My (Other) Travel Essentials

 Aside from my OOTDs, toiletries and mobile phone, here are the items I cannot do without when I travel: 

1.I keep the outer pocket of my hand carried bag secured and safe through a nylon cable tie. I got this idea online and since then, I always use it to protect myself from (possible) airport scams. 

2. Immigration forms are normally handed and filled up on board- that's why a pen is a must. During my first travels, I have always forgotten to bring one and I had to inconvenience my co-passenger or the flight attendant when I I had to borrow or ask from them. 

3. I always bring wet wipes in my carry on bag.  It is non-liquid yet it helps to clean up any mess. I also use it to freshen up before the plane touches down.   

4.  Liquids, gels, creams and pastes are allowed in the carry on bag , provided they are 3.4 ounces or less.  Placing them inside a transparent, resealable bag makes it easier to separate them from the carry on, for faster security screening. 

5. To seal food container or prevent spills from shampoo bottles and other bottled liquids, I make sure I have duct tape.  It is also useful to fix or put luggage together, in case it gets broken or torn.  

6. I follow fellow travelers' advise to roll clothes to save on luggage space.  Rubber bands help put my rolled clothes in place. 

7.  Aside from being a fashion accessory, a shawl can be used as a blanket when it gets chilly on the plane.  This is pretty useful specially when travelling on budget airlines- as they do not usually provide blankets. 

8. To be able to charge my mobile phone and other gadgets, I make sure that I have the right power plug adapter.  I use this site  to check the type of electric socket available in the country I am visiting. 

9.  Not all hotels have doors which are double locked so I always take a door stopper with me.  It makes me feel safer. 

10. And, since I collect wine,   bubble wrap helps prevent breakage so that the wine reaches home, in one piece. 

3 Australian Cities in 10 Days , and 1 Missed Flight Along the Way

It was not the most efficient itinerary - in fact, travelling from West Australia to the Southeast (Victoria and New South Wales) made it a bit of an expensive trip.  But the itinerary served its purpose: to be with a dear friend in Perth, to meet up with my good friend in Melbourne (she lives in New Zealand but my travel coincided with her scheduled meeting there),  and to finally see the iconic Opera House in Sydney. All in one go.

Here is my easy breezy, no pressure, no rush itinerary, which gave me enough time to bond with friends and still have a good experience of the good-things-that-are-Australian: 

Day 1- Travel from Manila to Singapore to Perth via Tiger Air/Scoot

           

I traveled with my friend Rowie and we did tried to save a bit so we took the Tiger Air/Scoot flight.  Tiger Air was all good, however, Scoot was hours late and the seats are thin and tightly spaced and is not at all recommended for long haul flights such as Singapore-Perth. We arrived close to midnight, and was picked up at the airport by our friend Regine and her daughter Leona.  It was late-but it didn't stop us from enjoying the welcome treat prepared for us.  And here was the toast to our 18 year old friendship:

Day 2 - Chasing Jacarandas all over Perth and a visit to Fremantle

Before our travel, I have seen beautiful pictures of Jacaranda trees in bloom and have asked my friend if we can see them.  Fortunately, they were still in bloom when we visited in December - though the Jacaranda festival happened just few days before we arrived. We spent hours driving around, looking for the street with the most number of Jacaranda trees. And here I was, in one of the Jacaranda-filled streets:

Jacaranda trees in bloom. 

In between, we dropped by Fremantle, some 30 minutes away from Perth City.  We had lunch at the Little Creatures, and then a quick walk at the Fremantle Fishing  Boat Harbour, right beside the Little Creatures. 

Loved the beer at the Little Creatures!

Then we had a round of the must-sees of Fremantle. We went to the Round House  and had a walk at the Bather's Beach , which is right behind the Round House. We also found some interesting art works and sculptures in the studios in  JShed by the Bather's Beach. 

