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Am only just now beginning to emerge from the comatose that is roughly 48 hours of travel, 23 hours flying time & about 50 hours with virtually no sleep…And although I am still exhausted, jetlag has got the better of me & I've been awake since 3:30AM…again! So I figured I'd stop annoying Nigel (at least for now :P) by brightly chatting away to him while he's half asleep, & finish off my very last blog entry.
So I flew out of Vancouver at 3:30PM on Thursday afternoon (which is 6:30AM Friday morning Perth time) after a lovely last morning. I was quite unfortunately awake at 5:00AM, which I think was largely due to the butterflies of excitement in my stomach, knowing that I was going home :) Maggie was over from Van Island for a couple of days to visit a friend of hers so she popped in about an hour before I was due to leave for the airport & we went up the road to have yummy scrummy treats & a cuppa from Liberties Bakery on Main & 22nd. Then I said my final farewells to Maggs & JL and began the long journey home…
Pretty short flight from Vancouver to LA, although after my last experience with Air Canada I felt pretty untrusting handing over my bag full of precious travel purchases to them…I got into LA at 6:30PM & didn't fly out until after midnight, which is an unpleasantly long amount of time to spend in a place like LAX. BUT, lucky for me I have friends in high places ;) My dad very kindly managed to pull some strings with QANTAS (seems he still has a little bit of pull with them, despite no longer being one of their top platinum frequent flyers nation wide) & I wrangled my way into the One World Lounge with all the fancy business people! :D Seriously awesome.
There was a little buffet with all sorts of yummy food, so I got myself some free dinner, a cup of tea & some cookies, & settled into the uber comfy couches to await my next flight in style. I even managed to get a couple of hours sleep after I shamelessly pulled out my sleeping mask & curled up on the couches under my jacket amidst all the people having very respectable mid-journey business meetings - SO worth it!
The flight from LA to Sydney is 14.5 hours, which is a long, LONG time…particularly if you're someone who doesn't really sleep on planes. I was super jealous of the guy in the row in front of me who somehow managed to get THREE free seats all to himself!! No fair!!! Fortunately technology these days means you can be well & truly occupied with movie after movie (Bridesmaids was a particular highlight).
Landing in Sydney I was proud, no, completely stoked, to be Australian! It's such smooth sailing through customs & immigration, & because I have one of those special chips in my passport now, all I had to do was literally scan my passport, get a little ticket, put the ticket in another machine which took my photo, then walk straight through. And as soon as I got out to the baggage carousel my luggage was right there! It probably took no more than 10 or 15 minutes from the time I stepped off the plane to the time I stepped out of the airport. American customs officials take note - THAT is how it's done!
I spent the loveliest of days in Sydney with my two amazing friends, Bri & Nomz. Bri is living over in Sydney now having finished her last year of acting at NIDA last year, & Nomz managed to score a cheap flight over for the weekend so we could all catch up for the weekend while I was passing through :) I was deliriously tired by this stage to the point of feeling slightly drunk/hungover/nauseous…BUT we pushed on!
Stopped by Bri's place for a shower, which is truly the most glorious feeling the world after a long flight! Then we went for a long walk down to Coogee beach, where the Aussie weather turned it on for me with warmth & sunshine for my homecoming. Very nice, thank you :) We went out for lunch to a lovely café looking over the water in Glebe & then went to Adriana Zumbo's (the guy off Master Chef who created the amazing macaroon tower!) patisserie in the afternoon for scrumptious pastries, which we ate back at Bri's place with a cup of tea. Needless to say we barely stopped for breath the whole day amidst chatting & laughing - love those girls :)
Bri & Nomz dropped my off at the airport at 4:00PM & I boarded the plane for Perth just after 5. Home stretch! I was SO tired & my heart leapt with joy when I realized I had a spare seat beside me on the plane…so once we had taken off I politely asked the lady on the other side of the seat if she'd mind if I laid my head down to have a sleep. Her jacket was folded up on the sit & she was sitting doing a crossword so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. She looked at me & said "Well actually, I need somewhere to put my jacket". Are you serious!!!????? I will put it in the overhead locker FOR YOU! I was kinda like "Oh…OK……" !?!?!?!? But being too tired to put up a fight I simply retreated back & curled up on the single seat as best I could…
We landed in Perth; my limbs were aching, my eyes felt like sandpaper, & my face, well, I can only guess how attractive my face must have looked my this stage…but boy, was I excited to be home :D I raced off the plane & towards the arrivals gate, literally breaking into a run when I made it through the doors & saw Mum & Nigel waiting. Having previously bartered the issue of the first hug Mum won that round & Nigel waited like a true gentleman with a bunch of flowers in hand :) Oh I was so happy to be home.
We picked up my bags & made our way out to the car park & stopped next to an unfamiliar vehicle…in the previous weeks Mum & Dad had been organizing the purchase of a new car for me with the money from the selling of my old car (+ the money we got paid out by the insurance company following the hail storm last year). I knew it was all in the process of happening, but was not expecting it to arrive for several more weeks. But there is was! A little, Caribbean blue Toyota Yaris - cute as a button! And hereby named, The Bean :D And there I was thinking there was no way I could possibly be more excited haha Mum asked if I wanted to drive home & though I desperately would have loved to I was too scared of crashing it after 2 days without sleep!
We got home & I flopped onto MY bed, in MY room, with MY teddy bear & oh…it is just the best feeling in the WHOLE world! :D
The next day I caught up with a few close friends & family, and began the mammoth task that is unpacking after 5 months abroad. It was a bit like Christmas unpacking souvenirs I'd bought months before & completely forgotten about in the mean time! I also got an email from a couple who I had been in contact with before I left Perth to say that they would love me to nanny for their little baby boy over the summer until I go back to uni, so as of 2 weeks from now I will officially be employed! Too easy ;) AND for the first time in years I will be having a RETAIL FREE CHRISTMAS!!!
So…life is good :) I've had the adventure of a lifetime & now I get to come home to a wonderful city, in a wonderful country, to wonderful friends & family who I love. It doesn't get much better than that.
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