# Other Places Around The World > Asia, South Pacific & Australia >  >  Bon Voyage JEK & Mrs. JEK

## andynap

To Australia and NZ. Have a grand trip

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## KevinS

Safe travels!

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## BBT

Enjoy, and safe travels. I loved Austrailia last year. Only wish I had taken more time to go to NZ.

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## MIke R

safe travels....

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## amyb

Happy Journey. I am so looking forward to your reports.

Oh--Do give Hugh Jackman a big hug for me, should your paths cross!

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## JEK

Thanks all!

A loooong travel day as we are going through Auckland to Sydney in order to take advantage of the Air New Zealand AmEx 2 for 1 tickets.

Depart IAD at 3:40 today and arrive SYD at 10:30 on the 29th

5:50 hrs IAD-LAX


wait 3:30 hrs


13:00 hrs LAX-AKL


1:45 hrs wait


3:30 hrs AKL-SYD


22:20 hrs fly time


5:15 hrs wait


27:35 hrs travel time

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## Toni

Wow! 

Godspeed...

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## Rosita

safe trip ...and a lot photos of us :)

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## NHDiane

All the best for a great trip and safe arrival!  Looking forward to seeing some pics too.

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## Reed

Hey John,

I am sure you already have a touring plan but let me know if you need suggestions.  I have spent a lot of time in NZ and Australia.  Check out the huge Seafood Market in Sydney.  You can buy wine and assorted cooked seafood and sit by the water and enjoy lunch.  They have some crazy stuff there.  Enjoy.  Let me know if you are going to be near Queenstown NZ.  Have some really cool friends that own a small inn called Pencarrow.  They know how to do things right. kr

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## tim

Godspeed mes amis!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TRIP!

P.S.  CAPS AND COLORS, WE'RE GETTING THERE. :Triumphant:

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## Jeanette

Have a spectacular adventure. I can't wait for the photos!

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## rivertrash

John, hope you guys have an absolutely great time.  Looking forward to your trip report and pics.  Safe travel.

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## Petri

That extra luggage will be just me, don't worry.

Have a great trip!  Sydney NYE is on the to-do list, you've booked a prime spot for it!

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## julianne

And the great adventure is underway. Have a fabulous trip! Look forward to sharing your experiences.

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## JEK

Hello from Auckland! Another hop to Sydney!

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## JEK

> That extra luggage will be just me, don't worry.
> 
> Have a great trip!  Sydney NYE is on the to-do list, you've booked a prime spot for it!



ANZ has a hard 7kg limit on cabin baggage even on the 777-300ER. Nice ride by the way!

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## andynap

Gidday to you

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## JEK

Not there yet. They don't talk like that here in Middle Earth.

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## NHDiane

Is it G'Day yet? or G'night?

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## JEK

> Is it G'Day yet? or G'night?



1030 AM on Saturday the 29th. Sydney!

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## JEK

G'Day!
IMG_4597.jpg

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## Petri

Remember the proper pronounciation for 'tomato'.

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## amyb

Yea-you arrived and Sydney looks so welcoming.  Catch your breath and let the touring begin!

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## NHDiane

Beautiful! Is this your first trip downunder??  Enjoy

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## JEK

First time! Today we tour the Opera House and Bontanical Gardens. 
Last night's view from our Park Hyatt room.
image.jpg

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## BBT

Opera House was a great Tour as was the restuarants lining the water. Nice to see the Hyatt was reopened it just finished a major redo and was closed when I was there. I did like that part of town and also did the bridge walk. that was alot of fun.

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## JEK

I may miss the walk as the bridge is closed in preparation for the fireworks installation. The new Park Hyatt is fabulous! NYE on the roof with the big camera!

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## cec1

You must be almost there!  I hope the travel included some sleep!  (Ooops!  Missed post-arrival messages -- great shots you've sent.  Have fun!)

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## NHDiane

Spectacular view!  Should be a winner for NYE!

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## BBT

Well if you get the chance do it.

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## katva

Wow---what a view!!! How perfect for New Years fireworks

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## Petri

The bridge walk is great fun, the daytime one is better than the night version (we've done both).

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## LMAC

I know exactly where you are - we, too, stayed at the Park Hyatt .... had a similar view.

