Sydney Travel Diary || Day One || Part 1

In November 2015, the best friend struck a deal and was offered to travel to Sydney for work in collaboration with AirAsia X & Destination New South Wales. Although the operative term is 'work' when they're basically offering her a free trip to experience the best that there is in the capital city of Australia while promoting it at the same time.

Long story short, something had happened which allowed her to bring me along on this work trip, as her personal assistant. Literally a struck of dumb luck and maybe because I'm a damn good companion, so I went along. This is the perks of being best friends with an awesome celebrity that loves me enough to bring me on the holiday work with her. :3

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Anyway, I have been looking forward to the trip ever since I was asked at 1am. Then the day finally arrived and while waiting at the departure lounge, it finally sunk in that I'd be going on a 'holiday' with the best friend. To Sydney no less, which I wanted to visit for a while now.

Mugshot taken from snapchat. 

This was us while we waited at the departure lounge. And yes, this is one of those rare moments where you'd see a picture of me in my glasses cause I look horrid in them.

But my contact lens get too dry in the plane and I can't be bothered to remove it by the time I'm already settled in my seat. So yeah, my motto is to be as comfortable as I can during the night flight so I can sleep the whole way and that usually means glasses is my choice. The quicker & longer I sleep means the sooner we arrive.

Lo and behold, I didn't sleep very well.  In hindsight, I should have just gone with my initial idea of getting my Atarax & taking it before departure. Damn it - shoulda, woulda, coulda.

Finally got to use my VS passport holder. Though it gets pretty annoying when customs demand that you remove it. -.-

Honestly, there are no words to explain how much I despise long flights or being stuck in an airplane in general. The control freak in me cannot stand the thought of being thousands of feet in the air without any form of...... I can't think of any other words aside from control.

So imagine how relieved and excited I was when we landed in Sydney after a 7-8 hours flight where sleep was not a friend.

We didn't get much time to really catch a breather because after going through immigration (which was quite the nightmare) and collecting our baggage, we had to meet up with our tour guide & driver. That's when our 'work' day actually started as we had an itinerary to follow.

So Duglass, our tour guide who I will occasionally refer to as Dug, literally she is AHMAZING. Anyway, we went from the airport straight to the hotel to check in and freshen up. I was in for a nap but there is no time for that.

Our first hotel was Novotel Hotel at Darling Harbour. Not gonna lie, the first impression of it when we saw a pink building approaching wasn't exactly the most enthusiastic one. Here's how the best friend's and my reactions were..

"It's pink."

"Huh? Oh....."

A very somewhat disappointed 'oh...' to be honest. Which I am quite guilty about after getting checked in because the hotel was actually quite nice especially the view I got from my room.

Did not exactly take too much time to settle all our checking in business. And I'm saying that because Dug handled everything for us and all our rooms has been pre-booked already thanks to DSW. So I was on my way up to the room and waited for my luggage to arrive before getting changed.

We weren't given much time so it was a mad dash the moment the bags arrived. Though I did have enough time to have a mini room tour because I don't see why not and it was better than me getting all comfortable on the bed. Chances are I'd never get up.

This is the bathroom.

Simple and chic which is good enough for me, especially with the giant mirror with sufficient lighting to do my make up. Though truth be told, I never like doing that by the sink that's usually wet. Grosses me out which just makes my OCD go a tad bit insane.

And there's a bathtub which is a major plus. But then there was no time to use it during my short stay at Novotel.

There's also two beds. One for me and the other for all my crap that I can't be bothered with putting away nicely after a long day. Genius.

There's two queen sized bed, an extra sofa at the corner of the room and a desk for people to do their work on. Plus oddly and luckily enough, a mirror right by the tv for me to do my makeup in natural lighting.

To be honest, it's a pretty big room for two people and could fit a small family of four. But yet I got this room for two nights.

Darling harbour right outside my window.

AND JUST LOOK AT THAT VIEW. Imagine waking up to this on an everyday basis and working right in front of such a sight. Find out more about Darling Harbour and the happenings around there here!

Anyway there was no time to aimlessly stare at the view cause we were pressed for time. After a change of clothes, my make-up done up, we left the hotel with food that was nicely packed for a very hungry group by our tour guide. Told you she is awesome.

So she brought us to this place called Newtown where they coincidentally had a festival going on that very day. For more details about this quaint little place, check out this site!

Apparently this festival happens only once a year where the entire community comes together & enjoy the festivities. I am not kidding, it literally is like a Coachella festival or something filled with lots of music, different kinds of stalls that sells all sorts of cute cute things & also food.

Did I mention that it is completely free entry?

This is one part of the entire park which is bigger than it looks. Already you can hear the music from local bands and everyone just sat around enjoying the nice weather + food + good company + nice tunes.

Seriously if this was back in Malaysia, it will be completely chaotic and also crazily hot. Imagine all the gross sweaty people brushing against you every now & then, plus the grass will most probably be all muddy or filled with trash. *shudders* Just thinking about that makes me cringe.

But nothing like that in Newtown. Or anywhere around Sydney for the matter.

VEGAN FOOOOOOD. My first time seeing an actual vendor just for this kind of diet and the menu is actually quite intriguing. Too bad I already ate before arriving to the festival.

And another thing that is kind of awesome about this country is how easily you can get healthy food. I saw it being sold at a rest stop rather than like instant or fast food. Plus it never is like super crazy priced just cause it isn't high in fat or calorie content.

Humans - both adult and tiny tots were wandering about. Then there's also dogs which were mostly kept on leashes but also doing their usual thing as they sniff happily at everything.

To the best friend's dismay and also mine a little bit, only because she would push me in front of her. Yes, expect the tiniest one of the group to protect you and that'll work perfectly well. Hahahah. But it was fine since all the dogs were super tame and calm in comparison to what I've seen back at home.

Here's another section of the park with a larger field and different kind of music. Honestly it does make me think of a Coachella event or something. Except less crazy and not everyone was dressed in a half-naked boho fashion.

By the time we walked a round of the festival, Bo & I were ready to move onto our next agenda. We both do not do well in the midst of crowds which is quite ironic considering how much we both like going to pasar malams. But then it gets too overwhelming at some point, except here the weather was soooooooo nice despite the sun.

I would walk however long in this weather and have no complaints.

And patiently waiting for us on a random street is our driver, Frank. I don't know how he's still driving when he's about eighty & can still lift our luggage easily, especially when they're not exactly the lightest.

Plus he's very nice and never grumpy looking as he waits around for us to get done with all the filming and visiting. Actually I think he really enjoys being a tour guide driver more than anything. Why he so nice omg.


Happily he drove us through the city and many windy roads to here!

Already I could see the ocean and feel the breeze which made me super excited. And even though it was supposed to be summer time when we were in Sydney, the weather is more cold than hot. It was already slightly gloomy when we reached Bondi Beach for......


Sculpture by the Sea!

Apparently Ruby Rose was there too but I'm not sure if she was there a day before or after us. Which breaks my heart cause I could've met her. ;_;

Doesn't this look like a desktop wallpaper already?

Literally in awe as I stare at the Pacific Ocean. Fell in love with the scenery almost instantly and could barely pay attention to all the sculptures really. It's just not exactly my kind of interest.

Anyway, this has been a rather long post so I'll save some of the best parts for the second part to my first day in Sydney. Which means you, or whoever is reading this Sydney Travel Diary series, will just have to stay tune for the next post. ;)