Day 1: The Journey

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Perth airport at 4am, I really cannot think of anything much worse. Oh wait, I am about to get on a plane for 11 hours, hop off that plane, get on a bigger plane for another 8 hours and be unfortunately seated in cattle class (economy). The goodbyes were surprisingly easy, well until Mum teared up of course. I got out of there pretty fast after that. Window seat on the plane, always great. Fortunately I am not one of those weird people that has to get up and go to the bathroom on the plane every 30 minutes.

First flight; Perth to Dubai. I settle in and discover that there is going to be a spare seat next to me the entire flight, with only a man in his forties sitting in the seat after the empty one. Excellent. This flight will be a breeze I think to myself ... Well it was, but it was also entertaining. Our first meal arrives shortly after take off; breakfast (some sort of cheesy frittata thing). It wasn't bad, not really great either though. The excitement begins when the man in his forties two seats over ... Let's just call him 'Marty' for the sake of this being easier to type. Yes, so the excitement begins when Marty orders a white wine with his breakfast. I giggle to myself... Alcoholics these days. At that point I was joking thinking maybe he was having a wine to help him sleep or something. Just as I am finishing up my breakfast Marty orders another white wine. Astonished I decide its probably time for me to get to sleep as I didn't get much the night before the trip. I pop half a sleeping tablet my Mum had given me the day before and fairly soon after finding a comfortable position taking up two seats I begin to sleep. Not much longer after that I wake to the sound of Marty ordering another wine, red this time. I roll my eyes, this is really going to be an interesting flight. Another couple hours of sleep and its the next meal time (it was chicken something, I can't remember what though). At this point is when Marty starts on the hard liquor, first ordering a scotch and dry and from then on to Drambuie. I can't remember exactly but I am pretty sure I saw him order at least 4 of those tiny little bottles during the flight. My sleeping pill had done me well, I managed to sleep on and off for roughly 8 hours of my flight. With only an hour or so to go of the flight I tossed and turned and stared at the countdown til arrival timer. I then resorted to listening to the Frozen soundtrack because what better way to perk up your mood in all honesty! Finally we were over Dubai and coming in to land. It really is true the things they say about Dubai, the desert leads to the city from empty nothingness to skyscrapers taller than you have ever seen. With roads built that lead to nothing but desert and houses in the desert that have no roads that lead to them. I was in awe. Dubai would definitely be a place I would like to visit for more than an hour and a half one day. Stepping of the plane I am engulfed in 40 degree heat and a sudden sweat as I am dressed for the cold of London. Dubai airport is a gigantic maze, luckily Marty the alcoholic had been before and knew in which direction to point me. I find my way through the maze to the gate and to a large room full of seats and smelly, sweaty people. I then get onto the biggest plane ever, a double decker beast of a thing and have to leave the blazing heat and spectacular city of Dubai.

Second flight; Dubai to London Heathrow. Mum had told me the night before to sleep the first flight and try and stay awake for the second one to prevent jet lag and get me more suited to how the English time zone will be. Mum is always right of course, I haven't experienced any jet lag at all and am doing well adjusting from Perth time to London time. This flight is not nearly as exciting as my first. I am seated next to a friendly Indian man and next to him is a young, pretty English girl probably roughly around my age. It probably would have been better if she was seated next to me cause then I would have been able to chat to someone and help me stay awake. My second option is instead to read my new book; Divergent. The movie just came out at the cinemas and I bought the trilogy of books. Its a great book, I highly recommend it. I actually read the entire book in my flight, finishing the last page as we came down for a very bumpy landing in London which made everyone on the plane jump. I hoped those upstairs in business class spilt champagne on themselves .... Finally in London! After nearly 20 hours of travel I was dying to get away from these people and get out of the airport.

So of course naturally I am stuck waiting at the baggage carousel for 20 minutes waiting for my bag to arrive with hundreds of crazy theories about my bag being lost somewhere in transit. Finally it arrives and I get the hell out of there. My Uncle is waiting for me just after the duty free area and we race through the busy Heathrow Airport to find his car. After an hour and a half in London traffic going from the airport to East London I have lost all feeling in my butt. It is definitely a massive relief when we arrive at the cutest little house in London. I manage to stay up talking to my Aunt and Uncle til about 10pm and then decide that is late enough for me to go to sleep (I was still currently trying to get my sleeping patterns right).

It had been a very long day and I fell asleep to dreams of Marty Irish dancing down the aisle of the plane.

I had made it.

I'm in London.

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Comments

[Lana twoese]

Awesome blog Charlie
What acool blog and an exciting way to start your OE!