April 25, 2010

I decided Friday that I needed to get out of Brisbane. I wasn't really impressed and had been looking for work outside of the city so I figured there's no reason for me to stay there. Flew out today. I had to take a train to the airport so I was up at 845 for a flight at 12. My bags were about 5kg overweight, so I had to spend shit loads of money for that. I wish I would have thought of that and I would have just took the bus. Bus would have been the same price and I wouldn't have had to worry about the train to the airport, the overweight cost, and one night accommodation because it would have been an overnight bus ride. It was all worth it when I landed though! Once we broke through the clouds I could see the harbor (I was in an aisle seat so my view sucked) and I got so excited. It's like I've been traveling so much that my excitement for new places isn't as extreme anymore, but this time it was. I had surge of excitement! Once we landed I wanted to let someone know I was here, to be excited with, so I was going to text Michael (pretty sure I've mentioned him in my blog before, but just in case… friend I met in Europe who lives in Sydney). I was going to wait until baggage claim when I had a few minutes of waiting, but we had to wait an extra minute to get off the plane for some stairs so I text him. My phone was on silent, but as I was walking along the tarmac I looked at the phone again and saw two missed calls from him! Geez! I called back and he asked where I was. When I told him he asked what gate because, get this, he was at the freaking airport! His mom that lives in Brisbane was about to fly back so he and his sister were here dropping her off. He was walking toward my gate but was a few gates away! Oh my gosh, I was so excited. We'd been talking a few times a month since I got here and always have kept in contact on FB so we'd been DYING to see each other for quite some time now. HUGE hug from him and his mom and sister, and his sister offered to take me to my hostel, awesome. Nice drive in a tiny little Aussie car, and they dropped me off. He's taking me on a tour of the city tomorrow. He's been prepping for quite some time so I'm excited to see what he comes up with. After I got settled in the crap hostel I went for a walk of the town. Walked alone Hyde Park, through the botanical gardens to get my first view of the Opera House! As I was walking to get a good shot of it, I kept grinning like a fool. I was about to see the Sydney Opera House! How insane? I'm in Sydney, Australia!! I've wanted to be here as long as I can remember and here I am! I couldn't believe it. Anyway, took heaps of pictures and kept touching and touching it, unable to comprehend where I was standing, and started walking back to the hostel. There was another park, Darling Harbor, on the way, so I stopped there right at dusk. It was really pretty, another smaller bay, so there were city lights, water, boats, fountains, and street performers, really nice. Walking for like five straight hours in crap sandals, but worth it. Maybe tomorrow I'll wear sneakers. Definitely sneakers.