On My Way To Oz-Part Two

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Pt Two-On the way to OZ.







Gogo Inflight WiFi is a beautiful thing. I used the Internet during the whole flight to SFO. My new companion turned out to be all right-we chatted a little bit then went back to our respective activities.



The flight landed at SFO on time,and even though I flew from Terminal 3 to the International terminal,I still had plenty of time. I waited in line to recheck in (had to do this for London),only to find out it wasn’t needed.Bye-bye, ten mminutes of my life!



So I headed upstairs to this Mexican restaurant that looked appetizing-turns out it was basically fast food.However,the enchilada was pretty good,and came out quickJ



Soon it was time to board,and I could tell that my odds of having my two seats to myself were pretty high when the gate agent sped through the “boarding groups” and I was boarding within five minutes of first class boarding. SO glad I didn’t waste $30 on that priority line crap United was trying to sell!!!



As I made my way down to 59J (the second to last seats of the two seaters)I noticed how empty,empty the plane looked. Then I heard them….



Across the aisle,in the 4 seat row NEXT to me, was the family from JFK…the one with the shrieking 2 yr old boy.



This couldn’t be good.



But just then,I overheard them asking a FA if they could spread out over a couple of rows,and I heard her tell them that “the flights pretty empty tonight.” So I hopped up and asked what my odds were of moving to an empty row of three seats. She said to wait until they closed the doors,and then make my move. My new friend across the aisle suggested I move fast)he wanted my two seater row to lay the screamer down.”



So I grabbed my bags and heade up to the last 3 seat row in the back,row 57. I sat in the aisle(didn’t want to end up in a bad situation if two other people showed up!) and held my breath. Two minutes later, the announcement was made that the cabin doors were closed,and I had my very own lie-flat bed for the 14.5 hr flight.



SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!



Thanks to my lovely friend “Zanny” I was well prepared for takeoff,and it was pretty smooth. Unfrtunately,couldn’t see the Golden Gate Bridge,but you could see the city.



Zanny was starting to get me quite drowsy,so it was a struggle to wait for the seatbelt sign clearance,and then I grabbed my overhead bag and brought it to my little suite,unpacked my fuzzy blanket,travel pillow and pillow case. I stuffed about 3 of the airline pillows in there,which,with my travel pillow,blanket,and airplane blankets,made quite a nice little bed.



I held on for the dinner,which wasn’t much..pasta with meatballs….you be the judge. However,I was literally falling asleep as I was eating,so I collapsed into my bed and passed out for a couple of hours.



A short while later,the plane began bouncing around like it was a ride at Cedar Point. I was a little leery,especially when it seemed to shake from side to side. I caually asked a FA walking around with water if it was ok,which of course pegged me for the slightly anxious flyer hat I am. Soon, a male FA came by and gave me a detailed explanation of turbulence,saying that “there’s a lot on the way to Sydney usually.”



GREAAAT.



Luckily,the Xanax and fatigue were still in my system,so I changed positions and managed to sleep some more,tolerating the bumps along the way.



Six ours later,I was WIDE awake. According to my phone,we still had 7 hrs to go. I decided to put my shoes back on and take a stroll. I went back,saw my original seat choice(last window seat of 2 seaters) and saw that I could have wedged myself out if needed to.Musst keep that in mind for flight home….



I walked up to the galley,and asked if they were still serving drinks. They proceeded to show me every last little liquor bottle they had. After selecting one,I thanked the guy for his turbulence speech before.We all had a conversation about it,and how it puts kids to sleep. I mentioned that the family in the back was with me from JFK. They laughed and said I must have been horrified to see myself next to them on this flight. Since the little darlins are now passed out(each in their own 2 st row,mind you) I said I didn’t care. Seriously,I’m ecstatic about my seat luck on this flight. And as I did a lap through the cabin, I noticed that practically every row was taken by one person…lots of ghetto lie flat seats. Meanwhile,in economy plus,each row had at least two people. Man,that’s got to suck-paying $150 for extra legroom and we “cattle class” are enjoying our own rows…LOL!!!



