Introduction
Seattle to Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Brisbane
Brisbane to Sydney to Canberra
Canberra
Canberra to Melbourne
Melbourne
Qantas First Lounge Melbourne
Melbourne to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Seattle
Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                   

I was off the aircraft shortly after leaving the cockpit and saying my final thanks to the crew. I was disembarking through door 1L on the lower deck (is that L1L or 1LL?) and headed through the crowds of TBIT. Apparently first class don’t get an express pass card in LAX but people connecting do. Even in Economy. well that kind of blows!

I made what felt like an endless journey through the bowels of TBIT from the newer gates all the way through to the crummie older side. The last time I had been through TBIT immigration had been October 2011 when I came over to visit for my job interviews. It hadn’t changed a bit. I was in line maybe 10-15 minutes and I wasn’t grilled nearly as much as when I head to Canada. Next thing I know I am grabbing my bags off the belt and heading to customs to try and explain exactly why I am carrying the nether regions of kangaroos in my luggage.

I did a bit of luggage jiggling once out into the terminal (change of clothes out, trip goodies in) and headed over to T3 where I could check in for my Virgin flight. I had made it through in far better time than expected (1h so far) and figured it may be a chance to get on the earlier seattle flight at 9am. I checked at the check in area and was told it was possible for $25 confirmed or free for stand by. Considering I didn’t want to have to wait around for the bags that I had paid good money for, it was going to be an extra $24 but I would be home hours earlier. What the hell!

Lots of taping and a swipe of my credit card later and I was off to security and for the first time in a week to do the dignity dance. Lines were substantial but not all that bad and in the end I made it from touchdown to lounge in just on 90 minutes. At the entrance to the Virgin Lounge I was reminded of the boarding time and advised flights were not announced and I also got my seat reassigned as I realised it was a middle seat. I had about 10 minutes in the lounge to get changed and get stuff sorted. Which was good but I was starting to feel not so good. Figured I had just eaten a bit to much at breakfast.

I headed down to the gate pretty shortly and there was a boarding call shortly after

Virgin America – VX781
Los Angeles to Seattle
0920-1200
Airbus A319 (N530VA)
Main Cabin Select – Seat 8F

Boarding: 0845 (Gate 38)
Push Back: 0918
Take Off Roll: 0927 (Runway 24L)
Top of Descent: 1135
Touch Down: 1205 (Runway 16R)
Shut Down: 1213 (Gate A4)

Not much to talk about this flight. I board, stashed my gear and then started to zone in and out between consciousness and sickness. We took off back out over the ocean and turned north back over LA and then I don’t really remember much. I remember ordering some lunch (that I was going to stash and eat later anyway) and a bottle of water. I remember taking a bathroom stop cause I was feeling sick as hell and the seat belt sign going on while I was in there, but then by the time I came out it had been switched off again.

Upon approach into Seattle I was just wanting to get off the flight and die, I was not in a good state. So I didn’t hang around in Seattle when we landed. It was a boring quick flight. But that is good right? I grabbed my bags and got over to the car park to get to the shuttle stands, fought with the lift a little and was soon on my way to the car park where my truck awaited and I was home about 30 minutes later. Ready to crawl into a hole and die. That was not a good sign!

Introduction
Seattle to Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Brisbane
Brisbane to Sydney to Canberra
Canberra
Canberra to Melbourne
Melbourne
Qantas First Lounge Melbourne
Melbourne to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Seattle
Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                   

Qantas Airways – QF93
Melbourne to Los Angeles
0915-0645
Airbus A380 (VH-OKQ)
First Class – Seat 2A

Boarding: 0845 (Gate 9B)
Push Back: 0951
Take Off Roll: 1004 (Runway 16)
Top of Descent: 0620
Touch Down: 0649 (Runway 24R)
Shut Down: 0700 (Gate 134)

I was collected by a Qantas Staff member at the entry to the First Lounge (you don’t normally get this service) and I was escorted through “secondary” screening which was really just checking that I had a passport on me. Kinda pointless since I had to go through 3 previous checks to get to that point. From there I was taken downstairs via the Lift to the boarding area right as they were preboarding some economy families into the back of the whale’s belly (ie the rear of the lower deck of an A380).

I was brought to the boarding door where I was greeted and escorted directly to my seat and from there it was “let the show begin”. First up was an offer for a PDB of my choice… “Perhaps Champagne”. I then broke the news that I didn’t drink, so I took my usual sparkling water and I was informed it would be served with some almonds and olives. These promptly came back while I took heaps of empty cabin shots. Getting all the photos I could use I was all giddy and hadn’t even sat down when my drink came back and then I was offered an amenity kit and pyjamas (even double checking the right size).

