Flight of the Con-tries; The ridiculous journey from Brisbane to Marseille

~Prepare yourself, this post is a long one. But it was a LONG journey.

BEEEP BEEP BEEP <This is not the day you're allowed to hit snooze too many times Lisa> BEEEP BEEP <Ugh, I vaguely recall that but why?> BEEEP BEEP <Well I was kind of meaning to go to France today> BEEP BEEP <Oh! I'm up! :D>

So after giving the suitcase one last scour and having the last shower I'd get till my body had been dragged through several more timezones, I decided that to really make sure I got lost properly I was well fueled. Cue mon amazing Papa (Yes, ps my brain randomly speaks Francaise now) had already picked up breakfast for us.

The last supper (just in case I die on route) 

I can already feel my brain forging new 

connections about how to get itself lost with all this delicious fuel

Then that was it! We threw everything in the car and the whole way to Brisbane was a mix of the playlist I made for Dad and around 356 questions I had for Dad about how to actually navigate an airport (don't worry, apparently I didn't account for how simple they made it for us simple little travellers). And then as much as I wanted to write you all a "how to kill time in 3 different airports" guide, I NEVER got time to kill! I wolfed down some Noodlebox with Dad in the Brisbane airport (had to happen after he said he's never had Noodlebox!)

 "Lisa I think they only put ONE prawn in here"                             "Did you like it or not? Oh yes, it was delicious"

So after a far simpler trip through customs etc than I was expecting, I found myself walking down the funny echoing bouncy walkway and onto the plane to my lovely little window seat.

 ZRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM

So everything was going great, then the announcement from the Pilot comes over the speakers saying "Oh so one of the doors might not be closed properly, (hah, classic Steve having a joke with us not sealing our aircraft properly) so um, yeah, we're going back to Brisbane for a mo, won't be a tick though then we'll get going to Singapore again." Thankfully my connecting flight wasn't for a few hours in Singapore, I only just ended up making it in time but the lovely noisy ladies behind me missed their flight to India. Somewhere halfway over the Indian ocean, after I'd watched a movie or two...

 Clearly the unquestionable International Film Festival Winner... Unfortunately I didn't quite get time for this little gem

But I DID get time for this awesome movie! Ha, just for you Nic :D

Anyway so after a few movies and about 3-4 Baileys, the woman next to me had fallen asleep, the sun had gone down and the women behind me were endlessly joyfully chatting, headphones in, pondering the world I drew you guys a little picture to capture the moment:

 Clearly I nearly missed my calling as a blurry smudgy sketch artist

But don't worry guys, I totally realised in time

We then arrived in Singapore. This photo really doesn't do the view out the window justice, but it was beautiful in the harbor, there were so many boats decked out with lights in the water. It looked like a thousand little tea lights floating in the black water :)

How to spend time in Singapore airport:

 I sincerely hope this is my gate because I'm getting on this plane

• Enjoy a leisurely run across the airport to the furthest away gate possible
• Attempt the equivalent of a shower in the bathroom using only paper towels and the sink while guarding two bags
• Disregard social norms; do yoga in public. It's your last chance to stretch for another 18 hours
• Follow little families that speak French, ignore how weird you are, nothing is cuter than little kids speaking French
• Mentally thank the handsome French man sitting near you for letting you sketch/stare at him without his knowledge

Okay you can barely see him but I was also distracted by the French man whose moustache looked like a parody of itself

So now we cue the Singapore to France flight. The longest flight, and I was in between two French men,  one who was very nice and spoke with a British accent in English and one who was a bit too nice and spoke with a heavy French accent. It was really interesting and beneficial on the one hand because he spoke to me in French slowly and I spoke to him in French, this being the first time I was forced to use it and think everything out, on the other hand he only got more and more creepy as time passed.

My first clue should have been him explaining the different meanings of "bisous" in French

(It apparently refers to kiss on the cheek, kiss on the lips AND sex. Yeah, nice to meet you too creepy French guy, NO I do not need you to demonstrate the three different types)

Seriously, he didn't leave me alone for a long long time and it was a freaking long flight. By the end of the flight he was being a bit too pushy with his completely inappropriate flirting. I never thought I'd need to use the phrase "you're making me a bit uncomfortable" in English so many times let alone in French. "Pour quoi? POUR QUOI? POUR QUOI? :D" WHAT! WHO THE HELL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS INAPPROPRIATE! C'est tres inappropriée! Well anyway, after politely declining his phone number for "English lessons in Paris", an extremely uncomfortable sleep and breakfast at ridiculously not-my-body-clock's-morning AM, we were almost at Paris!!!

So close to Paris! (Trust me if we zoomed out...this is close)

Now from here on out, I was a little nervous. Everyone spoke French. Rapidement. And I knew I had to get out, get my bags, get through customs then get onto a shuttle to the terminal on the opposite side of the airport to catch my flight to Marseille on time. Thankfully I managed to stumble my way through this and JUST made it in time. I could finally breathe again, I'd made it, I didn't have to try to book a different flight and call Celine to change the times or try to ask in French where the hell are my bags, everything was good :)

AIR FRANCE. Okay, that's a good sign that I made it into the correct country...

 Oh don't mind me, I'll just show you heartbreakingly beautiful French Provinces laid out before you from my window

Despite my extreme lack of sleep, I managed to stay awake, freshen up and change clothes in the tiny bathroom and French my way through to a cup of coffee. We bustled off the plane into the Marseille airport where I found Celine and her boyfriend Yoan, my luggage and the car and we were off! Next thing you know, I'm here settled into the Millet Maison.

I have so many more stories to tell about what I've learnt already after this one weekend but this post is huge enough as it is. Suffice to say, I'm HERE! And it's absolutely amazing :)

Allo, allow me to dump my Australianess all over your room :) kthnx