En Route – 1 hour out of Sydney
Well boys and girls, we’re an hour short of Sydney right now. You might think, “Whew!! The travel is about over”. Not so, Mary Lou – remember we’ve got a 2 hour layover and then another 5 hour flight to Perth (think Atlanta to Los Angeles or so again).
Flying on Qantas (there’s no “u” in it) is a significantly different experience than flying on US Airways. When you board this double-decker behemoth, there are two gangways – one for the upper that serves 1st class, business class and premium economy, and one that serves Coach, which is largely on the lower level. We were in Premium Economy, which was about as nice as first class on a typical US Airways plane. We are in the bulkhead row on the right side of the plane. Configuration is 1,2 3,4,5 6,7, and the aisles between the groups as well as the space between the rows is very comfortable. Although Qantas brags about the attention they give their passengers, we got extra doses because of the 36 or so seats in our section, there are only 10 passengers. As such, we were invited to move wherever we’d like although we stayed in the seats we had.
The other thing that’s very nice is that there’s a “glove box”, essentially a bin large enough to hold our day packs that’s immediately next to the seats. This gives us an added shelf to use that’s about 8 inches wide. This was good because the overhead storage bins are a bit smaller than what you usually encounter on an extended flight.
Dinner was pretty good for airline food. It’s not a 5-star restaurant, but it was pretty good, especially since it was accompanied by a nice Australian Shiraz that was poured freely.
We decided to try and stay awake for a while (despite the fact that we’d both been up for almost 24 hours at that point with little more than a couple of catnaps) to help accommodate to the new time zones. Thus, a little television after dinner and we dozed off without either seeing the end of our programs.
One thing that I hadn’t anticipated was TURBULENCE over the Pacific. Apparently it’s not all that uncommon, but according to the flight attendant we had a double-dose. The first time we woke up, about an hour after we’d initially zoned out for the night, we decided to call on King Ambien to help with sleep. It’s a good thing – because even with that, we were awakened at least half a dozen more times by announcements for everyone – passengers and crew – to take their seats and buckle in. On top of that there was an announcement of a medical emergency and a request if there was a physician on board, but we heard nothing more of that.
The seats are pretty good – bigger than coach, they recline a bit more and have a footrest like a recliner that comes up. They’re not quite long enough, though, to accommodate me (much less Eddie), so most of the time we ended up with our feet propped on the magazine rack on the bulkhead. Blankets were a dream by airplane standards – almost the size of a twin blanket, with a sheet sewn to one side, and nice and heavy.
About 4 in the morning (Sydney time, again – I’ll try to give times locally unless I point out they’re something else) there was some stirring in the cabin so the attendants came around, offered coffee and snacks. Since 4 a.m. isn’t an unusual coffee time for us, we started moving, too, although we both dozed back and forth until breakfast about 6.
Breakfast was the best meal we’ve had on an airplane – egg frittata, spinach (which I could do without!), steamed tomato, bacon (which they apparently don’t cook crispy), a muffin and bowl of fruit. It’s so nice to get a little tablecloth, real metal silverware and dishes to eat out of, rather than having to take the plastic wrap off of your dinner.
The rest of the flight was uneventful. Putting stuff back in our bags, neatening up, filling out the customs forms. One minor bit of panic – they ask if you’re bringing any food in, which has lead to the question of whether they’ll make us get rid of the chocolate covered Oreos that we were given as a travel gift by someone, not to mention the trail mix, gum, candy, etc. that were stuffed in the bag as well. It’ll be disappointing if they do, but I suspect that commercially prepared items will be allowed.
One thing we did well, but need to improve upon for next time – we packed a change of clothes in our carry-ons, so during the time in Los Angeles we put on comfy sleep pants, T-shirts and, most importantly CLEAN UNDIES! You wouldn’t think that your delicates would get so, umm, “shopworn” just sitting there, but nice dry BVD’s were very good. The mistake there was not packing two pair, since it would’ve been nice to change again on the plane before the last leg of the trip. Wear a day, air a day hardly works when the first pair’s been packed back in your luggage without the chance to air out!
We’ve decided that jet lag is a mindset. We’re not going to let it bother us, and as soon as we get on a plane to go elsewhere we immediately change all the clocks and begin eating on that schedule (the advantage being that you get extra suppers added in there!)
Time to power down for this leg of the trip. We’re almost there.
UPDATE – we got off the plane to be greeted by a sign indicating that we’d already missed our connecting flight (since we had to get our luggage, go through customs and then take a shuttle to another terminal), but we were going to be rebooked on the next flight – the difference only between 10:10 and 12:00 (Noon), so that wasn’t bad.
Once again, we couldn’t help but notice how infinitely more friendly customs and government officials are here than in the United States – something that I’ve commented on before about Italy, Canada, Hungary, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, among others. Like our TSA folks, it seems that once they’ve got that job security there’s no longer a need to be polite or courteous.
A quick lunch in the airport and enough time to decide that a handiwipe and yesterday’s undies might be an improvement over the ones I’d been in for the last 18+ hours took up the balance of the time. New rule – for every 10 hours of travel time, fresh dainties are a must. Another thought – those little microwaveable sponge baths they have at the hospital might be kinda nice, too.
It’s the height of summer here, and accordingly very hot. Fortunately, Australians seem to believe in air conditioning more than Europeans do, so the terminal is quite comfortable.
Almost time to board. Just another 4 hours to our final destination; we’ve already reworked the shuttle service thanks to the wonders of the internet and EB’s blackberry. Mine, unfortunately, seems to have failed to go to sleep on the plane like I tried to tell it to and is therefore out of commission until I can get to an outlet. Thought I’d swipe power here in the terminal to grab a quick charge, but everything is 220 – and our adapters are in checked luggage, because obviously who would need them in our carry on!
Update – Sydney to Perth
I love babies. Anyone who knows me knows this. There are at least 7 children under the age of 4 on this plane, though, and at least one has cried nonstop since before we boarded the plane. Maybe it’s the wear of having travelled 36 hours at this point, but I could quite easily open the door and set them on the wings like an empty milk bottle and sleep well tonight.
Haven’t these people ever heard of Benadryl????? Don’t they know what it’s for?? What’s the points of pharmaceuticals if you can’t do something as simple as make a baby stop crying. After all, it’s more humane than shaking them until they quit making noise, right?.
Service on Qantas is amazing, even on the domestic flights. The attendants, which are easily double what would be expected on a similar US Airways flight, are cheerful and courteous. After bringing lunch and drinks (which are complementary), they then brought around ice cream bars! No wonder their clientele are so loyal to them.
Friday’s Final Update
After 37 hours of travel, we arrived. More about the hotel tomorrow, suffice it to say that we felt MUCH better after a hot shower. Went to dinner with the other members of Eddie’s team, took a walk around Perth and calling it an early night. It’s now right at 9:00 p.m. Friday in Perth, which means, if my calculations are right, its right at 7:00 a.m. Friday in Hickory.
We’re here, were’ fine. Tomorrow we have to meet the bus for a trip to the Margaret River (wine country) at 7:20 in the morning. Lots of sleeping to do between now and then.
