With this being the last day in LA, a choice had to be made on how to spend it; hit up the multitude of museums and other Hollywood attractions yet to be visited or go to Six Flags. Roller Coasters win every time. Packed up our stuff and checked out of the motel, then drove north up to Six Flags after printing off some discount tickets. It didn't seem too busy considering the size of the park and it being a weekend. Headed straight for X2, the x-men roller coaster and got in line. Zigged and zagged back and forth about 5 times then hit the straightaway finally, only to round a corner and see another set of zig/zig rails. Two and a half hours standing waiting for this ride to start off the day at the park. It was absolutely amazing, but only lasted maybe a minute and as fun as that minute was, it was not worth the wait. Oh well, on to the log jammer line-up. The line was shorter on this one; only took about 20 minutes, but was a much more kiddie type ride. Though the two drops hitting nearly freefall speed in a wide open log with no straps was enough to get the heart pumping. Finished that ride a little wetter than how I began and headed to Goliath, which looked to be the tallest coaster in the park (with the exception of the Superman coaster that was closed). Waited for about and hour and a half alongside a very chatty black man (who looked and sounded like Warren Sapp) and his girlfriend. This coaster was decent, with some corkscrew and invert action. At this point due to the empty stomach, 3 coasters, wicked heat and hours of waiting, it was time to head out. We went to the parking lot and forgot where we parked and had to wander rows and rows for nearly an hour until we found the Civic. Drove to a Carl's Jr. and chowed down on a philly cheesestake/burger combo that was delightful, albeit messy. Then dropped the car off at the rental place, walked to LAX and checked in at the very modern Virgin Australia kiosk.
At this point, I was again subjected to the watchful eye and caressing touch of US customs agents, though they didn't take as long checking through my bag this time, messing up my pack job. Once in the departures area, we tried unsuccesfully to attain wifi that worked, so decided to head over to the seafood restaurant for a drink and some grub and to use their wifi. Even though they were "famous for the chowder" I opted for a chicken caesar salad with cherry coke. The coke was odd though, with cherry syrup mixed into coke instead of actual cherry coke. But it was a good way to kill some time until boarding.
Being that our tickets were for economy class, we got to board basically last, but since our seat was reserved beforehand it wasn't an issue. The 777 plane making the flight from LA to Sydney was a monster and it seemed like a really long walk to get back to our seats. The plane fired up after we watched a safety video (instead of the flight attendants acting it out) and then drove what seemed like several kilometers to the very, very end of the runway. It turned around and then began the longest takeoff ever. It didn't seem like it was going to get off the ground before the end of the runway even though it started waaaaay out. But finally the nose lifted and then the rest of the plane followed and away we went. I was concerned the flight was going to be brutal (15 hours!?) but it turned out to be the most enjoyable flight I've been on to date. First off, the flight was actually just over 14 hours, there were 2 meals, and the entertainment was top notch. We got a supper a couple hours into the flight consisting of salad, chicken (or beef), cooked veggies, and rice (or mashed potatoes). The meal was complemented nicely by some red wine, and then coffee cake and tea for dessert. Each seat got it's own 10" TV that had a big selection of tv shows, new and old movies, games, tv channels and flight info. I played some Bejeweled and Poker, watched She's Out of My League, The Losers, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall and some tv show snippets. After supper was served, the lights went out and most passengers caught some z's. I got maybe 4 or 5 hours on and off throughout the flight, but it's pretty tough to sleep in the middle seat. After a lot of cramped snoozing and movies viewed, breakfast was served. Scrambled eggs on an english muffin, fried potatoes, yogurt, juice and tea. I must say, the meals were quite wonderful. A couple hours later we were walking into the Sydney airport. It doesn't really feel any different than LAX or any other airport.
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