After 17 hours in flight, two planes, and a brief lay-over in Auckland, I arrived in Sydney with sweaty palms and one fewer suitcase than I had when I left San Francisco. I ran to catch my connecting flight in Auckland, but apparently my checked bag was not as quick as I. I waited at baggage claims for a while, then realized that several other people where having the same problem as I; so we all dragged our sleepy bums over to the counter to find out that our bags were on the next flight from Auckland and would be delivered to us at some point in the next 48 hours. By this time, I was so excited to see Narayan/get out of the airport/walk around in sunny Sydney/see Narayan (did I already say that?), I figured, “screw the bag. Who needs clothes anyway?”. My bag did come the next day, after a few phone calls and some time spent on hold.
Since then, I’ve since spent much of my time scouring Gumtree (the Australian equivalent of Craigslist) for work, a phone, and potential free furniture to furnish our new place (more on that to come!). When I’m not pretending to be “very busy and important” on my computer, I mostly stroll around the city and remark at how natural it feels to be back here. Sydney is warm and green, exciting and bustling, and I’m looking forward to carving out my little niche with Narayan over the next year.
A Sea Away 