Leaving on a Jet Plane

Flying in Australia is different than flying in the U.S.  It's more like it was pre 9-11.  When the four of us fly domestic in Australia, Erich is the only one asked to show his ID.  I'm never asked.  You don't have to have a boarding pass to go through security.  So any Joe Schmo can go through security.  This means the kids and I can go wait by the gate when we pick up Erich after a trip away.  When you go through security, you can have liquids in your bag.  As much as you want! And it doesn't have to be in a quart size bag.  (Not that they have "quart" size bags here anyway.  "What's a quart?")  You don't have to take your shoes off.  Remember when it was that easy?

When Erich was returning from three week trip to the UK, we were able to go to the gate to meet him.  Here they are watching for Erich to get off the plane.

Erich has flown enough that we can now hang out in Qantas Lounge while we wait for our flight. We also get to board the plane first.  Once we move back to the U.S. it will be back to flying like commoners.  I don't know if we will survive.  *sigh

From the Qantas Lounge we watch our luggage be put on the plane we are getting ready to board.  

In December of last year, we flew back to the U.S. to visit family for Christmas.  On the Dallas to Norfolk, VA leg of the trip, an American Airline flight attendant gave each of the kids a travel log. We've really enjoyed having these!  At the beginning of each flight Erich hands them off to a flight attendant and she takes them to the cockpit.  Near the end of the flight she will return them to us.   Frequently the flight attendent will have a special message from the pilot and say the pilot has invited you up to see the cockpit when you are leaving the plane.  We've flown so much this past year that we had to add more pages to the log book.

One of the flight logs.

Captain Charlie sitting in the pilot's seat of the A380.

Captain Chaney

The kids have boarded 29 different airplanes since December of 2014.  They are well traveled little people!  They still very intently watch the flight attendents do the safety briefing at the beginning of every flight.  During the briefing, when they ask that you check for the life jacket under your seat, Charlie and Chaney really check to be sure its there.  And when they remind you that the closest exit may be behind you, the kids turn around and check. (I do that too.  I'm safety gal.)

Diligently looking over the safety information card.  Safety first!

This is from the JetStar laminated safety card located in the seat pocket in front of you.  I got a huge kick out of these pictures.  It shows you how to locate your life vest underneath your seat, how to put it on, snap the belt and pull it tight.  The last picture shows you how to calmly chill out and relax as your plane plummets towards the ocean. 

Hanging out in Airports...

Watching Qantas planes take off while waiting to board ours.  Chaney flew with her Santa hat in December 2014. 

Yes, they are on the floor in the airport.  This was around hour 27 of our trip in December 2014.  I was done caring about them all over the dirty airport carpet.  They were both sick and had had very little sleep on the plane. Look how happy they were.  Who am I to mess with that?  What's a little dirt anyway? 

Canberra Airport has this cool window in the floor to watch your luggage go by on a belt while it's on the way to be loaded into your plane. 

Early morning at Canberra Airport.

Waiting for takeoff.

On a 15 hour flight, you need to have earphones and a TV!  Luckily our really long flights have TVs in the seat back in front of you.   

On smaller flights there is no TV built into the seat in front of you.  Charlie and Chaney have their Kindle Fires to watch movies on and play games to pass the time.  (Thank goodness!)

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

•  Since Australia doesn't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, the stores start putting out Christmas stuff in September or October. 

Christmas candy out in October.

• In Australia, it's not called a slot machine.  It's called a "pokie" which is short for poker machine. 
• I love a cold root beer float.  Yummy! Most Aussies aren't familiar with root beer. Costco carries a lot of American products and they do carry A&W root beer.  If they have tried it, most don't care for it. They do have floats but they use cola.  And they don't call it a float.  They call it a spider.  A spider.  Hmmmm.... that name doesn't sound too tasty...

  

  
  At McDonald's you can get a McSpider.

• When selling your house, you don't talk about the lot size.  They call the plot of land your house sits on the block.  "How large is the block?"  
• You must really want a Twinkie if you are willing to pay that much.