I FINALLY made it to
Australia!!! :D After what felt like days of travelling I landed in Darwin at
3pm Australia time.
The night before my
flight I went and stayed in a Travel Lodge with mum and Grahame. It was
definitely a good idea, as I was much less stressed on the morning of my flight
knowing we were only 10 minutes away from the airport. Lucky that we did, as
the roads in London were flooded which would have made travelling a nightmare!
When we got to Heathrow I
started to feel really nervous. I think it suddenly hit me that I was leaving
home for such a long time. I did the exact same thing as when I went to Africa
and started to panic about what I was doing. As soon as I went through security
I felt fine, but saying goodbye was a lot more emotional than it was for
Africa.
As soon as I got through
security I headed straight for the plane. I was one of the first groups that
got called to board and so I ended up being one of the first people on the
plane. I was really lucky to get a seat on upper deck, which was much less
crowded, especially as I ended up with no one sat next to me.
As the weather was bad,
we ended up being delayed by around 45 minutes on the runway, which was
worrying for me as I knew I only had an hour spare to catch my connecting
flight in Singapore. I ended up being on the plane for around 14 hours.
The flight was really
dull. After watching Joy, the 5th Wave, The Force Awakens, Friends,
The big Bang Theory and Sex and the City, I was sick of TV. As much as I tried,
I couldn’t fall asleep and so I was exhausted by the time I got to Singapore. I
do think that Singapore Airlines are the best company I have ever flown with.
The flight attendants were great and the food we got was much nicer than any
other flight I’ve been on.
I didn’t have any time to
look around at the airport. As soon as I got off the plane I had to run like
the kid off Love Actually to make the connecting flight, which must have looked
amusing for everyone else considering all the bags I was carrying. I did manage
to talk to mum on the train to the connecting terminal which was nice.
The next flight was
around 5 hours and on a much smaller plane. There were no TV screens, so I had
to read and listen to music for most of the time. I normally wouldn’t mind
that, but after almost 24 hours of travelling, I just wanted to get there. I
was really lucky again to have no one sat next to me, but still didn’t manage
to fall asleep. It would have been difficult, as there was an alarm going off in
someone’s cabin baggage stored in the overhead lockers. It stopped after around
half an hour, but was still really annoying.
When I landed in Darwin,
I went through passport control really quickly. As soon as I stepped off the
plane, I realised how hot it was. It was around 34 degrees, but it felt like
you were in a sauna. I got a taxi to take me to my hostel, Melaleuca on
Mitchell on Mitchell Street.
All everyone was talking
about was the results of the EU referendum. When I checked in, the receptionist
told me how the pound to dollar conversion rate had dropped already. Great! I
was really disappointed with the result. I voted remain, and think that as a
country, there are far more benefits to being in the EU than out of it!
I was really surprised by
how nice this hostel is. I’ve read some dodgy reviews about hostels in Darwin
and so I wasn’t sure what to expect. So far, it seems clean and the people are
really friendly. I am sharing with a Norwegian girl Marie, Sarah and Rachel
from California, and two English girls called Sam and Kez.
I did have a nightmare
when I arrived as I realised my card wasn’t working. It turns out I had been
using the wrong pin, but I still had to spend almost 2 hours trying to sort it out.
All of my emails and Facebook account locked me out as I was accessing them
from abroad. I had to go through loads of security checks which took ages with
the limited wifi signal. Luckily mum and Grahame managed to sort it out for me,
but it was definitely stressful!
The only downside to this
hostel is that there isn’t free wifi. It costs $4 for 24 hours, so I am going
to have to limit what I use. The hostel has a rooftop bar and pool, which
becomes a party during the evenings. It is quite loud, but my room is at the
back of the hostel so I can’t hear much. I didn’t want to go to sleep straight
away, but after the card drama I was knackered.
I ended up going to bed
at 8ish Australia time, after I’d been awake for around 30 hours.
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