I was born in Newcastle, Australia but now live in Adelaide, Australia with my husband Ted.
I currently work as a Flight Attendant for Qantas, and as an ESL teacher.
I have traveled to over 68 countries so far, and am hoping to visit many more.
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Adelaide, Australia
  • Giorno 8

    Day 8

    3 giugno, Norvegia ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Now that we have 24 hours of daylight, we woke up way too early again at 5am because, even though we’re using eye masks, our bodies and brains are still telling us to get up. Whilst having breakfast in the buffet restaurant with Keith and Wee, we admired the amazing, mountainous scenery which is reminiscent of the scenery we saw in Alaska.

    Unlike Geiranger, our cruise ship is located a short distance from town so after disembarking, we needed to find a way in rather than doing a 40 minute walk. Since our main priority was going up the cable car, we found a ticket seller which offered this option which included the shuttle bus to and from the cruise port. Since it was around the same price as a regular cable car ticket, it seemed like a good option.

    After boarding the bus, we departed about 10 minutes later, much to the dismay of an elderly Asian gentleman who was still waiting for his wife to board. It was sad to see because the gentleman didn’t understand that he needed to disembark, whilst watching his wife trying to chase the bus as it was leaving.

    The cable car ride wasn’t very long and was fortunately very frequent. It was an amazing view from the top, which we shared with groups of school students and even a handful of dogs. Since the last shuttle was returning to the ship at 1:30pm, we decided to forego that idea as it would’ve meant that we wouldn’t have time to see the city. Our cable car driver told us about the local bus service from town back to the cruise port which sounded like a better idea.

    We walked towards the Arctic Cathedral for some photos before crossing the Tromsø Bridge towards the city. Earlier, Ted and I had mentioned how amazing the weather had been, since it was almost Summer-like and not cold at all. All that changed as we crossed the bridge, as the sun disappeared behind the clouds and a cold breeze picked up. Our beautiful weather had seemingly disappeared!

    We wandered around the town of Tromsø which, at best, was quaint but not much else. One worthwhile stop though was at the Smørtorget cafe which, whilst expensive, offered the best coffee we’ve had so far since starting this holiday! We purchased the bus tickets through an online app and, nine stops later, we were back at the cruise port for a much cheaper price.

    Whilst waiting to board the boat it started to rain, which drew attention to the holes I didn’t know I had in my shoes. We went for lunch in the buffet restaurant before heading to movie theme trivia with Charlie, which we’d already missed most of!

    Our afternoon was mostly a relaxing one, as I read in the solarium before going to dinner with the guys from Reno. This 24 hour daylight is still hard to get used to! I ended up going to bed at 10pm after hanging out with Blaine and Charlie, but the bright light was telling me it was too early to sleep! Tomorrow we head to Honningsvåg, the northernmost point in mainland Europe.
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  • Giorno 7

    Day 7

    2 giugno, Norwegian Sea ⋅ 🌬 12 °C

    Last night we had the best sleep so far, as we’re slowly getting used to both the different time zones, and the almost 24 hour daylight. Today was another ship day, so there isn’t much to write about!

    Most of the day was spent socialising, as we went to trivia with Keith and Wee in the morning, and then spent most of the day relaxing in the Solarium, which is an adults only pool area. Considering we are in a Nordic climate, it is fully enclosed and warm enough to swim or just relax.

    I ended up going to the 3pm trivia with Charlie and Blaine (I’m still yet to win a game!), and ended up being joined by Ted and Blaine’s mother Suzanne. We spent so much time afterwards talking about all things political that suddenly, it was time for the 5pm trivia! We then ended up having dinner with the Americans from Reno.

    Today we also crossed the Arctic Circle, which would explain why we’re having 24 hours of daylight now. Apparently there were some Orca whales off the side off the boat but I didn’t see them, so hopefully they’ll reappear again during our cruise.

