21+ hours of flying later...

I arrived in Perth.
 I felt like I had been traveling for eons. However, when you consider how long it took for people to get down here by boat (which was months), you consider yourself quite lucky.
  It's taken me the last few days to get settled in, due to some unforeseen (although probably not unexpected) circumstances. So let's start from the beginning, shall we?

From my shoddy ten hour lay over at Dublin airport, I took a seven hour flight to Dubai. To my pleasant surprise, I saw on my ticket that I was bumped up to business class for both my flights. What a treat! 

As far as plane rides go, that's probably the most comfortable 18 hours I've sat through, especially with the reclining chair. It was also swanky to boot: you get offered champagne, appetizers, your own tv, an actual meal on china plates... If they happen to delay my flight again and this happens, I don't think I would mind. At all.

It was all going pretty well, and when we finally touched down in Perth at 1 am... I found out my luggage didn't make it on the plane. And my reaction was basically...

My stuff was left in Dublin or Dubai (can't say which), and I had to go with wearing the same clothing for two days. That problem aside, I've been getting myself settled in, and have had a first look around the city. King's Park made for some good photography:

I'll get to know the city better over the next few months, but so far so good!

I also was part of a baby birthday party the other day for my nephew, where we had people over and a nice birthday cake. With three (cute) babies eating stuff, crying, and crawling over each other like tiny wrestlers, I had to wonder if this is what it would be like to have triplets. Luckily there were parents to keep tabs on them.

Image from here

Day 1: Dublin Airport

If movie screens on the back of chairs existed in the 1980s, they wouldn't even be having a conversation.

When life gives you layovers, I give you... A new blog post. 

I've been sitting in the Dublin airport since 10 this morning, and won't be leaving for Dubai til about 10:30 tonight. I'm tired yes, but the internet is what has been keeping me going.

 Funny how things can quickly turn over in a matter of hours; my flight to Dublin was originally supposed to be at 5:30 yesterday afternoon, but then we got a phone call saying that the first leg of my flight was indefinitely delayed.

One thing led to another, and after hours of waiting/phone calls to confirm where in the heck the plane was... It was scheduled to come in around 8:30.

So, while I may have missed my connecting flight to Abu Dhabi today and later to Perth, I managed to get a row to myself on the way over here. What a glorious feeling. Made even more enjoyable by watching When Harry Met Sally.

I've heard nothing but lilting Irish/British accents since last night, which is a favourable switch from your average North American drawl. 

I feel like I should have had a Guiness by now. 

Image from here

Intro

Ain't that the truth.

(I'm terrible at writing intros, so I'm just going to jump right in.)

Next week I will be heading off to Australia for four months! I'm starting this blog as a way to write about my adventures, discover the Aussie way of life, and post many, many pictures. Some of which may include food. 

Rather than hitting it off in the outback and wrestling with kangaroos (as one does when visiting Australia), I will hitting up the west coast in the city of Perth, where I will be hanging with my sister, her husband and year old son. My duties, while I'm there, will be to:

1. Get re-acquainted the aforementioned one-year-old
2. Get him walking like a champ
3. Play any one of these games (my favourite would definitely/obviously be no. 5, but I'll save that one for [much] later.)
4. Explore as much of Perth as possible
5. Take pictures
6. Update often
7. Find weird bugs (then back the hell away) 
8. Meet a Hemsworth brother
9. Eat

Things I will not do:

1. Trek through the outback (sorry to disappoint)
2. Wrestle a kangaroo 
3. Meet a Hemsworth brother (sadly)

This week is reserved for getting last minute items and getting my suitcase packed for a four month stay. I haven't been bitten by the travelitis bug yet (yes, there is such a thing), but that may change as my flight date approaches. It's so weird how fast it's come up.

Nothing beats a change of scenery much like Australia. Once I get past the 20+ hour plane ride (give or a take a few hours) I should be fine. 

Hanging Rock, aka Mount Diogenese, is a geological formation in Central Victoria. It was the inspiration for an eerie book, later turned into an eerie movie in 1975.  I definitely won't get around to visiting it, but it's just another thing that seems so very mysterious... And very Australian. 

Until next week...!!!

Top image from here