The journey here in a little more depth.
Sep. 3rd, 2009 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drcuriosityMonday afternoon, my father arrived to take me to the airport. Being a little early, our stop at the mall to purchase trade goods also included a small meal, then off to the airport to check in. Got a spot check for explosives and gunpower residue in my carry-on luggage, but that took all of a few seconds before the friendly security officer let me on my way.
The CHC -> SYD flight was the worst leg. I hadn't thought to take any extra currency with me for in-flight food and water, so all I could afford was a distinctly substandard $2 Muesli bar. I didn't get any sleep, due to constantly having my elbow knocked by flight attendants coming past, and I ended up with a bruised elbow after about the third or fourth time I had a food/drink trolley smack into me on the way past. It's a bit too cramped for my broad frame, sure, but a little bit of care and attention would be nice too. So I'm not so sure about flying Pacific Blue again, if economy is going to be that economy.
Sydney airport wasn't too bad. Free internet access in the transit area (kiosks running Opera under Linux and set up in a security-conscious fashion, for those who care about such things). Unfortunately the transit desk I'd been directed to for V Australia wasn't open yet, so there was around 20 minutes of pensiveness while trying to confirm that yes, I could board the flight to L.A. after all.
SYD -> LAX was long, but a good flight. Smooth flying with a couple of minor spots of turbulence. In-flight meals were good, drink choices reasonable and frequent, staff friendly and helpful. In-flight entertainment was pretty awesome. Touch screen controlled, good handling of digital media. The setup was such that I could pause something I was watching or listening and do something else, then return to exactly where I left off - from anything I'd previously looked at. I found at the start of the flight that I could queue up a good ten hours or so of music that I liked in a relatively short space of time, plus a number of movies and TV show episodes. Then, over the course of the flight, select from my own personalised library of things I'd earlier suggested I might like to watch. Very slick. Boeing 777s are a pretty sweet ride, too.
Getting through Passport Control/Baggage/Customs at LAX was actually relatively relaxed this time. Slow in terms of the flow of people, but much quicker in terms of the processing. Having declared cheese and chocolate on my forms, officials just waved me through. Then a straight path out to the shuttles.
My brief rest stopover in Pasadena was made a little briefer by the shuttle ambling out and around through Alhambra and San Marino, but I guess I got to see a bit more of the area than last time. Even with the bank of thick orange-tinged smoke on the near horizon, arriving near Caltech was gratifyingly familiar from my last trip to the area. After a short trip for frozen yoghurt and the grateful receipt by my hosts of Whittaker's chocolate and a kilo of tasty cheddar from back home, a few hours of blessed rest and back out to the airport.
LAX -> CVG wasn't bad, either. I'm not sure if the LAX airport staff have relaxed since my last trip, or I'm just more used to the procedure, but it certainly felt easier this time through. Flying Delta wasn't too bad - juice, water and soft drinks free, and while the food was paid for it was reasonable quality. The staff were good - friendly, and screwing with me just enough when I asked silly questions to make me feel at ease. In-flight entertainment had some TV channels, pay-per-view movies and the like, but most of the time I just left the screen showing the navigation map. We had a good tail wind for most of the trip (up to 90km/h at one point), and arrived in a timely fashion.
Met my lovely fiancée at the airport with a minimum of fuss, bags arrived quickly, and then out the door and off home. Most of the time since has been resting, closeness, settling in and getting the furkids used to me again. It's really, really good to be here.
The CHC -> SYD flight was the worst leg. I hadn't thought to take any extra currency with me for in-flight food and water, so all I could afford was a distinctly substandard $2 Muesli bar. I didn't get any sleep, due to constantly having my elbow knocked by flight attendants coming past, and I ended up with a bruised elbow after about the third or fourth time I had a food/drink trolley smack into me on the way past. It's a bit too cramped for my broad frame, sure, but a little bit of care and attention would be nice too. So I'm not so sure about flying Pacific Blue again, if economy is going to be that economy.
Sydney airport wasn't too bad. Free internet access in the transit area (kiosks running Opera under Linux and set up in a security-conscious fashion, for those who care about such things). Unfortunately the transit desk I'd been directed to for V Australia wasn't open yet, so there was around 20 minutes of pensiveness while trying to confirm that yes, I could board the flight to L.A. after all.
SYD -> LAX was long, but a good flight. Smooth flying with a couple of minor spots of turbulence. In-flight meals were good, drink choices reasonable and frequent, staff friendly and helpful. In-flight entertainment was pretty awesome. Touch screen controlled, good handling of digital media. The setup was such that I could pause something I was watching or listening and do something else, then return to exactly where I left off - from anything I'd previously looked at. I found at the start of the flight that I could queue up a good ten hours or so of music that I liked in a relatively short space of time, plus a number of movies and TV show episodes. Then, over the course of the flight, select from my own personalised library of things I'd earlier suggested I might like to watch. Very slick. Boeing 777s are a pretty sweet ride, too.
Getting through Passport Control/Baggage/Customs at LAX was actually relatively relaxed this time. Slow in terms of the flow of people, but much quicker in terms of the processing. Having declared cheese and chocolate on my forms, officials just waved me through. Then a straight path out to the shuttles.
My brief rest stopover in Pasadena was made a little briefer by the shuttle ambling out and around through Alhambra and San Marino, but I guess I got to see a bit more of the area than last time. Even with the bank of thick orange-tinged smoke on the near horizon, arriving near Caltech was gratifyingly familiar from my last trip to the area. After a short trip for frozen yoghurt and the grateful receipt by my hosts of Whittaker's chocolate and a kilo of tasty cheddar from back home, a few hours of blessed rest and back out to the airport.
LAX -> CVG wasn't bad, either. I'm not sure if the LAX airport staff have relaxed since my last trip, or I'm just more used to the procedure, but it certainly felt easier this time through. Flying Delta wasn't too bad - juice, water and soft drinks free, and while the food was paid for it was reasonable quality. The staff were good - friendly, and screwing with me just enough when I asked silly questions to make me feel at ease. In-flight entertainment had some TV channels, pay-per-view movies and the like, but most of the time I just left the screen showing the navigation map. We had a good tail wind for most of the trip (up to 90km/h at one point), and arrived in a timely fashion.
Met my lovely fiancée at the airport with a minimum of fuss, bags arrived quickly, and then out the door and off home. Most of the time since has been resting, closeness, settling in and getting the furkids used to me again. It's really, really good to be here.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 11:35 pm (UTC)I wish I'd taken note of which plane I flew down in. Was via Air New Zealand, but the seats were just too damn small - headrest was digging into my shoulder blades. And the seats wouldn't recline to give me the option of leaning back.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 03:53 pm (UTC)Yep, the seem to have taken to having me around again fine, though the two newest cats are still a little skittery. Remus has had some belly scritches, so I guess I'm doing pretty well there :-) Even had Pandy pleased to see me when we visited the parents briefly, so I'm well-welcomed by the local critterlings.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 03:50 am (UTC)*squish*
-- A :D