There it finally was, 25-Apr-2018 or the day of the flight to the other end of the world. Now the excitement for both of us reached definitely its peak. Will we be able to close the suitcases including everything that we planned to bring? Will it be within the weight limit?
Those were the most challenging questions during the past week of preparation of packing up. I just realized that I did not even take pictures of "packing room" that we used in the house of my parents to share these impressions with you 😳 But to make a long story short, we made it. Both of us had to leave some items behind which was an additional crisis - next to all the other crises during the past weeks - for Denise and both of us had a few kilo grams too much in the hand luggage. With regards to this we decided to be a bad ass and just take the risk - secretly just hoping not to be checked.
Having this sorted we got into the car together with Denise's Mum and my parents and headed to Frankfurt airport. The ride there was amazingly calming for both of us after all of the stress in the previous weeks, preparing the remaining items with bank accounts, contracts, insurances and in parallel trying to use the time as best as possible to meet all of our friends and family a last time before not seeing them for the next 1.5 to 2 years. So this was the first time to really just sit and relax knowingly that (hopefully) everything that was needed is arranged.
Surprise, surprise and the big goodbye
Arrived at the airport and just printing out the luggage labels the surprises started as all of a sudden some guy in a suit stopped next to the machine and offered his help which we both refused but suddenly realizing that it was Denise' uncle. But this wasn't the only one surprising us at the airport. Her aunt together with our lovely godchild, her other uncle and even her sister were coming all around to say good-bye and spend the last hours in Germany with us. So we headed to the food-court had a coffee and a nice chat and play together with the godchild.
Getting on board of the first flight
Finally we headed to the passport- and security-check and to the gate, where already our plane waited to be boarded. Worth mentioning in this post was definitely the awesomely nice ground staff member of Cathay Pacific doing our check-in of the luggage and surprising us with an additional seat in the middle row for our first flight from Frankfurt to Hong Kong.
Last picture in Germany
Getting on board and walking past the Business and Premium economy we were surprised when we were sitting in Cathay Pacific's Economy class in this Boeing 777-300ER that it was still pretty spacious with comfortable seats and an amazing touch-screen entertainment system with so many movies, series, music, games and shop that even the in total 20 hours of flying (in both flights) would not be enough to see everything. When the plane took off it was one of the first times of realizing what we are just doing - flying to the other end of the world. Until then it did not really feel like completely bowling over both of our liefs although we already cancelled the flat and our jobs pretty early. But I think it is the one of the things you kind of realize just when you are in the middle of it or when it really takes place than anticipating how it would be like. With having this feeling mixed together with questions whether we did not forget something (gammy - now it would have been too late anyways) and querying whether we will find a flat in the two weeks being in Newcastle and whether everything will go well we were heading to Hong Kong. But it still felt like the right thing.
CX288 from Frankfurt to Hong Kong
Shortly after arriving at cruising altitude the first meal was served. To cut this story short as well, the 20 hours of flying felt like continuous eating. There were just two meals each flight but together with travelling through time zones the feeling for breakfast, lunch and dinner got lost. There was one main meal which was usually called lunch and a three course meal with a salad, main and dessert (ice-cream 😍) and one smaller meal which was dinner on the flight from Frankfurt to Hong Kong and breakfast on the flight from Hong Kong to Sydney. For both meals you could choose from several options. Three options for the main course (traditional Chinese, western and vegetable pasta) and two options for breakfast/dinner (traditional Chinese or western). For the first time flying overseas and economy the food was overall tasty.
Overall main course
Pasta
Traditional Chinese
Ice cream
Traditional Chinese breakfast
Western (English) breakfast
On the first 11 hours of flight we were checking out the entertainment (I watched the first movie - Greatest Showman definitely a recommendation), read a little and both tried to sleep a little at the end of the flight as we were arriving in the morning with local time of Hong Kong.
Arrival in Hong Kong and the second flight
Unluckily we had to go from one end of the airport to the other to get our following plane to Sydney but we had plenty of time as the first flight was on time. Walking through the airport to the gate where the other plane already expected us I was reminded of my work in a kind of funny way with being repeatedly noticed to used the handrails on the moving stairways. Thinking backwards about this I seem to still be thinking too much about work although having my last day end of March.
