Greetings from across the jolly ol' pond!
After a 14 hour and 8 hour set of flights, 6 hour layover in Abu Dhabi, crossing numerous timezones, moving up a hemisphere, countless movie viewings (thank you in air flight entertainment), and very little sleep, Chris and I arrived at London Heathrow Airport on Monday evening weary but content to reach our final destination for the moment. After clearing customs and collecting our bags we were met by Chris' parents who graciously picked us up from the airport (more public transportation at this moment seemed insurmountable). Walking out of the airport doors into the misty chill of early London spring brought a smile to my face....how I do love Great Britain.
For some reason, I've always romanticized England, and really the whole UK in general. My short time residing here two years ago only reinforced my passionate love affair with the country, and I've been anticipating my return ever since. It might be because I've adored Jane Austen from an early age, it might be the sheer oldness of a country with such a longer, richer history than my own (let's not kid ourselves, the good old US of A is a baby in this world), it might be the castles, the rolling green countryside, the accents, the winding roads, the architecture. It might be my love for historical fiction revolving around the salacious court of Henry VII or my love for period films set in 19th century London. Whatever it is, to me, it's pure magic.
So far we've made good use of our time. Chris' family has been so welcoming and accommodating to me-from the homemade chicken curry feast his youngest sister Caroline concocted our first night back to the simple fact of opening their home to me a relative stranger. I haven't met Chris' other sister yet-Claire is working on her masters in Philosophy at Cambridge but will be meeting us up in Scotland for our holiday, but Caroline has been amazing. We went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square where she put good use to the History of Art degree she's currently studying. I felt as if I had my own personal guide leading me to highlight pieces and explaining the artist, setting, and background of each masterpiece. Next we took in the Portrait Gallery next door where I saw the likes of Richard III, Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn, Lily Allen, Kiera Knightly, and the Beatles. The next day was less culture but more money intensive-yes, the very important task of shopping was seen to. We decided not to play around (we're not amateurs for goodness sakes) and made our way straight to Oxford Street. After hitting up Topshop, H&M, Urban Outfitters, and even making a wistful trip down Bond Street to admire Chanel, Tiffany's, Cartier, Prada, and every other high end label you can think of from the safety of the street side of the glass we set homeward several pounds lighter but with our shopping fix in place.
Today (Saturday) we're busy packing for our big Scottish adventure. We leave very, very early tomorrow morning for our long scenic drive up, and I'm beyond excited. We even get to revisit Callander, the village where Chris and I met and worked during my last British trist. But first we have our first big night out on the city tonight. Chris' friend Sam's 25th birthday bash is tonight at an American retro bowling alley/bar where we'll enjoy live music, dancing, and I'll finally get to meet all his mates. Big night out followed by early morning drive? I did always love a challenge.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Bon Jovi can be so wise....
[cue awesomely over the top eighties cover band/karaoke music]
...'OOOHHHH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE!!!! OO--OOO--OOH LIVIN' ON A PRAYER'
That pretty much sums up how I'm feeling this moment. Standing at an internet terminal in the Abu Dhabi International Airport on a six hour layover between a fourteen hour flight from Australia and an eight hour leg to London with 2 hours of sleep over the past 34 hours. Oh, and might I mention the kind airport staff are apparently preparing us for the climate change from Australia to the UK by freezing our tushies off in this refrigerator of an airport whilst we engage in this torturous travel limbo. Ain't world trotting glamorous? Thankfully only two more hours of the waiting game until we board our final flight. With the anticipation of finally meeting Chris' wonderful family on the not too far horizon, I think I just might make it. Just don't be surprised if you read a story in the international news section about a crazy Texan backpacker kicking in the air conditioning unit of Abu Dhabi International resulting in temporary loss of power (both mine and the airport's) and general panic. See you on the other side.....
...'OOOHHHH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE!!!! OO--OOO--OOH LIVIN' ON A PRAYER'
That pretty much sums up how I'm feeling this moment. Standing at an internet terminal in the Abu Dhabi International Airport on a six hour layover between a fourteen hour flight from Australia and an eight hour leg to London with 2 hours of sleep over the past 34 hours. Oh, and might I mention the kind airport staff are apparently preparing us for the climate change from Australia to the UK by freezing our tushies off in this refrigerator of an airport whilst we engage in this torturous travel limbo. Ain't world trotting glamorous? Thankfully only two more hours of the waiting game until we board our final flight. With the anticipation of finally meeting Chris' wonderful family on the not too far horizon, I think I just might make it. Just don't be surprised if you read a story in the international news section about a crazy Texan backpacker kicking in the air conditioning unit of Abu Dhabi International resulting in temporary loss of power (both mine and the airport's) and general panic. See you on the other side.....
