The Journey Begins

After weeks of careful, meticulous sorting and packing I finally headed off to the airport on June 30 well rested and full of joie de vivre for the journey ahead. Ah who am I kidding – up until Monday June 26 I had not packed anything, as in nothing, zip, nada! Oh I had a good idea of what I was taking and I had piles of it strewn about the apartment but actually packing nope – seriously when was I supposed to find the time? So when the kind lady at the SFO check in terminal said “Do you have any bags over 50lbs I started my “God please let it only be one” prayer over and over in my head while smiling and trying to look cute and innocent in hopes she would somehow miss the gigantic oversized 3 bags sitting at her feet and the 2 carry on’s and the cross body purse I was trying to hide behind the counter.

The verdict? 56, 61 and 66 pounds. High fives all around for keeping things under 70, not that I had a goal of 70 but it was worth celebrating. U & B helped me move 6lbs from the first one to the 2^nd one to save $50 of overage fee – the total damage was $100 in over weight plus $150 for 3^rd bag.

After a good cry in the SFO bathroom the flight from SFO to LAX was a non event although if you ever have to transfer to the international terminal in LAX you will discover to your shock, awe, delight, dismay that the bus used to transport you shares the same runway as the planes. Yup, the drivers look to the right, then to the left left oh goody big plane still a ways a way so go for it. At one stop we were so close I could see the pilot’s eyeballs – quite fascinating. It made me think it would be cool to get out there in one of those busses and try to race an airliner. I wonder how many accidents have happened out there?

LAX to Sydney on Qantas – Ahh a dream! It was aboard what I believe is the Airbus A380 where first, business and premium economy are upstairs and everyone else is downstairs. We even board through completely separate doors that are a good half a block apart in the gate. The first question upon boarding was would you like a glass of champagne or orange juice – I went for the orange juice hahhaha of course not!! Two glasses of champagne later I was in a happy place and we had not even taken off yet – see the plane held 450 people and only 80+ of those were upstairs getting hot towels and champagne a good 40+ minutes before they got everyone else boarded.

What was not to love about Premium Economy?  Let’s see: unlimited alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages of your choice, real food on read china with real stainless steel utensils and cloth napkins and glassware, unlimited snacks (they even took into account my gluten allergy/sensitivity so all my meals and snacks were different and had my name on them), your own good sized touch TV with current movies, TV shows, news programs etc (it came up out of the arm rest), the seat really went back and the legs part went up like a recliner, not to mention flight attendants that came over and personally introduced themselves and said they will be taking care of me tonight. Did I mention they were also reasonably young and attractive dressed in black suits with ties - it was no hardship!

Made it to Perth in one piece after barely making my connecting flight. Ever been in an airport and they are paging someone “Last boarding call for xxxx the flight is now closed etc”? I always wondered what those slackers were doing that caused them to hold up the flight for everyone. For the first time ever I heard my name – I was that girl. The one doing the walk of “shame” on to the plane that has been delayed pushing back from the gate for that last passenger.  In my defence is their fault for making things take so long in customs and quarantine, for booking the flights so close together and for making the international and domestic terminals so far apart J