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## JEK

Special encounter yesterday!6a00e5539cae508833017c3520d765970b-800wi.jpg

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## JEK

> I know exactly where you are - we, too, stayed at the Park Hyatt .... had a similar view.



When were you guys here? After the renovation?

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## amyb

Susie...I always wanted to make friends with a koala. Well  done!

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## Grey

That picture is just great.

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## BBT

> Special encounter yesterday!6a00e5539cae508833017c3520d765970b-800wi.jpg



Did  that in Brisbane , did not know it was offered in Sydney.  The Segway tour at Olympic park is also fun.

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## LMAC

Watch out for the emus ....... they will search in your pockets for handouts!!!

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## BBT

Happy NY JEK.. that 7Kg limit makes boarding a breeze

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## NHDiane

What a wonderful picture!

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## JEK

> What a wonderful picture!



My best of the trip. Right place at the right time.

JK8_5930.jpg

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## Petri

Superb!

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## NHDiane

WOW...very nice!

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## julianne

Worthy of a photo prize. Right time---right place---right good photograher's eye!

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## tim

Amazing shot!

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## cec1

Beautiful, John!

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## GramChop

Very nice!!  Where are you and what are those people doing?  Give a little background on the shot, svp.

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## JEK

St. Kildas pier near Melbourne.  End of a warm summer day at the beach with people doing what they do.

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## GramChop

A perfect mix of light and shadow, Pops.  Well done!

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## JEK

DSC00362.jpgJK8_6519.jpg


Screen Shot 2013-01-08 at 10.02.01 AM.jpg

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## andynap

Yeah but there's no humidity= :)

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## KevinS

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate...  And make sure there's a nice refreshing bottle of VC waiting at the lodge...

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## JEK

Sparkling Shriaz is my Oz drink of choice! In Alice Springs waiting for the ride to Ayers Rock. Had some of those eggs Kevin was talking about. The bounty of this country is just amazing.

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## JEK

Just counted up -- on our 8th of 17 flights for the trip!

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## Petri

> Just counted up -- on our 8th of 17 flights for the trip!



Wow, that's plenty of flying!  We are at 11/15 now.

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## tim

> Just counted up -- on our 8th of 17 flights for the trip!



Happy and safe flying!!

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## NHDiane

Just seeing these latest pics John...both adorable but I particularly love that snoozing guy to the right :)

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## JEK

Sunrise today -- worth the 0400 wakeup call!
JK8_6719.jpg

Self portrait too:)

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## andynap

Watch out for dingoes :)

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## Petri

For some odd reason we did Uluru just "overnight".  Arrived midday, checked in to the hotel, went for a hike around the stone, sunset dinner (first sunset, then kangaroo/crocodile/... dinner in the darkness), and early wakeup for the sunrise stone before heading back to the airport.

Crazy.

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## JEK

sunset last evening
JK8_6755.jpg
JK8_6777.jpg

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## tim

You and Susie look like you're having a wonderful time.  I'm happy for you!

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## amyb

Great vies and delightful critters abound. Looks like another great trip for iJEK and iSusie!

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## JEK

Find of the day - black-footed wallaby and her joey. She was hopping along a trail with an obviously full pouch. When she reached some shade, her joey popped out to see what was up!

JK8_6845.jpg


JK8_6858.jpg

JK8_6864.jpg

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## JEK

They don't call it Lizard Island for nothing!
Gould's goannas monitor lizard 

JK8_6933.jpg

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## tim

How big is that rascal?

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## JEK

1.5 meters

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## KevinS

So about the same size as Iggy Pop at the Isle de France, or perhaps a bit longer?

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## amyb

I think a more impressive tail

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## GramChop

TWHS...! :)

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## JEK

Another boring day in Australia . . .

JK8_7060.jpg

JK8_7106.jpg

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## tim

How tall was the sand dune?

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## JEK

40 feet I'd guess. No perspective as you are going down due to the brightness.

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## cec1

Beautiful, John!  Amazing color.

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## julianne

Great photos! Thanks for sharing your trip.

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## amyb

You guys sure picked out a swell picnic zone

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## tim

Was that red chariot parked in the background your ride?

