After a weekend running around, it was time for Larry to head over to Sydney for his official orientation. This meant that I would be alone for 2 nights and almost 3 days: mixed blessing. I'm used to Larry's traveling regularly since his line of work normally requires him to fly out on Monday and fly home on Thursday night. So far in our relationship, this has worked out quite well, but I was not too excited to be left alone after only being here for one week! The only thing I was really looking forward to was sleeping in the middle of bed.
First thing was first. I’ve been eating very well since arriving here, so I found a bikram yoga studio. Ten days of unlimited hot yoga torture, only $20. This is not a bad deal since the drop in rate for one class is $18. This kept me active Monday and Tuesday. No friends yet, though since you are asked not to talk in the studio (bikram folks are hard core). At least I was able to get my sweat on.
Tuesday, I spent the morning on line looking for a job. I e-mailed a resume on one position and got a call within 20 minutes. Apparently the job market is a bit more robust here than back in Florida.
Being in a jolly mood, I spent the afternoon checking out the shops in Subiaco, our soon to be new neighborhood. I found lots of things to help feather our new nest: stools, blankets, sheets, coffee pot and wine glasses as the ones we brought didn’t make it through the trip (total tragedy!). I even found a store that stocks Dr. Bronner's liquid soap! When I found it, I almost cried. When so many every day items look different, sometimes it is really comforting to see something that looks familiar. I haven’t shopped for laundry soap yet, but I’m willing to bet they don’t have Tide Total Care. At least I have the Dr. Bronner’s option.
Leederville is a great little neighborhood that has a particularly lively Tuesday night life. After checking in with hubby, I headed out to Kitsch. Tuesday nights they have pad thai and Chang beer for $18.80! That is a pretty great deal considering the beers alone are $7.50. I’m not so much of a beer person, but the Thai beer blended well with the pad thai containing pork, tofu and squid! It was really good, but seriously portion controlled. I could have eaten two. So after dinner, I went over to Dome and got a chocolate chip cookie! This is exactly why I am in need of the hot yoga.
This morning I woke up feeling a bit more adventurous, so I ventured our for a jog. I made it all the way past the Subiaco Oval in 30 minutes which was great for my park walk/part jog. It was cold, but worth it to know I could make it that far that quickly. The Subiaco Oval is really neat looking, too. From the shops out front it appears to be home to both the Perth Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, both AFL teams. Larry and I both have Footy fever! We love watching the games on tv. The physical stamina these guys have is amazing! They take hits without pads that would seriously injure players in other sports where they wear padding. Check it out on ESPN 2 if you have the chance. The premiership is coming up so I’m not sure we’ll have a chance to see a game this season, but definitely next year when we will be within blocks of the stadium. In fact, I believe that the parking signs on our new street indicate no parking on the days when there are Footy games!
After my interview I headed out to Oxford Street. I grabbed a chai and sat in the sun in the park for a bit. I discovered a lovely fish market with lots of new things to try. One item that I have never seen in the states are scallops actually still in the shell! I wonder if you can cook them like mussels or if you need to extract them from the shell first. Sounds like another Google search! I also discovered an Indian grocer that has both take out, dine in and byo, a concept that I love - bring your own wine and the restaurant charges a small corkage fee which is much less on the mark up they normally put on a bottle so it works out well.
I’m now back at home safe and getting ready to fix some dinner. Larry will be home shortly. Tomorrow brings Larry’s first day on his new project, and Friday we sign the lease on the new pad. I’m really excited, and I know Larry is too, that we will be able to enjoy life together like normal people. Larry will enjoy working and living in the same city for the first time in ages and I will enjoy being able to cuddle up with him in the evenings. We seem to be settling in nicely.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
And on the 7th Day, We Rested
As of yesterday, we have been in Perth for 7 action packed days. We’ve checked mostly administrative items off our list as we wanted everything in place before Larry flies off to Sydney next week. Here are the highlights of the week with a few pictures...
Day 2: Time to Get Connected
The groceries here are a trip. At Woolies we bought some cereals and Soy Milky so here is the spread from our first morning...
Another thing that is different is the coffee. At the townhouse, we don’t have a traditional coffee maker. What we had to do was buy coffee bags, similar to a tea bag, but you add hot water and you get a cup of coffee. They are not bad, but we needed an extra caffeine boost so after brekkie we headed out to the Oxford Street Cafe Strip for one long black (two shots of espresso plus hot water) and one flat white (coffee with milk). We enjoyed reading the paper and people watching.
When we were pretty sure that the stores downtown would be open, we headed down to the Murray Street Mall. It is not a mall as we would envision it in the US. It is actually, just about three blocks where they close off the road and there are shops, restaurants and people EVERYWHERE (even on Sunday)! It is quite similar to how I remember the Downtown Crossing area in Boston, except cleaner.
We hit the Telstra store and got hooked up with two new phones. The idea of being able to check Facebook after being “off-line” for 4 days was mind boggling! Plus, Larry had to turn in his laptop before we left so he was very excited to check e-mails and be able to access his work e-mails.
