I had my alarm set alarm for 5:50am so that I'd have time for a short run before breakfast and then leaving for the airport. Before that I checked my flight status online and saw the flight was cancelled already, as well as many others from Sydney to various destination.
Quite concerningly I had received no further email or text message correspondence about the cancellation and what supposed to do next. I found this incredibly disappointing from the airline, and even worse was when I complained about it they claimed they had sent both an email and text message about a flight change and somehow I just didn't receive both...
Since I didn't want to be stuck in Sydney all day and night, and with no advice on what to do, I jumped on the computer to check for other flights that were still scheduled. I found one leaving at 8:15am for a reasonable price of $150 so booked it quickly.
The change of plans meant I had to race to have a shower, pack the rest of my clothes and leave for the train station. I got to the airport with sufficient time to spare in the end, but missed running and breakfast. All the while I still had received no information about the cancelled flight.
The flight thankfully left on time, and I even got lucky with the connecting bus and train at Melbourne and made it home by 11:30am. The conditions in Melbourne were as bad as usual, cold and raining and less than 10 degrees. Later in the afternoon at about 2:30pm, several hours after I had been home, I got a message saying I could check-in for a different flight leaving Sydney at 4:30pm - incredibly this was the first information I'd received all day.
This was the last of three interstate trips in about two months - Brisbane, Gold Coast, and now Sydney. The races have been enjoyable although the results have been mixed. However between the cost of flights and hotels, the amount of time spent travelling from end to end, and the challenges of being away from home means it is not something I would want to do every month. Now I'll have a month break before a standard week in Hawaii and then a bit of a break from travel for a while.
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