See ya Sydney, Hello London Baby

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It was really sad to say goodbye to tropical Port Douglas but we were not disappointed leaving all the damn mosquitos behind. They were quite brutal. We spent our last day or so around town, watching the World Cup (yeah Soccaroos, c'mon USA!) and actually playing a lot of tennis. We both vow to start playing regularly as while we are quite the spectacle to watch, we had a lot of fun in the process. Australians are going crazy over their victory over Japan, acting as if they will not be destroyed in their second game against Brazil. Ben teases them incessently, while I am a bit more understanding, as they haven't been in the World Cup in 32 years.

Tuesday morning, we drove down to Cairns along the scenic Captain Cook Highway that follows the beautiful coastline. Cairns was definitely a lively city, with lots of backpackers and funky shops. We spent quite a bit of town browsing through books at some used bookshops (proud, right moms??). There was some great people watching. We walked along the esplanade, down to the water where there is a man-made lagoon right in front of the ocean, much like the one in Airlie Beach, but bigger. Also, every other shop in Cairns is a travel agency, trying desperately to compete for you dollar to plan all your travel adventures. At the end of the day, we were sad to have to return our rental car, as we had grown quite attached to our Nissan Pulsar (not!). We flew from Cairns, arriving very late in Sydney airport.

We stayed in King's Cross, at a backpackers's hotel called the Kanga House which lucky for us provides free internet. We spent our last full day in Sydney on fit, walking into the city center, first down to Darling Harbor, eventually over to Sydney Harbor for our last view of the Opera House and then through the city stopping for drinks and dinner before heading back to the hotel late that evening. We ironically chose a sushi restaurant called Benbu and anyone who knows my silly name for Ben will understand why that was quite appropriate (I won't embarass him by telling everyone what it is). The weather was perfectly sunny, not too cool but still winter weather here. The city was not as crowded as the last time we were here, but still wonderful just the same. Not to give anyone a heartattack but we both agreed that we could see ourselves living here for a year one day, especially know with the reciprical agreement, allowing Americans to obtain a year work visa to come here. It was Round 2 of the State of Origin rugby match between Queensland and New South Wales, the HUGE rugby rivalry and this time Queensland beat NSW. We spent our last day working out, organizing and preparing ourselves for the heinous 23 hour journey to London. We walked around as much as we possibly could, knowing that we would not be stretching our legs for a 23 hour stretch of time. We explored the King's Cross area and Wooloomooloo, walked down to a pretty marina and grabbed lunch by the fountain.

The plane ride was not nearly as bad as we both expected. We had yet to fly Qantas but it ended up alright in our books, but still not nearly as enjoyable as Emirates Airlines. For some reason, we were booked on the aisle and window of a row, but luckily a sweet man from Sydney happily agreed to trade the middle seat for the window seat. He was incredibly interesting to talk to and we passed a few hours of the first 8 hour leg of our trip by hearing each other's opinions on healthcare issues, politics, education and marathon running. The plane was the largest aviation vehicle either of us had ever seen, and booked solid as well. We cringed as we passed through the business class section, seeing how many 3 year olds were seated in that section (more than 5!). We had limited movie channels, but we actually hadn't seen the majority of the movies anyhoo so it ended up okay. And we had a few video games as well. The food was terrible, of course, but we both had never been served ice cream bars or a choice between chamomile tea or Cadbury's hot chocolate before so we were not complaining. We arrived in Thailand after an 8.5 hour journey at 11:15 pm Bangkok time, 2:15 am Sydney time. The airport was buzzing with travelers passing through and the World Cup games were in full swing. England was in the midst of playing when we were there, and considering that we were flying to London and there were tons of brits on our flight, the airline attendants had to drag a few of them away from the television to board the plane at 12:45 am for the second 12.5 hour journey. It was the same plane that we had been on before, but our seat companion had stayed in Thailand so we had an extra seat for the last leg. Luckily enough, we were able to sleep for a few hours and managed to keep ourselves entertained for the rest with movies, books, conversation, and games. We arrived in London 6:30 am London time, 3:30 pm Sydney time. Getting our passport stamped took ages, but customs was easier to get through than in Argentina ironically. We hopped on the tube, minded the gap, and took the underground 1.5 hours where Carly's mom collected us and took us to their house.

It doesn't feel like it's been 3 years since I've been here and Ben is equally as thrilled to see London, baby. Carly and her mom and boyfriend are the sweetest, opening their arms and home to us and making us feel incredibly welcome and comfortable. We have a lot to see before we head out to Greece on the 20th, but before there, everyone, please don't forget to wish Ben a happy 25th birthday, as he celebrates his quarter century birthday this Sunday, June 18th. We have a big night out planned for him tonight (and hopefully America will step it up and beat Italy, and yes, I'm of course supporting the US over Italy) so hopefully he'll have a good birthday, even though I know he wishes all his friends and family could be here celebrating with him.

Last bit of our 3 month journey has begun, hard to believe. We miss you all and will be updating before we jet off to Athens.

Hugs and kisses,
Ben and Erica

(oh yeah, 2 months until my birthday, haha)

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Comments

[mom merson]

so if you go live in Sydney for a year, that means I definitely will get to visit Australia. Maybe even stay for a bit!