Got up at as the alarm rang 4:15, as Kevin's
double alarm service seemed to be running on
Perth time or something. Dark and dreary,
especially as we were leaving. Wondered if
Glen would show on time: no worries, as the
Ozzies say: he showed up 5 min early. B had
some trouble getting all her stuff into 2
carryons, but we left at 5 and made it to the
car park, which closes 12-5, at 5:07.

0621 ADL MEL AN 92 0605 0745 320 11A

Checked in pretty early, and discovered that
it was my bag that had to be checked (weighed
in at 28 lbs, with the wine, about double the
allowance). Bustly efficient-looking agent who
however managed to check in my bag under B's
name. As we were on AN stock for this leg and
UA-issued e-tickets for the rest we couldn't
check the whole way through, not a big deal.

Security is pretty rudimentary at Adelaide
domestic, and we breezed through - my
semi-metallic blazer buttons didn't set off
the machine, possibly a first any time and any
place (although Glen, the other member of our
farewell committee was put through the
wringer several times in a vain effort to find
guns, knives, drugs, or other contraband - I
have no idea why he kept setting off the
beeper: I have this theory that they have a
switch to beep you if you look particularly
disreputable).

The Golden Wing lounge in Adelaide would do a
bigger city proud: spacious and clean, with a
selection of beverages and munchies
appropriate to the time of day: unfortunately,
this means that the bar doesn't open until 3
pm. Peculiar as I had the impression that
South Australia was a hard-drinking sort of
place. (Wonder how I got that notion!) Kevin
and Glen I think were pleased by the quiet
luxury of the place but disappointed that we
couldn't get sozzled at airline expense.

The gates were conveniently placed (the
airport has about a dozen domestic, and I
don't know how many international - a separate
terminal), and when the flight was called, it
was three minutes to the ticket control (and
another minute or two across the tarmac to the
plane itself). Flight quite uneventful; I
snoozed through breakfast (which smelled the
same as the meal on the way out), and we
arrived at Melbourne about 15 min ahead of
schedule. My bag made it to baggage claim
before I did. Then we schlepped to the
international terminal (about a 5 min walk).
Easy checkin from the C line, where the agent
cheekily made fun of either my age or my
vision or both - when I took my glasses off
and put the ticket up to my face, "that's
exactly the way my mum reads!" said she,
making me feel quite elderly indeed -, easy
passport control, difficult access (no
escalators running, wandered hither and yon
and around and down) to the MEL RCC: next time
it'll be the NZ lounge, which is right after
passport control on the left.

Moderate-sized club, friendly staff, decent
all-Aussie beer selection of VB, Carlton Cold
Filtered Bitter (clean, well hopped, fresh),
Hahn Light Lager, and Foster's. Snacks
included very nice fruits (huge Medjool
dates!) and chicken-sun-dried-tomato,
something-with-lettuce, and nice smoked salmon
sandwiches. Also breakfast cereals and various
plastic-wrapped cookies. Hennessey VSOP
Prestige, a fruity-vanillary-brown-sugary
flavored brandy with a pleasant finish. Looked
in vain for FT tags. Later on I noticed what
appeared to be a shower room, but it was a bit
late to enquire. Tapped at the computer (the
only accessible outlet is by the magazine
table) until about 10 minutes after they
called the flight, then moseyed out past the
little food concession and out to gate 6.

MEL LAX UA 848 0940 0650 744 15A

Best seat in the house, by my light. True
that you have to scootch way back to get a
window and must share a bin either with 14 or
16, but there isn't much to see on a
transoceanic, and most people don't use the
bins anyhow. I used my bin and put the 28-lb
behemoth in the crew closet. There were 9
empties upstairs, including 15C (or is that
G?).

Preflight drink service from a cart:

Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve nv - I am always
surprised by this wine, which I prefer in some
ways to the Dom

orange juice - nasty, from a plastic jug

I had a VB, which was in poor condition. I
guess maybe UA has some difficulty with beer
storage.

With the drinks a nice ramekin (Noritake) of
fresh mixed nuts. Seconds were offered.

A FA I hadn't seen before took our meal
orders. Asked how we wanted our filet done,
saying that she was in charge of cooking them,
and would medium rare be all right?

