Well in has been a long flight and a LOVELY sleep in this morning. I flew out from the ever busy and prestigious Mount Gambier airport on 28th February at 4:35pm, the only section of my journey that was not delayed! I got to Melbourne and met up with my friend Diddi for a couple of pints and some food before going to catch my flight which left about 1.5 hours late from Melbourne airport (after 2am).
We went via HongKong and so got to stretch the legs. They allowed us to board only half an hour later than expected onto this flight. But they didn't take off for another forty minutes more after the new (delayed) expected departure time. The reason for this according to the guy behind me on the plane was that they had to take all our luggage off and get some round metal thing off that looked like a bomb and then reload our luggage. Where this information was gathered I do not know and although it sounds rather incredible since I couldn't see our luggage on the tarmac, it does make for a good story!!
So then we flew (well the plane flew and the pilot controlled, I generally did a lot of sitting down) for a LONG period of time and I saw many movies and got addicted the TV show "Hustle". Finally got into Heathrow air space and had another delay. We were told that this was due to too much traffic on the ground but I had to question that it was a Qantas flight possibly with an Aussie pilot and he may have just wanted to do some circle work. Meanwhile though they had turned off our in flight entertainment (in my case yet another episode of "Hustle") and I was starting to get antsy. Watching the plane do circles on the flight path monitor did not help my mood at all.
Finally we landed. But alas, despite us having been in the air an extra 25 minutes, the ground crew was not ready for us and couldn't fit the doors. So they had to call over some stairs. Another 20 minutes later and I was able to cross Heathrow tarmac (something I would expect to be doing in South Australia but not in London) and get in to stand in the customs line. Alas noone was staffing the customs benches. What seemed like an age later I was through to my luggage. Surprise, surprise, they had delays on getting the QF29 luggage through. I was just worried it may still be sitting on the tarmac in Hong Kong (despite having nothing to substantiate the gossip from the guy behind me on the plane who was obviously in the know).
YAY I eventually got my luggage and got through. Rang my friend Emma to make sure she hadn't tried to see me at the airport from a mobile phone of a very nice English guy who just offered for me to use his phone when I was looking dumbly at the public phone with an expression of "this is too hard, I'm going to need a mobile". The English are so lovely. They are all so helpful!
Finally figured out the combination of busses and trains to Bridget's place. Thought I'd lost my purse at one point and had visions of me begging for money at the train station to call Bridget.
Then got to Bridget's. YAY!! They weren't home yet so I had a shower, invested in some beer and wine and played my guitar.
It was sooooo lovely to catch up with her and Russ. We chatted and chatted and I realised how lucky I am to have friends here to ask for advice and from whom I can seek support. After such a long couple of days, it was soooo nice to sit back with familiar faces and to catch up with friends and Bridget is such a good friend and I haven't seen her in nearly 6 years!!!!! It was wonderful.
So I'm here, taking advantage of their home and just kicking back today. We'll do some touristy stuff this weekend and then I will do some organisational stuff next week. Then next weekend I will catch up with Susie who I haven't seen in over a year. Very much looking forward to that too. I spoke to my boss on the phone today and she is just lovely. Everything is looking great. The skies outside are clear blue and yet the temperature is cold which is such a lovely change from the hot Aussie Summer. I will actually be able to go outside and enjoy the sunny day out there!
Big hugs all round!
