An Uneventful Start

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November 1-3, 2010

You’ve never been on a long flight until you’ve flown to Australia. That said, it was not nearly as bad as I thought . . . and yes, were were in Coach. We flew threw LA from Chicago - three and a half hours and then another fifteen to Sydney. The plane we flew to Sydney was the largest plane Sean and I had both ever been on one - AirForce One style. The pilots had a staircase up to their cockpit. The Coach seats were three on each side and four in the middle and it seemed to go on forever. Good thing about this? Lots of exercise room for the pregnant lady. I probably got up every two hours to walk the isles, drink water and hang out in the back to stretch. Sean grabbed a beer and passed out early on, waking up every few hours to put his head phones on to coincidentally catch the last five minutes of each movie being played. In the end, a safe flight that got us to the other side of the world and begin our adventures in Australia.

As we waited for our luggage we talked to an Australian who had traveled all the way to Baltimore for a business trip. Yikes! He had a 400 meter drive ahead of him to Young, Australia, which sounded like it was out in the middle of nowhere. We started talking to him after pulling out some Australian cash - which is pretty much one for one right now (as of today, 1 Australian dollar = $1.04 American), and Australia uses the $ sign too. Australian money is kind of like Monopoly money - it’s differentiaed by color.

As we left the Sydney airport, we had to stand in a line with our luggage as a dog came by and sniffed for drugs (or whatever else they are looking for). We jumped in a cab and headed to the Four Points Sheraton in Darling Harbour. When we arrived it was still only eight in the morning, so we enjoyed the Sheraton’s delicious breakfast buffet. When we finally could check in, we both proceeded to take turns internetting and sleeping for the next six-seven hours. Thought well rested, we didn’t actually leave the hotel until about ten at night.

We walked along Darling Harbour. Most of the restaurants were shutting down around this time but we did manage to grab a picture! Can’t wait to hang out in this area when it’s bustling!

We walked into town and ended up eating at one of the few places still open, a Spanish tapas place (there were a bunch of them in a row). Overall, this section of town reminded me of a mix between Hong Kong and NYC. Sadly, we were both still tired, so after a brief walk we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep with the hopes of adjusting to the time change by morning.

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Photos

Welcome to Sydney
So happy to finally be here!