A recap. Wanted to experiment with a cut-and-dry vacation log. Lack of proper paragraphs quickly becomes overwhelming.
Austin – Dallas: Left work early and flew with no issues. It was around 8PM when we arrived in Dallas, and we were missing Night 2 of the Democratic Debates. I was hungry, and decided to go buy a pretzel at Auntie Annie’s. The cashier asked, “Are you Korean?” “No,” I said, pleased. “Do I look Korean?” She nodded. I told her about our 17-hour flight ahead, and she said, “When I go home, I have to fly 21 hours.” I couldn’t believe it. “It’s too long,” she said. “When my father was sick, I couldn’t make it back in time before he died. 21 hours is too long.” Her face was pinched. I began saying something about keeping his memory alive. “I was never close with my mother. We always fought,” she said. “But with him… I haven’t been back since.” I said I was sorry. She said, “You know what? We’re almost closing now.” She got another pepperoni pretzel out of the case and handed it to me. I thanked her and we got on our flight.
Dallas – Sydney: Maybe it’s because I haven’t flown trans-Pacific flights in a while, but Qantas Airlines has some nice upgrades that I’ve never seen before. They gave us complimentary pouches with eye masks and tooth brushes. The meals were pretty decent, and there were plenty of snacks in between. The movie selection was vast, and I happily devoured A Star is Born before getting about six hours of shut-eye. Woke up and brushed my teeth, then watched a few episodes of The Good Place. Realized we still had 8+ hours of flying left, and tried to fall asleep again. This was basically the pattern for the rest of the flight, until our captain informed us that we’d be landing in Brisbane for reasons I’ve now forgotten. A few people on our aircraft cheered. I hated them. Then the captain said we wouldn’t be able to let anyone off, because it would take too long to find their luggage. We would all still be going to Sydney. Groans throughout the cabin. My mood lifted considerably. We arrived in Sydney after being on that plane for 19 hours. The airport was full of Chinese influences. I’m not kidding – there were massive mural-ads for the National Bank of China. I spotted a McDonald’s, though, which immediately made me feel better.
Arrival: We had arrived around 7 or 8 in the morning. After getting to our Holiday Inn (which I still think on fondly – thank you for your continental breakfasts), we rested until about noon. I showered away the airplane smell, and we went out to eat some Chinese. My mother booked our hotel right next to Sydney’s Chinatown. There were boba shops galore. Then we went to visit the Chinese Garden. I still can’t believe something so serene exists within the middle of Sydney. We went on a rock tour, and then we spent a lot of time taking pictures. I have more pictures from here than anywhere else in Australia. This was also the day I was wearing my most Asian outfit of: a black bucket hat, striped turtleneck, white canvas belt, high-waisted black jeans, and Nike AF1s. Sexy. Jeffrey and I became exhausted around five, and we had an early night.
