How to get to Sydney

My brother, sister-in-law and I just got back from a little trip to Australia (woot!). In the words of the Aussies, it was brilliant! In the words of the Irish, it was grand! In my own words, it was awesome! More on all that later. First things first, we took the long way to Sydney.

Map key
Dotted lines: Flights we were booked on, but did not take.
Solid lines: Flights we actually took.
 **Click on the picture to see it bigger**
 

Total trip time: Approximately 48 hours. In other words, way too long.