I got to the airport as scheduled and had a two-hour wait that grew into three as once again a flight was delayed. As a result, I didn't arrive back in Sydney until 7:00 p.m. I had booked a room at the Holiday Inn at the airport, which was only a 10 minute ride from the terminal. I checked in, dropped my bags and went downstairs to get dinner. I had to be up at 6:00 so I wanted to be in bed early. There were two restaurants- a loud bar/bistro and a much more subdued venue that was offering a buffet. I opted for quiet. It was a good choice. The food was quite good and since it was a buffet, there was no waiting involved. The plan was working. I got back to my room, watched a little TV and switched off the light.
As always on airport days, I was awake before the alarm went off. I made myself a cup of instant coffee in the hotel room, which seems to be the way to go in Australia. No Keurig for them! I did the last minute packing, showered and was ready to go in plenty of time for the airport shuttle. Now, the duct tape didn't really work all that well, but I was happy to learn from the front desk that Sydney International had one of those bag wrapping services. So as soon as I got to the terminal, I had my bag mummified in saran wrap before heading to check in.
From the Qantas airport lounge |
I won't bore you with the details of such a flight, but it went quickly enough.We made good time, so we were an hour early arriving in LAX, that is to say at 6:00 a.m. Fortunately, layover time in LA was little over an hour.
We boarded our flight to Newark right on schedule, but take-off was delayed (again!) by almost an hour because of a "minor mechanical problem", according to the pilot. Well, it was fixed quickly enough but we seemed to sit on the runway for an awful long time. I was beginning to have flashbacks to a hellish airport experience a few years ago. Thankfully, though, we did take off; and, despite the fact that it was one of the bumpiest flights I have had in a long time,we succeeded in getting to Newark in one piece. I got to the baggage claim area but was anxious when I did not see my driver and my phone was on 1%! Have you ever tried to find a plug in the baggage claim area of Terminal A at Newark Airport? Not easy, but I did. And when the phone had a little more juice I called the limo company and was assured that my driver would be there shortly. I still had to wait for the mummy to come down the chute to the carousel before I could leave anyway. Then all the pieces came serendipitously together; and so I was finally on my way home to Morristown. It felt good to turn into Delbarton and know that I would not have to deal with airports for another month!
It's great to be home. |
Ben tornato a casa. Un viaggio impegnativo e con qualche disavventura, ma mi sembra sia andato molto bene. Insieme a te e dai tuoi post ho vissuto un nuovo ambiente con splendidi paesaggi nonostante fosse inverno. Aspetto di leggere su queste pagine nuove e interessanti avventure. A presto. Ciao Stefania
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