of the worst for me). The other downside to my situation was that it was always the more expensive restaurants I had to eat at because cheaper ones would either not have any menu items I could modify or if they did, often they would be pre-packaged, pre-cooked or something along those lines meaning I couldn’t eat there anyway. And the dishes I could have, where ever I was, were always the most expensive item on the menu. I always felt so bad, because it wasn’t me paying for the expensive mess.
Honestly, I really do appreciate what my family put up with for the sake of my stomach – long, hungry hunts for restaurants, over-priced menus, me snapping at them because it gets annoying really quickly when people start to order for me and try to explain my problems for me. They were trying to be helpful, which I appreciate but honestly – one of the most annoying things you could do. All the same, thanks for putting up with me and my stomach. It is a pain in the ass to deal with, trust me, I should know, and you alls did well.
So on the sappy note, I think I will bring this to an end. Yay family. Yay waiters. You know, all that stuff. Not too sure what I’ll do now to eat up my time but I can assure you Internets, it will be something! Ttyl!
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