February 2-3: Flying to Melbourne

My trip to Melbourne on United 839 was as easy as can be. I flew from JFK -> LAX -> Sydney -> Melbourne. It was more than 24 hours of travel, all told. I was really dreading it, but it was fine. I slept a lot, and watched a ton of movies, and somehow ate like 6 airplane meals in a duration where 3 would have been sufficient. I read some US gossip magazines (thanks Brenda!) and my Melbourne tour book.

On the flight from LAX to Sydney there was a guy in the row behind me that had some kind of night terrors. When he fell asleep he would start moaning loudly and then screaming names in a pleading manner. It was disconcerting and made me wonder if he had some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. The guy sitting next to him would wake him up and this would repeat every 20 minutes or so. I sat next to a sweet little old lady who demanded wine and a cocktail at every meal, even breakfast (Drew’s grandmother probably). She ate her croissant with a vodka tonic and a glass of chardonnay. She never seemed too lit up though... After landing in Melbourne I got my bags, went through customs and got a taxi to my hotel downtown. The trip was pretty much painless.