Well, the day finally arrived. As we neared DIA I began to worry with all of the storm clouds in the area. We had the good fortune of meeting up with Stacey, from Discovery Student Adventures, at the airport. She had the opportunity to meet all of the parents and help us get checked in. After hugs, kisses and some group photos we were off to our gate.
Stacey treated us to ice cream as we waited for the plane. After one gate change and about an hour delay we were airborne. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that we were going to make the flight in LAX. (Our original layover was just under two hours.)
The DSA team was amazing!! As soon as we hit the ground in LA they had a representative there and waiting to whisk us off. The kids were equally amazing! They stepped it up, tied up their shoe laces and began the sprint across LAX. They passed us off to various DSA team members as we made our way to the international terminal, through check-in at the Qantas counter, and then passed us off to the Qantas folks who led us through security and straight to our gate. Fortunately, there were some other folks from New York who were in the same boat as us and the plane ended up taking off about 30 minutes late. We were headed to Australia!!
And what a plane – an Airbus 380…amazing!! Of course we weren’t in the section with suites, but it was a great ride. You have to take a few minutes to visit the Qantas site and check this thing out! Thanks to an Australian gentlemen sitting next to me who informed me of the Sky Cam…a camera mounted on the tail of the plane! It was pretty cool watching both our take-off and then the landing. (Today’s photos are the sunrise a few hours out from Melbourne and then us coming into the city.) The crew took good care of us and we had plenty of drinks, snacks, movies, and games during our 15 hour flight.
After touching down in Australia, we learned that even though we made the flight, our luggage did not. The kids were troopers and Qantas gave us a little goody bag with a shirt, shorts and toiletries.
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