good flight choice

This was a semi-serious attempt at getting from Canberra to Melbourne cheaply.

Tiger delayed as usual. Qantas cancelled - I didn't expect that. In fact I was going to buy a seat on that flight. But Virgin Blue ended up cheaper.
I got to the airport using the Airliner bus. I was hoping to get off at Brindabella Business Park and save over half the fare but the driver said that due to some territory issues, they were kicked out of there by the local bus company.There were four people on the bus.

My flight, DJ286, departed on time. The seats were comfortable and they give free earphones which aren't required to be returned.
Breakdown of flight:
Measurements taken from TI ez430 Chronos wristwatch and gives an indication of cabin pressurisation.

• 1937 push off from terminal 620m
• 1944 runway rush 580m
• 2014 begin descent 2680m
• 2040 landing gear down 1680m (screen reports 290m)
• 2044 runway rush 129m
• 2050 terminal 150m (screen reports 127m)
• 2054 outside terminal
• 2100 caught 901 bus

The bus driver was quite nice. He advised me not to follow my journey planner which originally suggested changing at Broadmeadows for a train. So I ended up changing at The Pines for a 286 bus. That meant that I didn't go into zone 1 at all, saving a bit of money. The driver of the 286 bus had a masters in accounting. We caught up to the 901 bus again at Blackburn and exchanged greetings. I got home at around 2310.

A long journey home

I had the goal of returning to Melbourne on Christmas Eve at minimal cost. Finishing the work day at noon, I cycled home and managed to fill up the garbage bin with more branches, made some sandwiches from the remaining ingredients and set out to the airport by public transport. Not wanting to pay for the comparatively expensive Airliner service which arrives at the terminal, I boarded the second-last #10 service.
As an aside, when walking around Canberra streets, I notice a lot of alcohol bottles discarded. The difference here is that they're often not empty. They must be too rich to care.
The #10 winds through some interesting places which don't normally necessitate a visit. The War Memorial - fair enough. The next half hour involved going through ADFA, winding back for Campbell defence offices, Majura business park but not the Brand Depot etc... I got off at Brindabella business park and walked the last kilometre to the terminal. At most there were three passengers and that was near the start of the ride.
Well, that meant I arrived ridiculously early for my flight. That was alright though - I could kill some time by writing up part of my internship report. Well, things turned out differently.

I probably could have gotten home faster using surface transport. Indeed there were two empty seats on the actual flight - perhaps those two found alternative arrangements. It was also nice to catch up with a former Phonetec employee who happened to be seated across the aisle from me. Funnily enough, his other half doesn't approve of Tiger flights and how it affects her waiting at the airport.
Getting out on the other side was a joke. Terminal 4 Melbourne Airport is just a shed. Found my parents waiting at the regular terminal... one that actually looks like a building. And that was 0130 Christmas Day. I was originally planning to take the 901 Smartbus to Blackburn.

Total journey ~ 11 hours.
Transport expenditure $91.21 plus parents' petrol.