Just became aware I’m on the other side of the world

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The flight between Santiago and Sydney went smoothly, despite the fact that I had to seat in the middle seats of the middle row in economy. A short stopover in New Zealand and finally arrived on Sunday 5^th of February at 7 am in Sydney. Customs went fairly quickly and when that was done, from the airport I took the train to the home of my first host in Australia, Mark Ashley; last year I joined a community called “Couchsurfing” or CS (self-explanatory name). This community is basically a way to travel and meet locals, which enables oneself to stray away from the usual tourist paths. People may offer you a place to stay, show you around the city or meet up for a coffee or a drink. It’s a great way to meet people from the places you’re visiting, meet their friends and basically share everyday life experiences of the locals. Mark was an excellent host and having a place to stay for the first week really helped me get organized fast.

A few hours after arriving in Sydney, I went for a walk from North Sydney, across Harbour Bridge, down to the Rocks, Darling Harbour, Paddy Market and then back along the coast all the way to the Botanical Gardens. Then I went walking back to North Sydney. As I began to walk along Harbour Bridge, I finally became aware I was on the other side of the world and got that excellent - hard to express feeling you get when you travel, only this time, unlike the previous times I've travelled, I have all the time I want and don’t have to rush through anything. It was a very sunny day, walked a lot, got a bad face and neck burn, had lunch in Darling Harbour, saw dragon boat races there, etc. I had been in Sydney in 2002 and I remembered most of those places I went to. It’s good to be back here in this spectacular city.

That night, I went out with Mark and some of his friends to a place called “Hugo’s Lounge” in Kings Cross: the amount of gorgeous girls that go there is amazing. Because I’m backpacking, I’m not carrying any formal clothes and the smartest clothes I have are a collar T-shirt and a pair of black jeans. I had to borrow shoes to get into that place. I guess for the time being I’m stuck to going to places where formal attire is not an issue.

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Comments

[esteban avila]

Good adventure
Que bueno tener noticias de ti, me alegro que se estén concretando las cosas que te propusiste hace algún tiempo, no me queda más que desearte exito en todo un gran abrazo amigo. PS: el matri estuvo re weno, te espearamos pa las bodas de plata al menos jajaja

[Daniel F Arellano-Walbaum]

Good!!!
Estábamos expectantes de saber algo de ti. Me alegro que lo estés pasando muy bien. Muy buenas tus fotos y la descripción de tus paseos.

[Mónica Pinochet]

Dani : Me alegra mucho de que tu llegada haya sido tan buena. Un gran abrazo y ojala puedas seguir escribiendo porque a este otro lado del mundo nos encanta saber de ti.