Flying Standby!

Where do we begin?? We are ready to rumble but does that mean they are ready for us? Lesson number one: we are informed that you need a visa to enter into Australia weather or not you are leaving the airport... yikes! So we decide to deal with the visa situation when we get to LA (are they for real)! Our main focus at this point is saying goodbye to our parents and getting on the plane.

Lindsay gets on!! Pilot Douglas McDuff (Lindsay's dad) meets us at our gate, as we anxiously await the potential departure to our adventures!! We get on... YAY!!! The flight to LA was not bad at all! Lesson number two: flight trivia is highly entertaining, especially if you are having sound difficulties. We arrive in LA famished. Emily and Katie are last to leave the plane and see Lindsay and this tiny man, that looked like Danny Devito, and they are freaking out because they supposedly saw Jennifer Aniston! Naturally, Emily and Katie bolt towards the direction in which Lindsay was pointing... long story short it was one big joke and Danny Devito and Lindsay are sitting there laughing. So now it's time to figure out this visa situation. We exit the terminal and meet with the Delta agent. We had some slight entertainment with a Chinese woman, who was unable to speak English. Her inability to speak English made us appreciate the fact we were going to an English speaking country. Anywho we got the visa and we are good to go! Time to eat. Where do we eat? Ruby's diner. What do we eat? Chicken fingers, French fries, and chocolate milkshake. Typical.



Round Two. Are we going to get on our flight to Sydney? The flight is looking good. Is this really going to happen? Lindsay gets first class!! And shortly after Emily and Katie get cleared and are assigned seat A and C, with a seat between them. Score. Yes this is really going to happen. Once again we are in the back on the plane... no big deal because we have a seat between us! Wellllll..... we are all smiles at this point. We are going to Sydney and we have a seat between us!! What What!!! As we reach row 56, we stop and look around. Where is seat B? Seat B is nowhere to be found. Turns out that the last row only has a seat A and seat C.... why in the world would you have just an A and C... I mean at least put A and B! This is extremely humorous to us. Lesson number three: be flexible and have a sense of humor!!!



We arrive in Sydney fifteen hours later. It is 8 am in Sydney and the airport is a mad zoo. But we still have one more flight to go! We have a slight panic attack because we have to make our next flight with a completely different airline. Some sweet old man hooks us up and lets us breeze through customs! Thank goodness. Lindsay is flying standby. Emily and Katie are flying Aerolineas Argentina. We split up in hopes of meeting each other on the other side. We are unsure if Lindsay is going to get on her flight. But more importantly where and when we will meet her in the Auckland Airport because our phones don't work. Turns out that most international flights, including Aerolineas Argentina, have strict bag weight limits. Lesson number four: learn to pack light! We ended up paying an arm and a leg to bring our bags to New Zealand but it's all good. We are going to New Zealand!! Lindsay gets on her flight. Emily and Katie get called over the intercom and were given new boarding tickets, thinking nothing of it. It is time to board, free for all, everyone boards at the same time. Emily and Katie happen to be standing in front and are the first ones to board with their oversized carry ons and flowered pillows. We casually walk on the plane and soon realize that we have been upgraded to first class. Best news ever. We are freaking out! Emily asked the lady if it looked like we belonged in first class. Her response, "not with those pillows." We only have three more hours to go but strangely wish we could be pampered a little bit longer.



Quick sum... We left Feb 9th in Atlanta, Georgia, checked luggage, five hour plane ride, four hour layover, 15 hour plane ride, four hour layover, three hour plane ride and arrive Feb 11th in Auckland, New Zealand. Approximately 36 hours later we finally made it! We breeze through customs, after they clean our boots. Now what do we do?