Perth to LA

So our flight to Sydney was delayed big time. Something to do with a fuel leak. We were scheduled for take off from Perth at 8:50am but didn't take off until just a few minutes after midday. That means we are scheduled to land at around the same time our LA flight is scheduled to take off from Sydney. I am sure we are not the only ones on this flight who are going onto foreign shores, LA included, so just maybe they will delay our flight, I doubt it.

We were up around 5:30am and Ryan took us to the airport. Rayls got a birthday gift just before we left, two tickets to see Olivia Newton-John in Vegas on 27th January and we also got a fountain view room at the Bellagio for the night. That is for our 40th wedding anniversary on the 24th. Pleased with that.

I am starting some awards for this trip. The first is the DA Award, Dumbarse award which will go to a deserving recipient each day. There is already a winner for today's award. That would be me, who carefully packed his backpack with cables, iPads, glasses and other stuff for on the plane and then left it at home. Luckily Ryan and Scott kindly met half way and the backpack arrived just a few minutes after we had finished checking in.

It is 12:58pm and lunch is slowly making its way down the aisle. I wonder what they did with the breakfast we were suppose to have.

This aircraft, flew in from Auckland overnight and landed at 12:18am. That's 8 hours in Perth, long time to fix a fuel leak.

Rayls has been asleep since take off. She slept through the safety drill and I suspect lunch as well.

As always, the dinner trolley runs out of food as they are just about to serve us so we have to wait for a refill. Chicken and cashews, pasta and vegetables or salmon and salad.

The delays of the flight were annoying but the staff informed us as best they could. We did get a $10 beverage voucher each but the line was too long to bother.

Boxed lunches these days but food was OK.

There is a guy a few rows back who is demanding a beer and they won't give him one. This could get interesting, where is the Air Marshall.

I did ask the lady who gave us lunch what happened to the breakfast and she smiled and muttered dumarse under her breath!

Rayls woke for lunch. Doesn't remember taking off though!

I suspect we are going to spend the night in Sydney.

The drunk got arrested by 2 Federal Police Officers and is handcuffed at the back of the plane. I now hear there is 4 guys holding the drunk down and there was talk of landing in Adelaide. However we are over Adelaide as I type and I can't see such a sudden decent. Long time for the 4 guys to sit on this dude.

Much later now and we are just over 3 hours into our flight to the USA.

As promised, a half hour before arrival in Sydney the Senior Flight Attendant broadcast details of connections. People transferring to QF7 to Dallas were told to high tail it to the transfer desk, people going on QF17 to LA (our flight) were told to go to the service desk. This indicates a hotel for the night. After landing in Sydney about 8 Federal Cops came on board to deal with the drunk dude at the back. As they walked past us, the SFA broadcast that people on QF17 should also make their way to the transfer desk. Scott had already texted me that QF17 had taken off 2 minutes early so this was strange. It did create a problem as people were milling in the aisle waiting to get off and tough to get through. Like magic their is a broadcast asking everyone to sit down again because the Feds needed to bring the baddie out. So everyone sits down and about 10 of us heading to either Dallas or LA bolt for the door. Good work, except I forgot my phone so Rayls went for the transfer desk whilst I went back to the plane and fought through the crowd to get to the door of the plane. They searched for the phone with no success, I looked myself but no luck. So I dashed off the plane and headed for the international desk. Rayls was just coming out of the line, waving and with boarding passes. We are on QF7 heading to Dallas with a 3 hour layover at Dallas Fort Worth before an American Airlines flight to LA. In short, instead of landing at LAX at 1pm Sunday, we will land there around 10pm and via Dallas. Sigh.

QF7 was suppose to take off 5 hours earlier but there was a major delay which was to our benefit. The shuttle bus got us to the international terminal, through immigration and security in about 15 minutes and a dash for gate 8 with both our names being called over the PA to hurry up. Everyone was very nice and sympathetic. We have seats 71A and B with no one in C. It's an A380. We took off just after 7pm Sydney time. The flight us not too busy so that's nice. The pilot came back to talk to people, it is Captain Richard De Crespigny who was in charge of QF32 which had a major malfunction a few years ago just out of Singapore heading to Sydney. That flight was subject to an episode of Air Crash Investigation.

Sydney to Dallas was at one time the longest commercial flight in the world, in time it is 15 hours, distance it is ? I am not sure if it is still the longest flight but it is in the top 3.

I reinforced my DA Award by losing my phone which I didn't lose, it was in my bag all along. DA!

Later again and we are not far from Phoenix and an hour and 40 from Dallas. Been a good flight. Rayls managed some sleep, laying on two seats. I dozed, watched some TV - that Amy Schumer is everything I hate in a comedian but she makes me laugh.

The service on the flight has been excellent, food good. As many Tim Tams as you want. I made the mistake of putting one in my shirt pocket and forgetting about it and my shirt pocket is now very brown and I smell of chocolate. DA! Mind you the smell of chocolate is probably better than the alternative as we approach a day since our departure from Perth.

There is some irony in going to Dallas, we will be back here on Thursday. Also my interest in the JFK assassination makes Dallas a special place for me.

So I think we can give today's Legends Award to Qantas. Their stupid plane wouldn't start in Perth but they did their best, got us to Sydney, dealt with the drunk guy efficiently and quietly. Now have us on a plane to Dallas - the service has been good, they have done their very best under difficult circumstances. Ryan would have come second for taking us to the airport and then meeting Scott half way to collect my forgotten bag. That would make Scott third.

I wonder if they have showers at DFW, also a new Texas Tee Shirt may be in order.

We have crossed into New Mexico and must be 10 K's or so north of the old Mexico.

We must have landed in Dallas around 6:30pm. It was a 15 hour and 10 minute flight and over 14300 K's.

Tough going but a good flight. Immigration was fairly easy, all this Fast Tracking where you scan your passport and smile at the camera. Rayls did get pulled aside for an extra check but she passed.

Baggage claim was a little more tedious but OK. Welcome to Dallas. We arrived at Terminal 4 and needed to get to terminal 1 for our LA nd there was a delay to our American Airlines flight, now departing at 10pm. So we headed to gate 28, I then made an other blunder and took us the wrong way and we ended up going through security again.

They stated boarding our flight around 10pm - took off around 10:50 and here we are on our way to LA, I hope. Should land a bit before midnight LA time. Rental car, hotel, shower and bed with no alarm set.

LA

We landed in LA at, midnight, have our rental car and have made it to the hotel. More news after a good night's sleep.