This is beyond my expectations...

I arrive at LAX and have 5 hours to kill....well I really killed it....because I spent 3 hours trying to upload pictures into my blog.  No success....what....are you kidding me....no...(BTW...this is the monkey taking back to me...see the previous blog and note the monkey attached to my backpack.....that is him....my travel buddy).   I was oh so frustrated and decided the first thing I do when I hit Sydney is the Apple store!!

Needless to say before I go any further...the issue was resolved.  The previous blog and this one are being done at the Apple store in Sydney.....I have been in town for 3 hours!!!

Back to LAX....I go to gate 123A....and here she is....the A380...

It is 7 stories high ---well 70 feet off the ground from wheel to top of the aircraft....can hold 500 passengers....and has a first class suite configuration....and here I am prior to take off...

The Qantas people are tops in the business of passenger service....the food, wine, and ambiance....superior.  One of the amazing things to me was the take off....at LAX the runway is not that long for such a huge aircraft....so they need maximum thrust.  The maximum thrust issue kept the LAX to SYD flights on hold till they were assured by Rolls Royce and the safety board in Australia that it could be accomplished without loss of power or disruption to the engine.

The take off....WOW....double WOW...because not only could you feel the power of this huge plane racing down the runway...it gave another boast when the wheels left the ground and it accelerated to a level that you were pulled back in your seat....AWESOME.

Here are some photos taken of the SKYCAM as we prepare to land in Sydney....

Oh BTW....Qantas has reduced the number of crew members by one....so I decided to try out....for pilot of course.....well needless to say I did not make it...maybe it was the hat...ummm