The Big Trip: Getting there

Fat feet: the result of a 30+ hour travel day

In late March or early April I found some really cheap flights from Sydney to LA, so sort of on a whim and some coattails, we booked them for the beginning of August! The next 3+ months were a serious waiting game since our new visas hadn't come through yet and if they didn't in time we would have to go through a big hassle of getting a different bridging visa to be able to leave the country. eek!

But luck was on our side and the visa was all honky-dory by mid July (good thing cuz we had planned and paid for all our little bits and pieces of the trip by then!) and on August 3rd we were ready for take off!

Well we were ready, Qantas on the other hand, were not. We had decided to go with them, despite the slightly higher price, because we thought they had the least chance of delaying or cancelling our flight... wrong. so wrong.

We had a 7am flight out of Adelaide, which would get us to Sydney with almost exactly 3 hours to get our bags, switch terminals (by taxi b/c Sydney Kingsford is a thieving bastard that doesn't have a free train connecting domestic to international. bastard.), check-in for the big flight, and get through security. Lots of time, shouldn't be a problem. Well. At 2:30am on Wednesday, August 3rd, I got a text message, me, not Andy whose name and contact details were part of the booking, me. Because I'd (luckily) stuck my Qantas frequent flyer number on there! Anyway, the text told me that our flight was delayed 1 hour and 20 minutes. No customer service phone number, no apology. We didn't have an hour and 20mins to really spare with the connection we had to make in Sydney, so at 2:35am I rolled out of bed and ended up having to turn on the laptop to find a freaking customer service number for Qantas. Then I spent over 45mins on hold, at 3am, before I spoke to a real human being. The agent was polite and efficient at least and got us on the 6am flight, no worries, and there was no change fee. Sooooo, back into bed for 30mins, then time to get up for a shower and to get to the airport. yay.
At the airport Qantas continued to be problematic.  We tried to use the self-serve kiosks to check-in, no dice. One of the many Qantas staff milling about at 5am told us we had to check in at the international desk because we had an international connection (but not with Qantas and not on the same booking). There we were directed to the service desk. What service desk? So we asked another lady, and she checked something on her computer and told us to go to the ticket counter. Huh?  Because I had said we had to make an international flight with another airline on a separate booking on the phone earlier it had really confused Qantas. The lady at the ticketing desk was trying to make it so we didn't have to re-check our bags in Sydney even though I kept saying "We are happy to collect our bags in Sydney." I must've said that at least 4 times. duh. Finally, she sorted it all out and we went back to the self-serve kiosk, checked-in, and said Adios to Adelaide.
In Sydney we got our bag, switched terminals, checked-in again, went through security and missed Hungry Jacks breakfast :( then hung around til our 1pm flight to FIJI.
3 hour layover in FIJI. Still August 3rd.

[A Fiji Aside: On the jetway to board the flight from Fiji to LA there was a really drunk guy and this poor American girl who was too polite for her own good got suckered into talking to him. He kept putting his hand on her shoulder and offering to buy her a drink on the plane (it was a full service airline, drinks were complimentary). He also said he only had 2 beers while waiting in the airport... HA! Yeah right, i saw him laying across the seats in the departure lounge nursing a Fiji Bitter or 2 or 3, his poor walking skills also pointed to more than 2. I was really surprized they allowed him on the flight at all!]

Arrival at LAX, only 10 minutes later than when the plane took off in Sydney, still August 3rd. Amazing! haha In LA we were due to have an 8 hour layover til our 10pm flight to Toronto, but there was an earlier flight at 3:30pm that I was hoping we would somehow make. I didn't want to book us on that one because I knew LAX is the place that nightmares are made of and didn't want to take any chances. We had to check-in by 2:30 to get on the flight, so that gave us an hour to get through US customs and to terminal 3 (not a far walk from the where we were in international terminal).
We ended up getting to the Air Canada desk at about 2:40pm. With fingers crossed, I asked the lady behind the desk if it was possible to switch to the 3:30 flight, as we were on the 10pm. Why yes, she says, because it's been delayed by an hour! HALLELUJAH! But it will cost you to make the change. How much? $75. Sold. Did I mention it was still August 3rd??
The delay gave us time enough to have a sit down meal at Route 66 bar and grill, yee-haw, in the airport before it was time to get on the last plane of our super long day.
Because of the delay we didn't get to Toronto until August 4th, just after midnight, so the longest August 3rd on record ended somewhere over Ontario. Customs and bags were a breeze and my Mom was waiting to whisk us off to my Aunt and Uncle's place and finally a bed to lay down on!