Bridge the Travel Gap

Arrival and costs for Day One in Sydney

I am going to try to keep track of our arrival and costs for day one in Sydney and the three days we are here.

Australia bound

After saying goodbye to Debbie’s parents at LA airport we checked in and managed to get into the Qantas business lounge. My Emirates gold card allowed us access to the lounge. Debbie enjoyed a glass of champagne. We also hit the economy jackpot on the plane. I had pre booked aisle seats across from each other and although told the flight was full, two people did not make it. Amazingly, it was the two seats beside us that were empty. We were able to enjoy no elbow shoving and stretch out a little for our 14 hour flight to Sydney. The flight went quickly and we caught up on some now not so new movies. I watched Fury, St Vincent with Bill Murray by far the best movie, The Equalizer, what was Denzel Washington thinking and an Adam Sandler movie called Blended which I regret selecting. The meals also on the plane were for a change tasty.

On arrival in Sydney we collected our luggage and breezed through customs. A $25 taxi ride and we were at our Airbnb accommodation for the next three days at Bardwell Park. It is a lovely house and we are a five-minute walk to the metro and a short 20 minute ride to central Sydney which is 12 kilometres away.  We went for a short walk to the town and had coffee. Bardwell Park has a few cafes and a Chinese restaurant as well as a few other shops. We  had a meal at the local Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) for the grand total of $35 which included a roast and an 11 inch pizza, plus a very drinkable bottle of red wine.

The rest of the day we spent relaxing and organising our trip into Sydney tomorrow.

Useful tips of the day

Our host explained that if we had taken the train to the Bardwell Park train station a few minutes walk away we would have paid $14 each in tax on top of the train fare. If you ever come to Sydney check out the taxi cost to Sydney before going on the train, the taxi could be cheaper than the train depending on where you are staying. A taxi from the airport to central Sydney should cost $A 50. Another useful tip is eating at RSL clubs. An RSL club is normally for returned or veteran soldiers. However, guests and visitors can use them and have inexpensive meals. You need to register at the reception of each club and wear tidy clothes. There are RSL clubs all over Sydney and Australia.

Daily travel costs

Airbnb $75
Taxi from airport $25
Coffee and tea at cafe $8
Lunch at RSL $35
Chinese dinner $26.30
Total: $A 169.30 =US$ 132.00