So much to say, so little time!

Hello! I'm in Singapore airport, I don't have enough time to say all the things I'd like to so I much be quick and just tell you all I love you! My wonderful Mum dropped me off at the airport and although I wanted to stay clinging to her like a drowned rat, I decided I had to leave sooner or later. I have been very reasonable (lets see how long THAT lasts)!

I did manage to sleep on the plane, there was an empty seat next to me and I managed to conquer my fear of airport blankets (I'm not even kidding...) long enough to fall asleep, I'm still extra tired though. Anyway, 1 flight down, 2 to go!! Changi  airport is still beautiful and tranquil, I love it, nothing like the cattlemartket that is Heatherow terminal 3 departures!! I have taken a few photos so will include them. 

I like traveling, I don't just mean going to new places, I mean the travelling part. I think thinking and working things out and if I don't like something, I'm only passing through. It's arriving that scares me! No matter how much I love Wellington, I will arrive overtired, jetlagged, hungry, scared, homesick and in need to a serious hug. Shall we take bets of how much I freak out when I get there? I probably will, at least I'm expecting it this time. 

I have had such amazing comments on my blog and I can't thank you all enough, you can't imagine how much it means to me that I feel so supported and validated, that so many kind people share with me their thoughtfulness and care. Thank you all, I will be replying to comments while I'm here (maybe not all the time) and I'm sorry I haven't thanked you all sooner, I was in what I call 'doomsday mode'. 

I am now at the gate, ready to depart on the next leg, I am nervous but I have to remember that I chose this trip, I chose every single aspect of it and all I need to do now is try to make the most of what is quite frankly an amazing oportunity. 

Last point, no one in the whole lounge is talking, except a group of New Zealanders, it is heartening and puts a smile on my face. I hope there is much more of it to come! 

Come on grab your friends, we're going to very distant lands...

Okay, new itinerary! I did spend a while on it only to look at last year's itinerary and realise it was a much more sensible format! Oh well, it'll at least give you something to puzzle over!

Just in case puzzling isn't your style, I'll type a quick itinerary below. 

At this point I'm actually excited but still sticking my head in the sand so I don't have the worries of buying cat food or travel insurance, let's just leave those to a last minute panic! As our old pal Pinkie Pie would say, I'm nervouscited, which at this point is a huge upgrade from my usual state of pre travel terror. I don't usually do excitement, I usually worry and tell myself I'll be excited when I've finished worrying (a trick that never works), travel is usually an exclusively terrifying ordeal (which brings me to another point which will need a whole other blog post!) with no excitement whatsoever! 

Anyway, without further ado, here is my itinerary! 

Fly from London - 7th March

Arrive Wellington - 9th March

Leave Wellington for Auckland -17th of March

Move from Auckland suburbs to city centre - 20th March

Fly to Sydney - 23rd March

Fly to Melbourne - 27th March 

Fly home - 1st April

Arrive home - 2nd of April

My Layovers are in Singapore which is a fantastic airport sporting a butterfly garden, cinema, koi pond, and apparently the biggest slide in any airport in the world... So they say. 

Are you thinking that you know someone who went to Australia, they went out there and worked or cleaned a hostel and they stayed 6 months or a year, they made so many friends out there, they came home a different person, full of confidence and with friends for life. Are you wondering why I'm only going for 9 days? Well that's because I'm not that person who goes for 6 months and cleans hostels and makes magical friendships, I'm just doing the best I can and I feel ashamed I'm not that person but I'm really not. I'm the person who can't catch a bus into town anymore, I'm the person who is scared of loud noises, open spaces, the cold, the wind, the rain, buses, heavy doors, you name it. So 9 days is better than nothing because I really could be doing nothing, it would be so much easier, but I'm not, I'm doing this. 

Anyway, I hope you didn't think I was moaning or ranting, I wasn't, that's called honesty. 

More to come, have a great day! 

Into the west

If you don't get that title reference, I'm disowning you. Start googling!
Right, for those of you with better, vaster, wiser minds, I am now in singapore, it is 28 degrees, I am wearing a 3 layers, including thermals AND a jumper. I've got 18 until I'm due to arrive Heathrow. Including 14 hours of flying. I am tired, if I was in NZ I would have been fast asleep hours ago, but if I want to shake jet lag, I will have to adhere to british hours. Should be time for bed shortly after I get on the plane. I can't wait to touch down in lovely Britain, but I do already miss New Zealand, wellington at least. I feel a bit dizzy which is probably lack of sleep, it is weird here, I'm sitting by the airport Koi pond. There is a cinema here too, and a butterfly garden, all in departures. It makes Heathrow look like a cattle market. It is the most amazing airport. Like a little indoor town. Very laid back and full of places to rest and relax, there are windows (no windows in Heathrow!) and fountains. Ahhh I hope I sleep on the plane. Oh well, I have run out of things to say, have a nice day!! My next plane is an airbus A380, the biggest passenger plane around today... In case you were wondering.

Good morning New Zealand

Okay, so I have been awake for roughly 43 hours, I have spent 23 of those hours on planes. In the last 35 hours I have eaten 2 granola bars and a smoothie. I have worried at literally EVERY opportunity! (Seriously, EVERY!) I am telling you this because it makes it all the more amazing that I could possibly have made it the 11,360 miles to my accommodation in Auckland. Right now I have no idea whether to eat or to sleep, only I am (as the The Courteeners sang) "too tired to eat and too hungry to sleep." The reason I'm to tired to eat is that eating would mean finding food and that would mean leaving the house and exploring, an activity I'm not sure I have the strength for! However, I will say that despite 'wobbles' in various airports, and one MAJOR wobble on the plane from Singapore to Auckland, I feel surprisingly okay.
NOW THE GOOD STUFF! New Zealand is MIGHTY beautiful, and no, it is NOTHING like Wales. It is full of interesting flora, some sort of invisible cricket is making vary loud cricket type noises outside my window! The houses are all detached bungalow type things, multi coloured and wood clad like something from a relocation program! Only, the house I'm staying in isn't, it's a cute two story house in a gated complex. It's very sunny here but a nice temperature, not too hot at the moment. I will post some beautiful plane photos to make up for my very long rant about my journey here. Thanks for reading, I promise the next post will contain less moaning and more nice stuff!