The logic of a student traveller

As the traditional pen and paper seems to have been made redundant these days I thought an online blog would better suffice the details of my travels. This summer I am lucky enough to be embarking on an adventure to Australia. Not one for spiders, snakes or bugs, which bite or frankly come within 10 feet of me, Australia was always going to be interesting.

So here is our story... 4 hung over students, 30 kilos excess baggage weight and a 26-hour flight. Lets be honest not the best way to start off a journey but nevertheless, priceless memories.

When we first arranged our flight we didn't really think about what we were letting ourselves in for. Sat in STA travel, we thought leaving the day after the University summer ball seemed the logical day to go, as we were all together and all had finished uni for the summer. Why did it not occur to us that a 20 something hour flight would not exactly compliment a hangover. Staying up until 6am, staggering home in a bodged up, tattered fancy dress outfit whilst the milkman is doing his rounds is never a clever idea even if you can sleep the remainder of the day. What ever possessed us to book it when we knew we would have to get a coach up to Heathrow after 4 hours sleep, I will never know. Alas this was our predicament and despite the fact we all looked as if we had been pulled through a hedge backwards we were still excited about our summer adventure.

Arriving at Bournemouth University was fine, everything had gone to plan. We had said our goodbyes hadn't forgotten anything and had a selection of cheese and cucumber rolls ready for our journey. Of course, it was never going to be that easy. So we clambered onto the coach and waved off our friends. We were so excited about our trip. However, only a mile or two down the road the bus stopped at Bournemouth train station. “Girls, this is your stop" yelled the bus driver. Yes we had come a long way, all the way down the road from our house. Little did we know when we first booked the coach is that the actual journey to London started at Bournemouth train station. So, we got a bus 2 hours early to get to our destination of about 5 minutes away. At this point, as you can imagine, we were not best pleased considering these couple hours could have been vital sleep time but never mind we would prevail. Eventually the bus arrived and YES we were on our way.

Australia here we come.

Well, we were at least going to attempt to make to Australia. Unfortunately for us, life never seems to go according to plan. How wonderful it would be to say: 'yeah we got there, checked in and arrived in Australia without a hitch' but let’s be honest that's not real life that only happens in fairy tales (or organized peoples lives). So as to be expected we had a couple of obstacles to overcome before even getting through customs, let alone getting on the plane - It was going to be a long day.

Being girls we generally do not know how to travel light. Staying in Australia for 3 months is quite a substantial amount of time. Baring in mind we had to bring clothes to suit formal occasions for our production placement as well as clothes which were suitable for cold temperatures as well as hot we had to bring a variety of outfits. Of course the copious amounts of shoes, bags and toiletries were probably not as necessary but of course at the time they are a must have. Not having the common sense to confer on what each other are taking on our journey we all turned up to check in on our flight with around 10 kilos extra baggage each. What do you do? We had a number of options:


1. Pay approximately $200 each to put the extra baggage on.
2. Get the parentals to pick up some of our baggage, which exceeds the limit. (Not a favorable option as they would no appreciate a 3 hour drive)
3. OR wear as much as humanly possibly and transfer the rest to hand luggage.

There was no question in the matter. Number 3 all the way. So there we were, in the middle of Heathrow, 4 girls, 4 suitcases open, clothes spilling out everywhere, desperately trying to put on as many outfits humanly possible. Winter boots were pulled on, cardigans and hoodies, hats and gloves, jeans and skirts. You name it we were wearing it - it was Gok Wan's nightmare. After about 15 minutes of entertainment for the staff at the airport checking us in, they let us get away with the extra baggage as they could see there was no way we were going to give in and pay the cash to get our luggage on board. So bags were sent off and we were finally on our way... well kind of.

We all know the tedious procedures of airports. Bagging up liquids below 100ml and having to throw away that drink you bought 5 minutes ago and the toiletries you just bought to take with you. Ani (the Aussie bred member of our group) had forgotten the rule and just bought a new deodorant and after the commotion in check in had left it in her hand luggage. "You're going to have to chuck that away". OUCH... deodorant may not mean much to average human, but to a student, chucking away a brand new deodorant is just pure murder. Grudgingly, she handed in the deodorant after dousing herself and us with it, so its life wasn't completely wasted. Deodorant was not the only of our worries. It just so happened that Ani also had bubbles shoved down within the lining of her bag. Deodorant is one thing, bubbles is another. The man at customs looked at us as if we were felons - "what is this?” We tried to explain that it was just bubbles; however the fact that it was hidden in the bag, along with some tweezers did not look too good. However what realistically, could a bunch of girls do with a bottle of bubbles and some tweezers? Eventually, we were allowed to go through - without being arrested, which at this point was a miracle due to the fact that nothing seemed to be going smoothly. What is more, after taking pity on us, they allowed Ani to take the bubbles with her... it was a magical moment.

So, we were now officially on our way and just had to wait to get on the plane. What could possibly go wrong?

We had a couple of hours to kill in the airport, so did the usual, got a coffee and some food, sat in Starbucks for about 2hours with one drink (standard cheap students). We were chatting and planning our trip beginning to realize that this was reality and that within 24 hours (give or take a couple of hours) we would be in a different continent, living the dream as it were. Amused by our plans and jokes from the previous events to this trip we were oblivious to what was going on around us in terminal 4. Most people were going about their normal business, blissfully pottering around the airport until rudely interrupted by some very suspicious noises over the terminal. People stopped what they were doing as if we were all playing a mass game of musical statues. The strange noises carried on for a few minutes. The terminal was still... what was it? Our immediate thought (although as mella dramatic as it sounds) was terrorists. However, then the noises stopped and gradually everyone went back to what they were doing. Perhaps it was a fault in the system or a joke but luckily it amounted to nothing. After all, surely we were not that unlucky.

It was time to fly. We were up and away. Around 5 hours into the flight we had all realized that our feet had quadrupled in size. Not only that but I was suffering from a dodgy hot dog from the ball the night before - Stuck on a plane with fat feet, sitting next to the toilet, wanting to throw up wasn't the best start to the trip, but who cares as we were on our way to Australia and it was going to be awesome.


10 hours later... still on the plane


20 hours later... still on the plane


24 hours later... still on the plane - ok - now I really am finding it hard to positive.

"Oh my god we’re 10 minutes away from Sydney, we can get off this godforsaken plane"
Really? No. Not a happy camper. Our flight was diverted to Melbourne because of bloody mist ARGH!! Not what you want to hear when you are forced to sit 2 feet away from the toilet for over 24 hours. Well, after a mammoth flight and a 4-hour delay we eventually touched down in Sydney at 10 am. What a relief.

So we are here. 4 students, 4 suitcases around 89 hand luggage bags (ok a slight exaggeration) and 1 hell of an adventure ahead of us.