And we're off!

The adventure begins!

Mum and dad dropped us off around 11:30 at Heathrow. We checked in and whizzed through security; there was not a single person in the queue. Both Lauren and I got patted down by security and a unhappy lady searched my bag and told me I had too many electronics and the system didn't like it. She unpacked my whole bag and it took me a while to repack it, then I couldn't find my purse when I went to pay for something because I'd just shoved everything in a random place.

Our flight was delayed about an hour due to the late arrival of the incoming flight.  The plane is absolutely huge. And so fancy!  Each seat has a USB port, a plug socket, a built in games console and a TV! They also had cameras outside the aircraft showing you the outside view! Awesome! I was like an excitable child at a sweet shop.  Before we took off we were given a menu for our lunch, which was couscous salad for starters,  chicken breast or lamb biriyani or pasta for mains, and chocolate orange mousse for dessert. We had just eaten at the airport so neither of us were really hungry when they bought the menus round. 

I've watched two episodes of Friends (the one with the american football thanksgiving game, and the one with Brad Pitt in). Forgot how much I love it.

They brought dinner round about 5pm (GMT; once I've landed times will be local times.  I'm not working out the different every time just to make it easier for you!). Both of us had the chicken which was in a peppercorn sauce. I thought it was pretty nice but I spurned and rejected the veg.

We're going to try and stay awake until our 13 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne, which means we'll be staying up until around 5am UK time. I'm already struggling. We arrive at Melbourne at 5:25am local time so if we sleep on the plane we will wake in the morning at a good local time, albeit very early. We then will have to leg it through customs and collect our bags before checking in and dropping them at the baggage drop for a 7am flight to Sydney. Cross your fingers our flight to Melbourne isn't delayed! I don't fancy running with a massive back pack!

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It's 8pm UK time. I've watched two episodes of NCIS season 13 (which by the way were very exciting mum and dad). I'm onto the third one. It's a lot easier to stay awake when you have something interesting to watch. I've also watched some episodes of season 10 Big Bang Theory. Lauren's watching the Notebook.

The third episode was just as good. We've just started our descent into Abu Dhabi. Despite the delay we are only going to be ten minutes late! I'm really looking forward to standing up.

We've made it. We've got to Abu Dhabi, where we will be catching our second flight. Only 8 hours to wait until take off. Despite saying I was looking forward to standing up, we found ourselves some nice comfy seats with foot rests to spend the next 8 hours sitting on, because we need all the rest we can get before sitting for 13 hours.