TRAVEL|AUSTRALIA TO EUROPE

My Travel Journal

Enough to make you never want to travel again

While I was researching my story on why I went to France for the first time, I found I had written about the actual getting there — remember this was my very first trip to France — and thought I’d share it with you.

Warning: It’s long — but the trip was long and I spent a lot of time writing it on the journey.

Travellers from Europe and America complain about long flights — 8 hours! This makes me laugh — if you’re Australian or New Zealander, you’ll know you get nowhere in 8 hours!

A new adventure!

Brisbane to Sydney — first leg

“I am writing this sitting in Singapore Airport. It’s actually 12.25 am Brisbane time so I’ve been travelling for almost 12 hours and have several dramas already. Firstly, I had to repack my suitcase and carry-ons as you are not allowed to take more than 100mls in carry-on so I had to put the Kahlua in my suitcase and of course that made it too heavy so I had to take stuff out (the Christmas pudding and chocolates as well as some clothes) to make it under the 23kg limit. It ended up being 23.1kgs. Only allowed 7kg of carry-on (don’t know where I got 11kg from) so my cabin bag was just under that. Had a bumpy but uneventful flight to Sydney. Sat next to a young lass from West Yorkshire who’s in Australia for 3 weeks’ holidays. It was a big plane and I was Row 58 so it took ages to get off and to the transit lounge. Only waited for a few minutes for the bus to take me to the International Terminal. Bought 1litre vodka duty-free. Was wishing I’d bought the 5 x200mls of different flavours but didn’t have much time to decide.

Sydney to Singapore — second leg

“ I am in 38G which apparently is Premium Economy — maybe the seats are a bit wider but I don’t think there’s any more legroom. Sat next to a lovely young guy from Singapore. Everyone else’s screens were working for the safety talk but mine was just pink lines. The steward reset it to no avail. After takeoff, he rebooted the whole system and I got a very patchy Eat, Pray, Love for a few minutes. He rebooted the whole system again and still no movie! Passengers were not happy that they kept losing their movies.

So I read until I finished my book and tried to turn my reading light off. It was stuck on so they had to turn every light on the plane on in order to turn mine off. How embarrassing! The head steward ended up lending me his own laptop so I could watch a movie in the three and a half hours left.”

Singapore

“I was last off the plane and sat down to brush my hair and put lip balm on when I saw someone walk past with duty-free.

— Shit! I left mine on the plane!

I had to carry all my bags and was accompanied by security onto the plane to collect it. Then they were saying it’s more than 100mls so would be confiscated. Not panicking too much but I said Duty-Free in Sydney told me I would have to put it in my suitcase in Frankfurt although I don’t understand why. Anyway, it’s in a sealed packet so wasn’t confiscated. Managed to have my seat changed to 50G which means I’m back in ordinary Economy. Good chance to assess if there are any differences. Business passengers are boarding already so it wasn’t a very long stopover at all. There are 75 rows ( 65–75 are boarding now). I am almost too tired to write. I think I will try to sleep on this flight.”

Singapore to Frankfurt — third leg

“Back on the plane! Sat down in 50G — remembered I’d stuck my knee guard in the pocket of 38G but everything’s been taken off the plane so I had to grab my passport and boarding pass and run back into the airport to the security guys who had all of the lost property. But not my knee guard! They must think I’m a complete idiot — first my duty-free, then my knee guard! And I had a bit of a panic attack at the airport when I thought I had lost my phone but it had fallen under my seat.”

“I have had two long sleeps ( well, they couldn’t have been too long) as we have just flown over Delhi and have 7 hours to go! I’ve just taken two Tylenol tablets so when I fall asleep, I’ll stay asleep for a bit longer. I just asked for a cup of tea and I got two macadamia shortbreads as well. I still haven’t put a jumper on, but I have a little blanket on me. I might try to watch a movie. I have 3 seats to myself! And my screen works! Watched The Kids are All Right and took another two Tylenol. I slept through The Other Guys. Still two and a half hours to Frankfurt. Just flew past Kharkov heading to Kiev. Just worked out it’s a 16-hour and 10-minute flight — that can’t be correct. Just had breakfast — it’s 12 midday in Brisbane— apparently, it’s a 12-hour 10-minute flight. My brain is mush!”

Frankfurt

“Have had an exciting time here in Frankfurt. Got off the plane at about 5.30 am — time is immaterial — got through customs with no trouble at all and went to find a locker to store my big suitcase. There’s an area that looks after bags so I got the clothes I wanted to change into out and put the rest back in the suitcase. Then went to change some money — only got 46 euros for AUD$80 so I think it’s better to use a card.

“Then I set off in search of a shower. Asked one guy and he said they were in Terminal 1 so I caught the train to Terminal 1 and asked another couple of guys who said there were no showers at the airport! By the way, nobody speaks English well enough to know what showers are so I am miming washing myself all over. Anyway, I finally figure out they are duschen. I asked the girl at Information who gave me very good directions to the shower. (singular) The door was locked and the cleaning lady finished cleaning all of the toilets before she gave me the key. It cost 6 euros but I did get a towel and shower gel. It was only about a 2-minute shower but was glorious. I tried to clean my teeth but had nothing to pierce the toothpaste with — frustrating — so I changed from my summer clothes into thermal long johns, thermal vest, black pants, black jumper, possum socks and boots and put my scarf, gloves and fur hat into my carry bag. I was sweating like a pig. There were heating walls in the shower and toilet. I put some moisturiser on and a little makeup and followed the signs to the train station.”