We had lunch at David Jones, the Australian version of Neiman Marcus. The Food Hall there has lots of exotic ingredients. In fact, there is half of an aisle dedicated to American food. What do they have? Aunt Jemima, Crisco, Jif Peanut Butter, Zatarains and Bone Suckin’ Barbecue Sauce. Really? Is that how they see us? Oh, the jar of pumpkin puree (Libby brand) that is normally 0.99 at the grocery store and occasionally buy one get one free is $7.00!! Please send pumpkin puree!
Again, we managed not to starve and actually feast on garlic and scotch steaks. Delicious!
Day 3: Money Money Money
The goal of the day was to verify our bank accounts. This meant, driving into the city, navigating the one way and two way streets and finding a place to park. People that we have spoken with have told us that Perth is a very manageable city and thus far, it has been. Without much problem, we located a parking deck and the bank. The process to verify our account was quite simple but did take a lot of time. We were almost late for our first apartment viewing.
We got to the apartment viewing a bit early and had some time to explore. We thought that we wanted to be in Subiaco, but of course, you never know until you get there. The parts of this suburb that we saw prior to the viewing really piqued our interests. Unfortunately, the apartment was not that great, very old bathroom and quite smelly. Plus, on a lease break, the owner was still getting paid by the prior tenant and was not feeling so generous in reducing the rent ($525 per week!). After the viewing we had more time to explore the area and we knew Subiaco would be for us.
After the apartment viewing, we headed back downtown to JB Hi-Fi (a kind of cross between Best Buy and Radio Shack) and got my MAC Book!! We also got a printer, paper and some pens (so I can write my to-do lists!). We were supposed to be able to get on line with the MAC book and our phones but that did not happen. At least I was able to start writing.
Day 4: Home Sweet Home
Subiaco is a bit of a high rent district, so the apartments available in our price range leave us in a similar situation as the toothpaste aisle - very little selection. After what happened with the other smelly, apartment, I was apprehensive that the small character home that we saw on this date would also be smelly and old or have a water heater occupying an entire closet like another place we saw. But we headed to the viewing and we were surprised to find gorgeous floor boards, adequate closets and patio areas in the front and the back of the house. We made application for the apartment and I am happy to announce that we will be living at 107 Park Street in just a couple of weeks.
This is our tree-lined street:
The house is on the cutest cobble stone street. The car park is around back with ally access. Plus, we are only two blocks off the cafe strip and are within walking distance of Farmer Jack’s (a produce laden grocery store) and a Coles (another grocery store). I will post more pictures of the house and the area once we sign the lease next week.
After all that went down, we decided that we had done enough for the day and we headed out to Scarborough Beach. The sun was shining and the sand was soft and warm. The waves were beyond words and partially beyond pictures. Larry wanted to put his toes in the Indian Ocean.
and I decided to follow
and yes, the water was cold.
Day 5: West Australian Bureaucracy
We had a task for every day and this day was getting driver’s licenses. Since we came from the US, another English speaking country (we could debate about that), we did not have to take any written or practical driving exam - thank goodness! What we did have to do was go to the West Australian Licenses Bureau, their version of the Registry of Motor Vehicles or the Tax Collector’s Office.
We walked up and had to take a number. I thought I would be waiting for a very long time and in fact made a point to bring a book with me, but my number got called before Larry even got his number! We were in and out of there in about 20 minutes with our licenses! We were legal and now more importantly, we could buy a car.
So off we went to Osborne Park, the auto-mall of Perth. We have been going back and forth for about 3 weeks about what car to purchase. Cars are very expensive here. The 2008 X3 that I purchased for $35,000 is $138,000 here (that is not a typo). There is an incredible import tax on most European luxury vehicles so we were not going to be BMW owners any more. We did some research and decided to try a Jeep Wrangler.
We pulled into the Jeep dealer to have a look around. They had a 2008 Wrangler that looked good to us so we decided to have a ride. The car had upgraded sound system and Bluetooth which is important as driving while holding a cell phone is illegal. We gave them a copy of Larry’s license and we got the keys. The truck was large and rumbling, but more importantly, when we took the first left turn out of the dealership the Jeep sloshed as though there were several liters of water in the dashboard!! We had no idea where the sound came from, but that coupled with the rust on the emergency break and driver’s seat made us run, not walk, away from the Jeep.
Day 6: We need a Ride
We had our rental car until the end of the month, so the fact that we hadn’t arranged a vehicle yet was not that bad, but still we wanted to have something in the works before Larry started. We went back to Osborne Park and wandered into Volvo to have a look. We did really well by Premier Motors and we are now proud owners of a S40 sedan! The negotiation process was quite painless and we ended up with an umbrella.
Here is a picture of me with the car guys:
Day 7: Rest
The last week has been exhausting. So now that we had checked off all our to-do items, it was time for a relaxing morning at home. We got the printer set up and actually unpacked some of our bags. I was getting a bit tired of living out of a suitcase. In the afternoon we picked up the car. We only had to sign about 3 times AND, the dealership set us up with some really good insurance, which is not required in Australia.
