We spent a lot of time doing the math on how to do luggage. We only get one piece of checked luggage and one carry on. It’s fine when we first leave, but on our flights to Perth, Tasmania, and back home to Utah, a carry on can only weigh 7kg, or about 15 pounds. Most of the carryon suitcases weigh 7-8 pounds when it’s empty. So we had to take less carryon than normal. If we all took a typical carryon-sized suitcase they would have to be mostly empty to pass weight. Fortunately Allen has a Tom Bihn obsession and has collected some handy travel bags over the years. They don’t roll, but we decided he and I would use those and carry them like backpacks. We were trying to decide if we wanted to check another large bag ($100 each of three trips) or another small carryon suitcase for Henry (free the first flight but $100 each of TWO trips leaving Melbourne and Perth). The dilemma is that it’s free the first time, but it doesn’t carry as much stuff. If we take a large bag, we have to pay $100 *three* times, is it worth it to have the space on our return trip for souvenirs? We messed with that math for two days and finally decided to take the carryon bag. If we need more on the way back we will buy a suitcase with the $100 we saved, or use a box.
Now I have to tell you how dumb it is that we obsessed about that because our tickets were over $2800. EACH. ONE WAY. An extra $100 just doesn’t matter. And Allen’s employer is paying for the airfare. Now I have to tell you the story about the airfare.*
We stuffed everything from my office and our bedroom into Henry's room. That will make for less trips to the basement when we get back.
One of the last things I did at the house was to clean up the succulents and repot them. No, not because I'm crazy. It's because I knew that was optional and I'd only do it if everything else was done and I had time. And I did. I also took some sweet pea seeds and sowed them out front around the sunflower stem from last summer. It’s still wrapped with vines from the morning glory that grew well, but never flowered. I hope the peas will grow up the pole and greet us when we return with blossoms.
I got a notification while we drove to the airport that our gate for the flight leaving San Francisco to Melbourne had changed to G9. No worries.
United was super helpful. I had already checked in and printed our boarding passes at home. There was absolutely no line at security, but I feel like I used about 6 bins for all my stuff. That doesn’t include Henry or Allen. Both my bags were flagged because they have so many snacks in them. :) I know how bad things are when Henry gets hangry.
After security we needed dinner. Cafe Rio was the first restaurant. It was way easier ordering with an easy kiosk, instead of a person with a Spanish accent yelling fast at you “pinto or black?” Henry came back from the bathroom and said, “that was the nicest public bathroom I’ve ever been in. Five stars so far.” And shortly after that said, “I feel completely stress free right now.”
That changed while we were sitting at our gate eating dinner when we found out they had changed our gate. He didn't like having something undone. He just wanted to BE THERE ASAP. So even though we had plenty of time, we had to scarf down dinner and move to settle his head.
Got another notification that the gate for San Francisco had changed to G6.
I had been trying to find a good time to call my mom before we leave the country and our phones won’t work for a bit. I texted her after we ate dinner and said “I’m finally going to call you after my bathroom trip.” Well I almost lost my phone to the toilet. It was in the inside pocket of my jacket and it just tilted enough to come out with out my realizing it. Yikes. Mom would have been waiting for a very long time.
Henry called his best friend Max a few minutes before boarding and they talked as long as possible. Even after we had boarded.
They had to de-ice the plan and we got some cool video. I’d never seen that before.
We landed in San Francisco early even after taking off late. Got a notification that the gate had changed to G5.
Then it was G4 *and* delayed 30 minutes because they were waiting for a gate to become available. I figured that meant they didn’t actually have G4.
And sure enough a few minutes later we got a notification it was now G2.
It took a long time to board. Every passenger was checked with biometric screening. I didn’t show my passport or my boarding pass. I stood in front of a scanner that compared my face with my passport on record. They could tell who I was! Creepy. And they did that for 280 people.
While we waited to taxi to the runway I couldn’t stay awake anymore. I fell asleep…and woke up to find that we were still at the gate. I’m not sure why but because they were delayed finding a gate they were still refueling and getting the plane ready. We didn’t leave until 12:45 or so. Departure was originally 11:00 pm. This meant that we actually did have 45 minutes of December 20. If we had left on time, we'd have landed in Melbourne on Dec 21, entirely skipping the 20th because of the international date line.
During the 16 hour flight, I had time to evaluate our neck pillow purchases.
No comments:
Post a Comment