Of course we wouldn't miss the Fremantle Prison, one  of the main attractions of the place.  It was the prison built for, and by the convicts themselves, who were sent from England to Australia. We made a round at the Fremantle Markets, and had coffee at San Churro before we started with the "Jacaranda: Sunset Series" shoot. 

Day 3-  (What seemed like a ) Non stop walking tour of Perth City and King's Park

Day 3 was a walking tour of Perth City,starting from The Perth Mint, located at the intersection of Goderich and Hill Streets. A short walk along Goderich Street took us to the beautiful St. Mary's Cathedral at the Victoria Square.   We headed towards Murray Street, which is right infront of the Cathedral, where the Old Fire Station is, and to the Perth Town Hall in Hay Street, which is also where the Hay Street Mall is located. 

St. Mary's Cathedral

It was close to lunch time, and our friend drove us to King's Park and Botanic Garden , which is a 15 minute drive from the city center. We had lunch before we explored the place.  At King's Park, one gets a good panoramic view of Perth City. 

View of Perth City

After the stroll at the Botanic Garden, we went back to the city center, parked the car and resumed with our city walking tour.  We first walked to the Government House, then to Elizabeth Quay , had a cup of cappuccino and went on a quick walk on the modern Elizabeth Quay Bridge.  

The Elizabeth Quay Bridge

We headed back to the city center where there was an on going Christmas parade, and had nice, warm dinner at Miss Maud.  On the way home, we stopped to shoot the skyline of Perth City.  

Day 4- Rollin' in Swan Valley

One of my favorite places in Perth is the Swan Valley, which is a mere 30 minute drive from Perth. I enjoyed tasting wine, cheese and olives- a lot! And of course there were also those free chocolates from the chocolate factory! We visited   Sandalford Wines, Providore, The Margaret River Chocolate Factory, Lancaster Wines, Ugly Duckling Wines, Black Swan Wines, Oakover (where we had lunch), Twin Hill Wines, and Huoghton, among others. 

Love those wines! 

We ended Day 4 with barbecue at my friend's backyard.  

Day 5- Caversham Wildlife Park

Day 5 was the day-with-the kids at the Caversham Wildlife Park. It was my first time to feed kangaroos, and see koalas and wombat (what in the world is a wombat?).  

Yes, there is an animal called Wombat :)

After Caversham, we went to the Watertown for some outlet shopping (of course!).

Day 6- Missed the flight? Chill at Cottlestoe Beach 

I woke up with a text message from Elaine, my Kiwi friend. The message says she's on the way to Wellington airport in New Zealand and she will be seeing me in Melbourne in a few hours.  My mind went blank.  Today? I thought we will see each other tomorrow!  I jumped off the bed, literally, as I remembered that our flight to Melbourne was supposed to be last night! I woke Rowie up and she was as confused.:)

Our Tiger Air ticket to Melbourne was non re-bookable, non-refundable, so we had to throw it away.We hurried to make another booking to Melboune, and managed to get a Qantas flight, which will get us in Melbourne by midnight.  It was a waste of money, but what the heck..we have to be in Melbourne.  But yes, it was stupid and we had a good laugh, afterwards (but not while we were booking-and paying for our flight). I messaged my friend Elaine to inform her about what happened and that I will be seeing her the following day. 

So we had another full day in Perth- we went to Cottlestoe beach, before doing some more outlet shopping (what else to do?). 

Ocean blue!

Regine dropped us off at Perth airport for the 3.5 hour flight to Melbourne. We reached Melbourne close to midnight, took the Skybus to the city center and took a short uber ride to the place we rented through Airbnb. The place was right in the middle of the city center, along Collins St- good choice!

Day 7- Together again in Melbourne and quick side trip to Brighton Beach

I woke up early to move to Elaine's hotel in Little Collins, 1 block away from the place we were renting. It was really good seeing her again- after 9 good years! It was one happy day! While we were talking about what's going on in our lives, or what happened the past 9 years, we did some walking tour around Melbourne City.  (We could have taken the free tram, but walking worked too!). We  started with the Federation Square, where the Visitor Center is located. Right across, and beside St. Paul's Cathedral is the  Hosier Lane Street where we found some interesting wall art. 

