My LFC Experience : Day 2 "Are We There Yet?"

The first sighting of the Tinman in Melbourne

After waking up in the morning full of excitement, knowing that later that day I would be in Melbourne, it soon wore out. Yes I am still excited about seeing Liverpool play tomorrow but the journey to Melbourne was a frustrating journey.

Restless all morning we ended up being at the airport more than an hour early. But this is where the frustration with flying down began. Our travel agent had informed us we could take our bags onboard as we were allowed 2 each. What he failed to mention is that we had to keep our bags under 7 kilos. Not an easy task when you are packing clothes for a cold climate that a person from Bundaberg is just not used to. $80 dollars later and our bags were now being checked in.

We were about 5 minutes late heading out of Bundaberg but things were still on track. We knew we had 50 minutes between connecting flights so no panic had set in with this slight delay. When we noticed the plane was doing a u-turn at the Sunshine coast though, we knew something wasn't right. At this point the pilot indicated that Brisbane Airport was holding the flight up as it was not quite ready. A small delay but we would still have time to get out connecting flight to Melbourne.

When the plane did another u-turn again at the same point at the Sunshine coast we knew things we not going to schedule. At this point we were advised that we would be put onto a later flight to Melbourne as we would not be there in time for the scheduled flight. Seems all the negative things I have been hearing about Brisbane Airport and flight delays are spot on the mark. I was getting close to saying, "Are we there yet?"

We eventually got on the flight to Melbourne which was scattered with quite a few Liverpool supporters who were flying out of Brisbane. Economy is a seat I never want to fly in again as they are seats clearly designed for people who are no taller than 5'4 tall. Surely it is inhumane to make tall people sit in seats with such cramped leg room?  Although I must admit that the airline did get some credit when they did not charge for the beer. Maybe things were starting to look up for the day.

We eventually arrived into Melbourne, a little tired and a lot hungry. First thing though was to get checked into the hotel before finding a nice little restaurant to have an intimate dinner with my wife.  Walking the streets around the hotel looking for a suitable restaurant was a journey that really highlighted how many people are in Melbourne for the big game. There were people everywhere with shirts & scarves proudly displaying their passion towards Liverpool.

We eventually found a nice little restaurant and going by the number of people inside with Liverpool shirts on, it couldn't be too bad. Indeed it was a nice little intimate restaurant. We are now resting up ready for a big day tomorrow. I promise that on the way to the MCG I will not say, "are we there yet?"