Aussie Day 1

OMG I am here at last. Thank God Almighty I am free at last. Free from the confines of a seat in a 777 for the past 14 and a half hours. It is 7am and the morning light is shining in my eye until I reach the immigration counter. I gave them my passport ,my filled out declaration form, and told them about my electronic visa*(SEE NOTE 1) . I guess when I was filling out my visa online I forgot to add my middle initial which can be seen on my passport. I was detained for a few minutes while they fixed my visa and then I was allowed to proceed to baggage. With that minor delay, the baggage didn't take long to come out and we made it through Customs with a breeze. As we got outside, we had to determine if it was in our best interest to take a cab or the train. The train would have cost $15.20 AUD * (SEE NOTE 2) per person while the cab ride to our hotel in World Square was about $50. We opted for the cab since we didn't know exactly where we were going or the distance we would have had to walk.

RYDGES World Square Hotel

Pluses
- They let us check us check in early. Thank God.
- We had a nice suite with a bathroom that had a separate bath tub and shower.
- I also fell in love with the flat screen t.v.'s, and the eco-friendly toilets.
- It was close to the Museum St train station and the World Square monorail stop.

Minuses
- It was just simply annoying sometimes to remember to leave a key in the keyholder that also controlled the electricity in the room.

We settled in for a little bit until Jeff's friend Levi called for us and out we went. The plan was to meet at the Museum of New South Wales, walk through the Botanical Gardens and end up by the Opera House and Circular Quay.

Royal Botanical Gardens
I was enjoying the 'free' beautiful gardens until I saw something fly above my head. The natives call them Flying Foxes.... Bajans call them Fruit Bats... April calls them People-Eating-Vampire bats. I have no clue who is right . All I knew was that I was ready to run. But I was the only girl amongst five guys (Levi also brought his Australian buddy Luke to help with the tour )and the BOYS were too busy taking pictures. Sigh. But the rest of the landscapes in the garden were very pleasant to look at. While passing the garden cafe I came across this strange bird that till this day I do not know what it is called.

Opera House
Okay now you know April is crazy when she recalls out loud ," That is where Blair from The Facts of Life left her shoe when the Jewelry Robbers were after her." Yeah I know I am special. That episode aired in 1987 and that was when I first wanted to go to OZ. Now as I approached the Opera steps I started to cry . I just could not believe I was finally here. We didn't take a tour only because we had purchased ticket to see singer Lillias White perform there that night. ( It was a really great show for a good price, however I was lil' tired and was sleeping through most parts . But I at least was awake to hear her ask the audience if anyone was from Brooklyn.) The Opera house was a magnificent architectural piece that to the common eye you thought you were looking at sea shells or sails on a boat.

We ended the day with a tasty Thai dinner and an excellent show at the Opera House. Who could really ask for more? G'day Mate!



NOTE 1 {Now I meant to mention about the Visa details before on my preparations for Australia, but I will take the time now to do so. Well after you purchase your airline tickets you must apply for a visa for both Australia and New Zealand. If you are a U.S. citizen you can apply for it electronically on the following website http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ and it costs $20 AUD. As a US resident you have to send you passport in to the respective embassy and pay a higher price. You do get your passport back before time of travel , and for those of you that like your passport to have proof of your travel the Australian and New Zealand visa patches will provide that.}

NOTE 2 {The conversion is $1 USD = $1.21 AUD. Most currencies mentioned will be in AUD unless otherwise noted.}

Going to Australia

On July 2nd, April & Jon Rose embarked on a trip to the other side of the world where no West Indian has gone before. LOL Okay maybe we're the second set that has made this journey but whatever the number I couldn't wait. So for this trip I kind of handled it a little differently. Those who know me know that I have a trip bible filled with daily itineraries. This time I just wanted to wing it. Jon's Dad picked us up that Thursday morning and took us to Newark where the first leg of our journey started. By the way thanks Dad for that airport drop. I decided to use Continental Airlines because we have frequent flyer miles with them through our Chase account (trust me it comes in handy) and I find that leaving from Newark is relatively cheaper than the other NY airports . Another plus is that their planes are really nice and roomy and offer a free food and beverage service. Even though there were self-service kiosks instead of counters, the attendants present were still very helpful. One attendant helped us to get two exit row seats.
Our flight was due in at 4pm at LAX and David and Jeff were scheduled to get there around the same time..... oh, so we thought. Since my cousin David works for US Airways he tends to fly with them or their partners, standby. As we were taxing on our aircraft, I decided to check my voicemail and I listened to a message that started with," Well, April we're having a great start to our trip." Apparently David and Jeff were supposed to fly to Long Beach but then they got a flight out to LAX instead. However, their luggage went to Long beach which is 30-45 minute drive on the infamous 405 during rush hour. Yeah... Great Start. How are we going to get the luggage? Well: by driving. Jon and I checked in at V Australia first and met up with the boys. Since I have never been to LA and we had all of this lay over time, I didn't mind going with them for the ride. We passed by and took pictures of the famous Randy's Donut shop where I had a delicious glazed donut for 60 cents. We were hungry on our way back and Jeff recommended the In~and~Out Burger joint. The burger was just okay. It was really thin like a White Castle burger and the fries were freshly cut and only had flavor once you added their secret sauce on them ( the secret sauce of course being Thousand Island).
Now that we got the luggage, ate, and checked in it was off to our gate . David was a little disappointed that he could not see the different international airplanes because it was dark, but at least we did see the big LAX sign. Wi-fi is available at the airport but for a cost of $7.99 via T-mobile hot spot. There are also Samsung charging stations. 10:30pm rolled around eventually and it was time to board . My hands began to sweat because I couldn't believe I was about to embark on this dream trip of mine for 14 hours, but, here we go. As I approached the jetway, I saw what resembled a bar at a club. I said to myelf like Madea would say," Hallelulya! I can get drunk." The plane was so wide, fresh and brand new smelling, with subtle blue atmospheric lights that made you feel as if you were in a lounge/club..... and it just felt great. We had seats in economy and David picked them out the right way. Before I proceed I will let you know that unfortunately Jon could not get an exit row seat. On V Australia you have to pay a little over $100 each way for an exit row seat. He was still comfortable in the seat we had in economy. Now back to the genius of my cousin. We were all in row 26 but it was in this order: window- David, middle seat- empty, aisle seat- me, then in the middle group of seats were : aisle-Jon, middle seat-empty, aisle- Jeff. We were counting on the fact that the flight was not fully booked. At first the counter clerks told us they were fully booked but when we saw no one sitting in-between us we knew we were in the clear. Now I could rest and watch some movies with their excellent in-flight entertainment. G'day mate.