When we picked up the car, we also got a bottle of wine and a wine cooler!
Here is the new ride!
What we didn’t get was the picture of the rainbow that came out when we picked up the car. The was really pretty, but when we got home, we realized that it had rained on the laundry that we had hung out to dry. Our washing machine is relatively normal sized. Our dryer has an opening the size of a dinner plate. Our new apartment doesn’t even have a dryer!
Being here, you realize how much we take for granted in the US: the discount you get on cars because of the size of the population (I’m not going to disclose what we actually paid for the S40), being able to get a venti sized coffee and having a really big washer and dryer. But our clothes dried, we have coffee bags and I think that I will be just fine without the excess as long as I can have kangaroo and red wine ravioli!
Day 2: Time to Get Connected
The groceries here are a trip. At Woolies we bought some cereals and Soy Milky so here is the spread from our first morning...
Another thing that is different is the coffee. At the townhouse, we don’t have a traditional coffee maker. What we had to do was buy coffee bags, similar to a tea bag, but you add hot water and you get a cup of coffee. They are not bad, but we needed an extra caffeine boost so after brekkie we headed out to the Oxford Street Cafe Strip for one long black (two shots of espresso plus hot water) and one flat white (coffee with milk). We enjoyed reading the paper and people watching.
When we were pretty sure that the stores downtown would be open, we headed down to the Murray Street Mall. It is not a mall as we would envision it in the US. It is actually, just about three blocks where they close off the road and there are shops, restaurants and people EVERYWHERE (even on Sunday)! It is quite similar to how I remember the Downtown Crossing area in Boston, except cleaner.
We hit the Telstra store and got hooked up with two new phones. The idea of being able to check Facebook after being “off-line” for 4 days was mind boggling! Plus, Larry had to turn in his laptop before we left so he was very excited to check e-mails and be able to access his work e-mails.
We had lunch at David Jones, the Australian version of Neiman Marcus. The Food Hall there has lots of exotic ingredients. In fact, there is half of an aisle dedicated to American food. What do they have? Aunt Jemima, Crisco, Jif Peanut Butter, Zatarains and Bone Suckin’ Barbecue Sauce. Really? Is that how they see us? Oh, the jar of pumpkin puree (Libby brand) that is normally 0.99 at the grocery store and occasionally buy one get one free is $7.00!! Please send pumpkin puree!
Again, we managed not to starve and actually feast on garlic and scotch steaks. Delicious!
Day 3: Money Money Money
The goal of the day was to verify our bank accounts. This meant, driving into the city, navigating the one way and two way streets and finding a place to park. People that we have spoken with have told us that Perth is a very manageable city and thus far, it has been. Without much problem, we located a parking deck and the bank. The process to verify our account was quite simple but did take a lot of time. We were almost late for our first apartment viewing.
We got to the apartment viewing a bit early and had some time to explore. We thought that we wanted to be in Subiaco, but of course, you never know until you get there. The parts of this suburb that we saw prior to the viewing really piqued our interests. Unfortunately, the apartment was not that great, very old bathroom and quite smelly. Plus, on a lease break, the owner was still getting paid by the prior tenant and was not feeling so generous in reducing the rent ($525 per week!). After the viewing we had more time to explore the area and we knew Subiaco would be for us.
After the apartment viewing, we headed back downtown to JB Hi-Fi (a kind of cross between Best Buy and Radio Shack) and got my MAC Book!! We also got a printer, paper and some pens (so I can write my to-do lists!). We were supposed to be able to get on line with the MAC book and our phones but that did not happen. At least I was able to start writing.
Day 4: Home Sweet Home
Subiaco is a bit of a high rent district, so the apartments available in our price range leave us in a similar situation as the toothpaste aisle - very little selection. After what happened with the other smelly, apartment, I was apprehensive that the small character home that we saw on this date would also be smelly and old or have a water heater occupying an entire closet like another place we saw. But we headed to the viewing and we were surprised to find gorgeous floor boards, adequate closets and patio areas in the front and the back of the house. We made application for the apartment and I am happy to announce that we will be living at 107 Park Street in just a couple of weeks.
This is our tree-lined street:
The house is on the cutest cobble stone street. The car park is around back with ally access. Plus, we are only two blocks off the cafe strip and are within walking distance of Farmer Jack’s (a produce laden grocery store) and a Coles (another grocery store). I will post more pictures of the house and the area once we sign the lease next week.
After all that went down, we decided that we had done enough for the day and we headed out to Scarborough Beach. The sun was shining and the sand was soft and warm. The waves were beyond words and partially beyond pictures. Larry wanted to put his toes in the Indian Ocean.
and I decided to follow
and yes, the water was cold.
Day 5: West Australian Bureaucracy
We had a task for every day and this day was getting driver’s licenses. Since we came from the US, another English speaking country (we could debate about that), we did not have to take any written or practical driving exam - thank goodness! What we did have to do was go to the West Australian Licenses Bureau, their version of the Registry of Motor Vehicles or the Tax Collector’s Office.
