Off I go.....
I managed to get to Sydney Airport with 2 hrs to spare before my flight to Bangkok. Surprisingly, it only took 17 minutes to get to the airport from North Sydney. No queues at British airways and customs/security was a breeze. I just ate and surfed my way through Qantas lounge. The flight was good, no one was sitting next to me so I was able to sprawl out.
.. 9.5 hrs later I landed in Bangkok and waited for my connecting flight to London (back to the lounge to eat & surf again....you can see a trend happening!) Yes, I will be a lot bigger when I come back from my holidays!! Lucky again to have a spare seat next to me. The flight took 12.5 hrs long (with only a few hours sleep)...so by the time I arrived in London, I was totally exhausted. The walk from one end of the terminal was my exercise, it seemed to go on forever. When I finally reached the connecting terminal & gate, I was soaked wet with sweat. It's a lot warmer than I anticipated. Of course, I was thoroughly frisked & searched at Hearthrow. I must look dodgy. Anyway, it was their risk considering I've been flying for nearly 24 hrs.
I finally managed to get through to security but my connecting flight to Paris was initially cancelled due to the flight controllers' strike in Paris....great8@! Eventually, British Airways managed to reschedule my flight 1 hr later (better late than never). Landed in Paris...Charles de Gaulle Airport..which looked like a 3rd world country's airport. It was not tres chic....more like tres sh@t. I then found out that the rail system in Paris was also on strike...great#@*! This meant that James' rail schedule from Amsterdam to Paris was also delayed. We basically managed to catch up at the airport 2 hrs later....again better late than never....have to stay positive!
We had to take the bus to the city 1.5 hrs later. We had to then find our rental apartment on foot. It would not have been so challlenging but I was carrying 25kgs of backpack and day pack. We were very lucky to bump into a nice Parisian student who showed us to our street...since we were heading the opposite way.
We eventually found the apartment, it was on the 6th floor and there was no lift....great%&*#! My heart was pounding so hard...I kept thinking...this is good for me...this is good for me...exercise as I was crawling up to the 6th level with my 25kg.backpack. Finally we reached level 6 which is on the top floor! I survived!
