Qantas

Hello all! We left Seattle on time yesterday afternoon, flying to LAX to make an 11:30 flight to Melbourne on Qantas. All went well at first. While waiting at the gate for the Qantas flight, we linked up with 3 other couples on our tour! They are all very nice and we enjoyed visiting with them while we waited. We also met two women returning to Australia after visiting the US. At the appointed time, we began boarding an Airbus 380 - the giant airplane that holds about 800 people. It took a while but by 11:30 all were on board. At that point the captain used the sound system to announce that he had just been informed that there was an "industrial action" and all Qantas flights were cancelled! We had to disembark, wait in very long lines to get hotel assignments, then wait again for luggage that had been checked, then find the shuttle bus to take us to the hotel and wait for everyone to be on board. By the time the bus pulled away, it was 2:15 am. The hotel is in San Pedro which is a distance away across LA. Then only one desk person was on duty so checking in also took forever. We finally got to bed at about 3:30.

At this point (4:30 pm Saturday) we have reservations to fly out tomorrow at 10:15 on a United flight that will take us to Sydney where we will transfer to Melbourne where we will finally be met by an OAT rep who will put us on a plane to Adelaide. We will miss our first two days of the tour, for which we've been told that we will be compensated.

I know that all of this will seem like just a bad dream later, but right now it's a bit fresh and disconcerting. We had all assumed that once we got to LAX and to the correct gate our worries were over and we could just relax. Not so. It has been nice to have the other 6 folks around to look out for us, and we them, as things arose. We're already quite bonded!

I'll write more when we actually get to Australia and have begun the "on ground" tour. We'll have pictures then too, hopefully!

Another adventure begins,,,,

We are preparing to have an adventure, this time in the southern hemisphere! Next week, beginning on October 28, we begin an Overseas Adventure Travel tour in Melbourne, Australia! Actually, as you probably know, we only fly out of LAX on the 28th; we land in Melbourne two days later where we meet our guide, David, and our 14 fellow travelers. We spend about two weeks in Australia (in this order: Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rainforest, Sydney) and then spend another two weeks in New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown, Miford Sound, Fox glacier, Bay of Islands) and then fly home from Auckland via LAX again, arriving in Seattle on Nov. 29.

I will post to this blog when I can, sharing photos as often as possible, so stay tuned in!

And, since her majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will be in Australia when we are, we will be sure to give her greetings from all of you!

Adieu pour maintenant! (I have to keep my French somehow!)