on the other side

ARRIVAL AT CHRISTCHURCH

canhona — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:59:00 GMT

#11:

Precisely the last flight of the trip has a one-hour delay, just when I needed to get to Christchurch as soon as possible... I have no chance of arriving there while currency exchange is open, I’m not sure they will wait for me until so late at the residence reception, I can’t manage to call them, will need quick money for a taxi and don’t want to take unnecessary risks, so I decide to trade euros for NZ dollars while at Sydney airport. This is even more expensive because they have to convert the euros to Australian dollars and then those to NZ dollars, while my money keeps getting lost in translation...

#12:

I have no food waiting for me at the residence, but there’s no point in buying anything at the airport as they don’t let you get any sort of food into either Australia or New Zealand (I already had to throw out a lot of stuff on arrival at Sydney...) so I just decide to fill my stomach with whatever they give me for dinner on the plane. But crap: the last flight is apparently operated by a low-cost airline and there’s no complimentary food! So I had to buy an overpriced airplane sandwich. At least it was tasty! But there go my last Australian dollars...

#13:

On arrival at the airport I run past everyone to be among the first in passport control, as I need to get to the residence quickly before they give up waiting for me. I thank heavens for my wise option of travelling with hand baggage only, so I don’t have to wait for any bags. But... I made the mistake of indicating "biologist" as my profession in my passenger arrival card, so in customs they open my bags and take everything out, looking for samples that could put New Zealand’s fragile equilibrium in danger...

#14:

I run out to grab a taxi, put my bags in the car boot, get on the back seat, tell the driver the address but... he has never heard of Dovedale Avenue! He decides to head to the university area anyway, we drive around and eventually find the place... but the road to the reception is closed to vehicles at night. I ask the driver to walk with me until I find the reception and make sure there is someone still there to let me in, and he kindly does! And there was a guy still at the reception, so I get to FINALLY put my bags down, take a shower, text home and go lie down in a long-awaited bed. I fall asleep immediately. Here at last.

TRANSIT AT SYDNEY

canhona — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:30:00 GMT

#10:

Sydney at last! I have to fill in a passenger arrival form and I have no idea which day it is anymore, so I leave the date for the airport personnel to fill in. And I can’t feel my butt any more! In fact I can’t even see it, I think it has turned in.

Now I have about 7 hours to walk around Sydney city centre and reactivate the blood flow in my legs. The weather’s not too good, rainy and grey, but it’s just showers and the temperature is mild. I start by the harbour and Opera House obviously, then a bit of the Royal Botanic Gardens, The Rocks, Harbour Bridge, Chinese Garden + Chinatown... Lovely city, with an interesting mixture of modern and old-fashioned styles. And the walk feels really good after so many hours sitting down. But I spend nearly 100 euros just for this, including the return train ticket from the airport to the city centre and the baggage storage at the airport. Australia is not cheap and the currency exchange commission is a rip-off... Makes us appreciate living in the euro zone!

[check ou my jet lag face, getting worse since Bangkok!]

TRANSIT AT BANGKOK

canhona — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:09:00 GMT

#9:

After another 11 hours flying, we have our 2-hour stop at Bangkok to clean and re-fuel the plane. Strangely to me, it is not from 3 to 5 in the morning, but in the afternoon! Now I’m completely confused. Why I’d thought it would be the middle of the night, I have no idea; must be related to Justin Timberlake’s disease as well. But this is when I start understanding something I had been wondering about since the beginning: if we were leaving London at 10 something pm and landing in Australia at 6 am the next morning, where would the jet lag come from? I would just sleep all the way through my journey and wake up fresh as a rose in Sydney. Now it hits me: it’s not a one-night flight, it’s one night plus one day, and not even I am capable of sleeping for so many hours. By now I’ve slept all that I needed, and there are still 9 hours to go till Sydney... I start wondering if it is sane to do such a long trip for less than a 6 months stay.

Anyway, can I say I’ve been to Bangkok even if I haven’t left the airport? I don’t care, I’ll say it anyway: I’ve been to Bangkok, and I have a photo to prove it:

[please disregard the airport ceiling above the exotic monument] I've even had the privilege to come into close contact with some of the local fauna: a bug at the airport and some birds that I’ve seen from the plane. Mostly storks and egrets, but I’m sure they were from some rare local subspecies.

