I went to Sydney on a business trip for 2-3 weeks. Since, it was a business trip I was going to travel alone and miss my family. Therefore, I appreciated the short duration of the trip but it did not feel like a short one. Most of it was work only and some time for me during the two weekends. I had decided to make the most of available time instead of idling and feel more homesick. Also, I was going to stay in the CBD area so it was a big advantageous factor since not much effort was to be spent for sightseeing.
The journey began with the longest flight I’ve ever been on (17 hours) with a stopover at Bangkok for 2 hours. I had a terrible time in the flight from Delhi to Bangkok; I was struggling a lot in the airplane seats and couldn’t sleep at all. However, the flight from Bangkok to Sydney was much better. On my flight from Bangkok to Sydney, an Australian lady was seated at the window seat on my right hand side. She asked me if I wanted to swap my seat with hers as I had started looking like an insomniac. I agreed immediately and started general conversation as etiquette before I went to sleep. She told me that she was returning from London after seeing her husband and had been travelling for more than 15 hours already. I felt embarrassed and kept quite. I fell asleep after a while and slept really well for next 7 hours.
After reaching Sydney, I took a taxi and started for the apartment. My apartment was located on King Street, which is like in the middle of CBD area. At the apartment, I met a colleague – Anuj, who was also staying there for more than a month now. Anuj was a great company in Sydney and an instant help. Quickly I discussed sightseeing, shopping and Indian food options with Anuj. I learnt that most of the sightseeing places like Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and Darling Harbour etc. were very close to the apartment. I also got to know that Sydney markets close by 5pm in the evening on weekdays (Thursday being an exception) and it’s only during weekends that markets are open till late. It meant that I couldn’t do any shopping during weekdays. Shopping was an important thing to do since I am married. Thankfully, Anuj was married too. So, we decided to do shopping during the weekend and do sightseeing during weekdays. Sounds weird, isn’t it? As for food options, I visited the highly suggested – Jaipur Restaurant and other standard options – Subway, McDonalds, Dominos etc.
As decided, Anuj and I went for sightseeing mostly during the week. Due to close proximity of our apartment, we covered off Darling Harbour, Wildlife world, Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, Sydney Tower, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Botanical Gardens within the first week. We used to go outside after office hours and visit these places. I would appreciate the apartment’s location everyday. Office, places for sightseeing, food options, markets etc – everything was in vicinity. Anuj was leaving for home at the end of week, so I was going to stay alone. Therefore, I deferred all loner activities like shopping etc. for the weekend. I had developed some shopping skills in London whilst staying alone.
On the weekend, I went to look for shopping places like Queen Victoria Building, Paddy’s market, shops in the CBD area – King Street, Pitt Street, Market Street, and George Street, York Street and also went to DFO, Homebush. I could find some good clothes and bags for my wife from DFO and also bought some gifts and souvenirs from Pitt’s Street. Overall, it was a great decision to do shopping during the weekend. In fact, I just did not realize when the weekend was over.
The following week was quite busy and I was completely occupied with work in the office. However, I could still find some free time and roam around during the evenings. It was my last week in Sydney and I was quite excited to fly back home.
The return journey was not that painful or may be I just did not realize it due to excitement. I was waiting to meet Naisha (my daughter) and family. I reached Delhi at 2AM in night and had to wait a little longer before I could meet and play with Naisha. She was sleeping very peacefully in her bed and I didn’t want to wake her up. But it was worth the wait. In the morning when Naisha woke up, she noticed me in the room and looked at me for a while. Then she recognized me and started smiling and laughing. She came running towards me and raised her arms asking me to hold her in my hands. It was amazing to see her reaction and I was overjoyed.
The trip concluded well and not as bothersome as I initially expected it to be. Some pics.
https://picasaweb.google.com/109225815024041933050/SydneyTrip?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOixr_3ErpCxyQE&feat=embedwebsite
https://picasaweb.google.com/109225815024041933050/SydneyTrip?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOixr_3ErpCxyQE&feat=embedwebsite
