First Trip to Sydney

I went to Sydney for the week. Boy is air travel different in Australia. The first difference is there is absolutely no security! Not once did anyone check an ID or even care if I was who my ticket said I was. People are still allowed to the gates to greet people arriving or to send them off. It took all of 5 minutes to get from the cab, to the ticket counter, through security and to my gate. The other major difference is the people at Quantas (the major Australian airline) do not care that I flew almost 100,000 miles on United this year. They wouldn't let me on an earlier flight and no upgrades for Melissa :(

Starwood does care though! This is the picture lying on the bed in my hotel room! SERIOUSLY. I was in a beautiful corner suite with floor to ceiling windows. Sydney is beautiful. It is much more modern than Melbourne and more similar to a US city. Haven't seen much yet. On the look out for the Opera House though!

We found a house!

We found a house and they accepted our application - which is a pretty tough feat when you are an American on a work Visa.

It is on a very little road right two blocks from the beach and right off the main street in Albert Park. It is a short tram ride to the CBD (Central Business District) where Sean's office is.

It is nice size for here and has alot of light. We splurged for some place a little bigger since so many of you promised you would be visiting ;)
My office will be the second bedroom and has a nice view of the city skyline. I think if you look really hard you can see the beach from our bedroom.

Sean went into the office this week. He seems to like the people he is working with. They are pretty much the same as the people in DC :)

I am going to Sydney next week to work at the CEB office. There are just two of us, but it will be fun to talk to someone else. Given we haven't gotten out much, we have yet to make some friends. Perfect timing for my travel - Sean will take care of the move while I am gone. Coincidence?

Still haven't seen any kangaroos

December 9, 2007

Maybe because this is what I did on my first weekend living in another country. This is me sleeping through the Accenture Christmas party - oops! It's Q4, what can you expect?

Yes - we are still in the hotel.

Figuring out where to live

December 4, 2007

First full day - I am still working US hours so got up at 4. Since it's summer here (I know, it's snowing at home), the sun comes up at 5:30 so it's not too bad. The partying and yelling in the streets doesn't stop until around 4:30 though so I am getting up when most of the city seems to be going to bed. After work (mid afternoon), we took the tram to the "bay side" to check out some of the beach neighborhoods we are considering living.

Everyone is pretty laid back here. The public transportation is nice and convenient, but it's not getting you anywhere fast. We have been taking trams which are similar to the cable cars in SF. And the internet makes the trams look speedy, the "high speed" is slower than US dial up. AHHH!

Arriving in Australia

December 3, 2007

After 26 hours of travel we finally arrived in Australia - it was raining! All the National Geographic specials Sean made me watch made it seem like this was the driest place on Earth. The flight - for those of you who have said you are going to visit, it's not that bad. We flew from DC to LA to Sydney to Melbourne...and I slept almost the whole way! The craziest thing is we left on December 1 and arrived on December 3. It's about an hour cab ride to the city. We were those people in the airport that have so many bags you ask yourself why they didn't just ship it.

We are staying right in the city in temporary housing. This is the view from our balcony. And to everyone who's dying to know...the toilets just flush down! The water doesn't go in any direction. As mom said, alot of people are going to be disappointed.