After a final night out in Sydney with Andrew and Shae, we woke early on Saturday and got a shuttle bus to the airport. Anne was all sad about leaving Australia. I tend to be ready to leave once we're done somewhere, which can be a handy trait. Even on a two week holiday I'm ready to go home at the end, even when I've had a great holiday. Besides, I was excited about New Zealand.
Anne's sadness was soon forgotten when we got to the gate to board the plane. We waited until almost everyone else had boarded, and then approached the gate. (Why do people rush and push? Their seats are already allocated!)
The lady made us stand aside, and asked another lady if they had "any of the good seats" left. Yay!, we thought. We were upgraded to Business Class!!! I've never been upgraded before. I don't know why we were upgraded. Maybe it's because Anne's a doctor, or maybe it's because we'd both signed up for BA's Executive Club (frequent Flyer scheme). The seats were huge and technologically-advanced. Large TV screens came out of the arm rest. We had more movies to choose from than Economy. The food was very good. Anne couldn't reach the seat in front of her with her feet! It was bliss.
I've only ever seen Business Class before when walking through to Economy. The people there tended not to look at us plebs, preferring to pretend we didn't exist. As it was, I didn't even see any of the plebs in Economy, since we boarded after them and disembarked before them. A curtain helpfully shielded us from them during the flight. The sad thing was the flight only lasted about three hours. I'd have liked the plane to circle a bit.
We tried hard to look like we belonged there, but I really doubt that people who regularly travel in Business Class take photos of each other in the big chairs.
How will we ever fly Economy again? I don't think I can.
Movies and books
As Anne has said, we watched Japanese Story in Sydney. It's received a lot of press coverage down under, and was pretty good. It's about a geologist (Toni Colette) reluctantly showing a Japanese businessman around the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The film changes part way through, which makes it very difficult to say much without giving too much away. Anne enjoyed it more than I did, though I'd still give it three and a half stars. The scenery was great, and it was good to see this area we visited three months or so ago on the screen.
On the flight I watched American Pie: The Wedding (or American Wedding). The first sequel was better than expected (though not as good as the first film) but this one was pretty poor. Most of the "humour" comes from Stiffler, who seems to have degenerated into a mentally-deranged idiot. Two stars.
The last two books I read in Australia were quite apt. The first was a history/analysis of the country, Australia by Phillip Knightly. It was good to read a book like this having been immersed in the culture for eight months. The second was Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James, about his childhood in the Sydney suburbs in the 40s and 50s. Very funny and this time (the second time) I read it I recognised the places.