All the traveling in the world cannot compare to my time with little Miss Hannah . . . these times are PRICELESS!
Friday, March 30, 2012
San Francisco
well I made it to San Francisco. Sydney to Auckland to LA to San Fran 24 hours later I am here. My baggage however did not make it and is still traveling. Weather here is much cooler than Asia and Australia.
All the traveling in the world cannot compare to my time with little Miss Hannah . . . these times are PRICELESS!
All the traveling in the world cannot compare to my time with little Miss Hannah . . . these times are PRICELESS!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Auckland - LA
Well I am still here in Sydney. I have been out to the airport the last two days
but all the flights to LA have been full and the next several days do not look much better.
So tomorrow I am going to take a gamble and fly to Auckland hoping to get on the 2pm flight to LA. There are 8 seats and I would be standby number two if nothing changes before tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.
This is the first time I have encountered this problem with staff travel so considering all the flights I have taken and what it has cost this is a small price to pay. I am very lucky to have such good friends like Marianne and Brian who keep taking me to the airport, wait in case I do not get on the flight and then bring me back to their house.
We enjoyed my third goodbye dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant tonight. I better leave before they start charging me rent!
but all the flights to LA have been full and the next several days do not look much better.
So tomorrow I am going to take a gamble and fly to Auckland hoping to get on the 2pm flight to LA. There are 8 seats and I would be standby number two if nothing changes before tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.
This is the first time I have encountered this problem with staff travel so considering all the flights I have taken and what it has cost this is a small price to pay. I am very lucky to have such good friends like Marianne and Brian who keep taking me to the airport, wait in case I do not get on the flight and then bring me back to their house.
We enjoyed my third goodbye dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant tonight. I better leave before they start charging me rent!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Last day in Sydney
We started out a beautiful sunny day by taking the two labs for an hour walk. Molly (one of the labs) kept looking behind for me as I was dragging myself back up the huge hill Marianne lives on Thank goodness I will not see that hill for another couple of months. We then picked up a cappuccino and off to the wildlife park to visit the koalas and kangaroos.
After the wildlife park we drove down the coast and enjoyed a delicious lunch and visited the Seacliffe bridge to enjoy a spectacular view of the Australian coastline.
Last stop of the day was Cronulla Beach for a coffee and to enjoy the beautiful sun and surf.
Well after visiting 8 countries taking 26 flights, just over 60,000 km at a total cost of $1610 (thanks to staff travel this works out to be .37 cents per km). I started this journey with 26kg of luggage and i am coming home with 51kg (thank you marianne for the extra bag).
It has been a fabulous adventure. Sometimes the anticipation of a journey is better than the journey itself - not so in this case. This journey has exceeded all my expectations which began with watching the Sydney fireworks from the harbour thanks to gaille and ants friends' Cathy and Graham. To traveling through Asia with Brian and Marianne - we have shared some wonderful memories. The best part of traveling is the people you meet and i have been so lucky to meet so many people from all over the world. A special thank you to my Australian friends for making me feel so welcome. Rest assured I will be back in a few months so for now i will just say g'day mate!
At the time of writing this blog it is looking like both the flights to LA tomorrow are fully booked and I am flying standby so who knows when I will make it back to LA- keep your fingers crossed as the plan is to get to LA then to San Fran to spend a few days with Miss Hannah before coming back to Victoria.
Stay tuned for part two of the traveling shoe . . April 30th I fly to Hong Kong.
After the wildlife park we drove down the coast and enjoyed a delicious lunch and visited the Seacliffe bridge to enjoy a spectacular view of the Australian coastline.
Last stop of the day was Cronulla Beach for a coffee and to enjoy the beautiful sun and surf.
Well after visiting 8 countries taking 26 flights, just over 60,000 km at a total cost of $1610 (thanks to staff travel this works out to be .37 cents per km). I started this journey with 26kg of luggage and i am coming home with 51kg (thank you marianne for the extra bag).
It has been a fabulous adventure. Sometimes the anticipation of a journey is better than the journey itself - not so in this case. This journey has exceeded all my expectations which began with watching the Sydney fireworks from the harbour thanks to gaille and ants friends' Cathy and Graham. To traveling through Asia with Brian and Marianne - we have shared some wonderful memories. The best part of traveling is the people you meet and i have been so lucky to meet so many people from all over the world. A special thank you to my Australian friends for making me feel so welcome. Rest assured I will be back in a few months so for now i will just say g'day mate!
At the time of writing this blog it is looking like both the flights to LA tomorrow are fully booked and I am flying standby so who knows when I will make it back to LA- keep your fingers crossed as the plan is to get to LA then to San Fran to spend a few days with Miss Hannah before coming back to Victoria.
