WE MADE IT!!! We are in Sydney Australia ..
All it took was “Nett” @ Mission Control, A fantastic & creative Gate Agent Jennifer @ American Eagle, and 48 hours.
Our trip started at a full sprint…I pulled Staff Duty (Army Thing) which means I am in charge of the Battalion while everyone sleeps I stay away for 24 hours and look for the boogie man.. There is more to it than that, I just don’t want to bore you… I was released from my duty at 0830, our 1st flight was at 11:20 ..Notice I said WAS, We missed that one…. We got there on time, There were just more of us than seats!
Not a good way to start your trip I understand, again as “Non-Revs” you must always have Plan B, C, D and sometimes E…(No Stress, Right?) This is where the Gate Agent
Steps in, She literally rolled up here sleeves and said “We can do this!!!” her fingers when to flying on that key board!~ CAE (Columbia) To ATL (Atlanta) To BNA (Nashville) To LAX (Los Angeles) to BNE (Brisbane, Australia) to SYD (Sydney)
Presto ,,, we are here.! Our luggage took an entirely different trip all together….
TBH Said “I don’t care we are going without it”… as tears welled up in my eyes…
We had already missed our direct flight to Sydney, So I suggested what would it hurt
To look in one more place, so we did & there they were waiting for us, Our luggage actually made it to LAX before we did!!!
Off to Qantas ticket counter we ran, Loss of sleep at this point didn’t matter I had to stay awake long enough to get on the flight. We not only got a seat (TOGETHER) we got an entire row to ourselves, 36ABC (insert happy dance here) Don’t get to happy yet, we had no window, and our seats didn’t recline… The worst seats usually on the plane are
Called the “Non-Rev” seats WE GOT EM! Didn’t care, we were on!!!
We made our nest, & off we went, they served dinner immediately as it was already midnight… I opened up the entertainment section to decide on my 1st movie… I mean on a 15 hour flight you can watch what about 7 movies? Wanna guess how many movies I watched???? ~ O N E ~ Stop laughing…. It took me 3 times to view it, I kept falling asleep! One movie 15 hours??? I fell asleep about 30 minutes into the movie ,,, TBH fell asleep about 3 minutes into the movie….I woke up and the flight computer said we had 5 hours to go! WOW Time was flying!!
We landed in BNE we felt rested, & ready to go…. It was 7am we needed to hustle because our connecting flight to SYD was in 2 hours… It took about 2 hours for our luggage to appear, and another hour to clear customs & immigration…. You know that card you have to fill out that asks, do you have any; Fruits, Nuts, Live Plants, Small children hidden in your luggage, WELL THEY MEAN IT! I packed snacks for our flight, we never ate them, So I totally forgot they were tucked away in my carry on…
All it took was “Nett” @ Mission Control, A fantastic & creative Gate Agent Jennifer @ American Eagle, and 48 hours.
Our trip started at a full sprint…I pulled Staff Duty (Army Thing) which means I am in charge of the Battalion while everyone sleeps I stay away for 24 hours and look for the boogie man.. There is more to it than that, I just don’t want to bore you… I was released from my duty at 0830, our 1st flight was at 11:20 ..Notice I said WAS, We missed that one…. We got there on time, There were just more of us than seats!
Not a good way to start your trip I understand, again as “Non-Revs” you must always have Plan B, C, D and sometimes E…(No Stress, Right?) This is where the Gate Agent
Steps in, She literally rolled up here sleeves and said “We can do this!!!” her fingers when to flying on that key board!~ CAE (Columbia) To ATL (Atlanta) To BNA (Nashville) To LAX (Los Angeles) to BNE (Brisbane, Australia) to SYD (Sydney)
Presto ,,, we are here.! Our luggage took an entirely different trip all together….
TBH Said “I don’t care we are going without it”… as tears welled up in my eyes…
We had already missed our direct flight to Sydney, So I suggested what would it hurt
To look in one more place, so we did & there they were waiting for us, Our luggage actually made it to LAX before we did!!!