Two-gether again!

We walked to the Queen Victoria Market, which was closed, but where we found more nice wall art.  We walked some more and our feet took us to Carlton Gardens, where the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Museum ,where history is exhibited in varied, interesting ways.  After exploring the museum, we went to the Parliament House before heading to Emporium Melbourne for lunch. 

After lunch, Elaine had to run to a meeting while I met with Rowie to do the side trip to Brighton Beach.  It was a picture-perfect beach because of the multi-colored bathing boxes.

Bright colors, right on!

We met with Elaine after Brighton, and took the tram to the Harbour Esplanade for a view of the sunset, took the tram to Nando's for dinner and called it a day.  I stayed at Elaine's hotel and we continued with our catch up.

Day 8- The Great Great Ocean Road Tour

I woke up early and ran to the pick up place for the Great Ocean Road Tour, which Rowie and I booked through Viator. I said goodbye to Elaine, with a tentative plan of visiting her in New Zealand soon.

We were picked up by 7AM, and it was a fun, small group tour with folks from Italy, US, Japan, Sydney and Malaysia. The tour included lunch and morning snacks. We had a number of stop overs in several lovely towns along the Great Ocean Road. But of course the favorite, and the one which took my breath away was the Twelve Apostles.   

Some of the 12 apostles. 

One of the stop overs.

It was a long, fun day and we were back in Melbourne after 9 PM. And then we had to face the challenge of packing our luggage (again).

Day 9- Sydney Opera House, Finally!

And finally, we were Sydney bound! We left Collins Street by 5 AM via Uber for the 1 hour flight to Sydney. From the airport, we took the train to the Sydney Central Station and from there took the North Shore and Northern Line to Thornleigh, where Regine's sister in law lives.  Regine has kindly arranged for free accomodation for us in their granny flat and we were even picked up from the train station!  We bonded with our host family over (free) lunch, freshened up and found our way to the Sydney Opera House . We couldn't say we have been to Australia if we haven't been to the Opera House!

Finally saw you!

We took a lot of pictures of the opera house and the Sydney Harbour Bridge,    and had a stroll at the nearby Royal Botanic Garden. Afterwards, we had a quick walk at the city center before heading back to "our" granny flat.

Day 10- Sydney City

Initially, we planned on going to the Blue Mountains, however, we felt worn out (and broke) and decided on exploring Sydney City , instead. We had breakfast at a quaint Cafe called Two Daughters and then we were ready to explore the free sights of Sydney.  

We headed to the Queen Victoria Building, a shopping center, which has a beautiful architecture and many interesting shops including the Dr. Seuss Gallery.  Right across it is the Sydney Town Hall and further down is the Darling Harbour.  Rowie is meeting her friend at the Darling Harbour so I moved on to explore the other side of QVB.  

Inside the Queen Victoria Building

I chilled at the Hyde Park, and enjoyed watching the Archibald fountain while eating some chocolates.  At the Hyde Park, you get a good view of the rather imposing structure of the St. Mary's Cathedral.  I trailed along Macquarrie Street where the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Supreme Court of New South Wales, The Mint, Parliament of New South Wales and The State Library of New South Wales are located.  I went inside the library and wished that we also have the same well maintained library and very spacious reading rooms back home. Across the library is the Royal Botanic Gardens , I had a stroll again and further on, I got another view of the Opera House. I walked back to Hyde Park, went inside the cathedral, and walked to Darling Harbour to meet with Rowie and her friends, who we had dinner with.  They dropped us off Thornleigh, and we had to pack our luggage again.  

View of St. Mary's Cathedral from Hyde Park

New South Wales Library

Day 11- Home bound! 

After spending some time with our host over breakfast, they dropped us off at Thornleigh station and we took the train to Central Station, and then to the Airport. Of course, Scoot has to be delayed again for 4 hours but..soon enough, we were home!

And just like any other travels, it always feels better to be back home!