On Saturday, I woke up at 4 in the morning to make my 6:05 am flight from Adelaide to Melbourne. Luckily, I was able to check my bag all the way through to Los Angeles.
I did NOT get the seat I requested for my long leg of the flight. I like the aisle seats in the middle rows (I am very particular about what I like now that I've done the journey enough times), but I got an aisle seat on the side. If you don't know what I'm talking about, there are ten seats in each row that are divided by two aisles. It goes: wall, three seats, aisle, four seats, aisle, three seats, wall. That would mean that I would have to get up several times for the people next to me, because there is not the option for them to go out the other side. I therefore ran to the Qantas customer service desk and snagged the last window seat of the flight. As I told you all a few days ago, I planned on sleeping and not getting up much.
The short leg from Adelaide to Melbourne was fantastic, because I had the window seat with nobody next to me. Those are always the best plane rides, because there is more room for my crap. And since Qantas is so fabulous, I got a complimentary newspaper with headphones (to watch "Modern Family" and "Mythbusters"). The "Dark Tower" book is mine, so I had to pay for that.
While waiting at my gate, I took a look at the departures board. I always enjoy looking at all of the destinations around Australia. They are basically all New Zealand, LA, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands (take me to Fiji, please).
Dinner included chicken in brown sauce with potatoes, peas and green beans (I also could have chosen a beef dish). There was also an orzo salad with tomatoes on the side with a bread roll, crackers and a square of sharp cheddar cheese. Everything was good except for the chicken, which was inedible. I need to remember to order a vegetarian meal for next time.
I ate all of this while watching "The King's Speech". Great movie!
He was a very nice man. In fact, he was so nice that he didn't feel the need to tell his children to be quiet while everybody else on the plane was trying to sleep. He let them talk loudly and play their Game Boy (or whatever it is these days) with the volume on. I was ready to tell him off so many times, but I didn't. I'm actually surprised that nobody else said anything! There were plenty of people around us and flight attendants going up and down the aisles while the lights were off. Anyway, I only ended up sleeping for an hour. I actually only blame the loud family for a small percentage of my inability to sleep longer. I really just wasn't tired. Perhaps I should try sleeping less the night before.
While I wasn't sleeping or trying to sleep, I watched "Love and Other Drugs" (decent movie) and lots of episodes of "Keeping up with the Kardashians". Who would have thought I would actually enjoy it?I also ate two chocolate chip coconut cookies and a granola bar, which was part of a snack pack that Qantas gave us.
Then, my TV stopped working during the last two hours of my flight. It just stopped loading shows. The same thing happened to the noise-loving father next to me. I just stared at the flight map (since that was one of the only things that would load) and watched the plane get closer to LA. Once the lights came back on, I took off my headphones and read my book. I was slightly crabby by this point. It was something like 1am on my body clock.
Breakfast came around during the last hour. I ordered the hot breakfast (instead of the cereal), and kind of wish that I went with cereal. It was runny eggs with a sausage (that looked like a brown ding-dong) that I wouldn't touch and tomatoes and spinach. There was bacon under the veggies, but I wouldn't touch it either. There was also melon, a croissant, orange juice and much-needed black tea. I really need to remember to request vegetarian meals from now on. The meat just isn't safe.
After, I went to grab my bag off the carousel. I laughed when I found mine, because it was piled on top of a bunch of other suitcases. I had a lot of trouble getting it, but I was eventually able to yank it off.