This is not yours to mess with.

FUCK.

Ok, so we have the Matt issue. He's weird, he's creepy, he's randomly going to the US at the same time we are (planned all of 3 weeks ahead) and is going to be in the same area at the same time. I've heard about it, I've ranted about it, I've tried to ignore it. Its working, for now. If he tries to glue himself to me again though, JT and I won't be providing an adhesive surface.

But Rodney fuckin' Grech? Are you serious? This guy barely has two dollars to rub together and he's asking, a week and a half out from take off, if theres any chance of tagging along on a trip that has already been booked and paid for and organised and cemented and passported and almost packed and is costing us each upwards of $5000?! WHAT THE HELL MAN!?

Why do people suddenly think "oh hey they're going on holidays I MIGHT GO WITH THEM" and why are they always the last people you wanna spend 2 weeks of your life seeing every day non stop?

If Tim had suddenly gone "screw this I'm coming with you guys" I would be totally all for it. He'd have to share a bed with JT but eh, thats his problem :P I like Tim, he's a nice guy and I'd probably send him more insane than the other way around.

But this...christ, I think I need some aspirine.

So things are really starting to roll. I've got a half packed suitcase on my bed. Got a calendar on my door that I can scribble all over and a couple of lists going, like what I have to buy and get organised before we leave.

Things are going to be jam packed next weekend. I gotta get a travelex card from the Greater, probably after I go to the hairdresser (hoping to get a booking for Saturday morning), get some new socks and underwear, need to buy some more suncream in a travel sized pack :P

I also need to pick up some replacement shoelaces for my leprachaun shoes, cuz ones busted and the other is about to get even.

I'm really suddenly digging the idea of getting an old school style skateboard at venice beach. I'm really really hoping I can find something there that is really rad and a decent price. I'm trying not to work up on that idea. But yeah. Another "if, it'd be cool" haha.

I need to stop watching LA ink, its making me want to get a tat while I'm there. Stupid obsessions :)

Your maximum bet is...

American Airlines have ridiculously ambiguous info on their website concerning baggage allowances. 

With Qantas Intl to the US you're allowed to take 2x 23kg bags for check-in and a 18kg~ for on board. 

Dad rang AA this morning about their stupid website and got the following;

"If you show your Qantas ticket (International) on AA you can take 2 bags on all 3 flights & the allowance on board is 10k"

Pretty sweet, I reckon.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Got me some travel bands today, they don't look terribly comfortable but I wear bands all the time so they should be alright. Better than taking some anti sick drugs.

I had this idea a while ago, which I'd forgotten, to take my Doom game disks (ok they're my Dad's but he doesn't use them, so I nicked 'em :P ) and get Carmack to sign them. Maybe Romero, if he's not an ass.

Obviously this is just a hopeful thing and not a definite, but it'd be pretty sweet.

My notebook is coming along ok, its getting there. Hopefully be doing a test print tomorrow to see how it all goes together. Theres a few pages I need to get done in colour too so I'll have to do those at home.

Alcomahol

Just in case, the limitations on arrival and departure items.

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4258

It's been a while

Yeah...21 days roughly.

Things are fairly under way. I have my money just about sorted. Got some US $ just yesterday and will be organising a Travelex card hopefully this weekend.

The rest is staying in my Visa Debit account so I can use it for CC transactions whilst there.

I also began my list for packing last night. It's pretty big. I might do a trial pack this weekend to see how it goes.

The only thing left to do now is organise my little book to take with me for all my information. I have all of that in this blog, just have to rearrange it into a Word doc ready to print. I ought to get that underway this week. I'd like to have it bound.

A Gaylord Update

Since I first trawled through the forums yesterday, the message has been that the Gaylord has in fact blocked bookings of rooms for the 12th & 13th, and they are not sold out as originally thought. In hindsight it makes sense seeing as the con runs from the 13th to the 16th, so why wouldn't the 14h & 15th be in the same boat, if everyone had booked already.

So thats a bit more reassuring. I'm aware that they're not exactly going to book the entire hotel for us under the QC rate, but at least they're giving everyone decent opportunity.

Thanks, Jackass

So the Hilton Anatole decided early this morning that they'd turf QuakeCon out in favour of some Pharmaceutical convention. Not impressed.

They've cancelled and refunded all QC rate reservations, at least. So thats a start.

We're now located at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, some 20 Miles to the North-West of the old location.

