Today we travel to Sydney and spend the night at the airport hotel. Then home tomorrow. But that's ok. We have had a lovely memory filled trip and my travel love tank is full for now.
We have a room that looks out on the tarmac with all the airplanes. It's called a "plane spotter" room. It's fun! And steps from the Qantas ticket counter so yay! Late check out tomorrow and flight leaves at 430p.
( we leave at 430p on Thursday here and get home on Thursday at 230p .... so weird!).
Chris: Six years ago we went to Europe and splurged on American Airlines business class from DFW to Rome. With that came Aadvantage Admirals Club lounge access and man, we were hooked !
Since then we have done the Air France lounge in Paris, the British Airways lounge in London and the Qantas lounge in Sydney. The lounge life is definitely the good life ! Free drinks, spacious comfortable seating and usually pretty good free food. I mean, it's not free, you pay in one way or another but you don't pay when you get another drink.
After Covid, business class airfare just got so ridiculously expensive, try twenty three thousand dollars round trip for two Dallas Sydney Dallas that we obviously didnt do business class but, we did get a Capital One Venture X credit card and that gives us lounge access to Priority Pass lounges all over the world.
Capital One is opening their own airport lounges and the first one was at DFW. We have used that lounge several times and it is very nice. They have a full bar and lots of food options. All of the hot food is set out in its own little iron skillet looking bowls with a lid. They have several meat options along with vegetables and hummus with veggies and crackers and several other snack options. They have a really nice selection of sweets and the big fresh baked cookies are amazing. Chocolate chip, macadamia nut, peanut butter. You can take as many as you want so several always find there way on to our flight. They even have premade and packaged sandwiches and other meals that you can take on your flight as well. We usually fly premium economy, wider seats, more recline and better food than economy and we usually enjoy the airline food plus it's a nice way to pass the time so we have never taken advantage of the premade meals but it is a nice option.
We also used our Capital One Priority Pass lounge access in Auckland flying to Christchurch and Christchurch flying to Sydney. The lounge in Auckland was really good, the one in Christchurch, ehh, but the drinks were free and we found a good Rummy Cube spot so all was good.
In case you haven't heard of Priority Pass lounges they are airport lounges in airports all over the world and you pay an annual fee for access. I'm not sure how much it is because we get access with our Capital One card. Our annual card fee is a little pricey but it has been more than worth it for the lounge access and other travel perks that come with the card.
The stay at the airport hotel in Sydney was really cool. It is just right off the tarmac and the view from our room was amazing. Big airplanes from all over the world were right outside our window. We woke up to the nose of a Qantas Airbus A380, a huge beautiful airplane, pointing right at our window. I got to watch it push back, taxi out and takeoff. We flew on one the first time we went to Australia and really enjoyed it. This time Qantas used a Boeing 787-900, also a fantastic airplane.
Overall our flights were great, especially Dallas Sydney Dallas. The food in Qantas premium economy was vey good. It's actually a very nice ride with comfortable seats, plentiful food and drinks, a good selection of entertainment options and first rate service.
Rhonda: We are now home! We both slept on the flight and I watched many episodes of the Gilded Age. We had fun and the flight attendants kept us charmed and well fed. All was good.
We did get a little sad on the flight . We waited sooooooooo long to do this trip and now it's over. But then Chris knocked over a glass and it shattered at his feet and it caused a ruckus. We had to move seats. So, that knocked it out of us and we were ready to get home to see our girls.
Chris: Good lord, Rhonda, it wasn't a ruckus, nobody even knew ! I was adjusting my blanket to go to sleep and I had completely forgotten about the glass. I knocked it off and heard it shatter. I'm sleepy, I'll deal with it later I thought so I just went to sleep. When I woke up I went and told the flight attendants and they were amazing about it. No worries, no worries. They picked up the biggest pieces and moved me to Rhonda's isle seat and moved her across the isle for the last three hours of the flight. No worries !!
I talked to one of the young flight attendants several times, this was the first flight to Dallas that she had worked. She said she wanted to see all the cowboys and go to a club and learn to line dance and go to a rodeo. I told her the streets are not actually full of cowboys and horses and cattle and there are not actually rodeos every night all over the DFW metroplex but there are several clubs around where she could learn to line dance. She was a cute young woman so I'm sure with that and her Aussie accent she won't have a problem finding a dance partner.
Rhonda: We ordered Chipotle the minute we got in the door. It seems we always are craving some spicy food no matter where we went on vacation. I was determined to stay awake until 8-9pm so I could get turned around. But alas , I went sound asleep at 7p and slept until about 9p. So , uck. It's 3am and I am wide awake. That's the jet lag life. So I am glad I am off until Monday to get turned around. But Lord it's nice to get back in your own bed. Our bed is so good, and it and our pillows and the blankets are just right. And if we want more, of anything, it's in arms reach. It's weird how many "homes" we have had since 01/31/24. How many beds we have slept in and rooms we have unpacked in. And Compromises made on pillows or blankets. And all of them we made it home because we were together. I wish we had a list of how many tables we have played RummyCube on !! All over the world!! But I do know that I have won the most games!! 😎
Tomorrow , we need to grocery shop for sure. And unpack and do laundry. Maybe Saturday we will face real life and do the rest.
Thank you for following us on this adventure. As soon as we get the next one scheduled we will let you know. Love y'all.
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