Junket: (noun) a conference, retreat or otherwise third-party subsidised event for which an individual personally pays nothing, but reaps extreme benefits.
I didn't think that I could really class my trip a junket after reading the definition, Klemperer Cup in-jokes aside, my trip doesn't include me paying nothing for extreme benefit... Or so I thought...
Woke up on Friday morning at about 5 AM Adelaide time, got to the airport, said our goodbyes and my father and I were off to the check in counter. Dad insisted that he hold both boarding passes... What do I care? We're both going to the same place...
On the flight to Sydney (departed Adelaide 6:55 AM) I managed to watch the end of X-Men: Days of Futures Past, which was brilliant because I had already seen the first 85% of the film on the way to Perth for the Port Adelaide-Fremantle Semi-Final about 6 weeks ago... The ending wasn't as bad as it had previously been made out to be... Looking at you Chris...
After arriving in Sydney we made our way to the international terminal, at which point we entered the outward customs checkpoint and I finally got a hold of my boarding pass for the flight to LA. I saw the top of the stub say Business Class and asked my Dad if there'd been a mix-up because I didn't have a business class ticket... Apparently an upgrade had been made without my knowledge which benefited me greatly...
See definition of Junket...
At this point my hand was shaking a little bit, I'd been steeling myself for the rigours of Economy Class and here I was about to get a long haul Business Class seat. Even managed to get an entry into the Qantas First Class Lounge.
My father: The master of deception.
Quote of the Day: (D. Kuhne to me, upon entering the Qantas First Class Lounge) "You're not a human being in your own right, you're only a guest"
The flight was delayed, and aside from a 5 second freak out when a flight to LA left without us, we managed to make the most of the delay and the tough life those First Class Lounge people have...
For someone who'd only ever flown Cattle Class with the plebs, Business Class will have spoiled me. The seats were massive and reclined all the way to a bed. The staff bend over backwards to make sure you're alright. They provide noise cancelling headphones, PJs, a choice of food (more than the standard 2 pre-heated Economy options)... I'm not going to be able to afford to fly Business Class in the near future, but Economy Class is rubbish by comparison.
The flight itself went by fairly quickly all things considered, potentially because we were in Business Class, but it did go by very quickly. I got through 2 and a half films and got some rest. 'A Million Ways to Die in the West', not as bad as you made it out to be Chris. '42' was about Jackie Robinson. And 'Goldeneye' which I'm pretty sure was based on a video game...
Upon landing in LA we were held on the plane for about 10-15 minutes due to a medical emergency down the back of the plane... Damn plebs in Economy holding the rest of us back. Even after we were held back on the plane, we still managed to arrive in LA before we left Adelaide... Time travel is wonderful.
Exiting the airport we picked up Dad's hire car, and began to drive to the hotel he had booked in Valencia, CA. Although, given the time of landing, and the time of picking up the car, we were thrust into Los Angeles peak hour traffic... Speed limits were 90 or so km/h, we barely got it above 15km/h.
Gridlock.
We didn't really have an idea of where the hotel was, but after driving for 60km we eventually twigged that it wasn't that close to LA. Dad had chosen the hotel due to a marathon being run next door to the hotel in Santa Clarita on Sunday. Free hotel, I'm not complaining, but I will need to be dropped off by him to actually go see any of downtown LA.
It occurred to us also, when checking in to the hotel, that Halloween is a lot bigger here than we had thought. The woman behind the counter was dressed as a sailor, another girl was dressed as a hippie (though, she could've just been a hippie and not a staff member)... After heading to a nearby mall (which was a god-damned maze!) to sort out an American SIM card for my phone the Halloween stuff got even more grandiose. Entire store staffs were dressed up all crazy-like. I even got served lunch by a land-shark at Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que!
Those shark girls sure are polite though.
As I write this it is 7 AM on Saturday morning in Adelaide, and just on 1:30 PM Friday arvo in LA... Trying to make it to 6 or 7 PM before passing out for the night!
See the definition for Junket!
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