Day 1 & 2 The Long Flight to Australia

On Friday afternoon we headed to the airport with Blake and Debbie. First, we had a short flight to LAX. We had a long layover at LAX. Our flight to Australia and our flights to and from LAX were on different itineraries so we gave ourselves plenty of time in case anything happened. We passed the time by walking around the international terminal, getting dinner at PF Chang’s, and relaxing in the Sky Club. Our flight to Australia took off around 9 p.m. We settled in for the long haul. We watched movies and slept for the next 14+ hours before landing in Sydney.

We landed in Sydney on Sunday because we crossed the international date line. Saturday completely disappeared. Turns out that Saturday was Blake’s birthday. We still made sure to wish him a happy birthday when we landed, although he did wonder if since we skipped his birthday this year he could avoid getting a year older.

Our travels were not over yet. We had one more short flight to Brisbane and then about an hour's drive to the Gold Coast. The drive was pleasant and uneventful. In Australia, they drive on the opposite side of the road. While it felt somewhat strange to us and had a few minor differences to adjust to it really didn’t make a difference to us. Blake did a fantastic job driving us all over Brisbane and the surrounding areas.

The drive gave us our first glimpse of Australia. We noticed there were many similarities between Brisbane and the United States. We wondered if this country would be more like the US or like Great Britain (while also acknowledging that Australia is a unique place). After our experiences in Brisbane, we would say Australia is the most similar to the US out of the foreign countries we have visited.

We arrived at our hotel on the Gold Coast around midday. We stayed at the Marriott at Surfers Paradise. We wanted to stay at the Hilton, but when we booked this trip ages ago the Hilton showed up as completely booked. We assumed there must be a convention or something for the hotel to the booked. However, we found out shortly before our trip the rooms showed as unavailable because it is a schoolie hotel. Basically high school graduates from all over Australia visit the Gold Coast over three weeks to celebrate graduation. We were glad the Marriott was not a schoolie hotel. Going in had no idea if the schoolie festivities would be disruptive to our trip, but it really wasn’t. While we did see occasional groups of graduates the event seemed to be well organized. It was quite impressive.

Everyone we have met in Australia has been so kind and helpful. The locals we ran into and chatted with were friendly and loved to point us in the right direction. Finding kind and friendly people makes a destination so much more appealing.

Our hotel was a short walk from the beach. We dropped our bags at our hotel and changed into our beach clothes. We were famished and really wanted some real food after so much airport/airline food. We found a good cafe for lunch and then we hit the beach.  Australia has tons of beaches and Surfers Paradise is one of the most famous. It did not disappoint. The beach is huge and has a really unique look because there is a skyline of huge ornate-looking hotels just behind the beach. The sand was so incredibly fine. It felt more like sugar than sand. This beach is so beautiful.

We relaxed on the beach for a couple of hours before heading back to the hotel. The Marriott we are staying at has a huge pool area - complete with a man-made saltwater lagoon/sandy beach, a winding lazy river-type pool, and a few hot tubs. We went down to the pool where I swam around in the lagoon. Alison, Debbie, and I also enjoyed lounging in the hot tubs.

Debbie tweaked her knee at some point so she and Blake stayed at the hotel for dinner. Alison and I decided to go out. We walked all around the Surfers Paradise shopping area before settling on an Italian place for dinner. Alison got a seafood risotto and I had a Kangaroo steak. I figured it was something best tried in Australia if I was ever going to try it. The meat reminded me quite a bit of lamb, but a little tougher.

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and fell asleep as soon as our heads touched the pillows. We managed to stay up into the evening despite the significant time change. It was a really good first day in Australia.