Alive & Kicking
Well, I made it. Sydney and back in two weeks. In the past when I’ve travelled to Australia I’ve gone for at least 4 weeks to allow for recovery from the long flight. This time, however, I was squeezing the trip between weedings in the garden and couldn’t afford to take longer than two weeks
The trip was very long. From Dublin you can fly to Australia in just two hops. From Lithuania you need three. Also, in Dublin we lived quite near the airport so getting that far was never much of a consideration. On this occasion I flew out of Warsaw, a mere 7 hour drive from where we live. While the difference in price flying out of Warsaw rather than Vilnius more than justified the price of fuel and the effort of driving, the drive was almost like a forth flight, albeit with a lot more legroom.
The journey was pretty uneventful. I did have a luggage disaster less than 5 minutes out of the car when the zip broke on my carry-on case coming through security. It was also at this moment that I discovered my brand new phone would not make calls outside of Lithuania, so I couldn’t call Arūnas for advice and consolation. I was left carrying my unzipped 10 kg (22 lb) case around the airport in my arms while trying to figure out a solution. To compound matters I had been told that I couldn’t take my bag onto the first plane as the overhead bins weren’t big enough so it would have to be put into the hold at the plane. I considered buying a new case but the airport shops only sold premium brands which I couldn’t quite justify. Buying a new bag would also mean disposing of the original. Since I had borrowed the bag from a friend I wanted to be able to return it. In the end I zipped all my items into the internal lining and bought a strong strap to hold it closed for the trip.
Other than that the flights were fine. On four out of the six flights I had empty seats beside me so I had lots of room to manoeuvre. I didn’t get stuck with any annoying neighbours, although on one flight the guy behind me had a cold and sniffed every 3 seconds. Thankfully I didn’t notice this until the last three hours of the flight after I’d awoken from a good sleep, so I managed to block it out.
I had a wonderful trip which I will tell you about in future posts. (I had hoped to write a few posts while I was away but I just didn’t get time.) Arūnas did a great job of maintaining the garden while I was away but the heat wave that hit caused a sudden surge in growth and the greenhouse currently looks like a jungle and needs immediate attention. In the meantime I’ll leave you with a few photos from Taronga Zoo which has a stunning view over Sydney harbour.
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Okay, I need a horse feeder like that one the giraffes have. Way cool. Only how do you get the feed in there? Talk about a looong ladder, lol. Sounds like you had an eventful start to your trip. Most of our trips start that way. But then you get the kinks out and everything else runs smoothly. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story once you attack your garden with a machete, lol.
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I never considered how they got the feed into those buckets – maybe they’re on a winch?! The rest of the trip was fab and I have a great horse ranch story that you’re going to love! (I think I need a horse. They calm me. Wonder if Arunas would agree to get one…)
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Well, before you have that conversation with Arunas I recommend you feed him a LOT of wine. Or maybe something with Tequila in it, lol. Seriously, I can’t wait to hear your story. And see the pictures. I hope you got lots of pictures 🙂
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That’s my home. Glad you enjoyed it. I need to start figuring out the easiest ways back there. I never thought about going through Warsaw. Awesome.
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Look forward to hearing all about your adventures! 🙂
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WOW, what a wonderful trip, minus the luggage and phone problems.
I am so glad you had a good time. I enjoyed the pics. Would love to see more.
Have a wonderful weekend. Welcome back.
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Thanks Sarah. I’ll definitely have more photos to share over the coming weeks.
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Welcome back! That’s a quick turnaround. I’ll be doing it myself in October for a conference in Brisbane. Taking an extra week to relax but it will also be a 17 day turnaround. I hope they have good movies on the flight. I may have to check out that zoo in Sydney! Ciao, Cristina
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Taking an extra week is definitely a good idea, especially if you haven’t been before and want to do some site-seeing. I definitely recommend the zoo. It’s a bit expensive but it’s huge and really well run. There are lots of shows and there’s a cable car over the zoo that offers amazing views of the harbour and city. Worth the money, I recokon.
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The bridge with giraffes is a very cool take on that icon of Sydney.
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Thank you! I was very happy they obligingly stood on each side for me!
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Sounds like you had a fun trip… minus the problems with the bag! Love the pictures! 🙂
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Thanks Shelly. What a backdrop for a zoo, eh?! Makes taking photos a dream!
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That’s a helluva trip … glad you made it safely there and back even if the bag didn’t!
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