Today is departure day. Our taxi arrived early at 12:45. The unhappy driver loaded two of our checked bags and both carry one into the trunk of his Camry. The third checked bag rode in the passenger seat. I had checked in on line, so we proceeded to a United kiosk. It scanned our boarding passes, asked a few questions and proceeded to spit out luggage tags to check the bags through to Sydney. Sure hope this works!
Our passage through TSA Pre was uneventful except for Alice’s titanium parts. After the required hand checks, we went to our gate. Our plane backed out of the gate on time in very heavy snow at 4:00. The race down the runway spewed snow everywhere. We were thrilled to have gotten away without delay.
Our on time arrival in San Francisco left us with a four and a half hour layover. This was planned as a weather safety valve. We had two passes to the United Club, which came with our Mileage Visa renewal. We used these for our first time ever visit to see how the elite fliers live. Very not bad, as our old friend Donald would say. The staff was charmingly friendly. After cocktails we filled up on salad and fruit. Then we passed the remaining time planning for our visit in Sydney.
We boarded our plane, and were delighted to discover, as the door closed, that we both had empty center seats next to us. The seating configuration on the 787 is 3, 3 and 3. Alice and I prefer to sit across the aisle from each other. This makes it easier to get up and move around during long flights.
During the 14 hour flight I managed to watch 4 movies in between naps. Alice caught up on some TV series in like fashion. We arrived 20 minutes early, only to meet a long delay waiting for our luggage. This was followed by another long delay going through the quarantine inspection. Here we saw the dog sniff out “contraband” in the bags of a few people in front of us. We passed inspection, and proceeded to the taxi line.
Our driver cheerily loaded all of our bags (they did all make it) into the rear of his van. He then whisked us out of the airport and into rush hour traffic. We crawled to the Russell Hotel in the Rocks. At 10:30 we checked in. The receptionist told us he would have our room ready in 30 minutes. He led us to the sitting room as we decided to wait. 30 minutes later he directed us to our room. He had brought up all of our luggage. We were home!
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