Boarding in Hong Kong was definitely different than any other plane I boarded in Europe so far. Everything seemed to be a bit unstructured and there were many additional check-ups as well. With all standing in one line several security people checked the passports and marked the ticket when the check was successful. After scanning the boarding pass on the way to the plane there was then an additional security check of the hand luggage. While queueing for it our concerns about the overweight came back but quickly passed away as we saw that they had no scale with them. So we walked to our seats, this time without the third one free and recognized that this plane seemed to have less space between the rows and seats. This made having the meals a little more uncomfortable but was still okay.
CX139 from Hong Kong to Sydney
The main courses (Chinese for me and - of course - pasta for Denise)
On the second flight we both tried to sleep a little more. I made at least 1 hour whilst Denise was able to lay down a little more. But this gave me time to continue reading the Dos and Don ts guide for Australia that we received as a present (even twice 😉).
Immigration to Australia
Already in the beginning of the flight we were handed over the "Incoming passenger cards" for Australia which we had to fill out during the flight and have the ready for the immigration control. Some of it is really hard to fill out and you nearly feel as a criminal if you are not sure whether you did it the right way as it is officially saying that is an offense to make any wrong statements. Having this in mind we both made a cross for the question whether we are bringing any "goods that may be prohibited or subject to restrictions like medicines, steroids, illegal pornography, drugs or guns" (not the exact wording). First station was then the passport check where the incoming passenger cards were checked the first time. Having the cross in mind we were accordingly nervous about what would happen. The border control officer looked at it, asked a few questions and wrote a letter on the card that we did not really comprehend what it should mean. "That went well so far", we both happily thought and went on to get our luggage. We both were still nervous especially whether all of our luggage made it's way through Hong Kong and to Sydney. After waiting quite a while we both had our luggage with us and could move on (half relieved - half nervous) to the part of immigration to Australia which most people know through the famous TV show "Border Control - Australia". Having seen how critical this could be we were more nervous than relieved. So we got into this area and an officer checked our immigration cards and guided us into a special row were strangely nobody was queueing up. On the one hand we felt lucky as this would save us a lot of time but in the same way thought of that cross we made considering whether we had moved ourselves directly into the next episode of border control with that. Having arrived at the end of the path another officer checked again the cards and asked what we would bring with us. In the same moment that I explained that we were not sure because of our German medicine in our first-aid-kit he said that everything is okay and showed us the way to the exit. We were still nervous and thought this would have run too smoothly (considering all the stories about immigration and all the rules) but by walking out of the security doors into the incoming flights hall where a lot of people were standing waiting to welcome there friends or family we had successfully completed the (temporary) immigration having arrived one day after we stepped into the plane at half past eight in the evening.
Well, that was the first part of our adventure. I hope the pretty long post with all it's stories did not bore you too much and that you are still looking forward to read more about us. Let us know your thoughts in the comments or with the other known communication paths like Whats-App or face book.
The next post will be about the first days in Australia, sight-seeing, experiences and feelings. Aaaand for sure with a shit-load of pictures from our first impressions 😁
[[ÜBERSETZUNG IN ARBEIT]]
There it finally was, 25-Apr-2018 or the day of the flight to the other end of the world. Now the excitement for both of us reached definitely its peak. Will we be able to close the suitcases including everything that we planned to bring? Will it be within the weight limit?
Those were the most challenging questions during the past week of preparation of packing up. I just realized that I did not even take pictures of "packing room" that we used in the house of my parents to share these impressions with you 😳 But to make a long story short, we made it. Both of us had to leave some items behind which was an additional crisis - next to all the other crises during the past weeks - for Denise and both of us had a few kilo grams too much in the hand luggage. With regards to this we decided to be a bad ass and just take the risk - secretly just hoping not to be checked.
Having this sorted we got into the car together with Denise's Mum and my parents and headed to Frankfurt airport. The ride there was amazingly calming for both of us after all of the stress in the previous weeks, preparing the remaining items with bank accounts, contracts, insurances and in parallel trying to use the time as best as possible to meet all of our friends and family a last time before not seeing them for the next 1.5 to 2 years. So this was the first time to really just sit and relax knowingly that (hopefully) everything that was needed is arranged.
Surprise, surprise and the big goodbye
Arrived at the airport and just printing out the luggage labels the surprises started as all of a sudden some guy in a suit stopped next to the machine and offered his help which we both refused but suddenly realizing that it was Denise' uncle. But this wasn't the only one surprising us at the airport. Her aunt together with our lovely godchild, her other uncle and even her sister were coming all around to say good-bye and spend the last hours in Germany with us. So we headed to the food-court had a coffee and a nice chat and play together with the godchild.
