So after forever and a day I made it. I'm tired, and I haven't showered and incidentally there aren't towels here which I ASSUMED would be included when she said "linens provided" and I'm starving.
Found out little Lindsay is strangely (but fittingly) afraid of clouds...Theories are that it's because they look like cotton candy or perhaps that they cause more turbulence????
We just made sure we closed the window when taking off and landing...that seemed to solve the problem. I read a little and did some crosswords but mostly just slept.
The flight from Atlanta to LA was excruciating. The girl that sat next to Lindsay talked constantly in this annoying rich-girl southern accent. I can tell you everything about her, including that she has a 100 pound dog and that her fiance died a year ago in a terrible car crash but "what can you do, wear your seat belts!"
Apparently they don't feed you on non-international Delta flights anymore. Not unless you are prepared to pay a hefty fee for "cold spaghetti and olives" or the "tilapia with butter".
Lindsay and I opted out of that and therefore we landed in LA starving, tired and starting to grumble.
It took about 3 years to walk from the Delta terminal to the Qantas terminal and then we waited in line. And after about 1/2 hour of waiting in line, the lady behind the desk told us that we needed some number that told us where our bags were. So we had to walk ALLLL the way back to the Delta terminal, wait in line (behind this guy that mumbled a lot and smelled like ketchup) and get the numbers that said where our baggage was, and then walk BACK to the Qantas terminal, wait in line, and finally, around 9:45 LA time, 12:45 am in OH, we got our tickets to Australia.
LAX is a HORRIBLE airport. Unorganized, dirty, smelly and crowded with people who are mean.
The Qantas flight was amazing. I slept a lot and they have a ton of free movies and TV on this little screen in front of you. I watched a lot of Two and a Half Men and The Jane Austen Book Club (movie) and played tetris. They gave us two meals, about a million drinks and two snacks, and every five seconds asked if you were ok. Then they passed out some socks and a wonderful little pillow and blanket and later a hot towel to clean your face, all while smiling and calling you "govenor" and "mate" and "little miss"
I've been called everything but Mary. Casey, Catherine, Mary-Kate. It's interesting. I'm not good at responding to all those names yet.
Lindsay and I IMMEDIATELY made two friends on the plane. Matt (from Long Island who is studying at the Geelong campus of Deakin, sat in front of me on the plane and describes everything as "sick") and Josh (from Mass. who is studying at Burwood and gave me the window seat.)
In Melbourne, after 6 years of baggage claim and customs, we had a terrible experience with the man who picked us up. He had NO idea where to take us and wouldn't let us use his cell phone to call Gracia who owns the place we're staying in. He said he didn't have a cell phone but we heard it ring/heard him talk on it quite a few times.
We arrive, after the longest commute ever. Apparently U-turns are allowed here, and it doesn't matter if you're in a huge van with a trailer attached.
But we made it.
Made it to our tiny little room, with it's tiny little beds and tiny little closets, and 5 (or maybe more) other roommates.
We have to go find food and buy some things.
I miss you all!
