Hi!
I'm on the airplane right now. I don't have internet, so I'm writing on text edit. When we get Internet, I'll cut and paste.
The rides been fairly okay. I fell asleep soon after the plane took off and slept for three hours. That's not a great amount of sleep, but it's better than nothing. I think it's also better than what I usually do.
Jack and Tim are still asleep. They usually sleep better than I do on planes.
Jack complained a bit in the beginning about being in economy. I guess he misheard me earlier and thought we'd be in business. He was disappointed. It's probably our fault for not being more clear with him, and I think also there was a time where we talked about going business class. It seems we forgot to directly inform him that we changed our minds. Oops.
Anyway...
Now I'm trying to decide what I should do next. I doubt I'll be able to fall back asleep.
I can play Sims 3. That takes up too much battery power though.
I guess I'll read a book. Or maybe I'll watch a movie?
* * *
I'm back!
I didn't end up watching a movie. I read a little of my zombie book and then....I fell asleep again! I'm so happy for myself. I slept two more hours. So now I've had a total of 5 hours of sleep. For me, that's really good. I mean I do much better than that when I'm on a bed. But for being on a plane, that's really awesome.
It's now 3:20 am Australia time. We're landing in 5 hours.
I hope the time goes by fast.
Tim and Jack are awake now too. They're both in good moods, which is nice.
* * *
We're in Sydney!
It's great to be back.
It feels a little odd though. My cousins aren't here anymore, and neither are some of our friends. They've all moved back to America.
I don't know. It's not like we spent the majority of our Sydney time with them. It's just. Well...still... I feel like something's missing.
We just checked into our hotel, The Hyde Park Inn. We learned about this hotel in 2009 when our friends stayed here—not the friends who moved to America. These friends did move, though, but just from Tasmania to Melbourne.
I shouldn't say "just". Any move can be a huge deal.
Anyway, we got to our hotel around 11:00, and left our luggage in their storage. Then we walked to the David Jones Foodhall. The foodhall is like a fancy food court, and it's one of our favorite Sydney places.
The three of us had some lunch. Then we grabbed a fancy juice and some pastries and ate our dessert in Hyde Park.
Jack was delighted to see the Ibises, even though one once stole a piece of his sandwich. I forgot if that happened in 2007 or 2009. Oh well. This time they left our food alone.
We've unpacked. We're freshening up a bit. Then we're going to roam on over to the Opera House. We might also stop at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
We need to decide whether we're going to walk there or take the train. The past times we've been here we've bought a seven day pass. We're not going to be here seven days, so we have to pay for each ride individually.
The good thing is CityRail charges you less to travel on off peak times, and their definition of off peak is after 9:00 am. That's pretty cool.
I'm thinking we'll walk to the Opera House, get exhausted, and then take the train back. The good thing is the train station is RIGHT next to our hotel.
* * *
We're going to go to bed very soon. We're all VERY tired.
We saw the Opera House. We didn't see much of the RBG. We decided to do that another day...when we're more awake.
Despite us feeling sort of like zombies, it was a fairly nice walk. The weather's good at least. It's not hot. It's not cold. And it's not raining. I love that.
Speaking of rain, we've all finally taken our post flight-showers. I feel much less gross now.
Tim ended up getting hungry, so he picked up some food from Mother Chu's. It's a vegetarian place, and pretty close to our hotel. We all shared some fake meat stuff.
We don't have internet yet, so I'm not going to post this until we get internet. We could use the hotel's internet, but there's a daily surcharge. Yeah. I'm being cheap.
Tomorrow Tim's going to set us up with some kind of mobile internet thing. He'll do that while Jack and I go to Wildlife Sydney and the Sydney Aquarium. Don't feel bad for Tim. He's not a big fan of those extractions.
* * *
It's morning. We've eaten the free breakfast that was left in our refrigerator. That was fun.
Now we're waiting, hanging out in the hotel room. It's a bit too early to head out to head to Darling Harbour.
Jack and I might hang out in Hyde Park for awhile.
Then I think we'll come back up for a private pee before heading out again.
* * *
We're back in the room. It's around 10 pm. We have internet now! Thanks, Tim!!!!
Here's what we did today.
Around 8:30, Jack and I walked to Wildlife Sydney in Darling Harbour. We got there a few minutes early. We just hung out a bit.
We enjoyed it...sort of. It was a bit crowded because of the school holidays. I prefer that place when there's less people.
After Wildlife Sydney, we walked next door to the Sydney Aquarium.
Our Combo pass got us into both of those; plus we used it later to go to Sydney Tower.
I did like the aquarium and the wildlife thing, but I'm kind of more eager to go to new animal parks. Well, they're not new really, but they're new to us.
