Sunday 28 June (1)

Today marked the beginning of our latest big trip, we are off to New York. Although we have talked about this trip since our visit to LA in 2008 we only booked tickets 10 weeks ago and have been busy putting plans into action since. The biggest dilema was the dogs (it was a much simpler exercise with only one!) so a huge thanks to Mum (Julie), Bernadine Mum (Teresa) and also Adelaide!

Of course the last minute was a rush (why would today be any different); school finished up on Friday, followed by 2 chiro appointmnets, dinner with friends from work (thanks Kim and Richard) and ballet. Saturday meant footy, catching up with Jess and the kids (in Adelaide for the afternoon) and dropping off the dogs. So when we finally got home at about 8pm we were able to start packing in finish cleaning the house. We finished up just after midnight, so got a good 5 hours sleep!

We flew out of Adelaide at 8:45am heading for Sydney. This was the first of 6 flights on 5 seperate airlines. Of course this meant traipsing ourselves AND our luggage over to the international terminal. It was at this point that Mum and Bernadine let us know that Ruby had numerous vomiting episodes during the night, partly due to the stress of being deserted by her parents and partly due to the packet of wagon wheels, the chilli chocolate and the 2kg of lollies she ate in a fit of hysteria yesterday when she saw the suitcases out and her food for 3 weeks packed in the car! I swear I was only out of the room for 5 minutes.

We flew out of Sydney at 2:45pm on United Airlines, heading for San Francisco. It didn't take long to work out why United has such cheap flights. Despite the ads for their luxurious Business and First class sections, with their 180 degree flat beds and extra leg room; economy was behind the times with only shared tvs. You can imagine Phil's disappointment when he realised there would be no choice of movie, no cartoons, no games, no pause button for toilet breaks. The upside was we managed about 5 hours sleep on account of limited distractions. The food was also disappointing, but probably not as disappointing as a US$6 tariff for alcoholic beverages! Remind me to book QANTAS for my next long haul trip!