So, after a 6 hour flight to Los Angeles, a 14 hour flight to Brisbane, and a 2 hour flight to Melbourne, I am finally settled in at my new Aussie home. Surprisingly, the flight from LA to Australia was a lot more manageable than I would have ever expected. Maybe drinking 6 Coronas and a margarita and topping that off with some Tylenol PM was the right thing to do. Watched Star Trek, zonked out, watched the new Wolverine movie, and bam, I’m in Australia.
-My buddy Davs and I went on a nice pub crawl and in the day and a half that I’ve been here, I have a bunch of first impressions.
-For one thing, Melbourne is an unbelievably cool city, so much different from what I’m used to and I can’t wait to explore it and see everything.
-Beer is obscenely expensive in Australia, 20 bucks for a 6-pack. I figured a country that is supposedly known for it’s wild side and revelry would be kind in its pricing, though they also make cigarettes cost about the same, so I think it’s a ploy to keep people from killing themselves with vices. The nerve.
-By the time I’m out of here, I will have the noise of rattling stuck in my head, as every cross walk has the constant noise to let those who are blind know they cant cross. At this point, it’s like Pavlov’s Dog, as people hear this and walk without looking.
-I’ll never fully be adapted to the driving on the other side of the road aspect of this country. If I end up dying out here, it won’t be by snakes, or spiders or jellyfish, it’ll be by looking to the right instead of the left when crossing the street, because I am not conditioned for this kind of change.
-There are a lot of metrosexuals in Melbourne. It may be because my buddy’s place is in the district most associated with homosexual activity, but there are guys in this area that wear jeans tighter than any spandex I’ve ever seen. I thought I had a pair that made me somewhat uncomfortable because it was too tight, but no joke, they had to have taken a solid hour trying to put them on.
-The Melbourne public transportation system is unreal. I got a pass to use it whenever I want, and it was a cheap and awesome buy. I just hope they’re cool with passing out on the train, as I’ve done that after a Sox parade AND a Pats parade, though waking up in Alewife is a lot different than waking up in somewhere random in Australia.
-It’s very refreshing to not have a cell phone, or lifeline or anything here that’s familiar. I’ve never been in prolonged situations out of my comfort zone, and having over 5 months ahead of me without that, I feel legitimately liberated and independent.
-I am about to book a flight to New Zealand to explore the south island with my friend, driving from Christchurch to Queensland, skydiving, seeing the epic
landscape where the filmed Lord of the Rings and camping all over for our hotels. Couldn’t be more excited.
- It’s colder now than I expected, though it’s refreshing to now that I’m just in the start of spring, going into summer. 8 months in a row of warm weather should do me some good, though it will make a Boston winter very difficult to come back to.
- I’m luckily not jetlagged at all because of my extended sleep on the plane and based on the fact that I stayed up very late for a few weeks leading up to the trip. It’s not like my trip to England, when I fell asleep on the top of a double-decker bus, going ahead in time. I’m finding it’s very weird in the middle of the day here, where everyone but Davs is sleeping in the middle of the night. Though, at the same time, this difference will surely help me justify drinking whenever I want, because the phrase “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere” has a whole new meaning.
I will definitely update my experiences exploring the next few days with some posts and pictures, and, if I’m lucky, I’ll have some interesting things to share.
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