waiting, waiting.

well, it has been several weeks since i left australia and true to form, i have been incredibly slack with this blog. i am now in paris and as much as i would like to fill these pages with your standard snaps of me in front of the eiffel tower, wolfing down a baguette, mouth stained red from too much vino etc. etc., first i must show the wonderful — albeit at times frustrating — journey i have been on to get here.

for those who aren't aware, i am very blessed to have a 'brother-in-law' (at least that's what we call him to appease those who look down on my sister's sinful, unwedded status... i guess they do live in the middle east!) named jeremy who works for etihad airlines. jeremy generously offered me one of his 10 flights per year that he can dish out to whomever he chooses, which entitles the lucky soul to 90% off the cost of an airfare. booyah. the only catch is, you aren't guaranteed a seat and have to wait until the last minute for them to tell you whether you're on or not. but for a $500 return ticket to europe, via abu dhabi, it was totally worth it... or so i thought...

the plan was that i would fly to sydney on a wednesday, nice and early, stroll up to the etihad service desk and very sweetly put my name down for the flight to dubai. we knew — having looked on the website the day previous and seen the sea of angry, red faces that indicate the traveller's chances of getting on the flight — that it was probably a long shot. but we figured there was another flight later that night so surely... SURELY... i would get on that one, worst case scenario.

oh, how wrong we were.

four days, six missed flights, many tears, many cups of rock bottom airport coffee later... i finally got on the flight to dubai. i wish i could say i was a jovial, 'ahh well, that's life' kind of human during that time... but i was not. at least, not the whole time. some days, there was only one flight (a night one) so i got to spend the day in sydney and that was very, very enjoyable thanks to my wonderful friends nikola, cooper and claire. they were so kind as to let me stay at their amazing apartment every night (nikola took it once step further and let me curl up in bed with her!) and showed me the sydney sights. it was utterly delightful.

however, for the two full days that i had to spend at the airport — dragging my 27kg suitcase everywhere, wearing the same 'comfy yet smart-in-case-they-decide-to-upgrade-me-to-business-class' airport outfit, hearing the etihad staff say 'oh no, you're STILL here??' every day — only to be told at 9pm that i was not, after all, going to dubai... let's just say some tantys were thrown. in fact, by the saturday, i wasn't even going to bother showing up to the airport as i figured everyone flies on the weekend so i would have no hope. yet as luck would have it, that was the night i got on the flight. i guess nikola is right when she says it's better to be negative, as you are never disappointed!

anyway, enough about that. below are a selection of photos taken during my time in sydney. i barely took any at the airport because i was so miserable and they don't call it snap-happy for nothing! but here are a few:

me and my mates watching the world go by...

jazzy, cooper and claire's beautiful meow. so smoochy and sooooooft <3

the treehouse... such an amazing apartment!

ate some of kylie kwong's amazing vegetarian pancakes... yummm!

coopy and claire :D

nikolaaaaaaaa <3

thanks to the treehouse bunch for taking my mind off the airport and to dane.e for driving me there on saturday night and swearing that i would get on... you were right! 

coming up next... the crazy, extravagant world that is dubai!!