28 Long Hours of Travel

The flights themselves were relatively uneventful, as was the time spent in-between.

The first flight was to LA (1 hour 20 mins), with a 4+ hour layover until the second flight, to Melbourne (think "Melbin", 15 hours 15 mins), a 3 hour layover until the third flight, to Perth (4 hours 15 mins). Add it all together, and it comes out to 27 hours 55 mins total. Not including the customs and immigration lines. From 6 PM on Tuesday the 18th to 1 PM on Thursday the 20th. Oooof.

The ride was comfortable, even though my stuffed-almost-to-overflowing backpack and hiking boots didn't leave much room for my feet. My eye shade, earplugs, and travel pillow were essential. To pass the time I mostly slept, did a little bit of eating and watched movies, four in fact: In the Land of Women(***), Mr. Brooks(**), Surf's Up(****), Meet the Robinsons(**) (out of *****). The seatback entertainment centers had a bunch of movies/songs to choose from, although I had seen most of the movies worth seeing (and some that weren't, surprise surprise). It was fun drifting in and out of sleep listening to Portishead (even if the software didn't have a good set-of-songs loop function).

One nice thing (I think I knew this before and forgot), if you request special meals, they give you your food before everyone else.

On the Melbourne-Perth flight there was less sleeping and they showed the Flying Scotsman (****).

Jen's boyfriend's mom (Gaynor) picked me up at the terminal, and she had an old picture (long hair & beard with funny hat) and new picture (short hair, cleanshaven, at the Teacup ride) to recognize me by.