Tired in Sydney

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney
February 1st 2010

Published: February 1st 2010

We arrived in Sydney at 7:30 about an hour earlier than scheduled this morning. The fliht was long but didn't seem as bad as expected but as usual I didn't sleep on the plane. John dosed off a bit but didn't sleep much either. They did feed us 3 times but it was airplane food. John thought his stuffed shells and tortalini was pretty good but the meatoaf I was not. John said he followed his uncle's advice to never have the beef on an airplane but pasta with tomatoes/cheese wouldn't work for me. Then we had turkey sandwiches and finally breakfast (omelet for John Pancakes for me) and both were definitely airline food.

We actually got thru the immigration line pretty quickly and found our luggage and were lucky to get selcted for the express line in customs. then we met the HAL greeter. Not the best one I've had. Even the bus driver said "that bird's going to be the death of me". To start wtih she was waving her sign but talking on the cell phone so ignoring me when I tried to get her attention. We were the first to check in with her so she sent us over to a signed area away from the crowd to wait for the 10 others in our group. We waited quite a while with the others as they showed up. Our greeter kept indicating that we were waiting for 2 more then said something about the bus being stuck in traffic in the tunnel then finally came and told us to follow her to the new shuttle she'd arranged. It was a long walk and at one point they made us leave the "trolley" which with 3 suitcases wasn't easy. John went ahead with his and then came back for my 3rd one so by the time we got to the van they were using there was only 1 seat left (not sure how they thought 12 people would fit in a 11 passenger van) and they were going to split us up but we refused.

Then we were told to follow another group all going to the same hotel with another driver for another van but then got to a bus and that driver started loading people on but the women told him not to. These were people that really needed to get on a bus at that point (one elderly man, one with oxygen, one older woman they were helping up the stairs) but they made them wait and told us to get on the bus while the driver loaded the loggage from our original group. So we ended up in the original bus by ourselves and the other group eventually ended up in another van. Of course they beat us to the hotel because we had to take a scenic tour of the airport when they called the driver and told him there was more luggage. When we got to the hotel there as no parking so he parked on the other side of the street and walked us into the hotel and up to the lobby on the 8th floor to check in. He was very nice and not pleased with the greeter who was confusing everyone.

The Suisseotel is very nice and right downtown. We took a very short nap and John was able to get to his online auction in time (he was very happy with the prices on the coikns he bought). After a quick shower we decided it was time to get something to eat. We found a money exchange right next door to the hotel with an almost equal exchange rate (about 20 cents more than our dollar). Then we tried to find a restaurant. We saw a McDonalds and a Happy Jack (looks like Burger King) but didn't want our first meal in Australia to be that type. We finally found the Mezz Bar and Restaurant at the Hotel Coronation. We had Turkish Bread for an appitizer which was very good. John had a Filet with cognac and mushroom sauce and I had grilled chick with "chips". It was very good and very reasonable. We then headed back to the hotel for a longer nap.

So now we're going to head out for a late snack. Tomorrow we'll tackle Sydney probably on the Hop on/Hop off bus before heading to the Opera in the evening. Our next update will be from the ship on Wed.

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