I thought the poem was really good, and certainly much better related to journeys than the other two texts. I thought it was fairly easy to interpret - she's bored and isolated and she fantasises about getting away. The first two stanzas are contrasted with the last, the last stanza helps us better understand her motivations and the personal significance of her imaginative journeys, as a form of escapism. The one problem I have is that it asked you to 'provide' a reason why she had the desire for new experiences - implying that the answer was explicit in the text. If it had said 'suggest' it would have been more obvious that you're expected to read between the lines.
The photographs were alright, but the second text, while an interesting read, wasn't really a journey (I mean, I can see where it was going, but the actual extract was just the first step). I thought the landscape question was a little bizarre.
I also thought the personal nature of the journey question was a bit off.
My teachers commented that they thought it was the hardest section of the paper.
I think I did alright, but reading is always my worst section in the journeys paper. I'm not sure I mentioned techniques explicitly - but then, I don't think techniques used by the authors really contributed toward the ideas we were being asked about.
