Justinf
Established Member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2009
- Posts
- 2,215
I'd arranged a private shuttle to take us from the hotel to LAX the day before and he turned up a bit before 6pm. Cost was $85 plus a $20 tip. His driving was sporadic and he was constantly checking text messages on his mobile phone. Also there was a warning on the dash about tyre pressure. We were quite glad we got there safely in the end. Trip from Anaheim to LAX took only 40 minutes due to very light traffic. Getting into LAX was really busy though.
We checked in at the business class line due to myself being QF Gold. I wasn't sure whether we could all just walk up but we did it anyway and had no problems.
An extra few suitcases found there way onto the belt due to the high volume of shopping that occurred. Ironically it was my suitcase that weighed the most at 21.8kg. I may have slipped a few aluminium cans of Bud Light in there to enjoy on a warm day back home.
Took a while to get through security. The line was quite long, but it handled well by the marshalls that got everyone moving quickly.
We got to access the Oneworld J Lounge and although it was very busy (with two flights to MEL, one to SYD and one to BNE leaving within an hour of each other, not to mention the other Oneworld airlines) and I was quite surprised at how decent it was. I was expecting a moshpit, but it was fine.
Four beers on tap, but two weren't pouring, so had a glass of the amber ale which was too metallic for my taste. Some nice Sonoma chardonnay though and staff has made up a Champagne coughtail that I also tried, which was quite nice. I had some pasta and a curry chicken with rice as well. Food offering was OK actually.
By now I was feeling fine. Must have been a false alarm, although 15 hours in Y wasn't an overly thrilling prospect.
Some final selfies on the lounge.
Everyone was reporting a clean bill of health at this stage although the three that had the severe gastro weren't game to manage much more than crackers and water.
By now it was time to board and I was in row 43 and the other four occupied the middle part of row 72.
I didn't take any pictures onboard as I managed to sleep for most of the journey. How I really don't know. I must have been tired. I even remember being in deep REM sleep at one stage as I was dreaming of the plane crashing (not pleasant). I managed 9 or 10 hours of sleep. Again, how I simply do not know, but I wasn't complaining.
My Q Eats meal came out quickly and two of the others' meals did, but the other two missed out completely on their pre-ordered meal.
Didn't watch any movies as I spent too much time dozing.
Breakfast was the usual airline mush, but I was pretty hungry by that stage.
We landed on time and spent an ice age getting out of the airport at MEL. As we were pretty much the last ones off the aircraft, the lines for the smart reader were very, very long and there were so many people who were clueless at how to use them. Also people ignored the 'stand here while waiting' footmarks which of course made the person getting their photo taken take longer as the camera could pick up more than one face. people are so impatient and stupid.
We gathered our luggage and then the line to simply show your smart reader card and immigration card was hideously long. It took a good hour and a half to go from plane to outside.
We arrived home around lunchtime and managed to hold off on any sleep until the right time. Even though I'd slept a lot, it means nothing when it comes to jetlag as it's the time difference that your body listens to. I was into work the morning and although I struggled until lunchtime, I picked up after that and was.
My stepdaughter and I also managed to avoid the gastro.
There was only one regret for the trip (you can't regret sickness as it will happen no matter what) - Miss 16 desperately wanted to try In-and-Out. We were going to try it in San Fran, but knew we were staying just near one in Hollywood so we decided to wait. That's when she was suffering the effects of gastro and couldn't even look at a burger let alone eat one. To be truthful, I wanted to try it again too.
So that's it. Our family trip over the Christmas/New Year period.
My next trip report will be in about a month. My sister and I are going Alaska. My itinerary is MEL-LAX in J (have put in a points upgrade) then straight to Denver (just myself) for two nights. I meet my sister in Seattle and we will spend two nights there (I love Seattle) before heading to Anchorage where we have three nights. We are then going on the Aurora Winter Train to Fairbanks where we have four nights and are doing dog mushing, reindeer walking, hopefully see the Northern Lights and we are taking a light-plane trip up to Coldfoot past the Arctic Circle. Fly back to Seattle for one night, then back to LAX and then home in J (again with a points upgrade requested). Internal flights are United from LAX-DEN in 1st and then with Alaska Airlines for the other legs, all in first except for SEA-LAX which is coach. Oh, I'll also walk to In-and-Out from LAX after I check in to my flight home and send the pics immediately to Miss 16.
