Sydney, Australia

Sydney

I started a new job last year (at the same company) that allows me to travel sometimes to work at our conferences around the world. So far, I’ve been to Toronto, Ottawa, and the best yet: Sydney, Australia, in September. Not only am I lucky enough to have this job opportunity, but I also work with awesome people, so all of my work travel buddies have been stellar. I didn’t write about Toronto or Ottawa because they were very short trips (no offense, Canada, I do love you). But I have to get Sydney in the books.

Sydney Fish Market

It was the longest flight I’ve been on to date (Austin to LAX to Sydney) and I finally experienced the swollen feet I’ve heard so much about. I’ll be investing in compression socks if I’m on a plane for 15 hours again. I landed in Sydney on Friday at about 7 in the morning, made my way through some confusing customs and ID checks, and jumped in a cab to our downtown hotel. The conference was at a Sheraton right across the street from a big city park, walking distance to all the main sights. After I checked in, I made my way to the café to meet my coworkers. Bruce, the big boss, was already there having breakfast, and Anil and Dianne arrived shortly after I did. Our last crewmember, Ganesh, was flying from Malaysia and would arrive later that day. Bruce had lots of work to do, Anil was going to wait to meet Ganesh, but Dianne and I were ready to hit the town. We took the cheesy hop-on/hop-off city bus tour and let a guide show us around town. We saw the shipyards, the state library, and botanical gardens, and then hopped off at the fish market to meet Anil and Ganesh for lunch. Then Dianne and I hopped back on our bus and saw the Rocks, the Opera House, and Sydney Harbour Bridge before ending up back at our hotel. We met the rest of the crew and let Anil and Ganesh begin their culinary tour of Sydney for us.

Opera House and Harbour Bridge

We walked down to Darling Harbour for Indian food and an unexpected high-schooler rave scene. Kids were trashed and falling all over each other, wearing brightly colored clothes. There were ambulances stationed around and they were all tending to drunk or high teenagers. It was very confusing, but the dinner was delish. The next four days were all work, but Anil and Ganesh did not disappoint with their dinner selections. We had Malaysian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and more seafood.

Inside the Opera House

View from my upgraded seat

On Saturday night, I treated myself to a ticket to the symphony at the Sydney Opera House (there weren’t any operas scheduled). I thought I bought myself a cheap seat in the nosebleed section, but when I arrived, it turned out that your dummy narrator bought herself a ticket for earlier in the week, before I was even in Australia. But the Opera House turned out to be my lucky place. The box office manager slipped me a ticket they had reserved for someone who didn’t show up, three rows from the orchestra! Then the bartender slipped me a free glass of wine. And when I left, Sydney gave me a free fireworks display over the Opera House. Everything about that night worked out for me and it was a highlight of the trip.

Opera House fireworks

The conference finished on Tuesday night, and everyone except Dianne and I flew home early the next morning. On Wednesday, Dianne had booked us a hiking tour in the Blue Mountains, about 2 hours outside of Sydney. We met for breakfast and then went outside to meet our tour guide. There were only 2 other people in our group, besides our guide, and they were from Houston. I wondered if Texans are to Australians what Australians are to us: everyone I go, there are Aussies. Maybe we’re all over their country.

Blue Mountains hike

It was cold and rainy for the start of the hike but it quickly cleared up and our guide Gynes told us we lucked out. Normally there are tons of people hiking the Blue Mountains, but the weather probably kept most of them away that day. We only saw one couple during our 3-hour hike. It was beautiful. We started by descending into a valley and walked through lush rainforest before getting to the valley floor. We passed eucalyptus trees and various plants I can’t remember that Gynes happily pointed out for us. After the hike he drove us to a lookout spot to see the Three Sisters, an iconic spot in the Blue Mountains.

Three Sisters

We got back to the hotel in the early evening and I got ready for dinner. Dianne opted to stay in, so I walked over to an Italian restaurant one of our conference speakers recommended to me, and it did not disappoint. It was a small, dimly lit, very elegant place and they gave me a seat by the window. I got a glass of Chianti, delicious ravioli, and fresh salad.

