G'Day from Down Under!

Recently, we were able to check a very exciting thing off on our bucket list! 

A family vacation to Australia! 

Skyline view from the flight deck of the ship


We had a unique opportunity to visit our sailor while he was in port and took advantage of this chance to see him. We are so proud of the hard work he puts in while he his underway and it was a nice break to get to spend quality family time together after a few months apart. We also escaped  the hottest week on record in Japan for a nice end of winter temperature in Aussie! 

Traveling solo with a toddler is no easy feat! This trip entailed for us a 2 hour bus ride to the airport, 1.5 hour flight to South Korea, 10 hour flight to Australia, and a 20 minute cab ride to our hotel. By nature, I am a planner! I spent weeks prepping for this trip, planning our itinerary, picking out activities and snacks for the plane ride and soaking up as much information about local happenings as possible. Traveling with a toddler will receive it's own blog post in the future!

Luggage, car seat, stroller, diaper bag, and toddler: CHECK!

Our flight there was overnight, and was pretty easy on our little sailor. I highly recommend traveling overnight on long hauls! We were able to check into our hotel early, take a long nap, shower and head out to see our sailor. It was only a 1 hour time difference from Japan so that transition was easy as well. The flight back was a morning flight and after 8 days of travel, our little sailor was less then thrilled about being cooped up on the plane.

This trip didn't go without a view hiccups! First being, we almost didn't make it there!  The travel agency that I booked my ETA (special Visa to visit Australia) miss-typed my birth year. It was 1 digit off, and at a glance looked accurate. This made it difficult to get my boarding pass all the way to our final destination. I was only able to get my ticket to South Korea and spent an hour worried sick before we boarded that we wouldn't be able to complete our trip! Thankfully, we were able to get it fixed but I still spent the 10 hour flight worried that we would arrive and run into more issues. Ultimately, we made it into the country just fine, but I was stopped again at customs when leaving due to the mess up. After 8 days on vacation, a cranky toddler in tow, I was crying in the airport just wanting to board our flight. A unhelpful customs agent was making it much more difficult then it had to be so his supervisors stepped in and helped us. I still am not quite sure where things went wrong other then the VISA being wrong on the way there. Note to future travels: check, double check and triple check your information before you travel!

Sky cart to the zoo (after the ferry to the island) You ride over the zoo! It was very exciting!

Our itinerary was jam packed while we were there! We were able to see the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, Taronga Zoo, Seal Life Aquarium, Wild Life Zoo, Sydney Tower (highest point overlooking Sydney 360 degrees, Manly Beach (via ferry), a wax museum, Target (this is a big deal having been in Japan for a year!) and lots of  window shopping (it's VERY expensive there), looking around and taking in the scenic views of the city.  We mostly traveled by train there (which works just like the subway systems in New York City) but also took the city bus and lots of walking! A nice perk of being on vacation somewhere outside of Japan was being able to speak English when looking for directions and indulging in American food we don't easily have access to where we live in Japan!

You can look but not touch the Koala's... try telling that to a toddler!

White Cockatoo's flew freely all over while we were there!

Sydney Bridge and Sydney Opera House in the distance while on the ferry to the zoo.

 If ever given the opportunity, we would definitely go back. Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef is still on my bucket list! We had an amazing time!! For now it's back to just me and my little sailor but we look forward to seeing our sailor again soon and pray for his safety while he is away.

Thanks for following our family travels!