Joyride; the MEL-WSI weekend away.

[Cycha]

Good morning everyone! I come to you live from a shared hotel room and sinking mattress. I shall not identify the hotel out of fear that we may only be one out of a handful of guests; it would be far too easy to identify us.

Travelling by air is always a bit of a momentous occasion, if only for the fact that every flight we take must be bracketed by a four-hour drive and a night or two put up in a hotel. Even if we did have the Tullamarine rail link () it would still be quite the journey, which can add considerable expense.

Knowing this, I typically would have to justify a day-trip joyride to the first MEL-WSI flight on JQ372–but given the nature of this forum, I don’t have to. Woohoo!



Last night we celebrated our arrival by wrangling family into joining us at David’s Hotpot in Melbourne. Hotpot isn’t local to us at all, so it’s always a delight to have. Moreso watching someone realise they can go to town on the meats, mushrooms, and veg, only to crack down on a Sichuan peppercorn—what a delight! Something new to me were the desserts included, which had two options of self-serve jelly dessert (a base of ice jelly, which you could then add chopped fruits, nuts, and popping pearls at your leisure) and a more western self-serve ice cream machine, with an option for vanilla, matcha, or mixed. I tried as much as I could, and found the jelly dessert surprisingly refreshing and enjoyable. The ice-cream, particularly the vanilla, was higher quality than you’d typically find from a machine, and both flavours were not overly sweet.






Now I’ve woken at 3:30am and have spent the last half-hour or so writing this trip report. In another hour we’ll be making our way down to the Skybus, so stay tuned

 

[Cycha]

Currently refuelling in seat 9A! The flight is absolutely packed tip to tail—it’s hard to guess what percentage of the passengers here are going for the airport alone, but I have spotted a handful of business travellers and some families among us so it’s nice to see the route properly in use already. No fanfare, which is sort of sad, but I wasn’t expecting anything!



We got started in the airport with a sandwich and some tea; no pictures, as we were too busy hunting down a seat with a view. Two John’s has been under construction for months and blocks off an enormous amount of terminal window space, so I can only catch the initial takeoff roll before aircraft disappear behind the gates.



I caught a handful of people taking photographs of the gate as we arrived, so I followed the herd and took my own! Tarmac was chilly as per Melbourne standard, but compared to yesterday’s gloom the view is practically picturesque. I got settled down easily and even managed to catch my seatmates ahead of me so we didn’t have to seat-shuffle. Now waiting for the last stragglers as refuelling completes.