It was nine in the evening when we arrived at Byron Bay Hotel & Apartments. The reception area was already closed at that time (which is not uncommon in boutique hotels in Australia) but they made sure that we got their email on the procedure to check in. It was Amazing Raceish kinda thing as we tried to get clues on how to enter the building and check in to our room. All those time, the staff made sure that they remained with us through text messages. A nice gesture from them.
I never liked animals in any form or shape. Well, I don’t mind being near them as long as we both attend to our own businesses. When a friend mentioned that first thing on our itinerary when we land in Gold Coast was to visit an animal sanctuary, I didn’t exactly know how to react. I am no animal lover but I enjoyed our afternoon session with them koalas and kangaroos.
It’s that time of the year again, no, it isn’t Christmas yet. Today is the start of our annual two-month backpacking trip. And this year, we’ll be braving uncharted territories as we go out of our comfort zones and travel to two countries in Africa—our dream destinations!
It was our last night in Sydney when we decided to finally have our Aussie beer session on one of the pubs around. Fortunately our home for three days, Rydges World Square, is perfectly situated in the middle of Sydney CBD so it’s surrounded with restaurants, shopping malls and pubs. You’ll never beat a hotel with that kind of location.
It’s no secret that Thailand is one of the destinations atop nearly every traveller’s bucket list, what with its lush scenery, cultural value and tropical climate. But how do you prepare for a trip? Here are some important things you should be doing before jet-setting away.
I was anxious and excited at the same time. It's my first time to go out of my comfort zone—Asia. As we emerged from the jet bridge, the ground staff cheerfully welcomed us and directed us to the immigration counter. The young officer greeted me and tinkered on his computer then handed back my passport, he's casually smiling all those time. Our driver on our shared shuttle to downtown Sydney was courteous and helpful. From what I usually hear, Australians are discriminatory in nature. Apparently, they’re not. During the course of our two-week adventure in the Land Down Under, there was only this one guy who was hostile. Just one. So safe to say, Australians in general are friendly.
We traced our steps to where we came from and studied the wooden map mounted somewhere. We were supposed to be on a viewpoint for the highest waterfalls of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Blue Mountains, but we weren’t anywhere near it. We were literally lost in one of the best national parks in Australia and we were actually doing what we usually despise, hiking. Bushwalking, as they call it, was never on our itinerary. But there we were, finding our way in the middle of the jungle amidst all the self-guided maps around, while my legs and feet were protesting on the very ‘appropriate’ harem pants and cheapo rubber sandals ensemble.
