A short note...LA to DC

We are now in DC and have just finished attending to laundromat tasks. DC feels like Vietnam in the middle of the wet season...hot and sticky...and we decide to spend half a day in a laundromat (whoch of course adds to the humidity)...we came out 5 kilos lighter!

We arrived here at Midnight last night after starting the day at 7am..a whole day of travelling. We arrived at check in at LAX to be told we didn't have seats together and the flight was full! Great times travelling in a packed cabin coming our way and not even sitting together. The check in agent worked something out and we finally got seats together and we then headed off to the close to strip search security line...you have to take off shoes, belts and all that jazz...and of course empty them pockets.

We quicklhy ran up to Qantas Club to have breakfast and check emails...a short stop but one that came in handy for the food at least and the retreat from the terminal which is a construction zone. Upon lining up for boarding and as we handed over our boarding passes they were scanned and then the computer made a buzz like there was an error...we thought there must've been something wrong...maybe we were bumped off the flight?

The lady who took our tickets worked hard at the computer trying to work out what the story was...and then her supervisor looked over and eenquired...Ïs that Whitë?"He then announced we had been bumped.........to Premium Economy and handed over our new boarding passes! So we not only got to sit together and only with each other (2 seat groups), we had larger seats, greater recline, touchscreen tvs, no seats in front...we also got a champagne before takeoff and ate lunch with real cutlery and glasses. Not to mention the nice cup of plunger leaf tea, which is a change to the cardboard they push as tea elsewhere in the states. We only wish we could have those seats for the longhaul as we'd be able to sleep no problem at all. In any case we certainly enjoyed the 5 hour flight and the benefits of the upgrade, our thanks be to Qantas...

Upon arrival at JFK we waited almost an hour for our bags and then changed terminals...we had a flight with American to catch to DC...that airline is so disorganised and seems to want to charge you for everything. If they're Qantas equivelant for the US I wouldn't like to fly the low cost carriers, We had to go through about 5 different bag drop agents who were generally rude to us before we got checked in and bags loaded on.

We headed up to the lounge for a drink and got our boarding passes just before scheduled departure. Headed to the gate and then waited...and waited...and threw in a bit more of waiting just for the fun of it...the plane was delayed for over 2 hours. Even after boarding we were stuck in a queue getting out to the runway that took an hour...all in a pokey little plane...2 seats one side, single seats the other and Jeff could not stand up in them with low roof.

We got to DC at Midnight after some "fun"flying and then caught a cab to the hostel. Of course, the hostel was closed despite knowing we'd be late. We were lucky to have a taxi driver that waited with us, offered to find other hotels and was generally helpful. We were also lucky to meet 2 swedish guys coming back from a few drinks out who let us into the hostel.

We were just about to fall asleep on the loungeroom when 2 drubk guys and a girl came back, turned the tv on loud and ate takeout,,,we found out 30 mins later they were the staff!! He then tries it on and was quite rude to us and if it wasn't 2.30am we wouldve found somewhere else. After some arguments he settles down, takes our cash and helps us with our bags up to the room...where we are now laying on the bed typing this...We hear there's more to DC than a Hostel dorm and we haven't eaten in close to 24 hours so we better get out there.

See you soon

Stace and Jeff

PS. Keep those comments coming in.....so we know someone's reading it at least!! :)