Hostels. Even thinking of the word "hostel" sounds scary and negative. Hence the phrase "it was a hostel situation..." In Sydney, we decided to take our chances in a hostel since we were here for longer than we usually stay in places. It was a hugeeeee money saver so it was really our only option. Although I was scared and nervous, I knew this is what I signed up for when doing this trip. It's about taking chances and making an adventure out of everything. When we pulled up to the hostel on Sunday I thought I wasn't going to make it. It was surrounded by strip clubs, hookers and pure craziness. Come to find out, Kingscross is the "party central" of Sydney. Also where the "king punch" originated... I've seen 60 minute episodes on this... Not pretty. But now that we survived it, I can happily say it wasn't that bad. We made smart decisions when walking in public and were cautious. When I walked into the hostel it reminded me of a dorm building from college. Filled with people our age, uncomfortable bunk beds, 6-10 people in a room and standard bathrooms. I also knew that hostels were made for people like us. They had discounted activities and cheap accommodations. Grace and I were put in a room with 4 guys. 2 from
Holland, one from Canada and one from Sweden. They were all really nice. It was actually nice to talk to them and see what they've done while traveling around Australia and giving each other advice and suggestions. They were also extremely patient the first morning when grace and I took over the bathroom for 2 hours to get ready. However, when we came back that night all of our roomates had left us. They must have been like "forget these crazy American bitches". So luckily, grace and I had that whole 6 room hostel to ourselves for the rest of the time. It really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and id stay in a hostel again if I had too. It's quite the cultural experience that everyone should try atleast once.
Menstral cycles. All of the women reading this just sighed in sympathy, they know how bad it is. All of the men just sighed in disgust as if they don't want to know about it... But I promise I won't get into detail, I'll leave that for graces posts. Anyway, thanks to how the body works, Grace and I have gotten onto the same cycle. Two traveling women with their periods is very... Interesting at times. Headaches, cravings, cramps and emotions mold our day. Without getting into details, let's hope it's over sooner than later....
"Ice cream for breakfast" kind of cravings...
Personal peace. Grace loves alone time. If she doesn't get it, she gets cranky... Especially this time of the month. Hence the comment she made to me the other day "stop talking". Since we can't really have "alone time", we sometimes walk steps apart to look like we're not together. After 10 minutes, we no longer want to kill one another.
Changing. We have become professionals changing in the car and in public. Since we are out all day, doing multiple activities, we change a lot... In public.
Public transportation. In the city it's impossible to park the car so you're pretty much stuck taking public transport. We're thankful for our ute since we would spend a ton in public transport and not see as much as we are. However in sydney we had to take the ferry to get around. They were usually filled with screaming children, over-touristy Asians, slow old people and sweaty men with no spacial awareness for others. We somehow survived.
Traveling this past week has taught us a lot. Sacrifices, lessons and keeping calm is a daily challenge for us. However, this was our choice and we wouldn't trade it for anything.
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