Up in the sky (part 2)

At the end of part 1 I was hanging out in Tokyo Narita airport. That was nearly three days ago and since leaving, I sadly haven't had any good enough internet to upload this part 2. Until about now. Wifi is a tad patchy out here so blogs might be a bit less frequent. But here was the rest of journey....

It was a very pleasant visit to Tokyo - everything was incredibly calm (given it was an airport) and I'll be looking forward to going back at the end of my elective for a week of exploring Tokyo. 

They have rather intriguing toilets! Including some that have a function to spray you clean, warm the seat and play some background flushing noises to cover up any noises you might make whilst doing your business (!)

The terminal lounges also had lots of places dotted around for your to hook up your chargers and charge your devices - very handy when you're travelling for as long as I am. And it had great wifi too.

During the 7 hours I was there, I managed to find a great spot overlooking the departure runway so I had the good fun of watching lots of planes take off and hoping to see my next plane land.

And it was here that I began to get nervous again - this next flight marked the transition into the slightly more 'off the beaten track' travels, and of course would take me even further away from home. I felt like I was heading off into real unknowns now.... But hey ho I thought, that's what it's all about - let's go and find out what's it's like. 

Now flying with United Airlines, here's the lowdown on the third flight of my four...

Food: pasta (again, but I ain't complaining - it was tasty!) in a tomato sauce with the obligatory pot of salad and bread roll. 

Film: alas, this flight didn't have any inflight entertainment but that was ok becuase it was only 3 hours and I was planning on sleeping anyway.

Book: likewise, as I slept for most of it I didn't get round to reading much. (It's not going so well on the book front so far is it!?!)

Stories: the flight attendants contine to get increasingly happy the further east I go. They were particularly nice and helpful on this flight. And the chairs were especially comfy (more so than Etihad in my view). The main story from this flight was that I was the only Caucasian person (in economy class). There were a few up in business class but maybe only 3. It was quite an experience. It didn't make me feel awkward but I was very aware that I was a little different and the nice person I was sitting next to seemed a little unsure how to act with me. Nonetheless, I offered him my brownie I was given with dinner because I didn't really feel like eating it. I'm hoping it didn't come across like I was insulting him in assuming he'd want two. Haha. The plane was a mix of Japanese, Chinese and Polynesian people and it was quite interesting observing the subtle physical/facial differences between these races. 

Sadly not much to tell about the view because it was the middle of the night, but it was pretty neat seeing, within the space of 24 hours, two different facets of the moon. Once in Abu Dhabi and once again here in the Pacific. It looked totally different. A little reminder of the wonders of the earth's position in the solar system, spinning around and the moon doing the same.

And then there I was hanging out in Guam airport. 

What nice people they had there! I was still pretty nervous getting off the plane - I felt like a lot of eyes were on me in the immigration queue (from fellow travellers by the way, not from the border control staff!). I guess it's because I look comparatively different. I wasn't offended in the slightest, but it did make me rather self aware and particularly aware to the fact I was by myself. 

All my nerves were put to rest thought when I reached the immigration counter. And it struck me at that moment that I was back on relatively familiar ground - America. Because Guam is part of the USA. So all the staff were friendly American folk who I enjoy the company of a lot. And they all managed to ease my nerves by being helpful and conversational. And the nice lady on the duty free counter where I bought some face wash gave me some free shower gel. At 3am in the morning, that was a very nice gesture.

What struck me here was the amount of small children in the queue at immigration and general young age of the travellers. I can see why the average age of these islands is pretty young (around 20s). I did wonder where they're hiding all the old people though. Maybe they don't travel? I had a thought that perhaps their lives were so content in their home country and they felt so well cared for that they didn't find they needed to go on trips or foreign places. 

And the little people in the queue were incredibly cute. I'm not normally one for babies but all of them were so chirpy and totally enchanting.

Another fun thing about here - all the airport staff wear brightly coloured tropical/Hawaiian shirts with 'Guam' written all over them. 

6 hours here before off on he final leg: the island hopper plane to Kosrae, stopping at Chuuk and Pohnpei along the way. 

Chuuk airport - stop #1

Pohnpei airport, just after we'd taken off

A couple of the 607 Islands of Micronesia

Some stunning Micronesian clouds: all the blue underneath is ocean!

Food; lots of short flights = just a few snacks, a nice lemon muffin.

Film; no inflight entertainment but I did fall asleep again

Book: couple more pages of Paul Merton's autobiography

Stories: this flight, despite being one of the short ones felt twice as long as any of the others. I was definitely starting to flag when I got on the plane. It was 8am in the morning, I'd only slept about 2-3 hours overnight since I was half on a plane and half in Guam. So I slept on and off for a lot of this flight, waking up usually when landing to then observe the funny exchange of passenger shenanigans. 

