Flying over the Rocky Mountains I saw more snow than I had ever seen in my life before. This surprised me, as it was already April, and I thought the winter would long be gone. When flying between Melbourne and Sydney in winter one sees the odd patch of snow, but this was phenomenal. Snow as far as the eye could see!
During gliding landing approach over the outskirts of Denver the effects of the American housing bust was very evident. Whole suburbs of obviously brand new McMansions totally deserted - no cars on the roads or in driveways, no people out walking, and no backyard furniture.
During my hour at Denver Airport I was able to have a shave and change out of my sweaty clothes. I had dressed for chilling airline cabin and American frigid air conditioning, not for running through warm terminals. The airline clerk at Denver was also able to give me a window seat.
Out of Denver at dusk, there was a continuous string of lights all of the way to Orlando. I have, of course, seen pictures of America from space at night, but this was quite amazing. Over Australia one can fly for ages and see no lights. I had expected to see black areas as we flew over rural regions of America, but there were none. Just contiguous lights all of the way, and stretching to the horizon to the south (I was on the starboard side of the plane.) I pondered the enormous energy being used to light up a whole continent. When we reached Florida it was even worse, and the phrases "Like Disneyland" and "Lit up like Cape Canaveral" came to mind. It was a veritable fairyland.
We were the last flight into Orlando, and even the Department of Homeland Security had deserted the terminal. But to my enormous relief my suitcase, which had been checked directly through from Melbourne to Orlando, was sitting all on its lonesome waiting for me. At least I didn't have to wait for it to appear on the carosel.
Being too late for public transport, I took a taxi to my hotel on International Drive and by 2 am I was asleep.
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Text, images and audio Copyright to Andrew Rennnie, 2010