“We flying the first class up in the sky, poppin’ champagne & livin’ my life in the fast lane and I won’t change…”
No, really though. I’d been keeping an eye on the flights and points pricing for this trip for mom, Matt and I since I had been in charge of all of the booking… and not THIRTY SIX hours before we were set to take off, did THREE FIRST CLASS TICKETS open up for us, for only 15k points more per person.
I actually called my mom in the middle of the night, frantically asking if she minded me calling United and changing the booking, as the flights for this whirlwind trip were from her MileagePlus account. We went over the differences, it was the SAME FLIGHTS, just first class reward travel. After about twenty minutes of debating, we decided to go for it. Los Angeles to Sydney, First Class? TOTALLY WORTH IT.
I don’t want to get too “graphic” but here are some of the fun highlights, including our stop in the United lounge while awaiting boarding… 
The new United Club at EWR Terminal C is really very nice. They have all new upholstery and the bar has been redone since I was last there. The food menu also has been overhauled and they have a lot more options, including some healthy choices… so I nibbled on some hummus and crudite and had the oh-so-healthy standard well drink favorite… rum and coke.
Once we got to LAX from EWR, we were exhausted… but I also realized that after the redeye ALL we were going to want to do would be get OUT of the airport. Thus, what better to do than go take out tons of cash from the ATM and convert it to Australian dollars? CLEARLY NOTHING! So Matt and I scooted over to take care of that while mom relaxed near the gate to prepare for our next flight. In case you’ve never seen Australian dollars, they’re really stinking pretty.
As I mentioned, this particular flight was a redeye. Which frankly is my preferred way to travel to the APAC region because then I can sleep “at night” even if I need to use some kind of sleep aide, and then I can be relatively refreshed and have an entire day to try and reset my internal clock. Of course, some people hate this! Luckily, since we had the upgraded seats, 
the whole experience wasn’t half bad (we had the fully-reclining flatbeds… eat your heart out!), and as you all know by now… I love to eat. So here are the two photos of food I managed to snap before I consumed everything in front of me before realizing I meant to memorialize it with a photograph…. I DID ALSO HAVE CHAMPAGNE but of course I drank it and gave the cup back before taking a photo… I really need to work on my blogging strategy here….
I also was convinced by the amazing sundae cart (and another article I head read before from another blogger reviewing the United First Class Sundaes, quite honestly), to partake in dessert that I would usually decline… Sometimes curiousity gets the better of me, alright?! I just can’t help it, I’m like a kitten in a box of newspaper sometimes, what can I say? ANYHOW the sundae was a huge mistake because it was delicious and then I proceeded to have one on every other flight that we scored first class for… which unluckily for my caloric intake was relatively often for this trip. Whooooops!
Anyhow all said and done, all of our United flights for the start of the trip went off without a hitch and there’s so much of Australia ready to be explored!!!! Stay tuned for the antics, I’m sure there are going to be TONS!
