Air France, what a great airline...

I was excited all the way up until getting on the plane... I'd been planning the trip for nearly a year, as part of my "Gap Year" - I'd never flown before, and as it was Air France, it stopped in Paris, so my Mum came with me for that bit. The short flight was fine - hadn't seen enough stuff on TV etc to be too worried about crashing, etc., so it was just another new experience (yes, I like those) to savour... First landing was fine too!

Said goodbye to my Mum, I think finally realising that I was going to a strange country for 5 months and didn't really know what was going to happen! If I was on the same flight now (the long one), I'd probably kick up a whole lot more. The films didn't seem to work - so we watched that little plane move across the screen veeeeeeeeeeery slowly, and when the meals came round, looked like someone had been sick in it... but that actually did all tie in with what people had said about airline food! We flew into Rio for refuelling and to get rid of some passengers, at which point someone drove into one of the propellors/engines - but gave me a chance to talk to a Brazilian couple who tried to teach me some Portuguese and then invited me to stay in the Pantanal - which I did about 4 months later...

Be open to those new experiences!

I used those precise words when I sent an email to my Mum the other day. My plan on coming back to Winchester was to get enough work to see me through to June... job done, but although I'd had lots of conversations, I didn't have anything concrete for my next stage - enough work to see me through until October. I was then offered 2 pieces of work which, if I'm careful, will at least keep me that long, and there's other conversations in the pipeline!

I think that deserves a big WOO-HOO of celebration!