Getting to Sweden

I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I left. TWO WEEKS! Where did the time go??? In saying that, an awful lot has happened in the last fortnight. So much so that I haven't had an opportunity to write till now. That's quite a nice position to be in - so many things happening that you spend your time doing them rather than writing about them :) But i'm hoping that this will satisfy some of your curiosity. A word of warning - this will be long (I might split it into a couple of posts) and there will  be a photo or two (or two hundred!)

My extra week in Chch involved a lot of longing glances at these ...

which had been packed and ready to go since Monday. Caitlin Doll didn't end up coming, but she wanted to be part of the packing fun.

Then, at 1.30pm on Sunday the 19th of June, my adventure began! I had a window seat from Chch to Sydney, which meant I didn't need any of the inflight entertainment :) I love the window seat during the daytime ... there is always so much to look at! Sydney has an amazing shoreline, I really want to visit  sometime soon. I got to see the harbour bridge as we approached (but not the Opera House). 

I met a young German aeroplane engine engineer on the flight from Sydney to Frankfurt, who had just spent 4 weeks in NZ and was heading back to work in Munich. On the flight from Singapore to Frankfurt I sat next to an Australian mathematician who was going to Berlin for a postgrad research project. I didn't manage to sleep on either of the flights (10 and 12 hours respectively), but was surprisingly awake when we got to Frankfurt at 6am. 

I had a yoghurt with some fruit while I waited for my connecting flight to London, and re-read "What Katy Did" (yes, the inspiration behind my blog name). 

Katy is so easy to sympathise with - whenever I read this book I always remember that I too make "bushels of good resolutions every week .. only unluckily ..  never [keep] any of them".

I had another window seat for the flight to London which was amazing, and so exciting! Everything seemed so new and foreign, but so familiar at the same time. I saw Tower Bridge, and the London Eye but not Buckingham Palace (I wasn't entirely sure where to look and there was so much to see that I missed it). Heathrow security was intense!!! Especially as it had been such a non-event at all the other airports. I didn't realise until I was on the plane that they had confiscated the bag with my fluids in it (no moisturiser, deoderant or contact lens fluid for me! Midly aggravating...) I was pretty irritated with myself for not noticing sooner, but I was so flustered and had so much to keep track of that it obviously slipped my mind. Oh well, these things happen! Out of all the things to leave behind, I am quite content that that was the worst of it! :)

As I was walking to the plane bound for Copenhagen I realised that I was grinning like an idiot, and a huge rush of excitement came over me. I couldn't believe I was that excited after no sleep. Maybe it was because it was the last leg, and finally felt real. I arrived in Copenhagen at 5.25pm on the 20th - five flights and 38 hours later!

I was very releaved, and pleasantly surprised, to see that my bag had also made it onto each of the connecting flights. Malin was there to greet me, and I am pleased to say that I only teared up a little bit! :) We caught the train to the ferry between Copenhagen and Helsingborg, and then Kim picked us up at the other end. We had dinner and stayed up talking till 10.30, when I finally succumbed to the fatigue that accompanies being awake for over 48 hours, crossing the international date line, and experiencing solo travel for the first time.

I slept until 4am, when I was woken by seriously bright sunlight. Still can't get my head around that to be honest. I skyped home at a more reasonable hour and then packed for our trip away (see next installment).

xxox