Welcome Buddy!

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Finally over the semi jet lag and back from quite a great trip i've found the time to write my first blog post.
This first blog post will consist of a couple of days and i'll try my best to make it as clear as I can, but to be completely honest i'm even unsure myself ; )

Also I'd like to note that I have no idea how often i'll be able to post on here but i'll do my best to do it as much as possible.
(Mainly for myself so I can read it when I get back home : ))

I'm going to start with myself still back in the Netherlands.
Most of the weeks before hand I could sleep fine, not feeling to nervous I'm pretty sure the idea of me being on the other side of the world had not really been realised yet.

Once the night before I was off came I slept terrible, just kept thinking about everything I was about to do.
I'm guessing I started realising what was about to come.

After lots of turning and rolling around the night finally came to an end.
I got up about 10:00 and left myself plenty of time to go over my last things, do I have my travel documents/Money/Passport? Everything was okay and I was ready to go.

Grabbed my bus to the City of Groningen (Netherlands) and grabbed a bus from there to Schiphol Airport located in Amsterdam. Once I arrived at the airport (2,5 hours by train) I quickly got through passport and bag checks and was in the lounge. After not eating in a while and unsure whether I'll eat anytime soon I grabbed a bite to eat at the McDonalds in the lounge and waited until my flight.

My first flight was with KLM and it would take me to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Where do I even start about this flight? ?
The flight was 11 Hours and 45 Minutes.
I got a meal twice and they came by like 5 times with drinks which was amazing not at one point was I thirst or hungry during the flight.

Normally i'm quite good at sleeping on public transport but this time... My seat was in between 2 people so I had hardly any room and the seat would not go quite far enough to simulate a bed ?.
There was quite a friendly male to my left who let me out of my chair to walk around and use the bathroom twice but the elderly women on my right... pfff hah.
I went to sit next to her and her first look was just of disgust.
We had these little TV's we could use for entertainment. She had hers on the entire flight, and I mean its okay if you want to watch films the entire flight or whatever but this women she put it on the travel info thing where you can see how fast you're going and how many kilometres there are to go and made sure it was on full brightness. You'd think yea no problem the women is interested in this information... Nope she had one of those sleeping masks on and ear plugs in and was dead to the world..

After watching "Moana" and the whole of season 7 of "The Big Bang theory" I tried to get some sleep.
Obviously that was never going to work with all those background sounds so I put in my ear buds and listened to some calming music through the entertainment system.
Just resting my eyes, no sleep and about 12 hours further we finally landed in Kuala Lumpur.

Wearing long black jeans a thick shirt and a hoodie was probably not my greatest idea thinking i was coming to the warmer side of the world. It was 27 Degrees in Kuala Lumpur so that was a nice surprise.
Quickly took off my hoodie and strolled around the airport waiting for my connecting flight.
I had to wait 6 hours before my next flight. I had read online that the airport has some kind of jungle walk so I quickly set out to find that, It was there but guess what... It was out of order. Disappointed and sweating like a pig I decided to find myself some perfume shop.

I didn't have any Malaysian money on me yet was still smelly, it's a good thing these shops have testers huh? ; )
By the way - Calvin Klein One Gold Smells amazing.
After I was smelling less bad I went around the airport 2 more times before just going to my gate and waiting for it to open.

After the 6 hour wait my gate opened and I could continue my trip.
This flight was a bit shorter - 8 hours still 4 times longer than what i'm used to. ?
At first boarding the plane everything seemed okay, this time I was flying with Malaysian Airlines and to be honest did not have high expectations. The Entertainment systems were a bit less high tech than the KLM ones and the chairs slightly less comfy but the staff were very friendly.

Behind me was some little boy probably around 3 years old and he kept opening and shutting his tray and kicking my chair and for whatever reason his dad did nothing about it.
Well 8 hours of that would of been fun, I quickly looked around and notices loads of seats were empty.
One of the flight attendants walked past and I asked her if it was okay to change seats. She said that as soon as the doors were closed I could move seats. - I eagle eyed a seat next to the window that was completely empty.
After about 10 minutes she returned to me saying the doors were shut and I could switch seats I grabbed my bag from underneath the chair and raced to that chair making sure nobody would steal away that gem.

Sitting in my new seat with nobody annoying around me it seemed like heaven. I could look out the window and there was nobody next to me to bash into when I attempted to lay on my side to sleep.
I turned on the entertainment system again and binge watched season 8 of the big bang theory.
After watching all those episode I once again tried to get some sleep as I had gone without sleep for 30ish hours.
I was able to lay there in peace and enjoy the calming music but did not complete to fall asleep, maybe it was nerves or maybe it was something else I don't know but for whatever reason I could not sleep.

After sort of resting we were flying above Australia so I decided to look at the window to see if I could see anything cool.
The skies were clear and it was about 6/7 in the morning so the sun was just coming up.
I saw a lot of sand and a house every so now and then and some kind of weird water pools.

