If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

(I typed this on the plane and am posting it now that I’m on the ground.  I’ll post again soon.)

It’s currently 9:36 a.m. on Thursday morning in Atlanta.  We land in Aukland, New Zealand in 3 hours.  After a (hopefully) brief stop there, we’ll fly over to Melbourne.

I’m on a Qantas aeroplane (that’s Australian for “airplane”) that’s actually pretty cool.  I figured a 12-hour flight across the Pacific would be me squeezed between two oversized individuals with poor hygiene.  Fortunately, that’s not been the case.

I’m on an aisle, with some guy who doesn’t speak English sitting at the window.  The seat between us is wonderfully vacant.  Across the aisle from me is the supply closet for the Qantas staff, which is also nice because I don’t want to give my life story to some stranger.

The seats in this plane all have an LCD monitor in the back of the headrest with a little remote control.  You can watch movies, TV, play (mostly stupid) games, or watch your flight info on the screen.  Right now it says we’re crossing the International Date Line.

I planned this trip very carefully, as far as battery life in my portable devices goes, but with the screens in the seats, I have been pretty content to let that occupy me.

I watched “Blades of Glory” (finally).  Chris was right.  That’s all I’m saying about that.

The flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles left an hour late but somehow arrived 15 minutes early.  I guess the pilot was speeding or there was good wind or something.  I certainly had no complaints about that.

When I checked my bags in Atlanta, I considered checking them to Los Angeles.  Then I could pick them up from Delta and deliver them personally to Qantas.  The lady at the counter told me she had been to LAX before, and that I wouldn’t have time to do that unless I had a 4-5 hour layover.  Mine was 3, so I checked the bags all the way to Melbourne.

That lady was right, too.  I think I walked the better part of a mile from the concourse where we landed to the international terminal.  Then I had to go through security again, and I went to find my gate and get some supper.  So I walked what seemed to be the better part of another mile to get to my gate.  The only food place down there was a hot dog place.  So I paid $11 for a really lousy supper.

Back to the luggage.  This is the 4th trip to Melbourne that somebody from our company has taken in the past 2-3 months.  On all 3 previous trips, the luggage was lost.  I blame Delta.  And if my luggage gets lost, I’ll blame my friend Rick, who works for Delta.

Well, the screen tells me there’s 2 hours and 25 minutes left until we land.  I want to save some laptop battery life for later, so I’m going to close.  I’ll post again soon.