Day 1: Airports & Hostel

After a whopping 30 hours of travel from Pittsburgh to Sydney, I have finally reached Australia. I left PIT at 3:30pm Sunday the 30th, and landed in Sydney at 7:10am on August 1st. I'll just start off by saying that the "Signs" in the Kingsford Smith Sydney Airport are terrible, which meant I spent 10 minutes wandering around trying to find customs, and then the train station. However, when I made it to customs (called "Baggage Service" ??), it was unlike anything I've ever experienced when traveling into another country. Rather than wait in the long lines, I was directed to the front of the line because I only had one piece of luggage (most others had 3-4 suitcases for some reason). I handed the Australian Border Control agent the Customs questionnaire that I had filled out on the plane prior to landing, and without even looking at it he dropped it into a bin and told me I was good to go. No eye contact was made, no questions were asked, no X-rays were taken of my suitcase, I was just allowed to leave. The whole process probably took 5 minutes. After completing my scavenger hunt to find the train station, and purchase my Opal card (bus/train pass) I got on the train to Kings Cross Station, and to my pleasure, this was the cleanest, biggest "subway train" I have ever seen. This was a nice surprise, as I dont use public transportation often. I got off the train and walked into my hostel to check in, but was told they could store my luggage until the actual check in time at 2pm. So here I am now, walking around the neighborhood that my hostel is located in, wearing the same clothes I was wearing 2 days ago, and finding a good number of "tobacco/cigarette/cigar" shops, much to my dismay. I'm hoping that this is specific to my neighborhood, but I will be able to explore Sydney more tomorrow to see. Its a very strange feeling for me having absolutely nothing planned for the first day, but it is giving me time to take everything in, so I think that is going to be my plan for this trip. To leave extra time for everything to take it all slow and be able to actually immerse myself. We'll see how this goes. I'm having to remind myself constantly that I am finally here, and to enjoy it, because so far I'm feeling pretty alone and scared, but excited at the same time.