I've heard good things about both the hotel and the area. But that doesn't give me a room reservation.

The issue lies in the bookings, of course. Since the announcement, every single room in that hotel has been sold out for the nights of the 12th & the 13th. They have promised an allotment of rooms with a special QC rate to be released next Monday the 6th of July. We just have to cross our fingers and hope like hell that we'll get in on those rates. If we don't, we're up for a separate hotel, something I'm not really interested in doing. Even if it is a safer area to walk around in.

Well...I guess at least the Taxi fare will be cheaper.

Gaylord Texan Hotel

1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051

Supersize me, damnit

So back in '04 around the time when "Supersize Me" hit theatres, Maccas pulled the plug on Supersize meals in the US. They copped some flack for it here too, which is retarded because its never been on the menu and I'm fairly certain they only ever did it for drinks as a special you had to ask for.

Anyway, that counts out any chance of a stupidly large novelty McD's meal in August. Though I think they've still got the drinks, on the condition we saw here in Aus.

So that kinda sucks. I'm not going to order something like that anyway, I'll probably get a "you're a retarded tourist" look from the server if I did.

Instead, I'm going to hit up a 7-Eleven. I want a Big Gulp (or whatever the stupidly large size is they have there, I saw it on Ellen recently but I can't remember). Or at least I'd like to see the cup size.

Funness. :)

Touring Party

As a part of my Dallas trip I was hoping to catch a Cowboys home game. Unfortunately they're away the week we'll be there so I've got no hope of a pre-season match viewing. I'm going to have to resort to watching something resembling a match (or at least about 20 minutes of it before I get bored) on TV.

As a sort of "consolation prize", I've found out that Cowboys Stadium is open to tours. They run for around an hour and depart the Pro Shop every half hour as follows;

Monday - Saturday	9 am - 6 pm (Last Tour Departs At 4:30 pm)
Sundays	11 am - 5 pm (Last Tour Departs At 3:30 pm)

Tours include the following locations;

Pro Shop Press Box Limited Field Access (Not Guaranteed) Scoreboard Control Room Silver Level Platform Cowboys Locker Room A Suite Player Interview Room   More info is on the website;  http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/tours/tourInfo.cfm JT has stated that he'll most likely come with, which is good news for me :)

Bart's riding in the front today because he's good at SPORTS!

So I have this plan, and its a real loose one that I've had for several years now. I wanna see a whole bunch of sports in the US that we don't get (or aren't as good) here.

The list of sports and the teams I'd like to see are as follows;

Baseball (MLB) - New York Yankees, LA Dodgers

Basketball (NBA) - Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic, LA Lakers, New York Knicks

Ice Hockey (NHL) - Any

Grid Iron (NFL) - Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants/Jets, Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins

On this trip I'm incredibly fortunate to be in LA when the Dodgers take on the Cubs. I've yet to buy a ticket but it will be done soon.

As a flipside to that, the Dallas Cowboys' Pre-season starts in August, and they are on an away-week whilst we're there. I'm majorly disappointed in this, as Dallas doesn't really seem like a place I'll want to visit again unless it is for Quakecon (thus presenting me with the same issue again, most likely) where as I feel I could probably revisit LA at any point in order to see a Dodgers game. This of course could be entirely wrong :)

I do intend on finding out about a possible tour of the stadium, regardless.

As it is currently Summer in the US, this completely rules out any chance of seeing the NHL, and pretty much the same for the NBA - their pre-season starts in September.

So this trip covers 1 of the 4 big ones. Well, 1 of 3, if I never see an NHL game I'll live.

I'd also like to grab some merchandise while I'm there, for the big 3. 

Some MLB caps (Yankees and Dodgers at least)

A baseball

Dodgers Pennant

Cowboys Jersey and/or a Bulls Jersey

Basically I'd love to get one of all three, so that'd include a Dodgers Jersey. 

But cost is fairly high for that sort of thing, event replicas are up around US$80 for an NFL/MLB Jersey, and around US$50 for an NBA Jersey.

I'll post again when I find out details on Cowboys Stadium tours.

Its all roses

Okay so this is a real stretch. I'm sure as soon as we land in LAX we'll be absolutely knocked off our feet at the same time as being totally enraptured in this new and exciting place. I imagine we'll be running crazy around town finding the closest supermarket and going nuts. But just in case we find ourselves suddenly bored (haha)...

