paraphernalia

A fairly uneventful day spent almost entirely in transit from Boston to Montreal. It steadily grew colder as we traveled northwards, as emphasized (as if it was necessary) by the ever-increasing cover of snow on buildings and on the roadside. People on the bus were talking often of going home to ski – seemingly for the first time this season. It’s going to be a cold one, methinks!

I think the coldest it reached (before arriving in Montreal) was a balmy 7 degrees – Farenheit – in Lebanon, NH. Gotta love that town name, eh? Bet they’re annoyed at it now!! I can just see it at the airport security checkpoint: “so you’re born in Lebanon I see”. “Wait! It’s Lebanon, New Hampshire!”. “Of course it is, sir … just step right this way …”

Dan met me at the bus station and we went straight back to their apartment. They live fairly downtown – especially for a sprawling metropolis like Montreal – and have an amazing view of Cote-des-Neiges and its cemetery. We had dinner – a really nice Romanian dish of rolls of cabbage and meat, sort-of like Vietnamese spring rolls – and reminisced about our time together in Central America. Not exactly your typical Australia Day, but I never expected that in Canada!

After waking late (I'm saying that a lot now aren't I?!), I had a quick shower, breakfast and some final packing before leaving for Frankfurt Airport.

Up until this point I'd only seen a small part of Frankfurt airport and it really didn't impress me. Now I got to go exploring a little and it's really quite expansive - all glass and open space! Very German though in its layout - everyone in it's place and a place for everything.

I also managed to weasel my way out of paying extra for the 43kg of luggage I had. So far, so good

The actual plane itself was really really new. It was an Airbus A340-600 and had all these strange amendments that actually made it far more comfortable for long-haul flights than Economy should be. Aside from the wanker flight attendent who wanted to ID me! What's up with that - it's a German plane, therefore the legal age is 16, and I don't look 16 do I?!?

But yeah, this plane had really 'natural' lighting, a 2-4-2 seat layout, cup holders in the back of the seat in front (which saves having the table down all the time), curved tray tables (so you can shimmy into your seat without lifting them completely), and all the toilets placed together downstairs, with its own little waiting area. There wasn't an in-seat entertainment system (which I think Lufthansa will have to change rather soon!), but the central screens were huge and really clear. The only downside was they spent the entire time screening crap like the gymnastic 'comedy' Stick It (with such gems as "It's not called gym-nice-tics!") and Take the Lead.

And before I knew it I was in Vancouver waiting for my luggage to come off the plane!

First impressions: everything is bilingual, there are loads of different nationalities speaking in Canadian accents (such a good thing!), really nice airport and really friendly people!

I met Mike (from Nottingham, UK) at the airport waiting for the UBC shuttle (complimentary!) and on the shuttle I met a Dutch girl, a Singaporean guy and a Chinese girl. So international already - although we all live in different rez'.

And onto Gage (the residence ('rez') where I live: my room is quite large, with a much much more comfortable bed than in Singapore. Gage itself is made up of 3 17-storey tours, with each floor holding 24 students (in 4 'quads' with 6 rooms in each). This means it's HUGE, but still quiet at the moment, as most local students don't move in to Sept 2 (this coming Sat). My linen failed to arrive on time (no bother, the 24-hr front desk gave me spares), but we have a TV, which more than makes up for it!

After a quick dinner (at McDonalds I ashamedly admit) with Mike, I went to bed. Considering that I had actually been up for 20 or so hours, I think I was running completely on adrenaline and endorphins!

So today was it - officially my last day in the UK and the beginning of a 2-day expedition to Vancouver to begin my semester abroad - the real reason I left Sydney in the first place!

I spent the morning with Evelyn, doing some shopping in M&S (and ogling over all the food - I love their selection!), and watching TV.

The trip to Edinburgh airport took about 2hrs total, including a taxi trip to Glasgow Queen St station (with a driver who was a student of Evelyn 37 years ago!), a train to Edinburgh and a bus to the airport. With all my luggage I was SO glad to arrive at the airport and just relax! I even got to use the internet on my laptop and (just!) download all my emails (all 860 that I'd accumulated over the 2 months!).

I had deliberately arrived at the airport early, given that it was only a few weeks after the huge security scare. In hindsight, this was not so necessary, but it nearly was! There was a MASSIVE queue right next to the Lufthansa check-in booth and I though 'ooh bugger', but instead that was all for BMI (being end of Bank Holiday everyone wanted to get to England, and almost all flights were delayed to some degree). So I proceeded really quickly to a massive queue for security, but it went through SO fast - everyone just obeyed and started preparing far before they got to the x-ray machines - i.e. by taking off shoes/jackets/laptops etc. There were something like 15 machines too, which helped!

The flight was fairly uneventful and before I knew it I was at the first real hotel of the trip so far! It's very plain, but oh so comfy! And as a huge bonus, Ange called! Yay!

And now it's time for bed ... tomorrow I've got a 13hr flight so I need my beauty sleep!

Hiya,

After 5 weeks meandering (at quite a fast pace) I'm back in sunny (!) Scotland. It's really strange, this actually feels like home - truly! I guess that's because I'm no longer carrying a backpack around everywhere, and I have access to everything (incl my trusty laptop). It's equally strange visiting somewhere where everyone speaks English (and predominantly ONLY English). I almost miss having to resort to ESL and hand signals!!

My final hours in Praha were, to say the least, interesting. Max, my roommate, and I talked for ages about Italy, Australia, religion and *ahem* erotic clubs. After such an enlightening conversation, I went to sleep and he went out to said club. I woke at 6:30 to find him sprawled across his bed wearing nothing but a towel. Not a pretty sight!! Ah well, nothing surprises me here at Centrum!

After a fairly uneventful flight (with very fast security checks), I took a 5min taxi and was back in Renfrew. I immediately set to work emptying all my luggage etc. and found that I had LOADS of washing to do - sorry Evelyn for dumping 3 full loads of washing on you! Then I had a long relaxing shower and spent the rest of the day chilling.

Time flies though when you're having fun, so I'm off to bed.

Ciao,

Tris.