A Down Under Dis Meet -- My 2 week Australian Adventure March 10-27, 2016

[jedijill]

G'day to my very late trip report recounting my adventures in Australia earlier this year. There will be Dis meets, wild animals, art, sun and sea.

Introduction

For those who don't know me my name is Jill and I live with my dog in beautiful Colorado, USA. I've loved travel since I was a kid and I've been lucky enough to live in Germany for 2 years when I was in the military and I have taken several trip back to Europe in the years since moving back to the US. When I was in high school I set a 7 continent challenge for myself...my goal is to set foot on all 7 continents before I die. Prior to this trip I'd managed 3 of the 7...North America, Europe, and Africa.

I'd been wanting to take a "big" trip for a couple of years but I had to be an adult and bought a house last year. After taking 2015 to get my house and get it set up, I decided that 2016 would be my next big overseas trip. I thought a lot about where to go next and Europe, as always, was a temptation but I decided that I would venture out of my comfort zone and hit the next continent on my list, Australia!

It helped that I had made a wonderful online friend here on the Dis. @PrincessInOz and I became good online friends and I started picking her brain along with some wonderful people on the Australia forum here on the Dis. Soon a loose itinerary and dates started taking shape and a plan was in motion.

In August 2015, I bit the bullet and bought tickets from LA-MEL. I was hoping to use my FF miles to upgrade to First Class but by the time I got enough transferred to my SkyMiles account, the upgradable fare had jumped from $2k to $5K. Yep, cattle class for this girl! In my research I found that Delta was now offering a Comfort Plus upgrade for about $180 each way to get a bigger seat with more recline. I jumped on it and I'm really glad I did. I managed to score bulkhead seats as well.

Tickets booked I didn't do much planning for awhile. After I got home from WDW in October I picked up my dog and discovered a large tumor on her neck that had developed in the week that I was gone. I spent the next 3 months working with the vet trying different chemo to shrink the tumor so we could remove it. Sadly, in January the chemo stopped working. I had to say goodbye to my little buddy, Bailey, the day after the Super Bowl in February. I was devastated and hadn't really wanted to do any trip planning but I realized that my trip was coming up fast and I needed to get on the ball!

(Sorry, sad part of the report is over! Back to happy stuff!)

I threw myself into planning and there were several late night conversations with PIO. Finally the plan was set and I was ready to go. I bought some Australian dollars at the bank, bought a fancy new DSLR camera, and packed my bags.

Departure day coming up next!

 

[jedijill]

Thursday, 3/11


I was up early to go to work as usual. I had quite a bit to do but my boss told me to go home early! I wrapped up some last minute work and then said goodbye to my team for the next 2 weeks.


I headed towards home with a quick detour to Target to pick up some cold meds just in case. I finished packing up my electronics in my carry on and made a quick call to my Mom. The airport shuttle showed up right on time. It was a shared shuttle but I was the only passenger so the driver headed straight to the airport. We chatted through out the drive. He and his girlfriend had just gotten back from teaching English in South Korea for the last two years and he was driving until after they got home from a month long trip to Europe next summer. It was an interesting way to pass the time during the hour drive to the airport.


I quickly dropped my bag off at the Southwest counter and headed through security. I have TSA pre-check so it was quick work going through and soon I was on the train and headed to the gate. I had a couple of hours to kill so I tried a new restaurant called Root Down which is headed by a chef that has a couple of popular places downtown. I had a glass of albarino wine and tried the spicy teriyaki chicken bento box. It was quite tasty and a nice way to kick off my trip.


After dinner I headed to the gate and soon boarded my flight to Orange County. It was a quick 2 1/2 hour flight and we touched down. I had my bag fairly quickly. When I was booking shuttles, Super Shuttle wouldn’t take a reservation since I was landing at 10pm. I decided to use Uber instead. Unfortunately it was rather busy for a Thursday evening and I had to pay surge pricing but I had a great driver and he was soon dropping me off at the Grand Californian Hotel. I checked in and got my studio. I laid down thinking I would be asleep but alas I laid awake for hours. I finally drifted off but woke up early. I hung around trying to get some rest.

 

[jedijill]

Friday, 3/12


I finally gave up around 8 and got up and got showered and dressed for the day.


I repacked my suitcases and dropped them off with Bell Services to hold for the day. I headed to Brennan’s for an order of beniegts and bacon and then headed to Starbucks for a dose of caffeine. After finishing my breakfast, I strolled through World of Disney and then grabbed another cup of coffee and headed back to GCV for my first Dis meet of the trip.



Traffic was awful and it caused a slight delay but I was able to meet up with Alison! I passed off the coffee and headed into California Adventure where we decided to ride Radiator Springs Racers to start. Another great spin around Carsland with a new paint job and a win! We headed over to see if Soarin’ was open and it was. We took a trip over California and then decided to walk over to Disneyland. First stop was Hyperspace Mountain which I hope is permanent! It was getting to be lunch time so we decided to take a break.


We were lucky enough have lunch in the Club 33 lounge. We each had the French Onion Soup from the Grand Salon and then we split the crab dip and the charcuterie plate. We saved just enough room for dessert.









We sat and talked for quite awhile and then decided to take off for Trader Sam’s. As we were leaving, we felt a few sprinkles. When we got to the end of Main Street, the skies opened. I rushed in and bought a poncho. Alison was smart and brought her rain jacket. We headed out of the park with everyone else and stopped by World of Disney so I could show Alison the HM Dooney that I had spotted earlier in the morning. I did end up buying it! My first Dooney! We searched around for a suitable gift for my next Dis meet but I didn’t find anything I loved.

