Thank you all for your patience as we got this trip started and are finally getting things going on the blog!
On 01 Nov 2025 (my first official day of retirement), we flew from Charleston to Dallas to spend a couple days there before catching our flight from DFW to Sydney on a Qantas A380. We aimed to do carry-on only for this trip – we started that way and will see how it goes. Our thought was even if we have to check a bag here and there (some of the international carriers have stricter limitations on size and weight of carry-on bags), we at least would have less to drag around with us. That and mostly nonstop flights will hopefully minimize any lost or delayed luggage too.
So here I am with my Monos carry-on pro and a Bagsmart 28L backpack (the latter being my personal item and it does fit under the seat as long as it’s not over-stuffed). Chris has a Wandrd 31L and 21L backpacks (which can expand to 36L and 26L.)We also got these ScottE vests – lots of pockets to get a few things out of our bags.
I know some of you asked about this so I will do a separate post about what we packed and how we plan to manage (laundry, etc). I’ll also do a separate post about how we planned this trip (to include the Round The World flight ticket through One World airline alliance).
We spent a couple days exploring Dallas (will eventually do that as a separate post) and originally I had looked at renting a car. Well, Chris realized Dallas actually has a decent train system! So we took the train from the airport to downtown and then back to the airport 2 days later and it was so easy – and only $3 per person each way! Can’t beat that.
Chris may have taken the cargo vest pockets a little too far! Those pockets are quite full! One other nice thing about the vest is that it’s so easy at security – no need to take anything out of your pockets. You can just take the whole vest off and put it in the bin for TSA. I ended up getting the fleece version – worked a little better for me for warmth (will need that once we get back to the Northern Hemisphere) and was easier for me to layer with a coat over it.
We hung out in the American Airlines Flagship Lounge at DFW – they greet you at the door with a glass of champagne! And there are showers! So we took advantage of the showers before getting on our long overnight flight. The shower key holder is reminiscent of the “remove before flight” tags. Mostly I just think it’s fun to take a shower in a lounge so I took one even if I didn’t need it!
Our flight out of DFW was slightly delayed due to a Finnair flight with mechanical problems at the same gate – the A380 has limited gates at DFW that can accommodate it so we just had to wait. But despite leaving a couple hours late – we made it out!
I wasn’t able to get a picture of the A380 we were on due to the gate confirmation at DFW. I was a bit disappointed about that but then when we left Sydney to head to New Zealand there were so many! So if this picture doesn’t look like DFW in the background, that’s because it’s not! It’s a pretty incredible plane.
And if you have a chance to be on the A380 upper deck, you can’t pass it up! I learned the DFW-SYD route alternates between the Boeing 787 and the A380. We had an opportunity to move up our flight by a few days – this gave us a couple extra days in Australia but also got us on the A380!
We were in Business class – which is on the top deck for the Qantas A380 configuration (we’ve flown on the top deck of an A380 one other time – British Airways from London back to the US has some economy seats on the top deck). It’s just cool! When we flew British Airways they actually had 2 jet bridges so we boarded straight to the top deck. I don’t think DFW had the support for that so we boarded onto the lower level and came up the stairs to get on the top deck – which was honestly just as cool.
We got settled into our seats and I realized we each had our own overhead bin! This cabin was set up in a 1-2-1 configuration (so 2 aisles – 1 window seat on each side then 2 seats in the middle section, each with direct aisle access). Since it was a long (17hr) flight, we picked 2 in the middle so we could sit together on the flight. Also they give you pajamas on this flight! While we were waiting for the plane to be fueled (which takes a while on this plane!), everyone took turns going to change into our comfy PJs for the flight. It was kinda funny to see everyone wearing the same thing (kinda like a uniform … wait I thought I didn’t have to wear those anymore?!).
Not only were these lay-flat seats (which is awesome even for shorter flights but even better for such a long flight) but they also had a massage function! Just wow!
One last amazing thing about this plane …. there was a lounge up front! We could go sit up front on these couches (which had seatbelts by the way!) and hang out. The flight attendants would even bring you coffee or whatever else you wanted while up there. Our flight attendant crew were so amazing throughout the entire flight! The lead flight attendant also gave Chris some tips on food and drinks to try once we got into Australia.
We landed in Sydney around 8 AM (this is the first time I’ve taken a flight that had a +2 next to it – meaning we left 03 Nov in the evening and arrived 05 Nov in the morning, effectively completely missing 04 Nov). Immigration and customs were super quick – we were through in no more than 15 minutes! We took a train from the airport into town to drop our bags at our hotel and go exploring. But we got very lucky and our room was ready when we got there at 9:30 AM! So we took showers and headed out to check out Sydney Harbour, which was about a 15 min walk from our hotel.
We saw the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and then went and walked across the bridge for some great views.
After that we decided to take the ferry out to Manly Beach – this is an easy harbor cruise that is really for transportation but also is a great way to see the harbour.
It’s a 16 hour time difference from the East Coast, so even with being able to sleep on the plane, we were still pretty exhausted. We usually try to power through to a “normal” bedtime when we travel so we can reset our body clocks. I made it to about 8:30 PM then slept so great for 10 hours! We got up the next morning to head to the Hunter Valley for a couple nights of wine tasting …. stay tuned for more about that!
