Departure - Feb 28

After the usual flurry of activity around packing and "last checks" of what I'd forgotten, it was time to head to SFO. Without problem we made it to the airport, said our heartfelt goodbye to Gail, buzzed through checkin process and down the long corridors to our gate where I could see that bigh mostly white 747 with the red Kangaroo on the tail. It was HUGE. And it was my first time being on a 747.

At 9:45 we boarded. Turns out Jay and I had an extra seat between us which provided much needed sense of spaciousness in the otherwise jammed economy section. Wasn't long before we rumbled down the runway and were on our way to Australia!!!!

I think both Jay and I were expecting to just conk out and sleep our way across the Pacific. Guess it was the excitement of it all that kept -- at least me -- awake far beyond my usual bedtime...about 9:30 usually. Oh yeah, and maybe because the decided to serve us dinner at midnight in a calculated effort to help us adjust to a differnt feeding schedule. Anyway, never being one to skip a meal regardless of the time of day offered, I enjoyed the late night suppoer of brisket and vegetables melee -- or should that be medley?

The other distraction that got in the way of sleeping was the Qantas "entertainment center." It's the virtual equivalent of having the best home entertainment center you could imagine with an array of movies, tv, travel features, music, games, audio boooks and radio at your finger tips. Only drawback was that it was a postcard size LCD rather than a 48" plasma display. Maybe they had that in First Class. Anyway, it was more media than I'd consume in a year or six.

So after eating and channel hopping until my eyes were blurry, I finally went to sleep -- a sleep perhaps better described as a series of vertical naps punctuated by stirrings in the cabin and rebellion frmo my stiffening limbs or neck or back or big toe or ear lobe. Take your pick.