Most people wouldn’t even think about sitting on the last row of an airplane in the middle seat for 18 hours and then not staying for longer than 2 days at the destination just so you could say you where there. To my 13-year old daughter, who still likes to be the one to press the buttons on elevators and who had a trip to Australia on her summer’s bucket list, the long plane ride didn’t sound bad idea at all – it’s sounded like an adventure.
One of the perks in working for American Airlines is free standby travel, meaning if a seat is open we can take it. The flights looked open over the Fourth of July weekend so after the local parade and picnic, we left for Sydney from Dallas, connecting through Los Angles.
Luckily on the way to Australia, we were upgraded to Premium Economy, where the seats are a little wider with more leg room, better menu, and free alcoholic drinks. But the upgrades didn’t stop there, as my daughter and I were getting settled into or Premium Economy seats, the gate agent came and took us both to First/Business class in our own pods. She said that the seats were jammed and didn’t lie flat, but we both still got our own pod to stretch out any way we wanted while we watched the large screen entertainment monitor equipped with Bose headphones.
Even though we left Los Angeles a little before midnight on Thursday we didn’t make it Sydney until Saturday morning, basically losing an entire day. Graciously, we’d get the day back on our way back home.
We arrived in Sydney airport and got onto the airport’s WIFI to book a hotel near the Opera House. We found a good deal at the Hyatt on Darling Harbour. We took the train downtown and when we got off the subway, we wandered around downtown for awhile, going up and down steep stairs and hills before getting pointed in the correct direction to the hotel. When you get off a subway in a large city, I’ve found it’s difficult to orient in the right direction since the tall buildings obstruct visual clues.
Once at the hotel, we used the hotel’s WIFI to get a ride on UBER to the Sydney Opera House were we dined at the Opera Bar and Grill, took a guided tour of the Opera House, and then spent time in the Royal Botanic Gardens.
On the way back to the hotel, since we didn’t have WIFI for UBER, so we found a regular taxi. When we got in, I said, “Hyatt Please”, and the driver asked if I had a GPS. I said I didn’t so he put the Hyatt into his cell phone’s GPS and I think took a wrong turn early on since we ended up with the tall buildings of downtown Sydney way off in the distance. He knew he was lost and turned off the meter and finally got his bearings and took us to the hotel.
The next morning, I read how to take the bus to Bondi Beach, got passes from the subway station, and tried to board the bus and the driver said I needed bus passes, not rail passes. So we used our rail passes to get close to Bondi Beach and walked the 30 minutes which was actually enjoyable experience with my daughter. We passed a lawn bowling game and then came first to Tamarama Beach, where some gigantic waves were rolling in giving the surfers a nice ride, or in some cases, a nice drubbing. We continued on the the deservedly-famous Bondhi to Bonte Costal Walk that has breath-taking views of the beaches from the cliffs above Bondi. We climbed down a trail and played in some tide pools and also spent some time on the beach before buying some souvenirs and ice cream from the shops in Bondi.
Once back at Darling Harbour, we went out for a nice dinner and to look around at the shops that surround the entire harbour.
We made it back to the airport the next morning on Uber and was upgraded again for the flight home. We left Syndey about 10:00 am on Monday and got back to Los Angles a little before 10:00 on the same day, gaining a day back and completing a trip that I hope my little girl will always remember.