Voyage

*In an attempt to make up for not having decent internet/free time for our first weeks here, we will be posting some catch up posts on our trip to Oz, time at the Zoo, apartment hunting, and generally exploring Melbourne!*

They kept sneaking in somehow!

After an intense week.... of fighting with my families' smug cats intent on foiling my plan of washing my clothes without adding cat dander (Matt is allergic), convincing Verizon to cancel my plan without penalty, exchanging old and getting new contacts from 1-800-Contacts...Not to mention weeding through my closet due to limited packing space via advice from my aunt (plus I may have girlishly read Tim Gunn's A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style) and with help from my sister while cramming things into space saver bags...all while finishing up remotely training my work replacement....I had finished packing and was ready to go to Australia.

Since I was flying out of Richmond International Airport, my brother oh so kindly drove me to Richmond, VA the night before my flight. I didn't want to risk any car break downs, massive traffic, or freak weather impeding a trip from Charlottesville to Richmond on the day of lift off!

My wonderful friend Brittny let me crash at her place. My last evening entailed Pad Thai, extreme home makeover, and us calling Brittny's boyfriend Ricky on speaker like we were teenagers at a sleepover party. On our drive to the airport the next morning we stopped at a Walgreens for me to pick up some very necessary ear plugs for the 4058 hours of flight time ahead of me. The kind lady who checked me out encouraged me to get a Walgreens card. "I'm sorry," I replied, "but I'm moving."
"Where?" she asked.
"Australia!"
"When?"
 "Right now!" It was one of the more fun moments of informing people I was moving to the other side of the globe.

My first flight leg, Richmond to Atlanta, I took alone. The plan was to meet up with Matt in Atlanta. This caused a problem seeing as I was one person with one giant suitcase, one medium sized suitcase, one carry on, and a backpack to carry. Thankfully a concierge of sorts helped me to the delta counter.  I counted the Delta attendant letting me check in two bags at 52 lbs each (after maneuvering of shoes) for free when there is a 50 lb limit (before costing additionally $$) a win, and a great omen for the rest of the trip.

Dear Space Bags, thanks for letting me fit in so much  stuff into my my suitcases,
without putting me over weight....

Once Matt and I found each other in Atlanta airport (being cellphoneless felt like we had undergone time travel) we found our way to Delta Lounge. I must say, I've been missing out. The free alcohol and snacks, chairs, available sockets, and quiet filled venue was quite nice. As Jezebel puts it, lounges are an "Island of Happy in a Sea of Sad". Matt played on his laptop with the server he had set up, and I promptly spilled beer on myself. When I asked for a napkin, the bartender not only helped but remembered what drinks we had ordered, I began our flights feeling very pampered.

We left the lounge with adequate time to make our flight. But, our flight was delayed. Bemoaning the additional drinks we could have squeezed out of the Delta Lounge if we were still there, we sat and waited as the flight was pushed back and back. Any stress this caused was alleviated when Matt got on the plane and saw what his business elite upgrade earned him. Business elite on a plane (Boeing 777) where elite meant being able to lie all the way down in your own futuristic lounge area. I watched, grinning, from Economy plus (just two rows behind Matt) while he was served Scotch straightaway, and played with the million buttons that adjusted his seat position. For all the ridiculous traveling he had to do for work, I was happy to see his Platinum status make up for it. At one point during the flight I got an attendant to pass Matt a note (apparently the middle school mindset from my sleepover hadn't left me). She found the whole thing rather cute and returned with a Reese's peanut butter cup, one of my favorite candies as a response from Matt. I enjoyed switching between my Kindle and the free TV available. Traveling isn't so bad, right?

After making it LA, we went straight away to another Delta Lounge.  There I realized I couldn't port my phone to Google because I didn't know my mom's Social Security number, and there would be no way to do so once we arrived in Australia. It was around three in the morning back home, so I couldn't ask her. Alas, my coolest palindrome filled number ever, 434-989-4224, is gone.

How could I be glum, however, when our next stop was Sydney! For this flight, Matt joined me in economy plus. The Delta agent who booked our flights over the phone put me in the exact same seat, in the exact same type of aircraft, for this flight as I had been on the last one. At first I thought, "What fun is this! My seat will feel like home." False. As you can imagine, flying for that many hours makes one a bit stir crazy. Flying for that many hours in the same row makes one well, like they are going insane. Matt and I traded the window back and forth, but either way we were trapped by the Canadian fellow Matt mentioned on the last seat in our row. I'm sure his recounting of the flight involves making fun of Americans and their bladder size.

