Wilde Child Travel

As you know, my flight to Australia was delay for a whole day, which meant I lost a whole day of fun. Once the plane touched down in Sydney Amie and I rented a car and drove to Port Stephens to catch up on the time we lost. One of the best ways to get through jet lag is to fight through it. Don't go to the hotel and sleep, get out and get moving. Do stuff. That's exactly what I did. First thing on my list: sandboarding!  Birubi Beach is a was not at all what I expected. It was a little difficult finding the designated location for the Port Stephens 4WD check-in. Once we found the little road leading down towards the water we found the paved parking lot, two sandboarding companies (4WD was one of them!), and a service that gives camel rides.  We jumped into the 4WD vehicle for a bumpy ride over the dunes to the designated sandboarding location a few minutes away from the parking lot. From this spot we could still see the car lot and the beach area, bu...

I was racing to make my connection from Dallas to Sydney when I got to a very empty gate. The Qantas representative at the desk smiled and handed me some papers and explained that my flight to Australia has been delayed for 24 HOURS and they were putting us all in a hotel with food vouchers. This was the last thing I wanted to hear! But there was nothing anyone could do but go to the hotel, sleep in a bed, and eat hotel food until we got more information and a departure time.  I appreciate that Qantas put us up for the time we were delayed, but what I did not appreciate was that  there were no notifications or emails ahead of time to inform us that our flight was not going out on the date and time intended. Also, there was no one helping us at the hotel. They did not send representatives to inform us about updates. The only information we received was that the check-in desk would open at 6 pm. All day my fellow Australia-bound voyagers and I stood at the arrival and departu...