Australia Travel Blog: Day One, hour one
Well, I made it to Sydney; a much easier trip than I had anticipated. My bad travel juju is gone. Good things are coming my way. For those of you disinterested in my travel stories, feel free to breeze past these blog posts. One of the good things about blogging is you can keep pals and family updated even when you are half way across the world (even though looking out the window, I swear I could be in any large US city).
One of the perks (well, technically, I think "perqs" but that looks weird) of working at Microsoft, is flying business class for international trips. I remember flying to Bangkok about ten years ago, in coach, reminding myself never ever to do this again. Going in business class was sweet; upper deck of Qantas baby. It was like laying on my couch watching movies only people kept bringing me stuff to eat and drink and calling me Ms. Hamilton. The flight from LA to Sydney was over 14 hours. But since the flight took off at midnight, there was some sleeping to do (interrupted only briefly by turbulence and a dose of lorazepam). So I arrived here (minus one day thanks to the international date line) at about 7:30 AM and I feel like I can definitely get through the day on Sydney time. Perhaps this is the benefit of being an insomniac: mild jet lag feels like every day, baby. You just deal. And actually, I love the idea of getting back to Seattle and being so tired that I (thinking optimistically) actually sleep through a whole night; something I don't think I have done in about 6 weeks.
The highlight of the trip so far was seeing Keanu at LAX airport (you know which Keanu). A bunch of asshats were swarming him and taking his picture. I hate that star worship thing. I think that if you have lived in LA for a while, maybe even met someone famous who was mildly disappointing in their human-ness, you get over it. Anyway, if you see a picture of him in Us Magazine at the Qantas ticket counter, look for me in my mismatched Juicy sweat suit (I hate matchy matchy sweat suits) in the background. He is just as yummy in person as he is on TV. He looks like he smells good.
Let's see, what else? The cab driver on the way to the hotel told me that Australian men LOVE American women; he seemed to feel the need to tell me about this right up front so I knew what my pub experience was going to be like. I guess the fact that I am traveling alone had something to do with it. I don't know why, but I'm not going to argue. I'm single and good at making friends. Oh yeah, I'll think about all that stuff after I give my presentations.Right now, I'd just love to get into my hotel room (still not ready), take a shower and run through my presentation a few times.Instead, I am in the lobby using up their free wifi. And you know, sitting here looking all American and stuff.
Comments
Anonymous
April 12, 2008
A thunderstorm rolled through this afternoon. It was cool to watch it from my hotel window since I am on an upper floor. Waiting for a "transformer" to be delivered to my room. Thing I just blew out the converter I brought with me. You'd think we could all get together on the electrical thing. In my hotel room, reading over my slides and drinking Chardonnay.Anonymous
April 13, 2008
Australia is a great place. The people are so friendly. Enjoy yourself. Wheres Jonas while you are away?Anonymous
April 13, 2008
He's at home. I have a good friend house-sitting.Anonymous
April 15, 2008
Didn't mind the New Zealand comment (and I tried to visit New Zealand since my adorable cousin lives there), but I didn't like the fact that it was basically an advertisement. No ads on my blog please. If you want to participate in the conversation, that's fine. But just dumping in an endorsement and link to a product is not OK with me.Anonymous
October 29, 2008
Hey just a heads up go to www.independentbackpackers.com if your travelling all over Australia and get a backpacker gold card! It saved me on my Whitsunday and Fraser Island tours and when I headed up to Cairns I got a $59 discount on a dive course! Sweet!!! You book all your tours online to receive the discounts and you get $1 off per night with hostels which I reckon saved me about $50 during my year! Wicked time in Oz and I hope this helps other people with there travel plans!