The Flight to Australia is LONG…

Everyone told me the flight to Australia is long, but you don’t realize how long until you’ve been stuck in a plane for more than 12 hours.

This was my first International flight! I was in awe when I walked into the International terminal in LAX. It was much more luxurious than the domestic terminals I have been in, including the domestic LAX terminal.

I’ll admit that about 3 hours outside of Australia, I was thinking I might not be able to return home, because I wasn’t sure I’d feel up to getting on another plane any time soon. Then it felt like a long time later when I looked to see how much longer before we arrived to see that we still had 2 hours 47 minutes to go. I would have sworn it had been 1.5 hours at least. LOL.

The flight was actually a good flight. I flew over from LAX to Melbourne on Qantas airline. The plane was a very large plane. The staff was very helpful and kind and the food was actually very good food. I had dinner, snacks and a good breakfast and it really was yummy.

I did finally arrive in Melbourne, Australia. It was almost 24 hours from the time I left my house in Florida. It was just shy of a 16 hour flight from LAX to Melbourne. Did I tell you the flight to Australia was long? Michelle was there to pick me up after I went through immigrations and then picked up my luggage to go through customs. Going through immigration was interesting; they did facial scanning in conjunction with electronically reading our passport. I have to tell you I am quite disappointed though. I have been into Canada twice and now into Australia and NO ONE WILL STAMP MY PASSPORT. (YES, I’m screaming…). We have now entered an electronic world and no one will stamp my passport – it’s all recorded electronically. It is so very disappointing that I still have a naked passport.

Customs wasn’t so very bad either. My good friend, Julie, told me to make sure I had something to declare. I had some candies aka lollies here in Australia and a few nuts in my bag. I was pulled off to the side to check my bags and it went really quick.

When Michelle picked me up, she asked if I wanted to eat or sleep first. The very first thing I wanted to do was take a long hot shower. 🤪

I was blown away with the wonderful room to stay in for a while that included a kitchenette. This gave me the freedom to cook my own breakfasts and even dinner.

I came in so I could have one day in between travel and show day in order to try and get on the right time zone. I still am not sure that I am, but I’m doing fairly well.

Now my Australian Adventure begins. I will be here for 5 weeks before I have to get on another plane to head home. Hopefully, I will be ready to get on that plane again. The good news is that the flight home is not as long! I’m flying out of Brisbane and I think there is a better wind heading back.

You can see the list of the places of places I’m teaching by visiting my previous post on Worshops in Australia. Also make sure you are following me on my Cheryl Boglioli Designs Facebook page or on Instagram to see more pics of my #cheryldownunder adventures!