Day 1 - The journey
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| Ready for Ireland |
Well here we all are again! Wattle has begun her wandering!
The journey started with my friend Kerry Brown arranging my ride to the airport, as her niece, Karys, was flying out on the same flight that night. Lucky me! Thanks Kez and Shelley and Jess.
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| Wattle and Karys at Perth airport |
On the way out we were reminiscing about that very expensive glass of wine that I had last year at Perth airport.before my travels And before I knew it, Kerry had passed some money to Karys to make sure we both had another very big glass of wine.
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| Very big glass of wine. Thanks Kez! |
Some of you who have been following my blog might remember I met up with Karys in London a few times, and her sister,Jess. It's always a pleasure to spend time with them.
Anyway, on to the Emirates flight...
Before I even started I had my first drama! What would a Wattle blog be without a drama on the first page. I had been looking at my Emirates app in the weeks preceding the big journey, and I noticed that my seat selections that I made when my travel agent booked the flight had gone missing. These days they tend to charge you to get a decent seat and the ones had I had booked seemed to now appear on the "pay for me " list. Anyway I rang Liz, the travel agent and it seemed we had sorted it out. But then the day before I left, again I checked the Emirates app for my boarding pass and they told me I had to go to the desk to get a printed copy..... why is nothing ever simple??? That also had me worried and our little entourage all had to leave a bit earlier to get me sorted!!! It turns out that Emirates had somehow still stored an old copy of my passport in their database and therefore "the computer says No"!!!
Anyway there was a lovely man on the desk who sorted me out and put all my luggage through, and then put Karys' through too.
I have to admit I didn't really enjoy that 11 hour flight from Perth to Dubai. It left at 10.20 pm and I couldn't sleep at all. I think there's something uneasy about flying in the darkness...
I also struggle with the food they supply, so that just increases the ordeal. It's not that the Emirates food is bad... quite to the contrary. It's just my guts!
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| Couldn't eat much of this.. |
But then we eventually arrived at Dubai at 5.30 am Dubai time, and we had to be whisked away to Terminal A. They used to have a little train that you caught across, but today everyone was loaded into buses and it took nearly 15 mins to get across. There was only 2 hours between flights, so it was all a bit of a rush. I still managed to get my hot milk from Costa and have my Vita Brits and milk!!! I tend to come prepared these days!!!
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| Great breakfast! |
The next flight was much better and I watched all 4 episodes of Alan Banks versus the Post Office. Great series if you haven't seen it!!
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| Lunch today. |
I ended up eating the roll with butter and Vegemite (which I always carry in my bag!!) Perfect for my needs!
Eventually landed in Dublin after a good flight of 8 hours.
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| My plane at Dublin airport |
So that's day 1 and sort of day 2 done and dusted. My body has no idea what time it is where, but that will all settle pretty quickly.
Just re-read this and it seems to be a lot about me!! Sorry about that!
Hopefully it can become more about the places and people I discover over the next month, as I meander through County Clare.
Happy travels !!
ReplyDeleteThanks Meggsie. Great to have you back on board!!
DeleteI thought you had the seat sorted, did you end up having to pay for it? As for the food, do you know you can select what type of meal you want in the app, mind you I selected the lactose free one for Rikeisha but it was not that great, they said I should have selected the gluten free one. I know where the Vegemite came from…
ReplyDeleteSeat was ok in the end, it was the crazy passport details that did me in. But made it here anyway! Yeah I tried the bland meals last time and they were yuck. At least I could eat some things off the tray this time. I prob need a personalised meal, but the air companies aren't going to do that.. unless I go first!!! Don't dob me in about the Vegiemite!!!
DeleteOk no more dobbing. Don’t know why I am coming up as anonymous.
DeleteMoira, the Cats have just beaten port Adelaide by 14 goals in Adelaide, Annette.
ReplyDeleteOh dear... first we have to win tomorrow then I'll worry about it after that!!! :)
DeleteBig adventures to start the trip - I hope you have finally caught up on some sleep. I watched the Alan Banks vs the Post office on our last trip - it is great.
ReplyDeleteJust starting to get my sleep cycle right now. Always takes a few days.
DeleteHi Moira I’ve just woken up in Helmond in the Netherlands after a 26 hour journey - 2 planes, a train, a bus & a walk. The last couple of weeks was so busy at home with my sister visiting from Sydney and preparing the house for our Dutch swappers that I decided to save up your blogs to read as a series once we left! We also left Perth late at 10.45 hoping we would sleep on the 11.5 hour flight to Doha but like you not a wink 😩 And like you, I watched all 4 episodes of Mr Banks on the2nd flight. I agree it was a great way to pass the time. We had a problem with the ticket machine in the train station at Amsterdam but got through that. Then no taxi when we arrived at Helmond station so eventually we hoisted our bags onto a local bus and then walked the last 15 minutes to our destination. The unexpected delights of travel!! We were totally exhausted and collapsed into our comfy bed after a hot shower. And now I’ve woken up in what will be our home for the next month and the trials of the journey fade away and become a story to tel! I’m now going to read all about your adventures in the past two weeks. 😊 Katie
ReplyDeleteWow Katie.. that's one big journey to have completed. Good for you. You never know what will happen when you're on the road. Hope you enjoy!!
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