Sydney
Got up painfully early to do some work before leaving; had the added benefit of catching sunrise over Sydney Opera House in the wee hours before breakfast.
To be fair, it was so early, did not even have time to get breakfast at the Marriott's executive lounge before leaving. Caught the train from Circular Quay to the airport with (the other) Bruce, which was actually a delightful experience-- fast, efficient, affordable, and got to see a litle bit more of the city. With half of the group leaving today, everyone departing today eventually congregrated at the Air New Zealand lounge before leaving. While the lounge hadn't changed much since my previous visit, the buffet isn't bad, and not too much later, Carl and Bruce showed up, along with Susan Lilley, United's South Pacific Regional Manager.
With today's group finally fully assembled, Susan escorted all of us to the gate, made sure we all boarded first, arranged an extra special upgrade for the group (John was estatic-- said even in his previous time as GS, he had never received such good treatment (!)), and just for good measure, made sure Carl had a celebratory cake for the flight.
With five (or was it six? or seven? I think it was five...) of us on the return, United 842 from SYD to LAX, vs. thirteen (13!!) on the way out, the group was a lot less rambunctious. Everyone was in Polaris as well, so there were no dirty looks from anyone crossing the curtain to socialize. The seared barramundi wasn't much better than the seared turbot 36 hours before, but both did the job. I skipped the Whispering Angel Rose 2022 (was not impressed) on the way out and stuck to water and caffeinated drinks this time.
Was mostly a smooth flight on the return, caught enough of a tailwind right off the coast of Australia to peak at 689mph ground speed, and said bye to everyone on arrival at LAX. Managed a quick selfie with (the other) Bruce and John-- somehow lost Carl and (his husband) Bruce between deplaning and immigration-- but was all good, as it was time to stop playing and go back to work. Congrats on your 3,000,000th mile, Carl, and looking forward to your 4MM flight in a few months!