Chilled peppercorn salmon with tricolor
roasted peppers - good poached salmon, red,
green, yellow peppers.

Garden fresh salad served with balsamic
vinaigrette or creamy dill dressing - very
fresh mizuna and a couple other kinds of
greens with the peculiar addition of something
that tasted like sage leaves.

Rolls: the FA said that cheese rolls were all
that they were issued, but when I demurred
they found me a pretzel, which was pretty big
and tasted almost pretzel-like (but one end
was crunchy like a packaged pretzel, and the
other was tough and resilient like a very old
soft pretzel). The butter was Kraft Australian
Butter Choicest Quality, and it was just
awful, tasting like nonfat dry milk more than
anything else.

Before the main course, we had a bout of
turbulence; there goes my medium-rare filet,
said I. Our FA tried to dash back and stow the
drink cart, but another said, just put the
brake on and put it over there (pointing to
next to the crew seat in front of 15CD (GH?)).
We watched with something between amusement
and apprehension as liquid sloshed out of
glasses and the wine bottles swayed and jiggled.
Some good bumps before the cockpit gave the
all clear. Airshow said that with a huge tail
wind our speed hit 711 mph (while I was
looking).

Saffron corn chowder with Chesapeake-style
lump crabmeat - decent fishy broth with very
tough corn kernels and odd-textured potatoes,
quite a bit of okay crabmeat blopped in the
middle. Oversalted.

Peppercorn filet mignon with Portuguese sauce
complemented by sugar snap peas and orzo pasta
- mine ended up being a pretty tasty, well
trimmed 6 oz filet done medium or so, topped
with a mustard butter and then an ugly red
sauce that tasted like Campbell's tomato soup
concentrate. Snap peas quite good. Orzo were
soaked in margarine, and I found the huge
serving quite inedible. B's steak was, shall
we say, aged beyond aged, and when I expressed
my surprise at her disappointment (I've had
decent luck with steaks on planes) she gave me
a forkful that tasted more than a little
putrefied. As a result of this, I got to taste
the corn chowder, above.

Chicken scalloppine enhanced by a lemon caper
sauce offered with roasted tourne potatoes and
green beans - looked around and even though
the manifest said 5 of these were sold, I
didn't see any.

Wynn's Coonawarra Shiraz-Cab-Merlot 97. Decent
wine, very open with berries and oak. Deep
purple, reasonable legs, noticeble tannins. A
little low acid for me.

International cheese sampler with a glass of
Sandeman's Porto

Apple tarte tatin was individual shortbread
shells sealed with chocolate and filled with
apple pie filling type stuff.

Godiva chocolates

Tapped a few notes on the box (Empower ports
again) and slept through the snack service,
which was apparently more mixed nuts followed
by a chicken-ham sandwich. Upon waking B and I
were served with the same, so I can report
that the chicken is okay, the ham excellent,
and the bread gooey and peculiar (Wonderlike).

A couple hours later, at 4:30am Pacific, came
breakfast:

Gruyere cheese and chive omelette offered with
tomato concassee, grilled Kasseler ham and
fresh fruit - fruit was not good at all,
either rotten or hard-crunchy. The omelet was
hopelessly tasteless, and the tomato sauce
(better than that on the steak) was not much
help. Decent piece of smoked pork loin.

Seasonal fresh fruit plate accompanied by
creamy yogurt

Salt and pepper service for both meals was in
the form of the blue and red tubes, sans
volcano.

In general the service was friendly and better
than adequate, but B found our main FA a
little ditzy and bordering on the
unprofessional. I said it reminded me of the
local bar, which was fine with me.

We arrived a bit early and passed customs and
immigration in a jiffy - even though my customs
form admitted that I was a bit over on the
alcohol allowance (that's to say, like 300
percent) the inspector just waved me through
to the green exit. Then it was time for the
RCC so I could try to reach my friend Manny,
and B could try to arrange her flight back.
The RCC was a zoo, as they'd cancelled flights
to DEN and ORD. B decided to leave on the next
IAD flight, as who knew what was going to
happen in the next few hours; I didn't care,
as there were two flights that I knew were
going to be half full going back to BOS. Pity,
as Manny had wanted to see her again. [Turns
out B's instincts were good, as there were
delays into IAD later on.]