M-whY

At the Garuda Indonesia office in Adelaide, I showed them my tickets. "I'd like to push my departure date back a week?"

The woman at the counter looked me up on her computer.

"Well, these tickets were purchased at a discounted price," she began. "We can book you a new flight, but you'll be responsible for the price difference, if there is any."

"My travel agent told me date changes would be free."

She explained that if I had already begun my journey, then date changes would be free. For example, if I had flown from Darwin to Bali already, then my Jakarta to Singapore leg would be free to change. Hmm, that wasn't the way I heard it.

"I'll put in inquiry through to the office in LA where these tickets were issued. They're probably getting off work soon though. We may not hear back from them til tomorrow. Is there a number I can reach you at?"

"I don't have a phone." I also mentioned I would be leaving tomorrow on an Outback tour. "I'll call you," I informed her.

I went to the internet cafe next door and fired off an email to Chris at Airtreks (my travel agent) explaining the situation. Having done that, I put the whole thing out of my mind and hopped on the tram to Glenelg.

On a nice day, Glenelg's beaches are a popular place for beach bums to hang out. Today, however, wasn't quite a 'wear a bikini and lay in the sun' type day. It was more like a 'put on a jacket and fly a kite' type day. I stayed only long enough to walk past the shops and have a meal of fish and chips before returning back to the city.

Chris had replied to my email by the time I got back. The tickets were free to change when I bought them, he wrote, and should still be free to change now. Don't pay the airlines anything until I talk to him first. Reassuring, but we still had to wait and see what Garuda Indonesia said.

There wasn't much else in Adelaide that interested me. I had no motivation to visit any of the shopping districts. I never bought anything anyways. So far this trip, I've bought exactly zero souveniers. Shopkeepers would have an easier time opening an uncooked pistachio nut than my wallet. I just didn't have room in my bag for gifts.

The tour was fairly expensive, but having scoured the message boards for rideshares and comparing numerous different bus/rail passes, I concluded that allowing Groovy Grape to take me would be the best way to explore the Outback. And factoring all the "included" items, it might even be cheaper than doing it myself.

I returned to the hostel and cleared out some junk that I wouldn't need anymore. Into the rubbish went all the brochures, maps, and guides I had accumulated. Food items like my vegetable oil and soy sauce were donated to the free food bin. I left my laundry detergent behind too. It was an extra kilogram I didn't need to carry. I could always buy more later. My bag considerably lighter, I was almost ready to go.

I couldn't leave town though, until I had a pie floater. A meat pie served in a dish of pea soup, topped with tomato sauce (ketchup), a unique culinary creation found only in Adelaide. As the pie carts generally began appearing in the streets late in the afternoon, and staying open until the wee hours of the morning, pie floaters were the perfect cure to ate night munchies.

The pie carts weren't hard to find.

"Is this where the famous pie floaters are served?"

"Sure is!"

Before long, my dinner was in front of me. I topped mine with some barbeque sauce as well.

"No pictures! Or you'll steal the recipe!" joked the pie vendor.

Oftentimes, the nastier the food looks (or sounds), the better it tastes. The pie floater was a perfect example of this.

"Who first came up with this weird stuff?" I asked between mouthfuls.

"Don't know, we've been around for a long time. Over 130 years, since 1870!" he proudly claimed.

And here's a picture to prove I actually ate the whole thing!

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!