sydney-day 2

Day 2
on the ground - hallelujah!
on to customs, and my favorite question on the form - are you bringing in any illegal or illicit drugs or lethal weapons? who would answer 'yes' to this question???

i hand over my papers to the very cute customs guy, who has the teenage girls behind me twittering and frantically fixing their hair...because we ALL look like we have been pressed through a meat grinder at the moment.

he asks me where i am stay (because i left that line blank since i can never remember the name of my friend’s college) and answer with probably the worst thing you can say to the customs officer...
"i'm not sure"
he raises an eyebrow
"well, i'm meeting a friend" (oh great, i am going to be arrested for sure)
"is it in sydney" he asks
"no, about 45 minutes away, it begins with an 'm' - she is in college" he smirks at me pauses then smiles.
"macquarie?"
"yes! that's it!"
"are you sure?" he is almost laughing now, except that it is probably against the rules to laugh if you are a customs officer.

"yes, yes - that is definitely it." and then i proceed to spell it for him, as if to prove that i know what it is...brilliant! good way to confirm myself as the world's most unsophisticated traveler ever!
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finally at the rental car place. now all the time since we have landed i have been checking my phone. no signal AT ALL. yikes! how will i reach my friend? how will i make my way since i was planning to use the GPS? no clue...dont panic, it will be ok.

i hope.

i ask the guy at the rental car place to use his phone for a local call.

No. but i can use the pay phone - he points.

Fine.

at the phone (which as a million different options for how to make a call, in 6 languages)

i put in my change. ring-ring

"Hello?"

"Lizzy?"

"Suz!"

click, the phone goes dead, i need more change to continue the call - WTF! it was 5 seconds.

Fine. I can use my credit card.

No, it takes ever credit card in the world (in 6 different languages) but mine!!

ok, now beginning to panic...cant reach Lizzy, dont know where i am going, AND it is 9:30 in the morning and i haven't had coffee!!

first things first, get a coffee. so i am trying to stay calm, and breath. but i start to laugh at the complete ludicrous situation i am in, and thinking that this probably why most people actually 'plan' their vacations and dont just get on the plane. it doesn't take long in my exhausted state for the laughing to become just a little bit hysterical sounding and dissolve into crying... so i am attempting not to weep openly into my latte and figure out what to do next.

ok, get cash, buy a map, because it isn't going to get any better by sitting in the airport weeping. true - so i gulp down the rest of my coffee. head off to the exchange.

after begging to use his phone and, i am sure, looking completely pathetic. he turns me down on using the phone but gives me a free phone card for the pay phone - Eureka I can at least call Lizzy.

hooray - we get in touch, she is in the middle of giving me directions ...

click, the phone dies.

NO FUCKING WAY! Are you kidding me!!!

FINE, just _________ (fill in swear word here)
I completely give up on the airport and decide that I will just start driving in the general direction I need to go and hope that I can get there eventually.

I got to Lizzy's, 2 hours after leaving the airport - not too bad. After asking for directions 3 times, stopping 2 guys in a grey car, who no matter what will have a place in heaven, for letting me follow them to the road i needed. I was there!!
whew!! time for a cup of java!!!
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Lizzy and I went into Sydney on the bus, gorgeous place! I can tell already that I do not want to leave and I will DEFINITELY be coming back!!

I wanted to take pictures of everything - which will probably get annoying, but oh well. After dinner and a wonderful beer, called 'golden ale' which i hope I can find back home. I was dead on my feet.

3 hours of sleep in 36 hours was just not cutting it.

So we decided to have an early night and head back.

i feel asleep on the bus, a first for me. poor Lizzy had to wake me up to get off and walk back to her place. :)