I also kind of have bad memories, of that area in Darling Harbour, because I associate it with losing our camera in 2009!
Anyway....
When Jack and I were finished with Wildlife Sydney and the Sydney Aquarium, we met Tim at La Bora Pizzeria. He did some internet restaurant research while we were looking at sharks.
We shared a pizza and some garlic bread.
Then with our bad breath we did Sydney Tower. We saw the city from very high up. I've personally never been that excited about bird's eye views. I'm not sure why.
The 4D movie was kind of fun. We saw it before, but that was back in 2007. It's been awhile.
After all that we went back to our room to rest. Jack played his Minecraft on the computer. I read a zombie book. Tim entertained us with his snoring.
Then we went to eat dumplings at Din Tai Fung. The food was pretty good, but it was a bit too crowded and hectic for my taste.
In case you haven't noticed. Yeah. I'm not a big fan of crowds.
We got back to the room around 7:30 and have been hanging out since then. I felt kind of weird about that. We're in Australia! We need to be out and about, savoring every little moment. But then I remind myself we're going to be here for close to six months. We need to make sure to relax and not go crazy.
Oh! Jack just reminded me to inform you, that for dessert at Din Tai Fung, we got something called Mango Fantasy. It was very important to him.
NOTE: This trip journal is fictional. We are not really in Australia. Some stuff in these posts are based on research. Some stuff is based on my reality. Some stuff is based on past experiences. And some stuff is based on fantasy.
The non-trip journal posts ARE true and real…except for my dreams (which are written in purple).
I'm on the airplane right now. I don't have internet, so I'm writing on text edit. When we get Internet, I'll cut and paste.
The rides been fairly okay. I fell asleep soon after the plane took off and slept for three hours. That's not a great amount of sleep, but it's better than nothing. I think it's also better than what I usually do.
Jack and Tim are still asleep. They usually sleep better than I do on planes.
Jack complained a bit in the beginning about being in economy. I guess he misheard me earlier and thought we'd be in business. He was disappointed. It's probably our fault for not being more clear with him, and I think also there was a time where we talked about going business class. It seems we forgot to directly inform him that we changed our minds. Oops.
Anyway...
Now I'm trying to decide what I should do next. I doubt I'll be able to fall back asleep.
I can play Sims 3. That takes up too much battery power though.
I guess I'll read a book. Or maybe I'll watch a movie?
* * *
I'm back!
I didn't end up watching a movie. I read a little of my zombie book and then....I fell asleep again! I'm so happy for myself. I slept two more hours. So now I've had a total of 5 hours of sleep. For me, that's really good. I mean I do much better than that when I'm on a bed. But for being on a plane, that's really awesome.
It's now 3:20 am Australia time. We're landing in 5 hours.
I hope the time goes by fast.
Tim and Jack are awake now too. They're both in good moods, which is nice.
* * *
We're in Sydney!
It's great to be back.
It feels a little odd though. My cousins aren't here anymore, and neither are some of our friends. They've all moved back to America.
I don't know. It's not like we spent the majority of our Sydney time with them. It's just. Well...still... I feel like something's missing.
We just checked into our hotel, The Hyde Park Inn. We learned about this hotel in 2009 when our friends stayed here—not the friends who moved to America. These friends did move, though, but just from Tasmania to Melbourne.
I shouldn't say "just". Any move can be a huge deal.
Anyway, we got to our hotel around 11:00, and left our luggage in their storage. Then we walked to the David Jones Foodhall. The foodhall is like a fancy food court, and it's one of our favorite Sydney places.
The three of us had some lunch. Then we grabbed a fancy juice and some pastries and ate our dessert in Hyde Park.
Jack was delighted to see the Ibises, even though one once stole a piece of his sandwich. I forgot if that happened in 2007 or 2009. Oh well. This time they left our food alone.
We've unpacked. We're freshening up a bit. Then we're going to roam on over to the Opera House. We might also stop at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
We need to decide whether we're going to walk there or take the train. The past times we've been here we've bought a seven day pass. We're not going to be here seven days, so we have to pay for each ride individually.
The good thing is CityRail charges you less to travel on off peak times, and their definition of off peak is after 9:00 am. That's pretty cool.
I'm thinking we'll walk to the Opera House, get exhausted, and then take the train back. The good thing is the train station is RIGHT next to our hotel.
* * *
We're going to go to bed very soon. We're all VERY tired.
We saw the Opera House. We didn't see much of the RBG. We decided to do that another day...when we're more awake.
Despite us feeling sort of like zombies, it was a fairly nice walk. The weather's good at least. It's not hot. It's not cold. And it's not raining. I love that.
Speaking of rain, we've all finally taken our post flight-showers. I feel much less gross now.
