God Bless my Qantas Club membership!
Walking past the swarms of people, luggage trolleys, crying babies and people just hanging out at the airport (or so it seems) I got to checkin at the oasis that is Qantas Club check in. I walked straight up to the counter and like usual with Qantas, it was a hassle free experience. One thing I wanted to try was checking through my luggage straight through the Washington DC, even though I am on an Alaska Airlines flight that wasn’t a Qantas codeshare. It worked!
Luggage weight –
Bag 1 – 14.2 kgs
Bag 2 – 17 kgs
YAY!! I HAVE ROOM FOR SHOPPING!!
The wonderful two check-in staff were still training so it took a little longer but the 10 minutes it took there would save me so much time and hassle at LAX, it was worth it and they were so friendly that checkin was easy easy easy! My day was made when I got allocated seat 70K. My favourite seat on any QF flight. Happy days!
Approaching the doors of international departures before the customs and immigration windows, Damian who is also on the Study Tour was there as well. There was no-one at immigration hurrah! It is not common practice for Australian immigration to stamp passports on departure and I only realised this when I had to document every trip to and from the USA for my Green Card process. So this time, I asked for a stamp and got it! Yay! Further on at the security checkpoint there were d two people in front of us.. Between these two people they used approximately 6 plastic bins for all their stuff. Then their bags. Then more and more stuff was getting brought out of pockets, bag pockets, bits and pieces. Eeek. I was a little nervous with travelling with the Macbook for the first time but it was a breeze. As mentioned on the FrequentFlyer.com.au website I kept the Macbook in its Neoprene case and that was enough. My spare Macbook battery is in a Aveda Terry Toweling makeup bag and that is in a clear bag as now for flights in the US the latest focus is batteries. Then, Julia and Guill who are also on the tour but taking the United flight were at the gates as well. (I got a pic of their plane behind ours right before take off) After a quick catchup it was time to board and now, as I type this there is a mass of cloud outside and I am typing this is cramped conditions due to the people in front reclining their seats 1 minute after the seatbelt sign went off. Pfffft!!!
… I am now in the Alaska Airlines ‘Board Room’ waiting to board my flight to DC. They let my Qantas Club membership be valid for here. Which is a blessing because the Alaska Airlines terminal here resembles some kind of sit in protest with not enough seats, a few dodgy food outlets and lots of noise. Back to the Qantas flight – it was eventful. I didn’t sleep on this flight for some reason. I drank no coke, just bucket loads of water. Ate the healthy option meal. Everything, but the sleep wouldn’t happen. I didn’t even switch on the entertainment unit until right near the end when I watched the Nanny Diaries. Even that couldn’t send me to sleep.
We hit some severe turbulence about 3 hours out of LA. My cutlery went flying. The captain let us know later that we had a 50km/h tailwind that, without notice turned around to a 100km/h headwind. One jolt was more severe than I had experienced on an 8 hour turbulence flight home last time but for some reason I had the same thought – “What happens if we don’t stop dropping?” Eeek.
We landed at LAX in what was the middle of the outback basically. Then we had to get on buses. Then the bags took over half an hour to come through. Immigration was a breeze and I couldn’t help but think if the next time I come through LAX, I may be coming through with a Green Card! Flying in I was actually a little bit sad. This is the first time I will have visited America without a stay in LA. I decided to have a little LA party on my iPod playing tunes such as Valley Girl, Los Angeles – I’m yours, the Laurel Canyon soundtrack and Hazy Shade of Winter to remind me of Less than Zero.
Finding the Alaska Airlines terminal, or be that ANY terminal when one has landed at Tom Bradley International is an amusing experience. No signage, Nothing. I just walked around a footpath and kept going until I found some more people and followed them. I walked and walked and found it – no check in needed or anything. Which brings me to where I am now.
For the Airline meal aficionados, I took pics of *every* meal and will upload them with descriptions when I get to DC.
Right now I am craving a shower and a pillow. The bagel I am eating is stale, my glass of coke is flat and my Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser exploded on the plane. I saved most of it but it was like a volcano of moisturiser!
And what is going on? Last time I landed in LA, Britney shaved her head. Today I land and she has gone into hospital! Next stop, DC.