The First 20 Hours Plus flight.
Had some emotional farewells at the airport. The stress of it all caught up with me when being charged extra for my baggage....I didn't mind paying the extra I was expecting it, but was just really tired and it was 1 more thing to add to my thoughts that pushed a few tears out. However My luck improved from then onwards. I bumped into an old friend from primary school as I was walking down the ummm runway corridor to the plane, and crying (insert Akward turtle here) then was crying on and off most of the way to Melbourne other than the 20 minutes of sleep I got, My travel pillow was not the miracle I had been hoping for.
I got into Melbourne and saw Corrina Haythorpe (I think thats the right spelling) from the AEU. So I had a quick chat with her and introduced myself said what I was doing and thanked her for all her work with PHJPS to help prevent the amalgamation. Fingers crossed still as we wait to hear news (make sure you let me know girls!) From there I picked up my luggage and had to recheck in for my international flight. I was a bit worried about my luggage weight and was prepared to pay up to $300 in additional baggage, Lucky for me though, the guy checking me in didnt even mention it, but in our brief encounter I think I made an impression :) He asked me if I was related to the Tetley Tea empire and I said no but I am to the Twinnings....so I dont know maybe our conversation distracted him from charging me extra. He told me that the flight was delayed by an hour and a half and so I got a meal voucher for compensation. So I ate lunch at about 9:30am because I wasnt sure what food was available once I'd gone through customs....should have waited.
Customs took about 10 minutes to go through...and once again got along really well in my 30 second interaction with border control. Made a joke about my passport photo and found out that the both of us had undergone laser eye surgery. Then my favourite part came after that...walking into the exotic world of duty free shopping. I bought some perfume since I had to unpack my other to make room and since I didnt have to pay extra baggage and had Australian currency I didnt really want to be carting around for the next 14 months. I did look for a Camera, and I have found one that I like the look of, however I'm not sure if it does panoramic or not, so if anyone knows if this " http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/compact/ts3_ft3/index.html " camera does panoramic, can you let me know please.
Anyway after waiting around for ages, I finally boarded...I was expecting a bit of a dodgy aircraft with average service but Shanghai airlines is actually quite good. I had a Chinese man sitting next to me who as soon as he sat down started talking to me in Mandarin...eek, I shouldn't have said Ni Hao, but actually his English was very good. I tried sleeping on the flight and got a little bit on and off...but didnt really get tired until the last hour of the flight which was a bit of a pain. After about 5 hours of the flight I'd had enough. Short attention span and all and needing to move. The movies on the flight were weird but I couldnt watch them properly because my headphones wouldnt plug in, Doh! But there was lots of violence and blood shed in the movies.
I arrived 2 hrs late into Shanghai, I felt sorry for the other cast members of Disney English who waiting in the car for about that long, but they're cool. Mae is from Sydney but has been teaching in I think she said Chile and there were 2 Americans who are pretty awesome guys, one has me laughing all the time, lol and made me cry today when he started crying after talking to his girlfriend and family back home. So far I have met 4 people who are going to be working in Shanghai, however at the moment, they dont really have need for us here so we are going to be floaters, They are looking for staff in Beijing...but I read Mum has already booked her flights now, so I'm not going to put my hand up for that one.
I've eaten some strange food already, including I think duck intestines, pig stomach and congeiled blood.....I found out what it was after I ate it. They hard boil their eggs in black tea. I'm not as good with chopsticks as I thought either.
Anyway this post is getting long enough.
Zai Jian.
Ps: you can leave comments on here as anon, without signing up for an account, but please type your name so I know who the comment is from.
I got into Melbourne and saw Corrina Haythorpe (I think thats the right spelling) from the AEU. So I had a quick chat with her and introduced myself said what I was doing and thanked her for all her work with PHJPS to help prevent the amalgamation. Fingers crossed still as we wait to hear news (make sure you let me know girls!) From there I picked up my luggage and had to recheck in for my international flight. I was a bit worried about my luggage weight and was prepared to pay up to $300 in additional baggage, Lucky for me though, the guy checking me in didnt even mention it, but in our brief encounter I think I made an impression :) He asked me if I was related to the Tetley Tea empire and I said no but I am to the Twinnings....so I dont know maybe our conversation distracted him from charging me extra. He told me that the flight was delayed by an hour and a half and so I got a meal voucher for compensation. So I ate lunch at about 9:30am because I wasnt sure what food was available once I'd gone through customs....should have waited.
Customs took about 10 minutes to go through...and once again got along really well in my 30 second interaction with border control. Made a joke about my passport photo and found out that the both of us had undergone laser eye surgery. Then my favourite part came after that...walking into the exotic world of duty free shopping. I bought some perfume since I had to unpack my other to make room and since I didnt have to pay extra baggage and had Australian currency I didnt really want to be carting around for the next 14 months. I did look for a Camera, and I have found one that I like the look of, however I'm not sure if it does panoramic or not, so if anyone knows if this " http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/compact/ts3_ft3/index.html " camera does panoramic, can you let me know please.
Anyway after waiting around for ages, I finally boarded...I was expecting a bit of a dodgy aircraft with average service but Shanghai airlines is actually quite good. I had a Chinese man sitting next to me who as soon as he sat down started talking to me in Mandarin...eek, I shouldn't have said Ni Hao, but actually his English was very good. I tried sleeping on the flight and got a little bit on and off...but didnt really get tired until the last hour of the flight which was a bit of a pain. After about 5 hours of the flight I'd had enough. Short attention span and all and needing to move. The movies on the flight were weird but I couldnt watch them properly because my headphones wouldnt plug in, Doh! But there was lots of violence and blood shed in the movies.
I arrived 2 hrs late into Shanghai, I felt sorry for the other cast members of Disney English who waiting in the car for about that long, but they're cool. Mae is from Sydney but has been teaching in I think she said Chile and there were 2 Americans who are pretty awesome guys, one has me laughing all the time, lol and made me cry today when he started crying after talking to his girlfriend and family back home. So far I have met 4 people who are going to be working in Shanghai, however at the moment, they dont really have need for us here so we are going to be floaters, They are looking for staff in Beijing...but I read Mum has already booked her flights now, so I'm not going to put my hand up for that one.
I've eaten some strange food already, including I think duck intestines, pig stomach and congeiled blood.....I found out what it was after I ate it. They hard boil their eggs in black tea. I'm not as good with chopsticks as I thought either.
Anyway this post is getting long enough.
Zai Jian.
Ps: you can leave comments on here as anon, without signing up for an account, but please type your name so I know who the comment is from.