I stopped setting an alarm years ago because I hated how it made me feel to wake up so jarringly out of my slumber. Thankfully, however, I remembered to set one before dozing off last night because otherwise I might still be in Melbourne tonight and looking into flights from Melbourne to Auckland to replace the one from Sydney that I already bought when planning this trip. I turned off the alarm and groaned, snuggling further into the blankets before I realized that if I was going to make my flight I better get moving. I quickly grabbed the couple of things near my bag, checked the locker I was using to make sure it was empty, and then headed out the door to call an uber to the airport.
The flight to Sydney was short and uneventful, mostly because I slept the entire way middle seat be damned. It was only 54 minutes long but a well needed nap after staying up late chatting with Bren the night before, and new years eve raging til 4am being the night before that, and writing/hostel drinks til 1 the two nights before that, and then drinks and dumplings with Bren til 3am the first night. Quite the first 5-ish days of my journey! In my post flight nap haze I managed to hop on the train to the city center and got out into the blazing hot sun.
It's so much hotter in Sydney then it was in Melbourne. In Melbourne there was the warm sun and the cool air. In Sydney there's the hot sun and hot air - it's nearly 20 degrees hotter here! I had a plan on how to get to the hostel that didn't involve walking the mile to the hostel but I got lost on my way out of the train station and towards the bus so instead hoofed it. Half way through I was drenched in sweat. In that moment of exhaustion and dehydration it hit me like a tonne of bricks - I left some of my laundry hanging on the clothes hooks in my room in Melbourne. The damage? The dress from new years, a top I wore on my first night in town, and an expensive bra. I briefly considered calling the hostel to see if there was a way to get it all back but in the end it would've been just a waste of time and effort for stuff that can all be replaced.
I made it to the hostel no worse for wear. The door was locked so I just stood there like a moron for a bit before someone saw me and let me in. Check-in wasn't for another hour and a half, it didn't feel like enough time to really go and do anything so I went to the common room slash kitchen dining room to catch up on my emails, texts, and Instagram. Before I knew it it was time to check-in, found out their credit card machine was broken, walked to an ATM, and then finally got into the room. I went through my luggage to check if there was anything else I had managed to lose along the way, got some stuff ready for the next day, then went to go buy a towel.
I noticed a shopping mall across the street and headed there. I never saw a mall with a fish monger and a butcher inside. There was also a Target, K-Mart, 3 grocery stores, an elaborate food court, and 5 sneaker stores. It was crazy! I wandered for a while before going to K-Mart to get a replacement towel, then Coles to buy dinner. I was too tired to consider wandering my way through the city for a sit down dinner and everyone in the hostel had been cooking and sitting around the tv room slash dining area. It seemed like a good way to pass the time. I bought a couple meat pies then sat in the park across the street from the hostel to enjoy the last bit of sunshine and dinner.
For the rest of the night I wound up sitting here in the hostel common room trying to remember how to make friends. Thankfully I'm not the only one in that boat. I met two people who also found themselves alone after traveling or visiting friends. We talked about Melbourne and they talked about driving cross country in the States. I wound up sitting here through the movie of the evening as well, Inbetweeners 2, and I may call it an early night, get the rest that's long overdue.
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