The Flight(s)

Our actual journey to Australia is divided up into 3 legs:

Halifax to Vancouver

Vancouver to Brisbane

Brisbane to Melbourne

I tried summarizing the time differences and changes in paragraphs, but it got very complicated. So instead I decided to remain true to form and make it a table.

Arrivals/Departures	Halifax time & date	Local time & date	Hours in flight (cumulative)	Total cumulative hours
Departing Halifax	15:55 Feb 18	15:55 Feb 18	-	0
Arriving Vancouver	22:40 Feb 18	18:40 Feb 18	6 hrs, 45 min	6 hrs, 45 min
Depart Vancouver	02:45 Feb 19	22:45 Feb 18	-	10 hrs, 50 min
Arrive Brisbane	17:15 Feb 19	07:15 Feb 20	14 hrs, 30 min (21 hrs, 15 min)	25 hrs, 20 min
Depart Brisbane	19:55 Feb 19	09:55 Feb 20	-	28 hrs
Arrive Melbourne	22:15 Feb 19	13:15 Feb 20	2 hrs, 20 min (23 hrs, 35 min)	30 hrs, 20 min
Arrive AirBnb	00:00 Feb 20	15:00 Feb 20	-	32 hrs, 5 min

This probably does not need to be said, but travelling for 30+ hours straight is not something I would recommend. If at all possible, try to avoid it.

Okay. Trip Highlights & random thoughts

- Its been a very long time since I have flown anything that isn't a budget airline. I forgot what its like to have an 'entertainment screen'. They have come a long way - there are now games and 'wellness tips' as part of their offerings

- Air Canada's latest safety video is pretty ridiculous. There are all these beautiful sweeping shots of Canada, which is great. But then in these nature settings, people are engaging in airplane safety procedures. By far the most ridiculous part is when the people doing yoga by the sea in PEI demonstrate the brace position.

- There was a "medical emergency" on our first flight. I used quotes because it wasn't actually an emergency, but they did page for a physician. When no one immediately spoke up, Justin offered his services. Turns out there was a family physician on board as well, so they checked out what happened. It wasn't a big deal in the end. But because he helped out we got all kinds of free stuff (10/10, would recommend the Air Canada Cheese plate) and a voucher for future flights.

- I accidentally left my nice headphones on the first flight. I'm guess it was all the excitement about the cheese plate that distracted me. On the second flight, when I realized I had lost both my good headphones & the complimentary Air Canada ones, He offered me his complimentary Air Canada ones to use. I was already so tired at that point that I almost cried because I thought it was so nice of him.

- The 15 hour flight was fine. Not terrible, but not great. We had a chill seat mate, which helped. They fed us like, 4 times? Which was surprising, but nice. Mostly we just tried to sleep as much as possible. Estimating how long you slept on a plane is extra hard when you are leaving from a time zone that isn't your own, and half your electronics have updated while the others have not.

- Australian customs is crazy strict. Not only do you fill out a declaration on the plane, but you also watch a hilarious video about customs on the plane

- In Australian you claim your bags and go through customs at your first point of entry. Then if you are connecting, you have to re-check any luggage.

- They were filming Border Security Australia in Brisbane when we landed. We kinda wanted to be on it, but we also only had ~2 hours to make it through customs & re-check our bags. We did get sniffed by the sniffer dog though! Justin was really excited about that.

- Both of us started sweating the minute we de-planed in Brisbane. You could feel the heat & humidity in the exit tunnel

- I feel like we walked the entire length of every airport we were in. The walks themselves were nice, but somehow I was surprised by how big the airports are

- For the last bit from Brisbane to Melbourne, they board planes via tunnel (for the front) and tarmac (for the back)

I already have a ton of other thoughts about the country & our experiences so far, but I will save that for another post.