New Beginnings - Madrid

Let's start with the Plane trip! so after being awake for about 15 hours already i embark on firstly a 14 hour flight, a 3 hour stop over and on to another 8 hour flight! Let me tell you right now! Long distance flying sucks! i hate it! it's great short distance but sitting in the same seat for that long is awful! i tried sleeping on my first flight but only got 3 hours worth =( i sat next to a nice and chatty english girl heading for london so that at least was good! sat next to a lady and her children who decided to scream, laugh and cry the whole way!!!!!

We'll go over some do's and don'ts of flying! Do's:walk around when you can, go to the toilet before liftoff, travel light (you'll regret lugging round stuff), try and sleep - it really is the best way to pass the time!, when arriving in a new time zone, no matter how tired you are always stay awake until night, it can be hard to adjust but do your best!
DON'TS!: Doo not take screaming young children on board with you! lol, do not ever wear shorts or t-shirt on a plane! no matter how hot it is where you get on or off, you will freeze on the plane! and time does not go by quickly! do not forget to take a pen with you! it is a handy thing!

Wow! Dubai airport is outta this world big! hahah we arrived there at 4 am and it was already 30C! hang! wasn't expecting that! XD anyways we got off the plane and onto a shuttle that drove for aaaaaaaages to drop us off! it was like a future sci fi movie and it all looked so alien! the airport was confusing and they didn't have my flight showing for a while so i just had to wait! then i got terminal 208!!! can u believe they have that many terminals! eek! thank goodness for conveyor belts at airports! :D on my plane trip to madrid i sat next to some random indian who couldn't speak a word of english or spanish >.<

Here's my plane just arrived in Madrid! Woooooooooo! getting round here was easy! we had to take a train just to get to our luggage but everything was in english! funny i didn't see anyone traveling alone, except some1 i meet later! when i finally got all my stuff i ran into a girl called Alicia! from NZ! who is also going to be a language assistant here! can you believe the chances! hahahah it was good to see some1 i knew! in the end we took a taxi together and split the cost!

Everything is sooo different here! i was beginning to feel real upset about it all yesterday when i arrived and this morning! the people at the reception don't seem very friendly and i had to keep going back down all the time to sort out the internet! which is finally working! have to pay 10euro a day for it! crazy ay! but i tell you it's so good having it and just being able to contact people!

Buuuuuuut i am feeling alot better now! my room is small but it has a beautiful bed to sleep on and airconditioning! it's on the top floor and so it gets mental hot here! i went out this morning to hunt me some breakfast and it was sooooooo cold out side! then later i decided to go out to explore! ad it was super hot and here's me with my sweatshirt on >.< when will i learn? but you'd be so proud of me! i walked for aaaaaaaaaaaaages! and got extremely tired! Madrid is huge! and easy to get lost! but everything is so pretty! i just want to stop and take a piture of every single building! hahah XD

that top picture is my hotel by the way!

Hahahhaha i don't think Madrid is quite ready for my awesome spanish! i now have a new number after visiting the vodafone store! eeeeek! wat a mish that was! >.< but i'm certain now i got the right deal! prepared plan with 8c/min calling and 8c per sms! if you can afford to send me overseas texts my number is - +34663488174

And yes! i've already had my first spanish BK! wasn't that great! silly lady gave me pepsi!

right now i'm very tired! it's getting late here and my body clock is all out of sync but am desperately trying to get things written out for ya'll b4 this internet cuts out >.< busy days ahead! hope to do a site seeing tour 2moro! wish me luck!

Oooooh and by the way i am really glad to be using spanish again, even if it may appear otherwise! :D no chances to speak english here! well i probly could but every likes spanish! XD

A week in Brisbane

Heeeeeeey!

SO i had such an awesome time in Brisbane! was absolutely amazing catching up with my brother again! and man was it awesome to have my dad there! i tell you it's so much nicer traveling and doing things with people you know!

Anyways let's start off at the beginning! it was a cold miserable day in NZ (no offense) and thank to my good friend anthony we got to the airport (making a pit stop or 2 on the way XD) then we jumped on a plane and 3 hours later we were in sunny oz! although it wasn't very sunny because it was night! Hoooooooooly heck! it was soooo good to actually be meet at the airport and not only that but by some1 with a car! man that made life sooo much easier!! XD

So the next day we went to Dreamworld! had soooooo much fun! got to be my fav of all the theme parks! and was stoked to get to ride on every ride! they had just opened a new ride called the buzz saw! which was very fun! i had to wait over an hour (by myself cause every1 else chickened out) in the blistering hot heat! we somehow managed our trip to oz to coincide with the first week of school holidays! thank goodness there were no queues! don't know why but i'm not gona get upset XD

sadly i can't recall what we did everyday but i'll highlight some of the main things that were really cool! one day we did a tour of brisbane city where we drove around everywhere and caught the ferry! got to see my cool friends university! we also went to south bank to see the man made beach! i'm not sure why but beaches never really do it for me! i guess i just take them for granted! we're sooooo lucky to have world class beaches here in NZ! We went out to dinner a couple of times! firstly to Hungry Jack's! which we know as BK! and also went to the Hog's Breath Cafe! gotta love that place! Alex had the most amazing rocky road dessert! absolutely huuuuuuuuuuge! it's amazing he got through so much of it! XD

Before i forget i must put in one of my absolute biggest highlights of our time in Australia! a Trip to Allan's Music World! Laaaaaaaaaa! was soooo good! for those of you who don't know i went to get sheet music! we have a terrible range of it in NZ and when you do find it it's like $50+ for simple things! anyways i had a field day in there! could hardly make up my mind on what to get! after 4 or 5 books i was like come on chris! you have to start saying no! so i limited myself to only 3 more XD i don't dare say how much i spent on it! only thing is i will have to wait a year before i can play it all cause my dad took it back to NZ with him! =(

Finally the last couple things we did was a trip to some malls and the movies to see cowboys and aliens! (which by the way is not such a bad movie), a trip to Bribie island - we had a car and tried using a GPS, after a while we heard it say "you have reached your destination" and we looked at each other and were like ummm no! hahah turned out we had programmed in Port of Brisabane and not Bribie island XD hahahhaha no wonder there were soo many trucks! XD then there was a trip to Byron bay! was really cool! super busy but had some very cool scenery! we chilled there and went to the lighthouse! oooooooooh and they had this amazing sand sculpture of a dragon on the beach! kudos to those who made it! :D come sunday dad flew back to NZ (super early) and that night i headed to the airport myself ready to start my next adventure!

Thanks so much to the peeps in Australia for making it such an awesome time! was very cool and will def miss it alot! but as they say in Oz, no Dramas! or Too easy! XD