I woke up on Thursday morning in Paris and caught a train to Amsterdam. A very expensive train. Even with my eurail pass, I had to pay 40 euros for a compulsory seat reservation. It was a pretty fancy train though, not that I took advantage of anything because I just napped pretty much the whole way. Anyway, I arrived in Amsterdam with four hours until my flight. I tried to check in as soon as Emirates check in opened, but alas! It turns out that Emirates weigh your hand luggage. As in, they get you to put every single item you are carrying onto the conveyer belt. I have never ever had my hand luggage weighed, and I'm pretty sure I've never carried on seven kilos or less. WELL I had to throw out some stuff. This was a very heartbreaking and traumatic experience, especially with the shock of seeing exactly how much crap I was intending to carry on the plane and then having to make snap decisions to part with things. Well, I went through my stuff, and walked around the airport giving things away. It was interesting trying to find native English speakers to give books to, since books were obviously heavy things. I tried to check in about five times, only to discover that the mountain of things I had gotten rid of was not even nearly enough. By the end I was in tears of frustration and exhaustion, and the mean Emirates ladies were telling me I had to chuck out three kilos of stuff NOW or they'd have to take me off the plane. Gah. Most of my books went, except those that I managed to smuggle into the giant pockets of my coat. It is so not fair that I can add four kilos of stuff to my person and that's not counted. Next time I go travelling I'm going to make myself some sort of epic coat with epic pockets for stuff. I'm so skinny that there will probably still be heavier people on the plane than me. It's not fair. I reckon people should be included in the baggage allowance, and you get on the scales with all your stuff. I also ended up leaving behind all of my toiletries, half the chocolate I'd bought for presents, and a whole bunch of clothes. My German/English dictionary got left behind, and I am really lamenting this now. That dictionary has been with me through so much, and has given me so many answers *wibble* I'm not sure that I can find a replacement as good as that one was *woe*
Anyway, I eventually got on the plane, after going through the epic Amsterdam security check. There's this big x-ray machine thing you have to stand in looking like an idiot with your hands above your head, then I got an veeeery intimate pat down from the lady security officer. She even checked the little shelf of my bra between my boobs. I suppose it's because we were in Amsterdam :P Somehow I ended up in the exit row next to the wall. There was no window, but that's ok, because I had a nice wall to lean on. I was a bit cranky at first because I couldn't find my entertainment system and the mean ladies had made me chuck out all my stuff SO THIS FLIGHT BETTER BE GOOD DAMMIT! But then it was under my seat. But then we had a crap selection of movies and they were all censored. But there was pretty awesome food.
It was six hours to Dubai and then I had a ten hour wait until my flight to Perth. I think I maybe napped for two hours in total on the plane, with my pillow sliding forward down the wall so I'd have to sit myself up again every few minutes. When I got to Dubai I discovered that some idiot had decided to make all the chairs with arms on them, so you couldn't lie down and sleep. I tried the floor for a while, which would have been fine except it was tiled and the evil cold tiles sucked my heat away, so I woke up half an hour later shivering with a numb arm and leg. I went for a walk through the duty free shops, and sat myself down outside MacDonalds with my laptop. By about 3am I decided I was hungry, so I had a delicious greasy MacDonalds meal. They are so much better than in Australia. I made it to 3am before deciding I was tired again so I went in search of a recliner chair dealie. They have these chairs that are just like all the others, except the backs are higher and they lean back a bit with space for your legs, like those poolside chairs you always see in the movies. Well, I eventually found one and curled up for a restless sleep for the next two hours. After that things become a blur. I vaguely remember eating icecream and then deciding my handbag looked comfortable sitting there on the bench next to me, then waking up twenty minutes later unable to move my neck or feel my legs, which I had left in sitting position.
