Africa, Ashcloud and Eclipse

After a lovely final night in Sydney, I had to drag myself out of a very warm and comfortable bed to catch my flight to Johannesburg. I'd been watching the news pretty religiously to try and get updates on the Chilean volcano that had been wreaking havoc on the Australian airlines recently. Flights to Melbourne, Tasmania, Adelaide and New Zealand had all been cancelled to avoid the ash cloud which had drifted around the southern end of the planet. I knew from my sister's flight 5 weeks previously that my flight to Johannesburg would typically track down past the Antarctic to catch the atmospheric winds, so I was sure that this would be affected in some way. As it turns out, the earth is actually round and planes can fly in different directions to avoid things that are in the way. My flight was listed on the departures board as "on time".

At check-in I stood on tiptoes (although not sure that was really required when you're 17ft tall anyway) and put on my best pleading face for an emergency exit row. The lady from Qantas was really nice and called the gate to free one up. She smiled and made a final comment that "I owed her one" since those seats actually cost more nowadays. In the end I owed her more than one!! I got to the Qantas lounge after a brief stop for some last minute Duty Free and went to the desk to check if there were any flight disruptions. When I handed over my boarding pass, she promptly tore it up. Noticing my look of dismay she asked if I had requested an upgrade. My blank stare answered that question, but she just smiled and handed me a new boarding pass...in premium economy. I later found out that my mate (and travel agent), Tony at Travelworld Helensvale, had called in a few favours and hooked me up. He must have cashed in every favour, because I wasn't just in Premium Economy, but I was also at an exit. Winning!

I'd never been this close to the front of the plane before, so I took note of the extra luxuries:
*more leg room and better chairs. Looked to me to be like the old business class you used to walk past on your way to cattle class.
*proper metal cutlery, glass glasses and solid plates
*Nice food (not sure if it was any different, though)
*Fabric napkins
*Better headphones
*Great service
*Power points...although the attendant politely waited until we'd landed, and I'd exhausted the batteries on all my devices, before showing them to me. Helping...

It turned out to be the perfect flight to have received an upgrade. The planners at Qantas had devised a Plan B to avoid the ashcloud, and step one was switching aircraft. Our replacement aircraft had extra range, and typically flew the leg between Sydney and Dallas Fort Worth. I didn't realise how important this would be (and how lucky I was to have Premium Economy) until the captain's opening address. "Ladies and gentlemen, today's flight time will be 16.5 hours!" Apparently that is pretty much the maximum range that a Boeing 747 can achieve, and it's a long time to be in a seat. Thankfully I had whisky, ample leg room and a reclining chair, so I wasn't exactly crying myself to sleep. But I did take the opportunity to have some (sleep, not a cry). It had been a hectic 3 days leading up to this, and I'd barely slept 8 hours.

In Johannesburg I was met at the airport by my sister and my dad. Dad was nearing the end of a holiday with friends, visiting various places around southern Africa, and it was good to be able to catch up with him while on my travels. Amazingly, they informed me that I was also just in time to watch an eclipse which was happening at the time. What a way to end a long and eventful first day!Read more