And so it begins...

MELB --> LA --> TOR --> MTL

Melbourne - LA Leg

Departing Melbourne on Thursday evening...let me tell you, there are serious perks to having a pilot in your life. I've never gone through Melbourne airport so quickly or easily, not to mention not having to pay for my overweight bag (thanks babe).

Premium economy was an utter delight, I got some (broken) sleep on the flight, and a lovely flight attendant even snuck me some Qantas business class PJs. On arrival I had a personal welcome home to LA given to me over the loud speaker, thanks to a certain man being in the cockpit for the descent.

Here are the LA highlights:

• The chaos of being half on Melbourne time, and half on LA time meant very little sleep and 3am adventures

• The underground speakeasy you had to use a phone booth to access

• Seeing mOmmy dearest

• Hiking to a beautiful waterfall in Pasadena

The LA lowlights:

• Leaving a very special human behind to continue on my journey (cue the tears)

LA - Toronto Leg

I jetted off at 7:30am on Sunday morning (making for a 4:30am start, after going to bed at 2:30am), travelling for the first time on my USA passport - which was an odd feeling. It may have just been the plane I was on, but Air Canada seems to be stuck in the early 2000's with it's tech, it's processes and everything in between.

I managed some sleep on the flight and landed feeling refreshed on Sunday afternoon. The Toronto saga section of this trip commenced the moment my Uber dropped me off at my "motel". I booked it through the Qantas app, so made the faulty assumption that it would be alright. In reality it was in a sleazy part of town, with the 'reception' being a strange little shop front in a dodgy strip of shops. I checked in (with increasing feelings of unease) and was shown to my 'room' by the man at the desk, who proceeded to eject me and my bags back onto the street I'd just come from, and walk me down the block and around the corner to a small unit of single level flats. It was around this time I was wondering if I was going to be sold into human trafficking.

The key card for my door didn't work, and the door didn't actually shut firmly, so he came back 3 times once he had let me in, to 'fix' it. Once he had it working, I took my key and ventured out to find some dinner, before returning for an early night. Which would have been fine...had I not been awoken at 11pm by a large group of people partying loudly right outside my door. The door that didn't really work, and didn't really shut properly. I proceeded to lay awake listening to them get increasingly drunk for the next 5 hours, and feeling very concerned they may accidentally (or not) attempt to enter my room, and not entirely trusting my door lock, or the chair I had wedged under it.

After that eventful evening, I waited until 7am when I went on a coffee hunt...only to return to my room to find my key card would again not work. This left me in a state of stress, tired from the previous few days, exhausted from the stress of the previous night, and now locked out of my room, with reception opening at 10am - the same time I needed to leave for my train to Montreal. And in case you are wondering, dear reader, I could do nothing about it. This 'motel' doesn't even have a phone number to call...because...it's so reputable and everything... so I went for a walk, got myself a second coffee and returned, resigning myself to sit outside the closed reception, on the sleezy dodgy street where I was sure I'd be robbed or solicited for drugs or sex. By some stroke of luck (about time) I ran into the man from reception, and begged him to let me into my room, where I packed and left faster than I have departed from anywhere ever before.

Toronto - Montreal

I managed to get to the station on time and boarded my train to Montreal! I slept on the train, and arrived at 5pm, where I checked into my safe, normal, proper hotel, took myself for dinner and went to bed, knowing that tomorrow would be... VAN PICK UP DAY!