We walked up and had to take a number. I thought I would be waiting for a very long time and in fact made a point to bring a book with me, but my number got called before Larry even got his number! We were in and out of there in about 20 minutes with our licenses! We were legal and now more importantly, we could buy a car.
So off we went to Osborne Park, the auto-mall of Perth. We have been going back and forth for about 3 weeks about what car to purchase. Cars are very expensive here. The 2008 X3 that I purchased for $35,000 is $138,000 here (that is not a typo). There is an incredible import tax on most European luxury vehicles so we were not going to be BMW owners any more. We did some research and decided to try a Jeep Wrangler.
We pulled into the Jeep dealer to have a look around. They had a 2008 Wrangler that looked good to us so we decided to have a ride. The car had upgraded sound system and Bluetooth which is important as driving while holding a cell phone is illegal. We gave them a copy of Larry’s license and we got the keys. The truck was large and rumbling, but more importantly, when we took the first left turn out of the dealership the Jeep sloshed as though there were several liters of water in the dashboard!! We had no idea where the sound came from, but that coupled with the rust on the emergency break and driver’s seat made us run, not walk, away from the Jeep.
Day 6: We need a Ride
We had our rental car until the end of the month, so the fact that we hadn’t arranged a vehicle yet was not that bad, but still we wanted to have something in the works before Larry started. We went back to Osborne Park and wandered into Volvo to have a look. We did really well by Premier Motors and we are now proud owners of a S40 sedan! The negotiation process was quite painless and we ended up with an umbrella.
Here is a picture of me with the car guys:
Day 7: Rest
The last week has been exhausting. So now that we had checked off all our to-do items, it was time for a relaxing morning at home. We got the printer set up and actually unpacked some of our bags. I was getting a bit tired of living out of a suitcase. In the afternoon we picked up the car. We only had to sign about 3 times AND, the dealership set us up with some really good insurance, which is not required in Australia.
When we picked up the car, we also got a bottle of wine and a wine cooler!
Here is the new ride!
What we didn’t get was the picture of the rainbow that came out when we picked up the car. The was really pretty, but when we got home, we realized that it had rained on the laundry that we had hung out to dry. Our washing machine is relatively normal sized. Our dryer has an opening the size of a dinner plate. Our new apartment doesn’t even have a dryer!
Being here, you realize how much we take for granted in the US: the discount you get on cars because of the size of the population (I’m not going to disclose what we actually paid for the S40), being able to get a venti sized coffee and having a really big washer and dryer. But our clothes dried, we have coffee bags and I think that I will be just fine without the excess as long as I can have kangaroo and red wine ravioli!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Perth: Day 1
Since we landed in Perth around 1:00PM I feel entitled to say that it was our first day.
I would write about the mile walk to pick up the rental car (well it seemed like a mile with 8 pieces of luggage which at this point were unbearable heavy), providing humor to the Australians when our Smarte Cart derailed sending large duffels flying in front of the cafe, getting lost whilst leaving the airport, Larry driving on the left side of the road in our Hyundai i3 loaded down with unbearably heavy luggage and our first meeting with our landlord, Matt Smith, but I had such a horrible, throbbing sinus headache that I might like to forget those two hour of my life (the plane air dried me out badly).
Our Leederville townhouse was smashing! Tidy, clean and bright. After the sudafed and aleve kicked in, we freshened up (showering never felt so good) and headed out to get some groceries and explore the suburb of Mt. Hawthorn. Just a few blocks from our pad, we probably could walk it if is wasn't freezing here - oh yes...I forgot to mention that it is still the dead of winter here. We have literally gone from 98 degree weather to 19 degree highs - you can do the fahrenheit to celsius conversion.
Driving was the biggest challenge of the day. It was my first time ever driving on the left side of the road. The biggest challenge is that you have a large amount of automobile on the left side that is not normally there from a spacial sense. Driving passed parked cars and actually keeping in your lane are quite hard at first as one tends to drift the left in order to avoid the anticipated head on collision that seems eminent when another car is coming at you. When I drove into Mt. Hawthorn I was most thankful for left turns and traffic lights so I didn’t have to think about the direction of oncoming traffic.
We arrived at The Mezz, a practical shopping center, about 40 minutes before everything closed. The trading hours as they call the shop hours here in Perth are not as accommodating as those in the US. When we arrived at the butcher counter, the clerks were taking the tickets off all the trays of meat. I managed to get my hands on two rosemary and mint lamb chops. Woolworth's (or Woolies as they affectionately call it), the grocery store, closed at 5. We were only half way through the store when the clerk came over the loud speaker announcing the closing. My question is what do people who work do? Not eat? At least the pharmacy was open until 5:30 so we had time to grab tissues (2 options) and toothpaste (Colgate or Aim) and a bath puff ($6AUD). You might think that having this few options would be quite limiting. I find it liberating. No longer will I stand in front of the toothpaste in the aisle at the store for 10 minutes debating whether I want fresh mint or cool mint, tartar control or extra whitening. I like Colgate and that’s what we got.
