US Adventure Part 1
The upgrade you’re having when you’re not having an upgrade
OR
Just getting there is half the fun!
It all started so promisingly - we picked up our hire car on Sat 28th and headed off to Sydney - a bit later than we’d planned but what the heck - we were on the road! Spent a lovely evening catching up with Anne-Marie (Cate’s sister), her husband John and son Adrian, followed by an early dash to Mascott Airport Sunday morning. And that’s where it started to get a little ugly!
Now if you’ve never been to Sydney airport at 7am on a Sunday before, let us tell you, it’s a happening place! The check-in queues were rather daunting - weren’t we pleased with ourselves that Michael was traveling business class so we could go to the short line? That was until they sent one of our bags through without tagging! Then we discovered that all the good seats in economy were taken and no - our helpful attendant couldn’t upgrade Cate because economy wasn’t sold out (as if that’s a rational argument!) Very apologetic at losing our bag, however, she told us to speak to the customer service person on the flight to see what he could do for us.
We then headed up to the Qantas lounge where Cate was refused entry (ya just gotta love Qantas!) However a slightly hysterical retelling of the lost bag story had the desired effect and the attendant finally swiped us through. When we got a call 30 minutes later to say our bag had been found, we began to think things were looking up. That was before we boarded and found ourselves sitting on the tarmac for nearly two hours waiting for some undisclosed technical problem to be resolved. (As we only had 2 and 1/2 hours to make our connection in LA, things were starting to look a little dicey! ). To make matters worse, the customer service guy (CSG) told us he couldn’t sit us together (not even in economy!)
Cate found herself sitting in the equal worst seat you can get in economy - one of the two inside seats of the inner row of four. When drinks started going round she grabbed a bottle of anything and everything (except the chardonnay) and started making friends with the two women on either side with whom circumstances were forcing an intimacy none would have chosen for themselves!
Meanwhile, Michael was finding it hard to enjoy to the full the comforts of business class because he was so distressed at having an empty seat beside him and no Cate to fill it! After three or four hours of relentlessly nagging the CSG and telling heartbreaking stories of lost bags, the CSG finally relented. Once all the lights were dimmed after ‘dinner’ Cate was escorted in stealth to business class - heaven forbid any economy passenger should see another economy passenger being upgraded!
Things were certainly more comfortable for Cate after that but let’s face it - 14 hours on a plane, even in business class, is no picnic and there was immigration and security to face in LA at the end of it all! Actually that part wasn’t too bad - the American’s have done a lot to streamline the process in recent years. It even got quite exciting at one point when Cate was pulled aside for a body search (she’s such a suspicious looking character!) However, it was all over very quickly and our hearts were then gladdened by the joyous news that our flight to New York had been delayed and we’d make our connection.
After another wait, our hero and heroine finally made it on to their American Airlines flight and folded themselves into tiny seats (no business class here!) to then enjoy yet another hour on the tarmac. Once we finally got into the air however, our flight proceeded smoothly and we landed in Newark (just outside New York) at about 6.30pm Sunday evening (local time).
We picked up our hire car and Michael swung bravely out into the New Jersey traffic - heading down US Route 1 to Princeton. He’s driven in the US before and didn’t have too much difficulty adjusting to the right side of the road - just kept turning the wipers on whenever he wanted to indicate - which was kind of amusing for a while. By the time we got to our hotel it was way late and we were way wrecked. Fortunately Michael had a rest day on Monday which allowed us to get our bearings and settle in before he reported to work on Tuesday. However, just when we thought it was safe, jet lag set in and it’s taken almost a week to recover.
That’s why this initial bulletin comes so late after the scintillating events it describes. But have no fear - the next exciting episode of Michael and Cate’s excellent US adventure will be landing in your inbox soon!
Stay tuned (and have a nice day!)
Love
M&C