Homebound

This is it, the end of the trip.  We finished up our packing in the morning, checked out of the hotel by 10am and headed off for one last meal in Sydney.  Unfortunately, the restaurant we had chosen was inexplicably closed, so Ken and I headed off to Chat Thai.  Brad opted to eat at the small cafe that was connected to the hotel, since he wasn't feeling well enough for the walk to the other restaurant.

After lunch, I had to stop off for one last Golden Gaytime.  I'll miss you, GG!  Actually, Eric was about 2 feet out of the restaurant and had his hands in the freezer of the convenience store next door to the restaurant.

The three of us packed into a cab, and off to the airport we went.  We enjoyed a couple relaxing hours in the Air New Zealand lounge before heading off to our gate.  

                                      

We crammed ourselves in to our tiny little first-class seats, and away we went!  How we ever survived such cramped quarters is beyond me!  This time around, Ken and I were at the very front, in the nose of the plane, which was a neat experience.  

Brad wasn't feeling well and his cold was really starting to kick in. We told him that even in first class we could quarantine him...

The flight back east is shorter than the flight out to Sydney.  After only twelve and a half hours, we were on the ground at SFO.  Upon arrival, we saw that most flights from SFO to ORD were canceled for the day.  Fortunately for us, our flight was one of the few remaining on-schedule flights.  Had we not made it out on that flight, chances are good that we would have had to stay in San Francisco until Wednesday, due to the winter storm due to hit Chicago. We landed and there was no snow and not even a hint of snow. Strange..they cancelled all those flights and the snow didn't even begin until after midnight in Chicago.

We all made it back home, safe and sound.  The end of another great Australian adventure.  Thank you all for following along with us through this blog!  Until next time...