Friday, March 19, 2010
The Photographs to Speak the Thousand words I'm too tired to type...
My goodness what a week I've had.
After arriving home last night from our whirlwind Outback tour, I was planning to write a lengthy, in depth, captivating, amusing, all-around-amazing post about our exciting week of travel. Just one tiny problem-I'm pooped. Today was not a day of rest unfortunately. Another early morning saw Chris and I rub our sleepy eyes and head into the city for a day of errand running with dreams of resting quickly evaporating in our grasping hands. After getting everything else out of the way, I made my way to the state library for one last enchanting day in its dinstinguished walls where I've formed so many lovely memories. I've already been blowing up their free wifi for five hours, and I'm just now making it to the blog section of my internet to-do list. Who knew how much you missed being virtually sans internet for a week? What is the world coming to where we have to check our emails every few hours to stay 'in-touch'? Well there are pros and cons to everything so I shouldn't complain, especially since this hassling medium is what allows me to stay connected with everyone I love across the world. It's all in the perspective my friends.
Anywho, after checking countless emails, confirming flights, looking up hotel information, sending some emotionally exhausting correspondence (I figure if you're not gonna commit to an email, just don't do it. Who wants to open a highly anticipated note to discover a one liner?) I am just about interneted out. As I'm typing I can barely keep my drooping eyelids from immersing me in complete darkness and my head from slamming down on my keyboard. So instead, I spent thirty minutes trying to do an upload of as many photos from our trip as possible to share with all my favorite people. With this shoddy unsecured wifi connection, I managed two. So here they are in all their glory, and I guess you'll just have to wait to see the other 9,874,392 photos some other time so now you have something to look forward to. Or make you cringe. Your pick.
The ever entrancing and mystifying Uluru in all it's sunset glory. I literally have over a hundred pictures of the world's most famous monolith-from sunrise, to sunset, to base walk it's covered. So let me know if you want to see picture after picture of a big red rock, and I've got you covered.
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Still fresh faced after our first day of our travelthon toasting Uluru with, what else, cider. The English bloke seems to really be rubbing off on this poor Texan.
After arriving home last night from our whirlwind Outback tour, I was planning to write a lengthy, in depth, captivating, amusing, all-around-amazing post about our exciting week of travel. Just one tiny problem-I'm pooped. Today was not a day of rest unfortunately. Another early morning saw Chris and I rub our sleepy eyes and head into the city for a day of errand running with dreams of resting quickly evaporating in our grasping hands. After getting everything else out of the way, I made my way to the state library for one last enchanting day in its dinstinguished walls where I've formed so many lovely memories. I've already been blowing up their free wifi for five hours, and I'm just now making it to the blog section of my internet to-do list. Who knew how much you missed being virtually sans internet for a week? What is the world coming to where we have to check our emails every few hours to stay 'in-touch'? Well there are pros and cons to everything so I shouldn't complain, especially since this hassling medium is what allows me to stay connected with everyone I love across the world. It's all in the perspective my friends.
Anywho, after checking countless emails, confirming flights, looking up hotel information, sending some emotionally exhausting correspondence (I figure if you're not gonna commit to an email, just don't do it. Who wants to open a highly anticipated note to discover a one liner?) I am just about interneted out. As I'm typing I can barely keep my drooping eyelids from immersing me in complete darkness and my head from slamming down on my keyboard. So instead, I spent thirty minutes trying to do an upload of as many photos from our trip as possible to share with all my favorite people. With this shoddy unsecured wifi connection, I managed two. So here they are in all their glory, and I guess you'll just have to wait to see the other 9,874,392 photos some other time so now you have something to look forward to. Or make you cringe. Your pick.
The ever entrancing and mystifying Uluru in all it's sunset glory. I literally have over a hundred pictures of the world's most famous monolith-from sunrise, to sunset, to base walk it's covered. So let me know if you want to see picture after picture of a big red rock, and I've got you covered..JPG)
Still fresh faced after our first day of our travelthon toasting Uluru with, what else, cider. The English bloke seems to really be rubbing off on this poor Texan.
The next 48 hours are all I have left of my Australia adventure, and unfortunately they will be dedicated mostly to laundry, cleaning, and packing. How very glamorous. Thankfully we do have one more night of Melbourne shenanigans to engage in-so I now I must leave you to prepare for one last night on the town. So goodbye from Australia...my next post will most likely be from Chris' very own England. G'Day Mate!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Update Teaser
Hi kids!
