![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Back home
Kerri and I took a cab to Dulles, checked in at our separate ticket counters, had a coffee at Starbucks and then I took the people-mover to my concourse while she disappeared into Korean Air's lounge.
737 to LAX, loved flying over the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Mountains. Imagined long columns of grey or blue soldiers marching along the roads in the endless struggles 140 years back. Clouds rolled in somewhere over West Virginia and I did a bit of work with the laptop. Had a row of three seats to myself, so I could spread myself a bit. Cloud cover thinned out over New Mexico and I watched as the desert became metropolis. Even in the most remote of regions there was always a road visible. Awesome. In Australia you can fly for hours and see nothing but nothing.
I checked my boarding pass for the Qantas flight to Sydney as we taxied in. Gate 48. Had to laugh when we left the plane and I found myself looking at Gate 48. I had to spend the next eleven hours in this lounge!
I could have gone outside, found a cab or a shuttle or something, but there's only a few hours until nightfall and I'm not terribly keen about wandering around in an unknown city after dark, so it all seems a bit pointless. Instead I settle down with my laptop, jostling for seats near power outlets and breaking occasionally for junk food. Towards the end of the evening I'm getting desperate for sleep. Not game to doze off in case someone knocks off my gear or I miss my flight, I grab some awful concoction from Starbucks and pace around, watching the planes fly in and out in a steady stream. Hard to imagine how people can guide these lumbering beasts through the other parked jumbos, let alone hurl them into the air.
A Qantas flight to Sydney leaves an hour before mine is called, making me check my ticket again, but yup, I have to wait a little longer. Finally we're called and I find my seat at the back, stow my bag underneath and watch as every other seat is taken. We're chockers.
Oh well, I'm buggered enough to sleep anywhere, and it's a chore to wait until we've had dinner, and had the goody bags handed out.
Did I mention I've come down with a cold? Well, I had one, and I was steadily swallowing Tylenol and Soothers, stored in one of the pockets of my cargo pants. Felt exceedingly seedy. Fiddled with the headrest to sleep upright and switched to pillow on the window shade. But I got a couple of hours, and that was really all I needed. Spent the rest of the flight reading, watching the personal TV, doing a bit more work on battery power and staring out the window. It was good to see the Southern Cross above our wing.
Got out of my seat once when the two uni students beside me went for a toilet break, but again I steered clear of coffee and booze, and didn't feel the need.
Landed in Sydney, found that I'd just missed Kerri, and had another couple of hours to kill before my shuttle left.
And boy, was it good to see familiar Canberra landmarks appear as we came in on the cross runway. The Parliament House flagpole, Black Mountain Tower. It's fun to travel the world, but good to be home again!
737 to LAX, loved flying over the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Mountains. Imagined long columns of grey or blue soldiers marching along the roads in the endless struggles 140 years back. Clouds rolled in somewhere over West Virginia and I did a bit of work with the laptop. Had a row of three seats to myself, so I could spread myself a bit. Cloud cover thinned out over New Mexico and I watched as the desert became metropolis. Even in the most remote of regions there was always a road visible. Awesome. In Australia you can fly for hours and see nothing but nothing.
I checked my boarding pass for the Qantas flight to Sydney as we taxied in. Gate 48. Had to laugh when we left the plane and I found myself looking at Gate 48. I had to spend the next eleven hours in this lounge!
I could have gone outside, found a cab or a shuttle or something, but there's only a few hours until nightfall and I'm not terribly keen about wandering around in an unknown city after dark, so it all seems a bit pointless. Instead I settle down with my laptop, jostling for seats near power outlets and breaking occasionally for junk food. Towards the end of the evening I'm getting desperate for sleep. Not game to doze off in case someone knocks off my gear or I miss my flight, I grab some awful concoction from Starbucks and pace around, watching the planes fly in and out in a steady stream. Hard to imagine how people can guide these lumbering beasts through the other parked jumbos, let alone hurl them into the air.
A Qantas flight to Sydney leaves an hour before mine is called, making me check my ticket again, but yup, I have to wait a little longer. Finally we're called and I find my seat at the back, stow my bag underneath and watch as every other seat is taken. We're chockers.
Oh well, I'm buggered enough to sleep anywhere, and it's a chore to wait until we've had dinner, and had the goody bags handed out.
Did I mention I've come down with a cold? Well, I had one, and I was steadily swallowing Tylenol and Soothers, stored in one of the pockets of my cargo pants. Felt exceedingly seedy. Fiddled with the headrest to sleep upright and switched to pillow on the window shade. But I got a couple of hours, and that was really all I needed. Spent the rest of the flight reading, watching the personal TV, doing a bit more work on battery power and staring out the window. It was good to see the Southern Cross above our wing.
Got out of my seat once when the two uni students beside me went for a toilet break, but again I steered clear of coffee and booze, and didn't feel the need.
Landed in Sydney, found that I'd just missed Kerri, and had another couple of hours to kill before my shuttle left.
And boy, was it good to see familiar Canberra landmarks appear as we came in on the cross runway. The Parliament House flagpole, Black Mountain Tower. It's fun to travel the world, but good to be home again!