Day 1 in Brisbane

CHRISTY:

 We flew to LAX on Friday the 7th and stayed the night close to the airport so we could just get up and head out to our flight to Brisbane.  We were lucky enough to spend time with two of our kids, our daughter and our son and his girlfriend.  Our flight left at 8:20 p.m. and I'm not sure what exactly happened but I believe we somehow time traveled into the future because we arrived Monday at 5:00 a.m.  The flight wasn't too bad we actually got lucky because the seat next to me was empty.  We had 3 meals and snacks throughout the flight. The meals were okay, nothing too special.  The most entertaining thing was the wooden silverware.  I don't know if many of you know but Scott absolutely hates the feel of wood in his mouth.  It literally makes him so uncomfortable even to talk about it.  To watch him try and eat his food was almost too much to bear because I could not stop laughing.  After our meal we decided to try and sleep.  I ended up getting about 5 hours.  When I woke up I noticed Scott was still up because the lady in front of him put her seat back so far that Scott had no room to get comfortable.  We ended up switching seats and he was then able to get about 3 hours sleep.  During the flight they handed out some snacks and one of the snacks was some delightful chocolate covered cookies called Tim Tams.  These cookies were so good I made a note to myself to find more when we land.  Once we landed at 4 a.m. things ran pretty smooth.  We went through customs, got a taxi and headed to our hotel.  This part wasn't as pleasant.  




By this time we were exhausted and just wanted to sleep but of course that wasn't the case because our room wasn't ready.  We had to wait around until 9 when they finally decided to give us a room until our room was ready.  I don't remember much because I passed out for 3 hours.  We woke up and decided to go explore the area.  Somehow the Gods were looking out for us because there just happened to be a Casino a few blocks away!  Once we contributed to a new addition to the casino we decided to check out more of the area.  We looked around several stores until we came across a grocery store.  Of course Scott and I had the same idea, where are those Tim Tams!!  We found them and loaded up on a few different kinds and then we headed back to the hotel for dinner.  After dinner I was able to get in a workout and now I feel a little bit better about indulging into my Tim Tams!

SCOTT:

I have to go back a little bit.. For those of you that followed our LAST adventure to Egypt, you might remember we also stayed in Los Angeles near the airport a day early.  On the day of the flight out, we took a taxi that felt like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.. Well, you're not going to believe this, but we got the same guy this time!  I don't know if he has a contract with the hotel (they pay for the taxi to/from the airport) or what, but it was crazy.. His driving has not gotten better.. Those of us who have driven for a while appreciate the subtle steering, lane changes, and overall smoothness that comes with experience.. This guy was like a ship captain throwing the ship's wheel back and forth like he was in the storm of the century... and of course the car responded like we were in 12 foot swells.  We BOTH had upset stomachs by the time we got to the airport.

All that said, the airport and flight were pretty smooth.  Despite the fact that as soon as we reached ten thousand feet the lady in front of me slammed back her chair like she was in the La-Z-Boy olympics, and made my worst fear (that of being trapped in a narrow passage in a cave) come to life.  Her chair and my body were like two forks in a drawer... Also, I feel like I need to clarify the "Scott hates the feel of wood in his mouth" comment, for several reasons.. It started with wooden tongue depressors, made me cringe.. now, like popsicle sticks or those stupid little ice cream spatula spoons.. just don't like it, that's all.

We got upgraded to a suite (love that lifetime platinum status!), and had access to the concierge lounge with nice breakfast and evening hors d'oeuvres .  Saw our first Vegemite!  Have not yet had the courage to try it.

                                        

After a nap, we went adventuring and mama sniffed out a casino.  Only gambled a little but had no luck.  Fortunately the exchange rate is about 1 AUD = 0.65 USD, so we only lost about 2/3 what we ordinarily would have!  I think that math works out.

                                        

Anyway, that's it for the journey and day one.  Tomorrow we have nothing planned, but I have a feeling that's when the best adventures will unfold.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Days 12-14 -- New Zealand

Image
CHRISTY: it's been a long 3 days at sea and for me the sea seems rougher than usual.  I haven't been feeling very good and the sea sick pills make me so tired.  The best part of being on the sea for 3 days straight was we played Bingo and actually won.  Of course the one time we finally win someone else wins too and we have to split the pot.  It was still nice to win though.  We cruised through the Fiordland National Park and it was so beautiful. The best part was it was on our side of the ship so we just sat on our balcony and enjoyed the sights all day long.  We saw amazing waterfalls, seals, a pod of dolphins, penguins, and huge birds.  It was truly breathtaking!  Today we finally went to port in Dunedin, New Zealand.  It was a nice little town with a lot of history and cute little stores.  This town is famous for it's wool because everywhere we went there was sheep stuff and wool.  There's Kiwi birds here somewhere but I spent m...
Read more

Day 6 - Welcome aboard!

CHRISTY: Today we basically waited around the hotel until 1:00 and then we literally rolled our suitcases down about 2 blocks to board the ship.  The line to board was moving fairly quickly until we were told to get out of line if we didn't get our New Zealand visa.  The line for that moved slowly.  Once it was done and we paid our dues we were able to board.  We got to our room and Scott had surprised me with a junior suite! I've never stayed in a room this big, it was pretty cool having more room than usual.  I am  never gonna want anything smaller after this! It even has a bathtub, how crazy!  We did our muster duties and started to explore the ship.  We stopped by the bar to get some drinks and Scott told me we had the drink package too.  This guy is full of surprises this trip! I had a tasty espresso martini and found out my limit is 15 alcohol drinks per day! Challenge accepted! My liver is gonna be screaming this trip 😀!  We walk...
Read more

Days 6-11 (I think!)

Image
CHRISTY: Internet has been spotty on the ship so we haven't been able to update the blog.  Our first stop was Melbourne.  We didn't do any of the excursions because nothing sounded good.  So we just walked around the town and checked out the area.  We went walked around and found a downtown area with a bunch of shops along the road so we went shopping for some souvenirs and checked out a few thrift stores.  We only spent a couple hours out and then we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.  The after dinner show didn't sound that good so we just headed back to the room to watch tv.  Our dinner is the late seating so there's not too much to do after that unless we want to party with the young crowd. The next day was at sea, and the day after our stop was Hobart, Tasmania.  Unfortunately this day Scott was starting to feel a cold coming on.  There wasn't much to do on this stop so we just decided to walk around the area and check it o...
Read more