Even when you’ve traveled a lot, you sometimes make rookie travelers mistakes. I think this is the best way to explain how I found myself frantically searching my bag for my passport as the bus pulled up to take us to the airport. We were already completely out of the room… keys in hand… walking our bags to the bus… and wait… why isn’t my passport in my pocket?!?
Thus began my frantic search, while others waited in the bus and my travel companions watched as I tore through my backpack like a madman, then began on the suitcase as Jen ran back to the hotel room to check if I had left it there. I hadn’t, I was sure of it, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Minutes went by, and then there it was in the top-most pocket of my suitcase. Phew! Of all the silly places to keep a passport!
Time has taught me to always keep my passport with me, I hardly even leave it in a hotel room really. This trip was a little different however and I remember now that when I switched into swimming clothes I figured I didn’t really want my passport getting wet, so I hid it in a compartment in my luggage. I hid it so well that even I forgot where it was two days later. This is so abnormal for me that I’ve been reflexively checking it ever since, and it hasn’t left my person. Passports are important when one is thousands of miles from home!
After throwing things back together, the bus now being somewhat later than it was supposed to be, we were headed to the airport. We were offered Exit Row seating without even having to ask for it (sometimes it pays to be big and imposing!), and the flight to Melbourne was short and passed without incident. We landed, and it was freezing! I was so happy, I could see my breath! It’s the first time I’ve been at the right temperature this trip (well, for me!)!
We caught our ride at about 10:00 AM, and headed to the Travelodge hotel in Southgate area of of Melbourne. We weren’t allowed to check in right away but they did offer to hold our luggage for us. I imagined us being able to find a small coffee shop to sit where I could catch up on my blogging… but after walking across a river (map) and into the center of town it became clear that Melbourne isn’t that sort of city. We discovered it was much more about small eateries, quick bites, and back-alley burger joints. Jen and Jon graciously let me take the backpack back to the hotel, rather than wander around with it (I felt like a target with so much equipment just there for the taking on my back while surrounded by so many people on the streets), and then we headed out again, crossed the same river, and grabbed some lunch.
A view of Melbourne
In all, we’d walk about nine miles that day. We learned that Melbourne reminds us all, at least in part, of San Francisco. The crowds vary from thick to very thin, but there is always a crowd, and the transit in the middle does little to help with the flow. We walked up to see the Olympic parks that are in the area, the tennis courts and the football (soccer, or as they call it here “footy”) stadium, and by then it was time to check into the hotel. Having formed a blister on my foot again in the meantime here, I also begged off further walking as Jen and John found a museum to explore and headed out again. I was in desperate need of a shower after having walked so much, as well as time to catch up on some cheaper laundry (they had a facility on-site!) and write the first two posts for this trip since I was not able to do so in a café earlier in the day. It was overall a very large success! Trips always need down time, and me more than many others needs time to let my feet recover over the next few days before we arrive in Sydney. We’ve got quite a bridge to climb ahead of us.
A small alley where we found some lunch, and eventually walked for dinner as well, along Flinders Street.
We finished our night with Thai food, which was very good but required another walk. My foot will pay the price eventually for this but for now a Band-Aid is doing the job. I never did buy those new shoes I talked about after New York. By the time I thought about it and had the time, it was too close to this trip to try something new, maybe next trip!
As the day winded down I hoped for some good sleep (but wouldn’t get it… somehow waking up at 2:00 AM still seems to be my thing right now), we’d be on a full-day tour of the coast Southwest of Melbourne the following day.
The Melbourne skyline, from their Olympic Park