    Ted was keen to watch the tennis in our stateroom so I went back out for drinks with Blaine and the Americans from Reno. Our arrival tomorrow in Tromsø isn’t until 10:30am but I still didn’t have an overly late night.
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  • Giorno 6

    Day 6

    1 giugno, Norvegia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Any hopes I had of a sleep-in today were dashed when Ted woke up at 5am and decided to involve himself with every room activity possible, meaning I couldn’t fall back asleep. Since it was still too early for breakfast, we went and got a coffee at the Starbucks-like cafe which, just like the name suggests, serves awful coffee. This morning was also a good opportunity to enjoy our balcony, as we sailed through the fjords and admired views of all the waterfalls, from both there and from the top deck of the ship.

    Ted took a bag to breakfast this morning, so we were able to take some food items with us on our day out in Geiranger today. Due to my early wake up call, I did need another snooze before we packed up and headed out around 10:30am. That almost ended up being a disaster for the crew as one moron passenger decided to open a barrier leading downstairs, which ultimately led passengers to descend towards the exit in a completely chaotic fashion.

    Geiranger is a very pretty town, well hidden within the Norwegian fjords. We were anticipating cooler weather but it is much milder than we’d expected. One thing I had considered hiring for our time here was one of the E-mobility vehicles which looked like a lot of fun but were however, really expensive! We ended up finding our tour bus after asking at the tourist information, and were handed a weird radio-like device, which was meant to deliver the tour to you in your own language (but didn’t work).

    Our German driver Andre first took us to the Flydalsjuvet lookout but it wasn’t exactly like the pictures promised - a heavy fog was still there from the morning and only dissipated slightly to give us a hazy view of the waterfront. Andre kept apologising but didn’t need to as that’s just how life is.

    As we continued to ascend, any remnants of Summer disappeared as we were completely surrounded by snow and ice. After driving past Lake Djupvatnet, we arrived at the Dalsnibba lookout to photograph the glacier. Well, in theory anyway, as the fog was even thicker there! It only ended up being a quick toilet and souvenir stop, as there wasn’t a lot more to do.

    Andre felt bad so he offered us a very quick photo opportunity at Lake Djupvatnet before continuing on. We passed through town and continued in the opposite direction towards the Eagle Bend lookout. Fortunately the weather here was great, which was lucky because this lookout was the best of the lot. We also had extra time here to make up for the earlier sights.

    After returning to town, we wandered through the local shops and restaurants, considering whether to eat there. As predicted, the prices were exorbitant, so we piked out and returned to the ship to drop off our backpack and have lunch there. Ted did however pay $3.15 to use the toilet so at least we contributed something to the local economy.

    After lunch, we headed back out into town again as I wanted to do the local waterfall walk. Ted decided we would take the road up instead and come from the opposite direction which I wasn’t thrilled with as the climb was twice as difficult. The photos we got were great though, as the weather continued to improve. On the walk back to the ship we stopped at a local grocery store where Ted bought some beautiful strawberries for his onboard breakfasts.

    Ted wanted to have dinner on the starboard side of the ship so we could watch the departure process, which included the folding up of an enormous zigzag walkway that is attached to the boat. We saw some of the American guys again at the back of the boat, and joined them in taking photographs of the various waterfalls during the departure.

    Since our sleep patterns have been sketchy, we both thought an early night sounded more appealing than going out for drinks. Tomorrow we have another ship day, so we will probably use it for a bit of R&R.
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  • Giorno 5

    Day 5

    31 maggio, North Sea ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    Today was just a ship day for us, which was a great opportunity to explore and meet some of our fellow passengers. I did wake up earlier than I would have liked, so I used the opportunity to take photos of different parts of the cruise ship, like the rock climbing wall, the sky bar and the formal dining room. I also met some of my other early risers, who were either going to the gym or just had jet lag.

    Ted also went to the gym at this time, before we met up to go to breakfast together. Like all our previous cruises, we overindulged, but also knew when to stop. One thing we like about cruising is meeting the different crew on board - I spoke to a lovely Mexican waitstaff lady, which was a good opportunity for us to both practice our English and Spanish.

