First Impressions of Sydney

Sydney by Air (Photo: Jason Margolis)

I left San Francisco on a Thursday evening and arrived in Sydney on a Saturday morning. That dateline really messes with your head. Do I still get my per diem for Friday?

My first impression of Sydney was from the air as the plane came in low over Sydney Harbour. In a word: beautiful. The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House were little flecks, but stunning little flecks. Maybe this was cognitive dissonance setting in along with the sleep deprivation, but I was starting to tingle.

My second impression of Sydney was from the airport: Holy consumerism! The Sydney airport spits you out through a giant mall with store after store selling watches, jewelry, women’s boots and over-priced chocolates, that look really, really good. (Who does their clothes shopping at an airport, by the way?) There’s no physical way to avoid walking through en route to your gate. I know that all the world’s airports have gotten progressively nicer and fancier, but Sydney just might take the cake.

I had an hour to kill at the airport waiting for a transfer to Melbourne. I grabbed a coffee along with my travel companion Joanna Silber, who is helping me do some video for part of the trip. Joanna, an American who has family in Australia, introduced me to the “flat white,” which I believe is a marketing invention to sell more coffee, essentially another name for a latte with 1.5 percent less foam. But I’m not really sure, and I was too tired to ask. I do know it was unrealistically delicious and expensive. I was beyond exhausted, yet delirious with joy.

My first two radio pieces from Australia:

• Why the Australian Floods Were Good for the Outback
• Australians: Among the Biggest Gamblers on Earth