I managed to find myself waking up over Australia this morning. Literally, 36,000 feet in the air, and waking up to a seriously magnificent sunrise. The colors seemed brighter that high up. The orange a little deeper, and the pink more of a bright burgundy. I wish I would’ve gotten a picture of it, but I found myself so lost in the moment mentally soaking it in. That’s the thing about experiences like  that. It seems infinitely better to really experience them, instead of simply trying to document the moment.

I will say that if you are ever going to take an extremely long, in my case 15 hour flight, I highly suggest investing in a first class experience. It really makes all the difference. I literally got a good 9+ hours of sleep, plus more food than I could actually keep up with. I also flew overnight, so by the time I landed at 7am Australian time, I was ready for the day. What is this whole jet lag thing that people speak of? It is now almost 5pm, and I’m just starting to get tired. Mind you, thats after a couple of hours of wandering around the city, soaking in the raw beauty of this place. And it is seriously beautiful.

I’m also a huge fan of the fact that there is literally an espresso bar every 50 feet around here. And the one that I stopped in put Starbucks to shame. Although there was a Starbucks two blocks up. These people are serious about their caffeine fix. I respect that.

I’ve yet to see any kangaroos, I know, disappointing. But, I’ve also only been in the city center area around the Marriott where I’m staying. I do plan on going to a Koala sanctuary in the next day or so. Apparently I can hold one, and in my case, snuggle one. I’m so incredibly excited about that. Who doesn’t want to snuggle a koala bear?

I also found it to be quite ironic that the license plates for Brisbane have it listed as the ‘sunshine state.’ Seeing as I live in Florida, it just seemed comical to me. I left the sunshine state, only to come to another one a million miles away. It is sunny here though. Not more than Tampa, but still. It’s also winter here! I’m legitimately wearing my Ugg boots as I type this. How’s that for ironic? Wearing my Ugg boots while wandering around Australia? I wonder if all of the natives absolutely know I’m a tourist? I’m quite certain that they do. I mean, really, do Australians even wear Ugg boots? I sometimes think it’s a pretentious American thing. Either way, I love all of my Uggs. For both comfort and style reasons.

I’ve also fallen in love with everyone I’ve spoken to, both male and female. These damn accents are just everything! Everyone sounds so incredibly pleasant. I seriously cannot take it. I can’t even imagine any of them sounding angry. I’m not sure it’s possible with an accent like that. Even the boring safety information given on my flight from Melbourne to Brisbane sounded incredible! I for sure wish my voice sounded like that. Maybe they’ll think the same of me when I speak. Probably not. They’re probably thinking, damn American. Ha!

I just want to soak in every amazing detail from this trip, since it is definitely a bucket list vacation for me. Hopefully I see some kangaroos or maybe a platypus soon. I’ll be sure to capture that moment when it happens. That’s probably something worth documenting.