New York / Detroit Trip 2008 - Day 1 (part 1)

Hour 00:00 / Day 1

Well, it all began when I (JD) got home from a work function in Sydney @ the (delayed) time of 10:15pm Friday. Not exactly the ideal start packing for a 6:45am flight out the next day.

.. but hey, "Chill out, I'm On Leave" so let's not worry. (BE-COOL)

After a seemingly quick pack, it was a surprise that I had not exceeded the allocated baggage weight, and it looked like everything was packed. (quite a rare occurrence, for a first try)

Quick call to Qantas to "confirm within 24 hours of leaving" that our details, itinerary and seats were all still sorted. Mistake #1 at 1130pm - the aircraft had been changed (presumably due to the little 747 explosion mishap earlier in July) so the seat allocations had been reset. Now, instead of notifying us as it says in my profile, Qantas had moved us from sitting together in row 25 to sitting 5 seats apart in row 49. What the? And because it's less than 24 hours before, the folk on the phone can't make changes because the flight is under the control of the load controller, who doesn't start work until 4am.

Grrr.. oops, I mean, BE-COOL.

Raymond and Emma stayed over and kindly dropped us off at the airport @  6am.

The short line @ qantas quickly explained itself - it was too good to be true - as the load controller had still allocated our seats together.

The dude checking us in also tells us that we're not on an Airbus, it's now a 747 and we're on a direct flight now, from Melbourne - LA.

After some delicate discussion, he checks with a colleague, and they decide that we're really on the Airbus, it really is going via New Zealand, and we DO want to sit together. Sigh.  BE-COOL.

Turns out that we were able to get 2 seats by themselves in the very back row - a new experience.

The flight from Adelaide to Melbourne is full, but uneventful. 

The international terminal is quite close to the domestic in Melb, so after a short stroll, we're through customs, and lounging about waiting for launch.

Hour 04:00

The seats to Aukland + LA were in row 58, j+k (which are 2 seats by themselves in the very back row).

Turns out these aren't bad seats. The galley is behind them, and no toilets = good. The host'ies were immediately good fun, and we struck up a friendship with a New Zealand girl who kept crashing the servery carts into out seats.... "lady driver" according to the other staff. Grin - we spent the next 14 hours paying each other out about just about anything. She got back at us when the pilot announced that the all blacks had beaten the aussies in the Bledesloe  (?) cup 38-10. Bummer. Bloody sheep huggers! But, BE-COOL, hey.

Hour 07:00

Other than a 90 minute layover in Aukland - and a bumpy take off there too - we settle in for LA.

Lots of good movies on the little screens in the back of the seats, so all in all, a good flight.

Hour 19:00

As usual, LAX is in complete turmoil. The pilots manage to get a shitty park, so we're all on busses back to the terminal - but hey, what's another 30 minutes given we're not flying out until 9:30 pm, so BE-COOL.

After asking 3 ground staff, and getting the usual 3 different answers, we find the delta check in counters, and discover that we can't check in until 6 hours before the flight. After asking 3 more of the helpful - if not completely void of real facts - for the way to AVIS preferred desk to hire a car for the afternoon. Walked across the airport to get a shuttle that picked us up and went straight past where we just were. There goes another 25 minutes... but hey, BE-COOL, right ?

Just when we we're starting to let the jet lag kick-in, we get to AVIS, and ask for a car for the afternoon. 

Our luck takes a change for the better, and the guy behind the desk like Aussies. He find's us a Mustang hardtop for $31 dollar (plus tax)... which is better than the $45 I got quoted  (for a compact) back in Adelaide. COOL.

Very cool.

So, we stash the bags in the boot, plug in the GPS, and we're off to see the Hollywood sights.

... more to follow... (gotta go see stuff)