For those of you just having spent time in an airport over the weekend, you'll find it difficult to look at this story we found by way of Designboom It's about the launch of designer Marc Newson's first class lounges for Qantas Airlines in Sydney and Melbourne and they are nothing short of stunning. Certainly much better than where you'll usually find this writer when he travels: those rows of seats near the McDonalds in Terminal 4 at O'Hare. Before you head to the gallery, here's some:

The Sydney lounge -- believed to cost around $20m -- also features a vertical garden designed by international botanist Patrick Blanc featuring 8400 individual plants.

In the bathrooms there are individual marble-lined shower suites with stereo volume and lighting controls, radiant heating to reduce condensation on the mirrors and luggage racks.

The deep red, black and brown leather (to me, rather hard) lounge chairs, recliners and sofas are by Italy's Poltrana Frau.

Dining chairs and tables are by Cappellini, Tai Ping wool carpets are from Hong Kong, marble from Carrara and quartzite from Switzerland. As Newson says they're all his contacts and they're "the best contacts in the industry".