After a visa snafu kept me off a flight to the South Pacific island nation of Nauru, population roughly 7,000, I was stuck -- at 11 p.m. with nowhere to be except the world's smallest island country, which wasn't able to welcome me due to my lack of a visa.
I eventually made it back to my transit hotel in Brisbane, where I was able to get online and explore options. I ordered a drink right before the bar closed at midnight and considered various ideas. Vanuatu... wouldn't work. Solomon Islands... the flights were all sold out.
Kiribati and Tuvalu, the final remaining countries in the region, were too far and also had limited flight schedules. (I'm going there in January, and will now need to see about adding on Nauru.)
Accepting defeat, my next thought was to pack it in early and return home. I was booked for four days later on a Qantas award ticket out of Melbourne, so I called American Airlines to see about changing the date... no luck. Everything was filled up.
Then I thought of a novel idea: hey, maybe I could be a real traveler instead of a country-collector. Whoa. What an idea. Let's visit Sydney!
I thought about renting a car and driving down the coast, and if I was with someone or had more time, I might have done so. But I found a budget flight for $145 and hopped on down. And let me tell you... I had a magical visit to Sydney.
Read more about my impromptu visit to Sydney at The Art of Non-Conformity.