Kyle
Business Management, Marketing Major

On Jan. 4, we all met at Sea-Tac airport with our bags in hand and minds open. We all were eagerly awaiting our departure for Australia. All of our hopes were cut short due to a delay of our flight to San Francisco. But after about a two-hour delay, we were on our way; we left Sea-Tac at 5:30 p.m. and arrived in San Francisco around 8 p.m. Upon our arrival in San Francisco, we were quickly diverted to a secret corridor, then driven across the tarmac to United's international wing.

Normally international flights leave early in the morning in order to try to stay in sync with time, but our flight to Australia was leaving at 10 p.m. -- to me this was very strange. Our flight was packed; there was no room at all. If anything, airlines could definitely make economy seating more spacious and comfortable for international flights; the space is so cramped, I'm surprised people do not come out with serious injuries or deformations. To top off being uncomfortable, the flight is one of the longest direct flights available; it is 14 hours long, and we didn't even get to sit by each other.

Well, bad news aside, 14 hours have passed and we arrived in Sydney. I expected Sydney to look a lot different than it did; it was similar to the urban sprawl of L.A. but much prettier -- it was very green everywhere. As the plane turned to line up to land, I was able to peek out the window, and see the silhouettes of the Harbor Bridge, the Opera House and the surrounding city in the light of the morning sun... it was gorgeous! As I saw this, I thought to myself "this is going to be a great trip."

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