Well, I would have to say that the journey to get here was
an experience in itself. For one, it was
the longest that I have ever been in the air and spent the most time traveling
as well. It was a total of 28.5 hours in
the air and about 12 to 13 hours of layovers before I arrive in Australia for
the first time. It wasn’t a bad trip,
but it is one that I don’t know if I could repeat.
However, the people I met along the way were so interesting
and educating to talk to. On my first
flight alone, I met three people traveling home to Saudi Arabia, one college
student traveling to London and Paris; where just came from, and another
passenger was on his way to Uganda to help drill water wells for local villages
over there. Somehow, we all ended up at
Shake Shack in JFK International Airport and two pilots sat down as well. Little did we know, one was the pilot who
actually flew our plane in and the other was a friend. Both were very helpful and shared a few tips
with us on our travels. Two flights
later, I met up with a few co-workers, and actually sat next to a gentleman from
the same neck of the woods as me on my last flight. He was on his way to build generators in a
small town a few hours outside of Perth.
Funny how the world works in mysterious ways.
And let me tell you, as excited as I was to make it to the
last stretch of this tour and be in Australia, I was just as thrilled to hit
the pillow and stretch out, but I what I won’t tell you that it was only 4 PM
in the afternoon when this happened.
Jet lag……
The days of exploring would have to wait.
It was a nice surprise to also walk into a room that you
could actually move around in and weren’t on top of your roommate all the
time. There was actually space to spread
out. We even had a fridge! Ah, the little things in life. They were all such an upgrade from the some
of the places we stayed in Europe, it was great!
Not to mention we are here in winter and it is still in the
60s and 70s. I think I could get used to
this. I mean after all; we even went to
the beach! The water was the clearest I
have ever seen it; so many shades of blue and turquoise. And the sunset at Cottesloe Beach was just
breathtaking.
About, three days in you would think the jet lag would have
gotten better, well, not necessarily.
So, making the most of being up early and then needed a nap in the early
afternoon, we were off to Freemantle, a port city near Perth.
There was a market area and cute town square area, a Round
House that looked across the water to keep an eye on the horizon, and a fishing
boat harbor. It was a quaint little town
with a tranquility about it where it seemed to make time stand still and everything
was simple.
And even though everything here is twice as much as what we
are used to paying the states with the US dollar strong than the Aussie dollar,
the city busses are all free within city limits. Maybe that is why every single passenger that
gets off the public bus, thanks the bus driver before doing so.
Everyone is so friendly and welcoming here and yes, there
are people that do walk around without any shoes on. So many in fact, that certain buildings had
to put signs out stating that if you didn’t have shoes on, you wouldn’t be
allowed on the premises. I believe it’s
just the land of free spirits. J
Anyhow, we weren’t just here to sightsee and take in views;
we were here to work too, but even then there was still some time for fun and
games; like, playing bumper cars on the ice to end our first few days at the
rink #1 of training.
Rink #2 of our first week of rehearsals was a bitter-cold
hockey rink followed by a strictly figure skating surface within the same
building. The winter scene painted around
this surface resembled the set of Frozen so much, it was incredible.
And pretty soon, we were ready to open. We were all moved into the arena, had our
make-up and costume spots all set up, we had our dress runs and just like that,
it was time to go.
We were open on the final leg of our World Premier
Tour.
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