Sydney: Dad came in the next day to little fanfare. Mom was more upset that he spent so much on his taxi over here, and that he bought us SIM cards which didn’t work. We walked around Darling Harbour, which I think on with immense fondness. Sometimes I don’t understand how I can live so far from the water. I suppose that Austin is filled with lakes and rivers, but I do get some kind of intense longing whenever I travel to places right on the ocean. It’s so hard to leave. I do think the water suits me. I often long to stretch my legs out on picnic blankets and sketch or read at the water’s edge. And running along water brings me so much peace. I feel as though I do not have to listen to anything but my breath and the sounds of my footfalls. We bought a two-day hop on/off pass for the ferries. For the first day, we went to Taronga Zoo. I haven’t been to the zoo with my family in a while, and it was wonderful to get excited over all the animals. I loved seeing the tigers the most. They were very active, and there were three little cubs to fawn over. The second day, we took the ferry to Watson’s Bay, Manly, and Circular Quay. There was a massive pelican who refused to move outside one of the shops on Watson’s Bay. It just stood its ground on the pavement. We took a small trail around the bay, and the ocean was everywhere. The ground was simple and green and open and I wondered how people could live here and not weep. I found a dead fish washed up on the beach. It was very heavy and initially scared me, but I held it up and examined it. I wanted to take it back with me, but Mom and Dad refused. Manly was very touristy, and we barely had any time there. The beach was cold, and the streets were lined with souvenir shops. We passed groups of teenagers in school uniforms – they had loosened ties and upturned collars and too-short skirts. I felt very old at 20 years. At some point I found out that we would not be visiting The Great Barrier Reefs, which was in Cairns. I thought this distance would be traversable for some reason. It’s not, and we decided against booking another flight. None of us have our scuba-diving certification anyways, and Mom doesn’t know how to swim. I was upset, but compensated for it by speaking in an Australian accent for most of our time in Sydney. My favorite day was when Mom had to go to her conference. Dad, Jeffrey, and I went out walking. We went to the war museums, and St. Mary’s Cathedral, and the history museums, and the national library, and the art galleries, and the Royal Botanical Garden, and then we came up to the Opera House. I was freezing by the time night hit, and Jeffrey and I loudly sang Hamilton the whole walk home. On our last day, we took the train to Katoomba to see the Blue Mountains. We barely had any time there. The town was small and steep and lovely, and I felt sorry that we had to leave it. I loved Sydney so much. It was my favorite destination on our vacation. I loved Darling Harbour and Chinatown and Circular Quay and all of the stops on the ferries. I loved walking through the city – it felt like a futuristic NYC. You got the same thrill and boundless feeling of possibility, but it seemed much less “shoved-down-your-throat-commercialism”. There were also a lot of Asian influences. I did get the impression that, like our taxi driver told us, “you have to be rich to enjoy Sydney”.
Melbourne: Much colder than Sydney. I felt sorry for myself for most of this leg, since I had mostly packed T-shirts. I got a lot of wear out of my large overcoat. I feel I am biased against Melbourne because we visited in the winter, so I never ran. I just couldn’t stand the weather in a tank top. The hotel was very nice. Jeffrey, Dad, and Mom shared the king bed, and I slept on the pull-out couch. The bathroom felt dated in the best kind of antique way. I wanted to go to The Store of Requirement, but it was closed. We went on two day tours – one on the Great Ocean Road, and one to see the penguins at Phillip Island. The second was by far my favorite. They both involved a lot of driving in bread-loaf vans, and I was very intrigued by all the other groups with us. For the first tour, we made a few stops, but I think the real point was for us to gaze along the road as we spent hours driving on it. We saw the Twelve Apostles limestone stacks, though I only stopped about four. The second tour was wonderful. We stopped at a wildlife sanctuary which felt homey and smaller. Jeffrey and I fed multiple wallabies, and I was so happy to scratch their tiny heads. The kangaroos paid us no mind, which was fine by me, since I disliked them. We saw many animals native to Australia, and even got to see the koalas awake and eating! We also went to tour a farm, and got to see whipping, sheep shearing, and sheep-dog herding demonstrations. We ended the day by going to Phillip Island to see the penguins. It had started to rain, and it was very cold. We huddled down at the beach and waited. Soon, dark shapes began emerging from the water. I couldn’t believe how tiny the penguins were. Jeffrey and I ran up higher to try and get a better view, and Jeffrey ended up pushing his wet umbrella into someone’s face. “Watch that fucking thing,” the guy said. “How about you watch your language?” I responded. “He’s just a kid.” The guy looked at me, and said, “What?” I repeated myself. He snorted, and turned away. Later, Jeffrey tugged on my sleeve and said, “You’re so cool.” I felt really good about myself then. I’m not confrontational, but I was glad I said something, even though I kept coming up with “cooler” things I could have said. The penguins climbed the hills very quickly to return to their chicks. We could see many of them making their way up, and I wanted to touch them. The final day, we took a free walking tour of the city and learned about its rivalry with Sydney. We really only spent one day getting to know the city itself, but I didn’t think it was too special.
