This was a travel day, but we had a late flight – 9:20pm – so we had nearly a full day in Sydney. We had breakfast with Leo and Gloria again, packed and checked out by 10am. We confirmed on the hotel scale that our bags were (barely) under the 50-pound airline limit. We had to rearrange a few things (and fill our backpacks to overflowing), but we achieved our goal.
We then left the bags with the hotel owner/concierge and walked to the harbor where Marlene fed the remaining Aldi bread to the pigeons. They had no fear of humans with food. They showed me some love too.
We grabbed a taxi near the pigeon feeding grounds, went to the hotel to collect our luggage and went to the airport. We were there early so we had to cool our heels for an hour before we could check in. But we used the time to verify that our luggage was not overweight. And by arriving early we beat the rush.
After checking in we had to wait for a couple of hours for the 9:20 flight. We played cards. I have given up hope of beating Marlene at rummy. I suspect she will soon suggest we play for 10 cents a point.
The flight, on Sichuan Airlines, left on time. It was a long but uneventful flight. The meals (dinner and breakfast) were interesting though not particularly appetizing. Dinner was a chicken something with a lot of potatoes and not much chicken. It was served with a vegetable side that resembled sweet sauerkraut. It also came with a very sweet drink that I believe was yogurt. Breakfast was better. It was something that looked and tasted like quiche.
The entertainment system was forgettable as it was mostly Chinese movies. Even the English ones had Mandarin subtitles which were distracting.
We slept little and arrived in Chengdu at 5:30am.
Then things got interesting. But more on that in the next post.
Our three nights in Sydney were at the Mariners Court Hotel. This would be called a “boutique hotel” in the US. It is small and is not part of any large hotel chain. It got good reviews and had a location I liked, but it was so inexpensive (under $100 per night) that I arrived with low expectations. To say that it exceeded my expectations would be a gross understatement. The room was large, the bathroom was clean, the breakfast was superb and the management was very accommodating. We arrived at 9am and were given a room at that time and were even invited to have breakfast. The bed was comfortable, the minifridge was very cold, there were electrical outlets in convenient locations (and my 110V converter worked fine on the 220V power), closet space was plentiful. Everything about the room was fine. And it had a private balcony!
I loved this place. Highly recommended. 10 out of 10.