If I never see another airport again...

I cannot believe it, this is one of my final blogs about Australia. What an amazing adventure it has been. The last few weeks have been filled with lots of uni work, job work and friend time. Trying to soak up as much sun as I could too, but I’m definitely not as bronzed as I would like to be.

China Doll and Cowgirl at Dracula's

Let me think, what has happened since Thanksgiving…. Halloween was a big night and was spent with my good friend Emma and her schoolmates at Draculas Cabaret. This is a dinner theatre that is entirely Dracula themed and it was the best Halloween I have had in a while.  I had an interesting Saturday night in Coolangatta a few weeks back when I took my friend Elise to see Angus Stone – my new favourite Aussie singer. Normally with his sister, this is my favourite song of theirs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEZ-m61dBKY. Interesting place, but a great show. I finished all of my course work and wrote four exams over 11 days. It felt like they would never end. My studying productivity decreased exponentially by the last exam. 

Angus Stone concert

My last exam was 5 days ago and I have spent a considerable amount of time in Surfer’s Paradise with my friend Graham, who I discovered has a pool at his apartment he neglected to tell me about until just recently. I wanted to spend more time on the beach, but it’s been so windy you get covered in sand after two minutes. On top of the sand fiasco it’s “Schoolies” week. This is essentially spring break week for graduating high school students. Screaming 17 year olds is not my cup of tea.  My last night on the coast was spent with a good friend, drinking good wine and staying up to watch the sunrise on the beach….well we tried to stay up but had a power nap before getting up to watch the sunrise, before going back to bed : )

I am now in the process of my trillion-hour flight endeavour home. I left my apartment on the coast at 3:00pm Queensland time. Flew out of Coolangatta at 6:20. Landed in Sydney at 8:40 (1 hour time change ahead) and now I’m at the airport over night. They lock most of the airport up between 11 and 3 so I’m currently sitting in a small sectioned off area with about 50 strangers. I pictured way more people spending the night in a major airport, but I guess I have watched all the wrong movies. At least the Celine Dion Christmas album is playing over the PA and is helping me get excited to be home.

6am: Three more hours until I can sleep in. I’ve been awake for 22 hours now with only a three-hour sleep last night.  How am I still awake?!

11am: sitting (again) at the gate waiting to board the Sydney – Vancouver leg. 15 hours. See you later Australia!

9:21am (Vancouver time): On Canadian soil. I slept a total of 3 hours on that last flight. The girl in front of me going through customs got sent through the “search all bags”  station (CLOSE ONE) and I can’t change my flights since they took my bags downstairs and “since 9/11 you have to arrive with your bags”. Canadian hospitality and customer service isn’t quite there yet, but maybe I’ve just built up my expectations after having NONE for the last year.

2:50pm: boarding for Toronto in an hour. Cannot believe I am still awake. Can believe that I am freezing. Also, the staff here think I’m homeless. I’m getting lots of pity smiles while I’m curled up with my things. I even got a “you’ve been here forever now”.

1:55am (Toronto time): sitting in another airport lounge waiting to get checked in and bags checked FOR THE FOURTH AND FINAL TIME (for a few weeks until I go to visit Maura!!!!!). I may have gotten a few minutes of sleep on the Vancouver Toronto flight so I have now been travelling for over 50 hours and running on a collective 5 hours of sleep max. Can’t sleep now since I have all my bags with me. Should be an interesting home coming tomorrow. I’ve changed outfits 3 times now so I shouldn’t smell too bad, but family, I’m sorry if I do.

2:05am: random fire alarm testing. Couldn’t sleep if I wanted to.

2:10am: Apparently that first alarm was just warning us for the actual alarm that is now going off. I have never heard something so unpleasant. MSB fire alarms are like a godsend compared to this.

2:18am: the original alarm is off again to tell us it’s over.

4:50am: rechecking bags. Apparently Australia is more lenient about being over weight. Well, the gentleman at the counter picked on me for getting a masters but not knowing how to weigh my suitcases, but he went to SMU.

TIMS!!!

5:15am: TIMS ACCEPTS DEBIT CARDS NOW?!?!? SAY WHAT?!?! Best news ever, since I only had Aussie cash on me. This morning I got a large coffee, bagel and cream cheese and a donut for the exact same price as I paid for a coffee in Australia. And that’s not a Starbucks, that’s like cheap campus coffee. Mind blown. Welcome home Alex!

10:29pm (Halifax): It's been a long long travel time to get home, but I can't complain when Mom and Dad said they'd donate points for my flights home. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK. But for now, it's time for me to go to bed.

PS I’ll post another wrap up after I get some sleep.