I woke up this morning pretty early after the dog jumping on my head, rolled over to greet my beautiful wife, “I haven’t slept” so we just layer there that was at 2:30am. The usual stuff happens in the morning as any traveller would know – pack the car, panic you have left something behind, check-in, get green card, get coffee and board the plane.

Adelaide to Sydney flight was smooth flying while we enjoyed a little Easter bunny treat, time check 8:20am (AEST), next panic for the morning, our connecting flight boarding time is 9:05 (9:50 departure) and we still had not landed. Landing in Sydney at 8:45 headed straight to international transfers desk to catch the bus, it was 9:00 before we got on board the bus. No time to stuff around get through immigration and headed through security, mum struggles in security with bags and we need to split up – head to Gate 53 Belinda is the cry.

What started as a brisk walk with Mum in tow soon turned into a run for the plane as “final boarding call for VA01 to LA” was repeated with virgin staff standing around every corner. Where is mum – maybe that wheelchair assistance would have been handy now I was thinking. The good news is that we made it onto the plane and I had our first surprise installed “upgraded seats” the kids (& Belinda) were stoked to see the gift bags that also included noise cancelling headphones sitting on their seats.

Having never travelled overseas before so we have nothing to compare it to but the extra leg room and deeper recline is worth the upgrade, as well as the headphones, toiletry bag, pillow, blanket, socks, eye mask and other sanitary items to keep you clean.

Our last leg – LA to ORLANDO on the delta airline was like any domestic flight back in AUS, at this point though we had 5 tired passengers wanting to board the plane, get some sleep and just check-in to our accommodation. After a 5 hour flight which most of us only saw 2hrs (broken sleep) we got the call – Tray tables up, electronic devices off and we start our descend. Touch Down…..

1st impression was how big this state must be with such a large airport, we even had to catch a 2 minute monorail from landing terminal to the baggage (main) terminal, which is where surprise number 2 was with our name being held by the driver (Victor), I can not suggest this high enough as it is exactly what we needed as he lead us to collect our bags, and then loaded the SUV before driving us to our stay at StaySky Suites.

Finally before signing off for the night we headed out to Perkins for dinner and a 24hr restaurant – with the discussion being around how little they must earn to maintain a 24hr place – surely not paying penalty rate. So we left our first official tip as the difference in service is noticeable immediately.

Thoughts of the day (top 3)

• USA are very patriotic with their Flag on display everywhere
• Meals on all flights we pretty good considering, I even had vegetarian option with the flavour surprising me
• Arrange the personal pick up service if travelling to unknown destination after a long day, well worth the extra $$ but seriously it only worked out to be the tip the difference in $$

#collectingmemoriesnotthings