A fond hello from Ash and Eric in the land of Veggimite, Koalas and Kangaroos...
Yeah! We made it to Syndey, Australia at 6:05am this morning. Double yeah~ We are finally starting our blog. We had hoped to start it back in September with photos of our new place together, but our first world travels together will do just fine. :-)
Eric and I flew VAustralia (Virgin). We left at 8:10pm Friday night. We flew for fourteen hours and arrived in Sydney this morning (Sunday, Feb 14) at 6am. We got to skip flying on the thirteenth all together by hitting the international dateline at just the right time and arrived on Valentines Day. The flight was fun from the beginning. Upon check in we
were greeted with a a concentrated line of colorful backpacks attached to excited faces, stylish music, complete with mood lighting and orchids. Our only hitch was the visa people spelling Eric's name as HuSLer and not HuLSer. Standard. No biggie.
Eric is going to pick up from here and tell you about the flight...
Captains Log, Day 1.
Morale is high as we wound our way to our seats.
"We're in row 26" I knowingly told the attendant,
"Still, may I see your pass? You're over here, ...in row 27" he responded.
Still, morale remains high...
VAustralia is a top notch airline - food was tasty, the seats comfortable, and we had access to our own personal movies, tv shows and games all for free...
Ashley dabbled in a little of this movie, and a little of that movie, before deciding that a quick cat nap before dinner was best (seeing as we got very little sleep the night before). I on the other hand chose to play some video poker - I destroyed my simple minded opposition and won $9000 of fake computer money...if only...
Dinner was delectable, a choice of steak and potatoes, curry chicken or pasta - which was much better than normal airline food. After which we settled in for a good nights sleep - 11h to go.
2h to go, we wake up to some bustling about breakfast, and smells of eggs through the plane. Also, better than your average breakfast. At this point we realized that we got a pretty good nights sleep, and only have 2 hours left until we get there...so we pull out the books and start planning...
...some time passes...
We have now landed in Sydney and made our way to the baggage claim. We see a nice "Welcome to Sydney" sign Ash decides to pull out the video camera for our first Aussie video....which draws the attention of the police, who promptly force us to delete our first Aussie video. Apparently, the sign should have read "Welcome to Sydney (No video or picture inside the terminal you crazy Americans)"....
We also realized that our carefully planned snacks are not actually ALLOWED in Sydney - so we had to say good bye to our beef jerky and nuts...but probably the snack that illicited the most interest was our Protein Shake Powder...we didnt want to lug the whole thing with us, so we just put a bunch of white powder in a nice plastic ziplock bag....
Wise choice...so, we bid that adieu as well.
A short cab ride later, we are now at Diego and Laura's place in Belvue Hill, catching up with my old friend and preparing for the day. They have a lovely place, it reminds me of Puerto Rico - warm, humid and the proper kind of palm trees outside the window.
Next on the list - a hike through some of the beaches here in Sydney.
The troop snack rations are slightly diminished, but still we push on...
Catching up on our backlog of adventures one post at at time.
Our Endless Summer
Glad to hear you made it safely. Also glad you didn't spend the night in jail pending lab results on the white powder in the zip lock! What are veggimites?
ReplyDeleteVegemite is considered as much a part of Australia's heritage as kangaroos and the Holden cars. It is actually an Australian obsession that has become a unique and loved symbol of the Australian nation.
ReplyDeleteA Vegemite sandwich to an Australian kid is the equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to an American kid - but the taste is QUITE different!
Vegemite is one of several yeast extract spreads sold in Australia. It is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract (a by-product of beer manufacture) and various vegetable and spice additives. It is very dark reddish-brown, almost black, in color, and one of the richest sources known of Vitamin B. It's thick like peanut butter, it's very salty, and it tastes like - well let's just say that it is an acquired taste!
Australian children are brought up on Vegemite from the time they're babies. It is said that Australians are known to travel all over the world with at least one small jar of Vegemite in their luggage, for fear that they will not be able to find it.
One has to wonder if Vegemite has ever been confiscated! I seriously doubt it! Apparently Kraft has purchased it, the long arm the multinational company!
I, too, learned fresh, raw fruits and vegetables, plants cannot be brought into this country on this last trip through Customs.
By the way you all look so glamorous! Is that "jet" plane? Love you, Mom
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ReplyDeleteLOL about the protein powder incident (btw, w/nuts and are beef jerky -- you guys on Atkins???) and the cops shutting down your inaugural arrival video. Too funny. Glad to hear you arrived safely.
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