I Made It!

G'Day mates! So I made it to Australia! Sorry this is the first time i have been able to write. It has been a busy day and it is currently 7 45p here. I think I'll start this tale from the begining. And BTW, the space bar is really funky here, so please don't make fun on the possible space bar misshaps. LoL
My family and Steve brought me to the airport around 4ish. I got through checking my bags with no problem and basically no wait. I was defenetly not ready to leave when I finally was able to leave, so we stood around for a minute or so to say our good byes. I did cry, but not as bad as I thought. I'm really going to miss everyone and I will most def. miss my Stephen.
cleveland-chicago
Take off was AMAZING! Seeing the ground covered in snow speckeled with dark patches of treens and houses was breath taking. The view then got foggy from cloud coverage, but as soon as we got above the clouds it was like being in a completely different place. On ground in Ohio there is no such thing as blue skies and sun, especially this time of the year. above the clouds was like a summer evening. Skies as blue as you can see untill they met with the sun and melted in to briliant shades of red and orange.This was the shortest of my flights. About 45min. When we were coming into Chicago the lights were just coming on. It was the most beautiful sight. Literally in like 10 min the city went from dusk to fully lit up by street lights. I wish I had a picture; uh-mazing.
chicago-san fransico
This was my second longest; sumwere btwn 4-5hrs. I thought I wouldn't be to bad, but we had at least 5 kids on board to which half were screaming/crying. One of them sitting across the asile from me. Lucky I was able to drown them out, but this flight seemed way longer than 4 hours. It worried me. If i can't handle 4hr how am I suppose to do 14hr? To make it more stessful, someone decided to get ill on the plane and delay us from getting off. I had to powerwalk my butt across the airport for atleast 10 minutes to ensure I got to the international gates in time. Luckily i made it with time to spare.
This is also where I met the girl I was traveling with, Lauren. We weren't ver talkative with each other. :-/
san fran-sydney
I was in an asile seat which I was not happy with, but at least it was better than being in the middle. I was dead tired at this point, but I decided to watch a movie to make myself more tired. Lets just say sleeping was not easy. My knees kept hitting the seat infront of me and it was just incredibly uncomfortable. I finally dozed off, but not for more than an hour at a time. At one point I woke up to the plane shaking from terbulance; not that big of deal, i was used to it at that point, but this was more than normal. when I looked outside there were these flashes. I couldn't tell if it was strobe light on the place (but I hadn't seen them b4) or if it ws lightning (but where was the thunder?). all of the sudden we dropped. People screamed/yelped. but I didn't. It wasn't that far. It was just sudden. It was like catching a few Gs on a kiddy ride at a carnival. I wasn't scared, but after that I had problem sleeping b/c the turbulence made me nervous.
Let me tell you, this was the LONGEST flight ever! I could have swrond 5 hours had paced when really it was only 3 hours. I kept waking up thinking we had to be hours closer only to find we were 30 mins closer. It was terrible. I am difinetly not looking forward to the flight home. LoL
sydney
We made it and it took a long time to get off the place. My bags were one of the first ones on the carosel. However, Lauren had to wait and wait and wait. I was getting nervous, but luckily she found them. the line for customs was redic! Luckily we got lucky and fastfoword our way through and bet our guide, Brinn ( I think thats her name). Brinn was originally from Seattle but has lived in Australia with her husband for the past 5 years. She is great. She let us tour aournd Sydney for a few hours by ourselves while we waited to get checked in. It was at this time that Lauren and I realized why this hotel seemed so wierd. I mean who has to pay from linen and towels? And why are the rooms with bunkbeds? Well, duh, the 'hotel' which is called YHA, is really a hostel (perhaps Youth Hostel association?) Now it makes sense! For being a hostel it is wonderful! We really thought it was a hotel at first. I'm actually writing on one of theim many computers which is fully equibed with a webcam and all. Incredible. After we got checked in we were finally allowed to take showers. It was glourius. LoL.
Lauren, Brinn and I then went to the Sydney tower to get a full view of the city and take pictures. Beautiful. After that we went to a bar/resuturat and had Thai food. It was allright, but I think my tiredness made me less hungary than I thought I would be.
Well, I'm back at the YHA, I'm so tired. Brinn said to try and stay up untill at least 830 to ensure we sleep through the night, but I am so tired and we have wake up to go on a hike int he mountains at 715. Tomrorrow will be great!


BTW I will post some pictures later. Probably when I finally get setteled in Perth. Just look for these pictureless posts to suddenly have pictures in about a week.