Vanity La Vie: [Travelogue] Amazing Australia

For the whole of June that I went missing....

I traveled alone to .... SYDNEY

You heard me right. It was a pretty impulsive decision made by myself, and I just felt the need to leave town and breathe a different air at a different location, a cold air infact. It was winter in Sydney. But I cannot exclaim how much I miss the entire environment there. I have never been to anywhere colder than 20degrees to be very honest, not really a traveler, never really liked it, cause I get home-sick easily. But this time round, I had a mission, a mission to...

TOUCH KOALAS.

I always have had life long dreams, and they usually revolve around animals. This sounds a little psychotic, but I do feel a certain connection when I look into their eyes. Some whom I can really feel them, some whom I can't at all. I can never explain this.

In fact, this trip, was a contemplation between swimming with Dolphins, watching whales or just touching the koalas. Because my mum was afraid that I would miss the connecting flight, I chose Sydney in the end. But it was a whirlpool of experience. Something I never felt or ever thought I would be able to do it. Well, that is of course, traveling alone lah.

This is going to be a rather lengthy post, with a lot of emotions, because its a lot of experience and overcoming of my own fears especially when being alone. (I'm admitting that I am weak here, please appreciate and not use this as an advantage to yourself to blackmail me).

Gawd! I don't even know where to begin. I need to remember this by writing it down.

Ok, so I booked my tickets with Qantas, 3 days prior my departure. Tickets were around $950 in total for a 5D4N trip (the longest time I have been away from Singapore). And feeling excited, worried, paranoid, afraid, awesome altogether, I gathered my feelings and bid goodbye to Sunny Island.

The weather (when I checked, and remember now) was between 9 degrees to 18 degrees. This is super cold for a person who even covers blanket with a moving fan switched on, in Singapore. Ironic I know.Was late for check-in, but thankfully my name wasn't announced over the PA system. Rushed my way, checked in, feeling all fluttery, worried about the take off, and landing in a foreign place, unsure of where to go, what to do, haven't really had a plan plan to stick to, lots and lots of doubt, but told myself - JUST DO IT ANDREA.

And with a deep breath, the plane took off.

meal on board - beef and a mini ginger ale (super cute please)

Snacks on baord - I requested for Hot Chocolate (:

So thankfully, the plane landed safely and I reached the airport about 5.30am Sydney time. Figured my way to the immigration (more like following the crowd), queued, waited to get my chop and tried locating my luggage at the belt area. Was pretty scary initially, cause I was the only traveler, and obviously I didn't look like any business women or whats not. Just a young Asian traveling.

Once I got my luggage with me, I hanged around the airport arrival area, and went to vodaphone to purchase my 3G Data Plan card, which cost around AUD 15 or was it more, I couldnt really remember but it was 300MB for sure. It was just enough for me to facebook and whatsapp during the period that I stayed. It was good enough for me (: Thanks to Lion iPhone, I was finally introduced to Instagram! (follow me on @vanitylavie)

So afterwhich, I went over to the information counter to purchase my shuttle bus ticket which ferries me directly to the doorstep of my hotel.

I was choosing between quite a few hotels the day prior to departure.

To me, a hotel has to be

Clean
Good view
White bedsheets
Good TV channels

That was my minimum requirement, and I booked Macleay Apartment Hotel. It was located at Potts Points, nearest Train station was Kings Cross. As I reached the hotel super early, around 7am, I wasn't able to check in till 10am in the morning, so I decided to explore the place around the hotel after leaving my luggage. Asked for directions to the Harbour Bridge (said it was walking distance but such a lie!). Please note that walking distance isn't like from Far East Plaza to Paragon. It is like from Far East Plaza to Bugis. So blardi far.

But the view, was breath taking. Port me over again please. Breath Taking. Took My Breath Away. Beyond Words. Standing there alone, watching the seagulls fly pass (thank god they didn't poop), the super huge army ship. Wow. just Wow. Plain Gorgeous.

I couldn't remember exactly the name of the park, but its at least around 300m away from my hotel. I was walking alone, and its so nice to see people walking their dogs at such parks. So nice. Wished that in Singapore, we could practice more of that, but NOOOOO. We have no time. We only work.

Walking and exploring, moving, cold air, warm breaths, smudged mascaras definitely showed that I was really tired, but excited all at the same time. Walked back to the hotel and decided to take my breakfast over at one of the cafes around the corner.

Eggs Benedict and Earl Grey Tea - AUD 22 (La Buvette)

So right after breakfast, I finally checked in to my hotel and here's my gorgeous room and view. I booked it through Agoda, a total of $750 for the 4nights I slept in. But totally worth waking up to the view, you'll get what I mean, just scroll down.

Gorgeous view every single day. Good TV Channels to keep me occupied all day long. I never really enjoyed taiwan or korean drama, but english sitcoms are a must watch for me. Especially famous comedy/sit-com/variety shows like Gossip Girls, How I Met You Mother, Big Bang Theory. Etc etc. ;)

Was really tired, and decided to sleep in for a while, and I did. Knocked out immediately after I changed out of my clothes. I didn't really traveled to other places as I was trying to make plans for the following few days. In between, received texts from different people, trying to spoil my vacation by informing me unnecessary stuff which irritated me a lot. but fine, that wasn't my focus of the trip. Read above! So.. At night, I took flight and walked around the neighbourhood. Tried to figure out where the station was and went to the supermarket which was RIGHT across the street to purchase some goodies to keep me company for the night in at the hotel.