And so it begins...

Saturday 19-01-2012 22:05 Perth International Airport

Here I sit, with some of my newest but closest friends, the other outbound exchange students, as our plane accelerates down the runway and we take off on our way to Dubai. The reality of my situation hasn't quite sunk in yet as I think about the year that is to come. There's a buzz of excitement in our area as the plane finally leaves Australian soil to take us on the adventure of a lifetime.

I didn't really sleep too much on the plane, most of the time I was talking to the others or just thinking about life in general. My next flight was 14 hours from Dubai to New York, all by myself for the first time, so I had plenty of time to sleep then. Unfortunately my flight was delayed so I spent an extra 7 hours in Dubai waiting to leave, but it wasn't so bad. Most of the food and things were cheap so I bought a book,(The Fellowship of the Ring) sat at a cafe and read.

When the plane did finally leave it was 15:30 local time. My neighbours on the flight were friendly enough to have a little chat but most of the time I slept, trying to adjust to the new time zone before I arrived. One thing I can say about this leg is that Airbus A380s really comfortable and REALLY big.

I arrived in New York at 20:00 on Sunday. It was cold. Very cold. Because my plane was delayed in Dubai, I had to stay the night in New York at a hotel, all on my lonesome. I couldn't believe my luck. My plane left at 17:00 local time the next day so I had heaps of time to check out Manhattan. I caught the subway into the city and went to the 9/11 memorial and Times Square which were both pretty cool, but what made it truly awesome was that I did it all by myself!!!

At 18:00 on Monday I flew out of JFK on the way to Caracas. Somehow I scored a business class seat, so the flight was pretty good, and I slept most of the time.

And to finish with my arrival in Venezuela(finally), I touched down in Caracas at 23:00 local time on Monday the 21st of January 2013.