We took off at 19:35 local time from Prague to Helsinki with FinnAir. The flight took ~2 hours, we landed at 22:50, as Helsinki is an hour longer.

We departed from Helsinki about 20 minutes after midnight with the same air carrier, FinnAir, without any problems. The flight took 12 hours and 12 minutes. Scheduled arrival in Singapore was at 19:00 local time. The layover was scheduled for just 1 hour and 5 minutes. I'm not saying that I wasn't worried about missing the plane, which is why we had planned 2 nights in Sydney. We ended up arriving about 40 minutes early, so totally awesome. Of course, the joy of catching the connecting flight soon passed us by and here's where the fun begins. The flight to Sydney from Singapore will be delayed and the scheduled departure is at 01:00 the next morning. What the heck, I used my Revolut card with the Metal plan and thanks to the delay we took advantage of the free airport solon. We ate, relaxed and took a shower. The whole time I was checking our flight on Google and the FinnAir app to see if anything had changed unexpectedly. Nothing. We did have an unnecessary wait of over 6 hours in the lounge, but again, it wasn't too bad. Although lounge access is only for 3 hours, we were not kicked out and stayed until our departure, which was around midnight.

00:01- We moved from the lounge to the departure boards and here we searched in vain for our flight and Google no longer showed the departure gate. So we went to ask for information. The ladies I spoke to were slightly confused, but managed to find out after calling another colleague that our flight was no longer listed under FinnAir number AY0131, but under Qantas number QF82. Okay, good. All went well and I'm leaving together with Ada to gate C20.
00:20- Already from a distance we can see that we are arriving correctly. The airport at this time was pretty much empty with only ~300 passengers waiting like us for the flight to Sydney. We find a seat and settle in. So what I immediately noticed was that although we were leaving in less than 3/4 hours, I couldn't see a plane standing outside and the staff looked like ferrets that kept calling out somewhere and it seemed like something was going on. It didn't leave me completely cold, but there was nothing I could do anyway. We still have time before departure and the other passengers are waiting. About 10 minutes later there started to be a sort of commotion between a few passengers and the Qantas staff at the counter. I didn't give up and went to see what was going on. Passengers who had the Qantas app were getting flight updates. The plane is not flying, the flight is getting further delayed. A technical glitch that could not be fixed and the scheduled flight is rescheduled for 7pm. So we will spend ~25 hours in Singapore.

00:40 - A multilingual discussion has begun between passengers and Qantas staff alike. A Qantas manager who was on duty that day/night tried to calm the situation. Suddenly Qantas staff started looking for a solution. Another plane. Another flight to Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok for example and then a change to a flight to Sydney. That was a long time coming.
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At approximately 2:40am all options fail and we are sent to the Qantas Airways Bussines Lounge where we are given food, drink and our hotel is arranged. I immediately text the Sydney accommodation (where we have paid for 2 nights) that we will arrive a day late. No one is supposed to leave the airport in case the situation changes and we get an earlier departure than 7pm. The Qantas lounge was already officially closed, but due to our delayed flight and approximately 300 waiting passengers, they opened it. Coffee, tea, and water were available upon arrival in the lounge. No alcohol and a few sweetened drinks on request.

