The woes of traveling

Today is perhaps going to be the longest day ever. It officially started enough hours ago that I can’t actually count because it was yesterday. My final day in Melbourne has finally arrived and unlike any normal person, I did not take off work for my last day and instead I even ended up getting to work EARLY. crazy I know. Basically I spent the day packing, loving on the animals because I knew I would be saying bye, and overall just getting everything squared away to leave. I was lucky enough to find some time to go to dinner with my favorite co-worker, Monty, and his girlfriend Sarah. We had been trying to meet up all week and finally today was the day that worked. We went to a place called Ruby Tuesday’s which is this funky small place on Chapel St, not far from my work. They had really tasty food!! I got Chili Mussels in a Napoli sauce that was to die for. AND the best part, was for the price, I actually felt like I got a good portion and even though it was off the Tapas menu, it was plenty of food. Sarah got a ravioli and Monty an Indian curry as well as some bread with dipping sauces and some raspberry lemonade. YUM. I was pretty content I won't lie and it even got better. We had time, so we all just hung out, chatted, and then got some hot chocolate to end and Monty insisted on going for this massive piece of chocolate mudslide cake that was super good and not too sweet. To top it all off, Monty was so amazing and paid for everything before I even had a chance to say anything or offer. It made me feel so special

Unfortunately, Monty had to be at work at 8 and I had to be in at 10 so after we ate we headed to Electric. It was so stinking cold out that we partially went in just to get warm but I was able to convince Sarah that she should sit and hang out with me for a bit even though she didn't want to drink. ( she had a rough night last night so was taking it easy tonight). I finally ordered my first cocktail from Electric called  Yellow Fever. It has vodka, sugar, pineapple, Galileo vanilla and I think that's it. yum yum yum. took me a good hour to drink it but I was savoring it. Since it was my last night, my manager gave me a $30 tab which means I basically got to buy myself drinks during the night. PS-hindsight is telling me this was a bad idea.

Work was awesome for a last night. The people were great, friendly, enthusiastic, and just wonderful to me. I made nearly $60 which is a lot here for the simple job I do. Everyone at work made me feel pretty loved and overall it was a fantastic night. At the end of work, around 4:30am, everyone had knock off drinks as normal and we all sat around and chatted. When it was time to go, everyone was so hungover from the previous night that no one really felt like drinking more. BUT I had like three hours to kill before I had to be at the airport. Lucky for me Bridie was working down the street at one of my favorite places called Pawn and Co. that I had also written about before. It’s the place where you can buy all the decorations. She picked up some shifts there and got off at 5am so I walked to meet her for a couple drinks. After a couple drinks I was honestly just starting to feel sick and super super tired... surprise. After walking home, we got our last good chat in while I waited for Rob (bussie and friend from work) to come pick me up to drive me to the airport. Finally, around 6:45 am he made his way back to me and I got to the airport by 7:30 for an originally scheduled 9:30 am flight. Walk in the door and immediately discover an hour delay. I texted Makenna because we were already on a tight schedule to pick up the campervan by 2pm and my flight was already getting in at 1pm. I still checked in and was so proud of myself, my bag weighed 19.8 kilos and I paid for 20 kilos. Pretty much perfect. Went through security though and was so exhausted I totally forgot I had my makeup bag in my carry on from work, and I had to throw away my favorite makeup scissors :( boo. After sitting there for a while and trying to sleep, unsuccessfully, we got another announcement saying the flight was further delayed until 11am. At this point, I called Makenna and we came up with a plan B for her to pick it up by herself and then come get me from the airport and save me the trouble of the shuttle. I was so tired and pretty hungover at this point that I was feeling so awful. Eventually, we got on the flight and they told us that they had been waiting for a whole new plane from Sydney because the other plane was having “operational problems’. Reassuring huh? There was no one in the middle seat which was perfect because this was my only chance to sleep and it was fastly approaching 24 hours of being awake. At 2pm I landed in Cairns and was instantly warm it felt so good! Makenna surprised me at baggage claim and I was so happy to see her. Officially my vacation has begun.