Gone on a Lucky Country

Well, I have nothing to compare it to; but I thought that the Quantas leg of our flight was very nice.  The flight was delayed just by about a half hour; but at that point Joe and I didn't really care anymore how long things took!  The boarding process was just fine and we had a whole area in front of us since we were booked into an exit row seat. 

I am wavering back and forth about whether or not it was a good deal.  Joe says for $266.00 it was absolutely worth it to be able to stretch our legs out completely and have a place to stand up if we wanted.  I agree - that part was nice; but there was no seat in front of you to put your purse under and no seatback pocket to toss your stuff in - the result was that I was always holding stuff in my lap - very annoying!  Also, we were right outside the galley so the food smells were strong and the commotion was quite disruptive throughout the whole flight.

They gave us super nice blankets, pillows, headphones and a little bag with an eyemask and some toiletries I think.  Dinner was pretty horrible I must say; but right before they turned the lights out for bed they handed out a cute little baggie with a bottled water, candy, cookies and some mints.  Another nice thing about having the galley right next to us was being able to stick your head through the curtain and ask for pretty much anything.  They were really nice about supplying me with hot tea after I woke up in the middle of the night.
Breakfast was actually super yum!  There was a frittata, mushrooms and fruit.  It was really really good - the coffee was excellent as well.

The flight ended up going about 17 hours as there was fog and they slowed our flight plan down - apparently they also had to divert around quite a bit of weather as well.  There were moments when I felt like crying - I was homesick and squished and squashed and I just wanted to be home in my bed!  Then there were moments when I felt like it was ok and I had plenty of room and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I guess when it was all said and done - it wasn't horrible; but I was awfully glad it was over!

Well, we've arrived - grubby and exhausted but here!

We are sitting in a cafe having flat whites!  The coffee here is really fantastic.  Our cell phones aren't working and we can't get into our apartment until later this afternoon so we will be mostly off the grid - will post again once we get settled!

Well, we are sitting here in a little bar in the LA airport waiting for our flight to Sydney.  It was a very tearful morning saying goodbye to people on the phone and especially saying goodbye to Joe's parents in the airport.  We got to the gate only to find that the first leg of our trip was delayed!!  It ended up being delayed for so long that we would be unable to make our connecting flight in Detroit; and, the desk agent informed us that the next two flights to LA were booked full!!  AGH!!!  So, we continued checking with her (she was so nice) and she finally told us that there were two first class seats available on the 5:15 flight to LA.  She booked us into them and the rest of our travels went without much of a hitch at all.  The first class seats were wonderful and it was nice to have at least one leg of the trip that was super comfy. 

The desk agent at Quantas was so nice - didn't charge us for our one overweight bag and also booked us into exit row seats so that we will have extra room.  We have neck pillows, eye masks, ear plugs, books, movies, ipods, laptops.... oh, and sleeping pills.  So, hopefully the 15 hours will go by pretty quickly!

This whole trip has been an experience in absolute, complete exhaustion.  I can't remember a time when I have ever been this tired.  I haven't been sleeping well for the past week or so anyway and last night I only got a few hours.  So, we have been up since early this morning - it's 1:30 in the morning EST now and we are going to try to stay awake the first 7 hours of the flight so that we can sleep the last 8 and be somewhat on Sydney time when we land at 7 in the morning.  We'll see how that all pans out.  It's feeling a little more real now - there are Australian accents around us everywhere at this gate and I am starting to wrap my brain around the fact that we are not coming back.

I had a little cry in bed last night and then saying goodbye today - I'm only sad about saying goodbye to people I love, I am not regretting the move.  At least for now.....