Sydney

I promise not to spend TOO much time over the next few days reminiscing about my 2002 trip Down Under. I was there for about 8 days and part of that time I was there by myself.

A funny thing happened on the way to the hotel.

After spending 18 hours flying from LAX to SYD, going through customs, doing a quick currency exchange and being disoriented it was time to get in a taxi and meet up with Baron and Steve. They had been there for a few days and were leaving on the 3rd to go diving but would be returning after a few days.

The hotel was located in Woolloomooloo. Woolloomooloo is a neighborhood in Sydney and the hotel we were staying in wasn't one of the big ones so I sorta had to tell the taxi driver how to get there based on an email from Steve.

I couldn't EVEN say Woolloomooloo and try saying it with a Texas accent on top of it. The taxi driver couldn't figure out what I was trying to say. So I show him a piece of paper where I had spelled it out and he knew the neighborhood and then I said it was near the W Hotel and off we went...on the wrong side of the road with the driver on the wrong side of the car. Talk about a mind f__k.

Baron & Steve asked if I wanted to take a nap but you see it was only 1000A or so in the morning and I knew that if I took a nap that would be the end of it. So off we went for a quick orientation of Sydney. Opera House. Botanic Gardens. Starbucks. Sydney Harbor Bridge. Hyde Park. Starbucks. Circular Quay.

We had a big party to go to that night after dinner and lo and behold we got separated. UGH! I had NO idea where I was and with it being night time I couldn't find any landmarks to orient myself.

So here I am walking down some busy street and I'm tired, jet lagged, etc. and our cell phones aren't programmed for international calling and I can't get a taxi to save my life. So just about the time that I decide to start crying I run into three guys from Houston (yes, on a busy street in Sydney at night time) and they ask if I'm OK and I told them that no I wasn't.

I tell them that I'm lost and I've lost my friends and well they're no help. So one of them says, "Where is your hotel?" And of course I can't say Woolloomooloo. So after stumbling through Woolloomooloo in all of my smartness, I say, "It's near the water."

OK folks. Look at this partial aerial view of Sydney and then you'll understand why they started to laugh.

So I go into the lobby of small hotel hoping to be able to grab a cocktail and calm down because the tears are about to start flowing. No bar.

I then have the brilliant idea (and why I didn't think of it sooner) to grab a taxi and tell the driver to take to the W Hotel because EVERYBODY knows where that is.

So wouldn't you know it, I get in taxi and we're stuck in traffic AND we're heading in the wrong direction and he can't turn around and the meter is running. So he tells me to get out and go to the OTHER side of the street and grab another taxi. I finally hail another taxi and get this...in a matter of minutes we're at the W and I only have to walk 2 blocks.

Baron and Steve were sound asleep. They knew that eventually I'd make way to the hotel.

I figure I would have come in last on that episode of The Amazing Race. More on that later.

PS After that evening, I learned how to pronounce Woolloomooloo