- 23 January, 2012 //
- Asia & Oceania, Current Students Abroad, Jessica in Australia //
- Tags : airports, arrival, Canberra, Study Abroad in Australia
- 0 Comments
I swear airports make it their job to add additional stress to people’s lives! Woke up Friday morning to falling snow, awesome, thinking that somehow it would mess up my travel plans. Checking the flights, everything was on time. So I proceed to get myself ready, make sure everything is packed, and that I was all set to go.
So I go through security, got all my stuff together, ready for the big day, or two, of traveling. Because of the snow, the flights earlier than mine was cancelled. Of course, the airlines book these people to go out on the next available flights. Well from doing this, the airlines have now overbooked my flight. Sweet, good job. The attendant gets on the intercom system telling us the issue and then proceeding to say that our flight would not leave until three people volunteered to stay and get on a different flight. Really? Because who’s fault is it that you overbooked the flight. Finally one lady offers to stay later and I believe a couple said they could leave their bags for the next flight so that somehow made weight? Who knows, but at this point I don’t care because I just want to get on my way! Also on my flight was the Indiana Jaguars basketball team, which provided for some great entertainment. Since most of these guys were tall, lanky males, they could not stand up straight in the plane nor could they fit comfortably in the four-seater plane, man did I feel bad for them. Anyways, the flight got there in 45 or less minutes, made up for our late departure. Ate one of my cookie dough poptarts from Mom, not really sure how they can call those breakfast! I could justify it as a snack maybe. Sat by a really nice lady who had traveled to both Australia and New Zealand, told me I was going to have a blast that was reassuring.
Now in the Minneapolis airport, I navigate my way to my gate and I have some time to sit and wait for my next flight. Getting close the take off time, of course, the attendant gets over the intercom again saying that our flight has too many people on it, asking for any volunteers to take the later or a different flight. Somehow, this seems like a reoccurring problem I really think the airlines should work on. As much as both times I wanted to stay after to get the vouchers and meals and such, each time the next flight times wouldn’t really work with my schedule and I didn’t want to be rushed at all.
The flight from Minneapolis to Las Angeles wasn’t terrible, got somewhat long with the time change. Sat by the cutest older couple that had also traveled to where I was going. They were on their way to California to drive wherever they pleased for a vacation—something I would aspire to do someday. They were even holding hands on the flight, precious! I watched Moneyball on this flight, which is a very good movie. But now in Las Angeles, this airport was a WHOLE different story! I had never been there, no idea where to go, also had to deal with my luggage. Picked up my bags, walked up the stairs realizing I had no idea what I was doing. Asked someone where to go, which I was glad to have good listening skills. To get to where I needed to be next, I proceeded back down the stairs, or escalators, outside to wait for a shuttle for over 20 minutes, thought the guy had lied to me. This shuttle A then took me all around the airport to get to terminal 2 which is where Virgin Australia was. Once in line, I felt like the odd ball, everyone had Aussie accents! Definitely made me smile and get a little more excited, but also brought along nerves! But they had the music bumping, really nice people so I felt all right. Made it through bag check and got my tickets and was going to meet up with Laura, another girl who was doing exactly what I would be. She actually has turned out to be a God sent! But that will come later. Met Laura and we ate our last American meal together, Burger King because that literally was our only option. Then had to wait for our flight for a few hours, which was when I made my last few phone calls and tried to prepare myself.
If every traveling and you have the option of flying Virgin, do it! By far the best and coolest flight I have EVER been on! Much more modern and up beat, I think the atmosphere calms the nerves much more than anything else! Laura and I were hoping to sit together, we were actually in the same row already just on the opposite sides of the plane. Luckily, the boy whose seat I was in was more than happy to switch me for my window seat! Perfect, the plane ride was starting out great. The guy on the other side of me turned out to be a character and someone enjoyable to sit next too. Then we see that it was only estimated to take 13 and a half hours! Woohoo, much better than the 16 or 20 hours I had originally been thinking. Finally, it was now time to sleep! I hadn’t slept on any early flights because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to sleep on this big one. I crashed right away for an hour, and then dinner was served. I had beef stroganoff, yum. With my tummy full, I sleep for a good 5 hours then and “closed my eyes” for an hour or two. Then breakfast was served, French toast, my favorite! And with only a few hours left, I couldn’t sleep anymore so I decided to watch a movie, Bridesmaids. Quite hilarious. And now it was time for arrival, which means that we were now in Australia! HECK YES!