The next morning Dianne and I met up for breakfast but we had different items on our last-day to-do list, so we split up after eating at the hotel. She was going to Bondi Beach, which I really wanted to see, but not enough to spend the time getting out there. Instead, I opted for hours of wandering around the botanical gardens before visiting the Australian Museum. The gardens were the third highlight of my trip, after the Blue Mountains and the Opera House. I could have spent all day wandering around, smelling flowers and walking through various gardens. The museum was interesting and taught me a lot of the atrocities that the British inflicted upon the aboriginal people in Australia. It was also the only place I got to see koalas and kangaroos. (I know the Sydney Zoo is lauded, but I don’t like zoos so I had to settle for sad, taxidermized animals in the museum.) Then I walked down to Barangaroo Harbour for a late lunch before going back to the hotel to pack up for my flight the next morning. I decided to end the trip with a relaxing room-service dinner and get lots of sleep before my very long flight home.

Botanical Gardens

I don’t know if I’ll get to go on another work trip like this one, so I’m just going to appreciate how lucky I was to get to fly across the world and see a little slice of Australia.

5 Days in Scotland and England

Glasgow, July 30

After our four days in Iceland, Andrew and I hopped on a short but very delayed flight to Glasgow, Scotland. We only had one day and night in Glasgow before driving to Edinburgh for a day and night, and then down to Beverly, England, for family and wedding festivities. But I was so excited to show Andrew my beloved Scotland and to catch up with my childhood best friend, Tricia, in Glasgow.

Glasgow

We landed in Glasgow to surprising lovely weather and made our way to the rental-car lot, where we were greeted by our ridiculously large SUV. No one drives SUVs in Europe, for good reason. We drove over to Tricia’s house and I nervously walked up to the door. We hadn’t seen each other in well over 10 years. Not only was I going to catch up with her, but I was going to meet her husband and 2 kids for the first time. How are we suddenly grown-ups? But when she opened the door, it was like no time had passed. She was as kind and welcoming as ever, her husband was as nice as anyone can be, and her kids were freaking adorable. We sat in the living room and caught up/got acquainted over a plate full of delicious Scottish treats, and then Tricia and Graeme gave us a tour of their row house. They were almost finished with a complete renovation, which they undertook all by themselves. The place looked fantastic. Then we took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood and little Annie showed us around, but then Andrew and I had to leave to find our Airbnb. We said goodbye to the kids and made plans for Tricia and Graeme to meet us at our rental a few hours later.

Me and Tricia

And then poor Andrew had to navigate downtown Glasgow traffic and confusing streets in our giant car. We missed our street twice and ended up back on the highway each time. When we finally got to the right place, he had to circle the neighborhood for about 20 minutes before finding a parking spot big enough for our bus. Our Airbnb was fine, nothing special, but it would do the trick for one night. Shortly after we settled, Tricia and Graeme arrived (because our navigation and parking troubles took so long). But we were going to be on foot for the rest of the evening, so Andrew was already in a much better mood.

Cathedral bar

We embarked on what became a pub crawl with dinner in between. We were staying near the university, and Graeme recommended a good place to start. After a drink there, we walked through the outskirts of a beautiful university campus and cut through Kelvingrove Park and could hear a big outdoor concert going on. We came out of the park at the West End and hit up a quaint pub for another drink before making our way to the Ox and Finch, which Tricia picked for dinner. The menu was small plates of fresh, local food. Even Andrew liked it, despite his aversion to sharing food. After dinner we headed to a really cool bar in a converted cathedral with great ambiance but rude bartenders. Even Tricia, truly one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, complained about how rude they were. But I couldn’t be bothered. I was having the best time catching up with my dear old friend and thrilled to get to know what a good guy she married. They walked us back to our rental and we had to say goodbye until next time. It was a short catch-up, but well worth it.

Goodnight, Glasgow

Edinburgh, July 31

The next morning Andrew and I walked over to a cute brunch spot recommended by Tricia and then headed off to Edinburgh. Unfortunately, it was more stressful driving and terrible parking for Andrew when we made it to our rental cottage in Leith (fun fact: Leith is a suburb of Edinburgh and the site of Trainspotting. In the 20 years since it was filmed, the village has become a hipster/yuppie area of shops, restaurants, and pubs.) Our cottage was as picturesque as I had hoped when I booked it, full of fresh flowers and cool art and blankets everywhere. But we weren’t there for the cottage.

