Melbourne


Advertisement
Australia's flag
Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne » Caulfield
August 2nd 2015
Published: August 2nd 2015
Edit Blog Post


Here!



I have arrived at my destination in Melbourne! It seems as though I've lost a day. I've also lost my luggage. Well, the airline lost my luggage. Thank goodness I dressed warmly for the flights because it is much colder than I expected here, and I've been wearing the same outfit for three days. The airline got my luggage back to me yesterday along with $120 Australian for the trouble. I'm quickly realizing that $120 doesn't get you very far here. Regardless, they were very helpful throughout the entire process.

Getting Here



I met some great people along my way here. The first person I met was a world-travelling nanny from Prince George. I met her on my flight from Prince George to Vancouver and we chatted about child care and world travel the whole ride. Once in Vancouver I had a mad dash to claim my baggage and check it in with the next airline. I booked my tickets with a dangerously short layover in Vancouver. Once I got to the check in counter I realized that everyone was in the same predicament as me. The line was huge and there were two people working the counters while alternately apologizing for the wait. There was this one lady just walking up and down the que and I think apologizing was her only job. In that line I met John, a fellow traveler. He had just finished visiting Canada for a while and was on his way to New Zealand. Then came some great news; the flight to LAX was delayed. There was no reason to rush and I was so hungry! The apologizing lady mysteriously vanished. After my bags were checked and I cleared customs I went straight for the food court. After stopping at a duty-free shop, of course. I had what I assume to be my last taste of Tim Hortons for a while and made my way to my terminal where I met up with John. We chatted for a while and then it was time to board. We both somehow lucked out and ended up in the PLUS seating. Those tickets generally cost quite a bit extra and include a vast amount of leg and stretching room and free food and drinks. John and I were seat neighbors and chatted a little throughout the flight. Once in LAX we took our layover time to hangout, have a cigarette and share a pizza before parting ways. I'm sure we'll meet again during our travels. On the flight to Melbourne I sat in the window seat, and Brian sat in the aisle seat. Yes, I had an empty seat to lie down in. Brian assured me that he didn't need it so I used it almost the entire time to stretch out and sleep in. Brian works in Toronto and his family is in Australia. We chatted a little, but for the most part I slept (Thanks to Ativan). After the flight, during baggage claim, I was informed that my luggage didn't make it to Australia and they gave me a toiletries bag and sent me on my way. Apparently they lost track of Brian's luggage as well. Luckily Brian and I had exchanged e-mails or I wouldn't have known about that $120 emergency credit.

Steve, Arlo and Jasper were at the airport to pick me up. We arrived at their home around 9 am and Alicia returned a little later on. I can't put into words how amazing this family that I get the pleasure of staying with is. They have all been so accommodating and helpful with every aspect of my adjustments, despite them all having a bit of the flu. The boys are genuine sweethearts and their parents are the type of people that you can tell right away are kind and nurturing souls. I am very lucky. I am very excited to get to know them all better.

Melbourne



The suburb I'm is is called Carnegie. It's like any other city here; all sub-divided into smaller cities. Carnegie is beautiful and very close to downtown Melbourne. The public transit system here is quite easy to use and comprised of trains, trams and buses. The train can get you anywhere very quickly and for the most part the stations double as shopping centers.

The downtown area is breathtaking. Flinders Street is the place to be it seems. There are the main streets that seem to go on forever and you could easily get lost on them, trust me, then there are the laneways. These are essentially alleyways that have been utilized to their full potential by numerous shops and restaurants. I had no idea that these existed until I almost walked right past one. They are everywhere and they connect everything. I stopped for lunch at an authentic Italian restaurant in one of the laneways yesterday. It was called Maccaroni and when I say authentic, I mean the staff were all straight from Italy. I had the daily special: fettuccine with smoked salmon and broccoli. I also had a sweet and bubbly glass of their Moscato. Delicious is an understatement. The service was a little lacking but when you take into account there was one server and every table was full, I completely sympathized.

After lunch I attempted to figure out a way to set up a phone number for myself. That was quite the hassle as you need a passport to do so and I left mine back in Carnegie. So I paid for wifi to ask Alicia to send me a picture of my passport. Yes, I paid for wifi. That was definitely a first time experience for me. After visiting a few shops and being put on hold for at least a collective hour, I only got my cellphone up and running a few hours ago. I am using a provider called Optus and they are very cheap and easy to use. If only it were this cheap to use cellphones back home. I am going to be spending $20 a month maximum and pretty much everything is unlimited.

Last night I passed out at 6pm. I'm not sure if it was because of all the excitement or the jet lag. Either way I feel very refreshed today. I made my way to a nearby gym called re-creation (pretty clever) and had a wicked leg session. I may as well work those things out as much as possible because I will be walking everywhere for a while. I really don't feel like learning how to drive on the wrong side just yet.

All in all I am very overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the amazing people I've met so far and the amazing places I've seen. I've only been here for two days but I absolutely love Australia.

Advertisement



Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0356s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb