Sydney is the NYC on the Other Side of the World

Our third and final stop on this absolutely amazing trip was Sydney. When I think of Sydney, I think of the Sydney Opera House. To be honest, I didn’t really know much else about it. Someone had mentioned that it was more of a hustle and bustle city than Melbourne and much more fast paced so that was my kind of energy and I was excited to see what this city had to offer. Plus we had some really cool stuff planned as well. We were definitely going to make the best out of last destination. 

Day 13 Sydney: Our flight out to Sydney this morning wasn’t until noon so we had a 9:15 pick-up from the hotel to the airport. Since I am incapable of sleeping in, I got up around 6:30 and after laying in bed for a bit, I decided that I needed to get down to the beach. I had to try again after getting “lost” last time. I got dressed and went to the front desk to get directions again and when the guy gave me directions, he told me to turn left at the end of the street. Last time, I went right which is why I had issues finding it. I asked him if I had to trek through the jungle to reach it and he said definitely not so I was relieved. I got there easily this time and was blown away by how pretty the beach was. I had read about Four Mile Beach in my research for this trip and now I was on it. It was gorgeous. So many people running and walking and a beautiful sunrise. 

The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen

 Okay, location two in Australia is ON. We lost a night and a morning here in Port Douglas due to our cancellation from Melbourne, but made due anyway. This isn’t a big city with a ton to do on our own, so it wasn’t a huge deal losing that time, but the whole travel experience of coming here SUCCCKKKEEEDDD. More on that right here… 

Day 10 Port Douglas: This morning started as a travel day with a very early flight from Melbourne to Cairns. We were flying the same airline we took to get to Australia (Jetstar) so wanted to get there with plenty of time in case any issues arose. Since our original flight had already been canceled, we definitely didn’t want to miss this one. Check-in and security were pretty seamless, but the baggage drop-off had some issues and the belt kept breaking down. The woman working there was trying to help me and kept walking away to fix it, then would come back to help us. This must’ve happened five times. J had her baggage go through and the belt kept stopping with mine because people were sticking their hands in it a couple belts away. After happening multiple times, she finally manually entered my info and then got the bag to go through. Success…or so I thought…

From Canceled Flights to Football Games

We are now in a new country and ready for a new adventure. From Indonesia to Australia, it's our second and our last country of this trip with three stops down under. We have a lot planned in all three places and are excited to explore new cities and see even more gorgeous scenery along the way. So without further ado...

(Day 6: Travel Day)The flight from Bali to Melbourne was uh, interesting. It was bizarre for a lot of reasons and I don’t know what the reasoning is for a lot of the things that happened, but they were weird. After having to redistribute the stuff in my suitcase to my carry-ons (again), J and I got through security pretty quickly. As I said in my previous post, we had a lot of time to kill so we found a seat in their dining area and did some research on more things to do in Melbourne and sat around. We then decided we would go and find the gate which was easy enough, but after sitting there for like a half hour, security asked everyone to exit the area, only to invite everyone in after checking their bags again. Not only did all our belongings go through security when entering the airport, we also went through the usual security, so this third step seemed quite unnecessary. Not to mention they wouldn’t allow any liquids (including the water bottles we just bought) back into the gate waiting area. They had to be emptied, yet there was no water option in the gate area. I have zero clue why they wouldn’t allow it and I will get to why it was ruder and more weird in a minute. 

I Forgot About the Snakes

The second half of our Bali portion of this trip was to Nusa Dua, located on the east coast. The weather is very different from the jungle of Ubud. The location we are staying in is actually hosting the G 20 Summit in November, so it is the nicest part of the area and has a lot of security which always makes us feel safe. It was dark when we arrived so it was hard to get a full lay of the land, but it looked super nice. 

Day 4 Nusa Dua: J and I got to our new hotel last night (day 3) and holy shit, we were absolutely blown away by this place. We had looked it up online before coming so had an idea of what we were in for, but wow, this blew us away. When we walked into our villa, we immediately saw our very own private pool. Again, we knew we’d have this, but damn, it was gorge. There was a giant open air seating area with fan and TV and little kitchen set-up as well. On either side of the villa were our own rooms. J and I each had our own suites in this villa and each one had a giant sleeping area, walk-

in closet, giant tub, and separate shower area. My shower was exceptionally cool because it was
indoor/outdoor. One side was into my suite and the other side was directly outside, no wall. There also was a completely outdoor shower around the corner as well. It was sick, plain and simple. 

Elephants yes, Monkeys no

It has certainly been a while since I wrote, but a new, big summer trip seemed like the perfect excuse to write again. Mostly for me to have solid memories of this trip and know what I was feeling at the time. I didn’t do it when I went to Paris and London over spring break, but decided I would bring it back for this summer trip so I could have the memories written down forever. And for my friends and family to read about the adventures had this go around. 

This summer is #RayRaysBalistralianvacay and is taking us to Bali (Ubud and Nusa Dua) and Australia (Melbourne, Port Douglas, and Sydney).  It was a trip over two years postponed due to COVID, but finally came to fruition. I am currently here with my friend J, the same one who I have now gone to Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Italy, (unplanned Germany), Sweden, Denmark Budapest, and Italy with. We started talking about and planning for this trip in December of 2019,
booked and put down our (huge) deposit for it in January of 2020, and then we all know what happened in March of 2020, that is still ongoing, albeit, luckily not as bad. 

The pandemic put all travel to a halt and although J and I were highly disappointed with having to wait two whole summers while the world started opening up again, we were finally able to make this happen. With our vaccinations done and borders open, it was go time. So without further ado, let’s start this trip…