Up bright and early for our 8am flight to LA. We were dropping the car off at the airport so it was all pretty easy getting there. A quick ... ummmm... 20 min ( ? ) drive to the airport, one wrong turn finding the rental car return, a quick walk to the terminal building. We were flying Delta again, they charge $25 per checked bag and we'd managed to pick up another bag along the way! I'd checked in and paid the $75 baggage fee online the night before so just had to line up and drop bags then straight through security... and to the gate to wait. As always ( well except for that one time when we flew out of New York... you'll remember that!! ) we were at the airport with about an hour to wait before boarding.



After dropping the bags we had to get on an airtrain to the Terminal Gates.... and quite frankly I've left it so long to finish this I have absolutely no memory of the Orlando airport wait!!! Sorry! Needless to say we were on the plane and about 5 hours later landed in LA, with the time difference it was about 11am and by the time we'd picked up our luggage and got out the front it was about half past. Before we left home I'd done a bit of research on this part of the journey and found a "day use" hotel that had a free airport shuttle... now now.. I know what you're thinking but it wasn't THAT sort of day use hotel!!! This place caters for people with long layovers and only charges $49.95 for the room from 9am to 8pm... just what we needed cos our flight out to Brisbane doesn't leave till 11.50pm!! That's nearly 12 hours to fill in so needed somewhere to park our bags and freshen up.



By just after midday we were in our basic but clean room.. rested for about half an hour then headed out again. After talking to the lady at reception we found out for $10 return we could buy Trolley tickets that would take us out to Manhattan Beach where we had planned to meet Kaylan. Now if you remember... right at the beginning of this blog we went to Vegas and spent time with our wonderful friends Jeanne and Roger? There we ( well I for the first time ) met Jesse, one of their daughters ( long story short, Rodd meet Jeanne and kids on a cross country bus in the States about 20 years ago, he's seen the girls since then but not for years, we didn't see either of them last time we were there so were determined to see.. well meet for me.. them this time ). Kaylan is the other daughter and lives in LA.



After several texts we established we were in Manhattan Beach waiting for Kaylan on the pier and so that's where she met us. As it happened it was her birthday that day, she's such a lovely girl ( sorry Kaylan... woman ). We went to an Irish pub for lunch and chatted like we'd known each other for ever..the waiter even gave Kaylan her meal gratis as it was her birthday, he also had a shot with us... ummmm Kaylans choice, I think it was a gummy bear??? quite tasty!!! Kaylan had met Cassie ( my daughter ) as she made her way home from Vegas so was so nice to catch up with her and hear what they got up to!!



Manhattan Beach looks like a lovely spot, we didn't get to spend a lot of time there but what I saw of it I really liked. Around 4ish we made our by trolley back to the hotel, along the way the trolley stopped at a couple of shopping malls and all's I'll say here is if I'd known I could have shopped here and saved the $25 for the extra bag on Delta!!!



Back to the motel we had a couple of hours relaxing, showering and freshening up for our upcoming 12+ hour flight!! At 8pm we caught the shuttle back to the airport, no problems checking in with Qantas, through security... took a little time but all in all not too bad really. We still had about an hour and half to wait before boarding so we found a seat and perched!! We took it in turns to go for a wander, I wandered over to the Duty Free shop and found 2 bottles for $30... really??? OMG that's soooo cheap!!! Oh alright!!! I'll buy some then... lol!! I also found a nice little food place with potato and bacon soup.. it was pretty yummy but was a bit strange they dropped some cheese in it so it was all gooey and stringy!!

I was trying not to sit down for too long cos seriously.. we have a very long flight coming up with lots and lots of sitting involved!! Our gate was the first one the other side of the security screening and at one stage all the Security people lined up across the entrance to the gates and froze... everyone walking around was told to stop in no uncertain terms... it was like a game we used to play as kids.. you remember?? you creep up on the person with their back turned and when they face you you have to freeze??? WEIRD... that lasted about 2 mins then they all yelled something and went back to work!! If anyone knows what that was about I'd be interested to hear it!!!

