Am I In The United States?! | Travel Tales

See what I did, my recommendations and how I rank Sydney

​March 4th, 2018
Weather: 72/69 humid and overcast
Distance walked - 5.2 miles

When I first landed in Sydney I took the  subway to the center of the city, which is right by the harbour. From there you can easily see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the iconic Sydney Opera House. After I checked in to my hostel, Sydney Harbour YHA- The Rocks, across the street was an open gym and stopped to watch some local hoopers. I considered hoping in and trying to run but this is about the time I learned that my ankles now swell on long flights - old age comes at you first!

So, I just walked around and stumbled across different shopping strips and looked for the best place to convert money. I then checked out the opera house, a farmers market and The Australian Heritage Hotel for dinner which include having Emu and Kangaroo on my pizza. When in Australia, right?! After that I hung out at my hostel because they had a terrace overlooking the harbor which was cool.

Sydney Opera House with Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

​March 5th, 2018
Weather: 75/70 
Distance walked: 3.7 miles

I had breakfast at the hostel but was not aware of how the process was suppose to go. They gave me all the ingredients, for breakfast and part of it was raw bacon. For a split second I was like 'Do Australians eat raw bacon?' before realizing I was responsible for making my own breakfast.. that was a closer than it should have been honestly.

With my dignity, and stomach in tact, I headed out for the day and checked out the Royal Botanical Gardens, and cruised by the opera house again. I then had to go check out because I was off to New Zealand.

View from within the Royal Botanical Gardens.

March 18th, 2018
Weather:  100F / 93F
Distance walked: 5.3 Miles

Just like that I was back in Sydney cruising around, checking out some shops and ended up at Ribs and Burgers, for you guessed it, ribs. I then checked into my AirBnb and talked Australian history with my hosts, Jacob and Simone.  I found it interesting that why Sydney probably felt so familiar to the USA was that is was established around the same time. Once England lost the American colonies they just made a new version in Australia. 

After being all educated up I headed over to check out the rooftop bar at Glenmore and cruising by the harbour.

View from Ribs and Burgers (in the Rocks area).

March 19th, 2018
Weather: 81F / 72F
Distance walked: 2.6 Miles

I went to Pancakes on the Rocks for the Aussie sunrise which included pancakes, bacon, an egg, grilled banana and pineapple. I then had some time to kill and checked out the harbour one last time before getting ready for the airport.

Sydney Sentiment

Getting Around: 7/10
Sydney is a pretty big city but I thought it was easy to get around and the downtown area is very walkable. I never took a taxi or ride sharing app but I'm sure they have it. 

Things to do:  4/10 
 felt other than the harbour, which is basically the opera house, bridge, and botanical garden all rolled into one there wasn't a whole lot to do. I never went and check out Bondi beach which could have added something to do but I felt I was just repeating the same thing over and over. 

Food: 5/10 
Nothing stood out as being awful but it wasn't amazing either.  

Overall: 4.5/10 
I was looking forward to Sydney but was kind of disappointed with my experience there. There was nothing awful about it but I felt I flew 20+ hours to be in a hybrid of San Diego and New York City. Which if you've been to both cities it sounds awesome. It just felt like I was still in the United States, which isn't a bad thing, and may be a plus for some people but I was looking for something different.

I felt that Sydney would be a cool place to live but didn't feel it had a whole lot to offer as a tourist. I was also only there for a short time, didn't go to Bondi beach, the Blue Mountains, or do things like climb the bridge which would have obviously changed my experience. Overall, I thought it was a cool city but as a tourist there were others I liked more.​​​ If you want to see where it ranks against the over places I've gone click here. ​

My Non-Obvious Sydney Recommendations:

1. ​I stayed in The Rocks area and thought it was a cool. It was more historic and was easy to get to the subway or the harbour.
2. Australia is weird with wifi. There don't have the infrastructure that other places had whether the US, Europe, or even Asia. Certain places will limit your daily use or require you to pay extra.
3. I didn't do these but a cruise around the harbour, climbing the bridge, bondi beach, or the blue mountains would have been cool. 

What To Bring

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From the Royal Botanical Gardens

Sydney Harbour

View from the roof of my hostel.

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