We've made it to Sydney! Not without some adventure of course, but we made it. And considering everything that could have gone wrong we feel very blssed to be here, with our luggage. Right now I'm listening to the eerie and disturbing sound of a kookabura bird- it sounds like a crazy person laughing. Ooo, there's another one- at least I know for sure it's not some kid goofing off.
Our flight experience took an interesting twist right from the beginning. We got to the gate very early, and a staff person came along to ask if anyone wanted to go on the early flight to Chicago. So of course we all went down there, and we discovered that our flight was likely to be delayed, and the flight we were boarding had been delayed over 2 hours already. Apparently there were strong winds in Chicago. Go figure. :) We didn't mind, but you would not believe the people griping and calling their lawyers and all kinds of stuff. Anyway that flight left about the same time as our original flight, so we got there in time for the San Francisco leg.
The San Francisco leg was packed- it's only a 4 hour flight, and somehow we ended up sitting in the plane for over an hour due to serious lighting and tornado warnings at O Hare airport. I think we were an hour and a half late. Well, the Sydney flight was due to leave at 10:20pm, and our flight wasn't rescheduled to arrive until 10:15pm. Hmm. :) Fortunately for us there were about 70 people on our flight who were all going to Sydney, so they docked our plane right next to the one we were going to board for Sydney, and we hurried from one plane to the next. We couldn't get seats right next to each other, but a very kind man was willing to swap his middle of the row seat for my aisle seat, so we were good.
That was the end of the crazyness- I was so exhausted that I slept for at least 8 hours of the flight, leaving 5 hours to eat the various meals they give you, chat with people, and read. It went fast, much faster than I remember my 3 Cambodia flights across the Pacific taking. The food wasn't bad- it's getting better I think, and we had excellent flight attendants, I think the best I've ever had. United's motto is like "Come fly our friendly skies" or something like that, and they really were friendly. We were thrilled that our luggage made it on the flight considering how narrowly we all got on it. We didn't have any problems with customs or immigration in Sydney- they were moving people through fast, which was great.
We picked up the rental car, navigated our way to the hotel, and here we are. We just got back from a trip to the grocery store, which involved us getting lost, finally getting there, and realizing we had bad Mapquest directions which took us to the back of the store instead of the front and we had to drive around a bit. Anyway it's something like 7:45pm here now, and we haven't passed out from sleep deprivation yet. :)
I'd put some pictures up but we're having some kind of network trouble- I don't know what the deal is, but I'm too tired to figure it out! My brain feels like mush. :) Sydney is beautiful- it's pleasantly warm here, and the environment and the buildings remind me of Southeast Asia in a funny way. Australia has a population of 20 million, and many are immigrants from Southeast Asia so I guess that makes sense. I found out there's a Chinatown, and there's a big population of Cambodians too- I can't wait to eat Cambodian food! Overall Sydney is a nice laidback city- the speed limits are really slow, so no one feels the need to speed around people because they're used to it. G's work is right across the street from us, and there's a great big park behind our hotel. I learned today that there are over 150 Eucalypt species here, and also I learned from a kind Aussie on the plane that here they say "koala" not "koala bear", and kangaroos don't live near the cities like deer do in Michigan. Disappointing- I was hoping to see one up close. :) Because of the eucalyptus trees all over everything has a lovely sweet smell- the trees are very fragrant. The days are long here too- the sun still hasn't set.
As soon as we can I'll get those pictures up, and we'll keep you posted. Thanks for pring for us and our safe travel- it was the easiest of my 4 trips over the Pacific.
I still hear those kookabura birds- I'll have to see if I can record them for you guys. :) We miss you all!
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