My goodness, where to start... I left for Sydney on the 19th. The day of my departure was, to say the least, emotional. I got up early and sorted out everything I needed to on time. However, some minor things still needed to be taken care of in my room. The remaining bags that Alejandra hadn't been able to take with her I left with my friend Mahfooz, who was kind enough to promise me to take care of my stuff until I returned from my trip. Saying goodbye to my best friend was a b***. After that was was sorted, I realised I still had more than 3 hours before heading off to Heathrow. So, as the day had taken an emotional toll on me, I decided to lie done for a bid and rest before my big trip. Unfortunatly, my siesta lasted longer than expected... I woke up at 4 o'clock, realising I had only about 15 mins to take my luggage downstairs (of course, the lift wasn-t working), have the manager inspect my room and hand him the keys. I took down the last of my unwanted stuff and threw it in the garbage. When I got back to the residence, I was happily surprised to see that my friend Dan was standing outside chatting with a some friends. I had made peace with the fact I wasn't going to be able to say goodbye to him, so it was really nice to see that in fact, I still could. He helped me with my bags (always the gentlemen), and accompanied me to the bus stop.
I arrived to Kings Cross tube station right on schedule, no stress, I simply got on the tube which took me right up to Heathrow Terminal 4. I arrived at the airport about 3 hours prior to departure, as the agency had recommended, and checked in my bags with no problems. Also, my visa didn't give me any trouble. Thank God... When I passed security, had a look around the airport, bought myself a wrap at Pret a Manger, and looked around for a comfortable place to spend the next 2 hours and a half. I took out my book and time, much to my surprise, flew by.
The flight boarded right on schedule (9.10 pm) and as I entered the plane I was amazed by it's luxury. Ethiad Airways sure knows how to take care of it's passengers. Having grown accustomed to low cost flights such as Ryanair, I was astonished by the plane's elegance. The classy beige seats, the individual hight-tech screens and the breath taking stewardesses with their elegant uniforms. That's when I met Vanessa. Almost instantly after sitting down we started talking. She was seated in the seat next to me, and after a rather emotional phone call with George, I felt the need to apologize. I must say the ice breaker was when she explained to me how the menu worked and she kindly informed me that, during the entire flight, there was free booze. Wanna get slouched? - Absolutely... And we were off. 
Our flight to Abu Dhabi ran smoothly. No turbulance, no delay, and we even got to catch some sleep. We had time to eat, watch a movie, and have a couple of laughs. When we landed, I realised how much all airport looks the same. Here I was, 7 and a half hours away from home and still it looked the same. We looked for a comfortable place to sit and while she was busy with here Ipad, I continued reading my book, and after a 3 and a half hour wait, we boarded our plane to Sydney.
The flight from Abu Dhabi to Sydney didn't, unfortnatly, run as smootly as the prior one. I soon realised the difference between Ethiad and Virgin Airlines. The only was to describe it is by saying that Virgin is to international flights, what Ryanair is to European travel: low cost. And it showed. On top of lack of Ethiad's elegance, we also had to put up with an hour delay. Luckily, we did get the girl next to me to switch her seats with Vanessa, so we could spent the flight together. Ones the plane took off, me and Ness got to, what we found to be, the only sensible way to survive a 13 and a half hour flight: getting drunk. And that we did. We ordered some whine with dinner and kept them coming. The more we talked about our issues, the less important they became, and the more we laughed about our problems... It was hilarious. Eventually, the wine had its inevitable effect: we both fell asleep as babies. When I woke up, the buzz had gone and the stewardess offered as a much appreciated cheese and lettuce sandwich. Mmmmm foood. So, after watching a movie, having lunch, getting drunk, sleeping, waking up sober and a cheese sandwich, I was sure we had almost arried to our destination. Yeah, you wish! To Vanessa's and my own dissapointement, we had still almost 5 hours to go. F**k!!! So, we had some more laughs, ate some more food, watched a coupe of tv shows and read some more of my book.
We finally started our descent towards Sydney and I got my first look of Australia. As I looked outside the airplane's window I saw its magnifiscent landscape underneath us and watched in aw. It's so beautiful... When we finally landed. we got the great news that, because of our late departure in Abu Dhabi, only very few bags had been put on the plane, which basically meant we wouldn't get our bags until the next day. Crap, my make up... So we got off the plane, went through the passport check and much to our expectations, our bags didn't arrive. We took care off the necessary paperwork and said our goodbye's. Vanessa, being the sweetheart that she is, invited me over to her place and to take me to see Canberra (did I write that down wright?) where she lives with her roommates, if I had the chance to visit her. Ofcourse, George was more then welcome to come along. Your an angel Ness, Ill definatly try to come to see you.
I headed of to the train station and took a train towards Central. Much to my liking there was a train 2 minutes after a bought my ticket, so no more waiting. After that I took the Northern line tube towards Jess's place in Pennant Hill, where Jess's mother was kindly waiting to pick me up. On the way over, I noticed the weather was quite overcast and chilly, but I had already expected that much, as I checked the weather before I left home. On my way to Jess's place, I got a glimpse at the Sydney Opera House and it finally hit me: Holy c***! I'm actually here. When I arrived to the station Jess's mum couldn't have been more welcoming. When we got to Jess's place her mum instantly made me feel at home. She made me a nice warm cup of tea which I greatly appreciated, as I was frozen after the long flight. I took a nice long hot shower, washed my hair, and since Jess was still at work, I took her mum's advice and lay down to sleep off my jedlag. You have no idea how great it is to be woken up by a friend you have missed for so long. After Jess got home and woke me up, we started chatting about everything that had happened in the last couple of months. Which was a lot. Unfortunatly, she wasn't feeling too well so we decided to have another nap, as she had arranged for her friends to come over for dinner that night.
Her friends are AMAZING! Jess was so great to make us a vegan supper composed by a vegan pizza and pasta with mushroom sauce. Absolutely deliscious. Thank you Jess!!! This culinary feast and great conversation ended with a pancakes. Can it get any better? So after the lovely dinner and ever more lovely company, my first day in Aussie land reached its end, and it was of to bed for me...
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