Sydney
Significant delays aside, once United flight 863 to Sydney got underway from San Francisco, the festivities continued. The fish (cod?) was very good, and tons got up to congratulate Carl on flying 4,000,000 miles on United and achieving lifetime Global Services status. Several ordinary people flying with us got caught up in the experience as well, although now with a well-past-midnight departure, most of us eventually found it necessary to sleep as the night wore on.
About two hours out from Sydney is when Carl actually hit 4,000,000 miles on United. Pretty much the whole group piled into B galley to celebrate, we drank up all the good champagne, and then cleared out of the galley so Amy and her flight attendants could get to work for breakfast service. Somewhere in there was a bunch of catching up with frequent flier friends old and new alike, especially with some such as Thomas who haven't been flying as much lately. Flight attendants Jane, Sheila, and a few others also all are old hands who know Carl well from his dozens (well over a hundred) of trans-Pacific crossings, so was tons of fun to swap stories as well, given many of them had flown with Carl more than anyone in the group had.
The belated arrival of UA 863 in SYD was festive, with United's senior management turning out to welcome United's newest lifetime Global Services member. United's station manager in Sydney, Susan, runs a great station, with some of the best catering in the system, and it was great to talk more with her and her team at Carl's celebration at Forrester's later that day. Forrester's had the obligatory speeches, signed-by-everyone United 777 model airplane, commemorative airplane-shaped cookies, and more to continue the festivities. Most of Carl's friends turned out-- only a few did the immediate turn back to SFO on UA 870-- but sadly only a few of the crew made it; would have been fun to chat with them more as so many on this flight had flown with Carl before.
Somewhere in there, between arrival and the party at Forrester's, was a bunch of errand running for me. Also managed to go to Burwood Chinatown to try a new-to-me restaurant (My Aunt's Homemade Noodles is pretty good, not as good as the best in 626, but definitely legit) and a new-to-me milk tea place (Wootea), both were quite good. A bit of sightseeing as well, not to mention hiding from the rather ferocious winds that afternoon, as I tried to make it back to the hotel without being blown away. o_0 And before I forget, congratulations on 4MM, Carl!