How cute is this place?

We dropped our bags and started the 20-minute walk into Edinburgh, passing quaint bookstores and pubs with overflowing flower baskets outside. It was another beautiful day and the walk went quickly. We crossed through Princes Street Gardens, which was my favorite spot in Edinburgh last time I went. It was as beautiful as I remembered. Once we hit the Royal Mile (the main strip in Edinburgh overflowing with bars and souvenir shops that leads up to the castle), I could tell Andrew wasn’t impressed. There were so many people on the street we could barely maneuver. I think on a normal day the Royal Mile is packed, but we had really bad timing and arrived the day before the Fringe Festival officially started, so the area was mobbed. But we only had one day, so I forced Andrew to rally and we elbowed our way up to Edinburgh Castle and made our way in. We dutifully wandered for about 20 minutes and I could tell I needed to get Andrew out of the crowds and with a beer.

Princes Street Gardens

We ducked into a cute little pub right on the Royal Mile that miraculously wasn’t crowded, so we had lunch and a pint before hitting the street again. I dragged him into a few shops, looking for a very specific mustard my dad requested, but none of them had it. Then Andrew got to pick the activity, so we went geo-caching. By the time we found a cache, we were both over the crowds and walked out, so we headed back to the cottage to chill for a couple hours. We had a quiet dinner at a pub in Leith and then called it an early night. I was sad Andrew didn’t love my favorite city, but you can’t win them all.

Edinburgh Castle

Beverly, August 1–3

Beverly

Sheep at our cottage

The next morning we were back in our bus, heading south for Beverly. We stopped in Newcastle for lunch, but neither one of us ordered a Newcastle. Lame. We got to Beverly just in time to meet Andrew’s family at a pub. Beverly is a very cute, quintessential British village, and the family was gathered in a pub off the town square. It was a great reunion with his aunts, uncles, and cousins. After a drink there, we all disbanded to meet up at the farm we had rented out for the stay. It was a working farm with cottages scattered around a common area, and we had most of the cottages for the family. Andrew and I went to the grocery store with a couple cousins to get food and drinks for the night and then met everyone at our home for the next few days. When we drove up, my eyes went straight to the fields beyond our cottages, filled with sheep! I’d been chasing sheep all around Iceland, and here they were, just waiting for me in England. We all spent the evening relaxing, eating, drinking, and chatting. There was a fire going in the firepit. The sheep were happily munching grass. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Borrowed fascinators

The next day was Andrew’s cousin’s wedding, the reason we had all descended upon England. We put on our finest, including fascinators for some of the ladies, and took cabs about 20 minutes outside of town to the venue. It was beautiful country spot, with a cabin area (bar and bathrooms) and a big tent on the sprawling lawn for lunch. There was a separate pavilion overlooking a pond where the ceremony was going to take place. Lawn games were set up. There wedding started around noon, and then we all had lunch in the tent. This was my first English wedding, and I don’t think they’re all like this, but it was an all-day affair. After lunch people played lawn games and lounged around, and then around 5 a second group of friends showed up for the party. A food truck appeared offering burgers, hotdogs, and fries for everyone. I thought it was ambitious to host an almost 12-hour wedding, but they pulled it off amazingly. By the time we got home, everyone was tuckered out and I slept like a baby.

Relaxing Andrew

The next day we wandered around Beverly a little and got more supplies for a big family dinner back at the cottages. The bride and groom came over and the whole family got to spend one last night together before people scattered in their different directions. Some were going to Ireland, some to Iceland, but Andrew and I were driving down to London to catch our direct flight back to Austin. It was painful waking up at 3:30 to leave, but it helped that we weren’t the only ones leaving that early.

All in all, the UK was the perfect complement to Iceland. We weren’t really sightseeing as much as we were catching up with friends and family in a beautiful setting. Oh, and I forgot to mention, the last night we all managed to pet one of the sheep and a couple of piglets on the farm. What more could you want?