BUMMER OF THE DAY: My Odyssey, as we know it, comes to an end
WORD OF THE DAY: Has it really been 15 months?
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 11,810km
TELL THE WORLD IM COMING HOME.
It is hard to believe that I fly out tonight. 453 days later and I am at this point of coming home. It is actually quite a surreal feeling and if I was coming back for good I am sure I would have a whole set of different emotions. But it is officially the end of my Odyssey, as I am coming back to Australia, which completes my circle, I am only home for 7 weeks and then I will have another 3 weeks of blogging on the World Odyssey site before I arrive into Addis Ababa on the 1st September and I then start my new blog Bernie’s Ethiopian Odyssey, which is now all set up and ready to go.
My flight wasn’t till 11.30pm tonight. So my morning was spent packing for the last time. My Facebook status was: P.A.C.K.E.D for the last time. I have packed 235 times on my trip and I finally get to have 7 weeks in one place, one bed, a 'wardrobe', new clothes and best of all my friends’ xx I am sad and I am also HAPPY all rolled into one..... I am eternally grateful for my 453 days I have experienced and the friends I have made..... Tell the world I'm coming 'HOME'. 235 times I have packed……. I am an old hand at it now and I was also lucky I could throw out some clothes I didn’t need any more or I just know I would not wear once I was home after having them in my backpack for 15 months. I tossed a long pair of trousers (original piece of clothing), a pair of cargos I bought in Africa in August last year, some underwear and 2 tops (one of them an original piece of clothing). May as well lighten the bag a little, even though I didn’t buy anything here in LA and Qantas aren’t as Nazi about baggage weight, why carry it if I didn’t need it.
I spoke to Zeme to spend the last of my US credit and it seems likely that he won’t be getting his visa in time, again. Time is just ticking away and we only have 35 days till he was due to arrive into Oz and the Embassy requires 21 days, it was just pushing the envelope to get it all done. So I now have an extra 44 days till I see him again, but after 5 months what’s another 5 weeks. It sort of works out okay as we now have plans of coming back at Christmas, so we are saving an airfare in July and he still gets to meet everyone. So even though I am disappointed, it is one of those blessings in disguise type of scenarios and also my ‘positive’ spin on a piece of bad news. That’s all I am going to say on the whole thing.
So with everything all airline packed just before lunch I spent the afternoon processing some ‘photo movies’. This is my latest thing that Tippy’s 12 year old showed me when I was in Las Vegas. Nick downloaded an app onto my IPod that turns your photos into a video and you can back it to a song. It is an awesome idea, so I am now going to ‘produce’ one for each section of my trip. It will pretty be a ‘highlights’ vid with the people I spent my time with. I have done photo of the day in Facebook, but this will be a little more personal. I did my African one yesterday and watching it back it was actually quite emotional and to just re-live the people, the places and the fun was really heart bursting. It is hard to explain but to see those photos again really choked me up. I jumped the gun doing Africa first, but I am going to start at the beginning of my trip and work my way through. The most time consuming thing is looking for the 40-60 odd pictures, depending on the length of the song. Once that’s done it only takes 20 minutes to compile them, process them and add them to You Tube. So today I did my Trans Mongolian trip and Contiki Ireland with 16 more to go!!! Once I start something I really know how to get it done.