Rose Bowl Flea Markets

1001 Rose Bowl Dr. Pasadena, CA 91103

12 Miles from Kyoto Grand

http://www.rgcshows.com/RoseBowlFleaMarket/tabid/52/Default.aspx

Goin' Down TOWN

Nice little linky here, since we're staying downtown.

http://www.downtownlawalks.com/

Dallas Farmers Market

Just trying to find a few things in Dallas in case I get bored at Quake Con (something I'm hoping doesn't happen, but you never know).

Dallas Farmers Market
1010 S. Pearl Expressway
Dallas, TX 75201
(At the corner of Harwood and Marilla Streets, in the southeast corner of Downtown Dallas.)

Looks pretty nifty. Fresh food and such. Site has a listing of in-season fruits & vegies which I'll update this post with once it gets into the next season (that is, if I can remember).

http://www.dallasfarmersmarket.org/

I think I'm a foodie

Whatever that means.

I've just spent 10 minutes on the Phillipe's web site, and promising myself that I'd re-watch the MvF ep again when I get home...

Anyway. "The Griddle Cafe" looks mighty fine, and within a reasonable distance of the hotel in Hollywood.

Thanks flyertalk crew, you're teaching me great things!

I'll expand upon this with more detail later. Maybe.

http://www.thegriddlecafe.com/

Destination Coupons

This place has loads of coupons for places like restaurants, attractions, etc. 

http://www.destinationcoupons.com/Nevada/Las_Vegas/las-vegas-coupons.asp

Have to print out a metric tonne of those before we go away.

More Meds Stuff

Just wanted to write a little bit of info to myself about medication. Have been reading that some people have had their tablets confiscated from their checked luggage. Should mention that this wasn't 'confiscated' under law - it was stolen. 

I'm looking at ways to have mine secured better inside my luggage, or having to keep it in my onboard luggage with the letter from the doc. 

I can't afford to be losing meds that week. I'm thinking I might get a prescription to take with me. Don't think it'll hold up in the US but we'll see. I really don't want to be missing it once I get there, bad timing and it'll really mess me up.

Skooby's

Los Angeles (ok, Hollywood) is home to one of the most famous Hotdog stands in the world. Pink's.

However, it is also home to what I've read to be the best stand.

Skooby's Hot Dogs
6654 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) HOT-DOGS

"Smack dab in the middle of Hollywood"

I've heard terrific things about their chili dogs, fries and lemonade. All of which are home made (well, maybe not the dogs, but the chili for sure).

I'm looking forward to a visit :)

Coke n M&Ms

I've been hearing some fantastic things about the M&Ms store. Create your own bag (apparently they have stupid amounts of colours). I'm all over that!

I've also heard about the Coke 'museum' tasting place, which is right next door. Apparently they have a load of different Cokes from around the world that you can taste. I'll give those a go, I think.

I'm looking forward to checking out the merchandise and all the different kinds of Cokes and M&Ms. Also looking forward to taking some photos of the giant Coke bottle and the big tubes of M&Ms.

The address is in the post below, Vegas.

I'm going to be such a freakin' tourist over there.

Outback, mate.

Ok I found a couple of Outback Steakhouses in Vegas. Dumb ol' me didn't think to check there. :P There are 8 in the greater Las Vegas area according to the website.

Theres two - and they're almost equal in how far away they are from the PLV hotel. I'll list 'em both.

Las Vegas Strip - Casino Royale

3411 S Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas NV 89109

Las Vegas Coke Bottle

3785 Las Vegas Blvd, 4th Fl
Las Vegas NV 89109

Pharmacies

Wallgreens

Los Angeles:

1625 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Store Hours M-F:    8:00AM-11:00PM Sat:    8:00AM-11:00PM Sun:    8:00AM-11:00PM

Pharmacy Hours M–F: 8:00AM-9:00PM Sat:    9:00AM-6:00AM Sun:    10:00AM-6:00PM

Dallas:

3802 Cedar Springs Road, Dallas, TX 75219

24 Hours

Las Vegas:

3339 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109

24 Hours

Hollywood:

5451 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

24 Hours

Bookage + Funds

Well, I went to borders yesterday in order to purchase some maps of LA & Vegas. 

I came out with 2 books - 'pocket' guides to both. Of course, they're a little too big to fit in my pocket. But thats ok :)

The Vegas one came with a pull out map, so that eliminates a need to get a map of the strip. Now I'm just interested in getting a fold out map of LA once I get some more funds - I have about $150 to my name which I can't actually touch just at the moment. But this will change tomorrow night when I get paid.

