Trip Report Contents
Getting There, The
LAX-to-Australia Edition (Crossing the Globe)
Quick Summary: All about our
flights from LA to Australia, from check-in at LAX to arrival into Hobart,
Tasmania, including our onboard experience and food.
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At LAX
At LAX, Virgin Australia flights
depart from terminal three, which was dated, but was clean and
not-so-bad. Check-in was almost
deserted, so we were checked in quickly and on our way to security. The TSA agent checking the IDs was so slow
that it was almost unbelievable. In
fact, he was so slow that the other TSA agents started directing travelers to
other lines, telling them he was just too slow.
Wish she’d told us before we were committed to that line!
In any event, we made it through
security with no other issue and were soon in the lounge. At LAX, Virgin Australia uses the Virgin
America lounge, which is nice, sleek, and new, but was quite crowded, as there
was our flight and also a Sydney flight leaving about the same time. Lounge staff were friendly and efficient, and
the food spread was pretty good for a domestic lounge here in the US.
Before too long it became time to
board the flight to Melbourne, where we’d land a mere fifteen hours after
take-off.
On Board
This was our first time flying
Virgin Australia, so I was excited about getting to try it. The business class cabin of the 777-300 was
spacious and the seats looked comfortable.
As soon as we got to our seats and had stowed our things a flight
attendant came past to ask if we had flown them before. When we said we hadn’t she went through how
the seats worked, talked about the course of service, and offered us a
pre-departure beverage. Also before
departure we were offered pajamas.
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| Our seats |
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| Us, during boarding, before we settled in |
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| The cabin |
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| Pajamas |
Boarding was efficient and before
long the boarding door was closing and we were pushing back. A quick taxi and take-off roll and we were
airborne and over the ocean. Taking off
from the West Coast is interesting because you’re over land for only a matter
of seconds before there’s nothing below but the blue Pacific. The idea of a fifteen-hour flight is a bit
daunting but it passed really quickly and quite comfortably. Let’s face it, good food and a full night of
sleep make it all lots easier!
Dinner Is Served
In the seatback pocket when we
boarded were the menus and wine lists for the flight. While we were taxiing I perused the menu and
deciding what all I wanted to eat.
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| The Menu |
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| Introduction & About the Service |
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| Dinner Offerings |
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| Wine Menu |
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| Description of the Champagne offering. I wasn't that impressed with it, actually |
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| White Wine Offerings |
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| Red Wine Offerings |
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| Dessert Wine Offerings |
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| Fortified Wine Offerings |
I started with the Idaho smoked
rainbow trout, which was very tasty and actually the best tasting of the
meal. For the main course I also had
fish, an Alaska halibut. Instead of
dessert I had the cheese course, which was nice. The food was good, not excellent, but it
tasted good, had good presentation, and was satisfying. Service by the flight attendants was
efficient and attentive.
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| Dinner Placesetting |
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| Salt & Pepper Shakers, Sydney Operahouse Style (We asked about them on the return flight and the flight attendant emptied them and wrapped them up for us, which I thought was great.) |
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| Smoked Fish Starter |
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| Chicken |
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| Main Course, Fish |
Time to Sleep
After dinner the flight attendants
came through and set the beds for everyone who wanted to sleep. The FA laid the seat flat, put a pad down and
then offered a duvet covering. It was
comfortable and I was actually able to sleep for almost seven hours. As I usually can’t sleep on a plane, and
certainly not sitting up, this was a real luxury.
Wake Up: Time for Breakfast
After I woke up there was roughly 2
½ hours left before landing. About 90
minutes out the FAs came through to take our orders for breakfast and shortly
thereafter service began. I had a
smoothie to start and then the eggs and sausage. It was just okay, mainly because it was a bit
too rich for my taste for the morning.
The smoothie was my favorite part; the rolls were also delicious, served
with the usual butter and jam, but also vegemite!
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| The Menu |
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| Breakfast Offerings |
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| Egg & Sausage Breakfast |
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| Egg & Sausage Again |
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| Fruit & Yogurt |
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| Fresh Fruit. Delicious! |
In Melbourne
In Melbourne, we had about 2 ½
hours to change, so I was looking forward to having a shower in the
lounge. That way we could just drop our
stuff in the room in Hobart and head straight out. But, we waited on the tarmac for over half an
hour before we finally got to the gate.
I began to worry that I wouldn’t have time to freshen up, but we did get
through with immigration, customs, and bag drop in time to shower in the
pretty-swanky Virgin lounge.
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| Plane tails at Melbourne |
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| "Boarding." Not really |
Onward, To Tasmania!
As the lounge was on the
ground-side of security, we still had to clear security and wanted to allow
enough time to not be rushed. We’ve
become so used to American-style security that we allowed lots of extra time to
clear, but we didn’t need any of it:
there’s no limit or liquids, they don’t need to be in a baggie or taken
out, no shoes off, and so on and on. We
breezed through in about 90 seconds!
At the gate our inbound aircraft
wasn’t even there, so we waited almost another half hour before it was time to
board. Aboard the 55-minute flight from
Melbourne to Hobart, I was pretty surprised that a choice of breakfast was
served, including two hot items.
As we descended into Hobart, the cloud deck was so
thick and low that we broke through it only a minute or so before we touched
down. But, touchdown we did and we were
finally there.
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| The Tasmania countryside |
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| The Tasmania countryside |
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| Hobart International Airport |
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| Hobart International Airport |
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| Terminal building, with the stairs awaiting us |
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