See, this plane really is a bus for the sky, and it's the only bus every 3/4 days to cover these islands. It's quite a lifeline for the people (and it picks up/delivers the mail). So it really is like watching people get on and off a London bus at the multiple stops it was making. It made the flight seem to drag a lot too. 

Anyhow, by 2 in the afternoon it stopped off here to drop myself and about 7 others off. 

And onwards from there to my accommodation for the first week! 

....

So there we have it. 8000 miles to the other side of the world. 6 take offs and landings, 5 airports, two and a half days worth of travel. And I made it. In one piece. Sadly without my luggage, that will have to wait to be found and delivered later this week. But what an adventure! And I guess it's only just begun. 

Up in the sky (part 1)

The journey - in pictures, food, films, books and stories (UK to Japan)

Here is manchester airport

And this is what British clouds look like

Food; lunch was pasta in a pesto-y cream sauce (with the obligatory pot of non-descript salad and bread roll) and a tasty chocolate mousse pudding. Snack was a cheese and onion warmed wrap.

Film; The Imitation Game, about the life of Alan Turing and his cracking of Enigma. Very good film in my view and reminder of how unfortunate a life this man had. 

Book; brain not up to much on this flight given the early start, so it was just the beauty section of 'InStyle' magazine.

Story; on this flight I met two lovely people, Lucy and Dan, both first year students at Keele university studying International Business and Environmental Studies (NB. that's two separate subjects, not a crazy join honours). They were on their way to Shanghai to spend 5 weeks on a study programme at the university and learn mandarin. All planned and paid for by Keele university - nice one! And Dan is spending his next academic year in San Diego. Keele is clearly the place to be for studying abroad! 

I also got to visit my friends on the plane too - one of my hospital partners this year and her friend were on the same flight as me, making their way to Brisbane. It was nice to have a friend and familiar face on board. And would you believe it, they were sitting next to a bunch of medical elective students from Lancaster Uni!

...

Abu Dhabi airport - not many good pictures as it was all dark, but I will highly paise their new air traffic control tower which I thought looked stunning (a sort of sabre shaped tall building)

Food; a choice between a Japanese set menu meal or 'dinner' (aka. meat and two veg (chicken)). My amazingly bland taste buds went for the rock chicken dinner I'm afraid to say. I'll get lots of Japanese food in Tokyo was my thinking. Furthermore, I couldn't go for the Japanese due to a love of Pixar's Finding Nemo....

Noooo!!! Haha.

Film: guess what they had....The Sound of Music! A nice compliment to my Julie Andrews autobiography.

Book: none, fell asleep.

Story: well, the flight attendants were a lot less grumpy on this flight, that's for sure. Haha. But that's about it for this one as I was asleep for most of it.

On to Tokyo where I was hanging out for 6/7 hours and it where I'm writing this from. 

Stories: well, I've just helped the lady next to me in the departure lounge connect her iPad and iPhone up to the free wifi. Despite neither of us speaking a common language! And she was most grateful. It's nice to know that friendliness doesn't appear to have a language in this world!

Then I was most impressed with Tokyo's commitment to travellers health at the airport

And some of the posters made me chuckle 

But without doubt, the best thing I discovered was that Japan has a very finely named domestic flight company...

I'll load this post now whilst I have some internet access and will hopefully be able to post the second half of my journey when I arrive at my final destination :)

The Journey Ahead

Exams are over!!!!!!!!!!

What a relief.

Yippee!!!!! *does a small celebration dance*

In the last fortnight, I (along with all my other wonderful student colleagues) have sat 6 exams: 3 practicals and 3 written papers, totalling 13 hours.

And yesterday afternoon we finished them all.

Big sigh of relief.

We now wait until July 10^th when results day will loom over our elective placements. 4pm UK time. (goodness knows what that will be on Kosrae – probably 3am. Let’s see if I can manage to stay up for it).

But no time to dilly dally around fretting over how well we did (or didn’t!) do because 45 hours from the time I finish my last exam, I’ve got a flight to catch the other side of the world.

And within those 45 hours I’ve got to pack up my term-time home in Chester, un-pack it into my new home in Lytham, pack for elective, hope I haven’t forgotten anything (and if so dash to the 24hr supermarket to get it), travel to the airport, and maybe get in some birthday celebrations as it will be my 27^th birthday on the day I fly to Micronesia.

I’ll attempt to post at the various airports I’ll be stopping by on my way, but this here post, my last from the UK, explains to you my journey from home to the Pacific…..

0905 Saturday morning – catching my Etihad Airways flight from Manchester to Tokyo, stopping at Abu Dhabi on the way. I’ve got two and a half hours in Abu Dhabi (I’m told it’s a pretty neat airport – particularly good for people watching) and then I arrive into Tokyo at 1:15pm on Sunday afternoon (5:15am UK time).

