Elliot dropped us off at San Jose airport with 2 hours to spare. Our flight was delayed (“Now 4:00PM”), then delayed again, so there was plenty of time.
Short flight to LAX. The place is a zoo. After arriving, we had to go out to the curb and wait for the shuttle to take us to the international terminal. It might have been faster to just do the 15-minute walk.
We got to the Virgin Australia checkin counter at about 6 pm, where the agent informed us that we needed an ETA (Visa) for Australia, since we had a layover there for longer than 8 hours (we will be at Brisbane for 11 hours). There was a choice of going on the web to get one for $20 each, or he could do it for us for $40 each. I just paid the money. Too tired to fuss with it.Although we did get “dinner” on the flight, that would be at about 10:30 pm, so we went to a restaurant, Earl of Sandwich, and got the 1762 special. They were out of salads. The sandwich was $10, which was reasonable for an airport. There were no free tables, and people were sitting on the floor in places to eat.But the sandwich was good. We split it.LAX really sucks for computer work. No surfaces at the gate to work on, and no wi-fi that I could connect to. I tried several access points, multiple times.
We still have a 14-hour flight to Brisbane, then an 11-hour layover there before flying to Christchurch. Expect radio silence for a while.
