Marvelous Melbourne – Trip of Lifetime (First Encounter)

I have been talking about this trip since the very day blog was launched or you can say that the blog was launched much before than the anticipated time just because of this trip. This pretty much explains my excitement level to share the experience of travelling to the part of the planet where sun rises first with you all (i know it is a loooong sentence but ‘the start of sunrise phrase‘ is too cool to state… right :p lol ).

Those who have read “While on Board Boeing 777 to Australia” post must have an idea how thrilled I was during the journey that approximately 14 hours of flight time didn’t bother me at all. We landed at Tullamarine Melbourne Airport around 12 am in the morning, getting through customs and picking up the luggage from carousel took another 1 hour. Just when we thought we were good to go, we came across another loooong queue where officers were examining baggage on the basis of information provided in ‘Incoming Passenger Card‘. (shown below)

They have this extra security step in Australia, one cannot bring food items in any form either cooked/ uncooked/ raw just like that. You have to disclose those to the officials there or else be ready to pay the hefty fines. Better not to take any such things along – best way to avoid the interrogation. Being through that long queue we finally came out of the airport and man it was so cold out there. It was supposed to be summer time in this part of the world but for people like us who were traveling from UAE, the temperature was even more than we experience here in winters… lol. So we slipped into our sweaters and took a taxi to the hotel where we had our studio room booked for next 2 nights.

The Hotel:
We always try to find hotels close to the city centre for the following obvious reasons:

markets and eateries are close by
public transport is easily available
don’t have to spend much on transportation to and from the hotel
helps in understanding the culture and lifestyle of the place and its inhabitants
Me and HI love to explore the city on foot, of course!

Long story short we booked “City Edge North Melbourne Hotel Apartments” which was rated for Best Value in Melbourne through Booking.com (our way to go to book any hotel or resort in the world, it offers the best possible rates from all other sites and you can trust the reviews) .

The room was small but clean and cosy, had all the basic amenities and the view was quite refreshing too (pictures attached below). We crash landed on the beds just after entering the room. E was already sound asleep in her stroller (best part), we carefully shifted her to bed and went to sleep. Though my mind was not ready to sleep partly because of jet lag and mainly because of the awesomatic days ahead but still I managed to sleep somehow dreaming about the upcoming exciting adventures.