LHR > MEL: The Journey

Well, well, well…

We have finally made the terribly long and exhausting journey to Melbourne, Oz – and here we are! It’s currently 2:45am as I type this but hey, that’s what jet lag is all about, right? So, where to begin…

LHR > HKG

The longest of two flights (just under 11hrs) was surprisingly okay. Having checked-in online a little late, there were no two seats left together and so Alice was seated behind me (perfectly fine). I watched Trainwreck, Paper Towns and Mistress America whilst on the flight as well as having a nice long nap. I got my eye mask out and everythinggg 💁🏻

I opted for the pork with mixed vegetables and rice for dinner – this wasn’t too bad but the meat wasn’t the best. The häagen-dazs ice cream afterwards was greatly appreciated though! About halfway through the flight, Alice and I walked up and down and then went to ask for some cup noodle (which was offered as an in-flight snack) along with helping ourselves to some of the other bits and bobs laid out.

After taking another short nap and doing lots of leg exercises (I was terribly afraid of getting a blood clot!), breakfast was served. There was both a breakfast and lunch option for people who were either staying in Hong Kong (lunch time there) or catching a connecting flight. I didn’t fancy the breakfast so chose the chicken with noodles and soy sauce. I barely ate any though as I couldn’t stomach much.

As we were landing there was a lot of turbulence. And by a lot, I mean a lot. I’ve never experienced this much and I fly a lot! I was definitely missing British Airways by this point. When we finally landed I was glad to get off the plane and stretch my legs.

Hong Kong stopover

We had to go through security again at Hong Kong before being allowed through to airside; we had roughly two hours before we had to be at the gate for our next flight. This was spent with me going for lots of walks (paranoid about those blood clots) and with Alice continuing her UCAS application on her laptop. My throat was also much worse so I had to buy some strepsils. Our gate was eventually called so we made our way over only to find that there had been a technical problem and 1) our flight gate had changed and 2) there would now be a ~2hr delay. Great.

This extra time was spent on our phones, playing Speed with Alice’s pack of cards, going for walks and just lying down waiting to board. Two hours passed and we were still on the floor waiting but finally, after an extra half an hour, we boarded the aircraft.

HKG > MEL

I hated this journey. I was absolutely exhausted and hungry and my legs and muscles ached. My throat killed and I had almost lost my voice – the last thing I wanted to do was be on a delayed plane for another 10 hours! Despite all of this, I managed to survive it and made sure to walk up and down and do even more ankle exercises. For dinner I chose the pasta with olives option which was actually really nice (and easy for me to swallow) and the häagen-dazs ice cream again seemed to help my throat. I didn’t watch much on this flight at all as I was mainly doing exercises or napping, or writing in my journal. At one point I had to ask the flight attendant for a cup of ice because my throat was so sore.

Just before landing, I started South Paw which I never got to finish – I probably will some day. The breakfast was also pretty good: sausage, scrambled egg with bacon, hash brown, tomatoes and mushrooms. After eating and having a small nap, we descended.

We were finally in Australia.

Melbourne

The queue for passport control was insane but we managed to get into the ePassport queue and go through that way. The woman before me had glasses on and hers didn’t work so I was worried mine wouldn’t – but thankfully it did. We pushed our way through and found the relevant baggage claim conveyor belt, picked up our backpacks and away we went!

The information lady told us to get a SkyBus which would take us to a train station in the centre and from there we could get a transfer shuttle bus to our hotel. For $18 we bought a ticket each (rip off or what?!) The journey to our Air BnB hotel apartment was smooth though and we finally dumped our bags and had a look around. After making a few FaceTime and Skype calls, Alice and I went out to get some food.

We looked around for absolutely ages and kept going round in circles. We were right back by the train station! There was an outlet shopping centre nearby which we decided to check out, and there we found a food place we liked. They sold chicken schnitzel in either a roll or a wrap. I got the wrap with lettuce and mayo, a bottle of water and small chips. I couldn’t finish it and my stomach felt weird. So did Alice’s. All we wanted to do was lie down. Exhaustion had hit.

Before heading back to the apartment, we made a stop off in the supermarket called Coles where we bought essentials: pasta, sauce, bananas, oranges, bread, cereal, milk, cheese and an onion. Dinner and breakfast = sorted! Oh, and also some lemsip because my voice had actually gone by this point.

As soon as we got back to the flat, Alice made me a lemsip and then I just crashed. Alice must have also fallen asleep as we both woke up at 6am together absolutely starving. We both had some cornflakes and then I went back to bed while Alice went to check out the gym. A few hours later and I was awake again, Alice was back from the gym and my voice had returned! I had another lempsip while we cooked a pasta for lunch with the minimal utensils in the kitchen – no chopping board, a blunt knife and no colander. The pasta was so good we made another batch.

We lounged about for a bit and then both ended up lying on the bed. I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until about 8pm for the toilet! It’s safe to say that we are both still exhausted from flying but we are quickly recovering. Hopefully we will start the exploring tomorrow!

If you’re not following the adventure already, here are the links:

Instagram📷 & Twitter🐥 – @violahelen_
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Peace and love,

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