I’ve then got to entertain myself (or most likely sleep!) in Tokyo airport for about 8 hours because my next flight, with United Airlines, goes out of Tokyo at 9:20pm (1:20pm UK time), heading off to Guam and arriving there in the wee small hours of Monday morning.

(Guam is one of the most northern islands of the Pacific, owned by America I believe and is a big air base for military operations and also a buzzing interchange for air travel to and from the smaller Pacific islands for little folk like me)

From 1:55am until 8:20am on Monday (4:55pm to 11:20pm Sunday UK time) I’ve got to make the most of what Guam airport has to offer in terms of entertainment and quiet areas to sleep on top of my suitcase, then off once more on the final leg: an island hopper plane (again United Airlines) that goes from Guam to the main state islands of Micronesia, finally arriving into Kosrae Airport at 2:52pm on Monday (3:52am UK time).  

Kosrae Airport

Two and a half days travel in total: Manchester-Abu Dhabi-Tokyo-Guam-Truuk-Pohnpei-Kosrae (it’s actually more like just under two days-worth if you consider the time difference)

 

Total hours on a plane (approx.) = 7.25 + 9 + 3 + 1.5 + 2.25 + 1.25 = 24.25 hours. Woah.

Fun times, eh! I’ve never done anything quite this bonkers before. We’ll see what state I’m in at the end of it all, haha. And keep your fingers crossed for me that my luggage arrives in the right place each time.

I’d like to take a quick moment to say thanks to everyone who’s given me support along the way to this point: whether it be help with the elective itself and it’s preparations or helping me get through my exam period. It’s been most appreciated. I’ll be looking forward to letting you know what it’s like on Kosrae as soon as I can find some internet out there.

Cheerio for now.

See you on the other side!

Books

I don’t really read many books during the year/ever. Most people are pretty surprised at how poorly read I am. My rate is about one novel per year. *hangs head in shame*

I spend all my time reading university textbooks I guess, and I’m not one of these people that goes “I know what I’ll do this afternoon, I’ll sit down with a really good book for an hour or so”. Nope. Not me. I couldn’t sit still enough in the middle of the day ‘just to read’ – even though I know it’s really good for you, your brain and it’s psyche (it also gives you things to talk about at dinner parties and sound fancy). But I just don’t read much for pleasure.

All this is true EXCEPT when on holiday. 

When on a holiday that involves a pool or beach, I’ll make a point of picking a book to make my way through slowly to achieve my year’s quota. (I’m a slow reader too – no doubt a result of the little amount I read). 

And I’m even pretty lame when it comes to my breadth of literature. You’ll understand that, with just one book a year, I’ve got to pick wisely! And I get nervous to read books I don’t know much about – there’s too much risk involved! One book year – it’s got to be a good one. Therefore, all my recent holiday books have come from just one man’s pen – Mr John Grisham.

But this trip will be different. It’s a lot longer to start with. And I’m also travelling for 2 and half days each way. So I’m taking not one, not two, but FIVE books with me to keep me entertained (plus your standard travel magazines – Elle, InStyle, Glamour, Marie Claire).

And I’m writing this blog just after I’ve just managed to get hold of about half of the ones I wanted at bargain prices in the charity shops of Chester. Win!

My Micro-Library is:

Autobiography #1 – Home by Julie Andrews. What an amazing lady she is. I WILL go and do the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg one day before I leave this planet. Plus, she grew up in Surrey, a pace I spent a year or so living in not too long ago!

Autobiography #2 – Only When I Laugh by Paul Merton, of Have I Got News for You and Just A Minute fame. A man I always think is very clever with his jokes and seems to have had an interesting life but one that you don’t hear much about very often. Hopefully, I’m about to find out….

Novel of choice – The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer. Salvaged from a suitcase of books that was going to a jumble sale and a donation from my friend’s mum (Thanks GL if you’re reading!). I’m being brave in venturing away from Mr Grisham in my novels so have gone for this. The newspaper credits quote “this is about as Grisham as you can get without his name on the cover” (haha...yeah…’brave’!)

The wild card – War Atlas of Asia and the Pacific 1941-1945 by David Smurthwaite. From my very first blog ‘Beginnings’, you may know that I was interested in the Pacific Isles for my elective, in part, from watching the HBO Miniseries The Pacific (showing the tales of WW2 military life in the region). And to this end, I’m determined to learn about the war in the Pacific: its beginnings at Pearl Harbour, its key battles and how it has shaped the world that I will be visiting.

And finally, for those times when I might be a bit homesick – Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island. For a light-hearted reminder of life back home in the UK and I’m sure a very good remedy for any days when I’m feeling blue.

I’m hoping not to get through them too quickly or I’ll be twiddling my thumbs for the journey back. Although, I’m sure there’s very small risk of this given the snail’s pace I read at.

I will keep you posted on how good they all are!