Getting here

The journey over here was actually rather pleasant.  Aside from one small hiccup at the end, everything went very smoothly.

Mom took us to the airport in Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon.  We stopped and had some delicious gyros at Oakland for lunch before she dropped us off.  We got to the airport at about 2:30 because you're supposed to arrive 3 hours before an international flight, right?  I had already checked in online, so after dropping off our checked bags and going through security (where there was no line) we arrived at our gate at 2:40 pm.  For our flight that departed at 5:26.  Better safe than sorry, I guess.

We had a somewhat tight connection in MSP, about 40 minutes.  I had hoped that we would at least be going to a gate in the same concourse, but that wasn't to be.  At least it was at the concourse next door.  We booked it between gates and were able to board right away, about 20 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave.

On the flight to LAX we had dinner (turkey slider sandwiches with chips and chocolate) and I finally got to watch Catching Fire.  I missed some of the dialogue in the middle since I was eating, but I've read the books so I could still figure out what was going on.

I was a little worried about finding our way around LAX since we had to go to a different terminal, but I needn't have stressed.  We got off the plane to find someone holding a Virgin Australia sign (first 2 flights were Delta and the second 2 VA) who directed us where to go to wait for a shuttle to the international terminal.  It was really cool to be on the bus driving out on the tarmac.  We got to see a bunch of the huge long haul aircraft up close (A380s, 747s, and 777s).  By the time we got to our gate, we still had about an hour and a half to wait for our 11:50 pm flight.

Our 14 hour flight from LAX to Brisbane was on a 777.  We lucked out and I got us seats in row 25, which is right next to the bathroom and water bottle fill station.  Unlike the other rows, there are only 2 seats on the sides, so I was by the window and Wade was on the aisle.  It was really nice not to have to get up or ask someone else to get up when we wanted to stretch or use the bathroom.  Highly recommended if you're flying with just 2 people.

About an hour into the flight they served us dinner.  There was a choice of beef pie, Indian chicken, or Asian noodles with veggies.  I had the noodles and Wade had the pie.  Dinner came with a roll, pasta salad, crackers and cheese, a drink (I had wine), chocolate mousse, and coffee or tea.  It was all tasty.  After dinner I tried to stay awake to reset my sleep schedule, but I only made it to about 7 pm Australia time.  They gave each passenger a blanket, pillow, earplugs, and an eye mask, so things were relatively comfortable.  I slept off and on until about midnight and then I was awake again.  I read for a while, tried to sleep again, and then gave up and watched American Hustle.  At 5 am or so they brought the cabin lights back up and served breakfast, which was scrambled eggs, sausage, potato chunks, fruit, a muffin, orange juice, and coffee.

We were supposed to have a 1 hour and 45 minute layover in Brisbane.  Unfortunately, our flight landed a little bit late.  By the time we got down to immigration/customs it was down to 1 hour and 15 minutes, during which time we had to get through immigration, pick up our checked bags, go through customs, re-check our bags, catch a train to the domestic terminal, go through security, and get on our flight to Canberra.  When I saw the length of the line at immigration and how slowly it was moving, I was pretty sure we were going to miss our flight.  And I was right.  We got to the domestic transfer desk to re-check our bags about 10 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave.  Fortunately, the Virgin Australia agents were super understanding.  They moved us to the next available flight, which didn't leave until 2 pm (at this point it was about 8:45 am) and gave us a voucher to get a meal and some snacks since we'd have to wait such a long time.  I didn't even need to ask!

Now we had 5 hours to sit around in the Brisbane airport, which was less frustrating than I would have expected.  Maybe it was because we were totally exhausted by that point.  Fortunately we had packed a change of clothes in our carry on, so we could feel a little bit refreshed (it was really hot in the immigration line so we both felt really gross).  I called Wojciech (my original advisor at the U of M and the reason we're in Australia in the first place) on a pay phone to let him know of the flight change since he was picking us up in Canberra.  I had to leave a voicemail so I was just hoping he would get it.

We got on and off of our flight to Canberra on the tarmac instead of using a jetway, so that was kind of neat (aside from the fact that it was sprinkling in Canberra).  I spotted Wojciech as we were heading down the escalator to the baggage claim, so that was a relief.  He got the message after all.

All in all, from when we arrived at MKE to when we left the Canberra airport, our travel time was roughly 36 hours.

By this time it was after 5 pm, so instead of checking in with the accommodation office we just had to get our apartment keys from the after hours box.  Our apartment is really nice, but I will get to that in another post.  The rest of Friday night involved a little bit of unpacking, getting connected to the internet, and ordering Domino's for dinner.  Yes, we get to Australia and the first thing I did was order Domino's.  Mostly because I couldn't figure out how to work the phone and I could order and pay online.

So ends the story of our long journey to get here.  More posts about our apartment and getting settled in to come soon.