Day 5 Edinburgh to Australia Wednesday January 8th 2014:

On Wednesday January 8th 2014: My Edinburgh and European adventure had sadly come to an end and I was departing Edinburgh back to London before flying back home to Australia.

Before departing the Mercure Edinburgh Princes Street Hotel, I double checked I had packed everything and hadn’t left anything behind before heading downstairs and checking out of my room at 10am.

After checking out of my hotel I walked to the Airlink 100 Express Bus Service information desk and purchased a ticket for transport to Edinburgh Airport.

The Airlink Bus arrived at 10:30 am and I boarded before departing to Edinburgh Airport arriving at 11 am.

After arriving at Edinburgh Airport I collected my luggage and made my way inside and found the Virgin Atlantic Airways Desk, where I checked my luggage in all the way through to Australia to save time when arriving in London and received my boarding pass before clearing customs and made my way to my departure gate.

Everyone started to board the plane at 1 pm and I found my seat and settled in for take off.

I flew economy class with Aer Lingus for Virgin Atlantic which departed for London at 1:45 pm.

After a short 90 minute flight we were notified by the cabin crew that we would be landing shortly.

We arrived at London Heathrow International Airport at 3:15pm. After disembarking the plane we made our way inside London Heathrow Airport to collect our luggage from baggage claim for those passengers that were catching a different flight from London.

As my flight didn’t depart until 9:30 pm I passed time by walking through all the amazing shops in the airport. London Heathrow Airport is enormous its more like a small city than an international airport!

At 6:30 pm I made my way to the Virgin Atlantic Desk and checked in before receiving my boarding pass and made my way to the gate where my flight was departing from.

I flew Economy Class with Virgin Atlantic Airways to Sydney which departed London at 9:30 pm.

Everyone started to board the plane at 9:00 pm and I found my seat and settled in for takeoff.

We departed at 9:45 pm and made our way to Hong Kong which was a stopover before continuing to Sydney.

After 12 hours we arrived at Hong Kong International Airport.

We then made our way through security and were directed to our gate where we would depart for Sydney.

After 4 hours we boarded the plane and departed for Sydney.

After 10 Hours we were notified we would be arriving in Sydney shortly.

I arrived at Sydney Kingford Smith International Airport at 8:30 am on Friday 10th January 2014.

After landing at Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport I made my way to baggage claim and was met with a huge surprise!

After everyone had collected their luggage my suitcase hadn’t arrived!

I made my way to the Virgin Atlantic Help Desk and explained my situation to them and they helped out my making some phone calls,before looking up my flight number in the system and discovered my suitcase had been left in London! This was quite a shock as I had checked my luggage all the way through to Australia to save time in London!

The helpful staff explained that my suitcase would be on the next flight from London the following day and as a way to apologize for the inconvenience they would deliver it to my house at Port Macqaurie so I wouldn’t have to spend an extra day in Sydney waiting for my suitcase to arrive.

After providing my details to the help desk so they could contact me when my suitcase arrived in Port Macqaurie, I made my way through security and customs before making my way to the domestic terminal where I was flying out of Sydney back home to Port Macqaurie from.

Before checking into my flight to Port Macqaurie I walked through the airport and had some lunch.

After lunch I made my way to the Qantas Airways Desk and checked into my flight at 1 pm, As I checked into my flight the check in agent was curious as the reason I only had my backpack with me and I explained my suitcase left in London situation and they had a shocked look on their face as well. I then collected my boarding ticket and made my way towards my gate.

I flew Economy Class with Qantas Airways to Port Macqaurie which departed Sydney at 2 pm.

Everyone started to board the plane at 1:30 pm and I found my seat and settled in for takeoff.

We departed at 2:15 pm and made our way to Port Macqaurie and arrived at Port Macqaurie Airport at 3:15 pm.

After landing at Port Macquarie Airport I made my way off the plane and went inside where I was greeted with a big surprise as my family where inside to welcome me home which was such a great moment.

It was so amazing to be back home after travelling nearly 35,000 kilometres to Europe and back, having so many new adventures and life-changing experiences and memories!

The following day my suitcase got delivered to my house which was such a relief that I had finally received it after the whole situation in Sydney!

I hope all of my readers have enjoyed reading all about my amazing journey through Europe and Scotland it was an absolute whirlwind experience and something I will always remember!

Safe Travels!

Campbell 🙂