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## JEK

Yes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua1VMUQx5aQ

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## GramChop

This takes living large to a new level!  Looking good Pops and Mrs. Pops!

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## amyb

They sure do get around and try marvelous side options.

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## tim

Way cool, looks like the only way to appreciate that majestic scenery.

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## Rosemary

Wonderful! Amazing! Thank you for sharing!  What beautiful clear light, and happy pictures.  Lovely.

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## Peter NJ

The Chopper/Dune pic might be the coolest photo ever on this sight.

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## JEK

Last stop,may be the most scenic - Queenstown, New Zealand. Snow showers on arrival and then sun. Finally a need for that fleece I carried all over hot Australia!

DSC00478.jpg

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## amyb

Looks good to me. Enjoy NZ

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## Petri

Snow showers in January?!   It's supposed to be summer there!

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## tim

John, SWEET PHOTO!

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## JEK

Milford Sound, New Zealand
JK8_7491.jpg

JK8_7540.jpg

JK8_7364.jpg

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## JEK

Return day after tomorrow, Sunday the 20th with a few more FF miles that when we began!


Flights



Segment
From
To
Distance
Translation

1
IAD
LAX
2294
Dulles to LA

2
LAX
AKL
6524
LA to Auckland

3
AKL
SYD
1343
Auckland to Sydney

4
SYD
MEL
435
Sydney to Melbourne

5
MEL
ADL
412
Melbourne to Adelaide

6
ADL
KGC
70
Adelaide to Kangaroo Island

7
KGC
ADL
70
Kangaroo Island to Adelaide

8
ADL
ASP
826
Adelaide to Alice Spring

9
ASP
AYQ
209
Alice Springs to Ayer's Rock

10
AYQ
CNS
1110
Ayer's Rock to Cairns

11
CNS
LZR
154
Cairns to Lizard Island

12
LZR
CNS
154
Lizard Island to Cairns

13
CNS
BNE
870
Cairns to Brisbane

14
BNE
AKL
1573
Brisbane to Auckland

15
AKL
ROT
200
Auckland to Rotorua

16
ROT
CHC
416
Rotorua to Christchurch

17
CHC
ZQN
216
Christchurch to Queenstown

18
ZQN
AKL
647
Queenstown to Auckland

19
AKL
LAX
6524
Auckland to LA

20
LAX
IAD
2294
LA to Dulles




26341
Total miles










43864
Total kilometer




Not counting 4 fixed wing legs and a helicopter tour!

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## amyb

You are so right to take this kind of trip when you are operating with fully charged batteries.

Well done.

Keep having fun,
Amy

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## Peter NJ

Then around Feb 7th they should hop on a flight to SBH and cover Carnival!:) ... Shift+R improves the quality of this image. CTRL+F5 reloads the whole page.

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## JEK

Amy - still feeling like the charge is about 95% after all those legs:) Peter, Susie had a dream about coming home, escaping the cold and going to SBH for a week:)

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## tim

WOW!  Milford Sound is spectacular.

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## amyb

Susie, you have chosen a great dream and destination to recharge those batteries of yours. Come on down!!  You can plan your next whirlwind tour.

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## LindaP

Those photos are so majestic, very cool.  Yes, come on down to Carnaval; your feathers must fly !

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## BBT

Great trip. We met a couple at dinner from Melbourne who come to Aspen 3 times each ski season and thing nothing of the trip. It's all relative. I was in meetings all week with from all over the world the ones from Australia are so used to flying long distances that they think nothing of it.

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## Petri

Any pictures of you fat tyre heli biking?   hang gliding?    bungy jumping?   canyon swinging?   :-)


Enjoy the return flights.   AirNZ?

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## tim

The only thing missing was the cape.  Well done, mon ami :thumb up: 

cape.jpg

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## JEK

Arrived LAX after a 13 hour flight from AKL. Now one more leg of LAX-IAD and we are home! Lovely to come back to the TSA shoes-off, belt-off world. Was even told to remove my hankerchief from my pocket before the atomizer scan. On the good front, Global Entry was seamless and fast. Love that.

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## Petri

What's the state with the shoes off?   Random or everyone does it?   I haven't seen it happen anywhere else in the world (though I haven't flown through London in a while).

