Well, we brought most of the guys. Whether they play or not remains to be seen, but George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Mike Evans, and the rest of the walking wounded have already made their way to the Land of Oz, leaving Wednesday night and landing, uh yesterday? Tomorrow? Not sure of the vagaries of time travel.
Per ESPN:
MELBOURNE, Australia — By the time the 49ers took off for Australia late Wednesday night Pacific Time, their Qantas Airbus A380 charter flight had four pilots, 22 cabin crew, one traveling charter manager and carried more than 95,000 pounds of human and material cargo. The payload included 220 passengers and their checked luggage, weighing in at an estimated 62,000 pounds, alongside 33,000 pounds of essential team equipment.
Quite the payload.
More interesting is the fat the Niners are giving themselves a full 9 days to acclimate to the 17 hour time difference. The Rams? They are travelling a day and a half before the game. Wednesday night for the Friday morning (Melbourne time) game. Much is being said about the Rams success in their three games in London, but their opponents were the Jags, Cards, and the Andy Dalton-led Bengals.
So, how much this factors into the success or failure of the game for the Niners remains to be seen. They both have to go through it, but the difference in timing is interesting.
I think traveling early makes a lot of sense. That is unless they spend a lot of time with the night life. Never been close to Melbourne but I bet they have their own special type of things going on. This game should be fun.
yeah don’t get Rams at all. Not that game itself will be referendum on it, but would be great to knock them off and have genius coach splainin his move.
Never been south of the equator. Closest I got was Costa Rica. Blade said that new Zealand is a must-see. Once I retire . . .
2 different islands. Popular destination spot. Just an aside but visitors to Bay Area from there seem very cool too.
Winder and Willie are correct, great “chess move” by Shanahan to arrive early. Me? Although we were in the Fiji islands for a few hours to pick up or drop off passengers, our final destination in New Zealand, where my already fatigued body and mind incurred additional discombobulation – by finding out my rental car was going to be driven on the opposite side road I was used to in the States.
Sheesh, the last time I drove on the opposite side of the road was the 2 years I spent in Great Britain, umm, some 30 something years before this trip. Anyway, I finally made it to the “Homestay,” perhaps an 45 minutes away, on the outskirts of Auckland (most New Zealanders do not refer to them as “Bed and Breakfasts”). I got there around 3pm and was dead to the world by 5pm . . . Didn’t wake up until noon the next day and my mind/body still wasn’t completely rested. Likewise, I didn’t drive the rental the next day, but took a ferry to downtown Auckland, as I didn’t trust myself driving the rental yet. Here’s a couple of links, related to what I just wrote about:
https://aroundtheworldwithblade.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/wiped-out-by-the-la-to-fiji-island-flight/
https://aroundtheworldwithblade.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/my-first-day-in-auckland-new-zealand/
Yeah, wee went to Puerto Rico for my wife’s company’s corporate housing conference there in 2019. Then we did a bunch of Caribbean islands. The driving stuff was nuts. Puerto Rico was left hand drive/right side of road. St Thomas was right-hand drive/left side of road, St Johns was right hand drive/right side of road.
I had a mild panic attack at every stop sign.
Every car rental agency had pics of head-on collisions from the ooopsies.
Blade’s travel blog was fantastic. Since I was in retail version of travel biz (selling luggage and gear) it was great resource for customers. Even frequent traveler friends of mine appreciated his advice on trip they took to Laos, which they quite enjoyed.
His trip to Istanbul was a classic, great read.
Read great story in TA from experienced woman sports writer who made first trip to England to watch Premier League teams play. No jumbo trons, no beer or drinks in stadium allowed, separate entrances for opposing teams et al.
Wouldn’t it be cool to cordon off all Dodger fans at Oracle?
And of course no breaks in soccer, commercial or otherwise just 45 minutes of continuous action on the pitch (field). Walk away from action at your own peril.
Thank you for the kind words Willie!
YW, well deserved. Frequent travelers always most knowledgeable and easiest to work with; fun to listen to and learn from.
What I meant about Brit stadiums is you can’t bring beer into where you sit. So at halftime fans leave seats hit vendors and kill half pint or whatever. No vendors inside. Brits can’t believe Americans so clueless to allow that.
I can remember as kids we went to Stick on sunday (family of 5) and liked to sit just on 3b side in front couple rows of upper deck. Great seats/nice view and sunshine for afternoon game…except for constant flow of vendors walking in front of us.
Yeah, my mom and grandfather usually took us to the games on Sunday, particularly the last game of the season (sheesh, I think we attended 4 consecutive seasons during the mid ’60s), where they always had Fan Appreciation Day, including not 1, not 2, but sometimes multiple new vehicles from local dealerships. This end-of-the-year celebration included dozens of other prizes alongside the grand-prize automobiles. The final home game of each season served as a massive thank-you to the fans who braved the cold and wind by the bay. We never won anything though. lol . . . Still a great time and like your family, Willie, we usually were in the upper deck, as money was quite tight back then (although us kids never knew it).
Looks like Shanahan took care of all the starters on offense and defense on the long flight to Aussie Land with full down beds setup! Believe 15 seats/beds were available the rest were provided to Seniority players on team..Nice touch and supposedly nobody complained, otherwise a 40,000 ft ejection would of been painful 😣 ✈️
Dear old mom took the boys in my 2nd grade and 3rd grade (12 of us? 15? No idea) classes to bat day at the Stick as it was usually around my birthday. Upper deck down the RF line.
Nothing quite like the sound of 20,000 kids hitting their bats on the ground in unison.
Fun times.
No idea how we got there or all the logistical stuff but it was a blast. Do remember seeing Jimmy Wynn hit a couple home runs for the Astros.
Toy Cannon, right? One of many favorite players of mine in the 60s. Always with a tooth pick in his mouth. Same height I think as Gilbert, except Gilbert has about 20-25, perhaps 30 lbs on Wynn, who played at 160lbs.
In the mid-70s, he, along with Johnny Carson – struck out against softball pitcher Rosie Black on Carson’s show. I think Facebook has a link to it.
Yup! Loved that nickname. Dude was a plug, Great hitter.
My dad would take me to games on the bus when the bar he hung out at would charter a trip. Those busses were always full. Even though I was only 8-11 years old we saw some really great teams(players). That started my life long love of the game.
I don’t know why but I have a feeling we are gonna whoop some Rams ass.
Life long love of baseball. I used to think Candlestick was the most beautiful place on earth.
Yeah, I still remember seeing that grass for the first time through the concourse, as we were going to our seats. Must have been 7 or 8. Just stopped dead in my tracks, my mom holding my hand, tugging. I asked her to wait, so everyone (couple of aunts, an uncle, and my grandfather stopped to see what was going on . . . lol.
Just grass. Man, it looked like the most beautiful sight in the world.
Aaron the Donald is not flying to Australia.
In other news, Aaron Donald didn’t fly to Australia.
More ramp-up time needed.
Bosa and CMC held out of practice but I’m sure it’s precautiionary.
Derp didn’t see your post, Bergs.
The hits just keep on coming to this team!
I don’t know what’s going on with this team with injuries!
DT Alfred Collins tore his patella in practice and is out for the year according to Matt Barrows!
another wasted pick
Thats 2 high draft picks done for the year so far, Collins and Pearsall.
I’m not getting good vibes with their 1st rd pick Mykel Williams either who’s already on PUP list and will miss the first 4 games after tearing his ACL in week 9 last year..
Jesus. They need to move back to Candlestick point.
new thread is up.