Koala Lumper Airport. 3 hours until I board. My gate has been changed to the complete opposite direction which means I'm back where I arrived in KL. As I'm walking I spot a random free wifi & computer area and figure I should let my family know that I've landed safely. I also notice there's a plug socket that looks awfully familiar to the English plug (which I had with me ready for England) and would be handy to charge my dead phone but I figured they wouldn't be the same.

About 15 minutes go by and I notice a man plugging up his laptop next to me and I find myself staring at these darn sockets. I finally decide to ask what kind of socket it actually is to which he turns around and informs me in his rather comforting British accent that why of course, it is an English socket! This later turned out to be useless information as the sockets were not working but this seemed to have sparked some sort of conversation between each other and before long I found myself completely absorbed in his life story of traveling around the world when he was my age, venturing off from England and living in the Middle East for 5 years, 2 of which he was in Dubai; traveling across Canada, Australia and covering different parts of Europe three times over! (Not bad!) He tells me about where he worked and who he met and repeated that the best possible advice he could give me as I began my travels was to be open to all opportunities and to never say no as long as my safety and health were not going to be in jeopardy.

Not really sure how long we spent standing there in this one random spot but soon enough someone else wanted to use the computer so I suggested we head upstairs to Starbucks and try plugging our electronic devices into their English sockets! He offers to buy me a drink and we sit down together.

Somehow being lonely didn't last for nearly as long as I had thought and I smiled as I realised I had made my first new friend. My new friend Tim.

Tim met his now wife on his last day in Dubai over 20 years ago and now lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and their 2 children. He has had many careers ranging from finance, building & construction, personal training and fitness, to now in his own up-and-coming business with these super cool and eco-friendly electric bicycles. He also gets bored easily and used to (or still has? who knows!) have dyslexia...In saying this, he sure didn't seem to give off any signs of boredom as we exchanged life events and stories to which most of his he would remind me were before I was born! In his 40s I would say, but he definitely didn't seem it and the conversation flowed as if we had been pals for years.

In what seemed like 5 minutes, 3 hours had passed and it was time for us to board our flight! We had managed to cover topics from this new 'green' Eco (an amazing story) school in Bali that he wants to send his children to and therefore move there; to the various conspiracy stories about the missing Malaysian plane and what really went 'down'! (Too soon?). We also talked about my aloof but meaningful traveling plans, his new business with the electric bicycles, to which I definitely wouldn't say no to, and about religion and faith. A great rounding of topics really and a part of my travels that both inspired me and encouraged me to pursue my dreams...and speak to strangers lol!

Upon boarding, we small-talked with a kiwi girl probably my age who was on her way to meet her boyfriend in London who had recently moved to Sweden and soon realised he missed her too much and asked her to move with him. Her name was Shard and the three of us wore the same converse low-tops and that's how that came about!

Get on the plane and I soon find myself seated between an African man (apparently), who seemed more Indian than a yellow curry and was cracking jokes from the minute he found his seat; and a quiet (I thought) Malaysian man who unfortunately didn't have the mintiest of breaths I'd ever smelt but seemed to soon enjoy engaging in conversation quite close to my face. My African companion to my left was 'Azar' and the Malaysian to my right, 'Azjee'? My spelling has to be wrong here but you can see what's happening haha!!! So 12 hours elbow to elbow again with my new plane pals, Azar and Azjee and I'm definitely looking around for another chance of an empty row of seats somewhere amongst this ridiculously giant thing called an Airbus A380. (Can someone please tell me again how these things get off the ground?)

I didn't really mind sitting next to my new travel buddies but I was sure to believe that it was going to be a long 12 hours ahead...