Day 16: Planes, Planes and More Planes - The Long Journey Home

Froggy has been waiting for Katie
to come home for weeks now.

If I have done my calculations correctly, as I publish this blog at 9am Pacific Time, they will be dragging their bodies out of bed (if they even went to bed) to get packed and make their way to the airport in Cairns. It will be 2am in Australia. 

Their flight from Cairns to Brisbane (Qantas 799) is scheduled to depart at 5:30am, but People to People always likes their delegates to be there three hours before a flight. They fly one hour and forty-five minutes to Brisbane and then have a three hour layover before their next flight to Los Angeles (Qantas 015). Flight 0150 is a nearly 13 hour flight. 

They arrive in LA at 6:30 am (now your brain has to do some work - they arrive here before they left in the international dateline time/space continuum). They proceed through their Groundhog Day experience catching a plane in LA at 12:05pm (that's a horrible five hour layover) to arrive in SF at 1:20pm on the very same day (or tomorrow for us). 

I expect texting (if she's conscious) while at the airports. Could start really early tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I need to go buy some groceries - especially fresh fruit - that's always what's she's craving after these trips.

Here's to a safe trip home for the kidlets and a weekend full of wonderful stories.

UPDATE: Here they come!

From the People to People Itinerary:

• Say farewell to beautiful Australia and board the motorcoach to the airport for your return flight to the United States.
• Be prepared to declare! You will need to declare your farm stay on your arrival card. This is an important precautionary measure to prevent the spread of disease and pests.
• On your flight home, reflect on your journey, your new understanding of New Zealand and Australian culture, and expanded horizons as a Student Ambassador. Welcome home!