Travelling to the UK

So, I started to write thison the train yesterday, but its disappeared. Annoying.

So I guess I'll just start again.

Mum and I left home at 4am (ouch!) so we could get to the airport in plenty of time, should I need to repack my bags cos they were too heavy. Luckily, all my bookings had been done through Virgin, who gives you a 30kg luggage allowance. Yay! My bags were all good, thankfully, so no repacking needed. We hung out in the airport for a bit, eating and exchanging money before I headed into "The Rock". Its quite cool in there. Hung out there for a while and then boarded my Air NZ flight to Sydney. The middle seat between me and some guy was free, so could stretch out a little which was nice. Apparently my travel agent had booked me the cheapest flight available cos I got no food (totes got some Air NZ lollies though, my fave!). Managedto squeeze in a showing of Les Mis too!

Got off in Sydney and managed to get out into the city super easy. Dropped my bags off too, even better! I was meeting Matt Sime in the city,  but had some time to kill, so went to a brow bar place. The lady there was really cool, she had a ruler and everything to make sure my brows were perfect. Managed to catch Matty and we went for brunch at this pancake house, which wasnt really that good at all! We then wandered around the city, down to the Opera House and back up through the botanic gardens before I had to head back to the airport. I was checked in for my next flight so didnt have to be there early. Went through security all good and pretty much straight to my gate lounge.

My Virgin Australia flight to Abu Dhabi was amazing. I had 3 seats to myself! And I had ordered the gluten free meal, so Igot my food super quick and it was gooooood. Had an epic fish and potato meal for a late lunch/early dinner type thing. I watched "The King and I" whichI was in at PLT in 2003. Msn, it brought back some hilarious memories, and it is just an amusing film in general. I had a great time watching that and laughing. I can't really remember what happened next, but at one point, I was stretched out on the seats with lots of pillows. My blue RWC2011 volunteer jacket was a great extra blanket. I reckon I must have slept at least 6 hours, which is awesome for a 13 hour flight! I started to watch a whole bunch of films, but got bored. Ended up watching "The Croods" though which was great. I even got special snacks delivered to me. Yum! They had a little pack on the seat when you arrived so I used my little eye mask. It was great! Had a second meal, which was pretty much the same as the first, but good.

The Fishy Lunch...yum!

All gonsies

Me, all stretched out!

Finally we landed in Abu Dhabi! We had to get off the plane outside and catch a bus to the terminal. It was 35degrees and bloody hot! The bus was air conditioned, thankfully, cos I was dressed for flying so heaps of layers! Had to wait in a really long line to get my boarding pass for my connecting flight with Etihad, which ended up being delayed and no one told us anything! I still need to send in a complaint actually. I meandered around duty free for a bit but didn't buy anything,  but eventually ended up in Burger King cos I was super hungry by this stage! I was waiting in the gate lounge, so was one of the first in line to board, only t be told that cos I was waiting in the gate lounge so early and I didn't have a blue stamp on my boarding pass,  I had to go back out of the gate lounge and get the stamp. More lining up! Super annoying. Eventually got my seat though, a window seat, beside 2 kids eugh. It ended up being pretty much ok, the kid beside me ended up with his head on my shoulder at one point though hahaha. Eithad were ok on board, they had towels coming around constantly, sometimes even hot! The food was meh (there was soooo much breakfast! The gluten free buns were eh, but the mushrooms were delish). The movies were meh. All in all I was pretty gutted with their service. They had been hyped up so much!

My Eithad Breakfast. There was so much of it! Which was a good thing.

Anyway, we eventually landed in London. Thankfully the border control moved pretty quick, cos I was on a tight deadline to reach my bus on time to get me to Liverpool. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw my suitcase - I hadn't seen it since Wellington, so was super glad to see it made it ok. Missioned it through the airport and onto the Heathrow Express Terminal Exchange. An epic walk awaited me to the bus station, but when I got there (in heaps of time) I managed to use my Etihad toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth which felt awesome. Annnd then, I made it to the bus. The first bus.

The first bus was ok, it was just from Heathrow to Victoria Coach Station. I had an hour wait at Victoria though, and it was the first time I had all my bags with me for such a long time. Eventually got the knack of managing those which was a relief!

After hanging round there for an hour, managed to get on my 4 hour bus trip to Liverpool. It went pretty well. I couldn't really get to sleep though which annoyed me! Eventually I must have though cos I was woken up by the bus driver saying we were gonna ave a quick rest stop. They have these cool rest stop things here with like a whole bunch of cafes and toilets and picnic tables. That was cool. So we eventually got back on the road and straight into gridlock traffic. Like, the bus driver turned the bus off we weren't moving. Naturally, we bonded as a group of young 'uns all travelling the bus together. The escape route hatch thing out the top of the bus was open cos it was so hot! Luckily the baby on the bus wasn't crying. But it added an extra 1.5 hours onto our journey. Apparently there was a chemical spill somewhere on the M6, fun times.

But after allll that I made it to Gabies in Liverpool. Made a beeline for the shower man!!

But your probably over reading by now, so I'll stop, and hope to post another blog soon about my time in Liverpool.

Catchya xx