The bottle shop was a different story. That was open until 7. Light bulb! That must be what people who work do - liquid dinner! There were also lots of options here with very few (less than 5) brands of wine I have seen before. It was a crap shoot, but we picked a Margaret River shiraz (pronounced sheer-AHZ) that turned our to be great.
Matt and Claire Smith, our landlords, left us a gorgeous loaf of bread from New Norcia bakery which is in Mt. Hawthorn. We ran in there for some bread to have with dinner.
So on our first day we managed to land, rent a car, find our house, the grocery store, pharmacy, package store and bakery. We ended up with a fabulous meal followed by some very deep sleep.
I would write about the mile walk to pick up the rental car (well it seemed like a mile with 8 pieces of luggage which at this point were unbearable heavy), providing humor to the Australians when our Smarte Cart derailed sending large duffels flying in front of the cafe, getting lost whilst leaving the airport, Larry driving on the left side of the road in our Hyundai i3 loaded down with unbearably heavy luggage and our first meeting with our landlord, Matt Smith, but I had such a horrible, throbbing sinus headache that I might like to forget those two hour of my life (the plane air dried me out badly).
Our Leederville townhouse was smashing! Tidy, clean and bright. After the sudafed and aleve kicked in, we freshened up (showering never felt so good) and headed out to get some groceries and explore the suburb of Mt. Hawthorn. Just a few blocks from our pad, we probably could walk it if is wasn't freezing here - oh yes...I forgot to mention that it is still the dead of winter here. We have literally gone from 98 degree weather to 19 degree highs - you can do the fahrenheit to celsius conversion.
Driving was the biggest challenge of the day. It was my first time ever driving on the left side of the road. The biggest challenge is that you have a large amount of automobile on the left side that is not normally there from a spacial sense. Driving passed parked cars and actually keeping in your lane are quite hard at first as one tends to drift the left in order to avoid the anticipated head on collision that seems eminent when another car is coming at you. When I drove into Mt. Hawthorn I was most thankful for left turns and traffic lights so I didn’t have to think about the direction of oncoming traffic.
We arrived at The Mezz, a practical shopping center, about 40 minutes before everything closed. The trading hours as they call the shop hours here in Perth are not as accommodating as those in the US. When we arrived at the butcher counter, the clerks were taking the tickets off all the trays of meat. I managed to get my hands on two rosemary and mint lamb chops. Woolworth's (or Woolies as they affectionately call it), the grocery store, closed at 5. We were only half way through the store when the clerk came over the loud speaker announcing the closing. My question is what do people who work do? Not eat? At least the pharmacy was open until 5:30 so we had time to grab tissues (2 options) and toothpaste (Colgate or Aim) and a bath puff ($6AUD). You might think that having this few options would be quite limiting. I find it liberating. No longer will I stand in front of the toothpaste in the aisle at the store for 10 minutes debating whether I want fresh mint or cool mint, tartar control or extra whitening. I like Colgate and that’s what we got.
The bottle shop was a different story. That was open until 7. Light bulb! That must be what people who work do - liquid dinner! There were also lots of options here with very few (less than 5) brands of wine I have seen before. It was a crap shoot, but we picked a Margaret River shiraz (pronounced sheer-AHZ) that turned our to be great.
Matt and Claire Smith, our landlords, left us a gorgeous loaf of bread from New Norcia bakery which is in Mt. Hawthorn. We ran in there for some bread to have with dinner.
So on our first day we managed to land, rent a car, find our house, the grocery store, pharmacy, package store and bakery. We ended up with a fabulous meal followed by some very deep sleep.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Up Up and Away
After arriving in Perth, I must say that our entire three day travel marathon went off without a hitch! Aside from a few tears and a sore bum we could not have asked for smoother travel.
It didn’t quite start that smoothly. Larry had to work on Wednesday, the day we were set to check into the Marriott at the Tampa airport. We still had the final bit of cleaning out to finish. We ended up throwing all of our luggage plug about 3 grocery bags full of other assorted items into our rental car and headed to the airport. After errands at the bank, Brighthouse and the post office, we didn’t actually settle into the room until 9PM. We ordered room service, popped open our celebratory bottle of Vueve Cliquot and set to packing.
The following morning, Larry went downstairs to fetch a Smarte Cart and brought it back to the room. We each had 2 bags to check and 2 carry on bags. We loaded up the Smarte Cart and went to push it out the door of our hotel room, but were dismayed to find that it was too wide to fit! We tried pushing, wiggling and shimmying, but finally we had to unload it, drag all the bags into the hallway and re-load it. I got a bit sentimental as we took off over Tampa and banked right to fly over the beaches. This was just the beginning.