Loved travelling in Asia, most of the stupidity was lacking and everything was smooth without any priority/elite perks.

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## JEK

Everyone and only in the US. UK went back to shoes on a couple of years ago. None of our regional flights had any security in AU and NZ.

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## BBT

With TSA Pre I feel like I am overseas. Although in LGA they did ask me to take off my winter coat on Friday but it is nice to not have to take off suit coat and shoes or remove anything from my bags.

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## JEK

Lots of expansion -- even since we left.
*Q. Where is TSA Pre✓ available?*
A. Certain frequent travelers from Alaska, American, Delta, United, US Airways and U.S. citizens who are members of CBP's Trusted Traveler programs, including Global Entry, SENTRI, and NEXUS Canadian citizens who are members of NEXUS, are eligible to participate in this program, which could qualify them for expedited screening at select checkpoints with the following airlines:
*Alaska Airlines*  Chicago OHare International, Dallas/Fort Worth International, Denver International, George Bush Intercontinental, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Honolulu International, John Wayne, Logan International, Los Angeles International, Miami International, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Orlando International, Portland International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, Seattle-Tacoma International and Ted Stevens Anchorage International airports
*American Airlines*  Charlotte Douglas International, Chicago OHare International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Dallas/Fort Worth International, Denver International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Honolulu International, Indianapolis International, John F. Kennedy International, John Wayne, LaGuardia, Lambert-St. Louis International, Las Vegas McCarran International, Logan International, Los Angeles International, Miami International, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Orlando International, Pittsburgh International, Portland International, San Francisco International, Seattle-Tacoma International, Ted Stevens Anchorage International and Washington Dulles International airports
*Delta Air Lines*  Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, Charlotte Douglas International, Chicago OHare International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Dallas/Fort Worth International, Denver International, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Honolulu International, Indianapolis International, John Wayne, LaGuardia Airport, Las Vegas McCarran, Logan International, Los Angeles International, Luis Muñoz Marin International, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Orlando International, Pittsburgh International, Portland International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, Salt Lake City International, Seattle-Tacoma International, Tampa International, Ted Stevens Anchorage International and Washington Dulles International airports
*United Airlines*  Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, Charlotte Douglas International, Chicago OHare International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Denver International, George Bush Intercontinental, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Honolulu International, Indianapolis International, John Wayne, Los Angeles International, Luis Muñoz Marin International, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Newark Liberty International, Orlando International, Philadelphia International, Pittsburgh International, Portland International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, San Francisco International, Seattle-Tacoma International, Ted Stevens Anchorage International and Washington Dulles International airports
*US Airways*  Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, Charlotte Douglas International, Chicago OHare International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Denver International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Honolulu International, Indianapolis International, John Wayne, Lambert-St. Louis International, Luis Muñoz Marin International, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Orlando International, Philadelphia International, Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Pittsburgh International, Portland International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, Salt Lake International, Seattle-Tacoma International, Ted Stevens Anchorage International and Washington Dulles International airports
Building on its initial success, TSA plans to continue expanding TSA Pre✓ to include additional airlines, as well as airports that participate in CBPs Global Entry program, once operationally ready.

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## Petri

> Everyone and only in the US. UK went back to shoes on a couple of years ago. None of our regional flights had any security in AU and NZ.



NZ has no passenger screening for planes less than 90 seats -- and pretty much all the domestic flights are on such a planes.  Well planned :)

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## JEK

Sorted down 3100 images, which take 72 GBs on my hard drive, to a slideshow of a few that tell the story.  Slideshow

Doing much laundry!

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## Peter NJ

Did you book your Tradewind flight yet? Don't stop now Son!

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## JEK

> Did you book your Tradewind flight yet? Don't stop now Son!



I'm thinking about crashing Andy's Andy's party and I love being called son  :cool:

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## tim

We're going for our Global Entry interviews on Thursday.  Wish us luck.

FWIW, there was a 30 minute wait in the Immigration line at CLT last night and nobody using Global Entry's kiosks.

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## amyb

Tim, Global entry is a bright spot in air travel.  Good thing to do and to have.

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## Petri

> FWIW, there was a 30 minute wait in the Immigration line at CLT last night and nobody using Global Entry's kiosks.



Is 30 minutes a short or long wait?

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