TRANSIT AT LONDON

canhona — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:00:00 GMT

#6:

So, 2:40 hours more on a plane to London – slightly delayed, and on arrival there were no airport bus drivers available so we were stuck in the plane for quite a while. Then a six hour-wait at the airport, wandering back and forth, trying to work a bit, trying to read. Lots of noisy and coughy people. I don’t want to get ill while I’m travelling! Cover your mouths, people!

#7:

If you’ve watched the recent film “Friends with benefits”, you probably noticed Justin Timberlake couldn’t do calculations properly. I don’t know how that disease is called, but I have it too. I had a few pounds lefts from the last time I’d been to the UK, so I carefully calculated how much I could spend on food to have just enough left for a coffee. Really carefully. So I bought a something-roll, the only warm one that didn’t sound like it had anything too spicy in it, but I had forgotten that in this country almost everything is too spicy. My tongue still hurts… And, surprise of surprises, I’d done my calculations wrong and I’m left 6-pence short of enough money for a coffee. And I needed a coffee… Snif.

#8:

Long time sitting at the gate before the flight to Sydney, which I find out is via Bangkok. This extra stop was not mentioned in my ticket! Too bad it’s in the middle of the night, so I won’t be able to see much of Thailand from the plane, or much of the crazy Thai traffic form the airport.

DEPARTURE

canhona — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:00:00 GMT

I had actually been wondering when the misadventures would start in such a long journey: Immediately on the first plane? On the second, maybe? Perhaps even on the third or the fourth flight, or maybe I could even get to my destination with no misadventures this time! Ha.

#1:

Not too surprisingly, the misadventures of the trip started even before I left home: on trip eve I realize my (crucial) laptop bag is ripping! It doesn't look like it can be sewn, as it will just rip even more. The bag is quite new, but obviously I can't find the receipt. Anyway I decide to try and show it at the shop where I bought it, as the train from Évora to Lisbon is at 9 o'clock and that gives me a bit of time to drop by the shopping centre beside Lisbon station before heading to the airport.

#2:

Flashback from the past: The last time I had to take a plane, I also had to leave Évora on the 9 o'clock train. I was not carrying much weight so I was walking to the station -- it's a 20-something-minute walk, so I was to leave the house at 8:30. Somehow in my mind that was converted to the train leaving at 8:30, so I left the house at 8, only to arrive there and wait at a deserted station for more than half an hour... Sigh.

#3:

This time I was not going to make the same stupid mistake, so I proudly set to leave the house at 8:30. And this time I was carrying a bit more weight, so I decided to take a taxi, so I could actually leave at 8:45.

As usual before long trips, there were lots of little things to do before leaving, so it was 8:42 when I finally picked my phone to call a taxi. Panic: I forgot that my old phone died with my contacts list a while ago, and the taxi number was not in the new phone! I didn't even remember to call information, or which the information number was; it only occurred to me to check the internet, so I take my laptop out of the bag (very carefully so it doesn't rip even more), turn it on, aaaahh!, there's no internet because I've unplugged the router already, plug the router back in, wait for it to be ready, get on the internet, find the number after 3 wrong links, and finally call a taxi. I ask the driver to rush to the station, there's still time to catch the train; I get there 3-4 minutes before departure, run up the stairs and down the other stairs (which are really slippery after the rain, by the way) to the platform... But the train is closed and the lights are off and there's no one in! Then I remember: shit! It's Sunday! The train on Sunday is at 10, not at 9!!

So crap. One hour waiting at the station, plus a 1:30 train ride. Fortunately still on time to catch the plane in Lisbon, but not to drop by the shop and have them fix my bag. Harumph.

#4:

While on the train, I remember that I left 4 or 5 small tomatoes on my kitchen counter. They will look pretty when I arrive back after 7 weeks... Why didn't I remember this while I was waiting at the station and had so much time to go back? Harumph harumph.

#5:

At least the taxi driver who takes me from the station to the airport is nice and talkative, takes a bit of my stress away, although I had planned to take the bus to the airport (if I had arrived early as I had thought), and the taxi leaves me with barely enough euros left for my trip back to Évora. Anyway, luckily there's a pharmacy at the airport and I’m able to buy some band-aids (or whatever these are called) for my bag. I could have been a bag nurse, did an impeccable job, you can barely even notice something happened:

NOWHERE NEAR READY

canhona — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:23:00 GMT

departing in a few days and remembered too late that i should have bought some nz dollars, considering i'll be landing there after 10:30 pm and will need a taxi... too late now, they don't sell that currency anywhere around here! hope the taxi driver takes euros... or maybe american dollars