Journey to Oz

April 5th

Started our journey with the flight from STL to LAX in first class. Sweet service, thank you to Marta!! Abby was good on the plane. We just kept pulling out new activity after new activity, then snack after snack.

Thank you to Megan and Kurt Salter for the use of your jogging stroller, I know that I will thank you many times over the next months, because it has saved us many times already. We got off the plane and Abby immediately fell asleep in the stroller. She slept through the entire layover in the Qantas Club. Chris's company was kind enough to fly us Business Class, so we were able to wait in the Qantas Club. Very nice, we were able to get snacks, drinks and take a shower if you are so inclined.

We boarded the flight to Brisbane at about 11:30 pm and that was a little hectic. We had to wake Abby up and she was still cranky. I was trying to get all our stuff into our seats and organized and the flight attendants were getting our orders. The seats in Business Class are really spectacular. They made this trip soooooooo much more comfortable. They recline almost to a full horizontal position. Abby went back to sleep almost immediately. We were served a light snack and then went to sleep. They turned down the lights and the shades almost the entire time and it was very dark. At some point, Abby woke up, then Chris was up, then I was up. That time was all a blur. I didn't have my cell phone, don't wear a watch and who knows what time zone we were flying through. They served us breakfast about an hour or so before the flight ended and then we landed. All 3 flight attendants took very good care of us, especially Trisha. Abby was very good, but had had enough by then. When the customs official asked to see her face, she had a complete screaming fit.

We arrived at the apartment and we began cleaning and putting clothes away. Our air shipment of the rest of our stuff had not arrived yet. The representative from the relocation company had stocked our kitchen with basic food items so we had something to eat and drink. That was so nice not to have to scramble around and try to find the grocery store right away. The apartment is really nice. It is a 3 bedroom/2 bath firnished apartment on the 21st floor of a 47 floor high rise building. The apartment overlooks the Brisbane River. It has an indoor pool and fitness area.

Since then we have been taking the City Cat ferry and the train to explore the towns around us. Their public transportation system is very good. Some things are very expensive here, mainly food and entertainment.

We miss our family and friends and look forward to our visitors!!