Floyd Friends

Dinner with the Floyds was a great success! They shared their food, home and stories with us (mom and dad, too). I'm significantly more excited than I was prior to meeting with them. 

Ryan kept an ongoing list of the many recommendations that came from their story telling. The highlights being mostly food and attractions. Austin was generous to give us the contact information of a couple of their friends down under. Now, if the need arises with have either a driver or an emergency contact. Pretty cool!

Next move: make an actual itinerary, on a real calendar. 🤗 

34 Days!

We're getting closer! School's wrapping up; we're into testing seasons - which means Australia is just around the corner.

This afternoon we're having an early dinner with Austin in hopes to solidify an itinerary. This has been a long awaited gathering. We had to postpone the initial dinner because of a stomach bug, so the day has finally arrived!

Ryan and I have talked about a few "must-do" or "must-see" attractions, but I'm excited to hear a local's perspective. By the end of the day, we should have more than two activities on the agenda.

The excitement of meeting with Austin motivated me to attempt a trial pack. It was a good call. We want to travel with backpacks only, not that we plan to do much actual backpacking. It just seems the easiest way to travel. However, this is definitely not an art form perfected in a day. I'm saving Attempt #2 until Ryan arrives.

Now, to make cupcakes while I await his return!

Thank you, HomeAway!

Finding a place to stay has been challenging.

Initially, we wanted to stay at a hotel since we're most familiar with that process. The perks of hotels being room service, kitchen option, and having a relatively good idea of what to expect. However, after staying at a hotel for the first time in a while, I was reminded of all the downsides, too. Hotels are loud and busy. These aren't the worst, but I don't want to deal with kids running and screaming down the hallway at 10pm. So, we started exploring other options.

Fortunately, we were "introduced" to Austin! He's long been friends with my dad, and happened to live in Sydney for a few years. He recommended HomeAway to us, along with a few of his favorite locations to check out first. Grateful for the guidance, we began a more directed search.

HomeAway has an abundance of rental properties listed. Our limited hotel search expanded to endless great options. It was refreshing!

Because of the variety of suitable options, it took us nearly 2 weeks to find the perfect place. But, today we finally booked out HomeAway from home!

We'll be enjoying a view of  Sydney harbour from our top floor apartment in Fairlight. It's a 2 minute walk to the beach, and only 10 minutes to the center of Manly. The photos are beautiful, and the contact was incredibly helpful answering our questions. The peace and quiet of the area is unmistakable.

Of course, this place was Austin approved, and he was the first to celebrate with us. It feels significantly more real now that we have somewhere to sleep in Sydney.

Now that flights and lodging are booked, we can start planning our days!
Australia, we're getting closer.

Australia Bound!

We're going to Australia! 


Months ago, Ryan and I decided that we wanted an adventure. So, we set out searching for cheap flights to anywhere, literally anywhere. Destination undetermined, we started saving money. Given the fact we're both on teacher salaries, we knew this portion would take a while. Again, being teachers, we aren't able to fly away until school's out for the year. 

While out at a WMU Hockey Game, Ryan received word of a flight deal that sounded too good to be true. Mid second period, we walked out and made a few necessary phone calls - checking to see if it was actually a deal worth looking into. Turns out, it was! 

We left the game immediately! We did some serious researching about the airlines, flight times, layovers and date guidelines. Of course, all this with the help of Ryan's parents (international travel veterans). After a couple frantic conversations, we decided to go for it! 

We leave June 10th, which does happen to be the day after school is out for the summer. The only downside, since the flight deal was very specific on redeemable dates, we will return to the U.S. a short 10 days later. Regardless, great deal on airfare! 


>> Thanks, Scott's Cheap Flights! <<


We're going to Australia! 
Let the planning commence.