So here's how our flight went.
Departure was fine but it was sad to say "see ya later" to moms and dads. But exciting because we were gonna be doing something fantastical!!! Our flight was broken into three legs and worked out (to what was supposed) to be 24hrs in flight, and 36 hours with stopovers.
First was an hour and a bit's flight to Chicago. The most uneventful leg of the trip, but actually come to think of it, I'm pretty thankful for that. Tim and I were seated in the first row so we had plenty of leg room which was excellent. The fun started when we landed in Chicago and had to figure out O'Hare Airport. NIGHTMARISH. Everybody was really unhelpful and we were sprinting around trying to get to somewhere we weren't even sure we needed to be. When we tried asking one of the employees where we needed to go she said "gates change all the time". Yeah, real helpful. So with twenty minutes to spare before boarding time we finally made it to our gate. I had to smuggle pasta and cheese through customs which worked out just fine, but our water bottles created quite a stir, as did Tim's harmonica which was certain to be a disguised weapon. So we boarded our Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo; the longest leg of our trip which was a whopping 13 hours of FUN!
First off, big props to Japan Airlines (JAL) because they were awesome. We were kept fed and entertained with the personal televisions which had these little controllers that you could play games on and stuff. Twas good. Smooth and uneventful as a plane ride should be. It was just really, really, REALLY long.
Thennnnn we landed in Tokyo/Narita with nearly 6 hours to spare but as we found out, that wasn't enough time, unfortunately to get out and see any of the city. So we hung out at the airport, got some food and watched some sumo wrestling. Food turned out to be an interesting challenge to due my allergies (haha, imagine that). First I asked if anything had nuts, thinking that I could just explain it in English. Not happening. After my attempted explanation, the lady actually tried to sell me some cute little bags of nuts. So I busted out the card that my sister gave me that says "I am allergic to blah blah blah". She looks at it and laughs a little. Then she goes into the back and gets the chef who comes out and says something like "oil soy oil" and I say "huh?" Lol. So then, the lady comes back and writes down on a piece of paper "Oil made from soy beans". Then I say "OK" and order fries and edamame because that's all I feel safe eating. Anywho, Sarah and I sat in the restaurant and ate our fries and soybeans and then proceeded back to the gate where a few people were sitting around a TV watching sumo wrestling. That was quite entertaining; does anybody actually get that sport?
Next we got on the plane to Sydney, FINALLY. This flight was probably the most eventful of the bunch, but not in a good way. First of all, the turbulence was insane. The whole plane ride, there would be announcements saying "turbulence is expected" but they said everything in Japanese first so we were kinda confused. In the air, we got to watch the sunrise which was beautiful...This bizarre red colour that was unlike any sunrise i have ever seen, and soon I found out why. So fast forward to about half an hour before ETA when the pilot comes on and says "blah blah we are about to commence our final descent". So we start the descent, all the while watching the little icon of the plane on the map that tells us where we are. Then, we notice that the plane is turning around. Huh? Then a long announcement comes on in Japanese and then English saying "Due to poor weather and high winds in Sydney, we have been diverted to Brisbane International Airport". NOOOOOOO, I think. After spending 24 hours in a plane, 20 minutes before landing, we're diverted an hour North? BLarhghghhg. Now the landing in Brisbane was pretty much the worst landing I've ever experienced. We were up and down and side to side and I'm almost certain we landed on one wheel. People were throwing up and Tim even had to open the barf bag and make sure it was accessible lol. I nervous laughed all the way to the ground because I was so terrified!!! So we finally get to Brisbane, spend about 2 hours sitting in the plane on the tarmac, then take off back to Sydney.
When we landed, we found out that we had landed on the day that the worst sandstorm in 70 years decided to hit Sydney. LUCKY. I guess that's why the sunrise was so red. The air when we got here was still dusty but somewhat normal looking. So that was our adventure en route to Sydney. In total I believe the flight being diverted tacked on an extra 5 hours onto our trip, so in total it ended up being about 29 hours in flight. Yikes.
The first day we just kinda hung out, saw the ocean and what have you. Jet lag was a killer and I felt tuckered out most of the day. The next day, we did some touristy must-do stuff. Checked out the Opera House and the SYdney Harbour Bridge, The Rocks, which is a really old part of Sydney, Newtown which is a trendy area comparable to Queen West in Toronto annnnd the CBD, the Central Business District, the Botanical Gardens where we saw some really huge bats annnnd yeah I think that's it! The third day was spent relaxing. We went for a walk and in the evening, my sister and Nick hosted a dumpling party so we got to meet some of the neighbours which was fun, and the dumplings were delissioso.
WOW this blog ended up being really long and I'm sorry if it was somewhat boring lol. Hopefully the next one will be better!!!
Steph
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