Author: Lauren

Day 4 in Sydney: Catching up

The trip itself

My trip began with me flying American Airlines out of Reagan National (DCA) to LAX; the plane was new enough, clean and comfortable and the service was good.  I wasn’t thrilled about flying to LAX, considering when I was last there in 2001 (the first time I went to Australia), there was scaffolding everywhere and there was nothing worthwhile to do or eat.  I did perk up when I heard about the new Tom Bradley International Terminal, and I was pleased that I’d be traveling through it.  To be sure, it is very swanky as far as airport terminals go (how many can boast Gucci as a tenant?), but I was incredibly disappointed to find that only about 25% of the terminal’s tenants wouldn’t open until at least October (when will I get to try Umami Burger?!).  Oh well, at least it has a wine bar.

The Qantas flight was also decent, but long and mostly sleepless, as I expected.  I finally got to Sydney’s airport around 6 a.m. Monday morning, not having pre-arranged a shuttle or cab.  The shuttles had mostly terrible reviews online and some didn’t come to Mosman, where I’m staying.  I ended up taking a taxi, which I knew would probably be expensive–it was just a matter of how expensive.  I was lucky that school was out and thus traffic was pretty light; my trip was only about half an hour long, but it cost me A$73.

What I’ve been up to

Monday I got in to my apartment (again booked via AirBNB)…and slept pretty much all day.  So much for acclimating to the time.  When I woke up, it was 8:40 p.m.  During the few hours I was awake, I was pleased to realize I could see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from my living room window.

Tuesday I ventured into Mosman.  There’s a nice local bookstore, a place called The Burger Shed (and yes, I did get lunch there–tasty), a tiny grocery store, upscale-ish clothing stores, lots of cafes and restaurants…and a Lululemon (?!).  I finally bought a few staple groceries so I could eat something other than candy, almonds and granola/”health food” bars.

The best weather so far this week was on Wednesday, so it was a great day to be outside.  I realized that Taronga Zoo was super close to my apartment.  I had never been before and was excited to realize it was walking distance from me.  Once again, I suffered a bit of sticker shock because it was $44 to get in.  (My VIP Backpackers pass did save me about $7 off of that, fortunately.)  I had heard that there were astonishing views of Sydney from the zoo, and that turned out to be the case–I took more pictures of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge than I did of the animals.  I did enjoy wandering through the zoo though, and not just for the great views.  Walking back, I decided to take a detour and visit Clifton Gardens (actually a beach), which was lovely although a long walk from the main road.  (Not so lovely:  The really steep hike back up toward the main road.)

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Today I made my first trip into downtown Sydney because I thought I needed to pick up something at the Apple Store.  I was hesitant to take the bus because I tend to get a bit over-worried about getting lost in big public transportation systems (ferries, buses and trains, oh my!), although having sworn off driving while in Australia (on the other side of the car, on the other side of the road?  no thanks), I knew I’d have to embrace public transportation sooner rather than later.  I hadn’t activated my SIM card for my phone yet, so I had no Google Maps to guide me, either.  It turned out that taking the bus was pretty easy.  It was surprisingly expensive though:  A$9.20 for a roundtrip pass for a trip that was about a half-hour each way.

Events I’m excited about

I only found out about CBW last week, but I was really excited to hear about it.  Plus, I had no idea IFR was happening until this week.  Very serendipitous!

Also of Note

I just joined Instagram.  I’ll try not to post too many pictures of food, but no promises.  By the way, this hot chocolate was delicious.

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From DC to Sydney: What will I wear?

So this summer completely sped by, and this week is doing the same.  My flight is Saturday!  AAAAHHHH!  At this point, I feel pretty certain that I’m as prepared as I can be.  I haven’t given my flight-day outfit much thought (some friends may argue I don’t give most days’ outfits much thought…), but I do know it will have to be comfortable–the flight from LAX to Sydney alone is 15 hours.  I’ve heard that if you dress like you belong in first class, you might be lucky enough to actually get a seat there, but who would be comfortable for that length of time wearing something dressy?  Not me.

