iambents

So we boarded about 10 minutes late and I was asleep before we were in the air. Eventually I got my seat into the relax mode and then they made up my bed and I actually slept (usual disrupted sleep) for the first seven hours of the flight – skipping the dinner service and the like.

The English dude/wanker next to me was an amazingly fidgety guy. He was probably in his late 50s and went to the overhead to get something about a dozen times during the flight. He has his magazines in individual plastic covers, got flight attendant to come remake his bed a couple of times while arrogantly ignoring them the rest of the time. It is weird – I go out of my way to try to be as respectful of others sleep but it seems others don’t give a shit.

We were in Virgin Australia Row 5 – the supposed ‘celebrity’ row which is a cabin of only seven business class seats. These can be further cordoned off so I ended up in the middle of the night in this tiny box to just me and then fidget in 5B. Quite bizarre really.

Well and truly stuck on Orlando time I woke up about midnight Sydney time (10am on the east coast of the US) with about 5h45m to arrival. I climbed over my cell mate and went to the bathroom and grabbed a drink before I settled in to watch a couple of flicks as we headed closer to Sydney. First up watched the rather torrid Killing Them Softly followed up by the conspiracy of The Broken City.

As we got closer to Sydney and over breakfast I watched the rather violent Gangster Squad. Not exactly the most positive end to the time away.

We arrived at the gate just before schedule and was through the border in no time thanks to being one of the first off the plane and the Express Path. Out to the car and then home to my own bed before 7am. Brilliant run.

The biggest struggle this weekend will be staying awake to a reasonable hour today and resetting my body clock over the weekend for work on Monday.

I had a better sleep overnight – having forced myself to stay awake and the went to bed and almost to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. It was still a bit disturbed though – since the anaphylaxis on Sunday night I have been having trouble breathing most nights. Many lessons learnt including the need to get a new Epipen or two and to actually carry them.

I woke up at on the dot every half hour from 3am until I eventually got up just after 4.30am to get ready. Checked out of the Hilton Orlando just after 5am and after an ordeal to pay half my bill with my remaining USD I was in a cab and on my way to MCO for my flight.

I headed up to the SkyPriority counter at Delta to check in and was disappointed to find out that they couldn’t check either me or my bags through to the Virgin Australia leg of my trip because it exceeded the 12hr limit on check ins. The biggest issue of that is that I now have to collect my bag in LAX and wasn’t able to recheck into the VA flight until 3.30pm.

At this time of the morning there was no queue for security and I was soon on the little shuttle out to the DL gates and I sat waiting at the gate until boarding time. On this flight I was in 1A right at the front of the plane. The crew was actually the same one that bought me from LA to Orlando and we were soon in the air with a proper IFE and GoGo to keep me entertained.

Chatted to Jean as he woke up in NYC and then watched a couple of movies including the almost painful road trip comedy The Guilt Trip, the cautionary tale about coal seam gas The Promised Land and the rather torrid Stallone flick Bullet to the Head before dozing a bit before we landed at LAX just a little late.

When I arrived at LAX – with now 13 hours to kill and at least seven until the check-in for VA opens – I hunted around for a place to sit. It was then I found that my Diners Club card will get me into the reLAX Lounge on the landslide for free. Usually $50 a day with WiFi and drinks – it has to be the worlds most uninspiring lounge – but it definitely served the purpose of giving me somewhere to sit (snooze indeed) and somewhere to recharge gadgets. While there I finished up some work and watched the less than fantastic Small Apartments and the absolutely gorgeous documentary on the cooky Wayne White – Beauty is Embarrassing.

I headed over the T3 to check-in for my flight to Sydney in the late afternoon. The Virgin Australia check-in process was pretty painless and T3 never has any issues with queues for security so  I soon found myself in the big communal gates. I grabbed a late lunch/early dinner at Burger King in the terminal and decided against availing myself of The Loft apart from heading up to use the bathroom before the flight.

We are starting to board just a little late – but I’ll see you on the other side.