I was up before the alarm it was set for 3.30am. The house\nwas quiet as I rose and stood by our open door, listening to the pre-dawn\nsounds. The gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the massive gum tree in our\nfront yard. I could hear Poppy, our bedroom cat, purr as she stirred. Dahlia,\nour 10 year old dog somehow sensed me up and trotted across the courtyard to\nsay hello. Her claws clicking on the wood of our deck. I say good morning and\ngo outside. I need to clean our pond filter. It\u2019s dark and the water is cold as\nI plunge my hand in to find the filter. I feel the movement of fish as I remove\nit. I clean it and return to the house, dahlia in tow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next 60 minutes is a whirlwind of final packing as we\nget ready to embark on what has become a tradition of sorts. We are off to New\nYork. As we get ready to leave, we say good-bye to cats and dog. Everyone seems\nto be happy, although Poppy has shown her disdain for our trip away and has\nhidden herself somewhere in the bedroom. \nWe leave her to her hiding spot, say good-bye to everyone else and\nembark on our trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moses, our trusty cab driver is right on time. We eagerly\nchat as we speed along Parkes Way, devoid of traffic as the clock passes\n5.00am. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We arrive at the airport, check in and spend a few minutes\nin the lounge before boarding for Melbourne. We navigate passport control\nsmoothly and waned our way through the myriad shops offering duty free, their\nbright lights demanding travellers stop and purchase alcohol, cigarettes,\nperfumes and a host fo other trinkets. \nWe pass the high street shops, Tiffany, Rolex etc and wonder who will buy\na $10,000 watch on a whim as they take a trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We arrive at the lounge and are advised our flight is\ndelayed by around 90 minutes. The delay\nis a little like a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa causing a Tsunami in\nJapan. An A380 aircraft in Sydney a week ago had a maintenance mishap with a door\nbeing ripped of (https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/travel\/travel-updates\/incidents\/qantas-a380-grounded-after-door-almost-ripped-off-at-sydney-airport\/news-story\/98aac91fd4534031fa6fad9c16082b7a<\/a>).\nThis caused some Sydney – Dallas flights to be cancelled, some movement of\nother A380s to meet demand, which ended up in our flight being delayed five\ndays later! The difficulty airlines must\nhave in meeting demand when unexpected things happen is enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unperturbed, we settle into the lounge for a spa treatment,\nsome breakfast and a few too many champagnes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We get underway at around 1.00pm and settle in for the 14\nhour flight to LAX. We enjoy lunch on\nthe plane and chat to the flight crew about our trip, airline food and New\nYork. We then settle in for a rest. Some\nsleep, a few episodes of a new TV show, Morning Wars (watch it, it is really\ngood!) and breakfast and like that we are on our decent into LAX. The delay in Melbourne meant we missed our\nconnection, so Qantas transferred us to \nDelta Airlines flight. We change\nterminals at LAX after checking our bags to the new flight and relax in the\nDelta lounge for an hour or so. This\nwait is the hardest, its 4.00am at home now and we\u2019ve been on the go for 24\nhours. We fall asleep the minute we find our seats, and after a couple of hours\nof rest, enjoy the later stags of the five hour flight, excited to get to NYC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We land around 7.30pm local time, collect our bags and jump\nin a cab and are on the road by 9.00pm, arriving at our hotel at 9.00pm. We do\nsome unpacking and then head out for dinner. \nIt\u2019s NYC, everything is open! We take in the pulse of the city, such a\ncontrast to Canberra, which is part of the reason we love it: the extreme\ndifferences and immersive nature of this city are something to be hold. We grab\ndinner, some milk and water and head back to our room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We sit and unwind for an hour or so and around midnight the exhaustion finally catches up with us and we head to bed. New York awaits\u2026\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n