Touchdown in LA

Woke up at 8:00 am for the 12:40pm flight to Los Angeles. I was still packing some things in the morning - but everything was ready to go in a short amount of time. I can tell that i've forgotten some things, but i'm sure i'll figure that out the hard way.

I checked in on the Qantas E1-12 bank of check-in desks and was greeted by a friendly lady at the desk. I checked in one large suitcase (one packed inside another to be exact) and it weiged 27kg. Didn't realise the luggage bag was so heavy - I must be a tank... yea, that's it. Moving right along - I was given a boarding pass and was told to head directly for Gate 8.

The walk through to Gate 8 was daunting. I've managed one happy snap on the approach to customs, but that's it. I promptly packed waay my camera the moment I saw an Australian Federal Police sign warning me not to use camerasin the Customs area. The find would have been $1000 if caught. Oops.

Fast forward to the flight. After 3 security checkpoints (ignoring the one at the check-in) I finally made it to the plane, a Boeing 747-400. Quite a nice plane really - TVs for each seat, remote controls for each seat and I was near a window. Note: near, not next to.

Funnily enough one particular announcement from the captain interested me. It went: " I am required to read out a statement from the United States Department of Justice, it goes something like this; At all times during the flight, please do not congregate in any area of the plane - especially near the lavatories". Interesting indeed.

So off we went - departing from runway 2 (i think). The northern runway, anyway. The usual health and safety messages were given first, followed by a short video on preventing deep vein thrombosis (DVT). I must admit that I yawned during this... and it was a killer yawn. Unfortunately it was a little too intense. I pulled a muscle. LOL. The muscle above my Adam's Apple. Oh well, such is life.

So where did I actually sit. Well I was assigned a seat near the window - and that is all I mentioned previously. To be specific I was assigned the seat 67B. Placing me at the back end of the plane, several rows behind where the wing joins the body of the plane. Not the worst of locations to be sure.

Travelling extended hours on a plane is not solitude by any stretch of the imagination. An extended plane trip wouldn't be an extended plane trip without meeting new people. Now obviously I am travelling with a friend - Carmen, but the person on the other side was someone that I haven't met before. On the aisle seat sat a UCLA undergraduate. Female, psychology student, 2nd year, and just completed an exchage at the University of Western Australia.

Now it may seem as though I talked alot on this trip, but that's not the case. I spent more time watching the in-flight entertainment. The shows/movies that I watched were: The Island, The Skit Show, Mythbusters, The Real Da Vinci Code, and Dukes of Hazzard. All Ican say is that Scarlett Johansson is hot, a dodge viper moves quicker than toy cars based on gravity alone, yawning is somewhat contagious, Dan Brown isn't telling a true story (although the bookbeing classed as Fiction should have been a hint), and no comment on Dukes.

I did try to sleep on the plane - but I didn't quite succeed. Qantas provided a blanket and a pillow - but this was no consolation. Sitting upright and trying to sleep doesn't quite work for me. Also, leaning to either side wasn't really an option. Well rested? Not quite. Sore neck, you be! Oh well - at least breakfast was good.