Thursday, Mar 2nd - Melbourne, Australia

Yesterday was a pretty gruelling day of travel but it is very good to be here! 

We booked our travel through American Airlines but this part of the journey is run by Qantas Airlines.  What a difference !  On the American Airlines flight, I truly felt like cattle.  Poor communications when there were delays, very little food or drink offered - even on long legs.  I thought that was just the way travel is these days.  And, to add insult to injury, Bill and I weren't even seated together.  Particularly annoying on a long flight. 

But on Qantas, it was MUCH better.  The boarding was delayed but every 15 minutes or so they would make an announcement about what was going on and how long we should expect it to take.  SO much better.  Then when we boarded, they did it in such a sensible way.  First, people who had various special needs, of course.  Then we boarded by row number from the back. Plenty of room in the overhead bins.  And the food (!).  They were offering food constantly.  Multiple meals / multiple snacks / tons of water and other drinks.  

We got to Sydney after a 10 hour flight and then needed to take one more hop to Melbourne.  Arrived here after midnight and the hotel was locked up !  You needed a room key to get in the front door.  But we were able to alert someone and check in.  Collapsed into bed and slept like logs. 

One last photo from Hawaii  It was a truly spectacular location.  The background of this photo looks like it is a picture but it really did look like that.