The Prelude

The saying goes that the journey is more important than the destination and there is a lot of truth to that, but I think the journey really starts once you leave the airport. Lines, Customs, cramped seats, US airports with their lack of space, poor signage, lost bags and absence of friendly faces are all just annoying hurdles that stand between you and the journey. With that out of the way, our journey is about to begin.

Interestingly our flight to LA from Melbourne involved a short stopover in Auckland, which came as a surprise to us both. There was no mention of it when we booked the flights, nothing about it on our itinerary and no mention of it on our boarding pass when we checked in. It’s the first time I’ve been to New Zealand and all I saw was the Auckland airport. I hope to see a little more of the country next time I’m there, but it sure did look pretty green when we flew over.

As an aside, for those of you that have been on the Melbourne footy trips and used the Qantas Club as a lubricant before the Friday night match, just spare a thought for these poor Americans. In the Admirals Club, the Qantas Club equivalent of American Airlines, you have to buy your alcohol and bottled drinks from the bar, and of course being the US, you are also expected to tip your bar staff. Sounds a bit rough to me.
We got to know the Admirals Club very well today, we were all set for a moderate wait for our flight to San Francisco when out of the blue our flight got cancelled. After being waitlisted for the next flight, and having another two hour wait, we arrived at the boarding gate to discover that we were 12th and 13th in the queue (i.e. no chance in hell we were actually going to get on that flight, but surprisingly our luggage was a better negotiator than we were and made it on through!). After discovering that we hadn’t even been booked in on the following and last flight, things got a tad tense. There were of course no seats available, so after a bit of spirited discussion with the AA rep, he rang through and booked us on the next United Airlines flight. The race against the clock was on. We had to scramble from the AA terminal to the UA terminal, checked in and through security, in time to board the 8pm flight. If they were conducting try-outs for The Amazing Race, we would’ve romped it in.

Anyway we got to San Fran safe and sound, albeit a bit late, and considering the last 24 hours, we are in good spirits. We have also been reunited with our luggage.

Let the journey begin!

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