Off to Qantas ticket counter we ran, Loss of sleep at this point didn’t matter I had to stay awake long enough to get on the flight. We not only got a seat (TOGETHER) we got an entire row to ourselves, 36ABC (insert happy dance here) Don’t get to happy yet, we had no window, and our seats didn’t recline… The worst seats usually on the plane are
Called the “Non-Rev” seats WE GOT EM! Didn’t care, we were on!!!
We made our nest, & off we went, they served dinner immediately as it was already midnight… I opened up the entertainment section to decide on my 1st movie… I mean on a 15 hour flight you can watch what about 7 movies? Wanna guess how many movies I watched???? ~ O N E ~ Stop laughing…. It took me 3 times to view it, I kept falling asleep! One movie 15 hours??? I fell asleep about 30 minutes into the movie ,,, TBH fell asleep about 3 minutes into the movie….I woke up and the flight computer said we had 5 hours to go! WOW Time was flying!!
We landed in BNE we felt rested, & ready to go…. It was 7am we needed to hustle because our connecting flight to SYD was in 2 hours… It took about 2 hours for our luggage to appear, and another hour to clear customs & immigration…. You know that card you have to fill out that asks, do you have any; Fruits, Nuts, Live Plants, Small children hidden in your luggage, WELL THEY MEAN IT! I packed snacks for our flight, we never ate them, So I totally forgot they were tucked away in my carry on…
Later in the little room, whilst trying to explain this, I was informed it was a 200.00 fine for my little snacks,,,, Whhhhhaaaaa….. Note to self: Forget snacks next trip!
They let me go with a warning, as I smiled my pretty little southern smile, wrote on the chalk board 100 times “ I will never bring Raisinets into Austrialia again”!!
Back to the Qantas counter, as we had missed yet another leg of our trip, Missing 2 flights out of a 5 leg trip our stats were not going so well! Gerry was so sweet with his “no worries, love I’ll just put you on the next flight to Sydney” …One more flight and we are here,,, It is only 2pm when we get to our hotel,, as I ask, “How much longer do we have to stay awake before we can go to bed?” We drop our luggage in our suite, lace up our tenny shoes and off we go… The weather is fantastic, warm, cool breeze…. And I am cranky, I want sleep!!! We are located right now, in a precious little neighborhood called “Darling Harbour”, We are near the water front …we find a happy hour, grab a glass of Aussie wine or two, ordered a pizza and just people watched… burning time till bed time, (Note to Nett: 50% off all wine during happy hour here) LOVE IT!!!
Back to the room it’s 7pm,, It’s almost bed time, Me so happy!!!!
12 hours later I’m awake and off to hunt for Internet!!! As I post this for family and friends, it is yesterday there, and today here…. So I must go enjoy the future . . . .
They let me go with a warning, as I smiled my pretty little southern smile, wrote on the chalk board 100 times “ I will never bring Raisinets into Austrialia again”!!
Back to the Qantas counter, as we had missed yet another leg of our trip, Missing 2 flights out of a 5 leg trip our stats were not going so well! Gerry was so sweet with his “no worries, love I’ll just put you on the next flight to Sydney” …One more flight and we are here,,, It is only 2pm when we get to our hotel,, as I ask, “How much longer do we have to stay awake before we can go to bed?” We drop our luggage in our suite, lace up our tenny shoes and off we go… The weather is fantastic, warm, cool breeze…. And I am cranky, I want sleep!!! We are located right now, in a precious little neighborhood called “Darling Harbour”, We are near the water front …we find a happy hour, grab a glass of Aussie wine or two, ordered a pizza and just people watched… burning time till bed time, (Note to Nett: 50% off all wine during happy hour here) LOVE IT!!!
Back to the room it’s 7pm,, It’s almost bed time, Me so happy!!!!
12 hours later I’m awake and off to hunt for Internet!!! As I post this for family and friends, it is yesterday there, and today here…. So I must go enjoy the future . . . .
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2 comments:
Welcome to Australia, land of kangaroos, VB beer and very very strict Quarantine agents, as you found out.
Hope you enjoy your stay here.
I'm so glad you finally made it! Yay!
Ditto what Tray says!
:D
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