Packing is always a pain. Packing to go from point A to point B, and keep somewhat organized, is even moreso, because you have to remember what’s dirty, what’s got another day in it, and what needs to be quarantined in a plastic bag so as not to contaminate anyone else.
Perth has two airports – one for international and one for domestic. It’s interesting to see the differences between their version of TSA and ours. First, they’re POLITE. Once again, it never seems to fail that the US customs / TSA / Etc. tend to be the rudist and most offensive of anyone in those positions. My carry on bag got stopped – it usually does, b/c I tend to have all the chargers and electrical wires and cords in it. In this case, though, in the repack I’d inadvertently put a plastic bag that was originally checked into my carryon – it had a corkscrew and fingernail clippers. The corkscrew was taken, but I could keep the nippers if I’d break off the file. Maybe the Aussies are more polite about it, but they don’t seem to be any more rational.
The other thing that was different – in the US, they’re quick to demand that you step away from the bag, don’t touch anything, etc. The lady hear said, “Love, I hate to trouble you, but I need you to unpack it for me so we can have a look.” She didn’t dig through, but asked me to take things out, told me what she was looking for, and then asked me to repack it so they could run it back through X-ray. As in so many cases, it’s not what one says, but how it’s said.
After breakfast, we both did a little work while waiting in the airport – it’s not very large, just 8 gates for the domestic that we saw (although there may have been another terminal), but it was large enough to handle the 767 we were on.
Anyone can come to the gates in Australian airports, thus it’s like it used to be with families waiting to meet people as they come off the plane. You all have to go through security, but apparently no boarding pass is needed to get through it. Qantas doesn’t board by rows or zones or anything, either – que up and get on the plane.
About Qantas – they so spoil you to air travel. Although I’m sure their seats aren’t any bigger / softer or further apart, the first thing you notice is that the headrest will fold around you. It’s got wings, like on a wingback chair, that you can pop out to keep you from doing the “church nod” on the plane. No need for that little U-shaped pillow that’s so hard to deal with.
The other thing is that we were immediately served a hot lunch – never mind that when we took off it was 9:15, so we were getting lunch about 10:15. If you immediately change to the new time zone, though, then it’s lunchtime. We learned our lesson about the “chicken in oyster sauce” on the last trip, so opted for the vegetarian Pasta in pesto with roasted veggies.
Well, maybe it’s not all that different from other airlines in some respects.
Nonetheless, they freely handed out the little bottles of wine, beer, soda or whatever else you wanted – no charge. Then, a bit later, they came by with Ice Cream. The movie was kinda dull – some type of dysfunctional family drama and we opted out of it, but you can hardly expect to like all the movies all the time.
The one cultural difference that I noted again was that there were a zillion little kids – say 8 and under – and they were constantly running up and down the aisles. Part of the time the parents were there with them, part of the time they weren’t – sometimes an “older child” (i.e. the 9 y/o) and sometimes they just seemed to be running around on their own, although I admit that I was dozing a bit and might not have been paying quite as close attention as I could have.
We got to the airport, our car was waiting there with a little sign, and in about 30 minutes we were at The Lyall Hotel (check out www.thelyall.com). This place is SO far ahead of the Novotel that we were in earlier that you hardly want to leave. We’re in a very nice suite which has a living room, big flatscreen TV, and a kitchenette – which so exceeds what you would expect – oven, stove, dishwasher, and a midsize fridge. No ice maker, but I understand those are extremely rare in Australia anyhow. They don’t tend to drink things as cold as we do.
The front staff was extremely helpful and friendly. They were almost offended when I started to drag the bags up and a guy was right there to take care of it. He explained how to work everything, showed us where stuff was and then left – no tipping in Australia. Is this a great country or what????
After we unpacked and got situated, it was time to go out for dinner. I read today a great quote that seems applicable – “Time has no meaning, but occasionally there are moments one remembers between eating”. Sometimes it seems like that, especially when I look back at the entries. Nonetheless, we got a recommendation from the front desk and soon realized we’re in the Italian neighborhood.
Apparently, Melbourne prides itself on being very cosmopolitan and much like San Francisco, there are very distinct neighborhoods and districts that have their own flavor. We’re in South Yarro, which is apparently the Italian neighborhood.
After we walked around A LOT, we found some of the other districts –walked up through what was apparently the nightclub area, looked around there a bit. Mostly, we noted that things are a long ways – so you either need a cab or mass trans. We weren’t up to figuring out the transit system last night, and cabs didn’t seem available where we were, so we ended up walking – 4.69 miles for those who are keeping tally.
By the time we got back it was after midnight, we had Diet Cokes (caffeine free – this IS a civilized country!) and cashed it in.
Oh, one more tidbit about the hotel that’s odd – there’s no shower curtain, although there’s a glass wall over about the front 1/3 of the shower. Apparently you just let it splash out and mop it up later.
The other thing that rates high on the “major cool” list is that there’s a flatscreen television in the bathroom. There’s a telephone, too, which is probably less desirable, but the TV is right up there to go in the planning stages for the next place we live!