At 4am some food was available - breakfast (eggs, sausages, bacon). Blankets and pillows were handed out on request (not automatically). The passengers included young, old, children, in short all ages. Everyone found a corner, a seat, a chair where they waited. A few of the passengers were trying to find out what to do next at the reception to the Qantas lounge with the manager. It was really challenging after so many hours on the plane and almost no sleep.
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At about 6:00 in the morning we were told they didn't have rooms for that many people and were only able to provide 12 rooms for a total of 300 passengers. People were exhausted, angry and it was quite debilitating. I myself slept very little on the plane. Ada was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. We agreed with the rooms to give them to the children and the elderly. The rest of the passengers can find a hotel up to $300 per person and can walk out of the airport. There will be no earlier flight than the scheduled 7:00pm departure. We were told that the lounge closes at 8:00 until the afternoon for cleaning and maintenance, so we will all have to leave. Where to? Some left the airport to check out the city, others left to wander around the airport and find a convenient bench to rest on, some, went to a Qantas designated spot in the lounge where (I learned in retrospect) water, coffee and some muffins were available. Before we were kicked out of the lounge, I found a hotel there on Booking, which is right at the airport, you just need to go through security. The night (read day) did cost close to $8,000, but Ada was done and I needed to sleep too and we were promised that we would be reimbursed by Qantas based on receipts up to $300. A bit of a problem was that I had to buy it as on the day of arrival and couldn't buy it back, but I took a chance. After various machinations and filling out the arrival form while being escorted by security, we were escorted out of the airport. We were directed straight to our hotel and here we got a "slap".
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It was about 8:30 in the morning and all the rooms were full and check-in was not possible until 2pm. Ada went to sit in the kitchenette and I went to find out what to do next. There was really no room available. I had already paid 8.000,- CZK and tried to think, but about 30 hours without sleep in a stressful situation I still couldn't think of anything much. Ada got a breakdown. I wasn't surprised at all. I resolved the situation with the nice receptionist by making a cancellation and she cancelled our reservation with no cancellation fee (where it was 100%). So Ada and I agreed to go back to the airport and go to the lounge to try and sleep in the chair. However, we got another slap on the wrist at check-in because our tickets were invalid as they were valid as of yesterday. We managed to get hold of someone from Qantas after various enquiries, but were told there was nothing they could do and we needed new tickets. That check-in for our Qantas flight would not be open until 2:30pm (it was about 9:20am) and that we had to wait as the system was locked. Cool. What now? Luckily I found a lounge that was one floor down. I didn't officially have Revolut access anymore because 1 person = 1 entry, but we passed 2 people in the first lounge for 1 entry, so Ada went to the second lounge for free on Revolut entry and I paid for my entry (approximately $50 Singapore dollars). We couldn't lie on the seats it was forbidden and if anyone tried to do so, they were immediately reprimanded with a 3 times and enough style. Luckily, I noticed that there was an area in the lounge with sleeping pods for $10 per hour. They only had 3 and it was about 12:25 when I even noticed them. After about 10 minutes, 2 people left that room. I didn't hesitate and bought us 3 hours. As soon as the Sleeping Pods were ready for us, we laid down and promptly fell asleep. Yeah, so this was a great sleep. 3 hours went by in a flash and we were woken up by the alarm clock. We're fresh. I check our flight on Google and see we don't leave until 10:00. Whatever, but we're still leaving, right? So we thank the lady at the front desk and leave the lounge to check in.

At approximately 15:40 we are at the check-in, which was quite fast. And the new tickets? None. We just got ours stamped. I don't know if I wanted to laugh or cry, but we just got it and went in and went through the classic security check. Arriving in the concourse at 4:20pm, I check the departure board, and our flight is marked QF82D and opens the gates at 5:50pm. Departure is scheduled for 19:00. We didn't believe it, but we did indeed depart from gate C22 at 19:05. On boarding we were still given a paper from Qantas about technical problems on the aircraft and therefore flight delay to claim compensation. Flight QF82 was for passengers who arrived (as we originally did) at ~18:30 and was delayed to a later departure time. At least that's what we were told.

After an 8 hour flight, we are in Sydney at 7:10am! Specifically, we landed at Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney. We clear customs and are in the country. We were really excited about this, so much so that we immediately headed to McDonald's for a "cheeze". After topping up our batteries, we made it to WHSmith (newsagent) at the airport to buy an Opal card (a ticket/tram pass for Sydney). I buy two and charge each one for 60 AUD. We arrive at the train and head straight from the airport to King Cross Centre station, where it's less than 5 minutes to the "Original Backpackers Sydney" accommodation for 214 AUD including breakfast (for 2 nights, but actually only 1). We arrived at our accommodation 30 minutes earlier than reception opening hours. So we had to wait. We exchanged a few words with the residents and the half hour was over. At check-in I had to pay a 20 AUD deposit for the key. For accommodation I still ordered a simcard from Amaysim from the Czech Republic, which was just on sale for 196,- CZK 50GB for 28 days (perfect for our trip). However, even though the accommodation confirmed that the simcard had arrived, the envelope with my name on it was nowhere to be found. Well, there was nothing to do now and we went to the room. The room was exactly like the picture. A small cubicle with a rickety bed, private shower and toilet, fridge, fan. In the course of unpacking, showering and changing I dealt with the sim card using the Amaysim app and live chat. Fortunately, all I was told was that I just needed to buy a new sim card for 2 AUD and pair the sim card number with the phone number I already had assigned in the app. I was relieved. I bought a new sim card at King's Cross and we were off to the whirlwind of the big city. 

Sunday, a beautiful sunny day and we are heading by bus to Barrenjoey Lighthouse. We are scheduled to leave for Auckland, New Zealand at 8:00pm. We find a companion in our room, a cockroach. I named him Standa. We had breakfast at the accommodation before the trip. There was coffee, toasted bread, nutella, a few jams and milk. Low budget breakfast, but for us a feast of kings.