    Ted and I went to our first onboard trivia where we may have been a bit too confident - we thought the questions were too easy but only ended up coming fifth! We were a bit gobsmacked when a man in an electric wheelchair buggy purposely ran into some chairs near us just so he could have some room. I then went to another trivia competition nearby which was “guess the destination” where you needed to guess somewhere by a photo. I did a lot better at this one, and was personally impressed how many I got correct.

    We went to lunch early at 11:30am since we were already hungry again, but Ted wasn’t feeling well afterwards so we went back to the room until he recovered. After sleeping for about two hours he felt better so it was most likely a combination of different food and lack of sleep. I did have the opportunity to go to another trivia, but foolishly decided to watch Trump’s reaction on TV to his recent guilty verdict. What a waste of 10 minutes that was!

    Since tonight is formal night, we’d had our clothes pressed and booked to have dinner in the formal restaurant instead of the buffet restaurant. Since our dinner wasn’t until 8:15pm, we ended up having something to tie us over before getting ready and going for drinks at the Vintages bar again. We saw some of the guys we’d met last night, before going to the formal dining room.

    We ended up getting a table to ourselves instead of sharing with others and, as much as we enjoy the buffet, it was really nice to have a proper formal meal instead. I had soup and risotto, followed by cream puffs. After dinner, we went to one of the bars where we joined the guys again for drinks. Our group has now grown to ten guys, although it’s still eight Americans and just us two Aussies. We are still adjusting to these long Norwegian days and by 10pm, Ted and I were exhausted and went back to the room. Tomorrow we go to our first port of call, Geiranger!
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  • Giorno 4

    Day 4

    30 maggio, North Sea ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Today begins the first day of our cruise! I’d like to say I had a good sleep but unfortunately I woke up early with slight jet lag. Since we had the time, we packed up everything early before heading out for breakfast. The Dutch seem to be late risers as the nearby cafes didn’t open until 8am or later, so we had plenty of time.

    We headed to a cafe named Winkel 43 where we had club sandwiches and coffee which isn’t very breakfast like, but we didn’t mind. We sat outside and watched the city go by, whether it was people, dogs or bicycles, and since it’s a quieter part of the city, it was very relaxing. Ted had originally said he didn’t think he could live in Amsterdam - after our outdoor breakfast, he has now said he definitely could.

    After paying for breakfast (so expensive!), we went back to the accommodation to check out. Since our cruise today didn’t depart until 4pm, we had the whole morning to enjoy, so we decided to visit Haarlem after all. We really wanted to see somewhere outside of the capital and since my foot wasn’t hurting half as much as before, thought it sounded like a good idea.

    We caught a train from Centraal which only took 15 minutes and welcomed us with some beautiful Dutch countryside. I had mentioned to Dennis and John that we would be coming there, and John greeted us halfway from the station. Haarlem is so beautiful - similar to Amsterdam but friendlier, cleaner and more relaxed. John showed us some of the sights such as the Zentralplatz, the old church, and cheese shops before taking us to their apartment to join Dennis for coffee.

    Their apartment is amazing, with a view of a church converted into a brewery, as well as being within walking space of a cinema, cafes and supermarkets. The boys had bought us some Stroopwafel to take with us on our travels too. After leaving the apartment, John took us to the waterfront, where we had a tourist photo with a windmill before returning to the station for our train back to Amsterdam.

    After collecting our bags at the accommodation, Ted called an Uber to take us to the station but the first Uber driver, seeing the size of our bags, drove off! Fortunately the second Uber driver was a lot nicer, and even helped with our bags. Even though we had arrived almost an hour early, the check in process at Royal Caribbean was extremely easy and smooth, whether it was the bag collection, the security or immigration.

    Once onboard, Ted and I went straight to our stateroom to offload our backpacks before heading to the dining room for lunch. We had paid extra for a larger balcony room and, although the room is slightly dated compared to Princess or Celebrity, is still fine for the two of us. Since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, Ted and I overindulged slightly at the buffet, which made us feel somewhat lousy afterwards!

