Hello everyone,
In this post I am going to tell you how the trip from Porto to Narrabeen was.
On March 3, 2024, we woke up at 5 a.m. to give the finishing touches to the house and tidy everything up.
We left for the airport and took the first flight to Amsterdam.
Initially we had 2 hours to make the connection, they moved the flight forward, and we only had 1h20. Also, the flight left a little late, so we had even less time.
So as soon as the plane landed, we jumped out of the seats, put on our backpacks, and ran out as fast as we could. We just went through passport control, and it was very fast.
We arrived at the boarding gate with plenty of time to go to the bathroom. Of course, bathed in sweat from the run we had made.
When we checked the flights, it was only possible to upgrade the flight from Amsterdam to Hong Kong, as the one from Hong Kong to Sydney was operated by another company and did not give the option.
We paid 50 euros per person to be a little further forward, almost right behind premium economy, and to have wider seats. In reality, we threw away the money because the seats were exactly the same as those at the end of the plane.
As usual, we ordered vegan food, and it is amazing how the qualities of the food (and services in general) are getting worse and worse. Apart from what was the main meal, there were no snacks that were vegan, so we could eat almost nothing during the flight.
When we went to the bathroom to brush our teeth and do skincare, we met a Ukrainian guy who we spent some time talking to.
We were able to get plenty of sleep on the flight and it didn’t feel so long.
The offer of movies and series was lousy.
We arrived in Hong Kong and since we had seen that they had free showers, we had taken towels and clothes to change. The showers were clean, although I had to shower with cold water.
At this airport we had an 8 hour wait because as soon as we arrived in Hong Kong, we got a notification that the flight had been delayed; so, we had enough time to shower, eat and rest.
We had the flight number on the KLM reservation, but since the flight going to Sydney was operated by Qantas, it had a different number.
Then, our flight matched one that was leaving 10 minutes later. There we got confused and were waiting at the wrong gate. When they started boarding, we realized that our flight was at another gate and they were already boarding, so we had to rush out, thinking we were going to miss our flight.
Fortunately, the other gate was not far away, and we arrived in time to board. We almost had a heart attack.
The flight to Sydney was most idyllic because it was half empty and everyone was sleeping flat. On the flight there was no noise at all, and no one could be heard talking, no babies crying, no nothing.
In fact, when we went to the bathroom, they were all empty because everyone was sleeping.
The entertainment on this plane was also lousy and I ended up watching Twilight and P.S I love you.
The food was better than KLM.
Passport control in Sydney was quick and the suitcases also came out in record time.
We had initially asked the couple from Australia if we needed anything to bring our medicines and supplements into the country and they told us that we had to put it on the form they give us on the plane.
Actually, no one asks you anything about any pills you might be carrying.
We only put on the form that we were bringing in fruits and nuts; so, when we left the airport, they passed us through another part and asked us what we were bringing, and we told them two apples that we had taken from the plane and a bag of nuts. They didn’t check our luggage; our word was enough.
We called an Uber to our house in Narrabeen which cost about 67 euros.
Sydney traffic is hellish, and we were horrified.
As you know, many of our trips are to see what life is like there for a possible future change of residence, and after that almost hour and a half of traffic in Sydney, it was already clear to us that Sydney was ruled out as a place to emigrate.
Thus ends the longest trip of our lives to arrive in Narrabeen, where we would spend 3 months for our second home exchange.
We spent two days traveling and there comes a point when you don’t know if it’s day or night, or if it’s your turn to have breakfast or lunch. Although we had a good trip, when we got home all the fatigue fell on us all at once and we were tired and had trouble sleeping for more than a week.