Day 33: Welcome Home, Sydney!

Today began more or less as a continuation of my overnight stay in the International Terminal of the Christchurch Airport. I woke up from my doze around 3:45am to find several other folks in the group waking up. We spent the next 45 minutes or so trying to stay awake, as the domestic part of the airport would reopen at 4:30am. 4:30am was also the time when we could pick our bags up and check-in for our flight to Auckland at 6:40am.

4:30am eventually came and we walked over to the domestic terminal. We had no problems retrieving our bags from storage and after a quick rearrangement of heavy items to my larger backpack, I headed off in the direction of the JetStar counter. The only documentation I had for my flight was my passport, which I didn't think would work well, but I was too tired to care. Thankfully my baggage weight was OK and without any questions the representative handed me my boarding pass. (That's the easiest dealing I've ever had with JetStar.)

I proceeded through security without any issues, found the right gate, and took the liberty of taking several seats to sleep on for the next hour. This hour of sleep was definitely the best of the entire night and I woke up a few minutes before the plane started boarding. The flight to Auckland only took an hour, but I don't remember anything between takeoff and landing, as I slept the entire time.

At the Auckland airport, I retrieved my bags from baggage claim and picked up a dolly to roll my luggage around. (The dollies are free here!) I quickly found a comfortable seat outside of McDonald's and proceeded to take a gloriously refreshing 3-hour nap. When I woke up, a couple of folks were headed down the domestic terminal to find some other members of the group to see if anyone was ready to head over to the international terminal. (We had a 4:15pm international flight back to Sydney.) About the time we found the rest of the group, the professors' plane had landed and they came over and met us for the walk over to the international terminal. They looked much more well-rested, but then again they missed out on the fantastic airport accommodations.

My nap outside of McDonald's had definitely refreshed me, so I decided to grab some lunch at Subway when we arrived at the International Terminal. We still had a couple hours before we could check-in for our flight to Sydney, so I took the time to eat lunch and have devo with Brittany over the phone. Most of the group took over a large corner at one of the cafes, so after lunch and devo I joined them and tried to iron out some details with Delta and Southwest concerning my flight back home in a few days. I had erroneously thought our study abroad trip ended on the 4th, but it actually ends on February 2nd. Basically, that means that my scheduled flight home is 2 days late and so I was looking at the price difference between a two night stay in a hotel in Sydney vs. fees for changing two long distance flights. The fees to change flights totaled at $488, so I decided 2 more nights in Sydney would be significantly less expensive...

Finally, the time came when we could check-in with JetStar for our flight to Sydney. I was particularly excited about this check-in experience, as it would be my last one (hopefully forever) with JetStar! Thankfully, this check-in went smoothly like the past couple and I proceeded through security. However, I did notice a sign at the check-in counter that warned folks against "verbal and physical abuse." How sad is it that JetStar actually has to put a sign out to protect their employees from discontented folks? Sad for both the customers and JetStar, really.

Behind security, I walked around with Anoop through the different shops to see if anything was worth buying. There were neat items for sale, but just like in the States, everything was ridiculously over-priced. We continued our wait, as we had checked in so early that our flight did not even have an assigned gate. Eventually a gate number showed up on the screens and we walked down to the gate, still an hour or so away from departure.

At the gate, Steele shared some TimTam cookies with everyone and Anoop's wife mentioned that she read they are used as straws in coffee. Everyone was curious how this worked, so I ran back to the cafe and bought a small coffee to try it out. I bit off two corners of the cookie and proceeded to use the cookie like a straw. It actually worked! The coffee gave the cookie a great flavor, but the coffee was so hot that the cookie melted in my hand. I'm not sure I like drinking coffee this way, but the coffee flavor definitely enhanced the quality of the TimTam cookie!

We were finally able to board and before long we were off the ground on a 2 hour, 40 minute flight to Sydney! I tried to sleep again, but I was wedged in the middle of the seats so it was almost impossible to get comfortable. The flight was also turbulent, which may not bother some folks, but my sinuses were still packed and the end result had me feeling carsick well before we landed.

After an hour descent into Sydney, we landed and I was thoroughly relieved to get off the back of the plane. Customs took about 15 minutes and soon I was able to get some food. McDonald's was the best option, so I purchased a burger and a coke to eat while Anoop visited Vodafone to recharge everyone's SIM card.

Recharges purchased, we all piled into 2 maxi taxis and headed off to Wesley College at the University of Sydney once again! Walking up to Wesley College, it felt like we were coming home. Perhaps this is due to the fact we started our trip here, but it was a neat feeling. We were each given a new room and about 6:30pm I was finally able to take a much needed shower. (It had been awhile!) Before we went up to our rooms, several folks tried to re-enact their exact location the first day we landed in Sydney. Here are some photos:

Jason and Will

Ben, Brooke, Matt, and Emily

Andrew, Stu, Megan, and Patrick

After a refreshing shower, a good number of us headed off to get kebabs for dinner. I got the lamb kebab plate which turned out to be pretty tasty. While we ate, we watched Djokovic and Nadal battle for the Australian Open Championship! (Djokovic ended up winning in just under 6 hours - the longest finals match in the history of the Australian Open.) Properly nourished, I headed off to find some Robitussin to cure a cough that had developed during my stay at the airports. I found some at the grocery store and walked back to Wesley.

I had intentions of working on my blog, but after taking some Robitussin, I decided it was time to sleep. It was only 10:00pm, but I needed some sleep in an actual bed. Even the non-air-conditioned bowels of Wesley provided a better night's sleep than the Christchurch Airport...