Wednesday, August 3

The shortcut from hell...

Well hello y'all. I'm in New Zealand. This is very much not where I want to be right now. I left Texas and the grand plan was to try the new Qantas flight that goes from Dallas to Australia. I was reveling in the fact that this new flight path was going to shave hours off my trip home (compared with flying up to LA then out) but fate had a different plan.

Sabn Antonio to Dallas was fine, a bit bumpy from the heat but nothing major. Dallas airport is pretty nice and had a wine bar overlooking a candy store - double temptation. The awesome Qantas guy at the desk moved my seat assignment up from the back of economy to one of the premium seats (but with basic economy service)... And then two hours into the flight we had a medical emergency (and it probably isn't my place to go into the details but I think and hope the lady is ok) and had to turn around and head to LA. So, four hours or so flight time and we're in LA. An hour or so on the ground for refueling and paramedics and we were off again, but this time to NZ because the crew had clocked up way too many hours to go further (and the poor buggers were not only exhausted but had to deal with a whole plane full of grumpy, smelly people).

Now we're in Auckland eating free brek (thanks Qantas) and working out what happens next. It looks like I'm going to be stuck doing a tour of Australian airports... Bris next then Sydney then Melbourne then Hobart! Lucky I'm not terrified of flying right? Oh wait...

Anyhow, wish me luck.

5 comments:

Kate said...

That sucks big time! And its a long enough trip as it is without all that - wishing you speedy travels/good sleep on the planes. Do you have an ETA back in sunny Hobart? And it is indeed sunny and beautiful today.
xx

Ruthie said...

Good luck!

Ruthie
xx

Aaron and Andrea said...

Sounds like a nightmare! The main thing is the welfare of the lady though.
Hope you had a great time in the US xx

AudreyO said...

Can I share a story? My daughter was coming back from overseas. She calls me from New York, super happy to be back in the U.S. and thinking she'll be home in 5 or 6 hours (we live in California). Anyway, she says "mom we're a little delayed they just served us drinks and snacks" I truly laughed so hard. She had kind of forgotten that planes do not take off with people drinking and trays down. It was 6 more hours until she even took off. Hope you made it home safely.

Daniel J. said...

Sounds HORRIBLE! However, I've got to go with the whole "could've been worse" outlook. Haha.