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The Qantas gates opened about 3:30 and we queued for the check-in and baggage drop. There was some issue with our tickets so we had to wait in the line to see a real live clerk vs. the kiosks. To my surprise, it was Tony, the guy who tried to help me out with the bike boxes yesterday. He recognized me before I recognized him and he set about getting our bikes and bags checked and getting us seats. We did get seats across the aisle from each other for the Brisbane to Sydney leg, but despite his best efforts, we’d be separated on the Sydney-LA and LA-BWI legs. Oh, well. It all hearkened back to the trouble with Dana’s ticket/passport before we left. Lesson learned about using a third party booking agent.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, if a little frustrating because we were separated. The Sydney-LA leg was on United and it was a much better airplane, with actual legroom and nicely reclining seats. 15 hours. We watched a lot of movies. I was between an young woman softball player and an older Eastern European man both of who didn’t speak the entire time — but that let me watch my movies and sleep in relative peace. Dana was also between two people, but in her case it was a husband and wife. He liked the aisle seat and she like the window and poor Dana was stuck in between their conversations over her.
We survived and made it through LA customs and rechecked our bikes and bags back onto the United flight to BWI. It was a much shorter flight and we got into BWI on time. Our friends Kathy & Dave were there to pick us up. Our bike boxes were a little bigger this time, so the duffels had to ride with Dana and Kathy, but it was a short trip back to their house. A nice, hot, shower, a delicious meal, and a lot of catching up over wine, and we fell into bed back in the USA.
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