The Flight
Our trip started in San Francisco. Kat came down from Chico with Carol, who was very nice to drive all the way to Chico to get her. We got a ride to SFO from Rebecca, who really just wanted an excuse to get out of the office.
Our flight was to leave SFO and head to LAX at 7:31pm. We got there around 4:30pm. We had just a little waiting around to do. The flight to LAX left a little late and we had terrible winds coming into LAX. It was so bad that before we started the descent there was talk of routing to Long Beach and then getting bused back to LAX. This didn't sit well with Kat and I because we knew we still had to clear through LAX security. Luckily they decided that the 737 could handle the winds during landing, and what a landing it was. I don't think I've ever come in quite that fast in a plane that big. As soon as we touched down they slammed on the brakes. There was lots of clapping.
Let me just say that the international terminal at LAX is a freaking zoo and just leave it at that. We went to grab a bite to eat since we didn't know when the meal on our night flight was going to be served. We grabbed some food and a seat and began to eat. Then over the PA system they announced that our flight should report to security. D'oh! I got through about half my meal and Kat barely got a chance to touch hers.
We got to security and there was a fairly long line. It was moving pretty well. We went through without a hitch, or our shoes...
We then waited for another hour in the international terminal, which has just about nothing in terms of shops. It wasn't that fun, and we knew we had a 14 hour flight to Sydney right around the corner.
The flight was everything we expected. It was long, hard to sleep, and crowded. The guy next to me was a space violator. He just had to have my arm rest and some space over into my seat. It's no big deal on a 2 hour flight, but after 10 hours I get a little defensive. The one thing I didn't expect was great service. But Qantas does a really good job. They were all very nice, served us lots of "stuff" (including free beer and wine!), and generally made the flight more pleasant. I guess it pays to keep people happy when you have to keep them couped up for 14 hours straight.
We landed in Sydney around 8am localtime, caught a shuttle to the hotel and fought over who got the shower first.
Great photos!