Today is the start of a long- awaited and eagerly anticipated trip to Down Under. As Lee was wintering in Needles California and I was commuting south from Edmonton and Winnipeg, we decided to depart from Los Angeles for a couple of different reasons. First was a shorter flight time and more importantly, we could fly direct to Sydney Australia and back from Auckland New Zealand. This trip consisted of three segments, 10 days touring Australia, 14 days cruising southern Australia, Tasmania & New Zealand, and three days in Auckland NZ.

First order of the day was to drop Star off at Advanced Animal Care in Fort Mohave AZ where she’ll be staying for the duration of our absence. Satisfied our little girl was settled in, we departed for the 4 ½ hour drive to Van Nuys, California. Along the way, we stopped at Peggy Sue's 50's Diner just outside of Barstow California for lunch. Good burgers and a great atmosphere.

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Our destination in Van Nuys was the FlyAway Bus Terminal where we could securely park the car while we were gone and catch their shuttle to LAX an hour away. Another reason we went this route was to avoid the traffic and congestion of Los Angeles on departure and arrival back. We were on the 4:00 shuttle and arrived at the airport shortly after 5 pm.

    
  
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We were on American Airlines flight AA73 departing at 10:40 pm. Our premium economy cabin in the Airbus A330-200 consisted of 21 fully reclining extra-wide leather seats with a 2-3-2 configuration. Lee and I were in seats 12a & 12b, aisle and window. We departed on-time, service was exceptional and the meal they served shortly after take-off was very good as well. Then, we reclined back, stretched out and caught some much-needed shuteye.