Now I know you are not going to believe me when I say this, and you will probably think I have gone mad, but… one of the fondest memories I have of our trip to New York City is the flight over and back – and we weren’t even in business class or premium economy, we were right down the back. I am not even kidding. I feel crazy just typing that.
Before we went everyone would ask “so are you excited” and I wouldn’t reply with all that much enthusiasm. I mean, sure – yes – I was excited but I was a bit worried about the long haul flight from Sydney to JFK. The longest flight I had done before that was from Mt Isa to Brisbane and then onto Melbourne.
We got off to a great start by sipping bubbles in the Qantas Club at 8am – I mean it was around 6pm NYC time, so it was absolutely ok, right?
What’s not to love about a champagne breakfast anyway? I was lucky that Bec had Qantas Club membership – you really do need to consider who you travel with, ha ha ha. Thanks Bec! It was great. I just love how it is totally acceptable to be sipping wine or walking around with a scotch on the rocks at 8am in the morning. Everyone was doing it. 3 older ladies must have been heading off on an adventure too – yep they were sipping scotch and bubbles. Of course they were!
Coming home we had to slum it in the Admiral lounge at JFK but that was ok. I was slightly hungover that day so decided a hair of the dog was just the answer – yes, why thank you, I would like a glass of champagne. So nice of you to ask.
The flight from Sydney to JFK looked like this: Sydney to LAX took about 13 hours. We had to get off at LA and clear customs, we had about 2 hours to do this so it was a rush, but it all went smoothly. Then LAX to JFK was about 5 hours. I was surprised at how quickly it went. The flight back was slightly longer.
The whole way over Bec and I had a whole row of 3 seats to ourselves, so that was nice.
We decided that the reason we did so well with the long haul flight was because we are so used to driving long hours in the car. I mean, what’s not to love about traveling for hours in a plane, even if we were up the back in cattle class. For starters there were lovely flight attendants bringing us food and drinks the whole time and when they weren’t we could help ourselves. So yes – yes we did enjoy quite a few Chardy’s on board. We had time to kill people. We also got to watch tv or movies while sipping our wine and we didn’t have children with us.
When we are driving the long distances that we do we are usually the drivers, we have kids in the car and that is it. So yes, we did enjoy being able to kick back, sip wine and binge watch Doctor Doctor or Modern Family.
Bec bought herself some noise cancelling headphones from Duty Free at Sydney Airport but I decided to slum it with the Qantas provided headsets. I must say, her earphones were pretty amazing and really do cancel out the noise and hum of the plane, but I had no problems with my earphones and managed quite ok.
On the flight over I pulled out the Doxy Sleep Aid tablets and Bec had a half and I only had a quarter. I was scared it was going to totally roll me so I didn’t have much. I realised this was a mistake because we didn’t really get all that much sleep heading over.
Coming back to Australia we managed to have a row of 3 seats to ourselves from JFK to LAX. But from LAX to SYD we didn’t. We also had kids and babies around us and even in the same row. But you know what – even that didn’t bother us. From JFK to LAX we did inhale quite a few Chardy’s and the flight attendant was just so helpful and kept them flowing. From LA to Sydney I decided I would have a couple more wines and then pop a Doxy Sleep Aid. This time I had a whole tablet. Well that was it for me… I was out. For SEVEN SOLID HOURS!! Jet lag, what jet lag. I had the best sleep. Bec didn’t have a tablet and only managed a sleep here and there. She did manage to roll the whole 2 seasons of Doctor Doctor from JFK to Sydney though, so it was all good.
It was about 10am by the time I arrived in Brisbane (probably 30 odd hours after getting to JFK airport) and I was so worried I was going to be like a zombie by the time I got there. I had to get a hire car and go and collect Tom from school. But I was totally fine because of that solid 7 hours of sleep I had. I was able to function that day and stay awake. When we got to our gorgeous friends house Edwina ran me a bath, lit some candles for me and I had a lovely soak. What a friend!!! For the next couple of nights I did have a sleeping tablet to ensure I stayed asleep all night because when we were in New York we did have a few nights where we woke up at strange times. This worked a treat and I really don’t think I had jet lag. Bam!