Sitting here in the youth hostel recovering from trip number one and preparing for trip number two so I decided to give a quick update on my glamorous life as citizen of the world. Unfortunately I'm being a bit of a tease (aren't I always) since I can't post any photo evidence yet (funny how my laptop isn't considered essential luggage for an outback tour). So here's the down low on the past few days:
Alice Springs
After finishing work Wednesday, we woke up rondiculously early to catch our 8am flights the next morning. Since I'm used to the early hours, I was bouncing around chipper as ever and pretty much doing Chris' head in as he often doesn't go to bed until 6am let alone ever wake up that early. Fortunately we made it to the airport before Chris could lash out at my hyperness so no casualties occurred. Our flight was uneventful and quite luxurious for our general backpacker ways. This is the first time in ages we booked a non budget airline flight and I actually had to stop Chris from pushing money into the shocked flight attendants hand as the drink cart came around. We touched down in outback central and booked into our hostel all before lunch ready to explore the metropolis that is Alice Springs. Coming in at the second largest city in the Northern Territory (one of Australia's seven states) at a whopping population of 26,000, there was unsurprisingly not a whole lot to occupy our time for the rest of the day. After walking the entire city, engaging in a cultural heritage self guided walk, entering every tacky souvenir shop, stopping by the bank, and even hitting up the local kmart, we realized that it was-alas-only 5pm. After giving Chris a good tease about how he wanted to live and work here instead of Melbourne (yep, that was the original plan) we hit up the local supermarket for a picnic dinner and pretty much called it a night. Another pre 6am wake up call was on the horizon.
The Outback Camping Safari
Gathering outside of the hostel front entrance at 6am the following morning with half of the other backpackers staying there (turns out the only reason anyone come to the Alice is to engage in one of these outback tours so everyone is either on their way to or returning from a tour) we were met by an incredibly chirpy akubra hat wearing (complete with an eagle feather I might add) tour guide named Sheldon. He boarded his zombie like charges onto the modest bus and set us out on the road destination outback. A few hours and a couple of short stops later, we embarked at Yalara-a community built for the sole purpose of catering to the tourism surrounding their famous rock formations-at our campground. Thirty seconds after departing the bus, each of us were horrified to discover the thirty flies buzzing around our heads. I was not expecting this. A few well prepared and rather ambitious travelers pulled out mosquito netting attached to goofy hats and proceeded to wrap themselves up like bee keepers. I stifled a giggle at the ridiculousness. Five minutes later I was considering offering $50 to the first person who would sacrifice their ridiculous headpiece for my own sanity. I have never experienced flies on this level. They were to a point that it was a serious detriment to my trip enjoyment. But, being in the outback and all, we sucked it up and spent the next three days perfecting our Aussie Salute-waving our arms wildly around our heads while simultaneously cursing all flying insects to the depths of hell.
The next two days were amazing-hiking Kata Tjuta (a series of rock domes sticking up out of the flat landscape), discovering the awesomeness that is Uluru (the largest monolith in the world) through sunrise/sunset viewings and a 10k base walk, and sleeping under the breathtaking stars in traditional swag bedrolls. Unfortunately halfway through the second day we ran into an obstacle. We must have the rain gods stowing away with us because our last destination-King's Canyon-had been saturated to the point of inaccessibility. Did I mention we were in the desert? After jokingly asking Sheldon if they were going to helicopter us in, we found out that we would have to spend a second night at our current location and forgo King's Canyon which was actually the bit of the tour I was looking forward to most. Our consolation prize was that we were not forced to sleep outside in the rain-at least we were upgraded to tents, something that most of the other tour groups were not as fortunate in. We spent the rest of the day playing card games, reading magazines, and listening to the rain pour down around us. The last day was a bit of a bust as we just drove back to Alice Springs, had a picnic lunch, and saw a couple of second rate sites that we would have been just as happy to miss. No time to dwell on our sorrows though, we decided to drink our disappointment away with our fellow tour group members at the pub instead.
And on to Adelaide
Waking up severely hungover yet incredibly satisfied with an amazing night out, we checked out of our rooms, hobbled to McDonalds, and tried not to remember that we currently felt like the living dead as we ate our greasy morning after breakfast. Next we hopped on another flight this time traveling to South Australia's capitol of Adelaide-the city of churches. Now I have officially been to 5 of Australia's states which I think is a rather good accomplishment. We celebrated our anniversary two days early since we'll be in the middle of another tour on March 17th. We went for a beautiful walk around the city, I popped into a shop to buy an outfit that didn't consist of red tinged sneakers, sweaty tshirt, and manky trousers to look acceptable for dinner. Next stop was a lovely local seafood restaurant where we toasted our two years with a bottle of champagne and enjoyed the local cuisine before rounding the night out with a little bit of gelato, or in Chris' case, a rather large amount of gelato. Knackered and anticipating a 6am rise in the morning, we are about to hit the sheets and recharge for round two. But more of that to follow....
