[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Booking mistake lands woman in Sydney, N.S., instead of Australia

Monique Rozanes is making the most of a little online mistake that dropped her in Sydney, Nova Scotia, instead of Sydney, Australia. Rozanes was at home in Argentina when she decided a trip to Australia's famous opera house would be a dream vacation. She booked her plane ticket online with Air Canada. After stops in Toronto and Halifax, she arrived late Wednesday in Sydney, N.S. It was only when she was on the plane looking out her window that she realized something was wrong: Certain landmarks were missing. Nevertheless, Rozanes is taking it all in stride. "I think it is a good place," she said Friday walking along the boardwalk in a much smaller and chillier Sydney. Rozanes has decided to stay on Cape Breton Island for the duration of her trip. A hotel has offered her a free room, and she has her own travel guide in Christiane Tanner, a woman she met at the airport. Tanner was returning to Sydney from Paris when she was recruited to help Rozanes, a French speaker who knows very little English. She was immediately impressed with Rozanes's positive attitude. The two women have been busy touring the city and visiting art galleries. "She's quite happy about it, which is a wonderful thing," Tanner said. "She feels very comfortable. She knows everybody is going to look after her." Rozanes, a sculptor, said she plans to take photographs and just take every day as it comes. Her work is shown in galleries around the world. She said everyone has been very kind and generous, and she can't think of any other place where she has been welcomed so warmly. Rozanes will spend nine days in Nova Scotia and then seven in Toronto. She isn't the first accidental tourist in Sydney. In 2002, 19-year-olds Raeoul Sebastian and Emma Nunn arrived in Cape Breton instead of their chosen destination, Australia.

Ahh well, it's nicer here in Nova Scotia anyway...