It doesn't seem that long ago that we flew back home from our canal boat expedition in France.
It was only two days ago that we watched our youngest grandchild play lacrosse in Stanwood, Washington, about an hour's drive south of us (he’s in red above and they won!).
We depart Bellingham in a couple of hours and fly to Seattle on Alaska.
There we have a fairly tight connection to San Francisco, also on Alaska.
At SFO we'll have several hours. We plan to visit the Alaska Lounge before moving to the United Polaris Lounge.
We depart for Melbourne (MEL) in United Polaris Business Class shortly before Midnight for a 16-hour flight.
When we land in MEL on the morning of Wednesday, May 20, we've secured a day-rate room at the Park Royal Hotel, just across the street from International Arrivals.
After a few hours of sleep (hopefully!), we board a Virgin Australia flight (a United partner but sadly in economy class) for a 4-1/2 hour flight to Darwin, arriving around Midnight local time.
All this is to position us for our 19th trip to Australia and our 17th visit to Oz Fest, our first being in 2007 at Melbourne.
We're looking forward to seeing many old friends again, and following an enjoyable itinerary, arranged by several of our Australian friends, especially if we can rest a bit along the way!
