The LOOOOOONG Flight

Wow it feels like I haven't blogged for 2 days, in fact I blogged last night (well last night for me anyway). Unfortunately Dad and I didn't get a very good night sleep due to nerves and anticipation. So Dad and I got up bright and early Thursday morning (0615) to catch the Ipswich train line at Indoorpilly get our tickets and wait. I thought I knew what a train looked like on a working week day. Yeah right.OMG it was utterly packed all the way on all trains to the Brisbane International Airport.

So Dad and I get out and make our way to the check-out desk. We are booked in by a lovely attendant (I don't care what anyone says I love flying with Qantas) and get our tickets. We fill out the green Customs Clearance Card and this is the point where you insert the butterflies.

We make our way around the airport and we realise that we haven't had breakfast so we stop at the Aroma Cafe and we both get Eggs Benedict, Dad with his usual long black and myself with my usual cappuccino. So once we have have had our fill we walk round to the gate and wait. That is where I see out plane the 747-400. Quite a large plane.

The seats in the plane for those that have never flown overseas before is 3 along the the window on the left and right sides of the plane and 4 in the middle. So finally once we are boarded after the business and premium economy and the people in the very back of the plane we find our seats. 50D and 50E.We are in the middle. Yay. So I was hoping that the plane wouldn't be too full so we had room, but fat chance of that. With American backpackers going home and a group of people to people 42 students and 2 teachers. So after not having alot of sleep last night (Wednesday) Dad and I thought that we would get some shut eye on the plane. Once again fat chance of that. During the 13hr and 5min flight we got a total of 0hr and 0min sleep. I hate planes!! So I made my time useful and watched 6 movies. John Carter, The Hunger Games, Acts of Valour, The woman in the Black Dress, Salt and Margin Call. I am quite surprised that my brain is not Swiss cheese.So with the flight becoming increasingly uncomfortable the staff certainly made up for it by feeding you constantly.

So on thew Brisbane to Los Angeles flight for lunch/dinner we had a choice of 3. Tuna, Chicken or Ravioli. Both Dad and I had the Four Cheese Ravioli in a Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce. You also got a bread roll and a Fig and Honey Rice pudding for dessert. Through-out the night we were given a Zucchini, smoked mozzarella and onion jam pizza, Weis Ice Cream, Cheese and crackers and also a fruit and nut slice. Then for breakfast we could have cereal or a Bacon and Zucchini Frittata with Pork Sausages and Roma Tomatoes. How ever I'm not fond of zucchini for breakfast or any other time for that matter so I took the cereal and Dad had the hot breakfast. So we FINALLY land at 0645 Thursday morning. Dad and I thought that our luggage was going to be booked all the way to New York. Well it was BUT we still had to collect it at Los Angeles airport LAX.

So we deboard and go through the customs and border protection stuff, get our bags walk round to where we drop them off then go to the gate. People if you thing that the Sydney international airport or the domestic airports are big? You are wrong. LAX is SO bloody big huge. Yes dad and I did get lost trying to find the gate. So we get to the gate and having more time to spare than we thought we now had to wait.

So we are finally boarding after the lucky people and the people at the very end of the plane. It is once again a 747-400 but different crew. But this time we were on the left hand side windows in seats 41A and 41B. So thinking that again we are going to be squashed even more that the previous flight something good happens. No one else sits with us. So I have the window and Dad has his preferred seat. The isle. Not long after taking off Dad visits the land of nod and I.....Yes you guessed correct watched another movie. Big Miracle. Then after we have lunch of Salad of Roast Beef with Yukon Gold Potatoes and Aioli accompanied by Citrus Fruit Compote, Oatmeal and Raisin Cookie, Cheese and Crackers. We both visit the land of nod and wake up for about 40 mins to go. So we deboard and this is where the confusion starts. At the New York airport in the terminal that we landed in only has 2 baggage carousels and our flight number QF107 wasn't on either. They just hadn't changed the numbers. So we had to wait a while until we got our bags. We got out of the airport and went to the taxi rink. The weather was reported to be 28 degrees. I have to say that Americans know nothing about real heat. 28 please. We get a taxi so after ringing the hotel to find out how to get there and consulting his trusty gps we get on the way without too much traffic problems.

Our hotel is called The Union Hotel at 611 Degraw street Brooklyn. www.theunionhotel.com

View taken from our window at 1930




So after about 30 mins of hanging around we went and walked around Brooklyn. So I'm going to leave you with a shot of the city at night.

Well nighty night all. See you tomorrow