[Ksyrup]

Sitting at LAX waiting for flight #2 of 3 headed back home from New Zealand and Australia. We did 4-5 days in the Auckland area and 4-5 days in the Sydney area. There is so much more I want to do in both places. Some thoughts:

- NZ was amazing. The people were super friendly, the food was great, the culture is really cool, our hotels were right on the harbor. In 3 days we toured the city, a rain forest, a black sand surf beach, a volcanic valley with bubbling water and mud, and Hobbiton.

- Apparently they don't like ice in either country. The only time I got ice was when ordering liquor on the rocks. Table water was always room temp. Pop was usually chilled with a glass to pour it in, no ice. One time I ordered a Coke Zero with lunch and they handed me a warm bottle!

- We took our first international airline flight on Qantas round trip between Auckland and Sydney. I'd heard the US airlines were crap compared to international and I believe it. Both flights were 2.5-3 hours long and we got a hot meal, coffee/tea service, another round of drink service and then they passed out Lindt chocolates before we deplaned. I'm about to get on a 4 hour flight from LA to Detroit in Comfort+ and will get snacks. Step up your game, US airlines!

- Sydney was cool. I didn't realize how big it was. 5.5 million people, housing crisis, and you were still in Sydney driving an hour in any direction. Did a couple of rainforests there as well, plus went south and toured a number of beaches. Didn't scratch the surface of the country.

- We stayed down by the harbor. Really cool area, has to be one of the best ports to sail in and out of. We saw several cruise ships while we were there. The port is nice and big, only one ship, and you're sandwiched between the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. I mean, it doesn't get much better than that.

-Speaking of the bridge, you walk up to the top and we were going to do it., then I saw it was $350-400 a person. Fuck that. About 10 years ago it was like $80. I was figuring maybe $150 a person. I'm less afraid of heights than getting ripped off.

- TV was interesting in both countries. I ended up watching a lot of older game shows and stuff. I didn't realize Jimmy Carr hosted a celebrity panel show called 8 out of 10 Cats Countdown. No clue what that means but it was funny as hell.

- Both countries' money was cool. Nice and colorful. Special props to Australia for coordinating the size of the bill to the denomination. I had a 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 at one time and they were small to large based on the value. Great idea.