#1 - FFC

With  118 years, tens of thousands of miles and hundreds of flights between us, we have finally arrived to First Class travel. It sure took us long enough and if we had to wait this long, we wisely picked the trip that took us the longest to plan and the farthest to get to. 

We awoke Monday in Philly at the usual 6AM, headed to the airport by 3PM and arrived in Port Douglas, North Queensland Australia on Wednesday at 2PM, thats 62 hours, minus the time difference (14 hours), minus the sleeping in flight (6 hours) and minus the dateline crossing....which is the totally confounding part of the equation. Any way you do the math, it is quite a long journey but doing it first class made all the difference!

We boarded our first flight to LAX on American Airlines and immediately it was apparent, as I had forecasted to Steve, that it was American in name only, that the plane, the service, was really still our old nemesis, USAir.  Sure the seats were wider and dinner came on china but really, a six hour flight and absolutely no in-air entertainment or wifi in this day and age? 

 Awaiting boarding in LAX

Next up, traversing LAX from Terminal 6 through narrow halls of construction and no signage to two bus rides, across the tarmacs and runways (shit, is that a plane coming towards us?), to the International terminal and finally to Qantas flight 16. 

Take lessons, USAir.

   1. Boarding was delayed about 15 minutes and they actually announced it and told
     us why!!!  Just wanted to cool off the back of the plane a bit for comfort.

   2. Two or three jetways to board....no back up, just walk on.

   3. A super clean plane.

Now in all fairness the comparison stops here because upon boarding we got to turn left into Business class. A fanfare of welcomes, virtually a spacious room of 14 chair/bed/pods, a glass of champagne and always a Mr. And Mrs. Schwartz before a question. We settle in, get out our books and relax knowing its a bit more than 14 hours to Brisbane.

We are a bit, but pleasantly, surprised as our steward hands me a small Kate Spade cosmetic bag filled with everything for the flight- toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask, creams and lotions- and Steve a similar but appropriately masculine bag. Nice, we think. 

Next a supper menu with lovely choices and a breakfast, cooked to order, checklist 
( have as much as you like) for the morning. Awesome Aussie start we think.

But the surprise was the next giveaway, which we still have no idea, is this usual? A Qantas thing? Why didn't anyone ever tell us this part?  A wrapped set of Qantas pj's, which we figured were 'just a gift'  until we saw people changing into them!!! Most in the bathroom, a few in their seats and even one who just stripped down to tee shirt and boxers, until almost the entire cabin, including Steve, looked like we were in a scientific sleeping experiment....maybe we were. If so, then we passed, because after putting the mattress pad on our bed, pulling up the covers and turning off the lights, we fell fast asleep until the morning.

 Steve's new Qantas PJs

I can't remember the last time I has such a delicious brekkie. Made to order scrambled eggs ( scrambled the small curd French way) with grilled portobellos on toasted brioche. With a macchiato and champagne if you so desired. What a lovely way, along with catching a few films missed in the theater, to travel across the west to the southern hemisphere. Even the WC was upscale with a padded toilet seat and real towels. 

Arriving in Brisbane, pretty basic airport, another layover, another boarding.....can you believe we aren't there yet??? Up and down again to Cairns, which we have been incorrectly pronouncing by saying every letter. Forget that, think soup as in soup CANS, and say it like that with a bit of a twang.

Finally, we deplane, grab a Hertz car and….well, I will leave the DRIVING in OZ for the next blog. Let's just whet your appetite by saying, think roller coaster, panic and surprise.