Eftpos Gypsy Adventure No 1

.....and exhale! We are home! What a fabulous 6 days away in Melbourne.  First off a big Sorry to all my Aussie friends I was supposed to catch up with or call.  This trip was awesome but felt quite manic from start to finish.  It just seemed to fly by.  We will be back in April for Round 2.  Being picked up by the airport shuttle at 4am is always a struggle.  If you know me at all you will be aware of my aversion to mornings especially middle of the night mornings but its always nice to know you are heading to the happiest place on earth to rest before the flight...I love you Koru Lounge and all you have to offer me....with so many flights booked it got me thinking about Flight Etiquette.  The unsaid rules that if everybody followed would make a 3 hour flight a lot more comfortable.  We are always the last on the plane due to literally moving into the Koru Lounge and the husband always says "there's no point going on the first call cause we will just have to Queue" so when they finally start urgently calling our names over the PA System it takes him a while to finish up the free food and booze and put all his crap back in his bags to then have to pretty much sprint to the gate.  By that point I'm so flustered I'm wishing I had put a lot more deodorant on that morning.  It suxs to be the last ones on cause we always have heaps of hand luggage which when I'm trying to hurry up the skinny aisle to find my seat I keep hitting people in the head as I walk past only to be met with death stares from the passengers who are already seated and waiting. I give up saying 'sorry' after the first 12 times.
If your like me and have a husband who's 5 and always wants the window seat which leaves me in the bloody middle of him and a complete stranger, the concept of personal space is pretty much non existent.  Elbow Room? I never know which one is mine and because I spend so much time dithering about it I end up with none.  3 hours with your arms pinned to your sides is not the most relaxing way to travel.  The other obstacle I have to get through when your late on the plane is putting your seat belt on when one half is under the stranger beside you, so here I am fossicking uncomfortably around his hip area, trying not to actually touch him and then pull the belt out with out looking like I'm trying to feel him up.  We finally get all settled and start to relax into the journey but an hour into it and after all that free booze at the K Lounge, nature calls which suxs cause I'm in the middle so now the stranger has to move all his crap, fold up his tray table, take off his headphones and slide into the aisle so I can get past.  I then have to wee at lightning speed because I know he is waiting for me to come back and if I take to long he might think I went for a mid air poo.  Just as I sit down and get settled, the husband decides he needs to go.  So we start the dance all over again.  God what a nightmare.
I also never really know if I should speak to the stranger next to me when I first sit down cause I feel like it sets a precedent for the rest of the flight.  To speak or not to speak.  Sometimes its just easier not too.
My family hassle me greatly about how loud I laugh at movies on flights.  Once I've got my headphones on its all about me.  I go into a zone and forget about everyone around.  I can be totally engrossed in a film and am laughing hysterically only to be poked in the side by a frowning embarrassed husband.  It's something I need to work on.
What do you do on a night flight when you want to read but the stranger next to you is all tucked up wanting to sleep? I never know if I can turn my overhead light on without feeling like a wanker.
Anyway Melbourne was its usual glorious Money spending self.  We made a pact that we would make the most out of our trip and we did.  We ate we drank we sold our little butts off.  All up a very successful working holiday.
The Teenager and her friend earned a nice pair of skanky looking heels for completing their house/pet sitting duties without staining, burning or losing anything or anyone in the process.  Or just hiding it really well.   They are keepers.
I figure there's not much point unpacking we are off again in a week and a half.  I'm tired thinking about it.