Awoke pretty early for the beginning of another adventure. I am pretty sure it was due to the excitement of heading to one of my dream spots, but also just the general “Oh Crap” of not having packed. Mom and Gary had arrived the night before and I was due to meet up with them for breakfast, but I was not able to get a hold of them until mid-morning. We shared our first meal of the trip at Carrows near Disneyland. They decided to get some shopping done, and I of course, needed to get packed.
Most of the day was spent trying to pack and clean the apartment without getting sidetracked. I did manage to get my place in some semblance of order before I left. I like to get things a bit orderly so when I return after a long trip I can relax and not come home to a mess. We met back up at my apartment and then we were off to LAX. Despite the fact it was in the middle of rush hour, we made it to the airport in ample time.
At check-in we managed to get seats together – this is an issue with Qantas since they are not big on advanced seat assignments meaning that you have to get them day of departure. Coming home we have a request for seats, but we will just have to hope for the best. We managed to kill the hours between the time we arrived at the gate to departure time by eating at the Chili’s in the terminal (I think the last time I ate there was Europe 2002). I picked up some candy, water, and a magazine before we left to help the time pass.
The actual flight was quite pleasant. I managed to get a good number of hours sleep – at least 8 out of 13 total. I was shocked that this flight was not much longer than the Hong Kong flight, and there was more legroom on Qantas than Cathay Pacific. It might have to do with the passengers, but the bathrooms stayed pretty clean through the entire flight. The in-flight entertainment had a great variety of movies and TV shows. I only managed to watch an episode of Kath and Kim to get in the mood of the trip. Gosh, I must have slept more than I thought. My iPod is holding out well – Battery not nearly as drained as I thought it might be at this point. I do wish I had the baby-canceling headphones (though the ones I have seem to be doing a good job keeping the 50 or so babies that are in the three rows around us quiet – Ok maybe not 50, but at times it seems like the queue for Buzz).
Conversion Factor: It is 11:11am 3/2/06 in LA, 6:11am on 3/3/06 in Sydney!