Sydney!

Of course I had to make a trip to Sydney while studying in Australia! Before I share my Sydney experience, I'd like to point out the two VERY different airline experiences I had. On my way to Sydney, I traveled on Qantas since I paid with my accrued flight points. On my way back, I traveled on Tiger Air. When I arrived at the Melbourne airport en route to Sydney, my ID was not asked for at all. I went right up to the Qantas ticket machines, printed out my boarding pass and was in through security all in a span of 10 minutes. No waiting in lines; it was amazing. On the hour and a half flight, I also enjoyed a free drink and snack. They also had ipads at each seat with movies and music! 

Now, the way back was slightly different. With one woman working at the Tiger Air Check-in desk, I waited upwards of half an hour to just check in. By the time she checked me in, she was not too happy. Luckily, I got an exit seat on the flight (always ask for exit seats! more room and you board first!) but no free beverage service. The flight was at 9:10pm, but I was still surrounded by multiple crying babies and coincidentally I couldn't find my headphones in my bag.

It was just interesting how different the two experiences were. I've been on budget flights before, but I've never been on a budget flight and a normal flight within a 5 day span, so the differences were fresh in my memory, so I thought I would share!

Gardens, Operas and Beaches

After arriving in Sydney and finding Asylum Hostel, I waited for my two friends and then we went for a walk to the Sydney Opera House. One of them already had a ticket for a show that night, so my other friend and I were going to see if they had any other cheap shows playing that night. 

We walked through the Botanical Gardens - they were beautiful and so vibrant! The weather was warm and perfect!

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We ended up getting two tickets to a stand up comedy show the first night we were in Sydney! It was great and some of the acts were hilarious. The acts included Matt Okine, Luke Mcgregor, Greg Behrendt, Felicity Ward, Ryan Hamilton and the host Dave Thornton. I haven't laughed so hard in a while!

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The next day we went to Bondi Beach. It was a bit confusing to get there since a few people were telling us different ways, but we made it and it was the perfect weather for it. We did the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk and saw some beautiful views of the coast and heaps of surfers. The water was so blue! 

More pictures from the walk are below!

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The next day, we saw an afternoon performance of South Pacific at the Sydney Opera House. I absolutely loved it! The music was great and I'm happy we were able to see it. If in Sydney, I highly recommend going to see it.

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The last morning in Sydney, I walked out of the hostel and could smell smoke and could barely see the city buildings - smoke from the NSW bush fires blew in and put the city under a smokey haze. I've never been so close to wildfires before that I could smell the smoke from them!

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Sydney was a nice city. I'm still happy I chose Melbourne Uni over New South Wales in Sydney, but I am a bit jealous of the weather in Sydney. Melbourne has been quite bipolar lately; some days are freezing and some are hot! It's supposed to be Spring! I want a happy medium!