Travelling to Australia
Sep. 16th, 2010 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dormouse1953I got back last week from a trip to Australia to attend the World Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne. This was my third trip to Australia (the previous two also to attend Worldcons in Melbourne), but it occurred to me that although I've changed planes in Sydney a couple of times, I'd never visited the place as a tourist, so I decided to fly straight to Sydney, spend a few days there, and then take the train down to Melbourne for the con.
I flew Virgin Atlantic, which involves a stopover in Hong Kong. Didn't get to see much of that place except the airport, although the view did look spectacular.
This flight landed me in Sydney airport in the early hours of Friday, 27th August. I'd already decided the easiest way to get to the hotel I'd booked would be the train from the airport to the Central Station. A double-decker train. Seen those in the US and Europe, and I have vague memories of them trying them out on commuter lines in southern England in the fifties. (I would have been about four at the time; the train line went right past my aunt and uncle's flat in Blackheath.) The problem is that if you have luggage, as is likely coming or going to the airport, it's not easy to carry bags on the stairs, either up to the top deck or down to the lower deck. There are a few seats on the platform level, but these were all full, so stand all the way it was. After about 24 hours sitting in a cramped aircraft seat, that wasn't too bad an option.
The train journey was only about fifteen minutes. It was not yet eight o'clock in the morning when I reached the station. I then had a short walk to my hotel.
Nobody told me Sydney was hilly! I suppose the fact that the address of my hotel included the name "Surry Hills" might have tipped me off. I'm only glad that this year I've started using a wheeled suitcase so wheeling it up the hill was not too bad.
The hotel didn't have a room ready for me that early in the morning, but at least I could dump the case in their luggage store. The store was down in the hotel car park, and I was given the key and directions on how to get there. Must say it didn't look that secure. I'm sure the thin wooden door could easily be forced even without the key. I hope there was at least a CCTV camera trained on the door.
And then it was off to start exploring Sydney. The trouble was, it was now about midnight my time, after a previous night of trying to sleep in an aeroplane seat. I was wandering around half asleep. I seem mainly to have wandered around the shopping areas and did end up at a Gloria Jeane's coffee shop, a franchise that seems to be all over Australia. I remember discussions with Americans a while back about how in the UK we tend to use a knife and fork in situations when in the US they'd use their hands - eating pizza, for instance - but in Gloria Jeane's, they go the other way and I got a knife and fork to eat a danish pastry.
Finally, just after midday I staggered back to the hotel, although official check-in time wasn't until 14:30. They took pity on me and found me a room. I slept the whole afternoon.
I flew Virgin Atlantic, which involves a stopover in Hong Kong. Didn't get to see much of that place except the airport, although the view did look spectacular.
This flight landed me in Sydney airport in the early hours of Friday, 27th August. I'd already decided the easiest way to get to the hotel I'd booked would be the train from the airport to the Central Station. A double-decker train. Seen those in the US and Europe, and I have vague memories of them trying them out on commuter lines in southern England in the fifties. (I would have been about four at the time; the train line went right past my aunt and uncle's flat in Blackheath.) The problem is that if you have luggage, as is likely coming or going to the airport, it's not easy to carry bags on the stairs, either up to the top deck or down to the lower deck. There are a few seats on the platform level, but these were all full, so stand all the way it was. After about 24 hours sitting in a cramped aircraft seat, that wasn't too bad an option.
The train journey was only about fifteen minutes. It was not yet eight o'clock in the morning when I reached the station. I then had a short walk to my hotel.
Nobody told me Sydney was hilly! I suppose the fact that the address of my hotel included the name "Surry Hills" might have tipped me off. I'm only glad that this year I've started using a wheeled suitcase so wheeling it up the hill was not too bad.
The hotel didn't have a room ready for me that early in the morning, but at least I could dump the case in their luggage store. The store was down in the hotel car park, and I was given the key and directions on how to get there. Must say it didn't look that secure. I'm sure the thin wooden door could easily be forced even without the key. I hope there was at least a CCTV camera trained on the door.
And then it was off to start exploring Sydney. The trouble was, it was now about midnight my time, after a previous night of trying to sleep in an aeroplane seat. I was wandering around half asleep. I seem mainly to have wandered around the shopping areas and did end up at a Gloria Jeane's coffee shop, a franchise that seems to be all over Australia. I remember discussions with Americans a while back about how in the UK we tend to use a knife and fork in situations when in the US they'd use their hands - eating pizza, for instance - but in Gloria Jeane's, they go the other way and I got a knife and fork to eat a danish pastry.
Finally, just after midday I staggered back to the hotel, although official check-in time wasn't until 14:30. They took pity on me and found me a room. I slept the whole afternoon.