Getting on board of the first flight
Finally we headed to the passport- and security-check and to the gate, where already our plane waited to be boarded. Worth mentioning in this post was definitely the awesomely nice ground staff member of Cathay Pacific doing our check-in of the luggage and surprising us with an additional seat in the middle row for our first flight from Frankfurt to Hong Kong.
Last picture in Germany
Getting on board and walking past the Business and Premium economy we were surprised when we were sitting in Cathay Pacific's Economy class in this Boeing 777-300ER that it was still pretty spacious with comfortable seats and an amazing touch-screen entertainment system with so many movies, series, music, games and shop that even the in total 20 hours of flying (in both flights) would not be enough to see everything. When the plane took off it was one of the first times of realizing what we are just doing - flying to the other end of the world. Until then it did not really feel like completely bowling over both of our liefs although we already cancelled the flat and our jobs pretty early. But I think it is the one of the things you kind of realize just when you are in the middle of it or when it really takes place than anticipating how it would be like. With having this feeling mixed together with questions whether we did not forget something (gammy - now it would have been too late anyways) and querying whether we will find a flat in the two weeks being in Newcastle and whether everything will go well we were heading to Hong Kong. But it still felt like the right thing.
CX288 from Frankfurt to Hong Kong
Shortly after arriving at cruising altitude the first meal was served. To cut this story short as well, the 20 hours of flying felt like continuous eating. There were just two meals each flight but together with travelling through time zones the feeling for breakfast, lunch and dinner got lost. There was one main meal which was usually called lunch and a three course meal with a salad, main and dessert (ice-cream 😍) and one smaller meal which was dinner on the flight from Frankfurt to Hong Kong and breakfast on the flight from Hong Kong to Sydney. For both meals you could choose from several options. Three options for the main course (traditional Chinese, western and vegetable pasta) and two options for breakfast/dinner (traditional Chinese or western). For the first time flying overseas and economy the food was overall tasty.
Overall main course
Pasta
Traditional Chinese
Ice cream
Traditional Chinese breakfast
Western (English) breakfast
On the first 11 hours of flight we were checking out the entertainment (I watched the first movie - Greatest Showman definitely a recommendation), read a little and both tried to sleep a little at the end of the flight as we were arriving in the morning with local time of Hong Kong.
Arrival in Hong Kong and the second flight
Unluckily we had to go from one end of the airport to the other to get our following plane to Sydney but we had plenty of time as the first flight was on time. Walking through the airport to the gate where the other plane already expected us I was reminded of my work in a kind of funny way with being repeatedly noticed to used the handrails on the moving stairways. Thinking backwards about this I seem to still be thinking too much about work although having my last day end of March.
Boarding in Hong Kong was definitely different than any other plane I boarded in Europe so far. Everything seemed to be a bit unstructured and there were many additional check-ups as well. With all standing in one line several security people checked the passports and marked the ticket when the check was successful. After scanning the boarding pass on the way to the plane there was then an additional security check of the hand luggage. While queueing for it our concerns about the overweight came back but quickly passed away as we saw that they had no scale with them. So we walked to our seats, this time without the third one free and recognized that this plane seemed to have less space between the rows and seats. This made having the meals a little more uncomfortable but was still okay.
CX139 from Hong Kong to Sydney
The main courses (Chinese for me and - of course - pasta for Denise)
On the second flight we both tried to sleep a little more. I made at least 1 hour whilst Denise was able to lay down a little more. But this gave me time to continue reading the Dos and Don ts guide for Australia that we received as a present (even twice 😉).
Immigration to Australia
Already in the beginning of the flight we were handed over the "Incoming passenger cards" for Australia which we had to fill out during the flight and have the ready for the immigration control. Some of it is really hard to fill out and you nearly feel as a criminal if you are not sure whether you did it the right way as it is officially saying that is an offense to make any wrong statements. Having this in mind we both made a cross for the question whether we are bringing any "goods that may be prohibited or subject to restrictions like medicines, steroids, illegal pornography, drugs or guns" (not the exact wording). First station was then the passport check where the incoming passenger cards were checked the first time. Having the cross in mind we were accordingly nervous about what would happen. The border control officer looked at it, asked a few questions and wrote a letter on the card that we did not really comprehend what it should mean. "That went well so far", we both happily thought and went on to get our luggage. We both were still nervous especially whether all of our luggage made it's way through Hong Kong and to Sydney. After waiting quite a while we both had our luggage with us and could move on (half relieved - half nervous) to the part of immigration to Australia which most people know through the famous TV show "Border Control - Australia". Having seen how critical this could be we were more nervous than relieved. So we got into this area and an officer checked our immigration cards and guided us into a special row were strangely nobody was queueing up. On the one hand we felt lucky as this would save us a lot of time but in the same way thought of that cross we made considering whether we had moved ourselves directly into the next episode of border control with that. Having arrived at the end of the path another officer checked again the cards and asked what we would bring with us. In the same moment that I explained that we were not sure because of our German medicine in our first-aid-kit he said that everything is okay and showed us the way to the exit. We were still nervous and thought this would have run too smoothly (considering all the stories about immigration and all the rules) but by walking out of the security doors into the incoming flights hall where a lot of people were standing waiting to welcome there friends or family we had successfully completed the (temporary) immigration having arrived one day after we stepped into the plane at half past eight in the evening.