    To work off some extra weight, we did a quick walk around the ship, seeing some of the bars, swimming pools and lounges. We also needed to attend our safety procedures and muster drill which was a surprise. Usually this involves going to one of the onboard theatres and watching a safety demonstration video - this time we merely needed to talk to one of the crew who told us where we would need to go in an emergency. Maybe it’s because of our jobs, but we were surprised how low-key it was.

    Ted ended up finding our suitcases located down the hallway, after wondering where they were all this time! We met our room attendant Terrence who took some of our clothes for pressing as tomorrow night will be one of the formal nights.

    Since we were still so full after lunch, we had a very light dinner before heading to the LGBTQ meetup at the Vintages bar. This can sometimes be hit and miss with us and we only managed to meet three others - a couple from Tennessee and an older man from Fort Lauderdale. The effects of jet lag and little sleep did start to affect us though and we ended up heading back to our room just after 8pm. It has been a slow start but I’m hoping that we can meet some good people on this cruise too.
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  • Giorno 3

    Day 3

    29 maggio, Olanda ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Upon landing in Istanbul, I retrieved my bag from the overhead locker and was concerned when I saw that one of the pockets was still open. I double checked the locker to see that my ASIC and house keys had fallen out, which I retrieved. Thank God for my constant checking!

    Istanbul airport was enormous - truthfully, one of the biggest airports we’ve been to. It was a very long walk to the transfer gate, with an equally huge queue of people. We would’ve arrived there sooner if it hadn’t been for my ankle injury, and getting stuck behind a sporting team from Djibouti. The security was chaotic too - a lot of yelling and disorder but we made it through somehow.

    We had been excited about seeing the Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul airport, which has been touted as one of the best in the world. Sadly that excitement faded when it took forever to get there - and once there we had only 10-15 minutes before having to head to our next gate. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that our next gate was LITERALLY the furthest one from the airline lounge!

    I asked the receptionist if I could possibly get some assistance as my ankle was really giving me trouble, but she said I would have to pay for a buggy if I wanted assistance. Disappointed, we set off for the gate which, as mentioned, was a long way away. My ankle was throbbing by the time we arrived and even then, we had to wait even longer for boarding to start.

    When we finally started boarding, we were then left waiting ten minutes in the aerobridge before we could go onboard. The business class is pretty nice though - although it’s a bit dated looking, we each have our own private suite. This would’ve been better on the international flight, as you could’ve changed into your travel pyjamas without having to use the toilets! It’s a funny feeling too because you can’t see anything outside of your own cabin, so I had no idea the main door was closed until the safety demonstration started on the personal TV screens.

    The flight to Amsterdam was similarly very pleasant, with great food and polite service. Despite intending to watch a heap of movies and TV shows, I enjoyed the Turkish Airlines “quiet zone” to just read my book. When we began our descent into Amsterdam, we were greeted with grey skies and impending rain! It wasn’t quite the springtime arrival we were hoping for, but it was still nice to be back somewhere we haven’t visited for a long time.

    Fortunately, Schiphol airport isn’t half as difficult as Istanbul Airport, so the customs and baggage collection process was really simple. The only tricky part was trying to get into the city - the two InterCity trains had broken down so we waited about 25 minutes for a different train in, which was totally packed of course due to the cancellations.

    Upon arrival, we considered taking an Uber to the accommodation but decided to walk the 20 minutes instead. Unfortunately Amsterdam isn’t the most pedestrian friendly city when you have luggage, particularly since my suitcase has dodgy wheels. Our accommodation is wonderful though, as it’s on a beautiful quiet street and provides free coffee. Woohoo! We didn’t need to wait long for our room either and, even though we’re located on the 5th (top) floor, there was an elevator (rare in Amsterdam buildings) that took us all the way to the 4th floor, lessening our difficult climb with luggage.

    We decided to do some sightseeing which was very casual as we have been to Amsterdam before. Easier said than done though as the number of bicycles around are terrifying! I’m sure I saved Ted’s life more than once from being mowed down by a flying Dutchman. We are located near the Anne Frank House so we joined the surrounding crowds in getting a photo before continuing on. For lunch, we stopped at a Dutch pancake restaurant where I had an an apple and banana pancake with extra coffee.