I was so excited that without realising people were now coming on board and first was filling up. So I made sure to hop out of the way after stowing my gear. The first thing I like about first on Qantas is the overhead bins. They didn’t exist on Emirates (but then Qantas don’t have a shower so fair is fair) so thats one big difference, but that just meant I could store stuff out of the way and didn’t have it impede on me anywhere. Though there was space under the ottoman if I needed it (which I didn’t really but I stored my backpack here for most of the time).

With the cabin filling I noticed the cockpit was open so one of the other Cabin Crew who was serving my area came around to introduce himself and I did ask if it was possible to visit the cockpit, handed him my business card and figured what the hell. He came back advising that I can’t before departure but upon arrival it would be possible, the captain has my card and will let me know upon arrival. Well it was worth a try, but at least it wasn’t a no, more like a not right now.

As time settled on we got an announcement from the crew advising that we were waiting on 2 missing passengers and once found we could depart, but it was a good thing right now because with the tailwinds we would’ve arrived before the opening of LAX. Woops!! I was happy to wait, hell I would’ve loved a divert, some headwinds… anything to make that experience longer. Guess it wasn’t to be. My drink was refilled and eventually we shut up shop and pushed back just over half an hour late.

We taxied out of Melbourne and i realised the one complaint I have about the Qantas first suite on the A380. I can’t see out the windows! As an avgeek that is a must! O well I still had the Skycam which is located in the Tail. We took off to the south and then took the long way around the city to head towards Sydney and then out over the Pacific towards the USA. I loved the fact that now there was no going back and I was on my way home. I was looking forward to the rest of the flight as the real stuff was going to start.

During climb out I was just playing with things all excited and stuff and without even realising it, the seatbelt sign was off and we were free to move about. The crew came around to hand out the menus (which you can find here) for the flight but I knew what I was going with already. Tasting menu!! Didn’t care what was on it, I was doing it (pending there was nothing like “garlic this garlic that”). So I had a quick look over the menu but there wasn’t so it was an easy choice. I was offered my choice of beverages (going with Diet Coke) and here was my first mistake. When asked if I would like my Hors D’oeuvres (the first course of the tasting menu) with my drink. I said no. What I should’ve said was “not right now”

I settled in to finish off some stuff that I had been working on for the next hour or so and by that time it would be a good lunch time in Melbourne to start the tasting menu (which I was going to take my time at either way). Time flew by, a few drink refills later and the crew reappeared for my lunch. So I asked them to come back in a few minutes to set it all up and I shut down my stuff and packed it away and selected a movie to watch (went with The Aviator, a nice long movie to enjoy).

Then the show began. First up came the Soup course. It was nice and thick but not overly thick and the croutons were a good crunch. When I was part way through I thought for a second… shouldn’t there have been something else. the Hors D’oeuvres!. When the soup was collected I asked about that and then it came to light with the mix up. The crew apologise and we tried to sort out something as a replacement as they had all been taken. So what we came up with was to swap out one of the other menu items as a replacement course. None of the other smaller plates had items left.. damn. So the offer of the calzone or the chicken pot pie.. but they just sounded too big.

My brain came up with an awesome idea. Dessert! Lets have an extra sweet course. it was agreed and it was set up with the extra dessert safely tucked away. We continued on the food journey and next up was the Salad course of Roasted Beetroot & Goats Curd. O yeah, roasted beetroot salad. It was heavenly.

Then came the main course which I had the filet of Beef with a cabbage and potato gratin (or as an aussie would call it fancy potato bake). I had taken the horseradish option for the sauce and it came served with a good size dollop of horseradish cream. The one thing i was worried about was if the beef would be cooked ok and if it would be tender. Push test was ok, I cut it and she was good. Was a bit under medium well, which is more than the way I normally have it, but it was still really good.

With the end of the main course, I decided to take a break for a bit and watch some more of the movie. About half an hour later my cheese plate arrived. Plenty of cheese and more into the belly. I am not a big blue cheese fan so avoided that. I also let the crew know that I would wait about 15 minutes after finishing the cheese for dessert… number 1.

Dessert #1 arrived dead on time, and it was the Honey Cake which was deliciously decadent. It was a nice spongy syrupy cake with a good fig compote on the side. By the time that was finished about 5 minutes after that out came the second dessert

The second dessert was the Chocolate Bread & Butter pudding. When it came out it looked deceptive. It smelt divine, so rich and chocolatey. It looked like it was going to be just all chocolate and very rich. But upon first scoop and bite it was light, fluffy and tasty!! It was definitely not what it seemed.

A coffee was delivered soon after the dessert arrived and I had a choice of some very nice Chocolates to go with it. As I finished up the dessert and it was cleared away and a fresh coffee brought over, It was now almost 2 hours since I started lunch. Wow! It did not feel like that! Lunch complete, work complete. Time to relax. Seat to lounge mode it is!