So that helped wile away my last afternoon till Christy got home and then we loaded up the Audi and drove the 45 minutes to LAX. I always like to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare, especially in a US airport and today was no exception with 3 hours up my sleeve. I didn’t check my ticket and assumed I was leaving out of the Tom Bradley Terminal and got Christy to drop me off there. So with hugs and kisses, and a last hug I waved goodbye to my Trans Mongolian friend. I started my first days of my Odyssey with my Browns and quite fittingly I finish my last days with them also, even if Eric was still in Cannes. He phoned just as we pulled up to the curb, so I did get to say goodbye to him, which was nice. I was tankful to have been able to see them, they have busy schedules, typical LA style living in the film industry and I know that I was super lucky to catch them when I did. So thank-you Browns for hosting me for the week and I hope that we will meet again somewhere in the future. Ethiopia, Australia or a return visit to the US. Who knows but I will miss you guy’s xx
I entered the terminal, located the Qantas counters which only had the Melbourne and Sydney flights flashing on the check-in counters. Weird. There was no-one waiting so I walked over to the counter and asked if I could check in for the Brisbane flight. She asked if I was on the direct service, which was a yes, and I was told that those flights leave from terminal 4. The good news terminal 4 was the next one along and was only a 10 minute walk. I should never assume, even at this late stage, and with a thanks, I made my way to T4. This is why you allocate extra time and as Cheryl calls it in Chicago ‘snaffu time’, so I was in no rush knowing that I still had time on my side. I had no problems checking in and with my 2 checked bags I had 32.5kg of luggage, not bad after 15 months. In saying that I have posted 19 boxes home over that time as well, but still not a bad effort. I was back to my round world ticket so I was allowed to have 2 pieces again with no charge. With my last boarding pass in my hand (well for 7 weeks), my window seat booked I dropped my bags at the TSA screening and I was on my way for my 59th flight of the trip. The security lines weren’t too bad this late at night, which I jinxed myself once it was my turn to walk through the scanners. I was fine, my Ethiopian bangles not an issue, but my rolly bag was checked the hell out of. Everything had to come out, everything, it was rescanned, rechecked and then I was given the all clear to continue through. So I had to try and repack that bag like I had it before and nothing ever goes in the same way, but I got it zipped up and I was gate side. I had 1.5 hours till boarding and I needed to bet some Disney presents for the god-daughters as I told them I was going to Disneyland (even though I knew I wasn’t) and I was just going to buy them some Disney paraphernalia. Well T4 isn’t the best international terminal in the world. They have like 20 gates and a book shop, a newsagent and a few small self-standing stalls and that is it. There was not one piece of Disney, Mickey, Minnie or Donald in the whole terminal. This is LA, the home to the original Disneyland and they don’t sell a single thing here. That is ridiculous isn’t it? So I shot Shelly a text message letting her know so she could break the news to the girls, as I would hate to turn up and crush their little hopes of not having pre-warned them I was Disney-less. I had Burger King for dinner and at 10pm I made my way to my departure gate. The damn glass picture I have been carrying is becoming a real pain and I am glad I only had to carry it for 4 flights. It is driving me nuts as it takes up an arm leaving me to do things with one arm when I am walking around. I sat down and then pulled out my purse to see how much US coin I had left as it felt quite heavy. Well I had 11.35USD and even for me that is too much money to not spend, so I went to one of the self-standing shops and as I was waiting in line with my chocolate purchases there was a lady in front of me trying to get rid of her coins also and she was 1USD short from buying what she needed, so I stepped up and told her I had a wad of coin and I gave her what she needed. She was so sweet and shook my hand, introduced herself, thanked me and was on her way. I felt so good being able to help out and I am hoping I get the same feeling when I move to Ethiopia and help people who are less fortunate than me. That was my good deed done for the day and it felt good. I was just hoping now that I had enough coin for my own purchases, which I did, but it wouldn’t have been an issue, I had notes, but good to get rid of 99% of the coin. I also pulled as much USD as I could out of my Travelex card. I am guessing that I am nearing the end of its life (maximum funds) on the card and I can always use the USD in Ethiopia to get me started. I have also worked out it would probably be cheaper withdrawing the money here in the States than using an exchange back in Australia, so with enough money left on my card for the duty free shopping in Oz when I land it is the last use for this card. The Travelex cash cards have been amazing for my trip and I didn’t have a single problem with them at all on my whole trip. They give you 2 cards for the account, one is a backup if you lose one, and I didn’t even have to crack out the second card through my whole trip. I can highly recommend the use of these cards and when I did need to speak to them they were very professional and returned my calls and emails. They have been fantastic. I will be getting a new set for my next trip in 7 weeks and I think this is how I will have access in Addis for the time being till I know exactly what I am going to do with funds. I wonder what you need to open an Ethiopian bank account?
