SelectSys

I certainly have no problem with others discussing other topics that gets triggered by my posts. In this thread, it's certainly an easy leap from discussing travel with another couple to discussing travel with an individual or larger groups.

You mean via Dubai and not Doha, right? Doha is the connection point for Qatar Airways flights and not Emirates.

My first "cruise ship" experience growing up as a kid in the Seattle area was on the Princess Marguerite II plying the waters daily between Seattle and Victoria. It was definitely a fixture on the Seattle waterfront for many, many years. https://mynorthwest.com/386854/memories-sailed-away-marguerite/

I think so as well. You'll have a non-stop flight to your "home" airport. What could be better than that? Also, having a connection only ups your probability of an having an issue on your journey which would delay your arrival. Finally, your overall overall travel time home is likely to be at least 4 hours shorter and the flight to DFW from SYD isn't all that much longer (as a percentage of flying time) than the flight to either LAX or SFO.

That works too.

Yes, that was my idea as the thread initiator.

I believe their is also a nice restaurant in the park with views back towards the city. I went there once on a spring evening to a business dinner and remember thinking it was a very beautiful spot.

In this context, I meant those people who had an ownership interest in the company and made almost all the money as opposed to the staff who flew economy on red eyes.

DFW would be my vote as you then as you get to bypass all the baggage claim/recheck and TSA issues that you would have at either SFO or LA - assuming DFW is your final destination.

If you can at all manage the extra time, I would suggest flying in as early as you can to Sydney. Sydney, at least to me, is really a great city to visit and warrants more than a day to visit the primary sites. BTW - To me, the Blue Mountains would not be at the top of my list if I only had one extra day in the city. The good news is that this site has lots of people from Sydney and Australia generally to give you ideas of what to see and do. The one edge I would give to UA and/or DL over QF would be the availability of extended legroom seats for purchase in economy. I think the seat pitch in QF economy is still 32", but if you are tall this is still no fun as compared to getting something more like 34" of seat pitch.

This reminds me of when I was a "journeyman" management consultant years ago. We had a saying back then that only partners and gentlemen flew during the day...

Virgin is a good bet, but I would still recommend flying into London at least a day or two ahead in case of issues with your flights even though the probability of outright cancellation is very low.

Thanks for sharing this trip report link. Your report was very moving and quite interesting to read. I was struck by your statement regarding the "transformative power of travel." While I guess I have known this intuitively, I have never expressed it as such and your family has taken this concept to a whole new level in terms of serving others.

Congratulations. These tickets are really an amazing deal if one has the flexibility to be gone. You might also consider using points for this flight one way at a reasonable price. I just saw some really good business class seat deals on AA for 57k miles in August without a big cash outlay. I would grab one of these quick - assuming I had the miles...

Thanks, this is the kind of commentary I wanted to hear. KL really hasn't been at the top of my list, but it became a necessary stop as part of a longer journey. Yes, I have seen many good things regarding Bali. I think we will focus most of our attention their and make a simple overnight stop in KL before moving on to our next destination.