The plane that took forever (and ever, and ever)

 Lauren  ~ April 8

March 30:

On March 30th we arrived at the airport. We had so much luggage, I was astonished when it fit into the rental car perfectly.

All our luggage in the back of the rental car

Almost to the airport

When we got there we were five hours early and our dad dropped us off to return the rental car, so we waited for him to come back. When he came he came back we checked our bags. Then we went into a bus and drove to our gate. Once we got there we went through security. We didn’t have to wait very long. Then our dad signed us into the club. We got lunch there and found good seats. We stayed there for a while and took a occasional walking breaks. 

Walking break at Dulles Airport

Then it was time to go to our gate. We got dinner and ate at the gate. Then it was time to board. We waited in a line until finally we got on the plane. We found our seats and sat down. After maybe 50 minutes our first plane to San Francisco took off. The plane ride to San Francisco took about 6 hours. I was sitting next to Caitlyn and Mom. The seat in front of me had a video screen, and I watched two movies during the flight. 

Watching Minions

When we got to San Francisco it was 9pm in California (that is 11pm in Maryland- 3.5 hours past my regular bedtime). We were all tired and a little cranky. We had to wait in San Francisco for a little over an hour. 

At 1050 California time (1:50 AM in Maryland) our plane to Sydney took off. I sat next to my mom. I feel asleep as soon as the plane took off.

I slept for about 4.5 hours ((Mom edit- I think she slept a little longer than that)). I missed the dinner they gave us while I was asleep. I was sad to miss it because they gave us ice cream, but not too sad, because my Dad, who loves caramel, didn’t like the caramel ice create they gave us. I woke up and there were still a lot of hours to go. Mom made me rest my eyes while they had the lights off on the plane.  I only got 3 hours of screen time during a 15 hour plane flight because my mom wanted me to rest. I did not care for the breakfast they gave us. I did not trust the yogurt for some reason. I did eat the croissant and the fruit they gave us.  Our section of the plane wasn’t that full, so I moved next to the window when we were getting ready to land.

View from the window

I loved sitting near the window, because I could take pictures of the clouds. 

We were all so tired when it was it was time to get off the plane. We had to stand in a really long line so they could check our passports. We tried to stand in a line where we could scan the passports ourself, but it didn’t work for us.  So we had to stand in the longest line.  It took over an hour to get to the front. There were so many tired and cranky people in the line, and crying babies.  I was the most cranky in my family. But none of us liked standing in the line.  It was hot in the line. Then we had to get all our luggage from baggage claim (all 8 big bags, and our 8 carryons— we had to get get two luggage carts to hold it all).  Then we got in a HUGE van taxi and finally got to the hotel in Sydney where we stayed one night.  I’ll let Caitlyn tell you about the hotel.

Thanks for reading!- Lauren