Here's a rough time line of the rest of the day:
- 08:35 - Got to the gate just in time for boarding to begin for the 9:05am flight
- 08:35 - A 15 minute delay
- 09:00 - Now it's an unknown delay
- 09:20 - They are investigating for a further 15 minutes
- 09:20 - Otherwise there is another plane we can be switched over to
- 09:20 - Apparently these are two good options, and there's nothing to worry about
- 09:45 - The plane has Mark Webber problems - terminal hydraulic fault
- 09:45 - Everyone is sent to another gate, the board says the flight will depart at 11:10am now
- 10:45 - No useful updates for about an hour
- 11:00 - The board says 11:25am, then 11:55am
- 11:15 - A bunch of crew seem to be getting off the second plane
- 11:30 - Some update I missed about needing a new crew I think - not sure how that is possible
- 11:45 - The board now says 12:30pm
- 12:15 - A different flight, the 12:45pm Virgin to Perth, is leaving on schedule at the opposite gate
- 12:15 - Passengers on my flight are not happy about this
- 12:15 - Staff are handing out bottled water - wow
- 12:30 - The board says 1:15pm and the gate number has changed again, but no announcements from staff
- 12:30 - The new plane is smaller, it only seats 170 people instead of 260
- 12:30 - Everyone has to wait for their name to be called, to find out if they are on this "third" flight or not
- 12:30 - The "downgrade" software still has to run
- 12:45 - Everyone with an international connection gets to go to the new gate - that's complex software...
- 13:00 - Get a text message on my phone saying I am on a 5:35pm flight
- 13:00 - Still waiting at the gate for my name to be called, just to get a new boarding pass I suppose
- 13:15 - Some names were called out, only up to C
- 13:45 - Gave up waiting as almost everyone had left, went to the counter and got a boarding pass
- 14:00 - Also stood in another line to get refreshment vouchers, as per the airline policy on delays
- 14:00 - Got $40 worth of vouchers, so about $20 of value with airport prices
- 14:00 - Off to Nando's for a free lunch
- 14:30 - Wasted some more vouchers on an energy drink and some elusive Chocolate Roughs
- 14:45 - Went through security for the third time, used up remaining vouchers on drinks and lollies
- 15:00 - Watching the cricket
- 17:00 - Start boarding the plane
The flight left almost on time, according to the revised time that is. There weren't many good movie choices out of the few I hadn't seen already, so I had to settle for Let's Be Cops. It was just good enough to be distracting, 4 out of 10. The vegetables and rice option for dinner - instead of breakfast - was surprisingly decent too, it didn't even have an after taste of anger and frustration.
I got to Perth just before 7:00pm local time - that's roughly fifteen hours after I packed my bags and left home. It was still like thirty degrees outside so that was pretty exciting, now I just had to pick up my bag and the day was over... Twenty minutes later my bag still hadn't arrived, so I went over to the service counter and found it sitting on the floor - I have no idea if it was sitting there for 10 minutes or 10 hours.
The last public bus leaves at 7:00pm on weekends and public holidays - stupid Boxing Day - so incredibly I missed it by about half an hour. There was a city express bus still running once an hour, so I was happier to wait for that than consider taking a taxi. The Melbourne Sky Bus service is actually terrific by comparison to this Perth offering - and maybe one day a train! The only good thing is that I've dealt with enough travel delays by now that I was able to deal with this without getting too frustrated.
I had been thinking about going to the Big Bash game at the WACA at 4:00pm, but when I saw the tickets were $33 plus an incredible $7 booking fee I put off making a decision. When I came back another time all of the first and second category tickets had sold out, so the cheapest was something like $60 now. I was thinking of either not going or just turning up to the ground and seeing what eventuated - so it was actually quite lucky I hadn't wasted any money on a ticket after all - this was my only win for the day!
I got to the hotel at about 8:30pm and got my room open at about 8:40pm. This hotel had the most bizarre doors, you put the key in the door handle, turn the key, then just...push the door. I was trying every combination of turning the key then trying to turn the handle - like every other door ever invented, when all I had to do was just push - in my defense the door did stick a bit so it required a bit of effort. Why even have a door handle when it doesn't turn?
I was pretty exhausted so just went out exploring quickly. First stop was the convenience store which was selling the great Browne's milk drinks - sadly Victorian supermarkets don't sell them anymore - I got a vanilla and a rocky road for later. I walked down to the end of Adelaide Terrace towards the city centre, past the Concert Hall and Council House which were illuminated at night.
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| Milkshakes. |
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| Council House. |
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| What the sign says. |
That was it for the day since it was past midnight eastern time, first thoughts on the hotel:
- The elevators and halls are quite dated, but the rooms are more modern
- The room size is good with a big bathroom
- The location is not so far from the city centre
- The TV has a few extra channels but only Fox Sports 1-3 and no ESPN
- Free WiFi but no free breakfast
- Other stuff I probably won't need - gym, laundry and sauna
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