5 more pays before I leave, and one more during. If I scrape it through I should be able to save around $650 each pay. So $3400 total, which gives me somewhere around $1500 spending money.

Not bad.

Booked and Champing at the Bit!

ITS ALL BOOKED! Wooooooooooooooooooooooo!

We're booked in! Aside from the already booked flights SYD > LAX & LAX > SYD.

Kyoto Grand, Hilton Anatole, Paris Las Vegas and Holiday Inn Express Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Plus flights between all 4.

I'm so stoked. I'm practically begging to go now haha!

Theres so much circling in my head right now, things I want to do, places I want to see. Photos to take, vids to capture. Can't fucking wait :D

Now I got 10 weeks left to save all for my food, taxis and spending money.
Tomorrow I'm going to head over to Borders to check out their maps. Hopefully theres something there worth having.

Tip Top's the One

Good on ya Mum!

She just linked me to an ebay auction for 2 tickets to the Paris Las Vegas Eiffel Tower experience. $14 for both! Snapped those up quickly :)

The Book of Notage + bits n bobs

So I've decided. Notebook! All of the very important information in here that is required during the trip - i.e. places & addresses etc - will be going into a nice handy notebook for me to take with us.

I have to make sure I find the local pharmacies & etc. This'll probably go straight into the book unless I do it at work.

Also, I need to enquire about a replacement battery for my laptop, a spare for my camera and need to give JT extra monies for the travel insurance he booked with our flights today.

Dallas...fast food style

Burger King:

3.3 Miles

8383 North Stemmons Freeway,  Dallas, TX 75247

Standard & Pours Coffee Shop:

4.1 Miles

1409 South Lamar St,  Dallas, TX 75215

Taco Diner West Village:

3 Miles

3699 McKinney Avenue Suite 302N,  Dallas, TX 75204

Whataburger:

1.1 Miles

2741 North Stemmons Freeway,  Dallas, TX 75207

Hooters:

2.4 Miles

2201 North Lamar St,  Dallas, TX 75202

TGI Fridays:

3.1 Miles

1713 North Market St,  Dallas, TX 75202

Taco Bell:

3.2 Miles

8249 North Stemmons Freeway,  Dallas, TX 75247

Wendy's:

6.4 Miles

2241 West Northwest Highway,  Dallas, TX 75220

Places of interest... - LA

Guinness World Record Museum
6764 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028

10 AM - 12 Midnight 

Adults - $12.95 USD

Hollywood Wax Museum

6767 Hollywood Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90028

10AM - 12 Midnight

Adults Online Price - $12.95 USD

Universal Studios Theme Park

Universal City Stop, Metro Train Line

9AM-7PM / 8PM / 9PM

Adults Online Price - $67.99 USD - 2 Days

Hollywood Trolley Tour (1 hour)

Departs Grauman's Chinese Theatre

6925 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

9:30am - Sundown, every hour. (Not Mondays)

Adult - $20 USD

Address Me Closely - LA

Addresses of places closest to the Kyoto Grand.

Popeye's Chicken:

2000 E Marengo St, Los Angeles, CA 90033

Taco Bell:

510 S Broadway,  Los Angeles, CA 90013

McDonalds:

330 S Broadway,  Los Angeles, CA 90013

The Original Pantry:

877 South Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90017

Original Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers:

2575 W. Beverly Blvd,  Los Angeles, CA 90057

Flea Market - Big Bazaar:

560 S Los Angeles St,  Los Angeles, CA 90013

Tipping is not a city in China, apparently

Or so a tipping etiquette guide tells me.

Here is some info from a better site than that (the UK's BBC, in fact)...

Food And Beverages

• Waiting staff and food servers - Tipping varies significantly based upon the class of restaurant. Common tips for bar staff - bartenders and cocktail waiting staff - are 50c for a single beer and $1 for a mixed drink. If a tab is run, a minimum of 10% of the tab should be paid as a gratuity.

• Food Delivery Services - Most food delivery services (such as pizza or chinese food) add a delivery fee into the cost of the food. It is recommended that the total tip, including any delivery fee, equals 10% of the bill.

• Fast Food Restaurants - Tipping is not expected.

• Limited Service Restaurants - If there are waiting staff members who bring drinks to your table or clear dirty dishes away from the table, a minimum of USD $.50 per person should be left as a tip. Examples of this type of restaurant include buffets and salad bars.

