My journey began on the 7th December 2017 to depart london Heathrow and arrive in Melbourne Australia on the 9th. I flew with Royal Brunei which was the first airline I flown with that does not serve alcohol. Never the less for the price and the service I received I won't complain.
I tried to keep an open mind towards everything as I wasn't sure what to expect. From my experience of traveling, it's never a good idea to take on or whole heartedly believe the rumors you hear from people about what they heard a country is like or what their personal experience of one is. How glad I was that I did not as Australia is actually the only country out of the 35 I have visited so far that I really felt like I belonged.
My flight was 26 hours and probably would've felt a lot shorter had there not been a crying child that woke me up 5 times. I'll probably sound horrible with what I am about to say but after that experience I don't think parents who do nothing to stop their child or children crying should be allowed on flights with people who just want a peaceful flight.
Never the less, I finally reached Melbourne airport. After what felt like almost an interogation by the airport staff regarding my visit, I left the airport and made my way to the friends house I was staying.
Despite the long haul flight, I wasn't ready to sleep as my goal was to try see as much of Melbourne as possible as I was only there for 2 days.
If you've read my other blog, you'll realise I'm always looking to have a good time but generally on a budget. Whilst doing my research back home and with my experience of traveling I looked into if there were any 'tourist cards' that I could purchase. When I say tourist card it is generally something that I have purchased in most big cities that allows tourists to see several attractions within the city with a one off fee or offer discounts towards some attractions. These attractions can vary from museums, city bus tours and excursions. Luckily for me Australia sells a multi city flex pass which happened to cover every city I was intending to visit. This worked out perfect for me.
After arriving at my friends house and looking at where I could pick mine up, I was a bit disappointed with myself to find out that I could've picked it up at the airport I had just left...I wasn't looking to pay for a Uber again to take me there and back so I found another place I could pick it up from: Federation Square.
Having made Google maps my best friend I made my way to the bus stop to go towards the city centre.
It did not occur to me until I was at the bus stop in Maidstone, how does getting on the bus work. Can I touch in with my credit card, can I pay on the bus, do I need their version of a travel card?
I asked a local who happened to be English as well and she advised in her own words, "you need a Myki card, it's like our version of an Oyster card."
As I didn't have one, I wasn't sure if I would get on the bus and neither was she. As the bus came, I saw people touching a card on a reader. As I had my contactless prepaid card, I attempted to touch in with that but nothing was happening.
I asked the driver what I can do and he responded, "just hop on and withdraw cash when you're ready!" I was shocked as this level of kindness is almost non existent in bus drivers in London. I thanked the driver, sat down and had this sudden feeling that I'm going to love this place.
I took the bus to Footcray station and asked a staff member how I can get a Myki card. The staff member was helpful but seemed gutted to tell me that I'd have to pay for one. I told him that's fine but a lady overheard us and said she actually has a spare one in her bag, she kept looking and looking and seemed gutted as well and apologised as she said she left it in her other bag. Still touched by her very kind actions, I advised that it's fine but then another Lady overheard us and said she has a spare one. I am gobsmacked and impressed and touched at the same time to how generous each of them were for feeling like they all wanted to help in which they all did. Despite the Myki having a minus I was still so honoured by everyone's generosity. I thanked them all for absolutely everything, topped my card up and made my way into the city.
After having taken the train the wrong direction, I eventually found myself at Federation Square Visitor Centre to pick up my tourist card and then made my way to my first attraction, The Eureka Skydeck.
On arrival I asked to have my ticket upgraded so that I can experience the edge. After reading a lot of positive reviews, I thought how often do I jump on a 26 hours flight and experience this side of the world? Never, that was enough convincing for myself and the purchase was done.
When going abroad, I do generally visit tower buildings such as the Empire state building, Burge Khalifa ect as they always have breath taking views of the city. The exception with Melbourne (when you upgrade) you don't only get breathtaking views of the city but I got to stand in a glass box, with glass flooring and feel like I'm actually chilling on air literally. It was amazing however there were some downfalls for me.
I did not like that I could not take photos and only found this out after purchasing the ticket.
The picture that was taken was bad quality as there were reflections of other people in it and it annoyed me that I could not take videos or photos of the epic views inside the glass box such as details of the glass flooring.
After the Eureka Skydeck, I attempted to move on to explore the rest of the city and decided I wanted to visit the Puffing Billy which is a steam train.
Made my way back to Federation Square and got a train. Got myself really excited and pumped thinking I waste no time making the most of my time, I finally arrived an hour and a half later.
Approached the staff to purchase my ticket only to be told the last train left about 10 minutes ago. Feeling absolutely gutted as it was an utterly long train journey I made my way back into the city centre.
Besides feeling happy and exhausted at the same time, I thought I should pick up some groceries and purchase my ticket in advance for the city tour bus so that I didn't have to que the day after for it.
Day 2 of my travels was meant to involve me waking up early to reattempt getting on Puffing Billy steam train but I woke up really late. Instead I stuck with doing the City Bus Tour where I learnt and came across many sites.
Luna Park
Are you aware that Austrailia has over 50 occasions/celebrations a year? These include many cultural days such as the Spanish Film Festival and the African cultural event. Australia is one of the few countries Ive come across that I noticed had big banner signs on more than one building saying, 'Refugees Welcome'
I ended up getting off at at St Kildas Beach, just after Luna park to get my tan on.
On my way back I just saw more of the pretty sites including their street art and admired the differences between Australia and England and naturally started making comparisons between the two.
After arriving back by Federation Square I wanted to make it my mission to find or see a kangaroo and also an auberigerne but neither of them seemed anywhere to be found. I asked locals and to be honest, I didn't hear the most positive responses regarding meeting or finding an auborigine, not that I suspected their responses were dishonest it was just sad to hear nor did finding a kangaroo seem like it was going to be easy if I wanted to see one in its natural habitat as oppose to finding one in a zoo.
After what felt like a long day I made my way back to meet my friend who was kind enough to let me stay with them during my visit in Melbourne and came back to a party.
Athens
Miami coast 
Tunisia
