Back in 2017, I worked for an international travel company, Avoya Travel, and they attended several conferences a year. I attended the American Express travel forum in San Antonio Texas in October of that year.
The forum had multiple daily workshops about the various products the vendors sell. Essentially it is one big advertisement for the different vendors we work with to get travel agents to sell more of their products. To my surprise, I ended up winning an amazing trip to Sydney, Australia. Here’s how it happened and also the story of my first vacation outside of North America.
Winning The Trip To Syndey Australia
The day we arrived, the first workshop I attended was by a company called Tourism Australia. They said, before we get started we want to announce the winner of our grand prize.
2 round trip tickets from any U.S. airport to any Australian airport on Qantas airline, 4 nights at Accor hotel travel agent points and 2 nights at the Langham Syndey.
“Nick Hazleton!”
I was still half asleep due to jet lag but everyone at my company was screaming. I won! That sure woke me up!
I texted my wife immediately. “We are going to Australia “. She was thinking I saw something I like and was inferring we need to go to Australia.
I said “ no… we won a trip to Sydney, Australia !”
We of course were very excited. They told me to return tomorrow with my photo ID to claim my prize.
Later that evening, we had a formal event. I had packed lightly and did not have a nice dress shirt. I decided to take an Uber to Target to get what I needed.
On the ride back from Target to the hotel, I was making small talk with the Uber driver. The conference was at the JW Marriott in San Antonio and he said he wanted to take his wife there.
As I was leaving the car to enter the hotel, I felt something was wrong. I left my phone and wallet in the back seat of the Uber! I have a wallet that attaches to the phone so it is just one piece.
Now I Am Starting To Panic
I ran inside the hotel and went to the concierge desk. The concierge was very helpful and went to Uber’s website right away.
It asked me to log into my account. I did and then it asked me to verify my account with a text message to my phone. I didn’t have my phone!
The concierge then found a lost and found Uber website that did not require a verification text to my phone. I was able to call the Uber driver but he was not picking up!
I wasn’t concerned about him stealing my phone and wallet. But I was concerned about his next passengers doing so. Also, I would not be able to travel home or claim my prize to Australia.
Needless to say. I was extremely stressed at this point. I had my wife’s laptop and we were talking on Facebook about what happened.
She told me to relax and that everything would work out. I relaxed as best as I could. In that situation there really was nothing more I could do. I relaxed and prayed it would all work out.
She called my phone and the Uber driver picked up. He had the phone and was going to bring it back to the hotel when he finished with his clients.
Two hours later. He brought it back. I gave him a big tip!
It was a crazy day filled with a lot of mixed emotions. At the beginning of the day, I was on cloud 9. By mid-day, I felt extremely stressed out. By the end of the day, I was somewhere in between.
Sometimes life presents you with situations that can make you feel powerless. you don’t understand why those things happen and it’s quite challenging to deal with at the time.
I think you need to have negative situations to make you truly appreciate when things are working out. And things are working out! I won a trip to Australia!
The Trip Of A Lifetime To Sydney, Australia
How much does a trip to Australia cost?
- Like all vacations, how much a trip costs depends on several factors like type of hotel, airfare, and the time of year you plan on visiting
- For a budget hotel, expect to pay $50-$100 per night.
- For something a bit more high-end like the place we won on our trip, the Langham, prices start at around $250 per night.
- Flights to Syndey start at around $1,000 per person round trip, but prices fluctuate throughout the year. Check current prices on hotels and flights through Trip Advisor.
Since parking can be expensive, my wife Helena and I decided it would be best to take an Amtrak train up the coast from Oceanside, CA to Union Station. From there, we took a bus to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport).
Arriving at LAX, we went to the Qantas baggage check-in. As we were finishing, the attendant said to wait a moment as she had to call someone. Uh oh!
Another woman came over and said congratulations! You will have access to the Qantas VIP lounge. Nice!
We started with some Perrier Jouet champagne. I ordered a steak, “chips”, grilled mushrooms, and spinach. Helena ordered pasta.
For dessert, I had a vanilla coconut Sunday and Helena had a chocolate mousse cake
Boarding gates at LAX for transpacific flights can be a bit of a struggle, (more like hell, it was crowded) Once we got to our Qantas flight around 10.30 pm we were ready to leave. See you in two days, Sydney!
A Very Long Flight To Australia
This was probably the worst part of the vacation. I did my best to sleep, but it was somewhat challenging due to me being a side sleeper. I watched the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in its entirety. If you have the budget, try to fly business class to have a bit more room on the 14+ hour flight.
Arriving In Syndey Australia
Is 7 days enough for Australia?
- 7 days seemed to be a good amount of time for our trip to Sydney.
- We were able to explore downtown, visit the surrounding areas (Manly Beach), and didn’t feel rushed
- It does take a day or 2 to adjust to the time zone change, but we adjusted pretty fast.
- If you plan on visiting other cities in Australia, 10-14 days may be better
14 hours later…We left at 10:30 pm on Tuesday and arrived on Thursday at 6:30 am due to the change. So weird We weren’t able to check into the hotel until 1 pm but there was a movie theatre next to the hotel.
Score! Time to see Avengers Infinity War! Check out these cool Australian snacks. Does anyone remember Mars bars?
The nice part about going to the movies at 9 am is that there was almost no one in the theater.
After the movie, we had lunch at a Korean fried chicken restaurant. We shared some Parmesan breaded boneless chicken and some type of noodles.
It was good but we were so tired at this point, we decided to head back to the hotel for a cat nap.
Due to limited availability of the hotels, I was only able to book 1 out of the 4 nights at the Accor hotels. We found a nice hotel for about $100 a night called the CBD Hotel. It was nice, clean, and had everything we needed to be comfortable.
