We've Arrived (+ Tips for travelling to Australia)

Finally we're here...

So after some fretting about customs by watching too much Nothing to Declare during our stay in UK, wondering if our paperless visa is really saved down on our passport and hoping that our 4 bags make it through to our final destination ok, we're finally here.

Some tips for travelling to Australia:

• Don't bring food into the country. If you do have food with you while you travel, keep it all in one bag, that way you can throw it out before you go through customs.
• Make an itemized list of what is in your luggage. If you declare an item on your declaration card and a customs officer needs you to show it to them, it will save a lot of time and repacking if you have a rough idea of what is in each bag.
• Sit in an aisle seat not a window seat. You will look out of the window for all of 2 min minutes during your 20+ hour journey. It is much better to have the flexibility to be able to get up and go for a walk as you please than be able to look out of the window. The only plus of a window seat is being able to lean on it while you sleep.
• Bring a neck pillow and wear comfortable pants (joggers not jeans)
• Keep a pen handy at your seat so you can fill in the declaration card before you land
• Either go to the washroom on the plane before you land or wait till after customs. If you go to the first washroom after your get off the plane, you will end up lining up at that washroom and then be at the back of the pack of the 400-500+ passengers that just got off the plane with you as you wait to clear customs.
• If you have a black or grey suitcase... do something to make it look different, it'll make finding it on the conveyor belt much quicker.  

So...Pravinabhabhi is picking us up. We're both wondering if she knows what we look like, I haven't seen her in person in over 20 years so I'm not entirely sure what she looks like either. However, when we meet her in the airport the we instantly recognize each other. She later concedes to bringing a photo of us just in case she didn't recognize us...haha

We head back to Anubhais and Bhabhi's place to freshen up and then head out for lunch. We take a walk at Cronulla beach and have pie and chips (apparently an aussie dish). Later we check out some local shops, followed by a lovely dinner with the family in the evening. We're like zombies for most of the day, taking naps here and there.

Our first impression of Sydney is really positive. The air is clean, there is no litter anywhere and the airport is nice. The people seem friendly when we head to the beach and the local shops.

- Priyesh