My Solo Trip to Sydney
During summer 2022 a Delta Flash Sale came through offering round trip flights from the Pacific Northwest to Sydney, Australia. I always wanted to go to Australia but never thought I would be able to because of how expensive tickets could be for such a far flight. So I jumped on it as soon as I got the deal alert. I had such high hopes for Australia and it completely met my expectations. Because of work, I was only able to go for a little under 3 full days. I landed there early Saturday morning and left on a Tuesday afternoon, but it was enough to make me want to go back for more.
How I Booked this Trip
I booked this trip during a Delta Skymiles Flash sale. I used 88,000 and paid only $113.27; to say I was excited is an understatement. This flight would normally cost around $2,000 round trip from Portland in main cabin.
Where I stayed: Little National Sydney Hotel. To this day, this is one of my favorite hotels! It is perfect for a solo traveler or couple since they only offer king beds. The beds were amazing! I wish I had this mattress at home. Plus the location is conveniently located above the Wynyard train station making it one stop away from Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, and a straight shot to and from the airport.
My favorite sites
Harbour Bridge Climb: This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I am personally afraid of heights so this pushed me at some points. But I do not regret doing it! It is an experience that I talk about often and I am super proud of myself for doing it. I will say it is pricey! I paid around $300 for this experience. I did the Summit Climb at twilight to try and get a view of golden hour sunset. Unfortunately, it was overcast so it wasn’t successful and started to rain at the end. The Summit Climb which takes you to the top of the bridge and back down. I did pay extra to get the photos of the climb because I wanted evidence. This was an extra $50.
Baby Animals & Boomerangs, & Australian BBQ experience: I booked this tour through Airbnb and it was one of my favorite tours I have ever done. The guide takes you to a conservation park where you can get up close and personal with joeys and koalas. Afterward, the tour guide cooked the group a huge BBQ meal (with every sauce you could imagine). To burn that off we all learned how to throw boomerangs. The day was so fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Secret Bar Crawl Tour: I thought this would be a good tour to start off the trip since I got in early. During this bar crawl we went to four different bars ranging from tiki style, to western speak easy, and a tequila bar. I typically don’t like to drink when I solo travel for safety reasons so doing it in a group with a local guide felt safe and it was such a fun night! I met so many amazing people and stayed out until 2AM which is unheard of for me.
Good to Knows
Transportation: The metro system in Sydney is amazing! The metro system runs on Oyster cards but you can use your debit/credit card directly with the machines. I found this to be so easy. Trains come almost every 6-7 min depending on the stop. There are direct lines from the airport making getting to your hotel seamless.
Card heavy: I can only speak for Sydney but it does not rely on cash. I did not pull out cash for this trip. I still do not know what Australian currency looks like. Additionally, when I went the conversion rate was heavily in my favor making shopping fun!
