Grand Australian-New Zealand tour starting April 7, 2014

My fellow high school classmate (we celebrate our 60th reunion this year so we are no spring chickens) are making the trip for the April 7th 2014 tour. We will be flying out of LAX late evening on the 4th on Qantas (we planned an extra 36 hours in Melbourne to acclimate prior to the tour) but, due to worries about lost luggage etc, the only direct flight to LAX from our area in Southern Oregon arrives at 8am . We have rented a dayroom at the Travelodge@LAX to relax prior to our late evening departure. Very reasonable, within minutes of the airport with shuttle service to and from. Also a chance to take a nap after what is sure to be some sleepless nights prior to leaving, packing etc. We will be on the trip just prior to yours. We let Tauck handle all the air flight reservations except our connecting flights to and from LAX. This exception was not our choice, rather the reservations (though through a partner airline) could not be made because of booking laws of excess time between arrival-departures. Our layover at LAX will be 13 hours. We hope to be able to check our bags straight through to home on the return trip so they can just be handed back after customs and we won't have to lug them through the airport to our Horizon gate for the flight home.

Hope your trip is exciting, fun and pleasurable. We are certainly looking forward to ours. We have traveled previously with Tauck and look forward to the excellent care and planning for our dream vacation. If anyone else out there is leaving on the April 7th, 2014 tour I would love to hear from you.