The flight came to an end and we got handed a little piece of paper where you have to declare what you're bringing into Australia. (incoming passenger card) The cabin crew said through the intercom that we had to fill it out completely and with honesty and that Australia has strict laws regarding entering. (It's beyond me how people still end up on those shows like border control or nothing to declare just how well the cabin crew alone informed us on what we can and cannot take.)
So I filled in the declaration form which was very clear. We landed and we entered the Airport, following the signs I came up to the passport control. The man looked at me and questioned about everything that I had on the planning. (This one one of the questions I answered yes to. "Are you bringing goods that may be prohibited or subject to restrictions, such as
medicines, steroids, illegal pornography, firearms, weapons or illicit drugs") So he questioned me why I filled in yes, as to which I explained its for the medicine just eczema cream.

He handed back my passport and incoming passenger card and said "Welcome Buddy!" as to which I kind off just looked in amazement and said "Thank you" and continued towards bag pickup. I didn't have any bags to pick up but still had to go through it to the exit. Once I arrived at the bag claim there were more checks they wanted to see my incoming passenger card again as to which they questioned me "why have you put yes on this question sir" pointing at the question "Are you bringing into Australia soil, items with soil attached or used in freshwater areas e.g. sports/recreational equipment, shoes?" as to which I explained I'm wearing shoes that have been worn in woods and was unsure if that was okay or not, I lifted up my foot and showed the officer my sole which was as clean as can be ?.
She scribbled on the card and handed it back and I was okay to continue.

Just after the bag claim there were more officers waiting and asked for my incoming passenger card again. I handed this over and I was okay to go. I had entered Australia officially. WOOHOO.

I looked around me and quickly realised well now what??, I remembered I had a picture on my phone saying where to go for the busses so I looked for that but guess what. I had deleted the photo cleaning up my phone so I could take more photos of Australia.

I walked over to the information desk where I asked what the best way to get to the city was, Basically I got 3 options - take the Skybus for 19 Dollars, Take the Taxi for about 40 Dollars or get a Myki Card for 15 Dollars and take 2 busses. The person behind the desk went on to explain how the Myki Card works (It's basically an OV Card from the Netherlands, you put money on the card you check in when you get on the train or bus and check out when you get off.) I would get the Myki Card for 15 Dollars with 10 Dollars already pre loaded on it which would allow me to take public transport all over the city the whole day (Most of the trams here are free) Obviously it seemed like the best option so thats what I went with, and lets be honest "Myki" is an amazing word for a card ?.

The person behind the desk explained how to get to the bus and off I went, It was only 9 in the morning in Melbourne and already it was 25 Degrees. I walked towards the busses and quickly realised i had no idea where my bus was supposed to go from so I just looked around standing still. There was someone who worked there who quickly realised I had no idea where to go and asked me "You alright there mate?" as to which I said, Well to be honest I'm lost : (.
I asked where my bus was and he pointed me in the right direction (I was almost there).
The bus was there waiting for me and I could get straight on.
Scanned my Myki card and had a seat.

While it drove me towards the bus station where I was supposed to get out I looked to my left and saw the rental company where i'm supposed to be picking up camper from later. It's nice knowing where it is now.

I continued onwards and got off at the correct stop, another man got of the same stop and asked me which train went to the city centre. "No idea, Sorry I'm not from here either." he though I was a local wearing long black jeans and a shirt with a big backpack. He went on to explain he came from Tasmania. Another dude overheard our conversation and explained he was heading to the city centre and we could come with him. He explained What train we needed and when to get off. We got on the train and the man that overheard us asked where I was going, I explained where I was going and he said "Oh you're better off getting of with me on the next stop you'll be closer" I followed him off the train on got on a transfer train where we got off together about 3 stops later. He explained "Well if you head up those escalators there and take a right you'll quickly find where to go, I've got to the other way it was nice meeting you". And so we split paths and I went on my way, from where I was it was about a 15 minute walk to my hostel.

I arrived at my hostel where unfortunately I could not check in straight away and had to wait for about 2 hours.
I went to the lounge where they have free wifi (And where I'm typing this from right now) and had a seat.
I let my family know I was okay. Some older man quickly came up to me and started a conversation. He comes from Liverpool area and has been backpacking for over 40 years now and has seen loads of the world. He went on to explain how Australia is the safest country you can backpack. Where American and India were the least safe on his list.

He gave me his card (Email address) and went on to explain that if I have any questions regarding areas just to let him know as to which I thanked him. He also had to wait 2 hours and only 1 hour had passed. As i hadn't slept in ages in honestly I don't know the exact time but i'm guessing about 35 to 40 hours i almost fell asleep in my chair. He went to the information desk asking for the key to the toilets and he came back with the card to his room. He said Pro-Tip just ask for the key to the toilet and your room should be ready! I quickly ran to the information desk and Jim (Older guy) as right. My room was ready.

After telling everyone I was going to bed (It's 12:00 in the afternoon now) I went up to my room, got in my bed only managed to take off my shirt and fell asleep. 19 Hours later I woke up.

I'll write all of that in my next blog post as this one is way to long already as it is!
Who ever made it to the end - Thank you for reading!

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Comments

[Colinda]

Well done Robin!!