Getting to Sydney.

The adventure to Sydney began on one snowy Minnesota day.  The flights to LA, which is where the Sydney flight left from, were all full.  And seeing as we fly standby, we decided to try for the very first one in hopes that people would miss the morning flight and open seats for us.  We left 2 hours early (for a drive that normally takes 20 min) but traffic was at a stand still.  It was horrible.  We finally got to the airport with only 40 minutes until departure and had to rush my 200lbs of luggage into the check point.  I had to rush and said goodbye to my dad, which made me even more stressed.  We got to check-in and couldn't get the kiosk to work, no thanks to the biggest asshole gate agent on planet earth.  My mom asked him for help because our reservation wouldn't come up and he just snarfed at us that "there is no way you're going to make this flight."  In true Jamie form I started crying.  I think of myself as a fairly strong person who doesn't get upset easily, but when it comes to airline travel, that all goes out the window.  I don't know what it is about airports, they just make me want to cry.  My dad has told me numerous times when I'm about to travel alone, "If something goes wrong, just don't cry, it will all work out." haha.  Sorry, I can't help it.  AND, of all the people I had to talk to while I was crying, I had to call my dad to see if he had our reservation number.  I blame this tear fest on the fact that I had just said goodbye to him but nonetheless he still told me to relax because it would all work out.  So, a few minute later our bags were checked and we were running for security.  We got to the ID check guy and he looks at my moms ticket and says "oh, nope, you've got to get a new one because I can't read this".  Ummmm, excuse me, what??!  I couldn't believe my ears.  So I take my carry on and my mom's carry on through security and run to the gate (which has already boarded).  Sure enough there are 2 seats open waiting for me and my mom.  I tell the lady that my mom is coming and she tells me that we'll try and wait for her but she need to get here soon.  Minutes go by and I start to panic.  Luckily, I see my mom dart around the corner just in time.  Phew!  We hurry on to the plane and head on our way to Los Angeles. It was smooth sailing from there, save for the 12 hour layover we had (before a 15 hr flight!).  We wondered around the LAX airport, had some coffee, some grub, and a margarita. :)  We got on the plane to Sydney after being awake for 20 hours and had to stay awake for at least another 4, or it would have stuffed our sleep cycle up.  I woke up after sleeping, read my clock and thought we only had an hour left.  So I got up, freshened up in the bathroom only to find out, when I sat back down and looked on my personal little tv, that we still had 7 hours left. doh!  It was a loooong day of travels, that's for sure.