So now its…who knows what time. According to my phone,its7:30 am California time,which means we’ve been in the air for about8.5-9 hrs…stillat least 5.5 hrs to go!!! They just came around with a snack…turkey and cheese sandwich and cookie…doesn’t look too bad. Just as I was about to settle down and eat it,and watch a movie or something,the overhead comes on:



“Is there a doctor or other medical personnel on board?”



Well, I was awake,hadn’t had but a sip of my drink, so I pressed my call button. (I know certain people reading this are cringing right now-you know who you are!) The FA came over.



“I’m a nurse,I don’t know if you need anyone else,” I said.



He ushered me up to the business class cabin,saying someone was having “a panic attack,” (yes, I know the hypocrisy here).As we reached the business class galley,another FA started talking about a passenger who was having “stomach issues and running to the bathroom every 20 minutes.”



Um,ok…..I was a bit confused,until I realized there were TWO people having issues. The male FA led me to the first one,saying that she was acting confused,slurring her speech,but he couldn’t smell any alcohol on her. She was the one with the stomach issues,apparently. He led me over to a woman who was obviously in an altered state. After questioning her at length,it seemed that she had had an injury a few days prior,and had a shitload of narcotics on her,about half of which she took prior to getting on board,didn’t eat (in BUSINESS class,where they have a 3 course prepared meal!!!) as well as an Ambien.After doing a quick neuro check on her,I told her to eat something light,go to sleep,and definitely NOT take anything else. Her poor husband looked mortified.



Well,the business class seat looked quite nice,anyway.



The FA returned me to the galley,where apparently a doctor also identified herself,and she checked out the panicker,who fell asleep. The FA’s were VERY thankful,asked us both for ID(not my frequent flyer number though,though I did ask…) The male FA kept offering me snacks from business/first,so he took me on a tour of their little snack bars,where I collected an orange,some Toblerone,chips,cheese, and crackers. He then asked me what type of wine I liked-I told him white,although I wondered why he was offering me alcohol since it WAS free in economy anyway.



So I went back to my row,feeling pretty pleased with myself,though I didn’t really do much,but it was a good distraction.I was pretty wide awake, so I settled in a watched a movie on my laptop(the overhead features were not appealing). Between my reward snacks and the mid-flight sandwich,I ended up having a pretty decent meal at about 5-6-7 in the morning…I think. It was still dark out.



THEN…the business class FA comes back..and gives me a BOTTLE(FULL-size) of Chardonnay as a thank you!!! WOW!!!



(To my relative who is also a nurse and vows never to identify herself in a similar situation….think twice!!!)



After thanking him profusely,and checking that I could get through customs with it(he told me to put it in my bag) I finished my movie,and saw that we still had about 3.5 hrs to go. So,I settled in for another nap.



I woke up about an hour and a half later to more turbulence(yippee) and decided to get cleaned up and changed for the day. All in all, I probably got at least 8-9 hrs sleep. Not bad at ALL. (Yes, I do realize that this is a RARE occurrence on TPAC flights!!)



So now I’m lounging on my “couch”,its daylight,and finishing this part of the blog. I did a few more laps around the cabin,and it seems like people are waking up.I’m assuming that we will have breakfast soon,although I’m not terribly hungry after my midnight meal LOL! But it is getting pretty bumpy….



So that’s all for now…will upload this as soon a I have WIFI!!!



Next stop…Australia,here I come!!!!!

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Photos

United 747
My ride to OZ...a little hard to see through window at SFO

My Lie-Flat Bed
Very comfy

Sunrise on the Pacific
About 3 hrs out from Sydney

Our Flight tracker
This was at the time of the sunrise

Rows 57-60 on UA 747
Photo taken from behing row 60J

Breakfast!
Not sure what the green item was...