Sitting here in the youth hostel recovering from trip number one and preparing for trip number two so I decided to give a quick update on my glamorous life as citizen of the world. Unfortunately I'm being a bit of a tease (aren't I always) since I can't post any photo evidence yet (funny how my laptop isn't considered essential luggage for an outback tour). So here's the down low on the past few days:
Alice Springs
After finishing work Wednesday, we woke up rondiculously early to catch our 8am flights the next morning. Since I'm used to the early hours, I was bouncing around chipper as ever and pretty much doing Chris' head in as he often doesn't go to bed until 6am let alone ever wake up that early. Fortunately we made it to the airport before Chris could lash out at my hyperness so no casualties occurred. Our flight was uneventful and quite luxurious for our general backpacker ways. This is the first time in ages we booked a non budget airline flight and I actually had to stop Chris from pushing money into the shocked flight attendants hand as the drink cart came around. We touched down in outback central and booked into our hostel all before lunch ready to explore the metropolis that is Alice Springs. Coming in at the second largest city in the Northern Territory (one of Australia's seven states) at a whopping population of 26,000, there was unsurprisingly not a whole lot to occupy our time for the rest of the day. After walking the entire city, engaging in a cultural heritage self guided walk, entering every tacky souvenir shop, stopping by the bank, and even hitting up the local kmart, we realized that it was-alas-only 5pm. After giving Chris a good tease about how he wanted to live and work here instead of Melbourne (yep, that was the original plan) we hit up the local supermarket for a picnic dinner and pretty much called it a night. Another pre 6am wake up call was on the horizon.
The Outback Camping Safari
Gathering outside of the hostel front entrance at 6am the following morning with half of the other backpackers staying there (turns out the only reason anyone come to the Alice is to engage in one of these outback tours so everyone is either on their way to or returning from a tour) we were met by an incredibly chirpy akubra hat wearing (complete with an eagle feather I might add) tour guide named Sheldon. He boarded his zombie like charges onto the modest bus and set us out on the road destination outback. A few hours and a couple of short stops later, we embarked at Yalara-a community built for the sole purpose of catering to the tourism surrounding their famous rock formations-at our campground. Thirty seconds after departing the bus, each of us were horrified to discover the thirty flies buzzing around our heads. I was not expecting this. A few well prepared and rather ambitious travelers pulled out mosquito netting attached to goofy hats and proceeded to wrap themselves up like bee keepers. I stifled a giggle at the ridiculousness. Five minutes later I was considering offering $50 to the first person who would sacrifice their ridiculous headpiece for my own sanity. I have never experienced flies on this level. They were to a point that it was a serious detriment to my trip enjoyment. But, being in the outback and all, we sucked it up and spent the next three days perfecting our Aussie Salute-waving our arms wildly around our heads while simultaneously cursing all flying insects to the depths of hell.
The next two days were amazing-hiking Kata Tjuta (a series of rock domes sticking up out of the flat landscape), discovering the awesomeness that is Uluru (the largest monolith in the world) through sunrise/sunset viewings and a 10k base walk, and sleeping under the breathtaking stars in traditional swag bedrolls. Unfortunately halfway through the second day we ran into an obstacle. We must have the rain gods stowing away with us because our last destination-King's Canyon-had been saturated to the point of inaccessibility. Did I mention we were in the desert? After jokingly asking Sheldon if they were going to helicopter us in, we found out that we would have to spend a second night at our current location and forgo King's Canyon which was actually the bit of the tour I was looking forward to most. Our consolation prize was that we were not forced to sleep outside in the rain-at least we were upgraded to tents, something that most of the other tour groups were not as fortunate in. We spent the rest of the day playing card games, reading magazines, and listening to the rain pour down around us. The last day was a bit of a bust as we just drove back to Alice Springs, had a picnic lunch, and saw a couple of second rate sites that we would have been just as happy to miss. No time to dwell on our sorrows though, we decided to drink our disappointment away with our fellow tour group members at the pub instead.