I finished off the movie and the crew took me on a tour of the aircraft to see the lounge etc We had a good chat about the differences with Emirates and different aircraft (like comparing the noise levels within a 747 or the crew rest on the 380 vs the 787 or 747). I got myself some water to go with a few more chocolates and returned to the seat for another movie.

After a while I got a bit more tired so I asked for the seat to be turned into a bed (and I ducked upstairs to the lounge for a photo (in the hope there was no one in there this time). When I came back the bed was about half way made and I saw the mattress pad they were using. Full Lambswool! Wow… comfy looking! The setup was great and looked mighty comfy.

I settled in trying to get some sleep but it didn’t happen. But I did get some rest, it wasn’t sleep at all but it was better than nothing. I can see why people sleep easily on these flights because it was damn comfy! Eventually though I gave up on that, snuck a cookie from the galley (we were about 4 hours out of LA now and figured time for more movies). I was not even going to try a steak sandwich or anything bigger. I could see why the Singapore and Hong Kong flights only offered a light breakfast before landing with the tasting menu. You wouldn’t need any more food!

Around 2 hours out of LAX I could smell breakfast under way. Bacon can easily permeate the cabin. I had seen the Bircher muesli in the lounge and figured it would be the same recipe. Maybe worth a try over normal muesli. So ordered that along with the pancakes (as I went savoury in the lounge and they didn’t sound all that big) some coffee and a danish as my bakery item. No to big of a breakfast but a good end.

The bircher was good, would’ve preferred a little bit more crunch to offset the softness. The danish was good but the pancakes were the right size for that meal and the pears.. yum! Washed down by plenty more coffee and I was set!

As we slowly started to wake up and get ready for arrival into Los angeles I was really wanting it to just keep going but sadly it couldn’t We came in and started to descend turning for a north arrival right over Randys and In n Out. As we approached the sun was rising beautifully and from the Skycam I could tell we were getting a crosswind as we were crabbing it in. I never would’ve known unless I had the skycam but seeing an A380 crab in the arrival was amazing!

We touched down about 5 minutes late and took a long slow taxi back to TBIT. With that the flight was over 🙁 I would be kicked off back to the land of TSA Hell, dignity loss and nude o’ scopes at every turn. I had waited around for everyone else to head off (I had 5 hours I wasn’t in a hurry) and before I walked out I was invited into the cockpit! Score!

I had a quick chat with the crew, thanked them for a great flight and mentioned the crabbing and was told there was still a 30 kt crosswind at 1000ft. wow.. that was hefty cause I didn’t feel a thing! With a brief photo in the captains seat. I was off into TBIT.

Introduction
Seattle to Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Brisbane
Brisbane to Sydney to Canberra
Canberra
Canberra to Melbourne
Melbourne
Qantas First Lounge Melbourne
Melbourne to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Seattle
Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                   

Sunday 07th April 2013

After a morning catch up with my friends over breakfast and a quick few last minute photo ops, I headed back towards the airport for my flight. It was still pretty early but there was a reason that I was going to do this that early. I wanted to get through to the airport a bit earlier as I needed to fill the car but next to the airport was something that I had wanted to check out. An Aussie costco. Now they were just opening up when I left Australia almost a year ago and they were pretty popular.

Since I had seen what the real costco was like (and I had actually been to the original costco), it would be nice to see what the aussie version is like. That and I had been told they had giant tubs of vegemite, which was going to be tempting to see if it would be worth taking one of them home compared to tubes.

So I stopped by and was surprised at just how expensive some things are in comparison to normal prices. To give you an idea 2 x 1125ml bottles of Bundy rum set me back $54 AUD duty free. Costco wanted 1 for $45. General 700ml bottles go for $45 at most bottle shops. So in the end the prices are still pretty high but cheaper than normal but not as cheap as duty free (in the booze scenarios).

With costco explored and the car filled (at $1.55 per litre, which equates to $6.20 per gallon) I was wishing that things were not over so soon. Unfortunately it meant that my time in the city was coming to a quick end and I had to go and head off. I dropped back the car and there was not a single person around to scan the car back in. So I grabbed all my stuff and headed back inside the airport, to which when I dropped it all off, the person was almost wanting to just get rid of me without a receipt or anything. O how much I was wishing that I had National over in Australia as well.

Car dropped off I headed upstairs to departures and the terminal was EMPTY! The new Canberra airport is almost finished and it was really nicely designed and looked a treat so I was totally looking forward to exploring some of the newer areas. Last time I had been through only the Qantas side had opened but barely 2 weeks prior the new Virgin Australia side had opened. Which was great because I could see the new lounge. Check in was a bit slow thanks to an older lady who wasn’t even flying that day tying up the staff complaining about baggage costs or something. Eventually an extra staff member had to come over and check me in cause the old lady was causing hassles.

