Thursday, September 21, 2017: SYD -> SFO -> EWR

It's going to be a very long day....

Up at 0430 and worked on catching up on the blog (I was way behind).  Too busy enjoying our adventure down under.

We're mostly packed up.  Just a few remaining toiletry items to go after we're showered and dressed. Yesterday, we reserved a shuttle bus ride to the International Terminal leaving at 0710 this morning. Wasn't quite sure how things would go at the airport so, built in some cushion ahead of our 1030 scheduled takeoff to San Francisco.

Downstairs by 0650.  Checked out.  Our bill for these 2 days:  $14AU - Go Reward Points - the cost of our shuttle bus ride!  Shuttle ride tickets in hand, went to stand outside in the cool, clear blue sky day.  There are 2 shuttles to the airport, 1 for domestic and 1 for international.  They were both towing small covered trailers that are used to load your luggage into, instead of taking up space in the bus itself.  Good idea.

Boarded and left on time via one other intermediate stop at another hotel to pick up a few more travelers. Traffic at this time of the morning was quite heavy.  People going to work and plenty going to the airport.  Our driver was pleasant enough and turned out to be a very aggressive driver... he'd obviously been doing this for a while.  Thank goodness!

Because of all the construction to roads going on around the airport and heavy volume on this morning, the traffic queuing up for the International Terminal was backing way up!  I could see why it might take you hours, according to our driver, just to get a few miles depending on conditions and why, one might pay through the nose using an Opal card to take a train 1 stop from Mascot Station to the International Terminal.

Fortunately, perhaps luckily, our driver waited until the very last moment to swerve across two lanes to get over to the far left into the on ramp leading to the International Terminal.  He was aided by a large truck blocking some of the flow near the on ramp.  It was certainly a 'sporty' move and there was some nervous laughter going on in the bus.  Even still, the traffic flow into the departures area was very heavy.  Our driver was finally able to find a spot to pull over and park at the very end of the departures terminal by 0740.  We all got off, retrieved our luggage and went into the terminal - it was a mass of humanity!

Our ticketing counter was at the opposite end of departures, a good hike, and very slow going in the packed ticketing area.  We went back outside, there was much more room to maneuver, and quickly made our way to ticket counter B.

Check in via kiosk wasn't bad. Had to check in separately because Rosie's passport info wasn't updated in this system.  Took care of that at the kiosk, tagged our bags, printed out our boarding passes and, walked over to the bag drop area.  They really do treat you deferentially when you're flying First Class or Business First.  After we'd dropped our bags, we were passed 2 Express Gold tickets that put us on a separate, fast track, through Customs and Security screening.  Much of the Customs processing is automated here in Sydney.  Rosie made it through easily.  I believe the screening device got annoyed with me because I had to remove my hat and it didn't like the fact that my sunglasses were hanging down on my chest. That, or my processing may have just taken too long. I was shunted over to the 'naughty' Customs manual processing line where an actual Customs officer reviewed by documents and passed me through.  Not a big deal, just an extra step for me.

Security screening also took less time as Business First travelers. I only had to take out my laptops, any liquids and to empty my pockets before going through the full body x-ray machine.  I was caught with a mechanical pencil in my shirt pocket (which I forgot about since we were moving so quickly) and the agent there just winked at me and put me through.  As I was gathering my things, Rosie, who'd gone through a normal x-ray machine, was selected to be screened for explosive particulates - she passed just fine.

Both of us now through processing, we looked around.  Once you come out of screening you're funnelled through one of the biggest, most sprawling Duty Free areas I've ever seen.  It was just a pass through for us but, many travelers were availing themselves to the assortment of products being sold.  After you get through Duty Free, things open up in the terminal and the sights and sounds become almost overwhelming.  There's so much going on.  Tons of shops and eateries will all types of interesting wares including one venue that was selling Tim Tams and Vegemite! We would have bought more of that but, we had no place to carry any more. Travelers all over the place!  Continued walking, slowly, trying to decipher the signage over to our area of the Terminal.

As a Business First travelers, we were invited to take advantage of the associated lounges throughout the airport.  We were allowed to use any of the lounges that were Star Alliance partners of United. United did not have a lounge here in the International Terminal.  Eventually found the right path that took us towards our gate and where the Business First lounges were.  The 3 lounges in our section of the terminal were up on the second deck, so we escalatored up.  Of the 3 we could either pick from, the Air New Zealand lounge or the Singapore Air lounge, we chose to relax in the Singapore Air lounge and were greeted warmly at reception.  Time 0810. We had 1+30 before boarding time at Gate 50.