    Most of the sights we saw were the canals and houses which are always so beautiful, so after a couple of hours we headed back to our room. Last night’s lack of sleep was catching up with me, so I had a nap in the room. Ted woke me up after an hour to avoid messing up my sleeping routine but truthfully, I was so tired I could’ve easily slept another five hours.

    Originally we had planned to go to nearby Haarlem tonight to see my friend Dennis whom I’d met here 10 years ago, with his husband John, but since I didn’t want to worsen my foot injury, they said they would come to Amsterdam instead. After getting ready, we caught an Uber to the Taboo bar in the Amsterdam gay street and had a drink whilst waiting for Dennis and John.

    It was a great idea to catch up with the guys, as we always love a reason to go out with the locals. After having our fill of Heinekens, we went for dinner at the restaurant Black and Blue which was directly across from the bar. The waitress was American and mentioned her Aussie boyfriend was from Newcastle. The bar next door offered something called Wild Wednesday with beers for €2 so we went there to continue the evening.

    Before we knew it, it was 10:30pm, and the boys had to head off home. It was a bit unexpected as the days are much longer here, meaning there was still daylight until quite late. After catching an Uber back, we went to bed at about 11.15pm.
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  • Giorno 2

    Day 2

    28 maggio, Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Going to bed early last night was a smart idea, since we managed to get about nine hours sleep. Well I did anyway, since Ted claimed I was snoring all night. Also the air conditioning in the room, whilst a welcome addition, is playing havoc with my sinuses as we probably aren’t used to it coming from a cold Adelaide.

    We went downstairs for a mediocre breakfast which didn’t offer many options that Ted could eat. Also, the traditional music they played in the dining room was loud and annoying! Since we have booked for two nights, we have day use of the room before heading to the airport tonight for our flight to Amsterdam.

    Ted suggested we head out for a coffee, so we walked down towards the main area of Seminyak. Unluckily for me, I rolled my ankle whilst stepping down from the kerb onto the street. The pain was awful, so Ted ran to a nearby convenience store to get me some cold cans of drink to put on the ankle to reduce the pain. After about ten minutes, I managed to hobble back towards the hotel.

    Since we still hadn’t had our coffee, we stopped at a street side vendor called “What the Truck” to rest my ankle and have an iced coffee. They also gave me some ice to place on my ankle. Ted suggested I could help my ankle by relaxing it in the pool which sounded like a great idea. We got changed before heading down to the pool area for some R&R.

    After a while we needed some lunch so we went to nearby Taris Bali for a simple meal of nachos and a tuna sandwich. The waves again were a sight to behold - I had read that there was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia however, it wasn’t at a concerning level. Either way, watching the waves did still unsettle you slightly.

    Ted bought me a compression bandage to stabilise my foot before we headed out for another massage today. Walking there was difficult but not impossible as it is very close to the hotel. I decided to get a facial instead of a foot massage, for obvious reasons! The massage today was better than yesterday’s, although lying sedentary for a while made it more difficult to put weight back on my foot.

    After hobbling back to the hotel, we decided to go to the airport slightly earlier to avoid the Bali peak hour traffic. Fortunately our taxi driver was quick to arrive, and similarly the traffic wasn’t too bad. Our cab did sustain some damage though when a motorcycle coming the other way in heavy traffic swiped the side of the car.

    As we were very early, we ate a small meal at the Two Dragons in the departure hall before going through to the check-in gates. As we’re flying Business Class we went straight to the appropriate queue, only to be stuck behind an enormous group from Brazil travelling together who seemingly took forever to check-in. It was so slow that people who arrived at the Economy Queue at the same time were almost checked in before us.

    Ted has been stressing out continuously about this flight, solely because we were unable to check in using the Turkish Airlines app. The worrying was fruitless though as we checked our bags and ourselves in easily all the way to Amsterdam. We were pleasantly surprised to find out we were also entitled to lounge access at the Tujuwan Lounge before boarding.

