Tuesday, February 10th-
Following a long night of last minute goodbyes and packing, I woke up early for extra packing and an easy drive out to Raleigh to catch my first flight. At 2:45 pm I began the longest journey of my life and flew the first leg of my trip to Washington D.C. There I met up with my traveling mate, Lauren and got on another plane for a 5-hour flight that was a joke compared to what was to come next. After a 3-hour layover in San Francisco we boarded our flight to Sydney at 10:00pm west coast time/ 1:00am east coast time- I had already been traveling for over 12 hours. The overseas flight was 13 hours and it was spent in the smallest seat I have ever seen in my life. I was literally about to get a mouthful of the man’s seat in front of me every time he leaned back (which was the entire flight). Despite the tiny seats, this was the biggest plane I have ever been on with 2 stories, 3 rows of seats, and a giant flat screen tv in the front of the middle rows. The service was incredible with 2 hot meals, a “midnight snack”, drink service every hour and a half or less, and a good number of movies and tv shows playing at all times. My favorite part was the on board GPS that they would display in-between every movie. It showed a map of the world and where our plane was positioned as well as a red line representing the path we had already traveled. Also on this screen was an update of outside temperature, plane altitude, distance traveled, and time remaining. Even after taking 2 sleeping pills, sleep was awful hard to come by. I would doze every so often for about an hour and wake up to something strange like a steaming dinner set in front of me or a crowd of flight attendants bumping me as they handle the lady across the aisle vomiting all over herself. Highlights were crossing the equator, the movie Sixty-Six, an hour-long sunrise, and seeing land for the first time. Along this trip we crossed the international date line and lost an entire day of our lives, but I look forward to getting it back in 5 months when I leave Sydney and arrive in Raleigh a mere 2 hours after I left.
A bit of pre-departure reading.
Samantha helping me pack.
First real haircut since I was 10! If I'm picking up and moving to the other side of the world, I figured I might as well shake it up a bit.
Mom and Dad seeing me off at the RDU airport.
Ipod vending machines? My mind was literally blown! These were in every airport I went through.
The sunrise I got to enjoy for a full hour.Thursday, February 12th-
We filed off the plane as a couple of zombies, gathered our things, and made it through customs with absolutely no problems to speak of from our entire trip. As a pilot’s daughter I know that this is extremely rare and a blessing from above. I also knew at this point that the rest of the day was destined to be doomed- it had been too good to be true. After a few mean Aussies in the airport, a missed ride, and an hour-long wait for the “easy and free shuttle” (Note to self: There is no such thing as free or easy in Australia) we finally arrived at our hostel. Once dropping our things in our room we decided to check out our new town. Our hostel is in Glebe, a neighborhood right next to our Uni (Australians call every college a Uni), so we walked 20 minutes to get to campus and then get a bit acquainted with our new school grounds. If you’ve ever seen photos of The University of Sydney you can understand how breathtaking it is, but those photos don’t do it justice. The size and beauty are unparalled by any school that I have ever seen. UNC has got nothing on Uni Syd. Built in the late 1800’s as the first Uni in Australia, it was modeled after Oxford University with the gothic style buildings. It’s still hard for me to believe that I am going to be going to class on this campus. It is exactly the way I imagined college to look- I’m literally living in a dream.
On our way back from the Uni, we stopped in an adorable local coffee shop in Glebe called Free Trade where we each got a small pot of tea, sat at the open air window where we drank tea and watched the bustling life outside that we will soon become a part of. That night we ate Thai food for the second time that day and then went out with a few people we met on the flight who were from Kansas University and also staying at our hostel. Granted, a night out on the town after 2 days of traveling probably wasn’t the best idea, but there will never again be the first night in Australia. How could we not celebrate? We made friends with the Kansas folk and now have some great contacts in Newcastle (about 1 hour north of Sydney on the coast) for any traveling plans we might have there.
We filed off the plane as a couple of zombies, gathered our things, and made it through customs with absolutely no problems to speak of from our entire trip. As a pilot’s daughter I know that this is extremely rare and a blessing from above. I also knew at this point that the rest of the day was destined to be doomed- it had been too good to be true. After a few mean Aussies in the airport, a missed ride, and an hour-long wait for the “easy and free shuttle” (Note to self: There is no such thing as free or easy in Australia) we finally arrived at our hostel. Once dropping our things in our room we decided to check out our new town. Our hostel is in Glebe, a neighborhood right next to our Uni (Australians call every college a Uni), so we walked 20 minutes to get to campus and then get a bit acquainted with our new school grounds. If you’ve ever seen photos of The University of Sydney you can understand how breathtaking it is, but those photos don’t do it justice. The size and beauty are unparalled by any school that I have ever seen. UNC has got nothing on Uni Syd. Built in the late 1800’s as the first Uni in Australia, it was modeled after Oxford University with the gothic style buildings. It’s still hard for me to believe that I am going to be going to class on this campus. It is exactly the way I imagined college to look- I’m literally living in a dream.
On our way back from the Uni, we stopped in an adorable local coffee shop in Glebe called Free Trade where we each got a small pot of tea, sat at the open air window where we drank tea and watched the bustling life outside that we will soon become a part of. That night we ate Thai food for the second time that day and then went out with a few people we met on the flight who were from Kansas University and also staying at our hostel. Granted, a night out on the town after 2 days of traveling probably wasn’t the best idea, but there will never again be the first night in Australia. How could we not celebrate? We made friends with the Kansas folk and now have some great contacts in Newcastle (about 1 hour north of Sydney on the coast) for any traveling plans we might have there.
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