Until then.
We checked in at the business class line due to myself being QF Gold. I wasn't sure whether we could all just walk up but we did it anyway and had no problems.
An extra few suitcases found there way onto the belt due to the high volume of shopping that occurred. Ironically it was my suitcase that weighed the most at 21.8kg. I may have slipped a few aluminium cans of Bud Light in there to enjoy on a warm day back home.
Took a while to get through security. The line was quite long, but it handled well by the marshalls that got everyone moving quickly.
We got to access the Oneworld J Lounge and although it was very busy (with two flights to MEL, one to SYD and one to BNE leaving within an hour of each other, not to mention the other Oneworld airlines) and I was quite surprised at how decent it was. I was expecting a moshpit, but it was fine.
Four beers on tap, but two weren't pouring, so had a glass of the amber ale which was too metallic for my taste. Some nice Sonoma chardonnay though and staff has made up a Champagne coughtail that I also tried, which was quite nice. I had some pasta and a curry chicken with rice as well. Food offering was OK actually.
By now I was feeling fine. Must have been a false alarm, although 15 hours in Y wasn't an overly thrilling prospect.
Some final selfies on the lounge.
Everyone was reporting a clean bill of health at this stage although the three that had the severe gastro weren't game to manage much more than crackers and water.
By now it was time to board and I was in row 43 and the other four occupied the middle part of row 72.
I didn't take any pictures onboard as I managed to sleep for most of the journey. How I really don't know. I must have been tired. I even remember being in deep REM sleep at one stage as I was dreaming of the plane crashing (not pleasant). I managed 9 or 10 hours of sleep. Again, how I simply do not know, but I wasn't complaining.
My Q Eats meal came out quickly and two of the others' meals did, but the other two missed out completely on their pre-ordered meal.
Didn't watch any movies as I spent too much time dozing.
Breakfast was the usual airline mush, but I was pretty hungry by that stage.
We landed on time and spent an ice age getting out of the airport at MEL. As we were pretty much the last ones off the aircraft, the lines for the smart reader were very, very long and there were so many people who were clueless at how to use them. Also people ignored the 'stand here while waiting' footmarks which of course made the person getting their photo taken take longer as the camera could pick up more than one face. people are so impatient and stupid.
We gathered our luggage and then the line to simply show your smart reader card and immigration card was hideously long. It took a good hour and a half to go from plane to outside.
We arrived home around lunchtime and managed to hold off on any sleep until the right time. Even though I'd slept a lot, it means nothing when it comes to jetlag as it's the time difference that your body listens to. I was into work the morning and although I struggled until lunchtime, I picked up after that and was.
My stepdaughter and I also managed to avoid the gastro.
There was only one regret for the trip (you can't regret sickness as it will happen no matter what) - Miss 16 desperately wanted to try In-and-Out. We were going to try it in San Fran, but knew we were staying just near one in Hollywood so we decided to wait. That's when she was suffering the effects of gastro and couldn't even look at a burger let alone eat one. To be truthful, I wanted to try it again too.
So that's it. Our family trip over the Christmas/New Year period.
My next trip report will be in about a month. My sister and I are going Alaska. My itinerary is MEL-LAX in J (have put in a points upgrade) then straight to Denver (just myself) for two nights. I meet my sister in Seattle and we will spend two nights there (I love Seattle) before heading to Anchorage where we have three nights. We are then going on the Aurora Winter Train to Fairbanks where we have four nights and are doing dog mushing, reindeer walking, hopefully see the Northern Lights and we are taking a light-plane trip up to Coldfoot past the Arctic Circle. Fly back to Seattle for one night, then back to LAX and then home in J (again with a points upgrade requested). Internal flights are United from LAX-DEN in 1st and then with Alaska Airlines for the other legs, all in first except for SEA-LAX which is coach. Oh, I'll also walk to In-and-Out from LAX after I check in to my flight home and send the pics immediately to Miss 16.
Until then.
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