Day 1 - 3: Getting to Sydney!!

Well we were all packed up and ready to go to Sydney, Australia. Jacob's Mom brought us to the airport to catch our flight with United that was supposed to be at 7:05 p.m. The awesome thing about Monday, was that it rained most of the day, and the Bush International Airport area got 6 inches of rain. Normally I love rain and would be so excited about this, but today was not a good for it to rain so much! Because of the rain our flight was delayed over two hours, so once we got to the airport and ate some dinner, we realized we needed to try to get on an earlier flight.

We were able to get onto an earlier flight on standby, so we were very grateful for that. Our flight to Los Angeles was great! We even had extra leg room because we got seats in the row right behind the first class so we were behind the partition and had an extra few inches. I took some pictures of the troposphere (hehe, yes I did just use that word) as we were flying because we saw some of the most awesome cloud formations! (I will spare you the science cloud mini lesson!) There was so much lightening going on inside these clouds, and I kept trying to catch some pictures of it but I couldn't. It's times like this when you just feel God's power and stand in total amazement of His creation.

So we got to Los Angeles, and of course were late getting there because we had sat on the plane for an hour waiting for the silly airplane food to get there. So despite our efforts to get on an earlier flight, we still ended up missing our connection to Sydney. We actually got to LAX about 30 minutes before our flight, but we had to leave the terminal we were in and go to a different terminal, check in and go through security again and it just wasn't going to happen with the size of the airport. It also didn't help that LAX didn't have our flight listed on the boards when we got off the plane and an airport attendant sent us to the wrong terminal. So, to say the least, I am not a fan of LAX at the moment. Once we got to Qantas, Vincent (our helper) said there was no way we could make it and that he would put us on the next available flight for the next night at 10:10 p.m. There was another flight out that night at 1:08 a.m. but he said it was totally booked and there was no way we could get on the flight. So after that we went back to United and they gave us a hotel and some meal vouchers. We then waited in the baggage claim line and found out that our baggage actually had made it on the standby flight we made (which were impressed with because that meant they had to go find it from our other flight and move it) but that Qantas had it. So we went back to Qantas to see if we could get our luggage so we could change but security had already left for the night and Vincent would have gotten in trouble if he had gotten it for us. So, we caught the shuttle and checked into "La Hacienda" haha...

So sad that we aren't on the plane to Sydney!

Free food and hotel! One good thing!

Our room for the night.

 The next day, we checked out of our room and got a late breakfast at the IHOP down the road. We wanted to go do something today, but didn't have clothes for the beach, and more than one person told us we shouldn't go into the city because we could get stuck there with the traffic and not make it back to our flight. So we looked around the area and then hung out in the patio area of La Hacienda for a while. Jacob and I chatted a bit and then watched a movie on his iPad. :0)

See Boeing in the background? :0) 

Just relaxing!

Movie time!

After that, we caught the shuttle back to the airport and spent some time there. We fixed our itinerary since we had to combine some things and prioritize what to do with our time because we lost that day. Missing the flight wouldn't have been so bad if we could have just gotten one a little sooner. We literally lost 24 hours of time here, but are supposed to be refunded for that night in our hotel, so that is good. :0) We checked in a little early and our attendant was nice enough to give us seats again with extra legroom, so we were excited about that.

Tom Bradley International Terminals 

 Our plane was HUGE! It was a double decker, and definitely the largest plane I have ever flown on. Our seats were actually upstairs, which was so weird but we liked it. It was nice getting off because there were only 36 rows upstairs, as opposed to the 85 rows down below us. Seriously, this plane was a beast, and very new, so again - cool perks. :0)

Flight Path - 14 hours!

 And finally, after waaaayy too many hours of travel time and random LA time, WE MADE IT!!!!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!

Sydney airport - not a great pic, but it's all I could get.

We checked into our room and are very happy with the size and view of the room, and once we walked around the city some, realized the location isn't that bad either.

View of Hyde Park, the Harbor Bridge and the top of the Opera House

View

View 3

So once we got in, Jacob and I showered and cleaned up, which was so awesome! I love clean clothes! We then hit the road to see some sites and make the most of our time here.