Fasten you seat belts, were about to hit some turbulence!!!

So things got off to a nervous start when the woman at the check in said im sorry, i will have to deboard you for now as you dont have a visa sorted for Australia.....hang on what now?! No one had mentioned anything about needing a visa for Australia. Despite nearly having a heart attack, thankfully it was easily remedied on the internet with a quick form, something like those little slips of paper you normally fill in on the plane before you get there. I got through security fine and was even surprised with a complimentary drink and sandwich on the flight to Helsinki.

Helsinki is a nice airport that I feel I know well after 8 hours, wandering around almost every corridor. To help pass the time I think I might have used just about every tester product in the duty free section....my hands have never been more moisturised in their lives! Finally when the 8 hours was over I got on to the plane to find I was going to spend the next 11 hours of my life next to a very large Singaporian man who was already snoring like a train....great. He was asleep from minute one and unfortunatley had his arm covering my remote for my tv system. Eventually, when his arm slipped off his rather excessively large stomach onto my leg I decided enough was enough and that he could keep his hand to himself so moved it, which woke him up. The benefits were three fold, I had rid of his hand, he was awake so had stopped snoring and I could get to my remote....winner! He did try harder after that to keep himself to himself. I passed a good 5 hours of that flight sleeping/dozing so the 11 hours werent too painful thankfully.

Singapore airport was lovely, I sailed through the transfers bit and found a Starbucks, free internet and free foot/leg massagers! Amazeballs! So 3 hours there flew although I might have overdone the massagers as my lower legs still felt a little bruised yesterday! In Singapore you go through another security check just before the plane and sit in the waiting area ot your gate for 30 minutes or so before boarding. So I was safely though security and just reading my book quietly when my name came over the tannoy.....'could Miss Lucy Gait please come to the check in desk' eek! Thankfully it was just a family who were split up across the plane asking to swap seats so there 14 yr old son could sit with his dad. I felt like I had done my good deed for the day but regretted it when I got on the plane and was sat behind an Indian lady who had the most severe case of BO I have had the misfortune to be within smelling distance of for quite some time.....eye wateringly bad.

The lovely Brisbanian couple I was sat next to Judy and John were equally as unamused. Judy decided to try to subtly spray her perfume over the back of the seat to mask the smell...truthfully there was very little that was subtle about it but this just made it more amusing as John was very embarrassed by his wife's behaviour! Quickly we realised the perfume wasnt strong enough and wasnt going to work, so after take off we had a quiet word with the air hostess about moving seats. As there werent any free she fetched us some menthol sweets and some essential oil type stuff that smelt quite sweet and masked the smell very well but everytime the woman moved we got more than a little waft so we would waft the cloths with the oil on to move the smell. We then hung the cloths on the back of the seat in front so we were in a constant mini climate of our own. Not great, but it made the 8 hours passable...... I must admit, walking to the loo passing the seat i should have been sat in, where the air was a lot less polluted I seriously regretted swapping seats! Despite this I have got some helpful tips and hints from J&J about where to go/where to miss.

I knew I would be tight on time when I got to Brisbane but realised that I would be lucky to make my flight when they explained I would have to get from the international to the domestic terminal before my next flight...unlikely in the 1.30 hour I had from the time we landed. There was a big queue through passport control, but a quiet word with one of the staff saw them announce anyone with certain passports could use the machines rather than going to the people. This made up considerable time and I was beginning to believe I might make my flight until after 30 minutes of waiting by the bag carousel mine was yet to come off and after a quick conversation with a member of staff it was confirmed that my bag was safely sitting at Singapore airport.....great. The lady thankfully was very helpful and kitted me out with a Quantas overnight bag that had most things I needed to get showered (expect shampoo and conditioner) and a shorts/t-shirt combo that came in handy as pyjamas. She said my bag hopefully would be sent out on a flight to Brisbane later that day and would then get to me hopefully by lunchtime today. (no sign yet but its not yet 9am here.) I had missed my flight by this time as well so I was put on the 9.45 flight. It gave me time for a cup of tea and to buy a cheap sun dress and some shampoo to tide me over. I was hoping my flight to Cairns would just hurry up and pass as I was a bit fed up at this point. Finally we were called to the gate and when I gave my boarding pass to the lady the little light didnt go green like it had for everyone else, it when red. Apparently I was already on board. The woman then said, yes I have just let someone on the plane with your name on their boarding pass, it was a man and I thought it was strange for him to have a girls name. What!? I had to wait for everyone else to get on and then I was escorted onto the plane, I dont really get why they didnt kick the guy with a fake boarding pass off and make him wait!! I was feeling rather grumpy by this point but thankfully there were extra seats so I did get on.

I made it to the airport and got the shuttle to the hostel without any problems. They kindly gave me a towel so I could shower and after a shower and some food I was feeling much more human. I got chatting to two Candian girls and we went for a walk down to the harbour and sat on the grass. When we got back, one of them gave me a tea bag and some milk for a cuppa which was like a god send. I had an early night as I was exhausted and have to hang around this morning to make sure my bag gets here ok.

I'll update you again in a day or two! TTFN!