Its 26 days and counting until Ma and I take off to Sydney, and the abject panic has pretty much started to set in during the last week or so... once we passed the thirty day mark.It's not surprising really... I have a long history of this kind of behaviour... one of the women I used to work with pointed it out once, right before we were due to have some conference or something (while I was flapping around like a crazy person making sure everything was organised if memory serves). I panic before things start... and then once whatever it is starts, I'm totally fine.
It all pretty much boils down to one simple statement...
I hate the unknown.
I guess I'm more about planning and organisation than I would like to admit... to a degree anyway... I don't mind playing things by ear once I'm out amongst it, I just like to have a plan going in. So if I know something is coming, and there's something about it that I can't lock down or work out beforehand, then my default status is not exactly panic, but some member of the anxiety family.
And the upcoming trip to Sydney is a whole world of that.
It's all very much an unknown quantity... it's a place neither of us have ever been (obviously, since that's the point of the exercise, but at least when we went to Melbourne back in 2005 I'd been once before and has some vague idea), we still haven't organised the accommodation since I'm hoping to get a booking on one of the el cheapo accommodation websites... actually, I just went and had a look at the site, and hotel I was thinking about, and they do have the kind of rooms we're after at half the normal price (we're not quite close enough that the whole period we're going to be in Sydney is on the website yet... couple more days), so I might have to organise that with Ma on the weekend and maybe even book it, then that's that off my mind.
The other thing that's niggling at me is whether or not we're going to have enough time to do all the things we want to do... not that I totally know what all of those things are either...
I know I want to see the Bridge and the Opera House, obviously... I want to have a beer with at least two Sydney bloggers (you know who you are) preferably somewhere gay... I want to go to The Bookstore (again, it's the gayness thing)... I want to see Chinatown and the Aquarium and maybe an art gallery or two... I just want to be all touristy in Sydney... I want to see things and take photos and go shopping just so I can say I have and wander around with a massive backpack on (okay not so much that last one). Then I want to come home and bore the crap out of all my blog readers by posting way to many photos from my trip.
But we only have two full days, plus two half days, so I'm not sure how much we're going to get done. Having said that, we pretty much only ended up having that much time in Melbourne because of the massive delay with our flight, and managed to get it all done.
Don't even get me started on the whole thing of probably bringing two cameras (just for me, three with Ma's) and probably both of the little travel tripods we got at Christmas... then being able to cart them around the place... I'll whinge about that later I'm sure.
Then there's all this rain that I keep hearing about that's all over Sydney... do you all think you could send Melbourne their weather back by the beginning of March, so it will be nice and sunny while I'm there? Ta!
And on top of all that, the very helpful and groovy brochure I got that told me everything I wanted to know about things of a Sydney tourism nature has gone AWOL. I mean it's not a monumental drama, I can hopefully get another one really easily... but it is kinda annoying. I'm sure I let Ma borrow it, but she swears blind that I didn't (we'll get back and three days later she'll find it behind the couch or something)... having said that, I was sure I'd given her something yonks ago, but it turned up in one of my drawers recently.
I'm not even completely sure about my choice of hotel... last time I did this whole online booking thing (in Melbourne), we ended up in a hotel that was right in one of the less interesting corners of the city... so that was a little annoying... extra walking and whatnot. Although this time we'll both be wearing our "shoes of appropriate walking"... no repeat of last time when I tried to traverse Melbourne in a pair of work boots that were a little large for my feet so I ended up with blisters on my blisters.
I know most of my panic is just because I don't have a clear idea of what to expect... once I'm there and have some kind of idea of the lay of the land I'll be fine... it will all be an adventure.
All I have to do at the moment is refrain from starting to make a list of all thing things I'll need to take with me...
OCD, party of one, your table is ready...
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9 comments:
I think all we Sydney-siders hope the rain will have eased by March although it has been great to get the dam levels up and the rivers flowing again.
you'll love sydney yani ;) and the weather's been nothing but bright and bloody awesome for the past few days, so it seems that it's unlikely that the rain/thunderstorms/winds-that-could-dislodge-a-tree are going to come back.
The aquarium won't take too long to do. I think I was in and out of there in maybe... an hour and a half. If I go again, I'll avoid the sharks. I don't like them and it freaked me out. I'd spend more time in the seals area. Pretty, pretty seals.
I totally get the panicking about the unknown. I am known for it! People just laugh at me now, or slap me. I like the slapping. :)
I am certainly hoping the weather will have improved by then! Soooo, do I qualify as one of the bloggers to meet??? :-)
I'm sure the weather will be fine... I just let my brain run away with me a bit ;)
We never did the Melbourne Aquarium when we were there and we both kinda regret that now (we'd left if until the last day and didn't realise what it cost, and were kinda running low on funds for stuff other than shopping), so not gunna let that happen this time.
Oh, and WOOHOO Johnnie, the website is up and running... what, you couldn't let me know? ;) *slap slap slappity slap*
And it does say "at least two" Monty... so yes, your name does appear on the list :)
I kinda didn't tell anyone.. lol
How Tom found it was back before anyone else, I don't know.
I'm sure mother nature will make sure the weather is perfect when you arrive.
Crap, looks like with Johnnie and Monty both blogger-drink spots have gone... you've got to get in early around here!
You'll have a fantastic time whatever the weather - the key to a happy holiday is planning the basics - travel, hotels... but then go with the flow for the rest.
Not sure where to send Aussie tourists... I'd say Taronga Zoo but you can cuddle a koala (and let it wee on you) in Adelaide too I expect. Wander around circular quay and see the opera house... definitely take a ferry somewhere (Taronga Zoo? Manly?) and you'll get a good view of the bridge and the waterfront for the price of a commuter ticket rather than a cruise ticket.... So many choices... and then of course you always have to leave something for next time!
Oh, and Johnnie... intuition... it was the novembery weather we had been having! :P
Yeah Tom... because I've "known" you so much longer, you obviously don't make the list... :P
If I didn't get to have a bevvie with you there'd be crying and wailing... and that would just be from Sunshine because he couldn't give us a hard time ;)
And now all Johnnie needs to do is update his blog regularly hehe
I JUST DID! lol
And tom, I was pretty sure I wasn't the second on the list.
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