And on to Adelaide
Waking up severely hungover yet incredibly satisfied with an amazing night out, we checked out of our rooms, hobbled to McDonalds, and tried not to remember that we currently felt like the living dead as we ate our greasy morning after breakfast. Next we hopped on another flight this time traveling to South Australia's capitol of Adelaide-the city of churches. Now I have officially been to 5 of Australia's states which I think is a rather good accomplishment. We celebrated our anniversary two days early since we'll be in the middle of another tour on March 17th. We went for a beautiful walk around the city, I popped into a shop to buy an outfit that didn't consist of red tinged sneakers, sweaty tshirt, and manky trousers to look acceptable for dinner. Next stop was a lovely local seafood restaurant where we toasted our two years with a bottle of champagne and enjoyed the local cuisine before rounding the night out with a little bit of gelato, or in Chris' case, a rather large amount of gelato. Knackered and anticipating a 6am rise in the morning, we are about to hit the sheets and recharge for round two. But more of that to follow....
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Wrap Up
Our bags are packed. We're ready to go.* Tomorrow we embark on our whirlwind Australian tour before departing this great country. Since we have a mere two day interval between our tour conclusion and our international departure, the last few days have been full of tying up loose ends here in Williamstown.
Today is the last work shift for both Chris and me, and we're both a little sad about leaving our jobs. We've both been blessed with amazing coworkers and some great memories. Last night my bosses and fellow Pickle Barrelites (aka my coworkers) threw a farewell dinner in my honor. How amazing is that? I've only been with them seven months, and they actually put together a bon voyage party just for me. We had a lovely dinner at an extremely tasty local thai restaurant complete with good food, great conversation, and of course a few bottles of wine (what can I say but they know me well). I even received a parting gift! Who knew people buy you presents just for leaving. Hmm...on second consideration that might be saying something. In a further display of how well they've come to know me, I was gifted a wonderfully compact and stylish pocket notebook (the one that currently resides in my purse at all times for quick access is rather grubby and appears to belong to a ten year old student), a reading light for the plane (don't you just hate putting on that overhead light above your seat? I feel like I'm in the spotlight for people trying to sleep to glare at me), and a very unique and awesome ring. I couldn't think of a better gift. After dinner I returned home where Chris was entertaining a few of his work friends, and we stayed up into the wee hours of the morning sitting on the back porch giggling the night away.
This morning Chris had to wake up early to open the restaurant, but since I'm not scheduled in until noon I made a trip to the bank, did some fancy overseas money tranfer, online checked us into our morning flight for tomorrow, and now I'm chatting with you fine folks before heading in for my last day. Tomorrow our next adventure begins at 6am no less since we have to make it to the airport by eight. Earlier than I'd like to start a vacation yes, but oh so worth it.
So this week as you go about your daily lives, think of me and Chris exploring central Australia and try not to be too terribly jealous. I'll return next week with a recap of our travels!
*Um...actually, technically speaking, they are not. Not even a little. But it sounds way cooler to say it this way than admit I never pack until the very last minute possible. What can I say? John Denver conveyance beats mine everytime.
Today is the last work shift for both Chris and me, and we're both a little sad about leaving our jobs. We've both been blessed with amazing coworkers and some great memories. Last night my bosses and fellow Pickle Barrelites (aka my coworkers) threw a farewell dinner in my honor. How amazing is that? I've only been with them seven months, and they actually put together a bon voyage party just for me. We had a lovely dinner at an extremely tasty local thai restaurant complete with good food, great conversation, and of course a few bottles of wine (what can I say but they know me well). I even received a parting gift! Who knew people buy you presents just for leaving. Hmm...on second consideration that might be saying something. In a further display of how well they've come to know me, I was gifted a wonderfully compact and stylish pocket notebook (the one that currently resides in my purse at all times for quick access is rather grubby and appears to belong to a ten year old student), a reading light for the plane (don't you just hate putting on that overhead light above your seat? I feel like I'm in the spotlight for people trying to sleep to glare at me), and a very unique and awesome ring. I couldn't think of a better gift. After dinner I returned home where Chris was entertaining a few of his work friends, and we stayed up into the wee hours of the morning sitting on the back porch giggling the night away.
This morning Chris had to wake up early to open the restaurant, but since I'm not scheduled in until noon I made a trip to the bank, did some fancy overseas money tranfer, online checked us into our morning flight for tomorrow, and now I'm chatting with you fine folks before heading in for my last day. Tomorrow our next adventure begins at 6am no less since we have to make it to the airport by eight. Earlier than I'd like to start a vacation yes, but oh so worth it.
So this week as you go about your daily lives, think of me and Chris exploring central Australia and try not to be too terribly jealous. I'll return next week with a recap of our travels!
*Um...actually, technically speaking, they are not. Not even a little. But it sounds way cooler to say it this way than admit I never pack until the very last minute possible. What can I say? John Denver conveyance beats mine everytime.
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