“Bought a ticket for €3.90 but no one checked it so I didn’t buy one for the return journey. It was still dark and just starting to get light when I got to the city. The train station was HUGE and it took me a while to actually get out of it. I walked around a couple of city blocks — mostly hotels — and walked back to the station. Ate a huge custard scroll and a cappuccino for €3.55. I couldn’t eat all the custard scroll. Then tried to find the way back to the right track to the airport — there were 24 maybe 26 to choose from! Just luckily, I found one that said Flugel something which I recognised, went down the stairs, hopped on the train and asked a guy if it was going to the airport. Luckily he spoke English and replied yes so I sat down next to him. He had his snowboard and was going to Salt Lake City. He lives in Cologne so had never been to Frankfurt airport before. We both followed the signs from T1 to T2 to find the place where I had left my suitcase and paid €4 to retrieve it. Then I found the check-in counter for Air France, got my boarding pass and checked in my big bag. Then went to security who said I should see if I could get an earlier flight, so I went back to the counter but the girl said no, I should have asked before I checked my bag in. So I went back to security and went through the first checkpoint and then the x-ray machines. Put everything through including my bracelets but forgot about my boots. So had to take those off too and for some unknown reason, my bum was beeping so I had to let her see that I had nothing down there! Then they tell me I can’t take the duty-free vodka on board even though it’s in a sealed package and I have to go back and check it through with my cabin bag. So I go back to the guy who checked me in and he tells me only one piece of luggage is allowed and I will have to pay €55 if I want the cabin bag to go through. I said the vodka only cost AUD$30 — I don’t know about €20 so it would be cheaper for me to just give him the vodka which I did. Then I went back to the security checkpoint. The guy there was starting to be my best friend by now. I explained that I would have to pay €55 for the extra bag so I gave the vodka to the check-in guy. His supervisor said, “That’s not right,” and marched me back to the check-in counter and saw the boss. They had an animated discussion in which I think I heard “Qantas is shitzen”. Anyway, he let me put my vodka in my cabin bag and check it through for no charge. I thanked the Frau very much and went back to the security check. I had to go through the x-ray machines again. I had to take everything off including my boots but I didn’t get strip-searched again. I then came up to the gate I think we might be leaving from D26 and played Bookworm for a couple of hours on my phone. I still have about two and a half more hours to wait. I shouldn’t have left 11 hours stopover in Frankfurt. The most exciting thing (not stressful!) was I saw snow on the ground coming back from the city, and lots of little garden houses like chook pens which, the snowboarding guy told me, belong to people who live in the city to have their own garden plots. I think I might go and have a bite to eat. I have no idea what time it is. Just had a salmon wrap and a half-litre German beer for €10.50. Sat and watched the planes taking off and landing. Some of them have their wingtips turned up. Icelandic Air and Air Berlin were two I noticed. Everyone here wears huge coats which they take off and hang over the backs of their chairs. The men have black wool coats instead of suit coats and most of them wear scarves as well. They look funny! I still think German is a strange language but I am getting used to it.”

Frankfurt to Paris — fourth leg

“On the plane to Paris at last and what a plane! Plastic seats with seatbelts — that’s it — no music, headsets, no layback position — nothing! Talk about a budget airline! Water and a biscuit to eat but it was a nice macadamia shortbread. Not even a tea or coffee. The pilot was excellent though — I didn’t even know we’d left the ground and did a perfect landing in Paris, unlike the Qantas pilot who landed us so roughly in Frankfurt. I had a window seat — there were only 17 people on the plane so I got to look out over the countryside to see patches of snow — very pretty. Soon we landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport and it’s HUGE! Not sure if it’s bigger than Frankfurt but it’s massive.

Paris

“Followed the signs to collect baggage (both bits) and still couldn’t find the correct carousel. It took ages to unload even though there were only nine people collecting luggage. Mine was the first suitcase off. Followed the signs to the station where I found a sign saying Nantes 8.25 6 but then there was another saying Lorient 8.25 6 — very confusing! I found out that there are actually two trains hooked onto each other that separate down the track to go to different destinations. I had never heard of that before!”

Paris to Nantes — fifth leg

“I dozed all the way to Nantes — I couldn’t see out and one woman talked nonstop the whole way. Tried sending texts to Stacey telling her the train was running late but they wouldn’t send so rang her when the train was at Angiers St Laud.”

Nantes at last!

“Max and Stacey surprised me by jumping on the train to grab my suitcase. I didn’t even recognise her — I was so tired. I was so happy to see her there and not to have to try to find her. We caught a taxi home which was a long way or at least it seemed like it. Max had cooked a delicious meal of soup, oysters and roast pork and vegetables which we ate with a bottle of French red wine. It was heaven to get to my warm bed in the basement. I have no idea how long the whole trip took but more than two days I think.”

This is transcribed from my travel journal. After this trip, it’s a wonder I ever wanted to travel again, but I did — nine months later! Writing this made me realise how clueless I was travelling on my own and how I should have been more sympathetic to the plight of my poor little Korean boy who was much younger than I was. He’ll probably be the consummate traveller by the time he’s 30.