Our Latest Greatest Vacation

Alright. So every time we travel, Candace pulls out the iPod notepad and takes detailed notes of our trips so we don’t forget anything. So she’s put this post together and here's a little sampler of our vacation. Since being back, she’s tried to cut it down as much as she could but it’s still very long so she divided it up into multiple posts. Hopefully through our scattered thoughts and pictures, you will feel like you’ve been there too! And at the end of the trip report, I'll post all the main pictures of the trip. I only took 765 pictures, but I promise I won't bore you with all of them.

9/3/2010. Traveled from SLC to LAX flying Delta. Writing this note 24 hours later and can’t even remember the details of the flight. Too many flights ago. Too many airports ago. So tired. But not done traveling yet so might as well write. LAX showed me my first interaction with New Zealand locals, waiting for New Zealand Air. Not pretty. Sitting reading while Fernando abandoned me to charge his phone at a charging station (quickly becoming his most common pastime). Some guy came up, shoved Fer’s stuff aside and sat down, man-handling another woman’s stuff on the other side of him. Kept reading without even looking up. Annoyed. Apparently, other woman was holding the seats for her kids and grandkids. She starts yelling. What a mess. I just read the book as loud as I could in my head. Didn’t feel like getting into it at midnight Mountain time. Started wondering if locals’ interactions often led to arguments and if this was normal. [no indication of this in NZ, thank heaven]

Boarded 747 monstrosity. New Zealand Air has a huge selection of movies (50+), tv shows (100+), music and everything else you can think of to keep yourself occupied for your initial 13 hours flight. But instead, we slept. More leg room than normal, and chairs lean back more than normal. Meals are decent too. Slept for 8 hours without even realizing it. Can you ask for anything more when you’re taking a transpacific flight? My only disappointment was that I put 10 movies and shows in my queue and I watched one.

New Zealand Airport. Empty because it’s still early in their morning. Back on to a plane and off to Sydney. Somewhat local flight of three hours and still 35 movies to chose from. Another breakfast. I love this airline.

9/5/2010. Arrived in Sydney at 10am. Left Utah at 6pm and in Sydney at 10 am except that we flew 24 hours and that it's not Saturday in Sydney but Sunday. I can’t figure this out right now.

Took the airport shuttle to our hotel crammed in the back like sardines. The driver gave a tour of everything as he was driving so thank heavens we were the 8th of nine stops! We saw the whole city this way. Learned from the driver it was Father’s Day as his daughter had just called him. Very cute.

Hotel room was small but clean. Bathroom was actually pretty nice with tiled floors and walls.

Window faced buildings except out the left corner of the window is the freaking Sydney Opera House. We have arrived! No sleeping... Too excited. Took the subway (which the entrance for is literally the next door from our hotel entrance, which my dad would be happy about because we also seem to be one block from bum central) to Circular Quay (pronounced key) And wow. The pictures say it all.

The weather was perfect. About 70 degrees and sunny.

A word about the city: No trash cans. So naturally the city is littered. How cheap it would be to fix that problem?! Plus a billion birds from seagulls (mine?) to pigeons to cockatoos to some crazy bird I’ve never seen before.

Bird poop on Fernando’s head made me laugh but so many birds around that I'm sure it will happen many more times before the end of the trip.

The Rocks area is pretty cool. Old architecture. Its Sunday so Street market galore.

Darling harbor was darling (how pathetic am i). Fun to walk around. Tons of restaurants and fountains and museums.

Ate at a restaurant in the local mall food court called Nandos (had to for Clint, Katy, and Ben) where mild means mouth on fire.

Stopped by the Lindt Chocolate store to pick up some dessert. Everything so very expensive. Bought a little box with 3 profiteroles for $13. Delicious, but pricey.

Took the subway home. Only 6pm and already dark. Keep forgetting it’s the end of winter down here. We did our best to stay awake for a while but we only lasted until 7. 7pm to 3am.

Watch for more of our vacation to be posted this week!