Well, that was the first part of our adventure. I hope the pretty long post with all it's stories did not bore you too much and that you are still looking forward to read more about us. Let us know your thoughts in the comments or with the other known communication paths like Whats-App or face book.
The next post will be about the first days in Australia, sight-seeing, experiences and feelings. Aaaand for sure with a shit-load of pictures from our first impressions 😁
Und damit waren wir auch schon im Juni angekommen. Die Zeit flog wirklich wahnsinning schnell dahin in diesem Jahr, was möglicherweise den Umständen oder der Tatsache, dass sich die Zeit in Australien generell dem Ende zuneigte, geschuldet war. Da ich in meinem letzten Trimester etwas mit Motivationstiefs rund um die Hausarbeiten zu kämpfen hatte erstellte ich mir dieses Mal von Beginn an einen Trimester-Plan, um den Stress nach Möglichkeit gering zu halten.
After lunch we walked a little further around the bay and bought our Opal-Cards which is a pre-paid card used for travelling with Public Transport in New South Wales. You can compare it with a mobile SIM card where you load money on it and then this is used for every travel you make by simply tapping / swiping the NFC card when you get on a public transport like a bus and do the same when getting off. The system then automatically calculates the correct fare (even when you transfer from one to another public transport) and subtracts it from your balance. Compared to Germany this is a very easy and developed system, although it seems that you miss benefits like day-travel cards or quarter-tickets where you have savings. When we were in the bus we noticed the next difference to Germany: There was no display or voice-system telling you at which station you are. For a tourist with no knowledge of the bus lines and surroundings this can be really difficult. The Australian solution for this ...
Am zweiten Wochenende im Dezember haben wir es dann auch nach sieben Monaten in Newcastle in die Blue Mountains, einem der Touristen-Ziele in der weitläufigen Gegend um Sydney und wenn man überhaupt mal in Australien ist. Mitte November buchten, wir uns ein AirBnB in Lawson und morgens am 07. Dezember ging es dann los in Richtung Sydney. Man könnte sich fragen, wieso nicht im Katoomba, dem "Zentrum" der Blue Mountains. Die Antwort, wenn man etwas mehr von den Blue Mountains sehen will, ist es relativ egal wo man übernachtet. Die Blue Mountains erstrecken sich nämlich über ein Gebiet so groß wie das Bundesland Saarland. Und so groß wie die Blue Mountains sind, so viele Bilder hat auch dieser Beitrag 😅
Am 24. Dezember ging es dann auf nach Gold Coast, um gemeinsam mit unserem ersten Besuch aus Deutschland, unseren ersten Roadtrip zu machen. Wenige Tage bevor es losging konnten wir sogar noch unsere Klimaanlage im Auto reparieren lassen, was den Reisekomfort bei den angesagten Temperaturen deutlich verbessern sollte. Ähnlich wie im Beitrag zu den Blue Mountains, ist dieser Roadtrip auch wieder in einem Beitrag zusammengefasst, weswegen es wieder einiges an Bildern gibt, was zumindest am Handy einiges an Datenvolumen fressen könnte 😜 Dennoch viel Spaß beim Lesen und Bilder bestaunen. Insgesamt sind wir in den 6 Tagen knapp 2000km gefahren und waren eine ganze Weile auf der Straße, haben aber auch jede Menge verschiedene Orte, Nationalparks, Wasserfälle und Tiere sehen können und damit für eine ganze Stange unvergesslicher Erinnerungen gesorgt. Die insgesamt 1.300 entstandenen Bilder haben wir hier zumindest mal auf knapp 200 in diesem Beitrag begrenzt.
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