Standard transit day today. We were packed and checked out just after 9AM. Millie is still not great at packing her own stuff but she is amazing at asking for “jobs” and completing them. Today it was collecting all the dishes, making the beds, moving furniture back to where it belongs, and taking the trash out. I occasionally still have moments of being amazed that she isn’t a baby anymore.

We had a 1.5 hour drive back to Brisbane to return the car, and then a short shuttle to the airport. Once again we had a suspiciously easy airport experience. Australian airports are amazing. They don’t check IDs and we have never had to wait in a security line. The equipment is high tech so we don’t need to take laptops or liquids out. We always walk right through and then think “that’s it?”

We arrived early and killed time at the gate. Millie got in a little trouble as we were boarding because she decided to go and “explore the airport” and we lost our place in line. So we boarded last with a crying kid; but otherwise it was an uneventful flight. An hour later we were in Sydney, and just after that we were in a taxi on our way to our hotel.

We are staying at a hotel using points. There were almost zero decent Airbnb options here and all central hotels were over budget, so we decided this was a good time to cash in some points. With our Hyatt membership booking we get club access. We thought we’d stop by for canapés and a drink but after one round we gave each other the knowing glance of: we are getting our damn money’s worth. We took advantage of the happy hour drinks, ate a dinner’s worth of canapés, and I left with a purse full of carrots, cucumbers, breadsticks, and a banana. I am who I am. A cheap bastard who loves free stuff.

Back in our hotel room Nick played almost an hour of “pillow fight” with Millie to tire her out. Exploring will begin tomorrow.