Stay tuned for part two of the traveling shoe . . April 30th I fly to Hong Kong.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Bali
The weather has not cooperated in Bali. My relaxing week laying in the sun has turned into a week of rain and emails to groupon, of course they do not respond ( nice customer service).
I hired a driver to take me around some of the scenic spots of Bali. The first two spots were his friend's overpriced silver jewelry stores in Sanur. He kept telling me he could get me a good cheap deal. The last thing I want right now is jewelry and I am definitely over shopping for a while (bet you never thought you would hear me say that!)
The next stop was the monkey sanctuary which is a jungle area in Ubud where you can walk around and the monkeys are everywhere and do not seem to be afraid of people - I guess that is because they know who has the food! It was fun to watch the babies imitate their mothers - guess that's where the saying 'monkey see monkey do' came from.
Next stop was the town of Ubud which is lovely. Lots of restaurants, stores and a market. Very clean and pleasant place to walk around exploring for the afternoon. Ubud is a bit warmer and more humid as it is inland and not near the ocean.
Last stop was Jambian which is for the most part a stretch of restaurants on the beach that serve fresh seafood. The beach is nice and the water is warm but there is lots of garbage such as wrappers and plastic bags that has been washed ashore. Such a shame as this does not invite one to relax on the beach. My driver really wanted me to go to his friend's restaurant for dinner but since I had already eaten in Ubud and I had already been to Jambian for a seafood dinner I refused and he was very disappointed (guess he missed out on a kick back from the restaurant). The seafood dinner I had in Jambian was ok it cost $32 which is very high for a dinner here (normally you spend under $20 including drinks). Also coming from BC and having a son who catches seafood it was nothing special.
Yesterday I met up with Bill Murphy Dyson and his wife Maureen for lunch. It was great to spend time with people from home. Bill told me the area I am staying Nusa Dua is a gated community like the Uplands and they had to go through security to get into this area. He should have told them he was from Oak Bay and already lives behind a tweed curtain!!!!
Well as you can tell Bali has not been my favorite place but the Aston hotel is beautiful and I have enjoyed relaxing for a bit although I must admit I do find this difficult - I even read a whole book in less than 24 hours.
I was going to go to Darwin and then back to sydney but flights out of Sydney to LA at the end of the month are full so it looks like I will be flying directly to sydney tomorrow and have a few days there (it will take that to organize my packing) before trying to get a flight to LA on March 27th.
I hired a driver to take me around some of the scenic spots of Bali. The first two spots were his friend's overpriced silver jewelry stores in Sanur. He kept telling me he could get me a good cheap deal. The last thing I want right now is jewelry and I am definitely over shopping for a while (bet you never thought you would hear me say that!)
The next stop was the monkey sanctuary which is a jungle area in Ubud where you can walk around and the monkeys are everywhere and do not seem to be afraid of people - I guess that is because they know who has the food! It was fun to watch the babies imitate their mothers - guess that's where the saying 'monkey see monkey do' came from.
Next stop was the town of Ubud which is lovely. Lots of restaurants, stores and a market. Very clean and pleasant place to walk around exploring for the afternoon. Ubud is a bit warmer and more humid as it is inland and not near the ocean.
Last stop was Jambian which is for the most part a stretch of restaurants on the beach that serve fresh seafood. The beach is nice and the water is warm but there is lots of garbage such as wrappers and plastic bags that has been washed ashore. Such a shame as this does not invite one to relax on the beach. My driver really wanted me to go to his friend's restaurant for dinner but since I had already eaten in Ubud and I had already been to Jambian for a seafood dinner I refused and he was very disappointed (guess he missed out on a kick back from the restaurant). The seafood dinner I had in Jambian was ok it cost $32 which is very high for a dinner here (normally you spend under $20 including drinks). Also coming from BC and having a son who catches seafood it was nothing special.
Yesterday I met up with Bill Murphy Dyson and his wife Maureen for lunch. It was great to spend time with people from home. Bill told me the area I am staying Nusa Dua is a gated community like the Uplands and they had to go through security to get into this area. He should have told them he was from Oak Bay and already lives behind a tweed curtain!!!!
Well as you can tell Bali has not been my favorite place but the Aston hotel is beautiful and I have enjoyed relaxing for a bit although I must admit I do find this difficult - I even read a whole book in less than 24 hours.
I was going to go to Darwin and then back to sydney but flights out of Sydney to LA at the end of the month are full so it looks like I will be flying directly to sydney tomorrow and have a few days there (it will take that to organize my packing) before trying to get a flight to LA on March 27th.
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