Well, today we are leaving the Gold Coast and driving back to Brisbane to fly to Sydney.
Not much going on today – we left the hotel, after a very nice, peaceful stay, and had an uneventful drive to the Brisbane Airport. Check-in went well and we made it eventually (security was an issue but I was better prepared this time) to the restaurant which was near our gate that had some fairly low, but comfortable chairs so we could relax prior to our flight.
It was interesting while we were sitting there that there was a flight to Mackay, Australia leaving from our gate 46 prior to our departure. Mackay is Andrew’s mother’s maiden name and Andrew’s middle name. Interesting it is a city with an airport in Australia on the east coast!
Like our last few flights, we did not have window seats as for some reason the accessible seat selection on Virgin Australia airlines are an aisle and middle seat – so no pictures of us flying however here are some pictures I took at the airport! The Virgin Australia side is currently going through some upgrades such as the security area (where you cannot take pictures anyways) and it will be nice once they get the new x ray machines like they had in Sydney and we have at YVR for the bags so you do not have to take electronic equipment out!
We had a pretty uneventful flight into the Sydney airport, other than we were delayed in landing and had to circle for about 30 minutes due to incoming weather. Once on the ground, we ended up being about 45 minutes late landing. We managed to get to the baggage claim just fine – it was ironic as we had been to this baggage claim area already in the Sydney airport when we were flying Qantas and I was looking for a suitcase before we departed (pre-security) and found that the Sydney airport does not have any stores pre-security so the information person suggested going to the Virgin Australia Arrivals area as there was a store there. It did not have what I was looking for. No issues! However it came in handy as when we needed to find the shuttle, we were aware of the walk between the two domestic terminals and where the shuttle stop was located!
The Moxy Hotel, which is a lower end Marriott brand hotel, that we are staying at overnight, sent a shuttle for us and it eventually arrived. We got to the hotel and got checked in. We had been “upgraded” from an accessible queen room to an airport view queen room – not accessible and it was tiny! No idea why they did that however it was only one night so no bother. I did notice there was an accessible room on our floor though so it was a bit weird.
We have stayed at a bunch of Moxy Hotels in Europe previously however this one takes the cake on “modern”! Yes, the room is small – not much space for a table and chairs – so they hung them on the wall! The sink for the washroom was outside in the bedroom and the toilet and shower were in their own room. Half the window area was a wall and the other half we could see the main runway of SYD airport which was cool!
As I had left a bag at a drop spot about 2 blocks away, while we traveled up north, Andrew and I then went and picked it up, also to get some exercise! The program I used was called Bounce and it cost me $50 AUD to store the bag for 2 weeks. Much cheaper than paying $80 AUD to check it each time on 2 flights! As Andrew indicated, I have no idea why I have an extra bag. When we get to Singapore, as we are traveling Business Class and the extra bag will not be an issue, I will delve into how my baggage seemed to have children and why I had to purchase an extra bag from Amazon.com.au when traveling! I know part of the reason why is I am traveling with gifts for Japan and the luggage weights, which was a surprise to me, are lower here in Australia (20 kg vs 23 kg), did require me to move some stuff around, however I am wearing all my clothes! What is going on puzzles me!
Here are some pictures of our room and the van that picked us up:
After we got back from the storage store (which was basically a 7-11 type store which stored bags securely) we hit the sack as tomorrow is a BIG day! We are flying on Singapore Airlines (new airline) on a 380 Airbus (plane that I saw being built) to Singapore (new country)!
Let’s go!