• Full Service Restaurants - The general rule of thumb for tipping in a full service restaurant is 10% to 20% of the final bill, depending on the level of service received from the waiters or waitresses. Mediocre service should be rewarded with only 10%, average service with 15%, and superior service with 20%. If the service is terrible, it is advised that the customer leaves the server an insignificant tip so the staff member realises the tip was not overlooked, and instead that he/she was intentionally slighted for the poor performance.

  Larger parties (usually of eight or more diners) will frequently be charged a 15% gratuity automatically by the restaurant as part of the cheque (bill). Make sure to review the bill carefully when dining in restaurants as some restaurants will automatically add in a baseline gratuity charge, regardless of the party size. In these cases, no additional tip is expected unless the diners feel the service was so outstanding that the serving staff merit more.

Transportation And Lodging

• House-keeping - Depending on the class of the hotel and the care and quality of the room, gratuities should be based on 5% of the per-night room cost. Gratuities are not usually expected by motel workers (limited service hotels), but are expected in full service hotels.

• Hotel Staff - The level of gratuities for hotel staff vary depending on the quality of the hotel. Hotel waiting staff, room service providers, and bell-hops (baggage-handlers) should be tipped in accordance with the rules for tipping waiting staff and baggage-handling as above.

IT'S OFFICIAL

We're going! Our international flights have been booked and travel insurance is also done :D

Also;

http://www.laokay.com/

For future reference.

From there I've discovered a Mickey D's about 2 blocks from the Kyoto Grand. ;)

Outback steak houses are no where near the city centre (shame, could have been an interesting visit). 

And I'm currently looking into finding out how much is a good tip for waiters & bellboys. 

Your Approval

Well, I've finally had my holidays approved. So now all thats left to do is book. 

I'm waiting on JT to get his visa waiver junk approved. With any luck he'll do that tonight and then we can start booking hotels and flights etc.

Deep Dish

"OCAU Food Forum - "Possible to make pizza on stove top? No Oven"

Basically what I want to try is make a deep pan pizza but in a pot on my stove top without the use of an oven?"

Here's the train of thought.

Hmm. Deep dish pizza. Man vs food. Google.

"deep dish pizza LA"

Search results turn up LA Foodblog. 

Found: Tony's Little Italy Pizza.

1808 N Placentia Ave, Placentia, CA 92780

Approx 15 minutes without traffic from the Hilton Anaheim. Bitchin'

Shuttles & More Agent Failure

I've done the most half arsed pricing of some shuttles just now. I'll have to do a bit better when I have all the details in front of me later on.

LAX -> Kyoto Grand

US$17 Per Person

DFW -> Hilton Anatole

US$12 Per Person

This is with rideflyreservations.com

Everyone else keeps asking for more specific details.

JT spoke to the travel agent on the phone today. Said $3200 for what we priced at just under $3100 - "his reasoning is he can ensure we have a great, and safe trip with everything running smoothly"

We're not going to be doing that :)

This is Home calling

One more note before I forget. International roaming has been set up on my mobile. Charges are a friggin' killer, but my Dad (who so kindly did the setting up for me, as the account holder) says that theres a card I can use so charges aren't so wounding. I'll have to remind him about that as the dates get closer.

Taste of my own Medicine...and failed Agents

Alrighty. Here's the little excerpt I found - I believe it was from the smart traveller website.

Going offshore...know the medicine law. It’s illegal to take PBS medicine (subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) out of Australia, unless it’s for your own use or the use of someone travelling from Australia with you. Penalties are steep; fines of up to $5000 and/or two years imprisonment. 
If you do take PBS medicine overseas, follow these simple steps: 
• contact the embassy of the country you’re visiting to ensure the medicine is legal there 
• carry a letter from your doctor with the medicine, stating what the medicine is, how much you’ll be taking, and that it’s for your personal use 
• leave the medicine in its original packaging, so it’s clearly labelled with your name and dosage. 
For more information about taking PBS medicine overseas, call the Travel-ling with PBS medicine enquiry line on 1800 500 147, or log onto www.medicareaustralia.gov.au

Aaaand a little note - travel agent visit was fail. Just got some useless books. JT says he'll be ringing the agent that 'helped' us during the week, so we'll see what they say. I think we should just book it ourselves, saves time and hassle in my opinion.

Done + $$$

Alrighty, so I've got the passport. Its all good. And I've just done my ESTA application - all good too, all done. Excellent stuff. 

