The Traveling Jade

Here’s a lovely stock image of the plane I was in. Apparently this model, the A380, is the worlds largest commercial passenger plane.

Image credit: Pixabay

Getting to Melbourne Australia was fairly smooth, considering there was a giant storm moving across the US at the time. In total, my entire travel day probably lasted around 32 hours. The day started in Tallahassee, where my mom and I left around 9 AM and drove for four hours to the Atlanta airport. If you’re wondering why I picked Atlanta instead of my local airport, it’s because plane ticket costs are significantly cheaper coming out of larger airports (The cost of my ticket was less than $1000 for a roundtrip). Additionally, the chances for delays and cancellations are higher at smaller regional airports, which I didn’t want to risk.

The drive itself was pleasant. It reminded me of the days when I would travel to Atlanta frequently to see family. The closer we got to the ATL airport, the more it progressively became foggier. At some point, I received a notification that my flight from ATL to LAX was delayed by 15 minutes, likely due to inclement weather. Shortly afterward, another notification popped up, stating the delay was extended by an additional 20 minutes. Normally, this would stress me out, but I was grateful that my layover in LAX was 3.5 hours long, so I could afford these small delays. After checking in, I said my goodbyes and proceeded to security. Strangely, the line for security was practically empty by ATL standards (I’m referring to general TSA, not TSA pre-check). I ended up going through security in like 10 minutes. I unfortunately did not take that into consideration when driving up. So I ended up getting there 3.5 hours earlier. 

Once I located where my flight was departing from (terminal T), I walked from Terminal T to C. I personally am a terminal C fan. It has one of the better outlooks (for those who are not in airline reward clubs) and restaurants. Though I don’t recommend Leeann Chin, their food was not that tasty. Even after finishing my meal, I still had more time to kill, so I called a few people back home. They all wished me luck on my travels. At around 4:45 pm, I began making my way back. 

When boarding commenced, that’s when I realized the sheer number of kids that would be onboard this flight. When I boarded my seat, a mother and her child were in my row. The mother tried to accuse me of taking her daughter’s window seat, claiming that A is on the aisle. In case you’re curious, my seat assignment was (20A). She gave her child the final say, and thankfully she was smart and chose to settle with her assigned seating. If she had wanted the window, I would’ve simply refused cause I paid for it and I too enjoy having a window seat. The flight from ATL to LAX was around 5 hours which is longer than usual, likely due to the headwinds flowing against our direction, plus the storm that was brewing over Texas. Even though we avoided much of the storm system it was still a pretty bumpy ride. I oddly like the feeling of turbulence, it’s thrilling until you realize you’re crashing. 

After landing in LAX, and we were taxiing to our gate, there was a plane that was out of commission sitting at our gate and it needed to be towed off. Adding an additional 20 minutes to our already delayed plane. By this point, my original 3.5 hour layover had shrunk to 1.5 hours. Navigating to the international terminal was confusing, to say the least. Half the signs referred to it as Terminal B, but as you got closer, it split off into additional gates, leading to the official international terminal. Honestly, LAX needs better signage. The only reason why I found it was because I followed the people ahead of me since they were also headed to the international terminal. It was such a long walk to get from domestic terminal C to the international terminal. I personally think LAX should invest in some moving walkways in those tunnels. After an eternity in those tunnels, I finally found my way to the international terminal. Once I figured out which gate number my flight was out of, I decided to lightly shop in one of the markets (I.e. snacks and water).

Boarding the Qantas flight was somewhat disorganized in my opinion. The best way I could describe the process is like boarding a Southwest Airlines where people organize themselves based on seat rows, but without pillars to indicate the rows. Additionally, there was a facial recognition checkpoint just before entering the gate. Once I stepped onboard the flight attendants took a look at my boarding passes and guided me which side of the plane your seat is. The majority of the passengers were assigned seats on the sides and not in the center (The plane had a 3-4-3 seating arrangement) It was interesting how once the plane reached cruising altitude people began to spread out, claiming unoccupied rows and seats in the center. The people I sat beside remained in place, but that was fine. I forgot to mention, each seat came with complimentary blankets, pillows, headphones, and toiletries.

Shortly after reaching cruising altitude, dinner service began. I can’t recall what all the options were, but I do know that they weren’t all that bad. I settled for their Ginger Chicken with Japanese rice and vegetables. The quality of the meal was better than I expected given that it is airplane food. If I had to rate it, I would rate it 8/10, plus they provided dessert (biscoff pudding?). By the time I finished my meal and discarded the trash I had, the internal cabin lights started to change colors mimicking that of a sunset. The lights were off for at least 10 hours. I tried my best to sleep, but wasn’t successful. It was on and off the entire time, and it didn’t help that some guy behind me was snoring incredibly loudly. The times that I was wide awake, I just kind of stared at the flight tracker. All I could think of was how totally screwed up where if something happened, the only thing around us is the ocean. As the “morning” hours passed and the shutters remained closed, I thought to myself “I feel like a vampire on this plane.” About two hours before our arrival, the window shutters finally opened and I actually got my glimpse of Australia’s terrain. We were flying over the Great dividing Range, one of their several mountain ranges. The mountains reminded me of the West Coast, with how barren they looked. It was also around this time when the breakfast meal service was initiated. I ordered a simple fruit salad with a blueberry muffin. To me, this breakfast tasted 10x better than dinner. The muffin was incredibly delicious, and I wouldn’t mind having it again in the future.

Going through customs was relatively easy, though I had to do more facial recognition checks. Once out of immigration, I waited for the airport shuttle driver to pick me up along with a fellow student from my study abroad program. This pretty much concludes my travel day blog. More on my first day will come shortly. I apologize for not uploading in a timely manner. It’s been hectic trying to get acclimated to my new surroundings, and I haven’t had any down time to work on my blogs.