Australia done and dusted

Since I'm back home writing this, I obviously survived my AirBnb encounter in Australia. ;)  (More on that at the end of the post).

While the voyage there was long - oh so long! why???  - I really feel lucky to have been able to discover at least a bit of Australia.  And I say a little bit, because as a product of the American education system, I didn't realize until recently that Australia was nearly the same size as the continental US!

I had to spend a few days in-country before I was allowed to go visit my first customer, which luckily gave me the time to swing by Melbourne to visit some old friends who used to live in Paris. They were wonderful hosts and took me to several wonderful places.  We drove along the Great Ocean Road:

And visited an animal sanctuary where I got to cuddle wombats and kangaroos:

 

And checked out a few vineyards:

 
My time with them went by far too fast, and then it was off for a week of work near the Barossa Valley, north of Adelaide. It was pretty remote there, the weather was atrocious and I didn't have internet all week, but I met some lovely and generous people.

Then it was off to Sydney for the weekend, and I walked my socks off for three days all over the city.

I also took a ferry out across the bay to Manly Beach:

And did a beautiful 6k coastal walk:

 

I couldn't get over the expansive blue skies; they reminded me so much of the wide open spaces in Minnesota.  But the thing that struck me the most about Australia was the people - everyone I met was so friendly and talkative and curious.  So even though the trip was horrendously long, it really made for a nice change of pace after all the 'difficult' places I've been traveling these past few years.  It was such a relief to 1) be able to communicate with everyone without needing to use hand gestures or Google translate, 2) be able to dress normally 3) to not have to worry about my safety, 4) to be able to eat fresh fruits & veggies and 5) to not have to be paranoid about the water or ice cubes.  I mean, you really don't realize how much all of that stuff wears on you when you travel until you're in a place where none of that is an issue!  So I'm not sure if I'll ever go back again since it's so far and I won't likely need to go for work a second time, but I'm definitely glad to have been there at least once.  It's just too bad New Zealand wasn't in the cards this time...

As for my AirBnB host - he turned out to be just overly-friendly, though in the end, he seemed a bit disappointed that I preferred to do Sydney solo.  But I did sneak a peek at the book he wrote on Tinder - and I tell you, it sure makes me glad I have no need for dating apps and the like!

Is AirBnB the new Tinder?

I've been busy preparing for my trip to Australia these past few days, including booking accommodation.  I'll have a weekend in Sydney, and because the hotels are mega expensive and I'd like to be within walking distance of most things, I decided to save my company some money and go the AirBnB route instead.  I booked a room in the heart of Sydney with a friendly American who had excellent reviews.


We exchanged a few messages through the site, and then he asked if I had Whatsapp.  I do, and I thought "Oh yeah, that could be useful if I have any trouble getting from the airport to his place", so I sent him a message.  That message has now turned into daily messages from him, and I'm starting to get a little bit nervous.

His texts have been really flirty, asking what I plan to do for fun in Sydney, if I like to go out, do I want to do a wine tasting with him, etc. I've been trying to emphasize I'm coming for work and will need to detox over the weekend, so no partying etc, but he just won't give up. Yesterday morning's message was "I know all the best hikes in the area with wine tastings at the end".

So today I went back into his AirBnB profile to read a bit further.  I'd already read the first few pages of reviews before booking, and they were overwhelmingly positive. A lot of them mentioned things like dinners out or having breakfast with him on his balcony.  Then I went back and read his profile again, and saw at the bottom that he says he's a Tinder expert (so much so that he has even written a book on it!).  And 90% of the reviews on his page were left by women, which is also odd - you normally don't see many women staying with a solo man on AirBnB.

All of that plus the messages he has been sending me has me now wondering - are the kids nowadays using AirBnB to hookup?  Are there secret clues in his profile I should have been aware of?  I mean, I guess I can definitely see the appeal for the hosts - you meet people from all around the world, have sex AND get paid.

Or I'm reading too much into this, and he's just bored and being a nice guy, which is why he has such good reviews.  What do you guys think?

A mon avis....

You are reading WAY too much into this.

This guy sounds sketchy, watch out for roofies.

Girl, it's not your money - you should be staying at a hotel!

Sage Quotes

Either way, I wasn't planning on bringing the pocket taser I bought for India to Australia, but maybe I will just in case lol.