Adventures & Insights 4/14/24

Last Updated on April 21, 2024 by Eric Cantu

Sunday, April 14, 2024

I never thought in my life I’d make it to Australia. Australia was always one of those places that seemed so far away, and looked so perfect, like it was filled with nothing but beautiful people with great accents, and completely out of this world animal life.

The Sydney Opera House has always this amazing sight to me. Such a unique structure, out on the water, a perfect symbol of this far away land.

So when is started my solo travels, I definitely had my eye on the “lann dann undahhh”.

As I documented in last week’s Adventures & Insights, I chase cheap flights and have flown all over for dirt cheap. I didn’t think Australia would ever pop up as a cheap flight since it’s so far away from where I call home in South Texas.

But right around this time when I was looking to explore this world, a cousin of mine had just gotten involved in a travel club called World Ventures. It’s since gone out of business, but at the time they were making themselves out to be this ultra cheap way to travel.

Spoiler alert: the business side of World Ventures wasn’t really worth getting involved with at all, and the customer side had some savings, but not when you factored in the monthly membership costs.

But seeing as how I promised my cousin I would check it out, I decided to at least take advantage of one of their “Dream Trips” to Melbourne, and then attach a quick flight to Sydney.

I was finally setting out on my Australian adventure!

There were so many amazing sights it’s hard to describe. From the epic Twelve Apostles, to hand-feeding kangaroos, wallabies, and koalas, to seeing a Melbourne sunrise from a hot air balloon, walking atop the Sydney Harbor bridge, and enjoying a full afternoon with drinks and great food at the Opera Bar with the Sydney Opera House as the backdrop, this is everything I ever wanted out of this trip.

And one story that I always love telling took place at the Opera Bar. Along Sydney Harbor, leading right into the Sydney Opera House is Opera Bar. It’s perfect. Live music, food, and drink all along the water with a spectacular vibe. The weather was perfect, and I was in heaven just being there.

The whole place was packed. I wanted desperately to sit down and have a steak and a beer and take pictures so I could send them back home to my buddies who were all on shift at the fire station.

I ordered my steak and got my drink. They told me to sit down anywhere I could find a spot, and they’d bring my food out. Right smack dab in the middle of everything was a huge picnic style table that had one empty seat in the corner.

“Do y’all mind if I take this seat?”
“Nah, sure mate, sit down!”

A few minutes later, right when my food came out, that entire party left, leaving me with this big open table all to myself right in the middle of the action. I had the perfect view, the music was on point, and the drinks kept coming.

Maybe 10 minutes later an older gentleman came by to ask if he and his family could sit at the table. “Sure,” I said. “It’s all open, the party that was just here left a few minutes ago” He motioned over to his wife, his daughter, and her bestie that the table was free and they sat.

Sweet mother of god this Dad had the most beautiful daughter and her bestie was equally gorgeous. They were like models, no joke, and they were sitting right next to me.

As Aussies tend to be ultra friendly, we all got to talking within minutes. They asked where I was from, I mentioned I was from Texas and that I was solo traveling, sending pics back home to my buddies at the fire station.

This is when Dad came up with the best idea any dad has ever come up with.

“Hey girls, why don’t both of you get on either side of him and give him a kiss on the cheek so he can send the pic back to his buddies at the fire house and make them jealous.”

From the heavens, God himself smiled.

We must have taken 20 or 30 pictures because, as beautiful girls tend to do, no pictures was *exactly* to their liking, and I was NOT going to complain that they kept wanting to take more.

Photo after photo, each one with them kissing my cheeks, smiling, laughing, kissing on me some more. How had this perfect moment descended on me and landed right in my lap? After our photo shoot was over we all had the best time getting to know each other, talking about our backgrounds, our lives, and eventually this beautiful family went on their way.

I’m not gonna lie. I was on a high the rest of the afternoon. And as I stood up to take more pictures of the beautiful views, something strange started to happen.

Random people walked right up to me and took pictures with me.

Wait, what?

I guess for that 10 minute period when I had the prime table all to myself eating my steak, it drew some attention. “Who’s this guy?” and then when beautiful girls started taking pictures with me, it must have drawn even more attention. “This guy must be famous.” AND NOW RANDOM PEOPLE WERE TAKING PICTURES WITH ME.

No words, either.
Literally just walking up, taking a selfie and leaving.

I must look like some Australian soap star or footballer, because ALMOST THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED ON MY FLIGHT BACK. The flight attendant had it in her head that I was famous and literally told me she wouldn’t blow my cover. In fact, years later in New Zealand I got directly asked if I was a footballer by a couple at my hotel lobby bar who were visibly nervous to talk to me.

All my life I’ve been living on the wrong side of the world.
I love Australia!

Weekly Dose of Positivity

Audiobook Recommendation for the Week
Your Moment of Travel Zen
17 Powerful Ideas to Conquer Procrastination