Brisbane: Brisbane immediately won over my favor because it was the warmest place yet. I could finally forgo my jackets. Because it was so warm, I could go running, while also endeared me to it. Brisbane is very hilly, and I struggled a lot with the elevation. On my first run, I got very lost, put I ended up clocking in my furthest distance yet. We went on a free ferry ride around the city, where Jeffrey and I listened through the Into the Woods soundtrack, and some of Hamilton. Jeffrey and I got into a massive fight because he spit out some water while we were eating, and he wouldn’t tell me why. I loved this period, because I love being annoying. Oftentimes, it’s my favorite thing to be unbearable and push people until they genuinely dislike me. He eventually did cave, and tell me it was because he was thinking of a video he saw where someone found a wasp in their ear. Disgusting. We booked a trip to the St. Helena island prison, simply because I really wanted to go. It was really pricey, and I felt bad that I wasn’t more engaged. Most of the people on the tour lived nearby. The island itself was beautiful. Lots of wallabies. Our guides were great at re-enacting the daily lives of prisoners and guards. I thought more of the actual prison would be there, but much of it was in ruins.
Gold Coast: This hotel was like a small apartment – it was really great. We had a kitchen, and a massive tub with wooden blinds that could open up to the living room. Jeffrey and I spent a few hours on the beach, but we left because it got pretty chilly and I was very self-conscious about my body. I wasn’t sure when my stomach had gotten so big. I knew I had gained weight over the past few months, but I thought I’d be losing some in Australia by walking so much each day. (Spoiler alert: I didn’t, and I hit 140 by the time we got back.) I loved running in the Gold Coast. I ran to a small island with huge houses. I was very happy about this. Life seemed worry-free. The best part: I finally got to try Nando’s! My Directioner heart has been dreaming about this moment since I was thirteen. My mom put up a huge fight, and eventually her and Jeffrey ate at Subway instead. Nando’s was much better than I imagined. I admit that I approached it with some trepidation, but it proved to be a wonderful chicken experience. Niall’s taste is impeccable.
Sydney (Again): We were supposed to land in Sydney around 3PM, and have a final night to explore before our flight left early the next morning. Instead, our flight was so delayed that we got back to our hotel around 9PM. Apparently Sydney was having strong winds and only one runway open. That’s what we get for not flying with Qantas. Mom booked a budget hotel, and I finally understood what that meant. We’d been spoiled over the past two weeks. This hotel was smaller than the college dorm rooms, and we had to fit four people in it. The bathroom was the size of a pantry. The water flipped between hot and cold. But on that bed, I got the best night’s sleep of the entire trip.
Return Flights: Our flight to the US was much shorter than our flight to Australia – it was a bit over twelve hours. I was very excited. Food was great, again. Qantas’s desserts and pastries are really something. I watched a bit of The Grand Budapest Hotel, but my headphones were quite bad and there weren’t subtitles. I fell asleep halfway through, but was awake for much more of this flight than the one coming to Australia. Our time at LAX was brutal. We had trouble getting through immigration (the machines were not cooperating), and we were all exhausted. Our terminal was the furthest one, and my broken luggage wheel made it feel like I was dragging fifty pounds behind me. Our flight to Austin was also delayed by about five hours, which frustrated everyone. There was a woman at the gate whose children kept screaming. I later realized that she was taking three children – one three-month old in a baby carrier and two toddlers. The oldest was two years old. The kids kept falling and crying as they ran around, and I felt amazed at how she was traveling without another adult. We sat next to them for the whole plane ride. I was so tired that I knocked out the entire time, but they were still crying when I woke up. The flight was painless, and we landed in Austin. I felt the 95-degree heat outside and began sweating within one minute of walking. It felt so good to finally be home. I had work the next day, so I took a sleeping pill and woke up still exhausted after ten hours.