Advertisement
A 4 hour plane ride to LA, 16 hour plane ride to Sydney, and 1 hour (but 2 hour delay) plane ride to Ballina, we have reached our final destination in Gonobellah, Australia! It's been an exhausting, but adventurous few days of just getting here. It's always said "getting there" is half the journey, and it has not been nearly half of our month long trip, but yet, myself and the 3 other girls I'm traveling with have already managed to lose a boarding pass to Sydney, had to pay extra money for over weight in kilos, and we flew over a sugar cane field! Some fun first time experiences for all of us.
The 15 hour flight is not nearly as rough as some people make international flights out to be. Each seat has a personal television with movies, music, games, and an on board chat system. I created a screen name of "hot dish" for my online chat system in order to show my proud Minnesota blood. The Virgin Australia airline does a wonderful job of giving their passengers an "Australian" feel right as we hop on board. I felt in the atmosphere of "laid back"
as the plane was playing relaxing music and they offered complimentary wine with dinner.
Once we got to Sydney we were feeling very drained and out of sync with time because back home in Minnesota, we left at 5 PM, yet arrived in Sydney at 11 AM on Saturday. Friday was lost in travel time.
Our layover at Sydney turned out to be more than we wanted, and cost more than we wanted too. The weight of our bags was over and I ended up paying 165$ for extra weight. Each of us were a little caught off guard by Jetstar's travel tricks. To make this airline even more of a rip off, they charge for coffee on the one hour flight. Had I known about this I might have purchased a hot beverage to bring onto the plane, yet that was not allowed either. It’s interesting to see the ways different countries and airlines regulate the different rules.
Once we arrived in Ballina, we hopped off the plane in movie star style by walking straight onto the ground from the plane. We than met our homestay families and my lack
of sleep tired self turned into a curious and excited American girl. I was curious as we drove through the Australian roads. More than anything I was excited to be in a moving vehicle that wasn’t an airplane. One interesting road sign I asked my homestay mother about right off the bat was a “Casino” sign. I said “You guys have casinos here to?!” Well, it turns out, Casino is a city in Australia. I was also filled with joy when the first stop we made was the grocery store.
Aussie slang: “Pissed” Means getting drunk. I heard this prior to coming here, and just to make sure of it I asked my homestay family and it’s true: Aussies like to get pissed.
It is now 7 PM, and pitch black. My body, mind and the pitch black outdoors puts me in a perfect mood for bedtime. I’m hoping to go to bed now and play catch up on my sleep schedule.
Tomorrow’s a new day, and my first morning ever of waking up in the land down under. G’night mates.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.466s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 46; dbt: 0.3362s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Auntie Hotdish
non-member comment
Love you
Love love your blog Sarah. Hope u r caught up on sleep. Sorry about the extra cost for luggage. so happy you r safe. Thank you to your stay family. Have always wanted to visit Australia. Storming here. Just saw men in black. Cute movie. Blessings and peace in all you do. Luve u.