After my weekend away on Straddie, I had only one day back at work before heading off on a trip to Victoria where I will spend nine days.

I decided to save money by not using all the expensive transport services laid on for the use of tourists. Wendy drove me to the Brisbane Airport yesterday morning and I caught the Jetstar flight to Melbourne.

Before flying I was already aware that Jetstar are now being very strict about the cabin baggage allowed to be carried on board. The allowance has been reduced from a total of ten kilograms to a new total of seven kilograms and this is carefully weighed before almost every flight.  I decided therefore to not carry my usual kit of toothpaste, shaving gear, and other bits and bobs centred around my daily ablutions, but rather to buy everything I need in Melbourne and keep it at my mother’s place in Geelong, since I usually come down here several times a year. Total cost of doing this was way lower than the cost of adding checked baggage to my ticket.

When the plane landed at Tullamarine, there were no gates available for the passengers on our plane to disembark, so the plane was parked out on the field for ages before finally taxiing in after one of the boarding gates had become free.

After getting off the plane I made my way out to where the regular local bus picks up and boarded the bus headed for the Airport West Shopping Centre. I alighted at the terminus of the Yarra Trams route 59 and caught the tram into the City. I did some of my shopping in Bourke Street Mall and then caught another tram down to Southern Cross station.

By the time I arrived at Southern Cross, my iPhone belt pouch was hanging by a thread so I went to the cobbler across the road and had him repair it for me. It felt good to be able to carry my phone in its pouch again instead of in my hand where I risked putting it down somewhere and losing it. Next to the cobbler’s shop was a Seven-11 where I decided to buy a $1 cup of brewed coffee partly to keep me awake and partly because I just enjoy drinking a Flat White occasionally anyway. At Seven-11, you have to serve the coffee yourself and I somehow managed to not put the lid correctly onto the cup. I walked out onto Collins Street and went to take my first sip. As I did so, the lid suddenly looped the loop and I almost dropped the cup and spilt about half the coffee all over the front of my shirt. I can’t quite imagine what I looked like as I walked back towards Southern Cross, fortunately there were no mirrors! I changed shirts in the railway station’s toilet.

I boarded the 14:00 Waurn Ponds train which was standing at Platform One about 25 minutes before it was due to depart. The train eventually got under way and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the beautiful Victorian farmlands rolling past the windows.

Having arrived in Geelong, I did some more shopping before catching bus 30 out to Thompson’s Road from where I walked to my mother and sister’s place. There it was time for hugs all around.

Ah it is great to travel without checked baggage!