What is the craziest trip you have had? Was it a summer vacation, a winter holiday trip, or even spring break? How about a 3-day journey halfway across the world where the flight time almost exceeds the time spent at the destination?
That’s the crazy whirlwind of a trip that we took to the “Land Down Under.” While there is a lot that happened in the 3 days that we actually spent on Australian land, this episode explores all the craziness that occurred in the 22 hours flying time (and all the time in-between) that we had trying to get to Australia.
Before we delve into the specifics of our journey, enjoy our first Commuter Update story from you, our listeners! This story is from Mike from the Genuine Chit Chat Podcast. Listen to an interesting “Pixar movie-like” story about a goose incident with a surprising twist at the end! And listen to a quick promo to learn more about the Genuine Chit Chat Podcast and, if interested, where you can listen to the show.
First off, let us start by letting the duration of our trip sink in. We spent more than 22 hours (one way) on a plane, plus a couple more hours with layovers, to get from the East Coast of the United States to Melbourne, Australia. Then we spent only 3 days (72 hours) actually on Australian land before journeying back to home for another 22 hours. There are many reasons why this timeframe is insane: there was not enough time to settle into the Australian time zone, how much can you possibly do in 3 days to explore a country you are visiting for the first time (while also attending a wedding), and who goes on a long distance trip for only 3 days?! (Well, apparently we do but…).
Getting to our actual destination was a whorl-wind of a journey in and of itself. Listen to episode 15 to hear about the non-stop running and back-to-back incidents that made us wonder whether we were really meant to go to Australia. From water shut-offs, turtles in the road, and a crazy amount of accidents to missing half our flights and having terrible Wi-Fi connection, there is an endless amount of “adventures” that happened prior to actually landing on Australian soil.
By far, one of the things that excited me most about being able to go to Australia was being able to experience the Australian accent. While some may be excited to see sights such as the Sydney Opera House, I was intrigued by the way people talk 🙂 (and how our “accents” as Americans are perceived by the natives). And lo and behold, I found the first person who told us that we had an accent! So it might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but it was cool to hear that we, the people who it seems have no accent, are accent-less, do in fact have somewhat of an accent 🙂
Hear about crazy incidents we encountered on the day of our flight, including trying to be given a “brand new” stereo system in a sketchy Walmart parking lot, our first experience on Qantas, being forced to eat Vegan airplane food despite only being a vegetarian, seemingly hovering in the air in an airplane, and trying to understand Australian accents. All this to attend a 3-day wedding.
Listen to Episode 15: Lat-e-sir to hear about the whole journey and get the full experience (because writing does not always do the story justice).
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