We collected our bags at LAX and managed to get on the shuttle to our hotel where we would spend the day, get a meal, and freshen up before the longest leg of our travels: the flight to Sydney. I had planned to spend some time resting at the pool, soaking up the California sunshine, but what met us in Los Angeles was 65 degrees and cloudy. There was no way I was putting on a bathing suit in 65 degrees. Little did I know what weather would meet us in Perth. We had a relaxing afternoon and even got to meet up with one of Larry’s friends from grad school, Fran Ten, who is soon to be touring with a Japanese rock legend! Sounds like a trip in our future!
It was soon time to schlep all of our 8 bags (3 of which I could actually fit into) back to the airport and get checked into our flight. After making the trip to Sydney last year, I have one thing to say about our flight: THANK GOD FOR EXIT ROW! It was the next best thing to being in business class. The flight attendants served us drinks, fed us dinner and then dimmed the cabin lights for our 14 hour sojourn. Larry was so tired, but was able to wake up long enough to eat dinner and then fell immediately back to sleep. I, unfortunately did not have the same experience. I had planned on taking some melatonin, but it happened to be located in the pants pocket of my sleeping husband. So I dozed off for a bit, woke up, dozed off for a bit and woke up again and started to feel so stiff that I actually got up and did some yoga in this hallway thing on the plane. I started with the Bikram standing series and then a few hours later busted out my sun salutations. Soon it was time to land.
The line through customs in Sydney was worse than waiting for a ride at Disney World. We waited in line at customs (made interesting by being able to watch the colorful flight attendants from the different international air lines. Emirates had red hats with jeanie scarves but the girls looked decidedly Caucasian), waited in line to get our bags, waited in line to leave the baggage claim area, waited in line to get sniffed by the beagle (he was extra excited after finding an apple in the back pack of the group in front of us) and then exited into the terminal where if there had been a red carpet, I would have thought I was entering the Oscars! There were mobs of people with balloons and flowers and all kinds of excitement. Unfortunately, our next destination, the Qantas Domestic Transfer, was upstream of the mob. We were like salmon going home to spawn dodging bear hugs of those greeting loved ones instead of bears.
After waiting in line yet again to check our bags for the flight to Perth, we were treated to a back scenes tour of the airport. When you arrive on an international flight and then get on a Qantas domestic flight, they are nice enough to give you a ride from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. This bus ride drives all around the edges of the tarmac and you get to see the planes up close and personal! We saw some 747s and the A380 which has two rows of windows, like a double decker bus, and can hold some 800 passengers!
After getting off the bus, entering the Qantas domestic terminal was like being in an oasis! First, it was beautiful and clean. There were very nice, high end stores and cafe after cafe after cafe. In fact, they even had a museum! We grabbed some brekkie (Aussie for breakfast) and settled in at the gate for the short wait for our flight to Perth.
The flight time from Sydney to Perth is 4 hours and 40 minutes. It was a bit difficult getting my two bags all the way to row 53, but once there we were treated to seats A and B, window and aisle. The pre-flight instructions were also a bit different. In addition to how to put on your seat belt, flotation device and oxygen mask, we got instructions on the crash position and how to avoid DVT. We also got headphones, a movie and lunch. About 30 minutes after lunch, the flight attendants came through the cabin with ice cream cones! This made me aspire to be a Qantas flight attendant. After lunch, I fell asleep and slept hard. We passed over snowy mountains, farm or station land and ocean.
When we landed, I looked over at Larry and said, “welcome home.”
It didn’t quite start that smoothly. Larry had to work on Wednesday, the day we were set to check into the Marriott at the Tampa airport. We still had the final bit of cleaning out to finish. We ended up throwing all of our luggage plug about 3 grocery bags full of other assorted items into our rental car and headed to the airport. After errands at the bank, Brighthouse and the post office, we didn’t actually settle into the room until 9PM. We ordered room service, popped open our celebratory bottle of Vueve Cliquot and set to packing.
The following morning, Larry went downstairs to fetch a Smarte Cart and brought it back to the room. We each had 2 bags to check and 2 carry on bags. We loaded up the Smarte Cart and went to push it out the door of our hotel room, but were dismayed to find that it was too wide to fit! We tried pushing, wiggling and shimmying, but finally we had to unload it, drag all the bags into the hallway and re-load it. I got a bit sentimental as we took off over Tampa and banked right to fly over the beaches. This was just the beginning.
We collected our bags at LAX and managed to get on the shuttle to our hotel where we would spend the day, get a meal, and freshen up before the longest leg of our travels: the flight to Sydney. I had planned to spend some time resting at the pool, soaking up the California sunshine, but what met us in Los Angeles was 65 degrees and cloudy. There was no way I was putting on a bathing suit in 65 degrees. Little did I know what weather would meet us in Perth. We had a relaxing afternoon and even got to meet up with one of Larry’s friends from grad school, Fran Ten, who is soon to be touring with a Japanese rock legend! Sounds like a trip in our future!
