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!