Enroute - in Sydney

 We sit in the day lounge at Sydney Airport waiting for the flight to Bali.   Our layover here is 8 hours. The public lounge is $85 AUD per person, included are food, drinks and  showers.  And most importantly a comfortable quiet place to hang out. It's been a good investment and I'm not out spending $$ at the Duty Free shops.!

Yesterday our dear neighbors Tim and Barbara drove us to GSP, and calmly sent us on our way. They will keep an eye on our house while we are gone.  We've had more armadillo activity in the yard so it could get interesting.   Barb looked at the luggage and asked 'How long will you be gone? Did you pack for formal nights?"  Looks like we could take twice as much and still not fill their vehicle. Maybe next time.

The flights were pretty much as planned. The flights were full, totally full.   I did bid on and get upgraded seats for the long flight to Sydney.  Qantas sent an email about 5 days before the flights offering us an opportunity to bid on several chances for upgrades (Business Class, Premium Economy, Business Class Lounge in  Sydney).  Of course the higher the bid the better the chance, and they set the low end for each bid. I bid on everything!  Anyway much to our surprise we did win one bid: Premium Economy with the bigger seats, and better food.  Sweet.  Up until yesterday I half suspected that it was all a scam, and I had given them my credit card number, fortunately it worked out.

It appears we are over 9,000 miles away from our families, assuming 'Find Me' is correct. Tonight we should be over 10,000 miles away.