It was soon time to schlep all of our 8 bags (3 of which I could actually fit into) back to the airport and get checked into our flight. After making the trip to Sydney last year, I have one thing to say about our flight: THANK GOD FOR EXIT ROW! It was the next best thing to being in business class. The flight attendants served us drinks, fed us dinner and then dimmed the cabin lights for our 14 hour sojourn. Larry was so tired, but was able to wake up long enough to eat dinner and then fell immediately back to sleep. I, unfortunately did not have the same experience. I had planned on taking some melatonin, but it happened to be located in the pants pocket of my sleeping husband. So I dozed off for a bit, woke up, dozed off for a bit and woke up again and started to feel so stiff that I actually got up and did some yoga in this hallway thing on the plane. I started with the Bikram standing series and then a few hours later busted out my sun salutations. Soon it was time to land.
The line through customs in Sydney was worse than waiting for a ride at Disney World. We waited in line at customs (made interesting by being able to watch the colorful flight attendants from the different international air lines. Emirates had red hats with jeanie scarves but the girls looked decidedly Caucasian), waited in line to get our bags, waited in line to leave the baggage claim area, waited in line to get sniffed by the beagle (he was extra excited after finding an apple in the back pack of the group in front of us) and then exited into the terminal where if there had been a red carpet, I would have thought I was entering the Oscars! There were mobs of people with balloons and flowers and all kinds of excitement. Unfortunately, our next destination, the Qantas Domestic Transfer, was upstream of the mob. We were like salmon going home to spawn dodging bear hugs of those greeting loved ones instead of bears.
After waiting in line yet again to check our bags for the flight to Perth, we were treated to a back scenes tour of the airport. When you arrive on an international flight and then get on a Qantas domestic flight, they are nice enough to give you a ride from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. This bus ride drives all around the edges of the tarmac and you get to see the planes up close and personal! We saw some 747s and the A380 which has two rows of windows, like a double decker bus, and can hold some 800 passengers!
After getting off the bus, entering the Qantas domestic terminal was like being in an oasis! First, it was beautiful and clean. There were very nice, high end stores and cafe after cafe after cafe. In fact, they even had a museum! We grabbed some brekkie (Aussie for breakfast) and settled in at the gate for the short wait for our flight to Perth.
The flight time from Sydney to Perth is 4 hours and 40 minutes. It was a bit difficult getting my two bags all the way to row 53, but once there we were treated to seats A and B, window and aisle. The pre-flight instructions were also a bit different. In addition to how to put on your seat belt, flotation device and oxygen mask, we got instructions on the crash position and how to avoid DVT. We also got headphones, a movie and lunch. About 30 minutes after lunch, the flight attendants came through the cabin with ice cream cones! This made me aspire to be a Qantas flight attendant. After lunch, I fell asleep and slept hard. We passed over snowy mountains, farm or station land and ocean.
When we landed, I looked over at Larry and said, “welcome home.”
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Storm Before the Calm
Last Tuesday the movers came and went. It was all rather anticlimactic. I asked my friend and neighbor Deb to come over around 6:30 when the movers told me they would arrive. Then ended up getting there a bit before 6 and were done by 6:45. Those guys really know how to tape up boxes!! Deb showed up around 6:15 with a very large bottle of wine but missed half of the show.
Then I was left with a house growing emptier by the day. In fact, the night that the movers came, a guy answered a Craig's List ad I placed selling a table and ended up buying two rooms worth of furniture. Craig's List is great, don't get me wrong, but the characters you encounter are priceless. The guy that showed up that Tuesday night came around 10:00 PM and had a U-Haul attached to his SUV. Another sale I made involved two toothless (well, the guy I got a really good look at actually had one large tooth) men carting out my dining room hutch to put into their small Toyota pick up truck.
Then came my 36th birthday. I was in the throws of packing and getting the house ready so we could leave with the assistance of Frank and Jan who stayed from Sunday to Tuesday busting hump to empty the rest of the house, repair every hole I made to hang any picture and to repaint the spackle. I can truly say that I would not have been able to do it without them and even when Larry got home, we almost didn't make it to Tampa Wednesday night.
So a few more words on my birthday. It was one of the most amazing birthdays that I can remember. It started with a phone call from my parents. Every year, they call and sing "Happy Birthday" to me. Unfortunately, it seems that every year, I ended up listening to it on voice mail. This year, I was not working and actually able to answer the phone when they called! They weren't the only ones to call and sing for me. My dear friends Greg and Eduardo Sarnelli called and gave me a barbershop quartet version of "Happy Birthday!" The birthday fun did not stop there...
After running errands for me, Frank and Jan came home with the most decadent chocolate cake. We had lunch of sushi and chocolate cake! Everything was moving along as planned until Jan called up to me from downstairs, "Gayann, I think we have an emergency here..." I went into panic mode thinking that my neighbor's cat who has a habit of entering garages when left open had wandered into the house. I went downstairs to find my very good friend Shellie standing in my living room with her famous lemon cake that she always makes for my birthday. This might not seem special until I tell you that I have not had that lemon cake in about 5 years because Shellie lives in Indialantic, about a 3 hour drive from where Larry and I used to live (sounds odd typing that)!! Shellie took the day off work to drive clear across the state of Florida to see me on my birthday and after about 45 minutes of visiting was on her way back. Tell me that wouldn't make you feel special.
