Australia 9/2/2019 - 9/22/2019

Prologue

We have always wanted to visit Australia, but have been a bit intimidated by its sheer size. Where does one start? So many farflung destinations; the thought of managing the logistics was overwhelming.

We were shaken out of our paralysis when our Bhutanese son Sonam Tshering and his new bride Sonam Choki moved to Perth so that Sonam Choki could go to graduate school. We had intended to visit them in Bhutan this year (and meet dear Sonam Choki for the first time!) Their extended families encouraged us to keep our plans; they would take care of us during the annual festival even though the Sonams would not be there. We love the family and we knew that would work out fine, but we felt like we should instead visit the Sonams in Perth. It has been a big adjustment for them to start a life together there, and we wanted to show support. Sonam Tshering means so much to us, and we hadn't even met the love of his life yet. As much as we hated to disappoint the family in Bhutan, we thought it was better under the circumstances to visit Perth this year.

Craig did some research and found a group tour run by G Adventures and National Geographic which would take us to many of our desired destinations: Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, and Melbourne. We generally don't prefer group travel, but this "Explore Australia" trip seemed to be a good compromise. They take care of all of your transportation between destinations, there are plenty of scheduled activities and even more optional ones, and in an English-speaking country, we don't require as much personal attention from a guide. The flexibility suited us, so we planned to start our trip in Perth and then continue to Sydney to start the group tour.

Weather in Australia can get very hot in their summertime. We scheduled the trip carefully so that we would avoid the heat as much as possible. September is early spring for them, and generally cool temperatures prevail (it is always hot at Uluru, but this is a cooler season than most).

The Sonams live in a suburb with Sonam Tshering's cousin Nim, and they invited us to stay at their place. They are quite busy, working any job that they can find at any hour of the day in addition to Sonam Choki's graduate studies. To be honest, we didn't even know how much time they would have to spend with us. But that was ok. We planned to spend 5 days with them, getting over our jet lag. We hoped for one full day to be able to do an activity with them (Rottnest Island, off the coast of Perth).

Because of the details of the itinerary (and the fact that we would be coming back to the U.S. from Melbourne as opposed to Perth or Sydney) our flight schedule was a little rough.

We would fly from Boston to Los Angeles to Sydney to Perth. After our time in Perth, we would fly back to Sydney for the start of the group trip. We would take internal flights to Cairns, Uluru, and Melbourne. Then to come home, we would go from Melbourne to Los Angeles to Boston. Phew!

On the day before our departure, we encountered problems trying to check in online. I called Delta (our U.S. carrier, whereas Virgin Australia would be taking us from L.A. onwards) and was told that we didn't actually have a booking on the Boston to LA flight! We had originally booked through Expedia, 6 months ago. When the original flight schedule changed (the flight moved up by 3 hours), we had been informed, but apparently the ticket wasn't revalidated with Delta.

The woman at Delta told me I needed to call Expedia, which I did. They revalidated the ticket but said they couldn't check us in due to a "bug with Delta". I stayed on hold while they tried to resolve the problem. After being on phone for 2 hours total, we couldn't be assigned seats; there were no unblocked seats together, and they told us it was better to do at airport. This did not do much for our confidence about these flights.

Monday 9/2/2019 - Tuesday 9/3/2019 - Boston to LA to Sydney

Craig's Mom drove us to Logan Express and we caught the 11:15 a.m. bus to the airport. At the Delta counter, they had trouble checking us in. Surprise, surprise. They had to call someone on the phone and were told that "the travel agent" (Expedia, I'm guessing) cancelled our Virgin Australia flights yesterday. What?! We thought the problem was "with Delta" for the Boston to LA leg only. We were starting to get quite nervous. Our entire flight itinerary seemed to have been lost.

After about an hour and having our Sydney to Perth flight changed (so that it arrived at 4:15 p.m. instead of the originally scheduled 12:45 p.m.) we were checked in; but still no seat assignment. Gate agents can unblock seats, supposedly. We weren't convinced. Nothing had gone right thus far. Air travel in this day and age is so stressful. You pay more money to get a more convenient schedule, and then it changes out from under you. You end up with more inconvenient times but without any compensation; in fact you're expected to be thankful that you get there at all. It's like playing the lottery every time you buy an airline ticket. And you always lose more often than you win.

