May 22, 2006
I'm in Australia.
Monday May 22, approximately 4:22pm
I can't believe I survived that flight. Five hours to LA, an hour and twenty minute layover and then fourteen more hours to Sydney. Ridicurous. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting though and Marco will be impressed to hear that I did not have to shit on the plane. Come to think of it, I'm yet to shit since I was in New York. And it being Monday afternoon now, my last shit was technically sometime Saturday morning. However, there was a twenty-four hour period there where I failed to exist in any kind of physical sense. So there's that.
Ubiquitous - yet necessary - shot of the Opera House:
My sister and I arrived at the hotel sometime around 9am local time, took showers, and then hit the streets. We had lunch at a sports bar in Darling Harbor where we learned a bit about Australian Rules Football and ate fish with a nice Toohey's Bitter beer. Then we went to a shopping district known as Queen Victorias Market.
I was anxious to get to Sydney harbor and take a close up look at the Sydney Harbor Bridge (below) and the Opera House. It really hits home that you are in fact in Sydney, Australia when you see these two icons. I still can't really get over the fact that I'm here. I love it.
We're in Sydney until Friday so there's alot to been seen and done. We'll be climbing to the top of the Harbor Bridge on Wednesday and taking in an opera on Thursday. Very exciting.
Go Cubs. Punch the White Sox.
Posted by Mike at May 22, 2006 02:22 AMGlad you made it over there safe man. In honor of your trip I ate Kangaroo and drank Tooheys beer all night on Saturday at an Australian restaurant downtown.
Posted by: Marco at May 22, 2006 07:12 AMToohey's beer is pretty sweet dude. I guess, more accurately, it's bitter. And New. Tipping of hospitality staff isn't as commonplace here as it is in the States. It's very liberating and somewhat awkward to not tip a waiter or a bartender. In fact, I have been tipping them anyway. The fact is, they're very very nice. Possibly because of our 'accents,' but possibly also because they're just nice people. Either way, I can't spend A$150 dollars on dinner and leave no tip. It's just not within me. It's a struggle I go through each night (all two of them so far) which my sister insists is not worth it. As you can see, i'm still not quite over it. Anyway... There's all that.
Posted by: Mike at May 23, 2006 08:11 AMWhy isn't it as common? Is it because the wait staff are actually paid a decent wage?
Posted by: Sam at May 23, 2006 09:50 AMYeah, I think so. I haven't had the nerve to ask a bartender what he makes yet, and chances are, since he would give me the figure in Australian dollars, I wouldn't really know what that meant unless I did some rudimentary math. And, since I'd be drinking at the time, not only would I not do said math, I'd probably get it wrong if I did. So there's all that.
Posted by: Mike at May 23, 2006 05:25 PMHey Mike, what movies did you watch on the plane? Did you take Quantas? I remember Darling Harbor being a good place for going out at night in Sydney.
~Megan
Hey Mike, what movies did you watch on the plane? Did you take Quantas? I remember Darling Harbor being a good place for going out at night in Sydney.
~Megan
Hi Megan. Welcome to criticallyinsane.com. I didn't watch any movies on the plane actually. I tried to watch Munich, which I had downloaded the previous week specifically for watching on the plane, but air travel has a weird way of putting me to sleep. Like a baby listening to the mockingbird song in its mothers arms who is sitting in a rocking chair. That, and Munich isn't really the most exciting, pace setting movie ever. I didn't get too far watchin that,so I spent alot of time reading and playing the awesome little video games on the tv in front of me. And attempting to sleep. And yes, I flew Qantas. It was sufficiently comfortable, I guess. 19 hours on a plane... How comfortable could it have been?
Good to hear from you Megan. I hope you're well. I look forward to talking to you about the whole trip when I get back. Also, you'll be excited to know that I'm taking most, if not all, of your suggestions on things to do here, including the Aussie Rules Football game I hope to attend tomorrow, as well as the white water rafting I have planned while up in Cairns. It's gonna be great.
I'll talk to you soon.
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