Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore
Also, I'm not sure if you see them (or if it's just me) But there's some formatting issues with this post. I'm sorry for that. I'm not quite sure how to fix it.
Well I made it, and am in the process of settling in. Today was fun but rough. But before I get there maybe I should start with my plane ride.
We took off about 8:25 pm LA time, and were schedule to land about 6:25 am Sydney time, totalling 14 hours in the air. I was dreading the actual flight. Mix that with all of the excitement of landing in Sydney and you can say I was very confused emotion wise while boarding the plane. As I pointed out in my first post my seat was in the second to last row window seat of the plane. This eventually proved to be a really great seat. Because of the position, I only had one person blocking me in instead of the standard two people. That made it a lot easier to get out if I needed to use the lavatory or stretch or what not. The guy who occupied that seat was nice. We didn't say much to each other, but he was very friendly in what he did say and never seemed to mind if I needed him to move. AND, he was pretty average size, so he took up his seat space and only his seat space, which means there was no uncomfortable invasion of space. The flight itself was good too. Each seat has a little tv screen on the back of the seat in front of it on which you can watch movies and tv shows, listen to music, or play games on. I did a little bit of each for the first part of the flight, ate a barely edible meal of what they claim is chicken teriyaki, mushy rice, crunchy "steamed" veggies, a hard dinner roll and an ever harder brownie, and then decided I should try and get some sleep. The first time I woke up I was surprised I had even fallen asleep in the first place. I was figuring I had slept for less than an hour. I decided to turn on the map on my little TV to see how far we had gone (I decided to sleep a little more than 2 hours into the flight). This is what I found...
OVER HALF WAY!!!
I was elated to discover I had slept for about 5 hours. After that I continued to doze in and out of sleep until about 3 1/2 hours away from Sydney, at which point I simply became too excited to sleep (also I woke up just in time to see the lights from towns on a random island we were flying over which I thought was awesome) So I played some more games, read a little and then stared out at the breathtaking sunrise.
Oh!!! Funny story. While dozing during the second half of the flight, I woke up once to find the guy next to me was not in his seat. I was so excited that I could get up (because I didn't want to wake him earlier when I realized I really needed to use the facilities) that I tried standing up with my seat belt on. Once I managed to somehow get that undone I excitedly stood up again, hitting my head on the low hanging ceiling above me.
About 2 hours out of Sydney they fed us breakfast. I chose the waffles.
Definitely the more edible of the two meals
OH! Another thing I almost forgot. If anyone is flying to Australia and doesn't know which airline to choose, I highly recommend Virgin Australia. They were WONDERFUL. My two checked bags, as long as they're under 50 lbs, are both free (seriously, no one has free baggage anymore). And the hospitality on board was amazing. All of the entertainment on the tv was free (although maybe other airlines have that too, I wouldn't know), and all of the food and drink was free (again, maybe others too). During the middle of my slumbers, I once woke up to discover I really needed water. I didn't want to wake the dude next to me so while a flight attendant was walking by I asked her if she could get me some and she gladly did AND also brought me chips asking if I wanted them. Let me tell you, I didn't know I wanted them, but the moment she said chips, it was like she was a goddess. On Virgin Australian airlines they know what you want better than you do.
That brings us to arriving in Sydney...
My first glimpse of Oz!
We were WAY too close to the ground for comfort at this point.
And this point (pretty much right before landing)
I MADE IT!!! We made it to Sydney about 6 am local time. At baggage I talked to a girl who had flown from New York to LA (5 hours), then on the same flight as me LA to Sydney (13 1/2 hours), and was then going to board a plane to Perth (5 hours). My heart bled for her. I, however, got my bags, got through customs just fine and officially became a resident of Sydney. :)
My first bus ticket purchased
My attempts to get all this luggage on the bus screamed tourist :)
Again with being a tourist, taking pictures of things like this.
I then made it to my apartment, got checked in, and was shown to my room. The whole ordeal, from the time I left my parents house, to the time I arrived in my room, took about 30 hours. If you consider how long that trip could take, I'm pretty happy with the way it worked out.
View off one of the porches of my apartment (complex courtyard)
View off the other one
I showered. And oh did it feel good. Then I started my day. For about 3 hours after checking in I had NO idea what time it was. But I knew I still had a long day ahead of me. The Jet Lag is weird. I slept enough on the plane that I was rested. But I was still very tired. It just all feels very off. I had plenty of supplies I needed to get for my apartment (including food as I realized I was starving), so I went exploring.
My first purchase (other than the bus ticket which doesn't count)
Speaking of Australian currency, why can't our money be this pretty?
Oh, and those coins are MASSIVE...
Next to a quarter
They're really thick and heavy too.
Being a noob at the bus stop :)
I found the mall (or shopping centre as they call it), and was able to get most of the things I absolutely needed today. Like food.
Both this milk and cereal are very bland
I did a little more exploring. Saw some of the campus, which is insanely beautiful. I didn't get any pictures, but that's one of my goals for tomorrow if they weather is nicer. Oh, did I mention that? Yeah, it got up to 106 degrees today in Sydney. I heard from a lady it's the first time in twenty years it's been that hot. It was quite a shock after leaving Iowa. But I did get some pictures of my neighbors across the street.
Some very beautiful horses
I've never seen a race horse in real life so I was pretty amused by that. Sorry. So yeah, across the street is the racecourse.
I would love to go to one of the races here. If I could afford it :/ And I think there's only 2 while I'm here anyway.
As the sun started setting I headed back to my apartment, had another wonderfully delicious meal and here I am, laying in bed posting this. Since this is so long and I'm tired I will not be double checking my work so I apologise for anything that may not make sense.
Another delightful meal
Challenges so far:
1. Not being freaked out that the bus is driving on the other side of the road
2. Remembering that I should look right first instead of left before I cross the street
3. Realizing that, when walking on the sidewalk, the oncoming person is going to want to go to the right of me, since that's the way their car traffic goes as well
4. Remembering it's summer and I need to put some sunscreen on my pale skin if I'm going to be outside
We'll end with this :)
1. Not being freaked out that the bus is driving on the other side of the road
2. Remembering that I should look right first instead of left before I cross the street
3. Realizing that, when walking on the sidewalk, the oncoming person is going to want to go to the right of me, since that's the way their car traffic goes as well
4. Remembering it's summer and I need to put some sunscreen on my pale skin if I'm going to be outside
We'll end with this :)
Why can't we call it the Fire Brigade?
Comments
Dori and Bob!