Sydney, Australia

Just the airport.... don't get too excited. I'm coming home! Long layover before my flight to Dallas.

Not too impressed with the airport, honestly. I'm in the international terminal. Not enough bathrooms, for one. Endless duty free perfume enough to give one a headache just walking through. Food court mall like area... but on steroids. But yes, it feels like a huge mall and it's loud and echos like a mall food court. No quiet places to duck into and get away from the noise and crowd. Hardly any place to sit.

I found the Heineken House and ordered some breakfast and a Heineken. There is a glass tower filled with Heineken bottles, but the beer is served on tap.

It's too early to even be assigned a gate, so I wait.

And I went back in time another two hours. It's hot here, even inside.

I got up at 3 am this morning. I calculated 28 hours from first takeoff to final land, three flights in all.

It's my birthday boy's birthday, 3 years old on the 29th. We did a video call, and it was really hard to hear with all the noise here. I put my bt in my ears, and then they couldn't hear me, so Mary was hand signaling to me so I could understand what was being said. Can't wait to hug my little shugga'bugga. I told him, "Happy birthday, Sweet Pea!" and he said it back to me. 😂 We are going to have so much fun reading books together. Looks like tomorrow will be a snow-in day. ❄️☃️❄️

3 hours later... i found the gate. Still two hours before boarding, but there is no place to sit down. All the seating is full. I found a seat out in the middle of the main area. My shoes are off at this point.

"Gate Lounge" it's called. The place where you sit by your gate.

Long flight... 15 hours and 25 minutes. Sydney to Dallas.... flight delayed.Read more