Walking on Water

...may be the only practical way for me to get back to Australia, apparently.

Last night, I looked at a site called Kayak, which is a travel aggregator. It scans multiple travel sites looking for best prices. I wanted to find out what a single round trip business class flight would be from my local airport to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, which is where we plan to go for a three week vacation when my daughter graduates from high school in five years. I've been there before, and really liked it (in fact, I mildly plumped for the idea of moving there, but it didn't go over so well); my daughter has known for years that the only answer to the question of 'would Dad go back to Australia' is 'In a heartbeat'.

When I went, the flight was wonderful -- my company paid for first class travel in the US, and business class across the Pacific (amazing; I suspect that whomever booked it didn't realize that that's what they were buying). It was kind of a giddy pleasure to show up at my local airport, look at the sullen mob waiting in line behind the 'Coach' sign, and walk up to the 'First Class' check in. The clerk looked over and grumbled that that was First Class; Yes, I know, I replied politely. She sighed and walked over, asking where I was going. Melbourne, I replied. Florida? she asked. Australia, I replied. Her reaction was -- interesting.

I knew that the round trip air fare was nine thousand dollars when the company paid for it, ten years ago, and I was willing (though not exactly eager) to pay that now for each of the three of us. I also knew that it was likely going to be more, though, what was gas and such, and I thought well, how much more?

A round trip economy flight from our airport is about $1,500.

A round trip business class flight from our airport is about $15,000.

I suppose I could wait for continental drift to bring Australia closer....