    We made the right choice at the immigration line which moved very quickly and made our way straight to the Lounge. As far as business class lounges go, it was very mediocre however, we still appreciated the quiet space and complimentary food and drink.

    Since I’m still struggling a bit with my ankle injury, we headed off towards the gate a bit early since walking there wasn’t the easiest thing to do. We didn’t need to wait very long - the flight boarded on time and we were among the first ten passengers onboard.

    The business class is quite different to Qantas - it was great to see that each seat was like a personal capsule for ultimate privacy. There were some other benefits too including the larger entertainment system and the onboard chef to ask us for our meal order.

    Since there was complimentary wifi for business class, Ted and I wasted no time before posting a photo of ourselves in business class on Instagram! The food service onboard was incredible, receiving some nuts and a drink before the main course. I had the marinated prawns and a zucchini soup which were both divine, following by rigatoni with parmesan tomato sauce, and a selection of traditional Turkish desserts. The first wine I chose - Bodega Beronia Crianza - was not only unfamiliar to me but also wasn’t my type of wine, so the Flight Attendant brought me another which was much better.

    After the flight attendant made up my bed, I settled down for some sleep hoping that the glasses of wine would help. Alas, I only managed three hours before feeling mostly awake. The rest of the cabin though managed to sleep a lot more than I did. I did some meditation though and got another hour but I sort of feel like I’m too wound up to sleep. One interesting thing was seeing all the bright cities as we were flying over Iran.

    The breakfast served was just as awesome as the dinner, as I had an omelette served with fruits and a scroll. I was hoping to get one of my trademark “crewfies” with the crew but they advised me that Turkish Airlines don’t allow crew to be in photos.

    Thankfully this flight was really enjoyable and before we knew it, we were in Istanbul. And I did like the way the Captain said in his pre-arrival PA “I wish you a good landing”.
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  • Giorno 1

    Day 1

    27 maggio, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Today started extremely early - 3:30am to be exact - as our flight to Denpasar on Jetstar was departing at 6:15am. Fortunately we had taken care of nearly everything - packing our bags, turning off the power points, putting Snoopy into day care - during the weekend. All we needed to do was wake up, get dressed, and await our Uber driver who arrived early.

    Our drive was speedy thanks to the early hour and the fact that we live in Adelaide, so our arrival just involved dropping off our bags and going through security. Since we were quite early, we first got a coffee from our friends at Muffin Break before heading towards the international gates, which are very close thanks to the small size of Adelaide airport. Boarding was a pretty quick process, especially since we were in Row 6. The flight was also completely full as everyone seemed to be escaping the cold of Adelaide. We had pre-ordered food before our flight, which included an awful toastie and green tea but then, economy airline food is never known for its gourmet quality!

    I spent most of the flight alternating between reading my book and watching Netflix, and even managed to get a selfie with the crew before disembarking. Ted walked through the airport at breakneck speed hoping to be one of the first through immigration, but it seemed that the process had changed again as we needed to purchase a visa there in the airport. After trying to wrangle the website, a friendly agent offered to do this for us during the immigration process, which was a lot easier than trying to do it ourselves.

    Ted had pre-ordered a Klook driver to transport us to our hotel, so we didn’t need to find a driver upon arrival. The transfer was about half an hour with so-so traffic but really, Bali didn’t look too different from the last time we were here. As we arrived at our hotel before 2pm we were unable to check in, so we changed into our Summer clothes before heading out to explore.

    We walked along the beachfront before reaching Chez Gado, which sold more westernised food than Asian food. The view of the water was amazing but also a bit disconcerting considering how enormous the waves were. Ted had also pre-booked a massage for us at De Nyuh Spa, so we enjoyed our one hour massage before heading back to the hotel to check in. One thing I did learn though - never do a massage shortly after a big meal! As I was lying face down on the massage table and the masseuse was pushing onto my back I was concerned I would be sick at the same time!

