{"id":8409,"date":"2026-09-04T16:39:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8409"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:39:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:39:03","slug":"inman-down-under-how-to-spend-a-day-chasing-49ers-australian-arrival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8409","title":{"rendered":"Inman Down Under: How to spend a day chasing 49ers\u2019 Australian arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>MELBOURNE, Australia\u2014 Not all of us get to fly direct from SFO to Melbourne, much less on the world\u2019s biggest jumbo jet as the 49ers did.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8407\">LA schools has blocked students from generative AI. How will it teach them about it?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>They were airborne eight hours before I began my three-legged race: to Honolulu, then Sydney, then Melbourne, all to preserve the company\u2019s budget and gladly stretch my legs.<\/p>\n<p>In honor of my career-first hurdle over the international dateline, a timestamp:<\/p>\n<p><strong>7:50 a.m. Pacific Time, Thursday:<\/strong> \u201cWe\u2019re going to Levi\u2019s Down Under!\u201d shouts a fan in a red 49ers cap with matching pajama bottoms on the SFO jetway. I count 10 Niners fans to one beach bum in a Rams T-shirt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8:40 a.m. PT:<\/strong> Take off from SFO, with a nod down under us to Candlestick Park.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1:48 p.m. PT (10:48 a.m. Hawaiian):<\/strong> Leg 1 of 3 complete, to Honolulu. Didn\u2019t get nailed once by a cart from my aisle seat. Winning. Now park this bird so I can hula to my connection.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2:13 p.m. PT: <\/strong>While the 49ers were landing in Melbourne, I was striding outdoors in Hawaiian paradise \u2014 for about 100 yards en route to my connecting flight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2:20 p.m. PT:<\/strong> Next stop: Sydney. I had just enough time to ask the gate agent to switch seats, and I got my own two-seat, window-aisle row. She got Trader Joe\u2019s candy as a gift from me.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>2:53 p.m. PT:<\/strong> Text my wife and boast how I scored better sleeping space for the 10-hour flight. Jinxed it. Not all of us conk out or have our melatonin kick in for that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3 p.m. PT:<\/strong> Movie time! Dead Poets Society. Robin Williams, so brilliant. Miss him. I wish I could teach my San Jose State sports journalism class so inspiringly. Carpe diem.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4 p.m., or 10:01 p.m., or 8 a.m., IDK:<\/strong> \u201cWater? Water?\u201d Flight attendants ask as they backpedal down the aisle. Trent Williams said the 49ers were advised to drink enough water to match half their body weight; he is a spry 300 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8405\">Feds open probe into Musk\u2019s steering-wheel-free taxis a day after he began offering rides in them<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>10:11 p.m. PT:<\/strong> Open the world clock app on my phone.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>10:12 p.m. PT:<\/strong> Open the weather app. It\u2019s 73 degrees at my location, Vanatu.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11 p.m. PT:<\/strong> Text colleagues on the ground in Melbourne. Proceed to write a story on my phone about Australian football players. No days off.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12:45 a.m. PT, Friday:<\/strong> Open window shade, see either a sunset or sunrise. (*Checks world clock* It\u2019s a sunset in the way-way west.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>1:58 a.m. PT (6:58 p.m. AUST, 17 hours ahead)<\/strong>: Made it to Sydney; airplane crew is spraying carry-on compartments with disinfectant as we remain in our seats. I don\u2019t object. No way I make my final flight to Melbourne in time, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>7:18 p.m. AUST<\/strong>: Customs officer proves an adept copy editor. I left my date of birth blank on a form. As I told him \u201c11-26-\u2026\u201d he looks at me and says, \u201cWe don\u2019t have a 26th month.\u201d Foreigners!<\/p>\n<p><strong>7:40 p.m. AUST<\/strong>: Whisked at warp speed through customs, terminal-transfer bus, no-wait security (no hats, no sweatshirts allowed) and to my gate with minutes to spare. I love this country.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8:30 p.m. AUST:<\/strong> Departure for the last of my 3-flight hat trick. Be back to Sydney in a week. It has been on my bucket list for at least 20 years, especially over the past decade since Australia outsourced Jarryd Hayne to the 2015 49ers. That exposed me to the Aussie people and media colleagues, more of whom I got to know this summer as the Socceroos encamped at the old Raiders\u2019 facility in Oakland during the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10:04 p.m. AUST:<\/strong> \u201cTouchdownnnnn from SAN FRAN-CISCOOO!\u201d Bobbed and weaved through 29-mph gusts on final descent as if we were boxing a kangaroo. Let\u2019s go find some.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11 p.m. AUST Friday (6 am PT):<\/strong> That caps a 25-hour journey from home to hotel. Still took me three fewer days than our astronauts to the moon (shoutout to Victor Glover, a fellow Cal Poly SLO explorer).<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8403\">31 male lifeguards now say former California State Parks boss filmed them undressed in locker room<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our 49ers reporter took a circuitous route to Melbourne to cover the team&#8217;s season opener<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inman Down Under: How to spend a day chasing 49ers\u2019 Australian arrival - 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