During this portion of the trip our minds started to melt a little. From this moment on we started to speak  Australian Australian-British English-sounding like a tool. Matt didn't want his breakfast so he told the lady "Excuse me ma'am, I don't need this, can it be used for another patron? Else, it is rubbish". I started using the word lovely a lot. And, love. As in, instead of calling Matt his name, I called him "Hey, Luv?" When we got to Sydney I asked an airline desk about our tickets and felt the need to reply wide eyed to her answer with "Magical!" Seriously, we were going insane.

Landing over Sydney was both beautiful and overwhelming. The cliff drops to the water were picturesque. The city itself was huge. I was glad to be moving onto Melbourne for the time being, but intrigued and excited to eventually visit Sydney.

Australian Customs Form

For customs, I had to check a rather daunting box informing the Australian government that I was bringing drugs into the country. When they asked, I told them it was medicine stuff for my occasional migraines, and an inhaler for occasional asthma. Doctor signed prescriptions ready, they waved me through without taking a look. The microchip in Matt's passport wasn't working but they let him through after suggesting he replace it eventually, at some point, if he wanted. To go through the metal detector on our way back into the airport for our flight to Melbourne we didn't have to take our shoes off. This was clearly not America. The one thing I had to take part in was their adorable troop of customs sniffing beagles. Since Matt and I had gone hiking and swimming in freshwater areas lately, we checked that box as well. Illicit dirt free, the beagles let me through.

We had to take a bus from the international flights terminal to the local flights terminal. During the ride, an Australian girl in college Uni just back from partying it up in Europe gave us some helpful tips on the area and served as a friendly welcome to the country. The bus rider had the radio on and we heard the opening line "Dumb American tries to..." Matt and I both looked at each other and laughed. "Oh no, I guess we can see how we are painted here already!" Matt continued talking to the girl while I tried not to  freak out about what seemed like constant near car crashes as we drove on the "wrong" side of the road.

Not anticipating an incredibly efficient customs process, or the ease with which we got back into the airport for our local flight, we had hours to kill at the Sydney airport before our final flight. Ours jaws dropped at food prices. In a daze we split Chinese sesame chicken and a doughnut, not really knowing what mealtime to consider it being. Our time zones were a jumble. Our minds were in EST our phones were stuck in PDT from Los Angeles but we our bodies were now living in Australian EST.....

Additionally, my right foot was swollen up like a pregnant woman about to pop out a baby. The stitching on my shoe seam, running up my ankle, had actually busted. So, I was delirious on time zone discombobulation, my right foot looked like a puffer fish, and I was speaking Australian Australian-British English-sounding like a tool.

We took Virgin to get from Sydney to Melbourne. Though not the cheapest of the airline options, we were able to pay a premium that let us bring all our luggage without paying by weight. We sat in their version of first class and right next to each other (the revelation of which was way I said "Magical!" to their agent). Food and drink was included. We then discovered that Australian Pepsi tastes waaaaayyy better than American Pepsi. And, we both hate Pepsi (Matt is from Atlanta after all). We could only imagine what their Coke tastes like.

En route, I began to see breathtaking views of snow capped mountains with little towns nestled between valleys. Snow turned turned to a dusty brown environment ending in lush and green at the mountains' bases. Rivers ran through and lakes were often. As we ventured closer to the city we saw the outline of the CBD. Beyond the city we could see Port Phillip Bay. While suburbs did stretch out from the city, they didn't have the overwhelming expanse of Sydney or New York. When we landed, after controlling our excitemnt, we both looked at each other with a "Wait just a minute now, expression." This is their airport? It was beautiful. We landed in a lush green field. Gum trees, which I had never seen before, dotted the landscape. The sky was a vibrant blue. We could see mountains in the distance. The airport seemed so local and small town, it was so lovely inside and out. We began to get excited about how stress free traveling around Australia would be. As we realized we were getting ahead of ourselves, we headed to baggage claim, and got ready to explore Melbourne.

All of our bags arrived safe and sound. We caught a huge van taxi, called a Maxi Taxi, to fit all of our stuff. It was time to take on Melbourne! Today's events not only entailed completing traveling half way across the world, but also inspecting not one, but two potential apartments. As we headed into the city, our excitement bubbling for what was to come, I could almost ignore the throbbing of my swollen foot-like appendage on the end of my leg.