Tim ended up getting hungry, so he picked up some food from Mother Chu's. It's a vegetarian place, and pretty close to our hotel. We all shared some fake meat stuff.
We don't have internet yet, so I'm not going to post this until we get internet. We could use the hotel's internet, but there's a daily surcharge. Yeah. I'm being cheap.
Tomorrow Tim's going to set us up with some kind of mobile internet thing. He'll do that while Jack and I go to Wildlife Sydney and the Sydney Aquarium. Don't feel bad for Tim. He's not a big fan of those extractions.
* * *
It's morning. We've eaten the free breakfast that was left in our refrigerator. That was fun.
Now we're waiting, hanging out in the hotel room. It's a bit too early to head out to head to Darling Harbour.
Jack and I might hang out in Hyde Park for awhile.
Then I think we'll come back up for a private pee before heading out again.
* * *
We're back in the room. It's around 10 pm. We have internet now! Thanks, Tim!!!!
Here's what we did today.
Around 8:30, Jack and I walked to Wildlife Sydney in Darling Harbour. We got there a few minutes early. We just hung out a bit.
We enjoyed it...sort of. It was a bit crowded because of the school holidays. I prefer that place when there's less people.
After Wildlife Sydney, we walked next door to the Sydney Aquarium.
Our Combo pass got us into both of those; plus we used it later to go to Sydney Tower.
I did like the aquarium and the wildlife thing, but I'm kind of more eager to go to new animal parks. Well, they're not new really, but they're new to us.
I also kind of have bad memories, of that area in Darling Harbour, because I associate it with losing our camera in 2009!
Anyway....
When Jack and I were finished with Wildlife Sydney and the Sydney Aquarium, we met Tim at La Bora Pizzeria. He did some internet restaurant research while we were looking at sharks.
We shared a pizza and some garlic bread.
Then with our bad breath we did Sydney Tower. We saw the city from very high up. I've personally never been that excited about bird's eye views. I'm not sure why.
The 4D movie was kind of fun. We saw it before, but that was back in 2007. It's been awhile.
After all that we went back to our room to rest. Jack played his Minecraft on the computer. I read a zombie book. Tim entertained us with his snoring.
Then we went to eat dumplings at Din Tai Fung. The food was pretty good, but it was a bit too crowded and hectic for my taste.
In case you haven't noticed. Yeah. I'm not a big fan of crowds.
We got back to the room around 7:30 and have been hanging out since then. I felt kind of weird about that. We're in Australia! We need to be out and about, savoring every little moment. But then I remind myself we're going to be here for close to six months. We need to make sure to relax and not go crazy.
Oh! Jack just reminded me to inform you, that for dessert at Din Tai Fung, we got something called Mango Fantasy. It was very important to him.
NOTE: This trip journal is fictional. We are not really in Australia. Some stuff in these posts are based on research. Some stuff is based on my reality. Some stuff is based on past experiences. And some stuff is based on fantasy.
The non-trip journal posts ARE true and real…except for my dreams (which are written in purple).
It seems you can fit a lot more into a pretend holiday day than in real life. I would need more rest time.
ReplyDeleteAndrew,
ReplyDeleteI'm younger than you, so I have much more energy ; )
No..well, seriously. We usually do go nuts with activity when we're visiting a big city. I don't think my fake trip is that much different from our real trips.
We ARE very lazy when we go to the smaller quiet towns. Then we tend to cancel all the touristy stuff, we had planned. We just hang around doing pretty much nothing.
This is a cool concept. I really don't write much fiction (a couple of weird short bits here and there) and it never occurred to me that my previous trips could be the "research" for an original story. Looking forward to the rest and how it compares to the real trip.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Your trips would be great research for a story. Your posts would also be good for other fiction writers. They're so detailed. Although I guess a lot of the details are about your family. But still. There's enough information about the to be helpful to fiction writers who've never been to a place. When I read your posts, I totally feel like I'm there. Although when I read the first Peru post, I felt like I was on Staten Island. I'm not sure why.
DeleteAnyway....what got difficult in this project is when I started writing about places we've never been. I had to rely on other websites for information. I doubt I found anything as helpful as your blog would be.
I never finished the project, btw. For various reasons.
Back to your trip posts. I think the best parts ARE the details about your family. Since you're so great at writing about your family, I'm guessing you'd also be great at writing about fictional people.
That's hilarious. Peru does have an old New York vibe to it. I've said the only way I could meet a woman from a neighborhood that reminds me of how my mother described the Bronx growing up was to go to another continent. I'm not sure how I'd feel making up actions for people I know, but using it as a base for fiction might work. I really should write some stories for all the super heroes I've created over my life.
DeleteThanx again for the compliments!