Trip to Australia

In June I traveled to Australia to visit family and friends. This time I had my camera with me for the entire trip to record what I saw. I live in Southern California. My destination was Brisbane, Australia's third largest city, my "hometown." This is the visual record of my trip.

The first leg of the trip was to the Los Angeles International Airport. I took the Super Shuttle to avoid the hassle of car rentals or relying on relatives. This is the view from the Super Shuttle. The device attached to the windshield is an GPS traffic guide, so drivers have an easier time finding locations, and so the dispatcher knows where they are.

After a two hour drive, and twenty minutes each for check in and security x-ray luggage screening, we were done with the first security formalities. We still had about 3 hours to spare before departure. I usually have such a large wait out of choice. Am I nuts? I'd rather use the extra time to have a relaxed meal in the airport than leave later and risk getting caught in traffic, or join the "last minute check-in crowd" and spend an hour and a half in line. The lousy airline food makes it worthwhile spending time having a decent meal before a 13.5 hour flight.

After the usual baggage inspections and security screenings, I made my way to gate 120. Here's a shot of the QANTAS Boeing 747-400 taken through the window of the departure lounge.

Finally we board.

Nothing flashy about he interior. Very functional, Note the individual screens for each passenger. QANTAS offers economy passengers around 12 channels of video on demand, including a choice of over 30 movies. Its quite easy to spend the entire flight watching new and classic movies and arrive at your destination dog tired. Want to watch Casablanca for the duration of the flight? Its possible.