Work has been pretty busy these last few months and Hunter and I are in need of a break! We decided to use up the last of our vacation time before it resets April 1 to adventure back into South East Asia!
On Wednesday March 20th, after work, Hunter and I caught a flight, UA 287, to Houston in an effort to try making the flight UA 101 to SYD. Unfortunately, we didn't board quick enough on the Houston flight they had to check our bags - oh no! When asked if we could try and fit them on, we got accused of skip lagging which is just absurd as non-revs! We ended up just saying fine check them and boarded the flight. We had enough time to get the bags in Houston before our connection, so it was fine, although they stabbed Hunter's somehow in that transit.
We landed in Houston after our 2 hour flight and I gave Hunter my backpack and headed to baggage claim to get our two bags. Thankfully, the process was pretty quick and the TSA line to get back in was empty!
While I was doing that, Hunter was getting a seat at the best priority pass restaurant in Houston called Landry's. It worked out perfectly as he ordered drinks and I joined back up right as they arrived! Hunter ordered the shrimp platter and I ordered the fish tacos. Both were delicious!
Tacos!
After eating and watching our next flight, we headed to the gate. While we were waiting, we noticed them put a hold on all remaining seats, meaning we might not get on! Hunter went and asked the agent if they had any info to share, and they confirmed his suspicion that we were up against the aircraft's maximum payload. The agent said to stick around because anything could happen where they could take 1-2 people or all of us or none of us. It made sense that it was tight as this is the second longest flight United operates and the 10th longest in the world. As the boarding area emptied out, we were filled with worry about what our next move would be if we didn't get on this flight. At the last minute the get the call they can clear all non revs and we go! What a relief! Oh the joys of non-reving haha.
Waiting for seats
Success! Polaris for the long ride to Australia.
17.5 hours to go!
For 2nd dinner on the plane, I had the spicy chicken dish and Hunter had the steak dish. I didn't eat a ton of mine because I was pretty full from dinner, but it was very tasty. Hunter and I both skipped desert as we were so tired and just wanted to sleep, but he really enjoyed his steak as well.
The menu for today's flight
Starters
Steak dish
Spicy chicken noodles dish
I woke up with about 7 hours left to go, so around 8 hours of sleep, but decided I should try and sleep a bit more and got nearly 3 hours more rest! Hunter said he got about 10 hours of sleep. He is very good at sleeping on planes.
Amenity Kit
Around 1.5 hours till arrival we had breakfast. Hunter picked the eggs and I picked the bread pudding. Mine was tasty but a bit sweet and Hunter didn't like the eggs much.
Egg breakfast
Banada bread pudding dish
We landed at 720am Friday March 22nd after 18 hours and 4 minutes of air time! We had to take a longer route that went north of San Francisco rather than across Mexico like the great circle due to winds. We had flown over 9000 miles, which made this by far our longest segment, but just the beginning of our adventure!
Almost there sunrise
Arrival in SYD
March 20/21, 2024
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