Finally it was time for my flight. I ended up in the back of the plane sitting on the aisle, with the seat next to me free. I also had an amazing selection of movies, much better than the first plane. I watched The King's Speech which was AWESOME, Tangled, which was also AWESOME, Toy Story 3 which made me cry, and Jerry Maguire. This didn't leave much time for sleeping, but I did doze off for short naps between movies and foodtimes. I arrived in Perth at 1:30am, and was out and through customs by 2am. It seemed like I ticked a lot of boxes, but all I had was some chocolate (the stuff that managed to survive the purge) and my boots had been in muddy places. The lady was really nice and just asked me why I had ticked each box, then sent me through without even looking at my stuff. Easy as. Mum was there to pick me up, she had literally only just got there so we didn't even have to pay for parking. I was wide awake and chatty so we chatted all the way home, and then some, so we didn't get to bed until after 3am. I was up early Saturday morning because I was so excited to see Spoh and give my family their presents and stuff. I pretty much spent the enitre weekend delirious with lack of sleep. It was a bit interesting :P
So here I am, home again! As soon as I arrived it felt like I had never been away. I had a fantastic trip with some amazing experiences, and I even learnt some German! Thank you all for reading my blog and staying with me through all my adventures. I guess this is the end of my Adventures in Deutschland blog, but definitely not the end of my adventures! Stay tuned for the next one! Not sure when it will be, I'll keep you posted :P
The End.
Anyway, I eventually got on the plane, after going through the epic Amsterdam security check. There's this big x-ray machine thing you have to stand in looking like an idiot with your hands above your head, then I got an veeeery intimate pat down from the lady security officer. She even checked the little shelf of my bra between my boobs. I suppose it's because we were in Amsterdam :P Somehow I ended up in the exit row next to the wall. There was no window, but that's ok, because I had a nice wall to lean on. I was a bit cranky at first because I couldn't find my entertainment system and the mean ladies had made me chuck out all my stuff SO THIS FLIGHT BETTER BE GOOD DAMMIT! But then it was under my seat. But then we had a crap selection of movies and they were all censored. But there was pretty awesome food.
It was six hours to Dubai and then I had a ten hour wait until my flight to Perth. I think I maybe napped for two hours in total on the plane, with my pillow sliding forward down the wall so I'd have to sit myself up again every few minutes. When I got to Dubai I discovered that some idiot had decided to make all the chairs with arms on them, so you couldn't lie down and sleep. I tried the floor for a while, which would have been fine except it was tiled and the evil cold tiles sucked my heat away, so I woke up half an hour later shivering with a numb arm and leg. I went for a walk through the duty free shops, and sat myself down outside MacDonalds with my laptop. By about 3am I decided I was hungry, so I had a delicious greasy MacDonalds meal. They are so much better than in Australia. I made it to 3am before deciding I was tired again so I went in search of a recliner chair dealie. They have these chairs that are just like all the others, except the backs are higher and they lean back a bit with space for your legs, like those poolside chairs you always see in the movies. Well, I eventually found one and curled up for a restless sleep for the next two hours. After that things become a blur. I vaguely remember eating icecream and then deciding my handbag looked comfortable sitting there on the bench next to me, then waking up twenty minutes later unable to move my neck or feel my legs, which I had left in sitting position.
Finally it was time for my flight. I ended up in the back of the plane sitting on the aisle, with the seat next to me free. I also had an amazing selection of movies, much better than the first plane. I watched The King's Speech which was AWESOME, Tangled, which was also AWESOME, Toy Story 3 which made me cry, and Jerry Maguire. This didn't leave much time for sleeping, but I did doze off for short naps between movies and foodtimes. I arrived in Perth at 1:30am, and was out and through customs by 2am. It seemed like I ticked a lot of boxes, but all I had was some chocolate (the stuff that managed to survive the purge) and my boots had been in muddy places. The lady was really nice and just asked me why I had ticked each box, then sent me through without even looking at my stuff. Easy as. Mum was there to pick me up, she had literally only just got there so we didn't even have to pay for parking. I was wide awake and chatty so we chatted all the way home, and then some, so we didn't get to bed until after 3am. I was up early Saturday morning because I was so excited to see Spoh and give my family their presents and stuff. I pretty much spent the enitre weekend delirious with lack of sleep. It was a bit interesting :P
So here I am, home again! As soon as I arrived it felt like I had never been away. I had a fantastic trip with some amazing experiences, and I even learnt some German! Thank you all for reading my blog and staying with me through all my adventures. I guess this is the end of my Adventures in Deutschland blog, but definitely not the end of my adventures! Stay tuned for the next one! Not sure when it will be, I'll keep you posted :P
The End.
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