    For dinner, Ted suggested we try a vegan restaurant he had been to before. The walk was about 20 minutes from our hotel, and was in a secluded spot amongst gardens. The satay was very nice, and you really didn’t miss the meat element. It was also a healthier option as the restaurant didn’t sell Coca Cola! After dinner, we headed back towards our hotel and stopped at a crêperie for a coffee and crepe for dessert. We really weren’t in the mood for going out since we’d been up since 3:30am, and the thought of sleep sent us to bed by 9:15pm!
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  • Giorno 21

    Day 21

    31 marzo 2023, Filippine ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Despite being exhausted when we arrived last night, I really didn’t sleep well. I was still thinking about all the happenings from yesterday, not to mention that this room has a noisy air conditioner. I did manage to get another hour of sleep in, but we also needed to get up before the breakfast time was over.

    One plus about this hotel are the friendly staff, and the breakfast served was pretty good too. We asked the receptionist if we could possibly check out later due to our late arrival last night, but she was only able to give us an extra hour. It was better than nothing, so we thought we would explore Manila before needing to come back and get ready before our flight tonight.

    As it turned out, Manila wasn’t as great as we would’ve liked. For starters, our hotel is not in the nicest area as we noticed quite a few beggars. This was made more difficult when two young girls came up to us and begged for food whilst we were waiting to cross the road by pulling on our clothes.

    We walked towards the waterfront which wasn’t as great as it sounds, as it was more industrial. On the way, we saw a demonstration of fire trucks, complete with sirens blazing. Since it was so near the American embassy we initially thought it was some military emergency! Across the road was Rizal Park, which was a large open space of parks and Chinese gardens. We then headed towards Intramuros, which is the historical walled part of the city.

    To be honest, that wasn’t the greatest either. Anything historical usually interests me, but the area was neither beautiful nor appealing. When Ted suggested returning to the hotel, it seemed like a great idea since the heat was getting worse anyway.

    When we got to the hotel, we showered, changed and packed up before organising a Grab to the airport. That wasn’t the most pleasant experience either, as we saw plenty of shanty housing, as well as a woman with a baby who kept tapping on the car window when we were stopped at the traffic lights. It was certainly an eye opener, and unfortunately not a pleasant one.

    The airport experience wasn’t as easy as we’d expected - when we went to check in, we were told our bags had to be security screened first. Apparently this is a requirement for all flights to Australia, Canada and the United States. After waiting half an hour for screening to open, the process involved opening our bags so they could do an explosives check on the content. After that, we could finally check in our bags, although we did wonder if we would’ve had to go through this process if we had our bags checked all the way to Melbourne yesterday.

    We had about three hours until we needed to board so we went to the Mabuhay Lounge. As far as lounges go, it was not the greatest as the selection of food was poor and the bathrooms weren’t that clean. But it was still a quieter, less hectic place to pass the time. When we went to board, our boarding passes were checked, and we were told we needed to put our bags through security screening (apparently there wasn’t the right stamp on our boarding passes). We tried to explain that we had already done this, but we were still led downstairs to do it again.

    Sure enough, our bags weren’t there and we reiterated again that we had already done it. Fortunately the lady who checked us in was there and confirmed our story so we were taken back upstairs to the boarding gate. When we went to board we were told - again - we couldn’t board as our bags needed to be screened. This time, the same guy who took us downstairs had to tell the boarding staff we had already been checked so, after all the initial hassle, we were finally onboard.

    Business class on Philippine Airways again exceeded our expectations as everything was wonderful. After dinner had finished, I settled down to sleep and managed a good four hours. I started to watch the new Doctor Strange movie during breakfast but didn’t quite get to see the ending before we arrived in Melbourne.

    The differences of being in Australia compared to many other countries was so obvious, as the immigration process was so fast and easy. We did however stand nervously at the baggage carousel wondering if our beloved bags had actually made the flight (they had!).

    As I type this last day entry on our flight home to Adelaide, we are very grateful to be back in Australia. We have seen some beautiful destinations, but the trip has also opened our eyes, and made us again grateful for what we have.
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