We got turkey club supermelts with fries from Friendly's and sent a message to Sonam Tshering, telling him of our delayed arrival. Never bothered by anything, he replied with a message saying no worries, they would be there to pick us up at the airport whenever we arrived. He always knows how to put me at ease.

The gate agent was not able to give us seats together. He was apologetic, and had to issue us two middle seats in separate rows. It would be a long uncomfortable flight to LA. He said that he would keep an eye out for other seats, but by now we had lost hope. However, he was somehow able to finagle it so that we got an aisle and middle together in row 29. We were very grateful.

On the flight to LA, I had a cheese plate and Craig had a turkey sandwich. It was nice to have free food on a domestic flight!

In LA, Craig got wheelchair service and we had to take a bus between terminals. We had a layover and then boarded our flight to Sydney. The plane was packed. We had an aisle and middle seat in the middle section. The seats were comfortable and we managed to doze on and off for most of the flight.

Wednesday 9/4/2019 - Arrival in Perth

When we arrived in Sydney and were going through immigration, they announced Craig's name on the loudspeaker: report to the baggage claim attendants. They told me that they had lost Craig's bag and wheelchair. I said that he doesn't travel with a personal wheelchair; only uses one to get around within the airports. They were visibly relieved, but said his bag still hadn't made it to Sydney. They got my contact information and said that they would send it by courier to the Sonams' house in Perth.

As we waited by the luggage carousel, Craig's duffel showed up. It must have been mine that had gone missing. I wasn't too worried; I had a change of clothes in my carry-on for just this scenario. A day's delay shouldn't matter much. I spoke to the baggage woman again and told her that it was my bag (and amended the description) and said that I was glad that they told us proactively so that we didn't wait forever on a bag that would never show up.

I went to the food court to get us something to eat. I laughed at a taco place called Mad Mex (get it?) with a big neon luchador mask sign. I bought us each a delicious steak and pepper pie from Pete's Pies...lots of gravy and delicious crust! Yum! We also got coffee from Hudsons Coffee to wake us up...we still had a 5.5 hour flight to get to Perth before we could actually sleep.

After several hours, we boarded our flight to Perth. Craig enjoyed a Carlton Dry beer. By now we were getting antsy...we were so close and wanted to see our kids!

We arrived in Perth a bit later than scheduled. When we emerged in the baggage area, there was Sonam Tshering, who handed us flowers and gave us a big hug. We looked around for Sonam Choki and saw that she was filming the whole reunion. It was so nice to finally get to meet her! She was very sweet but a bit shy. Sonam Tshering has always been more outgoing than most Bhutanese; it is how we got to know him in the first place in 2007. I don't think that Sonam Choki knew quite what to expect from our relationship with him. She treated us in a rather formal manner at first, but we knew that she would loosen up a bit after she gets to know us. We collected Craig's one bag, and then followed them to the parking lot.

They drove us to their house in their Toyota Corolla. They live in a duplex which has 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, powder room, shower room, and laundry room. It is in the suburb of Carlisle, only 15 minutes from the airport.

While I took a photo of Sonam Tshering and Craig outside, Sonam Choki ran inside and quickly shut the shades. When we entered, we realized why. We were greeted with a welcome sign, balloons, streamers, and a cake with candles. It reminded us of the welcome party and cake that Sonam Tshering had arranged for us in Bhutan in 2017. We were so touched by their hospitality!

We met Sonam Tshering's cousin Nim (his mother's brother's son), who has been in Perth for 4.5 years, studying and working. He has really helped them to get their bearings and to get settled with housing and jobs here. Sonam Tshering works as a cleaner and a landscaper. Sonam Choki is allowed to work 20 hours a week on her student visa, and she works as a cleaner.

Sonam Tshering fed us each a bite of cake. Then they gave us tea and some pasta in soy sauce and mushrooms in cheese. Delicious!

The Sonams gave us their bedroom, and they set up a mattress for themselves in front of their Buddhist altar in the living room. Their apartment is well furnished with very nice furniture that they acquired cheaply or free from Facebook Marketplace.

Although we would have loved to have spent more time chatting and catching up, by 8 o'clock, we were exhausted. It had been a 43 hour journey, door-to-door. We said our goodnights, got settled in our comfy room, and swiftly fell asleep.