My flight was called on time and I was sitting in row 61K. I was thinking that since I was such a high seat number I would be called first, but they called seats 75-70, then 70-65 where most of the people got up and then I was the next call. The line was long, so I was guessing it was a full flight and not realizing till I got on the flight that the economy cabin started at 40 and not at 1. I got to my seat and there was plenty of overhead space for all my stuff and then I settled in for the 14 hour flight home. The aircraft was a 747-400 with a seating configuration of 3x4x3. I had my usual window seat and there was a young lass on the aisle and I had a massive smile on my face when the plane doors closed and we had a spare seat between us for the flight!!!! This trumps a bulk head/exit row seat any day. We could spread out!!!! We pushed back and then sat for 20 minutes all locked up ready to go, and then when we finally started to move we taxied for 40 minutes to get to our turn at the end of the run way and with a tear in my eye I was on my way home. I was on my way home. I WAS ON MY WAY HOME……….. This bought me think about my mum, about Zeme, the people I have met and the places I have seen and I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. I WAS ON MY WAY HOME. What is home though? I don’t really have a home in Australia, I am no longer a flash packing bum, and at the moment I don’t have a home in Africa. I am well and truly homeless and that made me cry even more. I little of self-pity, fear of the unknown is allowed a little bit and I chose my last take-off to deal with these feelings for really the first time. Shelly and Shane have always welcomed me into their home and it is the only home I have, so with a smile on my face thinking of what was waiting for me. I was heading ‘home’ and there is no better way to finish the trip on this flight being Qantas, it felt like, well Australian. There was no better feeling than landing back into Brisbane on the Big Red Roo as my heart swelled with pride for what I had accomplished and what laid ahead for me.
Qantas have always been a great airline to travel with. People rag on them a lot, a little bit of tall poppy syndrome I think sometimes, but after being on over 22 different airlines, this aircraft was a breath of fresh air. My last 7 flights have been on American Airlines and considering they were the largest airline in the world till the United/Continental merge, their aircraft also feels like the oldest in the world. They really need to retire some of the planes that I saw and being on this flight was very refreshing. The in seat TV’s are always a great thing on my flights even though I find I really don’t use them that much on night flights. I want to, and there were over 4 movies that I wanted to see on this flight, but I just wanted to listen to my IPod, inside my own thoughts till my eyes got too heavy and I fell asleep for 9 hours. Yep I am a sleeper on planes and with a fist pump when I woke up and realized I only had 4 hours left of the flight I decided to watch some TV. I couldn’t be bothered watching a movie and I actually found something even better and I watched 16 episodes of Modern Family instead. I was laughing the rest of the way home, I love that show and it probably helped take my mind off my floating emotions. After breakfast was served at 4am before I knew it we got the prepare the cabin for landing call and as the sun rose up behind us we landed into Brisbane at 6.45am on Friday 22nd June 2012. It was bittersweet as I thought about Shelly waiting for me and I was actually home.
I’ve come full circle.
I wanted to try and get home to be able to walk the girls to school, so I didn’t dilly dally too much but on my way to immigration I stopped to buy a bottle of vodka for myself, a bottle of bourbon for Shane and a bottle of perfume for Shelly and I. Luckily I had left that 300AUD in my Travelex card so I was able to snap my purchases on that and then I headed for the e-gate, which allows Aussies with the chips in their passports to get processed through a machine and not have to wait in line with all the plebs. We still had a line for the e-gates, but there were say 50 of us there, there was 300 in the other lines. So I was processed through, found my baggage carousel, waited around 10 minutes for my bags and then into the customs line. When I got to the front I was waved straight through, no x-ray or check and as I headed for the doors to release me back into the general Australian population I had to hold myself back from running with my trolley and you just try and take that smile that I had on my face off. As soon as I came out I saw Shelly and we ran the length of the barrier for a long long long overdue BF hug. We both were crying and both totally couldn’t believe that I was home. Man it was so good to see her. If we made good time in the traffic I would be able to see the girls before they headed for their last day of school before the holidays.
So….. I am HOME. There will be some blog entries to follow with stats, thanks and some information while I am home. So please keep checking my blog it is not done and dusted at all. Especially with 4 weeks in the UK to go, it certainly won’t be the last entry either.
BUT I will thank everyone now for their support, comments and feedback with my blog. It was you guys that also gave me the incentive to write every day, sharing my ups and downs on what was the trip of a life time for me. It was worth every tear, dollar and smile and I can truly say it was priceless in most circumstances and something that a dollar value would never buy you-ever.
I am the luckiest person in the world and it feels good to be home. xx
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