Denise and I set out today to try and make our way to either Auckland, New Zealand, Sydney, Australia or Melbourne, Australia. Our day started at 4 AM (MST) as Denise had to complete her last shift in the Bountiful Temple. We are making this trip during the two week period when the temple is closed for cleaning and maintenance. I have plenty of PTO so we decided to make a run at this.
Planning for this trip has been a bit mentally challenging because of flying stand by and not knowing if or which city we would touch down in. You can research and think about all the options. But the plan cannot come together until you get that last ticket in your hand and then you hope you have some time to make some quick reservations before the flight departs.
On Wednesday morning, the 8th, Auckland had some 18 seats available. Sydney at 20 from LAX and 20 from SFO. Melbourne only had 9 seats. It looked promising. After going to visit our parents and grandkids that evening, I checked the plane loads again. Auckland was over sold. Sydney had a couple of seats in both flights, but the stand by queue placed us well down on the list. Melbourne still had 5 seats....but no standbys. We really wanted to go to Auckland first....but that window seemed to close. And we had to make decision to go to LAX or SFO as Auckland only went out of SFO and Melbourne out of LAX.
Friday morning, while working, I made the decision to go after Melbourne seats, playing the 'odds' game. We were #1 and #2 in the stand by list for that flight. So off we went from SLC to SFO and then from SFO to LAX. Surprisingly, getting out of SLC was easy. Lots of seats. The flight from SFO to LAX was supposed to be the same. For the first time in all our travels, the plan we boarded on to go to SFO from SLC was going to be the same plane to take us to LAX. But, upon arriving, we checked the plane load. It once had 30 + seats available...but now was down to being oversold. That is what the app said. This was due to bad weather in SFO and many cancelled flights. Nonetheless, the heavens parted and just minutes before they were done boarding, many seats opened up on the board and we got on quite easily.
We arrived in LAX around 6 PM (PST) and immediately found food. We ate at a Wolfgang Puck eatery. It was really good. And it was actually cheaper than the food court across the way which I found very interesting. After eating, we had a 4+ hour wait to see if we would get tickets on the flight to Melbourne. Those are long waits. I kind of poked around on hotels near LAX in case we did not get on. I was also messaging AIRBNB hosts to see if they had availability and lining up a couple that I would try to book quickly once we had a ticket.
When the Melbourne flight started to board, the Gate Agent paged the stand by's to the counter. That was odd a bit as they did not call out names. It turned out to be bad news. She told me that the flight had a weight restriction on it and that SA's...stand by passengers...would not be allowed a seat unless there were a number Mis-connections or no shows. Well, Denise and I were still 1 and 2 on the list. Denise's hope for Business\First class was gone...but getting a ticket was still open. We just stood by the Gate Agent with another lady hoping to get on so they knew we were there. We listened to them talk and then one of the agents said to the other, they just release two seats for SA's. I felt really glad for Denise and I. But I felt sad for the lady standing by me also hoping to get on. Denise and I boarded and I don't know if she got on or not. I REALLY hope that she did.
After scrambling to get on, I quickly tried to book an AIRBNB room. But unfortunately, my credit card was old...the number was wrong. And as hard as I tried with their phone app, I could not get it to accept my card. So I just gave up and thought I'll have to do this when we land. But after falling a sleep for a few hours and then waking up, I decided to try United's WIFI and Internet a million miles over the ocean. I figured I only needed an hour....so I purchased that for $5. Whole flight usage was $21. Anyway, it took my card! So I quickly rented a car that we will use the next week to tour around Melbourne and then drive up to Sydney and tour around there. I then fixed my problem in AIRBNB and searched a bit more for apartments\rooms. I went with an apartmentl...so we won't be sharing stuff with others like a true B&B. But I could only put a reservation request in. And because it was late at night in Australia, the host probably will not see that until we get there in the morning....at least I hope. So we shall see.
I'm writing this with about 3 hours left in our 15 hour flight. It has not been too bad. We did get Economy Plus...so I do have a little leg room. Denise is right behind me. So we are close and can talk. We are excited for our next week of exploring and wonder if we will try to extend our adventure to New Zealand at the end of the week. We'll see. More to come!
Ohh...one story. Naturally our seats were middle seats on the flight down here. When I came to my seat, there was a guy and a girl...both very young college aged kids. It appeared to me that they had just come to know each other. They were chatting about why they were headed down to Melbourne and stuff. After I sat down, the young man asked if I wanted his aisle seat...so he could sit by this young lady. It was amazing what transpired. By about half way through the flight, they were sleeping on each other. He was massaging her back, stroking her hair. I was amazed. I'm 100% sure that they did not know each other before that flight. As they were getting off, the young man was trying to carry it forward a bit more as in 'let's go get a drink, talk a bit longer, etc.'. But she was excited and worried about getting to her dorm (they were coming here for a study abroad program...but for different schools). Anyway....I was amazed how quickly the 'hooked up'. I am getting old!
One last story....there was a medical emergency on our flight. And the fellow sitting next to Denise was a doctor who lives down here. All came out well...I guess. But we could not get off the plane until paramedics came on to check this young Asian girl out. She was ok. Who knows what here issues were.
Pictures:
Wolfgang Puck's Eatery....
Tough life waiting at LAX to head to Australia....
The happy travelers mid-flight......we're almost there!
Oh I can see it now. Dad not doing a good job at trying to evesdrop on his row mates. Hilarious.
ReplyDelete