July 10th- 17th

These posts were typed on previous days, I just didn't get the chance to post them.. so here they are!

Thursday, July  10th

We woke up around 3:30 in the morning and left for the airport around 4:15 ish. Around 5, I met up with Sara and Becca in the airport. Thank God we had enough time there, because Sara and Becca ended up having much difficulty at the airport checking in. After being on the phone with our travel agent and US Air, they finally were able to get a ticket for the flight.

We then went up to security, and this is where the tears came. Saying goodbye to all of our families wasn't easy. As soon as we all hugged our parents goodbye, we were ready to go through security. I got selected for the "pre-check" security lane, so all they had to do was wipe my palms with some piece of paper and I was cleared. We were able to leave our shoes on and all electronics in our bags going through security which was pretty cool. So much easier. We all made it through security without any issues.

When 7 o'clock rolled around, we began to board our plane to head to LA. we departed a little later than scheduled (8:20 instead of 7:40). But we all made it to LA safely. We landed around 10:30 LA time, and waited until Siena landed around 11:30. Once she landed, we ran to go get food. We were all starving. We all got very over priced wraps. We now had what we thought, 12 hours to kill.

We were just laying around reading, when Sara stood up and ran outside. I decided to follow her and we saw a bunch of paparazzi. We realized Kim Kardashian was leaving the airport and getting into her car!! So that was pretty exciting.

We walked around the airport too many times trying to waste time, and then we decided to take a walk outside. It was beautiful out, and we wanted to tour LA a bit. We walked for some time and then found a nice bench to sit at, where we all just enjoyed the scenery. We sat outside until 4 o'clock ish and then went back in to meet up with Andrew.

Once we found him, we got our next boarding pass (LA to Brisbane). Again, we had to go through security, and lucky me, I had to get patted down. But finally they said I was fine.

Andrew was now starving, so we walked around the airport and found some food for him. We still had many hours left until our next flight, so we were just hanging out and enjoying LA.

Around 8 ish, we all were hungry for dinner, so we went back to the food court. We also ended up meeting a few other girls who were studying abroad in our program. The couple of us then went to our gate to hang out there for the rest of the night. By the end of the night there was about 20 of us who all met and were hanging out. We all sat in a circle and played cards, and just talked to get to know each other.

Friday, July 11th

So our flight at 11:45 was delayed until 12:30. We boarded around 12:30, so we were already behind schedule. Once we got on the plane and settled, it was scorching hot. Everyone was dripping sweat, complaining and very very angry. People were extremely uncomfortable. The pilot made an announcement that we had to go back to the gate to get some more air because the plane and the engine were over heating. Great, just great. The flight attendants even came around multiple times with water and gave everyone a bag of snacks which was nice. Make a long story short, this continued until 2:45 in the morning. So now we are extremely delayed, angry and still uncomfortable.

Finally, around 3 am LA time, we were heading to the run way. Since it was 6 am at home, exhausted couldn't even compare to how we were feeling. Sara, Becca and I all sat next to each other, and passed out as soon as we took off.

Saturday, July 12th

Because of the 14 hour time difference (Australia is ahead), we didn't really get much of July 11th. So we are still currently sitting on the plane, with about 2.5 hours left to go of this long flight.

It is technically Becca's birthday here on the plane, since we crossed into Australia, so as soon as we woke up from sleeping, we all wished her a happy birthday! 

This plane may not be the comfiest, but it is pretty cool because each seat has their own tv. You're able to watch movies, tv shows, listen to the radio and even play games. It also shows you where we are flying on a map. I was able to see us fly over Honolulu, and other cool places, even seeing the Great Barrier Reef!

Landing time is approximately 9:15, instead of the original landing time of 6:15... This should be interesting when we land because our next flight is at 9:45. But, we have to collect our bags, go through customs, check our bags onto the next flight and then board. So I'll let you know if we make it our not. There's about 20 of us, so at least we are all together if something goes wrong.

Food on the plane- dinner wasn't so great. They offered chicken or beef, so I took the chicken. It came with mashed potatoes and carrots, and also strawberry cheesecake. Because of the time change, I wasn't that hungry, so I only had a few bites. But breakfast on the other hand, was very good. We had eggs, hash browns, sausage, yogurt, a muffin and orange juice. All of that was great.

Currently it is 6:50 am here in the air in Australia and I am sitting watching The Great Gatsby. My sister Lauren always told me to watch it, so I am glad that I finally have the chance too.

All I have left to say is, I hope we make our last flight to Cairns..

7/12/2014 at 2:30 pm

So we were able to catch another flight, since we missed the 9:45 flight. Our flight is at 2. I am currently sitting on the plane, at the gate, because of course this plane is having difficulties too. We cannot win. Qantas airlines isn't doing so well for us. Now we are just sitting and waiting, in hopes to take off soon.

We were just informed that it is the same issue as before. The engine is over heating. So we have to sit and wait for it to cool down.

Luckily, we met two really nice Australian girls. They were in Brisbane for two weeks for "holiday" or break as we would call it. They are warning us of all of the snakes, bats, birds, crocodiles and other animals to watch out for. We also met a 28 year old guy who has been telling us which bars and clubs to go to, so that good!

One thing that I have already noticed on this trip is that Australians are 1000 times nicer and more friendly than Americans. Everyone is so polite and friendly, always going out of their way to help us and talk to us. They love hearing our accents and learning all the different words we say. They are also teaching us their lingo and telling us what to say and what not to say. 

Well our 2:00 flight finally took off at 4:00... Cairns here we come!

7/12/14 around 6:00

We finally got to cairns! The Globalinks crew picked us up at the airport and were so welcoming. I cannot get over how friendly Australians are. We took a bus to our hostile, which is so cool. It's a resort with a pool, which turns into a club a night.

We got our room assignments, and I share a room with sara, becca and three others. We had ten minutes to drop off our suitcases, then went to dinner.

For dinner, we walked down to a beautiful lagoon and had dinner on the water. We ate at a restaurant called Dundees. It was a cool restaurant, such a beautiful view. We had the choice of pasta, fish and chips, steak or salad, so I got the pasta which was good. After dinner we all came back to the hostile and passed out because we were so exhausted from all of the traveling.