Golf was pretty ordinary, a few good holes too many bad ones. I expect this will continue until November when I can finally get some regularity to my game. This international jet setting has meant I’ve hardly had more than 2 games in a row since May. I raced home once we finished to get a few chores done and change for hockey before heading back for the presentation. Unfortunately when I arrived home my son had some bad news. It seems a water pipe has burst in my en-suite bathroom and part of the carpet in his room were soaked. By the time I’d contacted plumbers, insurance company and carpet dryers I was so late for the presentation, I might as well not have bothered. I did win a nearest to the pin on one hole but as I wasn’t back in time they didn’t give it to me.
Hockey was disappointing as well. We lost 1-0 where a win or a draw would have guaranteed top position at the end of the minor round and promotion for next year.
Since we didn’t have any water I showered at the club and then drove home to finish packing, updating my laptop with latest changes from the desktop and so forth. The carpet guys had come and had the heater blowers going on David’s carpets. All his stuff was in the family room and lounge room. Hopefully the plumber will come on Monday and be able to fix it on the day.
Will a departure just after midnight I called the taxi a bit after 10. When it hadn’t arrived by 10-30 I called again and they assured me it would be there soon. They also advised not to use the Automatic response for airport bookings but to talk to an operator in the future. I hadn’t flown out on a Saturday night and normally find taxis arrive within 5-10 minutes.
In the end we arrived at the airport just after 11 so it wasn’t an issue. Check in was reasonable quick and I was in the security queue when they called our flight. A number of us rushed to the front to get through quickly. I got to the top of the stairs and was looking for the boarding pass to check the departure gate, when someone behind me said I’d left my passport at security. The folder it was in had slipped out of the laptop pocket in the x-ray machine. I raced back down stairs and got there before the PA announcement telling me to go there came through. It turned out it had been a check-in warning not a boarding warning, in any case.
After collecting my thoughts and taking few deep breaths, I headed for the Qantas lounge where I ordered a drink and has a few snacks. I hadn’t had any dinner because of the 7pm hockey game. Ironically all my panicking was unnecessary because in the end we were 2 hours late leaving. There was a problem with the emergency lights and we kept getting announcements that it would be another 20 minutes. Finally the announced that they were taking another plane and they then had to transfer the baggage etc. the plane wasn’t particularly full at least. It was a 767 and the business class was similar to the Thai flight last month. By the time we’d got up to cruising altitude and had supper it was close to 3 so I decided to stay up and watch the movie – The Los Vegas one with Cameron Diaz and Ashton. It was a light enough chick flick for that time of night. I probably had an hour’s nap.
My 5 hour transit in Brisbane was now cut to 3. I took the train to the international terminal and after the usual security and customs queues I went to the Qantas club again. Although the seating on the Thai plane was nothing special, their check-in procedure for first and business was very good. There we had our own counter and customs so we were through in 5 minutes. It seems there was a separate queue for business and first in Brisbane but since I didn’t check in there I didn’t have the pass.
The Qantas club was pleasant and quite busy. When I headed for the boarding gate there was another long queue and yet another security check. Once through that it was upstairs to the business class cabin. I sat next to a Canadian doctor who had been at a conference. The service was excellent. They bought us pyjamas for the flight and She changed even before we took off. I waited a bit on the basis that if the take off was aborted for any reason and we had to evacuate, I didn’t want to be in pyjamas.
We had the capsule seating that I experienced on my Qantas flights to Singapore 2 years ago when I went to India. Movies were on demand as well.
We had a nice meal and I watched a couple of movies – The Bank Job and Ashton and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay. By then it was 11 pm LA time and I went to sleep. These seats flatten out but don’t quite get to horizontal. Still, it’s very comfortable and sleeping is a lot easier than in cattle class.
I woke a few times and about 2-30 couldn’t get back to sleep so watched Kung Fu Panda and then had another nap for an hour or 2. We had breakfast about 5 and I watched some Family Guy episodes before they shut down the entertainment system.
We landed about 7-15 and customs was empty till our plane arrived. We were through that quickly and my bags were off early and I was out of the International terminal in short order. I’d checked my bags and walked to the domestic. I had a brilliant but belated realisation that I could probably have caught an earlier flight but by then it was too late since my bags would not get there till my scheduled flight anyway.
There was a special queue for Business first this time to get into the terminal and this time I had the right pass. Security at the domestic terminal was quite heavy and I was randomly selected for a check. They went through my handbag and computer case, in plain site and without any threatening or intrusive attitude and I then had a scan and a pat down. I suppose it indicates they are not just picking on Middle Eastern looking men, which was one of the points in the H and K movie I’d watched earlier.
I then headed for the Presidents club only to find out that first class tickets do not get you into these in domestic USA. International tickets apparently do qualify but as Continental and Qantas aren’t in the same group, that didn’t help.
I changed my shirt in the public loo and am now sitting in a café typing this up. No Internet yet so I’ll load it later but at least it has helped fill in an hour of my 2 hours wait for boarding.
I guess I’ve had 4 or 5 hours sleep since leaving and I’m now 10 hours out of sync with my body clock, with another 2 hours difference to Houston. I expect I’ll be jet lagged for a day or 2.
I had called Tony, one of the guys I will be working with, from Perth before I left and on his advice I have got a rental car waiting for me in Houston, with GPS included.
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