Day 1- Sydney: the Harbor, the Bridge, the Gardens!

Fitting that I should start my blogging about my trip on a Friday night, when exactly 3 weeks ago on a Friday night I was beginning my long trek to the other side of the world! My friend Karen and I enjoyed nearly* every moment of our 17 day trip!! (*nearly means except for when I had food poisoning for 12 hours one day and Karen wasn't feeling well a different day).

Flight in-air time: 20 hours (Chicago -> LA -> Sydney).
Departure time: 6:45pm Friday
Arrival time: 9:25am Sunday
Crossing the international date line is very confusing! :) Saturday just disappeared!

Here is a pic of the pretty decent meal I had on my international flight with Qantas. I haven't had a meal on a flight in years; we weren't even served a drink, let alone any food, on the 4 hour flight from Chicago to LA! Qantas gave us free champagne and wine, plenty of tea and coffee and little did we know that it was the last coffee we would see for the next two weeks... why did everyone fail to mention that they don't have coffee in Australia or New Zealand? Being more of a tea drinker myself (no milk, though, please), I didn't mind, but was an unexpected difference! :)



Since sleeping on an economy flight is pretty much impossible, even if you HAVE been awake straight for 30 hours, we were ridiculously tired upon our arrival. However, all advice we were given said to STAY AWAKE for the day and not to succumb to a "nap" right away. And so out into Sydney we trudged, soaking up the warmth and green around us, although the sun stayed hidden beneath the clouds for most of the day. Coming from Chicago's snowy winter, it was a welcome change weather and scenery, even with a sprinkle here and there.



We found Sydney to be clean and safe. The harbour was beautiful with several inlets. We visited "The Rocks" area with some markets, the Circular Quay, The Sydney Opera House, The Sydney Harbour Bridge and their beautiful Botannical Gardens. And this was all just on Day 1, when we were dead tired! :)

For more pictures of Sydney, Day 1, visit my website at http://bex.no-ip.com/PhotoAlbums/PhotoAlbums.htm. More to come soon... I promise! :) Click here for the next post in this journey :)