Of course, I had to spend about 15 minutes trying to figure out why the page wasn't working. Basically - US Government sites hate Google Chrome. Lame.

Also a big happy - airfares are back down. In fact, cheaper by $50. Hopefully we'll book the flights real soon so that we can score on that.

Oh and a lil' bonus is that the US dollar is just that tiny bit further up. 76c. Lovin' it, keep on coming :D

In Soviet Russia, Passport receives you!

Yep, I've just been told that my passport has arrived at home this morning. Thankfully my sis decided to study from home today and was there to sign on the dotted line for it :D Thanks dude ^_^

We're looking at going to a travel agent with our plans in the coming weeks to see if we can get a better deal than what we've been able to price. Going through a travel agent would make me feel a little safer with hotel bookings and such too.

The Cancellation Fear

So swine flu is a prick. Or - more accurately - the media is a prick for blowing everything out of proportion.

Right when we were ready to buy airfares it looked to us like we were going to have to postpone. And the decision was made a few times. 

Of course now its revealed that only 19 people in Mexico have died from this thing, and only 1 in the US. The generic flu screws more people than that in a week in the US than this thing has done.

Stupid media.

Anyway, its all still on. But the bad thing is that airfares have now gone up by about $200~ each which freaking bites ass. Ah well. I guess the better thing is that the AU is up to almost 75 US cents. Hopefully it keeps on going.

I've been grocery window shopping on the Walmart website. Yoo hoo is on my "to buy" list as are Ruffles. Stoked.

If I can pull off my stringent saving plan I'll have saved exactly the 7k I budgeted for the pay before we leave. And I'll get paid the first week we're away, which is another $700 odd to add to the spending money. It's all looking very good at this point, and I've got enough to book everything. Now I'm just saving for food & 'in case' money before I get onto the spending savings.

Oh, and one last thing: 60% completion on the passport. Come onnnnnnnn :D

For medicinal purposes only

So I've read (no idea where) that if you take PBS medication, you aren't allowed to take it out of the country without a doctor's certificate (seriously wtf - if the box has my name on it which means its a prescription - why the hell am I getting a certificate to say I'm allowed to take it?!). 

I take a prescribed tablet daily, so I'm going to need to organise a doc visit before I go. What a PITA! Ah well.

One more addition to that...

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/qantas-frequent-flyer-program/the-ultimate-qantas-guide-5364.html

The Ultimate Qantas Guide. Quite a handy tool. I suspect I'll need it in future. :)

Passports, the Post Office and you! A wonderfully horrid marriage...

I'm trying to organise my passport. It's simple, fill out a form, get a guarantor to sign their life away and hand in your precious documents at the Post Office. 

Aside from trying desperately to find a PO that would suit my needs (4th one's a charm), I'm also having the joyous occurance of having to have my photo taken and then have it signed by my guarantor. Great idea! I have to get my photo taken at the PO, and while I'm there I do my Passport app. AWESOME except I have to get the photo signed on the back. Jerks.

So now on the weekend I have to get my photo done, then go back to the PO during my lunch hour during the week (because no one near me does them on weekends).

Aside from these fun and games, I've been looking at air travel stuff. I found a fantastic forum - www.frequentflyer.com.au - and have found out a lot of useful information.

Heres what I'm led to believe is the Qantas listing of seat allocations.

A QF FIRST

B QF ECONOMY

C QF BUSINESS

D QF BUSINESS

E QF SHUTTLE SERVICE

F QF FIRST

H QF ECONOMY

I QF DISCOUNT BUSINESS

J QF BUSINESS

K QF ECONOMY

L QF ECONOMY

M QF ECONOMY

N QF ECONOMY

O QF ECONOMY

P QF FIRST

Q QF ECONOMY

R QF ECONOMY

S QF STANDARD

T QF ECONOMY

U QF Business - Award

V QF ECONOMY

W QF ECONOMY

X QF Economy - Award

Y QF ECONOMY

Z QF First - Award

Helps me understand what they're on about when they talk about which class they're in (because apparently they're almost plane spotting types, and saying "first" or "business" isn't cool enough for them!)

I also found a fantastic little overview of a guy's first Qantas A380 flight. Again, another planophile type. But very helpful in that regard.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/135808/

I checked out the seats via the free service Seat Counter for our flight, and it looks like its pretty empty at the moment <3>

www.seatcounter.com