One of the highlights of the day was the gift I received from my sisters, Sally and Suzann. The package arrived some time the week before. I knew when it arrived that I might be home alone on my birthday as Larry was working in St. Louis that Monday, so I decided to wait and open it on my day. It was around lunchtime and I had been so busy running around in the morning that I had not stopped long enough to even think about it, but I saw the package on the shelf and decided it was time. As I write this, I am so sorry that I don't have a picture of the beautiful silver bracelet they sent. In script the bracelet proclaims "Embrace the Journey." When I opened it I about fell out of my chair! This move has brought with it such emotional tumult that it was almost humbling to realize the family support that I have and the love that surrounds me.
This continued into the afternoon when Jan and I went to my last yoga class with my teacher, Mei. She has really been fundamental in my yoga journey, being a regular teacher of mine at least 3 times a week for the last 4 or 5 months. Mei presented to me a journal that had various quotes on the cover about finding yourself, but what was special was the inscription she wrote. The gist of it being that I will always have part of Mei with me and she with me. Thinking about that simple concept brought an awareness to me that I will always carry with me special pieces of my firends and family, and hopefully I have given to them in return special gifts that they will have within them. I was so grateful that day for so many things, one of those being that I actually stopped the inner list making, errand running and house cleaning to actually feel loved, supported and excited for this new chapter.
I know, enough with the existentialism...The move date is upon us!!
Then I was left with a house growing emptier by the day. In fact, the night that the movers came, a guy answered a Craig's List ad I placed selling a table and ended up buying two rooms worth of furniture. Craig's List is great, don't get me wrong, but the characters you encounter are priceless. The guy that showed up that Tuesday night came around 10:00 PM and had a U-Haul attached to his SUV. Another sale I made involved two toothless (well, the guy I got a really good look at actually had one large tooth) men carting out my dining room hutch to put into their small Toyota pick up truck.
Then came my 36th birthday. I was in the throws of packing and getting the house ready so we could leave with the assistance of Frank and Jan who stayed from Sunday to Tuesday busting hump to empty the rest of the house, repair every hole I made to hang any picture and to repaint the spackle. I can truly say that I would not have been able to do it without them and even when Larry got home, we almost didn't make it to Tampa Wednesday night.
So a few more words on my birthday. It was one of the most amazing birthdays that I can remember. It started with a phone call from my parents. Every year, they call and sing "Happy Birthday" to me. Unfortunately, it seems that every year, I ended up listening to it on voice mail. This year, I was not working and actually able to answer the phone when they called! They weren't the only ones to call and sing for me. My dear friends Greg and Eduardo Sarnelli called and gave me a barbershop quartet version of "Happy Birthday!" The birthday fun did not stop there...
After running errands for me, Frank and Jan came home with the most decadent chocolate cake. We had lunch of sushi and chocolate cake! Everything was moving along as planned until Jan called up to me from downstairs, "Gayann, I think we have an emergency here..." I went into panic mode thinking that my neighbor's cat who has a habit of entering garages when left open had wandered into the house. I went downstairs to find my very good friend Shellie standing in my living room with her famous lemon cake that she always makes for my birthday. This might not seem special until I tell you that I have not had that lemon cake in about 5 years because Shellie lives in Indialantic, about a 3 hour drive from where Larry and I used to live (sounds odd typing that)!! Shellie took the day off work to drive clear across the state of Florida to see me on my birthday and after about 45 minutes of visiting was on her way back. Tell me that wouldn't make you feel special.
One of the highlights of the day was the gift I received from my sisters, Sally and Suzann. The package arrived some time the week before. I knew when it arrived that I might be home alone on my birthday as Larry was working in St. Louis that Monday, so I decided to wait and open it on my day. It was around lunchtime and I had been so busy running around in the morning that I had not stopped long enough to even think about it, but I saw the package on the shelf and decided it was time. As I write this, I am so sorry that I don't have a picture of the beautiful silver bracelet they sent. In script the bracelet proclaims "Embrace the Journey." When I opened it I about fell out of my chair! This move has brought with it such emotional tumult that it was almost humbling to realize the family support that I have and the love that surrounds me.
This continued into the afternoon when Jan and I went to my last yoga class with my teacher, Mei. She has really been fundamental in my yoga journey, being a regular teacher of mine at least 3 times a week for the last 4 or 5 months. Mei presented to me a journal that had various quotes on the cover about finding yourself, but what was special was the inscription she wrote. The gist of it being that I will always have part of Mei with me and she with me. Thinking about that simple concept brought an awareness to me that I will always carry with me special pieces of my firends and family, and hopefully I have given to them in return special gifts that they will have within them. I was so grateful that day for so many things, one of those being that I actually stopped the inner list making, errand running and house cleaning to actually feel loved, supported and excited for this new chapter.
I know, enough with the existentialism...The move date is upon us!!
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