Working from…. Sydney
So, the first stop on my ‘working from’ series isn’t a million miles from home.
But let’s back up. First things first, I am someone with perpetually itchy feet. The last few years since March 2020 have been an exercise in the incredible adaptability of humans, but I’m ready to break out of the pandemic box and start living again. And to me, living involves a lot of mixing up where I am and what I’m doing.
My word of the year is experiment (more on that in this post). One of the experiments I’m planning is to immerse myself in some new places. Some of these places will be new, some will be places I’ve been before. As part of these experiments I want to get a feel for what’s going on in that city; what’s changing, how people are living and working, the arts scene, and just live like a local as much as I can.
First up was Sydney. It’s somewhere I’ve been countless times before, but mostly for quick trips around work commitments. This time I stayed a little longer and without any specific ‘need’ to be in town. This made lots of space for leisurely catch ups (ironically including two catch ups with friends from Melbourne who were also in town).
I have a pretty solid routine for sleep and exercise; two critical things in my daily schedule. Whilst these are important, I’ve recently thought that my routine has felt a little restrictive, and that I’m missing out on some other things I enjoy - especially if they happen after 6pm! This week I pushed the boat out with two dinners out, an evening at a friend’s place, and an evening visit to a gallery. Wild, I know.
Whilst four nights out in a week might not exactly be sustainable, it was a nice way to break a few ‘rules’ and practice the muscle memory of doing things that are fun. It was also a reminder of the role of environment to new habits; staying very close to the city and having pretty much zero other responsibilities for the week made doing these things much easier. Unsurprisingly, all of those activities pushed my daily score out of ten up, and featured on my ‘three things that went well today’ journal prompt.
What I’d do differently
Whilst I liked where I stayed, I would have liked to have tried a suburb or area I haven’t ever been to before. Maybe somewhere on the North Shore. I only booked this trip eight days before I left, and it was the end of the summer holidays, so accommodation around the suburbs I wanted to try wasn’t exactly abundant.
A week wasn’t quite long enough. Especially for somewhere where I have a number of friends and people I wanted to catch up with. I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted to, and it felt more like ‘visiting’ than ‘living’. I think at least two weeks would have been ideal. If I’d stayed longer, I definitely would have wanted something more like an Airbnb to stay, rather than an aparthotel.
The details
Dates: 21 - 28 January 2023
Stayed - Veriu Green Square ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
nice stay in one of the micro studio apartments. Great location for the city and lots of food and fitness options nearby. Room was a little dark and didn’t have a very comfortable spot for working for longer than an hour or two. There was a downstairs lounge-type area, but it’s right in reception so could get quite busy and loud.
Worked from - Hub Wynyard and The Cannery
I used my Hub membership passport passes for 3 days (Mon - Weds). Disappointingly, they weren’t open on 26 January, so I parked myself at a table in the Cannery for a few hours to do some work on that day.
Hot cafe tip - York Lane, CBD
Fun owner who loved a chat and some banter, very Melbourne style spot for casual catch ups.
Worked out at…
Fluid Form Pilates (Rosebery) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stunning space, great class with very good instruction and correction. Outstanding
Now Yoga (Rosebery) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [closed forever 29/1 ☹️]
Outrageously sweaty hot yoga class, lovely instruction with a very welcoming vibe
MIA Studios Pilates (Alexandria) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beautiful studio, class was quite good but a little KX in style
Fire Fit (Alexandria) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fun alternative to F45, great music and instructor (George).
HIIT Pilates ⭐️⭐️
Unnecessary mix of HIIT and pilates which executed on neither discipline well. Studio was nice but super humid, with seemingly just fans moving air around, not ideal in Sydney summer.
Any other cool stuff?
Sydney festival was on, I caught the Frida Kahlo exhibit in the very cool Cutaway location. I also saw the excellent Do Ho Suh exhibit at the MCA.