Jetlagging Through Sydney

Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone back in the U.S. I’m extremely jealous of anyone who enjoyed turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, jello salad or anything else Thanksgiving-related on Thursday. You know how I celebrated the holiday? By going to a deli in Sydney and eating a sandwich called “The Thanksgiving.” So there.

I’m getting ahead of myself though. I had extremely successful flights from Paris to Sydney on Tuesday & Wednesday. It was a pretty strange, um, day? 2 days? It went from night to day to night and back to day quicker than it ever should. And also, on the first change from night to day, it went from pitch black to completely light in about 4 minutes. I can’t ever remember flying from SF to Boston and having a similar experience with how quickly the sun can rise when flying east. With 24 hours of traveling, I had convinced myself I’d be sleeping at least once for an 8-hour stretch. As a matter of fact, I got some sort of “sleeping pills” from a pharmacy in Paris for that very purpose. It was an interesting exchange as I asked the pharmacist if he knew what Nyquil or Tylenol PM was, and he asked what my symptoms were. I said I just want to be able to sleep; he walked in the back room and came out with a small box of pills. Nothing else was said, and it was honestly the closest I came to being involved in a drug deal in all my time in Europe. I looked up the drug’s name online at my hostel in Paris, and it wasn’t completely comforting to see a sentence like, “it is known that the pills Heath Ledger died from contained Donormyl.”

Anyway, on the first flight (7 hours) I used more natural methods to fall asleep (complimentary glasses of wine & beer). On the second flight (14 hours), I took the pills several times but could not fall asleep. I think the main reason was the incredible in-flight entertainment provided by my new favorite airline:

There were roughly 100 movies and 75 TV shows I could choose from on my personal entertainment system. Also, video games!! Picture me dead tired, having taken pills to help me sleep, but choosing to fight those urges to play the “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” game instead. That’s pretty much how it went down. I believe I watched 5 movies from start to finish, including Lord of the Rings. So not much sleep time at all.

When I got to the Abu Dhabi airport, I realized I was clueless about their currency and the applicable exchange rate. But clearly I needed to eat. I exchanged 20 USD for 72 Dirhams. I have no idea if this was fair or not.

While I’m on the topic of currency, a couple things about Australian currency:

1). Pretty awesome that it’s almost a 1-to-1 exchange rate with the U.S. dollar. In one sense it makes life easy finally, but in another sense, I find myself converting it back to Euros to see if I’m paying a similar amount for things here as I was in Europe.

2). So even though Europe is annoying with having so many coins due to no bills smaller than 5, at least they do coins the correct way with the larger ones being for the larger amounts of money. In Australia they just have to do it different (of course), so a $2 coin is the size of a U.S. dime, and a 50-cent piece in Australia is roughly the size of my fist. Not confusing in any way.

Now that I’ve opened up the “how Australia is different” conversation… did you know they drive on the opposite side of the road here?? I didn’t. Seriously, I had no idea even after a shuttle took me from the airport to the hostel (that’s what minimal sleep for 35+ hours will do to you). But at least they are looking out for us American & Europeans with helpful indicators:

I will say it’s a big relief to be back in an English-speaking country. There are so many examples I could point out already such as being able to communicate with a bus driver or someone making my food. But it really hit home when I went to the grocery store, and finally there were no more guessing games. No more accidentally buying tomato paste instead of pasta sauce, or hoping I bought turkey breast.

I’ve now spent 2 out of my 3 days here on the beach, including a long day of relaxing on Manly Beach yesterday (Friday). Apparently Bondi Beach is the most-famous of all Sydney beaches, and I can’t figure out why. But on Wednesday morning I did a free walking tour of a bunch of beaches along a 5km path leading to Bondi. Here are some pictures:

As for Manly Beach, I thought it was fantastic. A little less crowded than Bondi, better waves, and a great “beach town” atmosphere. Some supporting pictures:

Here are some quick observations about the beaches in Sydney:

-There are specific “flagged areas” on the beach where they recommend you swim due to the current, but usually you’re allowed to swim outside the flags at your own risk. At Manly, I was outside the recommended area for 10 minutes when a Lifeguard started yelling at me to get out of the water. Perfect timing as I was just starting to think, “Shit, I may not be able to get back to shore on my own.” The waves just never stopped coming.

-It was pretty funny watching hundreds of surfers get absolutely crushed by these waves all day, until I remembered that I will be one of those people next week.

-It was a windy enough day yesterday that when I came out of the water after 15 minutes, I could barely find my towel as it was covered in a layer of sand. Not very comfortable laying on a beach and getting covered like that every time the wind blows.

-So it appears that clothing is optional for women on all parts of the beach…

-And also, how do I say this non-offensively??? Um, it seems the “cuts” (or styles) of bikini that most girls wear in Australia aren’t even available in the U.S. And they should be…starting now.

-You know how in the U.S. people will toss a football to each other on the beach? Well in Australia they don’t seem to do that. Instead they use a rugby ball, and they basically pitch it backwards to each other while standing maybe 6 feet apart. Seems super fun huh?

-I know this isn’t a beach-related observation, but I may set a record for most milkshakes consumed in a 1-month period if the weather stays this hot. That should do wonders for my “surfer’s body.”

I was chatting with some girls from Oregon the other day, and they agreed with me that the Christmas vibe doesn’t seem right out here. First of all, it just seems weird to have Xmas decorations & carolers in 90+ degree heat.

And also, they apparently don’t say “Merry Christmas,” but instead use...

Weird.

On the 1 day I haven’t gone to the beach, I did the typical Sydney sightseeing. Now live vicariously through these pictures:

And lastly, if you’ve made it this far, a final story for you. So I cut my hair on Thursday:

But I was convinced I would get a mohawk and leave it that way for a week or so. I had the guy start by giving me a mohawk, and even though he warned me it would look bad, I went forward with it. When he asked me what I thought of it, I muttered, “This looks friggen ridiculous.” He laughed and asked if I wanted him to take a picture of it before he cut the rest off. I said no thanks, one of my brothers already has enough incriminating photographic evidence of me anyway. So I guess it’s settled: I only have 2 hairstyles, and one of them makes me look Jewish.