Hi Pals! We made it! We’re in Sydney!
It’s still quite a bit surreal to be waking up on the other side of the world, and we’re doing our darndest to adjust to a new time zone, a new country, and keep up with the most match-heavy part of the tournament.
Our travel was smooth sailing with only some small inconsequential delays, even managed to get a bit of sleep on the flight, and we landed Monday morning at Sydney airport. We’ve learned from past travels that accessibility support can vary widely, but we were very appreciative that American Airlines did well in terms of accommodations as did Sydney Airport as we were greeted with assistance for L through customs and over to baggage claim. The only hiccup was an hour+ wait to collect our bags, but in that time we kept ourselves entertained with spotting tournament ads, fellow fans, and even former USWNT manager and current San Diego Wave President Jill Ellis who was apparently on our flight?!
The afternoon of Day 1 was taken up with getting settled in our lovely little AirBnB in Bellevue Hill, some much needed naps, and then a trip to the FIFA Fan Festival to watch the evening’s matches, including the must-win matchup for Australia against reigning Olympic champs Canada.
If you’ve heard us talk about the FIFAWWC from 2019 in France, you’ll know that there didn’t seem to be much support from the cities hosting matches — you could barely tell the tournament was on. This year though, the FIFA Fan Festival is a MASSIVE improvement from what we saw in France, with activations, a full store, the worlds first Macca’s “Fry Through”, a FIFA Women’s Football Museum, and live entertainment between matches. The museum may or may not have had me a bit teary-eyed, but I’m inclined to blame the need for sleep 😉.
Photos from the Museum
We explored a bit as the day’s first matches played, took a spin through the Fry Thru, and I grabbed some photos so our jet lagged brains wouldn’t think it was all a dream. As kickoff drew near, we settled in to take watch the night’s big match from the very handy accessible viewing platform and made friends with our neighbors, Manchester City supporters direct from Manchester and Australian Phoenix Mercury fans. We cheered, we boo’d, and finally celebrated as the Matildas thankfully came away with the win and we came away with an amazing memory of our first night in the country. On to Day 2!
