Falling in love with Sydney

We loved Australia! Dylan once again proved to be a travel champ! He handled the long, 10 hour flights with ease,  charming everyone he could shine his light on. I'm so proud to be his Mom.We spent 2 afternoons taking the ferry back and forth to Manly Beach, we took a tour of the landmark Sydney Opera House (which I'm so grateful I got to  see the inside of), we spent the chunk of a day in the Royal Botantic Gardens, and of course we shopped! (Although it didn't take long for me to realize I can't really afford to shop in Sydney.) To get around, I took Dylan by ferry, by stroller and by Ergo carrier on public transportation (both subway and bus). Sydney has got to be one of the best walking cities I've encountered and I realized that I  haven't done that much walking in at least 2 years. By comparison, Chiang Mai has got to be one of the least walker friendly places I've encountered.We also ate delicious food! One of my favorites was a roasted pumpkin wrap with feta cheese, fresh spinach, walnuts & pesto. I also enjoyed a few curry chicken pies from the walk up shops with some gelato for dessert. To be honest, I fell in love with Sydney...it was such a soft landing (especially coming from Asia with the flight being only about 9 hours). There was no culture shock, no jet lag (with only a 3 hour time difference from CM), the people are incredibly friendly and everyone speaks English. 

Gratitude comes to mind...I had set my sights on traveling to Australia over 2 years ago and even started to think that I might not make it (at least not at this point in my life) and yet it happened. Thank you Fuad!  I feel so blessed to be your partner in this life...thank you for making this happen for our family and thank you for being such a joy to travel with...(Honestly, the fact that we travel so well together is part of what sealed the deal for us!) Although it's stressful at times, now we get to share our love of the world with our little person, which I view as an honor. Dylan turned 7 months old in Australia and has already acquired 3 stamps in that little passport. I can only dream of what the future holds for this little guy.

In other news I'm about to wrap up my first week as a working Mama! This should and will be its own blog post.