The night before we left Sydney, and I mean literally – last minute before I went to bed – I emailed the hotel where we were staying – Hotel Elysee – and ordered a car to collect us from the airport. It was so easy. And just like that – when we arrived at JFK there was a man standing there with one of those little boards with my name on it. He carted our bags to his Mercedes (thank you very much, don’t mind if we do) and we were off.
Gosh it was easy. Then when we were heading home, again, we just asked the lovely guys at the front desk to order us a car. Thank god it was one of those big SUV’s – “Suburban” – that are everywhere in NYC because we had quite a bit of luggage. I think the car from JFK to the hotel was $130 and the car from the hotel to JFK was about $80, from memory. It was all just so easy.
What did I wear I hear you ask. Well I wore a comfy soft navy pant, a pink and white striped RB Sellars long sleeved tee type top, my Frankie4 NAT Sneakers (that were so kindly gifted to me before the trip by Frankie4), a long cardigan and I had a colourful scarf to jazz things up a bit. I bought my soft pants from the local boutique (aka K-Mart) and my goodness they were comfy. Best 12 bucks I have ever spent. It felt like I was wearing pyjamas, seriously!
Bec wore much the same, a soft pant of sorts, a comfy top and she also had a pair of Frankie4 NATs.
It really is mind boggling to me that you can get in this big metal machine, fly through the air, above the clouds, the whole way across the Pacific Ocean, into whole different hemisphere and the whole way across the USA and end up in NYC. Just like that. It really is something else isn’t it. Made me realise that yes, Australia really is “down under” and a bloody long way from anywhere.
So you see – we really did enjoy cattle class, turns out it isn’t that bad after all. Do you think we are mad? Do you also have fond memories from your time spent in economy on a long haul flight?
no phone, no one asking you to do anything other than to select what drink or food you would like. Binge watch movies, listen to music, read a book or just settle back and sleep. No sheep to chase, no wandering cattle or running to town to get parts for tractors, headers, no accountants to deal with or grumpy bank managers…
Our son is at university on Vancouver Island in Canada so I just recently did the trip over just to make sure he had settled in, yes right mum he said when I said I was coming to visit!!!. Up at 4.30am, drive a hour to regional airport, late in Sydney but still have time to grab some breakfast in the Qantas club before we board. I had changed my seat the night before so was lucky to grab a bulk head seat right next to a couple on their honeymoon. For the next 15 hours I sat back in my little cocoon and enjoyed the inflight entertainment and refreshments.
LAX was crazy as usual with 2 Qantas flights arriving at same time and right behind me in the immigration Q I ran into an old work colleague so we had a bit of a catch up where our lives had taken us with promises to catch up next time in the big smoke. Onward flight to Seattle was relatively easy and I sat next to 2 young guys who could have passed for Next Top Model….they even helped me get my bags out of the overhead lockers.
Met son at airport…..and had 2 wonderful days in Seattle before catching the ferry over to Vancouver Island. On my return Qantas flight I sat back and relaxed, watched the rest of the movies from my list and had a few chardy’s. Quick reality check was husband picking me up from regional airport in the ute with barking dogs in the back.
Oh I nearly forgot, Frankie shoes for travelling and walking, absolutely love them. Even my son said, cute shoes mum!!
Karen, I absolutely LOVE this message! So true! All of it… right down to when husband collects you in town in ute… all the shit that goes with it… oh how the might fall – HARD!!! Then the 5 hours drive home, 12 gates, 195km of dirt road and arrive home to a stinky bachelor pad… but it is all worth it and I am so grateful that I was able to go. The long haul flight and service on board sure as shit beats the regional flights!