DTW to BNE: 26 Hours Until Landing

I arrived at DTW around 2:15pm. During the drive I tried to mentally prepare myself for the travel that lay ahead but I didn’t quite achieve the peace that I was looking for. I hopped out of my “cousin’s” car and realized that my white shirt had been stained. I put cousin in parentheses because we aren’t blood related and there has been a bit of tension between us lately. And I do mean tension in a good way. I tucked the shirt under my sweater, hugged him goodbye and headed to check in, crossing my fingers the whole way that I would get an upgrade to first class for the five hour and nine minute flight that lay ahead.

There was no line so I headed straight to the computer. The agent that was helping me was Japanese, so I took the opportunity to use my Japanese. She conducted most of the transaction in Japanese and I did very well! Unfortunately, it was a full flight so I wasn’t able to get an upgrade. I was stuck in 20E, a middle seat in the back of the plane. I was off to security when I realized that the bag I was carrying on was entirely too heavy to be carried on, but I would be damned if I was going to pay $25 to check a second bag. Security was a breeze and I headed straight to the bathroom to take care of the huge brown stain on my white shirt.

I took the shirt off and began scrubbing it in the sink. Of course everyone was looking at me as if I was crazy as I leaned on the wall, holding my shirt under the hand dryer. It took fifteen minutes to dry then I was on my way to the gate. When I reached the gate they had already started boarding. Yay! No waiting. While on the jet way I pulled a book out of my bag and the guy behind me noticed my ridiculously large bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos, how embarrassing. He asked if I was going to share. He was cute so I said of course. We chatted a bit, he was headed to LA for work. We parted ways at aisle fifteen where he was lucky enough to hop into his window seat. I was jealous. I headed to my middle seat, put my bag of bricks in the overhead compartment and settled in.

The guy who had the window seat came. He was not very pleasant. Clearly he didn’t want to have a conversation. The aisle guy was very nice. And if I were 40 years older I definitely would’ve gotten his number! He was from Chile and was in Canada visiting his mother. We talked about development, healthcare, nutrition, and languages. I ordered a turkey sandwich because I knew I wouldn’t survive five hours without eating. The flight attendant forgot to give me my sandwich and a drink that I asked for later. Ugh.

Overall it was a comfortable flight. I got a little nap in, and added a couple of pages to the book. Once I got to LA I had to go retrieve my bag and head to check in for the next flight, all the way hoping that one of my LA friends would soon be heading to the airport to save me from being the lonely traveler at the bar. My bag came down with record speed. And I asked a worker for directions to the international terminal. He was a funny Mexican guy, who, after he gave me directions asked if he could come with me. I told him only if he can fit in my bag and he said ok, but you don’t have a husband or boyfriend, because if you do, I will say, I am only a bag. HILARIOUS. Maybe not as funny now that I retyped it.

After taking off my leather coat, it was 86 degrees, I headed to the next terminal. Geez, it was hot as hell. I was feeling myself starting to sweat, but I saw the sign for Qantas so it was all good. I asked a skycap for extra directions and he pointed me to the next door down. Too bad that was the wrong place! Qantas yes, Brisbane no. So with the sad face, I head back into the scorching heat to yet the next terminal. Once I got there I told the ladies what happened and asked for a free upgrade. Didn’t get it but they did put me in a window seat with no one sitting next to me.

I headed to security, again, breeze as usual. I made a couple of quick phone calls and it was clear to me that I was going to be stuck in this airport for five hours until my next flight took off. I headed straight to a bar. I had a margarita and some chicken nachos. Picking at that, checking email, and tweeting only burned up two hours. I paid my bill then headed to the bookstore. I had to force myself not to buy any books. After that I noticed a sunglass store, and anyone that knows me, knows that I love sunglasses, and considering I left my favorite Gucci aviators in Honduras, I figured I should try to replace them. Plus, I was bored. After trying on about twenty pairs, I settled on a pair of Carreras. As I headed to the counter to pay, I realized that I had missed a whole cabinet of Gucci glasses. I picked out a pair and they were absolutely amazing, and $125 more expensive. I almost bought them but after we took a picture of me in both of them we (the salesgirl and I) decided that the Carreras look better on film. And just like that, boredom led me to a $165 pair of sunglasses, but they’re an investment, right?

I don’t know where the rest of the time went, somewhere between me wandering around, having a glass of wine, some Starbucks, and charging my MacBook, iPod, and iPhone. While having the glass of wine, I struck up a conversation with an Australian man who lives in Dubai. I told him I want to visit, he gave me his card and told me to give him a week’s notice and I would be good! And this kids is why I love to travel!!! Anyone want to go to Dubai with me?

By about 10pm west coast time, east coast time (1am) was kicking my butt. I was completely exhausted and still had another 35 minutes until the flight boarded. Once I was on board I wanted to head straight to lalaland but the women sitting next to me was quite interesting. She just goes out on her boat and sails for weeks at a time. She too has been all over the world. The captain made his official announcement that today’s flight would be 13 hours and some change. WTF!!! How did I miss that? I thought I only had ten hours left. FML!!!   About an hour in I was gone.