So I picked United Airlines. Mainly on price (they were the cheapest) but also because I could direct the points to my KrisFlyer account (Singapore Airlines Frequent Flyer points).
As a bit of an IT nerd I do appreciate a good airline online booking system and United wins there.
An area where they certainly don't win on is the aircraft, they're older, without seat-back screens for picking your own entertainment which is kind of handy on a 15 hour flight over the pacific. I thought it was going to be death. It actually wasn't too bad, I watched the occasional show they had on that I liked, the rest of the time I slept or had the iPod on which amazingly lasted the whole journey.
The flight went via Sydney to pick-up more passengers. Below was the luxurious room on the first leg, alas that was the best it got as it was full to LA.
I've got the tail end of a horrible cold and can't really imagine anything worse than flying due to the cabin pressure doing a number on my sinuses. In Sydney I got off the plane with blocked ears not being able to hear, its kind of funny walking through an airport without sound! LAX was just as bad, I'm sure the immigration officer thought I was a bit strange continually leaning over the counter trying to hear him!
The cold timed itself quite well, it would have been a disaster in the weeks before leaving trying to get through work and finalise details of the trip. I also managed to get through the City2Surf run in Sydney before it set in. As long as its gone in the next day or two!
So back to the flights. LAX was rather fun. There's like 8 terminals and you get the shuttle bus between them. I transferred from United to American because they had direct flights to Miami, so of course it ended up I had to get to the other side of the airport to connect and the United people weren't exactly jumping over themselves helping me transfer to AA. My printed flight details neglected to mention exactly which Terminal I should go to which was 5 minutes of panic but it all worked out.
Of course when I get on the shuttle bus I see someone up the other end wearing none other than an Essendon FC jumper.
After wasting a few hours between flights reading American newspapers I'm off to Miami.
After arriving in Miami and painfully waiting for the luggage to arrive, I take the shuttle bus to the Car Rental Terminal. That's right, a terminal for the car rentals, everyone hires cars in Florida.
Happy to pay the extra for the GPS I program in my South Beach hotel and drive into the night. After arriving at the hotel it's now after midnight and Miami is still alive and busy but that's for tomorrow.
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