The old proverb is that a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. In our household the journey of many thousands of miles always begins with Ness setting off ‘moth bombs’ as we go out the door. The Global War on terror may have lasted a few decades , Ness’ family’s war on moths attacking woollens has already outlasted the 30 year war of the Hapsburgs.
Qantas got the trip off to a stressful start by repeatedly delaying the flight from Canberra to Sydney- we departed nearly two hours later than scheduled – a thing that is becoming all too common on that route. We will drive next time – elapsed time would have been significantly less. Net result was boarding was underway as soon as we cleared immigration departure in Sydney, with concomitant worry as to whether our bags had made the transfer ( they did ).
A short 3.5 hours later we were in Nadi 🇫🇯 for a 2 hour transit prior to the 12 hour flight to Dallas Fort Worth. Fiji Airways was quite good – some of the other airlines might take a look at their service compared to Fiji ( we are looking at you Qantas, Virgin and Singapore).
Upon an on time arrival in Texas 🇺🇸it was a very smooth run ( quick and pleasant) through immigration at DFW. Perhaps surprisingly ‘alien’ Mark had a slightly quicker run through than citizen Ness, although line choice seems to have been a factor. Followed by a 40 minute wait for bags…
Shuttle bus to the hotel and then trying to stay awake to help acclimatise to the time zone changes. Aided by a nice meal at the local steakhouse supported by a killer margarita.
Today ( Xmas eve) is about catching sun to help reset the body clock prior to tomorrow morning’s flight to San Jose, Costa Rica 🇨🇷. Plan today is a good walk, then to find and sample an authentic Texas BBQ joint for dinner…. maybe supported by another margarita 🍹.
Ness’ and Mark’s Wandering 