December 13, 2008
After a very long flight we have arrived safe and sound in Sydney.
The Journey – I may never fly economy again! This is a special trip for Harry and Barb. We have over the years collected many Aeroplan points, so were determined to use them to travel first class to Australia to celebrate Harry’s 75th birthday in January. We started planning December of 2007 – to book the flights – nothing else. We decided that this would be a free-wheeling vacation with only the minimum preplanning.
Planning did – however – include getting tickets. This was the biggest challenge, and until October of this year we were only able to book our flights to Australia, and only tentative flights home. In October, we were finally able to get confirmed return flights – a little later than anticipated, but none the less – we are returning! Thanks go to Jan for driving us, and to Sandra for picking up our mail and generally keeping track of our place and watering plants. Special thanks to Dawn and Candice for keeping the business going in my absence.
Our adventure started with check-in at the Vancouver airport, where we were informed that we would be welcome in the Maple Leaf Lounge
which is located just above our departure gate. Here we were treated to a nice glass of wine or anything else your little heart could desire, some refreshing nibbles and comfortable seats.
We departed at 6:10 on our way to San Francisco. Once on the plane – we were in Executive class – big seats and wonderful service. We received a lovely salad and the choice of 2 very nice wines or pop or anything else at no charge. We even had real knives and forks and linen napkins.
The arrival in San Francisco was on time, and we quickly made our way to the International Departure Wing. We boarded our United Airlines flight, and found that first class was comprised of individual pods
which contain your own individual monitor with movies, games, flight information etc etc. Harry and I were seated behind each other, but there really aren’t many side by side seats. 
First Class has only 12 seats! There is also an executive class on this plane. The service on this 13 hour flight was spectacular. We were served a wonderful 4-course dinner of Leek soup, a choice of salad, four choices of main course (Harry and I both chose the Filet – which was perfectly done) and choice of Ice cream or variety of cheeses.
Then it was off to sleep – because by now it was about 1 AM our time. Sleeping in these pods is not difficult. They stretch out completely so that you almost feel like you are in a real bed. I think both of us slept in excess of 7 hours – quite unusual for a plane ride. We arrived at 8 AM Aussie time – that is December 13, 2008. We loose a day on our way, but make it up on our way home. Time on arrival back home is 1 PM. On December 12th.
About 2 hours before landing we were served a lovely breakfast of omelette, coffee (or tea) and toast. Great breakfast!
Once on the ground we made our way through immigration (again – because we were 1st class – we were given our own line-up through immigration), picked up our bags, bought a cell phone, called our host and made our way to our condo.
We are very close to the center of Sydney – within Barb’s walking distance to all the major sites, but we will probably bus it.
After a very long flight we have arrived safe and sound in Sydney.
The Journey – I may never fly economy again! This is a special trip for Harry and Barb. We have over the years collected many Aeroplan points, so were determined to use them to travel first class to Australia to celebrate Harry’s 75th birthday in January. We started planning December of 2007 – to book the flights – nothing else. We decided that this would be a free-wheeling vacation with only the minimum preplanning.
Planning did – however – include getting tickets. This was the biggest challenge, and until October of this year we were only able to book our flights to Australia, and only tentative flights home. In October, we were finally able to get confirmed return flights – a little later than anticipated, but none the less – we are returning! Thanks go to Jan for driving us, and to Sandra for picking up our mail and generally keeping track of our place and watering plants. Special thanks to Dawn and Candice for keeping the business going in my absence.
Our adventure started with check-in at the Vancouver airport, where we were informed that we would be welcome in the Maple Leaf Lounge
which is located just above our departure gate. Here we were treated to a nice glass of wine or anything else your little heart could desire, some refreshing nibbles and comfortable seats.We departed at 6:10 on our way to San Francisco. Once on the plane – we were in Executive class – big seats and wonderful service. We received a lovely salad and the choice of 2 very nice wines or pop or anything else at no charge. We even had real knives and forks and linen napkins.
The arrival in San Francisco was on time, and we quickly made our way to the International Departure Wing. We boarded our United Airlines flight, and found that first class was comprised of individual pods
which contain your own individual monitor with movies, games, flight information etc etc. Harry and I were seated behind each other, but there really aren’t many side by side seats. 
First Class has only 12 seats! There is also an executive class on this plane. The service on this 13 hour flight was spectacular. We were served a wonderful 4-course dinner of Leek soup, a choice of salad, four choices of main course (Harry and I both chose the Filet – which was perfectly done) and choice of Ice cream or variety of cheeses.Then it was off to sleep – because by now it was about 1 AM our time. Sleeping in these pods is not difficult. They stretch out completely so that you almost feel like you are in a real bed. I think both of us slept in excess of 7 hours – quite unusual for a plane ride. We arrived at 8 AM Aussie time – that is December 13, 2008. We loose a day on our way, but make it up on our way home. Time on arrival back home is 1 PM. On December 12th.
About 2 hours before landing we were served a lovely breakfast of omelette, coffee (or tea) and toast. Great breakfast!
Once on the ground we made our way through immigration (again – because we were 1st class – we were given our own line-up through immigration), picked up our bags, bought a cell phone, called our host and made our way to our condo.
We are very close to the center of Sydney – within Barb’s walking distance to all the major sites, but we will probably bus it. 
As it was early in the day we walked to the Paddington market and back. This is a craft market that operates each Saturday in the yard of the Uniting Church in Paddington. We will probably make our way there in the morning- but now know there is a bus that will take us. This walk was the opposite way than to the city, but it was fun – about 7 or 8 km in total.
Barb headed out later – giving Harry a chance to relax and read, and found a ‘hot spot’ to download the blog. We’ll probably frequent this local as the meals look reasonable and the atmosphere congenial.
Barb headed out later – giving Harry a chance to relax and read, and found a ‘hot spot’ to download the blog. We’ll probably frequent this local as the meals look reasonable and the atmosphere congenial.
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