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Today was the big day! Today was the day that Courtney, Candice, Ali, Lauren, Chelsea and I were making the trip all the way to Australia- farther than any of us have ever been. Our flight from Philadelphia airport was departing at 12:20 P.M. so I needed to arrive by 9:20 A.M. to ensure enough time to get through the check-in process. I said good-bye to Trevor the night before since he had school early in the morning. I was up at 6 to run around and do any last minute packing before leaving the house at 8:15. Dad was up getting ready to leave for work and was, as expected, very nervous about my travels. When it was time for him to leave for work, we said our good-byes... a few times since he kept stalling . After the rest of the girls texted me to say they were leaving for the airport, my mom and I put my luggage in the car and were off. We picked up Jesse on the way because he and I wanted to be with each other for as long as possible before I left. When we parked the car and walked into the American Airlines departure area, the girls were all waiting with their parents. We walked up to the employee at the desk to check-in only to be told that "some sort of message is coming up for your Qantas flight". After much confusion on our end and American Airline's end, we finally figured out that our flight from L.A. to Sydney at 10:20 that night (L.A. time) was abruptly cancelled. Apparently it was cancelled within moments of us checking in at the airport because no one knew about it, including our very hands-on travel agent. The girls, our agent, our parents and I could not believe this was happening after we had everything paid for and planned for at least 6 months prior. We felt helpless and frustrated so the American Airline's employees told us to check our luggage on but be sure to pick it up in L.A. and to go straight to the Qantas desk to learn more about our situation. So we left the desk with only our carry-on luggage and walked to the security entrance. We said our last good-byes to our parents and I hugged Jesse repeatedly. This was going to be the longest (not to mention the very farthest) we would have been apart.
The girls and I headed into the line for security and got through without any problems. Naturally, we still had a good two hours to kill in our gate before it was time to board. Some of the girls got breakfast and we just sat around and talked until we were able to board. Our plan was tiny- probably as small as the little island-hopper that my family and I took to get to St. John, USVI. Courtney is a bit scared of flying so she was not thrilled with our cramped 1 or 2 seat rows. Fortunately the flight was only about 2 and a half hours to Chicago. We arrived at the O'Hare airport around 2 in the afternoon Chicago time. We only had an hour til our next flight so we grabbed lunch quickly and ate it in our gate. The next plane was the usual Boeing 767 and the flight was about 4 and a half hours. We landed, picked up our luggage and were off to find the Qantas desk.
On our way to talk to Qantas, we met a girl named Josie who was in the same situation as us. She had been home for Christmas with her family in the states and was returning to Sydney, where she nannies. She was going back early to surprise her fiance! The girls and I went up to the Qantas desk, and the man explained that our flight was definitely cancelled and the next flight was not until 8:30 the next morning. I was pretty upset because I knew this was going to eliminate our free day to explore Sydney before meeting with our tour group, Contiki. Fortunately we were able to book seats on the flight and were told that we would be put up in a hotel for the night to reimburse us for the inconvenience. We looked over at Josie and knew right away that she was not getting the same treatment. Because she's employee travel or something, they weren't going to provide her with accommadations. Her only option was to sit in the food court of the international airport for the entire night. She was so friendly and nice, so we all decided that we were going to take her with us to the hotel.
The Qantas man explained to us that we were to get a shuttle to the Crown Plaza Hotel and they would know to provide us each with room and food vouchers. We took the hotel's shuttle to the hotel and sure enough, we were provided with SIX free rooms and $41 in food vouchers. While we were getting our room keys, Josie hung out in the background so they didn't do a head count and put the pieces together. I gave Josie my room key, and because Courtney and Candice were going to share a room, I got my own room! After getting settled, I met up with Josie and the other girls to go to the hotel's restaurant. We had a very nice (FREE!) meal. While Chelsea and Lauren were at the buffet they noticed a boy with an Australian accent and asked him if he was in the same situation as us. He was, so they invited him to join us all. His name was Brendan and he is from Canberra, Australia's capitol (pronounced can-bra). He had been exploring the U.S. with his sister and her friend for the last few months (since he is still in high school and this would be during their summer vacation) and was heading back home. It was so fun talking to them and getting a feel for what we were soon going to encounter for ourselves. We must have sat there for almost two hours, so it was getting late and we had to get an early start the next day. I went up to my room and slept like a baby.
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