The scene was gorgeous, the sun just setting with it being 6am for them on Sunday. We had to get our bags and go through customs. Passed with flying colors. Then we were off to get to our next flight with less than an hour. Over here, their airport is set up differently. One part of the airport is for international flights; the other is for domestic flights. So we needed to check in and then get on a bus to get to the other part of the airport. We rush over to the domestic area and have to cut a bunch of people in line so we could get through security and make it to the plane on time. Of course, my gal checks me in, tells me to go, assuring my bags would make in on the plane. In line for security, both Laura and I make it through, and then rush off to our terminal to find the almost completely empty plane waiting for us. Oops sorry guys! From Sydney, our flight was to Canberra. Much like the Sioux Falls to Minneapolis flight, less than 45 minutes, but it was a much bumpier ride.
Now in Canberra, our home for the next 5 months, we exchanged some currency and off we go to get our bags. Since our plane was so empty, there wasn’t many bags and shouldn’t have taken long to get them. Everyone else had cleared out because they had no need to exchange money so we were the last ones down there. No luggage was on the belt, but it was still moving so obviously we waited. After a minute, Laura’s three bags come rolling out. All right, now time for mine right? Wrong. The belt stops without my luggage on it, sweet. Now what? So I have to go upstairs looking for my bags. Scott, the very friendly Aussie, tells me that my bags are still in Sydney and would be on the flight to Canberra at noon. Awesome, not. I was told they would be able to be delivered to the university, no problem that was great because I was not going to wait around for them. But then he needed a contact number, which of course I did not have because I have just arrived in the country, which now provided a bit of a problem. He said no worries, we can still do it, I’ll give you my number to call once you get there to confirm where they should be dropped off. Great, fabulous, wonderful, thinking nothing else should go wrong now right? Wrong. Someone from the university was supposed to be there to pick us up. Could we find them? Nope, not at all. We waited for over an hour and a half for them to show up and he never came. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! Now what to do, no phones, no Internet, no one to communicate with, no idea where we are. Thankfully, some gracious Aussie’s let us use their phones hoping we could get ahold of someone from the university, which didn’t happen. Used another woman’s phone to call the number from AustraLearn that I had, hoping they could do something since it was an emergency number. Her best advice was to call security and see what they could do for us. We didn’t really think that would help us any, and the woman had told us that UC was only 10-15 minutes away. Our last and only option was to get a taxi we figured. Over two hours and $50 later, we had finally made it to campus!
Welcomed, we got checked in, got all of our goodies and were shown to our rooms by our new Aussie friend Mitchell, who has been so great answering questions and acclimating us to our new world! Literally, after dropping off our bags we asked him, what do we do now? First day, very vulnerable, he sent us on our way to the mall, which is in walking distance of about 10 minutes. Dangerous must I say! However, their malls is x10 of ours because it has everything, grocery stores, clothing, banks, mobile places, just about anything needed is there! We picked up a few things, looked around, figured out what we had to work with. Here, they push shopping carts all the way from the mall back to campus, and then someone comes and picks them all up, how cool!
Now feeling a little more familiar with the area, we met up with a few other international students, Randii from Canada and Clau from Mexico. We’ve definitely formed a little pack and I’m loving it! I just need to make sure that I continue to step outside the box and meet others as well. Later that evening was a pizza party and activities to get to meet other freshers who live in Globo where I do. Speed dating for over 2 hours I think I’ve spoke to about half of the group. However, about half way through the activity, my bags had arrived! Finally! It was such a relief to finally have them, and I no longer had to worry or focus all my attention on getting them because they were here .
Feeling quite jet lagged at 10pm, it was time to call it a night! Although everything didn’t run as smoothly as hoped, it’s all about the journey that I’m on. I’ve got to roll with the punches as they come.
Now Monday morning, Sunday evening for you at home, I was able to unpack my suitcases and make my room feel much more like home. Today, we have a brunch at 11am, followed by a tour of the campus and then we get to go to the mall. Hopefully, I can pick up the last couple things I will need for awhile. Along with setting up my bank account here and getting my phone to work! Oh and of course meeting new friends
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