I’m sitting in a Starbucks in Sydney right now. I left Adelaide yesterday almost exactly 24 hours ago and I feel like it too. It was a journey to say the least getting to where I am right now, and I’ve still got another 24 hours (clock time, but actual time is an extra 6) to go before I land in Dubai, and where I can finally relax.

Before we even boarded the bus in Adelaide we were running about 15 minutes late. I didn’t think it would be a big problem since I had somewhere around 30 minutes of a layover in Bendigo, where I change from a bus to a train. Soon my worst fears started to be realized. At each stop we started back up a little bit late until we were running a full thirty behind schedule. The bus driver realized the problem and made announcements about getting back to the bus on time, and generally just trying to make everyone understand what was at risk for most of us who were making the transfer at Bendigo. I was really starting to worry since I needed to make that train to get to Melbourne so I could catch another train to Sydney so I could get to the airport for my flight back to Dubai.

To put the situation in context try to imagine me counting every minute as if it were life and death. Every light we missed as we made our way to the station I was repeating in my head, “Run it. Run it!” So when we pulled into the bus station at Bendigo about 5 minutes late and I didn’t see any trains I thought the worst. I guess there was a delay down the line so the train wasn’t going to show up until 7 pm, a full two hours late. I guess the bus and train company are one in the same, so they hired a bus to make an express run to Melbourne. I showed up with about 20 minutes to spare for my train ride to Sydney.

Now that I’m here I’ve got about 12 hours before my flight to Dubai. It’s a long layover, but at least I’m familiar with the town so I think I should be able to kill the time effectively. I just wish that I had changed my clothes before I left my bags in storage. No worries, my “slept in hair” and wrinkled clothes will just be something for the locals to laugh at. If I’m lucky it will rain and that should tame my hair, and make everyone else’s clothes wrinkled. :)