The Journey

Well, I am here and what a journey! I know that it is a long way but I think I underestimated the length of time of how long it would actually take.
I left from Heathrow in the Friday night - had a little bit of a panic after sitting in the biggest car park of the world - the M25 and worrying that I wouldn't get there on time. I did and made it through all the queues and into the lounges, where just sat and people watched eating an excuse of a sandwich. I always wonder why some people make such an effort in their dress and appearance when they are going to sit on a long haul flight.
I boarded my first flight leaving at 22.15 to Dubai, as I got onto the aircraft and headed down the aisles to my seat I was overwhelmed by perfumes and aftershaves - I hoped that the person I was sat next to hadn't spent 2 hours in duty free. As it was, neither of them had - I was sandwiched between two people; one very large women who took up half my seat and a man who fidgeted lots. Most people slept on the plane but I had to stay awake so that my jet lag wouldn't be too bad - I needed to sleep on the next leg, not this one, so I watched tv and remained squashed.
Once at Dubai, I had two hours to kill. I didn't like the airport, it was too big and too full of people. There were people sleeping everywhere - on chairs, behind chairs, in the middle of the walkway - everywhere. I wondered whether they were waiting for flights or homeless. I was tired so I did several laps of the terminal until my flight gate was announced and I could go and wait. By this stage the tiredness was making me giddy. I boarded the plane to Sydney and found my seat -this time I had an aisle seat and was sat next to a nice old lady. She was from NZ and was on her way home with her daughter after being in Paris. She was friendly and took and interest in what I was doing. It wasn't long though until I was asleep. I managed to sleep a good five hours which meant a decent amount of time was killed on the 13 hour flight and that I wasn't too tired.
On arrival to Sydney I felt refreshed and excited to be seeing Emma, but as I turned my mobile on, I had a text from Em saying that she couldn't meet me due to a Kangaroo hitting the front of her car. She was stuck on the highway, waiting for a tow. Bummer! She was ok though and that was the main thing. So, once I got through the nightmare of the airport - so many queues with people queuing in all directions, so many questions and procedures, too many people, too many trolleys and too much noise, I found the information desk and asked how to get to to Wynard Travelodge. I was told by a man who looked like Lurch from the Adam's family to get the shuttle bus - which I did, and oh dear, what an experience. The driver was insane! but he got me to the hotel through the back roads, driving a speed, shouting at drivers and driving on his horn.
Once in the hotel I found a seat to relax in, take a breath and text Emma to let her know I was here, at the same time I received a text from her to say she was at the hotel. I panicked thinking that the crazy shuttle bus man had taken me to the wrong one, but I peered around the reception and their she was. How good it was too see her... now our adventure could begin.