I'm here.

So, after 2 weeks of catchups, 2 going-away do's, 2 fun runs, 2 days of packing, 2 extra emotional goodbyes (phonecall & airport), 2 cabin luggage backpacks (that went unnoticed .. thank god), & 2 uncomfortable flights.. I'm here.

After a late night on Sat, a 6am wakeup Sunday, the hbf run, a day of drinking (the pb&j jelly shots were a winner), my 10.30pm "I'll get some sleep" flight from Perth to Dubai didn't pan out as planned. I was lucky enough to be sat a few rows behind a mostly-screaming baby, in an aisle seat, next to a rude irish bloke with some serious bladder issues. The 6th time I had to fold up my tray (this time half way through my breakfast may I add) and get up to let him out (with no pleases or thankyous) was a bit of a joke. Anyyyyway.

Dubai airport - Maman wasn't lying.  She warned it takes forever to make your way from where you land to where you need to be. I thought I was lucky as I landed in terminal 3, and was departing terminal 3... sinch? No.. just to get to gate B meant 1 elevator, 1 train, 2 escalators and about 25mins of walking (maybe longer considering I stopped for some choccies from the "sweets factory"). not to mention that gate B has like 35 gates in it... It's definitely a bit bigger than Perth airport ha.

Dubai to London - a better flight - was sat next to a lovely old pommy bloke (with bad breath), that spent the first hourish convincing me I need to be a chelsea supporter.. but still no sleep. The Baileys made it a little easier. Touchdown in London & surprisingly I'm not as cold as I thought (15degrees... it's their 'summer' ). Dave's cousin Rob was there to meet me when I landed at Gatwick, and about an hour later we got back to his apartment. Its a great place about the same size as my place, in pretty much central London.

I've bought my Oyster card (feeling more like a Londoner already) and my UK simcard. I took less than half an hour to unpack all my clothes, and 17 pairs of shoes. No, that's not a typo.. somehow, I managed to pack 17 pairs of shoes.. W.T.F..??

Rob & I went for a good 5ish hour walk around his end of London / past St Pauls / tower bridge/ down the river / through some cool markets / 2 pubs (bulmers pints for £4...!) / had dinner / and now its 8.50pm (2.50am perth time), im showered and having a glass of red wine (hopefully get to sleep shortly) after almost 30 hours of no sleep, I'm poooooped.

So that pretty much sums up my first day here. Tomorrow I'm off to Bath Spa to meet Sharon for our drive out to Wales. I should probably check the train times..

Night night

Xo

✌

Why?

Honestly? Because I'm lazy.

& my memory is shot-to-sh*t.

My 2012 Europe trip taught me this.

I struggled to sit down and put together emails to tell family & friends I was alive, where I'd been, what I'd been doing, etc. Not because I was too busy, or would've rathered use my time for more exciting things, but because I really just couldn't be arsed.. The last 2 ½ weeks of my trip was made up of countless driving hours on the Topdeck bus.. But did I use that time to type about my adventures? Of course not. I used it to sleep, stare out the window, watch movies, eat pringles & toblerone... I saved the typing of emails for when we were frantic and on a time limit, so that I could send the quick "Just got to *insertcityname* , I'm alive, WiFi is sh*t, running late for our walking tour, will email soon".

  

Then what happened? When I finally decided "shit I better email Maman & tell her I've not been sold for my organs in Albania", do you think I could remember what I did 3 days before? Or where I had even been? Of course not. The email that would've taken me a whole 5 mins (if I'd I typed it as I left each city), ended up taking an hour to put together - with a lot of "improvisations" (I remember emailing about our sailing trip, having absolutely no idea where we'd been, googling a map of Greece and naming a few random towns instead). And it only gets worse. People ask me now what I did in Dubrovnik? I remember being hungover on a boat ride from hell. That's pretty much it. Hindsight's a b*tch, because I now wish I'd kept a journal of some-sort (dot-points on a notepad even) - but I didn't, and I can't remember many specifics of my trip at all.

  

So this is my lazy solution. I'll post as much as I can (be bothered) on this blog. So that rather than having to come up with excuses for why I haven't emailed the people I'd promised I'd email, or clogging your newsfeed on facebook with pictures of a mountain range and the caption "my view from Mount Kosciuszko"..

This'll be your one-stop-shop for all things Joelle.

 ✌