Farewell Oz... till next time!

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I wanted to get up pretty early today, as I wanted to take a photo of where I had been staying during my time in Sydney. This meant that I had now finished another photo film roll.

Bryan then drove me to a film processing shop that does a ‘one-hour turnaround’. My flight was taking off at 16:30, but due to ‘enforced security checks’, I had to be checked-in by 1:30pm. I began my packing this morning and realised I may have to leave a few bits behind, that I didn’t really need to take home, or stuff which I wouldn’t be allowed to take home, like spray deodorant. My suitcase was packed as tightly as possible, and I was a little worried it would be overweight. I just had to carry more hand luggage than when I had first arrived.

It was late morning; so Bryan went to pick up my last batch of photos for me, while I was getting things packed and ready, one last time. I had to be at the airport and be checked-in three hours prior to when I supposed to, so that meant I had to be there for 1:30pm. We were to set off at about 12:30pm, allowing some time for the lunchtime Sydney traffic. It came to leaving time, so I bid my farewells to Paula and Danni. Danni gave me a leaving present which was a large photo book called ‘Sydney Waterfronts’, which included photos of all the places. She’d even written a nice little note; saying that she hopes it will remind me of my time there. As I had no photo with everyone in, I got Bryan to take a family photo for me, so it would be another nice reminder.

We drove via Eileen and Vic’s where we picked them up for the ride. I took a couple of photos there, one of Eileen and Vic’s flat, and another of the view from their flat, of the Narrabeen Lakes.

We arrive at the airport at around 1pm, so I went and checked-in first of all. This allowed me to get rid of my suitcase, as I didn’t really want to be walking around the terminal with that heavy mass.

Stopped off at duty free where I ordered a bottle of Jack Daniels, which was the maximum alcohol limit we could carry. Didn’t want to bring home cigarettes as my dad’s trying to give them up!

We then went and had some tea, at one of the eating lounges. I got a newspaper to read on the plane, plus I also had my FHM magazine as well. As we were having our tea, Damon pulled out a bag with a few bits and pieces in. He had typed out my holiday itinerary of my stay in Sydney, a postcard with all the beaches we had driven to, and also a Sydney Aquarium screensaver disk. It was a nice touch.

It was now my time to leave. My flight had been called and so I had to go. I picked up my duty free, and then said my goodbyes. I thanked them for everything that they had done for me, and said that without them my time out there would never have been so good. Eileen and Vic were a bit choked up as I know they’d enjoyed having me over. I could see it meant so much to them! I made my way through customs and found the departure lounge no problem. It was now that I realised exactly what I had done over the past three weeks. It was hard to believe I was actually on my way home.

I had to wait for a while as the plane was being attended to still, and they also had three names that still hadn’t checked in. They had still not arrived by the time the plane was ready, so we couldn’t board. As time went on, the queues to get on the plane increased, until we had practically the entire plane’s passengers all in the boarding area. Many were laden down with bags and duty free, and the odd few with wrapped and packaged didgeridoos.

We eventually boarded the flight about an hour later than we should have, due to some late passengers, but it was a strange feeling coming home. I was happy because I had so much to tell everyone, and sad because I was going to miss my family, and the lovely Australian lifestyle.

My seat was a good seat. Once more it was an aisle seat, and it was a nice flight to Bangkok. I stayed awake through most of the journey. I read some of my FHM magazine, and also the newspaper I bought at the airport. My meals for the flight were:

Lunch
- Beef with Bamboo Shoot Curry “Kiew-wan”, Steamed Rice, Carrots
- Rolls, Crackers, Butter, Cheese
- Baked Cherry Cheesecake

Dinner
- Fresh Fruits
- Chinese Noodles and Cured Ham with Presto Sauce
- Mocca Gateau with Raisins

We arrived at Bangkok, but not at our terminal, so we had to board a bus, which would take us to the terminal. As I stepped out of the plane, the climate hit me. It was very humid here, and I made the fatal mistake of wearing my fleece top. I felt like I was going to pass out with the heat. I boarded the bus with the other passenger’s, and by the time we set off, the bus was absolutely packed like sardines. It was a ten-minute journey, where we were taken through many hangars, servicing areas, and past many planes. We eventually made it back to the terminal, where I had to find my connecting flight.

I found my flight number on the board, and made my way to my next boarding area. It was fairly straight-forward, though I must confess it was a little intimidating this time, compared to the flight three weeks earlier. I had to make my way through many checks. All the security there had guns, which was a bit intimidating, and they also checked all through the hand luggage for the slightest things.

I also had to go through two separate x-ray machines, also a scanner when I had finally reached the boarding lounge. I was a little early, so had to wait in the absolutely pack seating area. I hoped they weren’t all waiting for my flight, and thankfully they weren’t. Still, I had about a twenty-minute wait before the flight was announced.

My seat this time was in the main centre aisle of the plane, though still was still on the aisle side. Thankfully, I had no-one sitting next to me, so it meant I could put my stuff on the seat. I was a little worried about my posters getting squashed so that allowed me to put them in a safe place. The flight was long, though I spent most of my time asleep. We were going back in time, so most of the flight was in darkness, which I was ok with, as I would be sleeping most of the journey. The only real times I was awake was when I was eating the meals, taking on extra liquid, and walking around the plane, and peering out of the window to see where we were, though all I could see where bunches of lights, which were obviously towns and cities 35,000ft below.

I don't recall the meals on this flight.

I woke up a couple of hours before touch down, and we were over Europe. It was still dark outside, but I was fully awake now, and I knew I wouldn’t be going to sleep again until I was in England.

As were neared England the plane began it’s descent. We were still above cloud level so couldn’t see much until we got closer to Heathrow.

As the plane dropped below the clouds, we could see the large towns and cities, but I didn’t know which was which. I wasn’t too surprised with the weather that welcomed us either: dull, drab and heavy rain. My holiday was now officially over.

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