OK so finally our flight is boarding.. we wait patiently while all the business class board... quite frankly Rodd and I would rather wait and be the last to board... less sitting around in the squashing plane seats but then again less overhead locker space too!! As we showed our boarding passes we were told to stand aside while others boarded.... hmmm ok.. what now?? After a few minutes they give us new boarding passes with new seat numbers...what??? NO... I don't want to change seats.. I'd purposely checked in online 24 hours ago to ensure I got the seat I wanted... right down the back of the plane where there is only 2 seats together so we'd have an aisle seat and a window seat and be together... now we've got an aisle and window with someone in between us. Mind you the lady said she was giving us better seats and we probably wouldn't have anyone in between us..... oh yeah.. really??? Not what happened love!!!!

We were starting to think we'd have a spare seat but it was not to be..... I was so incredibly cranky and upset.. 13 hours and we are separated by a stranger, we can't talk across him, I can't put my head on Rodds shoulder to sleep. I went straight up and talked to the flight attendants and explained what happened.. he came back 5 mins later to say there were 4 broken seats and our original seat was one of them, apparently the tray table was broken.... really?? a tray table?? you know what mate?? I don't give a .... about the tray table.. I want my seat back!!!! "Oh sorry Miss but there's someone in the other seat now but I'm sure if you ask the gentleman between you he'd be more than happy to swap his middle seat for either of your aisle of window seats!!! What the ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff....sorry mum!!!!!

So as we taxied down the runway and jetted into LAs' night sky I was literally in tears... but it's a long trip and there's no point being s***ty and upset the whole time so I managed to get over it... I'm still angry about it but what can you do?? I must say beside that incident the service is great with Qantas.. they are constantly bringing snacks and drinks around.

We landed in Brisbane at 10 to 8 on the morning of March 3rd.....so for us this year there was no March 2nd ( which was also the date of my Grandfathers funeral )! Fairly quick and easy through customs, we used the new electronic passport for immigration and mine wouldn't work so had to go line up to see a person!! At customs we had to open our bags cos I'd declared a wooden owl I'd bought for my mum in Roatan and of course they needed to see it.. all good, the lady was lovely and explained what they look for. Out to the airtrain, into Brisbane to stay at the Diamant Motel .. very nice!! With two people though we worked out a taxi is the same price door to door as the airtrain so will take a taxi next time I think, save lugging bags around on the train!!

Was about 10 am when we got to the motel.. not expecting to be able to check in but once again, as seems to be the theme with this trip, the receptionist found us a room that was ready to go!! Yay cos we're both pretty b*****ed.. the plan was to have about an hours sleep and then go into town, do some shopping, have a nice lunch somewhere.......... yes well plans were made to be broken!!! We slept until about 5pm!! I was starving so had to venture out for food and the first thing I stumbled across was a Maccas at Central Station... ohhhh ok if I must!!! We both ate like we hadn't eaten for weeks, but I must admit it stuck in my throat somewhat and gave me indigestion!!! UP, dress and out to the casino for one last night out before we head back to Longreach for 8 straight months of work, that's 7 days a week... 15 hours a day... for 8 months... now you know why we "play hard"!!!

We had a fun time at the casino.. ended up a few hundred up..and I had to go find a Greek salad cos the fresh veggie siren was calling me!!

Next day was the homeward leg... up.and out of motel by 10am . airtrain to airport ( hmmm why didn't we get a taxi??... we had time to kill ) check in, security and hang around for hours.. plane doesn't leave til 2pm!! Good flight home and yes... we've had the most amazing time, seen so many wonderful places, met so many great people but in a strange way I'm actually looking forward to going home.... we both miss our beautiful baby boys.. all 100+kgs of them combined!!



Debra, my sister, came up to pick us up and boy was she glad to hand the reins over!! She's done an awesome job running the motel by herself for the last 5 weeks but I think she's ready to go home now!!

Well that's it... the end... I hope those of you that read it all have enjoyed it. We had a blast!!