We had our usual complimentary breakfast of vegan muesli and yog(h)urt at the hotel cafe, then took a short walk around the block in search of a coffee shoppe, which we found. Today was a holiday in AUS, the Monday observance of Australia Day (Sunday), so traffic was light and many shoppes were closed. Because this particular coffee shoppe had chosen to be open, they charged us a "holiday surcharge" on our bill. Because AUS is a country that values its people and minimum wage laborers (unlike the US), when people work on a holiday, they get paid extra at the consumer's expense. I love that. If you don't, f**k off and stay at home on public holidays, dig?
On our walk back from the coffee shoppe, we were privileged to encounter a cute little Dachshund and its owner out for a walk. The Doxy was named Lola and we have no idea what her owner's name was (because who cares?). Lola had one blue eye and enjoyed giving kisses, according to her anonymous owner, which Deborah and I were both privvy to. "You made her day," said Anonymous Owner, before heading off in a direction other than ours.
Back at the hotel, we chilled by the rooftop pool for a while so I could finish my macadamia nut milk iced mocha and write this travelogue post. Eventually, we made our way down to the lobby and awaited our limo to the airport, which arrived a few minutes late, but otherwise got us to the airport in plenty of time to check our luggage to Melbourne, transit airport security (much easier than in the US), order a couple of vegan smoothies, and deposit ourselves at our departure gate for the Virgin Australia flight to Melbourne.
The Australians, unlike the Americans, have their air transportation system down to a no nonsense and streamlined science. It's "boom boom boom." They get you where you need to go expediently. The flight turnover at the gates is fast and efficient. That being said, I had high hopes and expectations for Virgin Australia Airlines in particular. Said hopes and expectations were not manifested, primarily due to the lack of legroom of the economy seats. For that, I blame Sir Richard Branson and pray for his expedient demise, because my leg room and flight comfort trumps his very existence.
In any case, the flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was smooth and uneventful, despite Deborah being annoyed with me for some reason. We were met at the Melbourne Airport by our limo driver, who took us to the Ovolo South Yarra hotel - where we would be staying for the duration of our Melbourne leg of the trip - in a swank ride.
We checked into the hotel, deposited our sh!t in our room, and descended to the hotel's 100% plant based Lona Misa (a play on Mona Lisa) restaurant for a great vegan dinner. I had a mock seafood dish that was uncannily realistic (faux shrimp and faux fish). Deborah had a faux meatball dish that was pretty good, but overly salty.
We retired to the hotel room to slumber. The room was remarkably small...the smallest yet...even smaller than the room at the Sudima Hotel in Auckland, which was damn small. The bed in our Melbourne hotel room was only a double, very tight quarters for Deborah and me, who are accustomed to sleeping in a king sized bed at home and - usually - when we travel. We made it work, but decided to ask about a room (or at least a bed) upgrade at the front desk of the hotel on the morrow.
Fin.
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