Australia/ New Zealand tour

I left home in a bit of a rush, feeling stressed because my suitcase was already overpacked. I had no idea what I’d brought that was so heavy! Last-minute repacking nearly made me miss my train.

Fortunately, I arrived at Schiphol with enough time to check in smoothly with Qatar Airways. Without lounge access this time (no KLM flight), I grabbed some McDonald’s fries—totally unaware that I’d be getting plenty of food on the plane.

We had a 40-minute delay, but no worries; the first leg was a manageable six hours. I’m a good sleeper, especially with my travel pills. I watched a documentary called *Wild Beauty*, an oad to the wild mustangs in the U.S. and how bureaucracy threatens them. It was so moving, I ended up in tears. After that, I needed something lighter, so I switched to *Late Bloomers*, which was just okay. I managed to squeeze in three hours of sleep, too.

Our late arrival in Doha shortened my layover from three hours to just 1.5, which flew by with all the security checks and customs. I couldn’t even take a photo of the huge KAWS statue because my phone was dead (I added on from.the Internet)—I’d forgotten to charge it the night before. We have two smaller KAWS figures at home,

The second leg, a 10-hour flight to Perth, was much the same—two hot meals, plus drinks and snacks, most of which I missed because I slept six solid hours, plus another two off and on. I only got through half of *The Intern* before nodding off again.

One highlight was my seat: it was incredibly comfortable, with no seat in front of me, so I could stretch my legs out fully under my blanket.

Once we landed in Australia, we had to declare our goods. Unsure if I’d packed a necklace with wooden beads and a shell, I checked “yes,” just to be safe. The customs officers laughed and actually appreciated that I’d read the form thoroughly!

I immediately ran into Gwydion, who had just arrived too. We picked up an Australian SIM card, grabbed a taxi, and headed to the hotel. I had the room to myself for the night and crashed by 9:30 p.m.Read more