Is Australia Expensive To Travel To?
- If factoring in flights and hotels, Australia is not too different than traveling to other countries.
- According to Trip.com, expect to spend about $1,000 for a 7-day trip per person to Australia.
Refreshed And Ready To Explore Sydney
We were up early due to jet lag. We were ready to start exploring and experiencing everything Sydney has to offer by 8 am.
We decided to walk from our hotel in Chinatown, in a zone called Central Business District (CBD) to Circular Quay, which is the main station for public transportation in Sydney.
Sydney is a walkable City: it is really easy to discover most of the tourist attractions just by walking in the downtown area. The public transportation system is also great, and our walk was about 20 minutes long.
We had breakfast at a café before we got to our destination, and by the time we got to Circular Quay to take our ferry, rush hour and people trying to get to work in the nearby areas were already gone.
The Iconic Sydney Opera House And More
After leaving the Circular Quay area, we headed for two of the most famous tourist attractions in Sydney: The Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
After a friend suggested it, we decided to take a ferry to a place called Manly Beach, which is one of the many suburban beach towns around the main city. Taking the ferry meant we were going to enjoy the best morning view of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.
Taking a ferry from Circular Quay to any destination is a must, even if it is only to enjoy the view.
Our destination did not disappoint. Manly Beach is one of the most popular weekend spots in Sydney for a reason, and popular with locals. We had good luck there because we were there on a weekday and the locals were working downtown.
The view of the ocean is amazing, the sand is really clean (especially compared to the beaches we know in Southern California).
There are cultural and artistic manifestations everywhere, small souvenir shops and boutiques, and lots of restaurants to choose from (oh, there were also public wifi spots, score!).
We had a nice long walk by the beach and had a good Italian/seafood lunch before we decided to take our ferry to Circular Quay back to keep exploring the downtown area.
When we were back to Circular Quay, our next spot was, of course, the Opera House. If you haven’t read the “about us” section of this blog, Helena is an Art Historian and has worked in this field for some years now.
She considers herself actually more like a real nerd, so she tried to plan our trip around the idea of more Historical and Artistic points of interest besides what is already famous about Sydney and Australia. This first visit to the Opera House was our first of many.
The opera house is an amazing work of modern architecture. We took some pictures and headed back to our hotel by 3 pm for a nap (jet lag) and had a simple kebab and pizza dinner at a small place right in front of our hotel.
The Queen Victoria Building
Another early morning. If we were jet lagged, the least we could do is take advantage of our early mornings. Helena really wanted to go to The Queen Victoria Building which happened to be very close to our first hotel.
This place is a XIX century, Romanesque revival space that was built as a market some 120 years ago. It is one of the many buildings that were planned to make Sydney a modern colonial city, trying to copy with new industrial techniques, the old medieval styles of Europe.
After doing some research, we learned that most of Sydney was designed as a mini copy of London. This industrial, Romanesque revival building, with great domes and stained glass everywhere is a great example.
Today, in the XXI century, the Queen Victoria Building is like a luxury shopping area. There are many cafes where you can get great coffee, have a good breakfast or a snack, and walk around, exploring and discovering the amazing spaces inside this place.
Pictures for Instagram here are a must! After our breakfast at the Queen Victoria Building, we kept exploring downtown Sydney and the CBD.
Right next to QVB you can also find also find Sydney Town Hall and St. Andrew’s Cathedral, which are more examples of the medieval revival styles of the XIX century you can see all over Sydney.
After trying to go back to our hotel for a nap, we had a quick kebab lunch (those kebabs were good) walked through Hyde Park, discovered St. Mary’s Cathedral, walked through the Botanical Gardens, went to the New South Wales Museum of Art, and ended up walking again to the Opera House and we had the traditional drink at the very famous Opera Bar.
We then had dinner (suggested by our friend in Sydney, Katya) at one of the favorite spots by locals, a malaysian restaurant called Mamak. Yes, with so much art, this was Helena’s day.
On To The Swissotel Sydney
The day we switched to our first five-star hotel and enjoyed one of the most beautiful views we have ever seen in our lives. We woke up early (again…) and went to have a more traditional Aussie(ish) breakfast at a restaurant a few blocks from our first hotel.
We went back to get our luggage and headed to our new hotel, Swissotel Sydney. Our suite did not disappoint: it was huge and it came with free access to a business lounge with free drinks and appetizers in the afternoon.
It was too bad that we only got to stay there for one day. We also had an important appointment I was very excited about so we rested for a little while and headed out.
We met Helena’s long-time friend Katya, who has been living in Sydney for a while now. Helena was so happy to see her after many years. Their families are very close and they basically grew up together. Katya took us to Watsons Bay, a place with one of the most incredible views of Sydney. So that was a very special day.
Moving On To The Langham, Sydney
What is the best month to visit Australia?
- According to australia.com, Spring and Fall are the best times to visit Australia.
- Keep in mind that because of the hemisphere change, Fall is March through May, and Spring is September through November.
By now we were extremely tired and still jet lagged so we took things easy from now on. We still had a couple days left to explore and a new hotel to move to.
Our trip was like brand placements, but it was a free stay and the moment we arrived at “The Langham” we felt like we were in paradise.
It was well worth it. Our room was amazing and we were welcomed with French macaroons.
The best part was, at least for me, the location. We were very close to The Rocks. We were able to walk, enjoy the views, and discover the historic spaces, small museums, cafes, and cute local restaurants.
We also got to enjoy the spa, pool, and Jacuzzi at the hotel.
We were relaxing and finally adapting to the time change when, sadly, we had to fly back to California.
Although this trip was free, we did need to save for food travel and other expenses.
Thanks for reading,
Nick Hazleton