While checking in I was asked if I had been through the new lounge and was given directions to it from check in, which was very welcome as I had no idea where the new lounge was. Security took all of 30 seconds. Shoes still on, belt still on, watch still on (hear that Brisbane airport), only thing required out was my laptop. No silly liquid restrictions either!. Hell thll the new security check point had comfy looking couches so if you needed to remove your boots or something (if they had metal in them) you could do so comfortably. God I was going to miss this!

The flight wasn’t going to board for a good 90 minutes or so, so I had plenty of time to relax in the lounge, catch up on some work and have a chat to my folks and touch base with them, maybe even make a few other phone calls. So off I went to the new lounge following the directions I was given (through security, turn left, up about 40m, through the glass doors, up the escalators, turn around and you can’t miss it).

The new lounge follows the same design as Brisbane, Melbourne and to some extent Sydney (though the Sydney lounge has not yet finished refurbishment) but damn it was nice! So open and beautiful! Big picture windows with the best views of the runway (perfect for spotting). The lounge was very quiet with only about 15 people there, but could easily hold about 150. Perfect to my liking as I like quiet (which is what i like about lounge access).

The lounge had the usual lunchtime offerings so after a couple of coffees, some work, some spotting and a nice healthy lunch of sandwich, salad and pumpkin soup (god yes!) it was time to get myself ready for the flight. It was at this point i realised something not so good. I had NOT brought with me my earplanes (which are special kind of earplug that I have to wear). I had left them in my suitcase which was now checked in. I would have to go and purchase some.

There is only one problem with that, though they are readily available in the airports the cost to buy them in Australia is extortionate compared to the US. I usually pay about $4 a pair at walmart (each pair is good for a return flight) whereas over here in Aus the airport pricing is almost $20, off airport you are lucky to get them for about $12-15.

So when my aircraft landed I knew it was time to head down to the gate via the newsagent to bend over and take that wallet hit. With that handled I headed over to the gate itself to wait for boarding which was not all that far away from when I got there. People were lining up everywhere and I heard a lady bitching about elite guests and how they always take up the overhead bin space. seriously? She had 4 bags herself!

Virgin Australia – VA268
Canberra to Melbourne
1305-1415
Boeing 737-800 (VH-YIA)
Economy Class – Seat 7A

Boarding: 1240 (Gate 7)
Push Back: 1307
Take Off Roll: 1315 (Runway 35)
Top of Descent: 1343
Touch Down: 1407 (Runway 27)
Shut Down: 1415 (Gate 8)

Boarding was called and I had to wait for the loan person to finish his announcement so that I could get onboard as I wanted an empty cabin shot as I wasn’t sure but I had a feeling about this specific aircraft. That feeling was justified when I walked onboard. BSI! Yep that’s right. Boeing Sky Interior! I had only ever flown 1 flight with a BSI and I was up front in Business so this would be good to see it from the Economy perspective.

I was totally impressed and I still love this aspect of the new 737 fit outs. Other than that this was a pretty normal flight with Virgin Australia. The boarding process took a while but we pushed back on time pretty much and taxied out past all the Qantas Aircraft (but I had sat on the wrong side as usual, why do I always go for A seats?). We held short of the runway for a bit for some reason, there was no arriving or departing traffic ahead of us, so maybe the crew were double checking something? Maybe the sequester is affecting Australian Airports to 😉

When we finally turned onto the active, gave the engines some JP1 and hit the skies it was good to know that the last leg of my qualifying was now over. With me in the air and winging my way to melbourne on this short 45 minute flight (as announced) it would all be over. I settled in for the usual Capital Connect freebie service, with my book and that’s about it really. We took off to the north, looped around the city to the right and headed south for Victoria.

The free service was the usual, juice, water and “take this snack or your getting nothing” option which today was some savory biscuits but since I wasn’t hungry, into my bag they went. The water did help though.

As we approached melbourne the clouds came in and it turns out that some weather that we should’ve avoided was looking like it was going to hit earlier so our forecast of “all is good” became “sorry you will get wet now”. But the landing on the cross runway at Melbourne was non eventful and as we taxied the long way back to the terminal we got a good sight of 3 different Whale Jets (SQ, EK & QF) all at the gates along with Cathay, China Southern, Malaysian and even a Thai 777 about to head skyward for Bangkok.

We pulled into our assigned gate easily and with that my flight was over. Boring yet true! I grabbed all my stuff and fought the crowds to get out of the plane and then saw just how busy this place was today. It was packed! So many people, security was a mess of people as well. But it was a sunday in Prime weekend flight returns so people heading home etc.

I dropped by the Lounge to say hi to an old friend who works there and then went off on my way to the baggage claim where my bag was doing laps of the belt, single, solitary and all alone. I was lucky the AFP had not yet destroyed it as a suspicious package. With suitcase in hand, I paid for a Skybus ticket and I was off to the city. Quickly & Easily. Shouldn’t travel always be this effortless?