At 730am the maxi cab arrived for the most expensive transfer of entire trip....42km of vinyl seats, bad music and Mcdonalds pickles on the roof ( I kid you not), 1 toilet stop at st Kilda for the kids and $175 later ( I am glad we don't tip in Australia) we lobbed up at Melbourne airport for our domestic flight to Sydney and then connection to Dallas ( DFW).
Airport a little busy and happy to check in at the business class counter ( no queue - and one of the benefits of being a frequent flyer. Also the one time my DW says gee I am glad you travel so much for work) and our first surprise....
Mr melbourne5 we won't be able to seat you in the 3 seat and 2 seat you allocated...says the qantas rep about our syd-DFW flight. Oh that's no good. What's happened? I say.....well not really because we need to put you in our premium economy section today. Will that be ok?......too which I reply in record time....yes please!!!
So baggage checked, boarding passes in hand it was off to Melbourne qantas club for breakfast ( toast, coffee and cereal for the adults and pancakes for the kids...mmmmm a pre taste of the USA).
Boarding called and an uneventful flight to Sydney of around 1hr 15 m.
Surprise 2 - we land and taxi off and then stopped and wait and wait and wait... About 10m into the stop he pilot comes on and says....sorry folks the domestic terminal has just shut as security has been breeched......( oh no...this had happened once before and it took 2 hrs to clear).... So we sat and sat and sat and finally after 90 m on the ground we pulled up at the gate and it was then a free for all for all those trying to connect to other flights......
We were told by qantas that the us bound planes would be waiting to get as many passengers as possible ...whilst we had planned a more than comfortable 2 hr gap between flights ( on 5 or so trips overseas this way it had never been a problem) that gap had eroded to zero ( that is our Dallas flights was boarding when we landed) whilst we were transferring to the international terminal....
So with all the speed of a 3 legged elephant our motley crew made it to the international terminal, got through immigration, quickly did a toilet stop, looked at the beautiful 1 st class lounge ( we missed out on the Moët ..drats...) we arrived at the gate.....the good news was the final call sign was still flashing and the plane ( a big 747) was in the bay..... So we hopped on... What a relief!
Surprise 3....." ladies and gents , the captain here, as you know we are waiting on all our customers to come over from the domestic terminal from flights from brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide .....there are about 100 pax. So we are going to wait for them..." fair enough I thought as we were in the same boat only minutes before hand.....some 2 hrs later.....yes 2 hrs of sitting ,sitting and more sitting. How I thought about that Moët in the lounge....!
To my and DW's surprise our kids were angels, water and a few snacks handed out and the video system turned on so all could keep occupied...
Anyhow the engines warmed up, taxi to the runway and up,up and away we went in that big qantas bus....and 16000km of flying to be done ( I am told this new route is the 3rd longest non stop flight in the world on a commercial jet) .
The flight was great ( as flights go). Our seats in premium economy were big and comfy . ( they are like the domestic business class ones I normally see when I walk past as i head down the back Of the bus!!!
Big Personal Tv's for all. I hear DS 1&2 enjoyed transformers 2 and green hornet and a few sly episodes of family guy......DS 3 watched Rio at least 4 times in a row..... He kept asking would we see the rio birds when we got there.....I had to let him down gently....
Anyhow leaving so late had one benefit. It got late quick and everyone got a bit of sleep...on the 15.5 hr trip... One funny thing though was DS 2's next door neighbor ( he decided to sit by himself ) and just as were leaving Sydney a gigantic man cam wandering down the aisle... ( now I am a big guy too) but this fella was tall and wide.....I was thinking to myself geez I really hope he gets a spare seat. Well of course he stopped and sat next to the only PE seat left . Next to DS2!! Well they got on famously. He was from the USA and heading home after some business but soon after dinner fell asleep and didn't arise until just before landing....nothing wrong with that unless....you guessed yet?.... Toilet time for DS2.
Well we mapped out a plan of attack. A leg placed here, a hand on the seat and up and over to my row of seats ( we honestly could not wake this guy up)... It w like playing twister, just 39000ft up in a seat....you had to be there.
Time to land, excitement built, breakfast trays cleared and arrival at approx 4pm Dallas Texas us of a time.....yay!
Surprise 4
A beautiful new terminal, quick and speedy customs and immigration ( I won't begin to compare the difference with lax) and off to baggage. Well sort of.....bags 1 & 2 off in record time. Waiting , waiting, waiting 45 m and the last people from the flight left and no bag 3 &4. Oh no!
Fortunately the bags that did arrive had DW and DS 1's clothes and little else ( for all those planned shopping right).. So qantas provided a few toiletry bags, pj's for all and a promise to reunite us with luggage ASAP ( we will see).
Now for all the planning I did for this trip the one I insisted on was a stop over in the grand Hyatt in Dallas airport and a flight to Orlando the next morning. What a relief it was after a marathon flight and delays and lost bags and literally not leave the terminal ( the hotel is he only one on site and connected to terminal d - which we arrived at). The hotel is beautiful inside, has great runway views ( the kids thought this was a bonus) and big rooms. We had 2 rooms and there was plenty of room for us all. Trying to adjust to the time change we headed straight to the restaurant and had our first taste of service USA style for our trip. Burgers, hot dogs and sodas all round , great service ( yes remember to tip ) and all happy Melbourne 5 campers.......time for sleep,sleep and sleep.....before the short hop to Orlando in the morning....
Next up....a flat tire on a plane, tshirts at the terminal, and finally paradise ......mickeys magical express to the grand floridian
, although ours was a great Gold Coast holiday - we had never been to Disney so had nothing to compare it to, but thought "we had such a good time here, wouldnt it be great to go to USA, one last hurrah before the kids grow up" 
