allo! i just got back from getting lost in the city trying to find miss marples swedish hotel. why? 2 words. BREAKFAST BUFFET! it was pretty good. in typical fashion i had pancakes (more of a crepe though), sausages (they had an australian taste), bacon & lots of lots of syrup! it was good until i got the bill...$24! haha i thought it was $16. oh well, i'm pretty full so it's all good.after i do this i'm going to figure out some stuff and then take off to the mint.

plane:

my God it was hard. i figured all together it was a little more than 23 hours. did i mention my ass hurts? let's break down the different aspects shall we?

edmonton to vancouver and the stuff beforehand:

got home from work around 4pm. had to leave by 6pm. procrastination rule #1 was not being packed. i thought it would be a matter of throwing stuff in a bag and leaving. WRONG! it took me over two hours before i was ready to go. i was pretty confident that i had remembered everything as the pack weighed at least 40 pounds. unfortuantly 18 hours later i discovered i had forgotten my bank card..to the account with all my trip money in it. i was planning on using the credit cards anyways but it's nice to be able to have access to cash just in case. i have a bit of aussie cash..hopefully it'll last till payday (haha i remembered that bank card).

anyways, leaving a bit later than planned had me in a bit of a panic mode. of course, as soon as we hit 23rd ave a train decided to go by. boo!!!!! still made it to the airport in plenty of time. no trouble checking the mammoth pack. while waiting to board noticed i also forgot to buy a pen. so i bought one. a normal bic pen. guess how much? $1.29!!! i can buy a whole box for that price.

got the privilage of sitting next to a dad & his teenage daughter. the kind that talks a mile a minute and is all about run on sentances. i tried to ignore but my inflight tv was broken. didn't matter, it was only an hour and a half.

vancouver to sydney:

we touched down and i was out of the plane like a shot. before i left i had got an email from some buddys in white rock who wanted to attempt a roundevous in the airport. being fair game i went to find them. boy is that airport different than when i was there last! found em sitting by the international entrance. we hung out for a hour before walking up to the security checkpoint (haha picture taking with these two took forever as a certain someone had to have editing approval for any photos she was in). checkpoint was pretty fast. come to think about it, everything in Canada was moving pretty quick. the terminal itself was pretty shabby. as tons of people were waiting at the gate it looked like it was going to be a full flight. meet a girl going home to adelaide. i initiated a conversation as soon as i saw her packing up season 4 of the office. it was weird, she grew up in the bonnyville/glendon area so we had something to talk about. got on the plane to find an old lady in my seat. she was confused. she moved. good thing cause it was an aisle seat in the middle row and there was NOBODY sitting in the middle seat! even so that flight almost killed me. wailing babies prevented any sleep longer than 20 minutes. had to go to the washroom every 2 hours. it gave me a chance to stretch my cramping legs. i couldn't believe how small they were! we're taking tiny tiny closet size. watched a lady pull a magic trick going in there. she took her 2 kids with her. i dunno how she did it.watched a few movies: "the happening" (crap!), " son of rambow" (good), "speed racer"(good) and other stuff--i can't remember. 18 hours and it was finally time to land. there was another plane in our bay so we had to wait. then they had to spray the whole plane. and another 5 minutes to wait until the spray settled. they touted it as "non toxic & odorless". liars- i could smell it. i got stuck behind a grandma,kid and big fat mommy. the kind of people who take thier sweet time pulling thier crap down and leaving. my hair had fallen in my eyes so i was shaking my head to move it. next thing i hear is " well, i thought people were supposed to disembark according by the rows but i can see people shaking thier heads". it was fat mommy. pretty b****y eh? of course feeling a bit b****y myself i responded by saying how people with fat asses who were slow to move should stay in thier seats until everyone else had left as the flight attendants had said for people with disabilities to remain in thier seats until everyone else had left. hahaha i didn't. wouldn't it have been awesome if i did though?

sydney to perth:

the name of the game at sydney was lines. lines to get your baggage. then a line to enter customs. after that another to get through the customs security checkpoint. then a very long trek to get to the part of the terminal where they transfer you to the domestic terminal. oh the line for that! seriously around 200 people long (apparently the plane in our perth was really late so there was an influx of passengers transferring from international flights) i was comfortable knowing i had 4 hours till the next plane. others were not so lucky. the couple in front of me going home to melbourne missed thier plane. after 20 minutes of waiting they got scuttled to the front so they could get the next flight. i figured i was in line for about an hour and 20 minutes. started a chat with the couple behind me. heading home to adelaide as they were coming home from a tour of vietnam/other asian areas. haha the old guy kept complaining on how ridiclous the wait was. made it through checkin/security and then we had to wait for the shuttle. shuttle came and off to the next terminal. it was pretty fance. spent $2 on a candy bar (i'm learning thats the normal price here) and $3 for a bottle of water! and postcards of course ;)

the plane itself was HUGE! was bigger than the one i was just on..it was a double decker! line to get on that one was looong. everybody had boxs of crispy creme doughnuts. very amusing. had a aisle seat for that one too. sat next to a lady and her teenage son. right after we took off i promptly pulled the hoodie over my eyes and fell asleep. was awoken half an hour later by a flight attendent asking me if i wanted chicken or fish (canada offers chicken or beef). no thanks, don't feel like spending an hour in the washroom. 20 minutes before landing i was wishing i had a window seat (spectacular views). i got my wish..my seat was broken so i got moved to the front of the plane next to the window.

after landing it was off to baggage claim. long long wait to get in there. get the bag, time to find a shuttle. bought a shuttle ticket but the guy spoke so fast i had no clue where to go. went back and felt like a dork asking him again. the shuttle took forever! standing there i marveled at the beauty that was the airport. trees everywhere, blue skies..so nice!!!!!!! shuttle finally came and with it a very harried driver. threw our bags in and off we went. the scenes! i have to say this is one of the most beautiful places i've ever seen. the trees are amazing. huge old gum trees are everywhere! parks are inserted randomly and even the buildings scream taste. got to the hostel. checked in i was pretty sure she said room 18 but the key didn't work. went back and was told room 26. how the hell did i get 18? took off right away to find something to eat (hadn't eaten since supper thursday night). got lost. stopped at hoangs duck palace and got duck(of course),. went back to the hostel, had a shower and settled down to eat. dude, it was full of bones and gristle! so disgusted i just chucked it.

this morning got up around 5am (perth time). looked at a few maps and took off. walked about a km before realizing i was lost. so i got on the bus. the free bus. of course it was going the oppisate way i wanted but i saw a good chunk of the city. ate my breakfast and decided to walk back. getting back i've now realized that if i would have gone right when leaving the hostel i would have been there in about 8 minutes(walking). ohh how i suck at directions. pictures soon..i forgot my camera cord at home..gotta find a place that has sd readers.