KOREA & JAPAN 2024: Day minus 1 - Canberra to Sydney

Welcome to the start of our Korean Adventure Travel Blog.

Today started out not unlike any other Sunday in the household. We'd pretty much already packed everything over the last few days, so all we needed to do was to get Joshua to drive us down to the Canberra Bus Depot in the city so that we could catch Murrays Coaches' Sydney Express service direct to Sydney International Airport Terminal 1.

We decided to leave the day before our scheduled flight because our departure time of 1040h tomorrow makes it a bit challenging to get there on time from Canberra. Noting that you have to be at the Airport two hours prior to the flight, and it takes at least three hours to get to the Airport from Canberra, coupled with Monday morning Sydney peak-hour traffic, we figured it would be far less stressful to stay overnight at an Airport Hotel, then simply walk across the street to check-in, than trying to get here with a bunch of potential unforeseen delays.

The bus trip was comfortable and uneventful which is just the way we like it. We departed Canberra around 1130h and arrived here at around 1430h and were seated in seats 3c and 3d. It was a five minute walk from the bus drop-off point to Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel.

Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel

After checking in we had a relaxing afternoon at the Cloud 9 Rooftop Bar drinking and watching aircraft come and go. The only real negative side was that our stay coincided with Taylor Swift's Sydney concert schedule, so our accommodation cost us around three times what we would have otherwise paid, which is pretty expensive for some piece of mind. Nonetheless, our room (721) was very comfortable and the view was really nice. Dinner was at the Hotel's own Smithy's Bar which was nice, but not great.

Oh and by the way, today also happens to be my last day in the Permanent Air Force.

Here's some photos from today...