We're Leaving Ground
I have had a crazy couple of days, so I'm going to break up this post into three parts.
So, Sunday 26th of November. I had a plane to catch at 8:30pm in Brisbane International, however my family thought it would be better to meet up with some of my family in Brisbane earlier that day to avoid traffic. I had only finished packing at 1:30 that morning, so after a panicked last minute check that I had *everything* after breakfast, we made our way to Brisbane. There we met up with some of my extended family, who gave me some lovely gifts for my trip.
Mum had had the great idea to go to the local pool, to 'enjoy the last summer weather you will have in a while'. Not wishing to jump on my long haul flight smelling of chlorine, I opted to sit comfortably in the shade on the grass. That was my mistake. After thinking so much of my upcoming time in Denmark, I forgot the numerous creatures that could attack at any moment in sunny Queensland. Subsequently, I was bitten four times on the foot and leg by vicious bull ants, which I began to react to quite badly. With the quarter to six meeting with the rest of the SISEP Venturers looming, we flew past a pharmacy to grab some antihistamines and we were on our way.
After meeting up with SISEP QLD, apart from Jack who's flight from Townsville had been delayed, we checked in and waited anxiously for Jack to arrive. Once he finally did (it was pretty squeeky-bum tight) we stopped for a quick photo, and said goodbye very briefly to our family before we took off at a slow jog to make our flight that was on final call.
What a flight that was. 15 hours from Brisbane to Dubai, with constant turbulence that meant the 'fasten seat belts' sign was on more than it was off. The food was alright initially, bangers and mash with some slightly dodgy salad. After a couple hours sleep, and a random pastie like thing shoved forcibly into my hands by a flight attendant, we were approaching the equator. Ryan and I played some virtual chess and battleship to pass the time, which ended with my crushing defeat twice. It was likely this great loss that saw me violently hurling into an air sick bag moments later (Let it be known that I do blame you, Ryan).
With that situation dealt with, I settled in for the remaining 6 and a half hours of the flight. Excitement began to grow at the 13 hour mark as the prospect of touching down (rather than crashing) in my *second ever* country become more likely. Dodgy breakfast omelette aside, the last few hours of the flight saw mounting anticipation for landing, with the lights of Dubai quite the dazzling sight.
We landed in in Dubai at about 6 am local time, and after fumbling through customs (Jack left his passport in the scanner and three of the girls were asked to remove shoes), we quickly made our way to Gate 8 to meet up with the rest of the Australian contingent. Cameron, lone representative of NSW was the first to join our little circle on the floor of Dubai Airport, followed by Nicole of South Australia, however, SISEP Victoria initially failed to show.
After sitting on the hard concrete for a significant amount of time, my rear decided that I had had enough of sitting on the plane and went with Tegan to buy a keyring to add to my extensive collection and a smoothie made with ginger to settle my tumultuous stomach. I got a cute camel key ring and a drink called the 'heart-beet' (twas hella gingery). Somewhere in the midst of this journey of juice discovery, the Victorian's showed up and we managed to all make it through boarding.
Ironically, when we got to Dubai, it was about 12:30 pm on Monday the 27th of November at home. We were also scheduled to land in Copenhagen at about 12:30pm on Monday the 27th of November local time. Time zones are weird.
And that's where I'll leave you, the second part will continue on from this point.
Until next time.
(Bonus points for anyone who gets the song reference in the title)