2026 Sydney to Sydney Cruise

The plane arrived at Sydney about 40 minutes early, so the gate wasn’t quite ready for us. We waited about 30 minutes for our gate- so didn’t really arrive early. The exit thru customs and immigration was nice and quick. The signs to the taxi stand were easy to follow and I quickly found the taxi line and hoped in a taxi for the 35+ minute ride to the Kirketon hotel.

It was too early to get into my room so I stored my bags in their office and off I went to start exploring Sydney. The hotel had a nice tourist map of the city and the staff showed me where to find a nice cafe for breakfast/lunch and where to find the nearest Big Bus Hop On/Hop Off bus stop.

Found a fun cafe in the recommended area about 1/2 mile from the hotel and enjoyed a big breakfast/lunch while figuring out my plan for the day. After eating I walked bit further and got onto the Big Bus.

I had purchased a Big Bus Hop On/Hop Off ticket while in the US. It used to be called the Hop On/Hop Off buses but it’s new name is Big Bus. You can still get on at any of their stops and get off at any of their stops. They have two routes in Sydney- the red line and the blue line. It is super easy to use but it’s difficult to figure out the schedule and the times the buses arrive at any particular stop.

I forgot to check to see if the hotel had an elevator- it didn’t. I left one of my bags at the hotel storage room and the staff got the other, heavier bag, up to my room.

I rode the Big Bus red line around today for a few hours, took the afternoon harbour cruise and then went to the hotel to check-in, shower, and rest before going on the Big Bus Night tour. There are many different building designs, many are round(ish).

I kept seeing CBD and I thought it had something to do with marijuana but it’s really the “Central Business District”.

And found out that many English and Irish prisoners were sent to Australia because of overcrowded jails. About 20 percent of the current Australia population are descendants of those prisoners.

And about 20 percent of Australia’s entire population lives in Sydney.

Today I left for Sydney, Australia. Here’s how it went

• Drove from home to San Jose, California(SJC) airport about 1:30pm
• Quickly checked in and made it thru security
• Hung out in the San Jose airport lounge until it was time to board the plane
• Left San Jose, California(SJC) at 6:05pm- an hour later
• It’s supposed to be about an 1 hour 30 minute flight but the pilot put the “pedal to the metal” or whatever the saying is for airplanes and he made up over 30 minutes from our 1 hour delay!
• Arrived Los Angeles, California (LAX) about 7:05pm
• Spent the almost 4 hour layover in the Delta Lounge- it was huge and looked very new
• We flew over the entire Pacific Ocean to get to Sydney, Australia and crossed the international date line along the way and arrived ‘tomorrow’ at Sydney, Australia
• It’s supposed to be a 15 hour 10 minute flight to Sydney, Australia but we arrived about 40 minute early.
• My seatmate and I were very excited to discover the middle seat was not taken and we had all that extra space during the long flight.
• I managed to sleep a good bit on the flight- it was sporadic and broken up but still was helpful