By now, the rain had let up and we went back to the Grand to pick up Alison’s car. She was nice enough to take me to CVS so I could pick up a couple of things. We drove over to the Disneyland Hotel and walked over to Trader Sam’s. I managed to step in a puddle and soaked my tennis shoe and sock. Ugh! Trader Sam’s was busy as usual but a table finally opened up and we grabbed it…we did have to fend off two guys who walked in and thought they would just take it even though we had been waiting for the table. We ordered a couple of cocktails and enjoyed the show. Trader Sam’s never disappoints! I lost my pictures here (on my iPhone...more on that story later!)


After spending the afternoon chatting it was soon time for me to go pick up my luggage and get ready for the shuttle to LAX. Alison dropped me off at the Grand and we said our goodbyes. I won’t see her on the way back as she and Fran will be on their wonderful Mississippi River cruise!


Suitcases in hand, I changed my socks and shoes. I stood around waiting for my shuttle. In the end, he was over an hour late picking me up. Don’t worry…he set speed records on the drive to the airport. I got dropped off at the Delta counter where I checked in and dropped my suitcase. It was a quick trip through Security and then on to my gate. I sat there and read my book for awhile and then they finally started boarding my flight. I had upgraded to Comfort Plus so I got to board after all the status members. I booked an aisle seat on the first bulkhead row. Plenty of bin space for my carry on and lots of legroom. Soon the plane was boarded and we pushed back and took off. 15 more hours to Sydney!

Next Chapter: Jill becomes a time traveller hurtling through space and time.

 

[ACDSNY]

Great start at Disneyland with Alison. Nice snag on the Delta flight a little more room definitely is needed on the long flight across the pond.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Thank you for the bat signal Jill. Great start! How neat Colarado. When I wasn't disabled many moons ago Jo my wife and I skiied several times in Brekenridge. What a delightful place. Love the rockies!

I am sorry about your dog Bailey. We are dog people we feel your pain. We have little Huey.

Neat idea to goal yourself to visit the continents of the world!

Holy moly what a price hike to upgrade your flight. Nice comprimise to do comfort plus.

Yeah first Dismeet Alison! Nice of her to take you to CVS and also to score you Club 33 for lunch. Looks like you both had a good chat and fun in the park.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[franandaj]

Marking my spot. Be back to read and comment.

OK I'm all up to speed with this! (Since I was there for most of it so far! )

 

[glennbo123]

Sign me up! Thanks for the batsignal Jill.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I'm in! Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[rentayenta]

I'm here! Thanks for the bat signal.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Following along on your trip report.

 

[Steppesister]

Hi Jill,

Ready for an Adventure Down Under!

I love that you started your trip off with an appropriate trip to the Happiest Place on Earth! And a DISMeet is always, always a great addition! Sorry you lost your photos from TSs. This doesn't sound like a happy story....

 

[rentayenta]

Drinks and appetizers at Club 33 look fabulous. I am sad I missed you ladies. Great start!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm here! Great start. Looks like fun at the club!

 

[pkondz]

Made it! Probably won't comment as much as I usually do, since I'm swamped!
But great start so far!

 

[SafferMom]

Great start. I have myself just come back from a 3 week trip to Australia so I cant wait to read this!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I decided that I would venture out of my comfort zone and hit the next continent on my list, Australia!

That's a bucket list item for me!

In my research I found that Delta was now offering a Comfort Plus upgrade for about $180 each way to get a bigger seat with more recline. I jumped on it and I'm really glad I did. I managed to score bulkhead seats as well.

I'm just glad you got this in before they started having all of their computer issues.

Sadly, in January the chemo stopped working. I had to say goodbye to my little buddy, Bailey, the day after the Super Bowl in February.

I laid down thinking I would be asleep but alas I laid awake for hours. I finally drifted off but woke up early. I hung around trying to get some rest.

Vacation adrenalin. I know that feeling.

I headed to Brennan’s for an order of beniegts and bacon

Is there a more perfect meal??

Traffic was awful and it caused a slight delay but I was able to meet up with Alison!

Yay!

First stop was Hyperspace Mountain which I hope is permanent!

That really looks cool.

Next Chapter: Jill becomes a time traveller hurtling through space and time.

And you didn't even need a DeLorean!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I'm in too waiting for more

 

[Leshaface]

Prior to this trip I'd managed 3 of the 7...North America, Europe, and Africa.

Awesome bucket list goal!

I'd been wanting to take a "big" trip for a couple of years but I had to be an adult and bought a house last year. A

Gah adulting sucks.

It helped that I had made a wonderful online friend here on the Dis. @PrincessInOz and I became good online friends

Yep, cattle class for this girl!

Have never heard it called this before, brilliant!

I had to say goodbye to my little buddy, Bailey,

It's so so hard losing a furry family member. I hope you're doing okay.

I headed to Brennan’s for an order of beniegts and bacon

Best breakfast decision ever. Add Sbux to the mix and

I did end up buying it! My first Dooney!

Welcome to the Dooney club! Now every time you see a new one come out, you'll be wanting it. Thank goodness they aren't affordable, i'd have every one already

Trader Sam’s never disappoints!

For sure!

Don’t worry…he set speed records on the drive to the airport.

15 more hours to Sydney!

And i'm already dreading the 5.5 hour flight to Aulani!

 

[dizneeat]

Finally getting around to sign up here - I blame our Disney trip for distracting me in the first place.

Great start, but SO sorry to hear about your dog. It is always so hard to loose a furbaby.

Your DL day with Alison sounds awesome. And you are now allowed to go on ........ I am all caught up here.

 

[BecBennett]

Sorry about your puppy dog. It's never easy to say goodbye, even when you have to make the decision to say it.

What an awesome little trip to DLR!