I do know of at least a few things I will be sporting during my travel time:

  • Jeans.  Duh.  Comfort achieved.
  • A watch.  Even though I will be traversing way too many time zones, I want to at least know what time it is somewhere on earth without whipping out my phone every five minutes.
  • Earplugs.  They provide absolutely no guarantee of sleep on a plane, but I like to think that they give me a better chance of it.  Also useful if there are small children nearby.
  • Comfy slip-on flats.  I’ll need to wear slip-ons at least through the security line, and if I ever feel like my feet need a break from wearing shoes while on the plane, I can just take them off for a bit.
  • A bracelet my mom gave me when I turned 21, bearing this Henry David Thoreau quote:  “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you’ve imagined.”  (I’m pretty sure when Mom gave me this, me moving to Australia was not what she had in mind.)

Any ideas or suggestions?

From DC to Sydney, Part 1

Music and travel are two of my “great loves,” you might say, and sometimes they coincide in my life, such as when I went to Asheville, NC to see Lykke Li or Denver to see New Order, or even how this blog’s name (and former name) both came from songs.  But I had never really had a “life revelation” while listening to music until I listened to the Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs in March 2011–the day that someone I loved moved away.  The revelation I had was this:  I had things I needed to do with my life before I settled down with anyone…things like moving to Australia.

I fell in love with Australia when I was there at the age of 16.  My high school economics teacher had put together a trip to Australia and New Zealand to counter all the trips to Europe, trips he termed “boring” because all you would see were churches.  I was on board, as were my parents, my uncle, and a friend of the family.  Originally, the trip was to occur in the summer of 2000, but with the Olympics happening in Sydney, we decided to push our trip back a year, also allowing ourselves more time to get money in order for the trip.

Our group got to Australia and we discovered how warm and funny the people there are.  I definitely appreciated their dry wit.  There was something about Sydney that really appealed to me though, even though I couldn’t articulate exactly what it was.  (I am a sucker for cities by the water, with the exception of my own hometown…)

After that trip, pretty much whenever Australia came up in conversation, I mentioned how much I would love to live in Sydney…if only it weren’t so far from home.  For someone who has only ever lived in one state, that’s a big commitment.  (I’m still kicking myself for not studying abroad in college.)

My college had an unusual feature called “JTerm,” which allowed students to take one or two classes or maybe get an internship during the month of January.  Many of the classes traveled abroad.  And so I found myself in Australia again in January 2007 for the “Chemistry of Winemaking” class, whereby I was lucky enough to get college credit for learning about and drinking lots of wine (that was the only way I was ever going to get a decent grade in a chemistry class).  We were in Sydney just to be there for a few days; the only scheduled events we had were in Adelaide and Melbourne.  I was so glad to be back in Sydney, and while I enjoyed Adelaide (and was even lucky enough to spend my birthday there),  for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to really like Melbourne…the surest sign I was a would-be Sydneysider, considering how the two cities have a huge rivalry.

In the past couple of years, I had given some small amount of thought to the idea of moving to Australia, but never seriously considered it.  In April of this year, I decided that if I was ever going to move to Australia, now was the time.  I finally applied and was almost immediately approved for a Working Holiday visa.  The Working Holiday visa is good for people 18-30 years of age and allows them to work, study, and have fun in Australia.  Now that I’m 28, I have very little time to waste.  In retrospect, I wish I’d gone in the second half of 2011 before I gave myself a chance to be irresponsible with some of the money I’d so diligently saved over the previous four years.  The exchange rate was more favorable then as well–now each of my American dollars will be worth a few cents less when exchanged for Australian dollars.  (As much as I wish Australia well, I do wish their dollar would fall just a couple cents more so that the exchange would be just a tad more equitable.)

But I can only keep looking forward.  I know I have a lot more research and work to do before I get to Sydney, but it’s a good goal to work toward.

Hi, I’m new here!

My name is Lauren, and I’ve run the Travelling Woman travel blog for a few years now.  The original can be found at a3x5life.blogspot.com if you want to check it out.  I decided to move my blog to WordPress because I liked the layout better here and I wanted to freshen things up a bit.

The original name of the blog, A 3×5 Life, was borrowed from the John Mayer song “3×5,” which is about traveling and needing to experience what you see instead of just seeing it through a camera.

A couple of years ago, I decided to change the name of the blog to Travelling Woman, also borrowed, this time from a Bat for Lashes song of the same name.

I’ll be posting here from time to time, so make sure to check back!