Plenty of comfortable seating, restrooms with showers, reading material, large screen TV, flight alerts and, a great view to the workings of the airfield.  As is true with most International lounges, the complimentary food/beverage offerings were so much better than in the U.S.  Singapore Air's breakfast offerings were primarily Asian focused and delicious. You could chose from hot and cold items, pot stickers, noodles, a quiche, hot or cold cereals, pastries, all kinds of toppings and, plenty of hot and cold beverages and some Asian offerings I didn't recognize.  They also offered up free WiFi which was much appreciated.

We left the lounge at 0930 to head down to Gate 50.  Our ride today would be a B787-9 Dreamliner - took a few photos of her.  Looking forward to it having never been on one.  We were in row 2, seats K/L.  As scheduled we would land in San Francisco 3hrs before we took off from Sydney on this Thursday, September 21!  Messes with the mind a bit.  As we approached the gate, there was an airline official inspecting travel documentation before admitting you in to the gate area.  Rosie and I went to queue up in the Group 1 boarding line which was already starting to build.  Boarding started right on time and we walked through a fairly long jetway into the plane and made a left.  Our cubes were on the starboard side, way forward.  I'm in aisle, Rosie in the window seat.  It's still quite fun and spoiling to be flying in Business First and we took a few pics of ourselves.  Once again we have an entire spacious overhead storage bin to ourselves, several blankets, a nice pillow, complimentary toiletry bag and, headphones.  Sue, will be our hostess for the flight and, Dennis, who's in charge of the overall services provided, stopped by to introduce himself and make a bit of small talk.

I had my Skyroam on - really do love it, works great - so we could make a last few updates online and send out some photos and texts to friends and family.  Mimosas for pre-taxi cocktails and we made our in flight food selections as we settled in.

Taxied out on time to Rwy 34L.  We were in the position and hold area at 1055 followed shortly thereafter by takeoff roll.  Airborne, WoW at 1056.  Only 13hrs to go... goodbye Sydney, San Francisco here we come!  Distance to San Francisco on the great circle route, 7,620mi.  We'd initially be cruising at FL350. The Dreamliner would maintain Mach 0.85 during the flight.

I really like the Dreamliner.  All the way up to cruising altitude, we didn't even notice the altitude change thanks to the pressurization enhancements made in this new aircraft - very nice and comfortable.  You have the ability to dim the very large cabin port holes and the air is filtered so acquiring an airborne infection from some of the other 200+ Pax on board is greatly diminished.  The Business First digs are great and, if you can afford to, really the way to go if you have a intercontinental flight.  So glad we could pull this off with my son, Conor's help, and 340,000 miles!

Lunch started with:
- a refreshing hot towel;
- mixed nuts and a double Bailey's for me, wine for Rosie;
- followed by hot rolls, butter, a salad with balsamic dressing, and; chilled prawn cocktail;
- main course:  I chose the chicken breast, veggies with smashed potatoes; Rosie, had the salmon with the same sides;
- after lunch: a cheese plate with grapes and a port wine; I also chose the chocolate sundae while Rosie went with little cakes the size of pettifores.

Excellent meal!  Our flight attendant had been at it for over 32yrs, with Continental the longest time, and was still working through the challenges of being merged with United.  She took very good care of us and made sure we had anything we needed. After the first meal service was completed, the cabin crew puts out water, snacks and, wine for you to self-serve yourself.  Most of the cabin crew then disappears to crew compartments to rest themselves while a skinnied down cabin crew maintains service watch.

Rosie watched a movie at first and then retired to catch some shut eye.  I ended up spending many hours catching up with this blog.  At the halfway point of the flight, finally laid back and got a few hours of rest.  Woke up and continued to blog until we got closer to the U.S.

After traveling approximately 8,700miles according to the flight tracker, we made our approach into San Francisco.  We were all given Customs Declaration forms and filled them out.  Turns out we purchased at least $500 of souvenirs/gifts!  The cabin pressurization was so good that neither Rosie or I realized that the jet had descended from FL390 to 9,000ft!  Amazing!  Touched down at 0650 and taxied to the International Terminal.  We had to wait for at least 15mins after we parked to deplane. They were having problems with the jetway.

Everyone had to go through Customs once again, part automated, part manual. We really didn't have much weird stuff to declare but, it did take time to get through the Customs agents - there were only 4 on duty this early in the morning.  No issues with Customs.  I did claim my kangaroo hide hat as an animal by-product but, it was waved off since the leather was tanned... nice to know.

Proceeded out of Customs to baggage claim 1, picked up our luggage and made our way out of the International Terminal.  We found our way to United's domestic flight area in Terminal 3, which happened to be adjacent to the International Terminal and just a short walk away.  Once there I took a look at getting on an earlier flight but, the options weren't good.  The next two available flights we'd have been wait listed on and the first available flight with seats open was at 1230, just a 3hr savings, at more cost and only middle seats in Economy Plus.  Just not worth the extra $75/person to do the change. So, kept our current reservations and checked in way too early for our 1520 flight.  We were so early, there was no gate assignment.  Checked our bags - I was concerned that they would all make it to Newark and was reassured by the bag porter that they would be fine (some foreshadowing here).

