Journey

drive to airport. get stuck in traffic. panic slightly. get to airport early. bag drop. security. go in search of adapter / camera holder. buy adapter and camera holder. old man in shop explains how camera holders work. well duhh. go to WHSMITH to get book. buy book, newspaper, water, chocolate, lollipops all for 15. im such a bargain hunter. eat alone in a restaurant (giraffe) for first time. realise its not so bad. try to overhear conversation of person A telling person B how amazing argentina is but barely catch a word. pay, leave, find toilet. decide to go find place to get transit to gate. realise i am not afraid fo coming to a new country by myself for ten weeks but my insides still wriggle with fear when i get on a downy escalator. laugh at self. sit and read while waiting for gate to be announced. see man that looks like uncle graham looking anxious. go on transit thing to gate. smile at pilot man in hat. see uncle graham lookalike looking more anxious. get up to board plane. uncle graham lookalike has his headphones in so i tell him we are boarding the plane. he says thankyou he never trusts himself to do airport stuff right on his own. shouldnt really listen to your music then, should you. nobody else moves even thought we are meant to get on the plane. i go first and decide if i have misheard and they are only boarding certain people i will pretend i dont speak any relevant languages and run away. they are boarding everyone, just nobody else heard but me. uncle graham lookalike get on behind me and sits near me on plane and it becomes very awkward. strange argentinian man sits on the aisle seat and i am at the window. there is one empty seat imbetween us, success! leg room central. watch blindside. try to sleep. realise strange argentinian man has strethed his feet out onto the spare seat the ratbag. his feet are touching my leg. i try to move so that he moves but he is asleep. i feel very uncomfortable. try to sleep again but not much success. look out window at most starts i have ever seen in my entire life. try to take picutre. look like an idiot when flash goes off and i have a photo of the window and have woken everyone up. smooth beth, very smooth. listen to snow patrol and get i think a couple of hours sleep. wait for strange argentinian man to wake up so i can pee. i wake up and he is gone. in the toilet i assume. i wait. he takes a very long time. there is a bit of a queue. i think hes doing a poo. other people work this out and most of us laugh at how long strange argentinian man is taking. resign and go to back of plane to pee. i get back and strange argentinian man is waiting for me to go into my sit so he can sit down. acts huffy with me. presumably because i took so long. but maybe because everyone knows what he was up to. read book and eventually fall asleep. land in Sau Paulo and sit the for around an hour. very boring. sleep more. odd brazilian woman sits behind me and pokes her tv screen all the time making my head bob. i bash the back of my seat violently. she stops. and makes a dissaproving grunt. serves her right. eat fried breakfast on plane which is surprisingly nice. feel a bit sick after. realise that i havent even arrived in an exotic country yet and i have been bitten. twice on my face. three times on my jaw. twice on the back of my neck. twice on my wrist. i decide not to worry and hope its not some sort of omen for the whole trip - i.e. that it will invlove lots of bites. that was ages ago now and i dont have a fever so i think we´re good. get off plane. text mum. get bag. ask at booth for taxi to my hotel. nice old man comes and takes me to the taxi. he takes my bag and teaches me the spanish for rain and tells me that it rained last night. he gives my bag to the notsonice taxi driver and i give him a dollar for being cute. i get in the taxi and notsonice taxi driver drives like a maniac making up lanes of his own and bibbing people lots. arrive at hotel. shower. decide im brave enough to find an internet cafe. and here i am :)


might go for this walking tour thing i have a leaflet on. il keep you posted
Love
Bethnal x