The check in counters had opened and a well dressed but a bit “It’s 6:30am in the morning” NZ ground staff checked my bags in . I had decided to take a seat on the left in case we took off to the south from either 16R or 16L, we would turn left and head up to the North passing downtown SYD. BIG MISTAKE !!!
I should have realised from all the photos on http://www.airliners.net that most planes actually take off to the North and then pass directly alongside the city skyline that lies on the right hand side of the plane. Well, foolishly I sat in the airport restaurant and saw the early morning departures take off to the North and did nothing to change my seat 8O . I would suffer the pain when our jet would climb away from SYD and all the view I would have is of the sea, the site built for the Olympic Stadium and when we banked right and circled halfway eastwards, just the buildings of the North Shore, while the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the other famous landmarks like the AMP tower would lie to the right of the plane, with every single head along the right hand sized windows looking down, and smiling at the most glorious sight ever !! Soon the time came to say our goodbyes and before long, the beautiful NZ 744 was right out the large floor to ceiling airport glass windows with it’s little cars, catering trucks, ground staff personnel close by attending to every single detail that would be required for the long +13 hour flight over the Pacific to LAX. We finally boarded though 45 minutes later and were soon pulling out of the terminal building. Even at that moment I hoped the jet would take off towards the South, while I looked around for an empty seat, but it was house full. We were actually taxing down towards the South and from my window I could see an Air Canada 767 racing down 32L http://www.airliners.net/open.file/774716/L/ as it took the lead towards who would be first in YYZ of course that flight going via HNL. The view of Downtown Sydney glimmered in the morning light, the buildings silhouetted against the streaks of rays of the morning sun. Downtown looked so close, but of course it was quite far off. I accepted the fact I was going to miss the view after all
. As we positioned ourselves in the holding position http://www.airliners.net/open.file/202198/L/ , the view of Downtown began to disappear and an Air China jet was now close behind us. We then positioned ourselves onto the runway after a small jet had touched down and pulled out of the main runway area. The engines roared to life and the 744 started to pick up speed from the slow taxi speed we had until we reached our holding point and positioning ourselves on the runway. We reached take off speed and the nose wheels lifted off the ground and then the rest of our jet as we climbed into the morning skies of SYD http://www.airliners.net/open.file/681211/L/ . It is just such a wonderful feeling when a huge jet like a 744 leaves the ground, after what seems to be a long take off roll, unlike a smaller jet like a 737 or A320 that climbs up really quickly. The International Dept terminal passed under us http://www.airliners.net/open.file/747425/L/
and Wunala Dreaming stood at the gate with it’s other sisters of the QF fleet in their normal colours. We continued to climb and I sadly looked at the passengers in the right side all looking down, some even smiling as they marvelled at the sight below http://www.airliners.net/open.file/279841/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/486946/L/
. The Olympic site was just coming into view from under the wing http://www.airliners.net/open.file/712058/L/ when our 744 banked to the right and the site disappeared, and the jet continued in that manner the wings now disappearing in what were some thin low lying clouds, and parts of the suburbs appearing and disappearing under, until we were over North Sydney. We continued east out towards the Pacific and the land could be seen no more, but endless blue seas with the morning rays of light dancing on them and the top of the wing, making me momentarily blind in the sudden rays of light I was being exposed to 8) .We were now coming close to cruising altitude when the seat belt signs went off and the FA’s began to get ready to serve us breakfast :drink: . I had no one in the seat next to me, but a girl sat in the aisle seat and had her eyes shut. I had put on my head phones and was busy listening to the audio program when I noticed she had started to cry
. I pulled the plugs from my ears and asked her if everything was okay. She continued to cry as she told me her boyfriend was back in SYD and she would not see him for a year. I tried to console her saying I had just said bye to my mum too, while offering her the extra pillow, hoping she would sleep to ease her pain. She was not doing well and was still crying, blowing her nose with Kleenex. I thought it best to leave her alone and watch the movies about the start. Shrek was on, and I was not missing that for the world. Hopefully another girl in the aisle across started to talk to her, and being girls I thought :angel: they would handle the situation successfully….They did. She was soon smiling and I think they discussed their lives in detail. I smiled as I watched Shrek and Donkey. I was busy eating my breakfast as the movie continued to progress. My friend had now fallen off to sleep 
(tired from all that crying) and I had to go to the washroom. She had put the sheet over her head and I didn’t know how to wake her up. Perhaps tell her that her boyfriend was on the phone..hee,hee!!…I managed to get out of the seats without waking her up and she was not disturbed as I got back too. There was another movie on too, but I cannot recall which one. I had no clue how the +13 hours would pass, but having experienced the nearly 15 hours non-stop into SYD this would be a lot easier. The cabin window shades were being pulled down as the sleepy SYD passengers tried to get some shut eye. I decided to keep my shades up just a bit, even though there was nothing but the sea outside, with nothing to really get excited about if I looked down 
. After a few decent hours of daylight and either passing close to or passing away from the International date line, it was now dark outside and the stars shown outside my cabin window, and truly the cabin slept with some sounds of slumber filling the otherwise noisy jet. A few nocturnal creatures stirred under their blankets, while some made their way to the galleys for refills of drinks. I noticed one of the flight attendants make his way in the dark with his shirt out, and no tie or coat, walk pass me with a pillow in hand. Had he decided to become one of the passengers!! He was actually heading to the crew rest area
and I had hoped I had asked him if I could see what it looked like. We were now slowly approaching LAX and after what seemed like endless sheets of darkness, the first signs of light started to appear in the distance along the coastline. The jet had now become considerably quieter and the cabin lights were not as dimmed as before. We had been served dinner earlier on, and the FA’s carried out their pre-landing clearing of trays, glasses, headsets while outside the lights got closer and brighter. It was still dark and just the first streaks of the morning light started to streak across the dark morning skies in the east. As we got closer the light got a bit brighter and the Los Angeles hills in the distance began to take shape. The flaps descended, the lights outside which ran parallel to us in the distance go brighter, and before long after coming in directly over the sea http://www.airliners.net/open.file/422898/L/ we touched down into a very lazy LAX that was very much asleep. Nothing stirred as we slammed our wheels onto the tarmac, and what is usually such a busy airport continued to sleep
as we might have been the first flight to arrive that day. It was after all just 6:05am.
:lookaround: 