Some good news, both of us were TSA pre-checked so we'd be able to get through a much more reasonable security processing.  Security turned out to be a breeze.  Terminal 3 is pretty huge and did not appear to be packed. Since we had no gate, we made our way over to a spacious seating area, found a bench table with power for both laptops and USB and, made ourselves comfortable.  I went and got us some coffees while Rosie started catching up on some social media.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this blog... still digging myself out of a hole and have made some good headway.  Just after 1100, took a look at the Departures board and found out that our flight# UA2382 had been assigned to Gate 82.  Still on time for a 1520 take-off.  We were in row 22, center seat B and aisle seat C on the port side of the 757-200.  At 1145 we packed up and headed off looking for some lunch. We were happy to see that most of the food venues were ones familiar to us and plenty of options. Unlike Newark's Terminal C, where none of the eateries are mainstream or recognizable, there were plenty of familiar favorites to chose from and some very local to the Bay Area like, Boudin's Sour Dough Bread.  That was our choice for lunch and we both chose turkey sandwiches with:  avocado for Rosie and cranberry for me with a cup of tomato soup.  Delicious!

Lunch done by 1230, boarding time for our flight was at 1435 so, we were still in no burning hurry to get to the gate.  Went back to the seating area where I resumed blogging while Rosie caught up on some phone calls back to the East Coast where everyone was comfortably awake and to Conor here in SoCal. I was starting to get a bit sleepy, as was Rosie. Shook it off and at 1400 we were at the gate and Rosie made sure we were the first in line for Group 2 boarding - which would turn out to be fortuitous since the flight was completely sold out and overhead carry-on space would be at a premium.

We boarded on time and easily got our 2 bags in overhead storage.  I kept my backpack underneath the seats in front of us.  Near the end of boarding, things turned into a bit of a 'scrum' to find places to stow carry-on.  The last dozen or so pax had to have their larger carry-on checked at the gate. Boarding completed, doors closed and, we were pushed back from the gate and started to taxi. According to the flight crew, the winds had really picked up and that had resulted in having to change runways mid-stream. That resulted in a 1hr delay to our take-off time while all the aircraft already in queue had to be re-routed to the new westerly duty runway.  We would never make up that lost hour. Airborne at 1620.

This time like last we were served a free meal.  It paled in comparison with what we'd become accustomed to but, was a nice gesture.  United has started providing free meals on transcontinental flights, which is nice.  Rosie chose the chicken offering, I went with the Tortellini, mostly because no one else seemed to be chosing it.  Was OK, not great.  My main dish was half cold, half hot.  The best part about this flight was the extra legroom you get in Economy Plus.  Didn't sleep much, mostly dozed off while we were delayed on deck.  For the first time on any of the flights on this trip, I watched 2 movies enroute:  Tom Cruise's the Mummy and, Marvel's Dr. Strange.  Both pretty good.

Twenty-five hundred miles and 5hrs later, we're back in New Jersey!  On deck at 0020.  We made it to baggage claim 6 fifteen minutes later.  Rosie's bag showed up but not mine.  I had just booked an Uber ride and contrary to what we were told to expect, a 20min delay until a car could show up, Melvin and his white Camry were there in less than 10min and I still had no checked bag. Melvin's grasp of English, understanding or speaking, wasn't very good.  Rosie and I were having a hard time making him understand what was happening in baggage claim.  Rosie went out and loaded up and got him to understand that I was still in the terminal and took another lap around the airport while I finally went up to Baggage Claim help and found out that my bag had arrived on an earlier flight from San Francisco!  Would have been nice to know that when we landed!  Retrieved my back and joined Rosie for the Uber ride back to Chez Nile.  I wasn't impressed with Melvin.  His driving was safe but annoying, particularly after he received a social call on this cell and talked for most of the drive.  He was cycling between 50-65mph the whole way.

Side Note:  Baggage Claim carousels.  They do move in opposite directions!  Clockwise in Australia, counter-clockwise back here in the States!  I never did visually verify opposite flush flow while we were in country... Rosie may have.
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Reached the Niles at 0145 and had the Uber driver let us out on Skyline.  It was a $56 ride - Uber claimed it was at peak time?!  Really, oh well.  While Rosie waited at the bottom, I walked up the driveway, woke up the girls inside, jumped into the car, drove down to Rosie, loaded up the car and drove back to Long Valley.  Home at 0230. Unloaded the car and Rosie hit the rack.  She had a Doctor's appointment in the morning - which she would end up missing because she'd set the alarm to 1930 vice 0730 in her tired, dazed state after 28hrs on the road!  Regardless...

MOST AWESOME HOLIDAY TO DATE!!