LAX to JFK

So after having my flight delayed 5 days due to the threat being imposed by Hurricane Irene, I had all sorts of trouble organising accommodation at the last minute. And I arrived on Friday night which was the start of the Labor Day Long Weekend here in the USA, so as you can imagine - NYC was hectic!!

I put in 3 requests for accommodation in the 5 days leading up to my departure and still had not heard anything but the time I left for the airport. So i quickly sent off another request to a hostel thinking it would be all ok once I landed at LAX... WRONG!!

I arrived at LAX, cleared customs, transferred to the domestic terminal, and cleared security... More on the actual check in later... But first, I jumped on the internet at first chance... To find 13 emails from my dad and the accommodation requests I'd sent... Every accommodation option came back as sorry, we're unavailable for your requested dates and dad had sent me emails with some other options... Needless to say I panicked!! I had a massive freak out, made myself sick with worry and may have shed a tear or two when I rang my parents at 2am their time and as I searched frantically to find a hotel that was in price range...

Eventually I found a hotel which wasn't really in my price range, but it was as bloody close as I was going to get. And they would confirm on the spot! THANK GOD!

Anyway, it was too late, I was feeling sick as. Threw up in the toilets at LAX from the stress of it all and really didn't get the benefits I should have having been upgraded to First class on my Virgin America flight!!

There was free food, free drinks and free entertainment... And other than having the TV on the US Open tennis, while I drifted in and out of sleep the entire way - I didn't take advantage of the food and drink on offer :( There was just absolutely no way I could have stomached anything without throwing up again!

After a good couple of hours of sleep, and arriving at JFK, I'd settled down a little bit and managed to check into my hotel without a hitch! It was such a fab location! Right near Times Square. Huge comfy bed and cable TV were a godsend as I tried to get over the jet lag for the first 2 days...

Where I moved to after that... Well that is a WHOLE other story ;)

The Flight!

I am typing this from my premium economy upgrade onboard my V Australia flight from BNE to LAX... :D they always say it's who you know, not what you know and today that couldn't be any more true.

A friend I went to school with, whom I haven't had much to do with since school, works for V Australia and he organized my upgrade... I am so grateful for the extra legroom... The two sparklings I've consumed since takeoff (less than 2 hours ago) are also a nice added bonus!! Thanks so much Paul,I really appreciate it!!!

Saying goodbye this morning was very difficult.I am going to miss my parents, my pseudo mum, my brother, my puppy Porscha and my friends VERY, VERY, VERY much. But I know I am in for the adventure of a lifetime and that excites me!!  If I manage to find friends who are half as awesome as my wonderful friends back home, I will be a very lucky girl!!

I'm going to leave this here for now, and will come back to it later in the flight!!

12:38pm : lunch has just been served... I had chicken pot pie - I'm pretty impressed with the quality!! It was very nice!! I'm also now 3 glasses of sparkling down... This could end interestingly... Haha!  Once lunch has been cleared I'm heading to "the bar" to have a drink with Paul to catch up... It's only been 5.5yrs!!

Well, I snuck up into business class after lunch and joined Paul at the self serve bar... A few vodkas later, it was time to try and sleep... The seat next to Paul just happenend to be free, so lucky me, got to sleep in the lie flat business class bed!! After a few hours sleep, some breakfast and the moving of my stuff up into business, we were arriving at LAX!!

The flight went fairly quickly - so that was good... I just have no idea how I'll ever fly cattle class again!!! More coming soon!