Oz...Finally!

Wow, travel gets weird.  So, let's start from the top.  First off, I left my house without the visa I needed to get into Australia.  Which any traveler will tell you is a bad idea.  I had been trying to apply for it for a month.  But I couldn't even apply until I got my old visa canceled, and the office is closed for Christmas holidays, and only open the day I needed to leave.  LAX is about 4 hours from my house, meaning I had to leave at about 3:30 pm to get to the airport on time (four hours before my flight to cope with longer lines due to new restrictions and holiday travel).  The visa office in Australia opens at 3 pm my time.  So right before I leave I call them on Skype (the only way it would work) to get my visa canceled.  They tell me that the office in Perth (on the west coast of Australia) handled my visa application so they have to cancel it.  But they didn't open for another 2 hours.  So I decide that I need to leave, and figure I'll just find an internet cafe on the road.  Two hours later I'm in Santa Barbra.  I find a cafe and call up.  I talk to a new guy and he puts me on hold for 15 minutes.  Once he comes back on the line he says that he talked to Perth but since I was studying in Queensland (east coast) they had to cancel my visa, but their office wasn't answering.  I figured that it was probably that they were out to lunch.  So an hour later I call from Ventura (this time a small burger joint with wifi, go figure).  So sitting on a dark curb waiting on hold finally the lady comes on and tells me that my visa has been canceled, success! (Well for part one, canceling the visa.)  And about 3 hours before my flight I can apply for a visa.  Normally this shouldn't be a problem since the visa is processed online, and "in most instances approved within seconds."  So after doing all the application stuff I checked to see if it was approved, it wasn't yet.  So I'm now 3 hours away from leaving and still don't have a visa, but at least I have an app in.  Luckily for me they let me check in, so I guess I got my visa.  Oh and that long wait I was expecting because of all the new security stuff?  From standing in line to check in to standing in front of the gate took me, oh all of fifteen minutes!  I think that's the fastest I have ever gotten through an airport.  But at least during the 13 hour overnight flight I had a row all to myself, so I could "stretch out" and sleep, and that was sweet.  Although I only got the row after I subtly rude Canadian couple went in search of new seats. ("Are YOU in this row too?  We like it when we have the row to ourselves so we can kind of stretch out." Doesn't everybody? (Well most people, I would have rather had the chance to talk to them since I'm one assignment away from finishing a two year course, the one assignment?  Share the gospel, kinda hard when sitting by myself.) Oh and I was already sitting down when they asked, if I was sitting there, that's what made it seem rude and rather obtuse.