Around the World – Page 2

February 18, 2017

South America for days

We’ve spent the last six weeks traveling around South America with a friend of ours. Originally we had thought we would catch long distance buses to move around but decided we couldn’t be bothered with that so we flew around instead. These are our highlights from the past month.

Colombia
We met up in Cartagena and it was the picturesque start to our trip together that we had hoped for. One day we paid for a return trip across the bay to a popular beach. We had a really relaxing day and met a great family there. At the end of the day, a few minutes before our agreed return time we packed up our things and went in search of our boat driver. Half an hour later we were still on the beach with the driver nowhere to be seen. Welcome to South America, where you should never pay for a return trip because you probably won’t get it!

aadsc08238 — Little did we know we would be left on this beach!

We flew to Medellin after a few days in Cartagena and took a day trip to the Rock of Guatape where you climb 740 stairs to reach the top and over look to scenery. At a higher than normal altitude 740 stairs actually takes your breathe away and we quickly learnt that anything in altitude is harder than normal. Medellin is also where Mark discovered a girl was trying to pick him up by offering to be his guide.

On our flight to Bogota I met a guy who had lived in NZ to study English and after I told him where we were staying he advised me that it actually wasn’t a safe area. Upon arrival at our hotel we discovered that it wasn’t a safe area very quickly and once we got to our rooms and realised they didn’t lock properly we picked up our bags, booked a room at another hotel and left. Our new hotel was more like an apartment which was perfect because we hosted a dinner party to say thank you to Joel and Carolina for taking us out the night before and for Joel’s advice on where to stay – they did make our time in Bogota so much better!

Peru
We spent a day at the beach in Lima and then picked up a hire car and drove to Paracas to spend a few days there while our Brazilian visas were being processed in Lima. Along the way we were pulled over by the police and after 45 minutes of back and forth we were able to reduce our ‘fine’, which was in fact a bribe, to a quarter of what they wanted and then because they realised I was filming them they discreetly handed us the money back and then offered us some advice on police in Peru, even though they had just been asking for a bribe. Nevertheless because we were quite sure they would either follow us or radio the police up ahead we gave them some money as a token of our appreciation for their advice. Safe to say they were a bit shocked and wanted to confirm that it was a ‘gift’. They were quite happy when we confirmed it was and they freely took the money offered. Two days later we woke up early on our 365th day of travel and climbed huge sand dunes nearby and felt super proud that we had made it to a year.

Peru was full of nature for us. We spent 3 hours hiking up Rainbow mountain which was the hardest thing any of us had ever done but at the end it was so rewarding to be able to see how high we had climbed and look out over the mountain range. Surprisingly, out of the 3 of us, I was the only one that didn’t get hit with altitude sickness. Safe to say we slept well that night and 2 days later when we arrived at Machu Picchu we decided our legs just couldn’t take another hike so we got the bus instead and felt super happy with our decision once it started pouring rain.

Bolivia
Arriving in La Paz we were immediately hit with the altitude and pouring rain. It stayed like this for the entire time we were there and this time around I was the one to be hit with altitude sickness and spent a full day pretty much sleeping or not doing anything. We travelled to the town of Uyuni to spend a day visiting the Salt flats which were absolutely amazing. I had never seen anything so flat and white, not only that but because of the recent rains some parts of the salt flat looked like huge natural mirrors! Our day there was definitely the highlight of our time in Bolivia

aadsc08958 — Mirror, mirror on the floor

Brazil
We arrived in Rio with no energy whatsoever. It took us all a couple of days to recover from what we think was an effect of the constant changing altitudes we had been at. It didn’t matter too much though because we spent each day by the roof top pool which over looked Copacabana Beach and had views of Sugarloaf Mountain and if we stretched out over the ledge we could see Christ the Redeemer. We took a day trip out to visit Christ the Redeemer which is actually a lot bigger once you are standing right below it. The area was packed full of people though so it was difficult to stand still to appreciate it without being pushed from side to side. Sugarloaf Mountain was a lot quieter and gave us amazing views of Rio de Janeiro. On our last day we walked across to Copacabana Beach where we sat and watched all of the people for hours.

Argentina
We travelled to Argentina for the sole purpose of meeting some of Mark’s relatives that he nor his family in Australia had ever met before but to make the most of our visas we first stopped to see the huge Iguazu Falls that occupy both Argentina and Brazil.We arrived at the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls and got a taxi to drive us across the border into Argentina. We spent just the day there admiring the huge waterfalls and then early the next day flew to Buenos Aires to meet his relatives where we were welcomed with open arms and they looked after us like they had known us our whole lives. We spoke a weird mixture of English, Italian and Spanish and were thankful when we were able to speak English and have it translated. We were fed amazing Argentine BBQ and home made empanadas and when we left it was once again an emotional goodbye of “until next time”, although no one knows when next time will be we were all sure that there would definitely be a next time.

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Chile
After a whirlwind 6 weeks of travel we arrived in Santiago and slept for hours and woke up starving but refreshed. After an intense period of travelling we always have to spend a few days planning ahead and looking back at our most recent trip and that’s what we did here in Santiago; planned for the future, and our immediate future holds a trip to Mexico, snowboarding through Canada and buying an RV. Can’t wait for the next few months!

South America didn’t always live up to our expectations. In some moments we were pleasantly surprised but at other times we would travel somewhere and feel like that particular place was letting us down. This is one of the downfalls of travelling for as long as we have. We have seen so much of the world that unfortunately now we know what we like and what we don’t like and this makes appreciating great places difficult because we don’t want to see great, we want to see amazing places. This isn’t to say we didn’t enjoy our time in South America because we most definitely did, but if we are to ever come back we will be very selective about where we go, spending most of our time in Argentina, Chile & Brazil.

January 11, 2017January 10, 2017

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Orlando airport looks more like a shopping centre than an airport to me. We got off the plane and made our way to the transport area where we luckily got the last two spots on the Cocoa Beach shuttle and an hour later were chilling at our hotel bar having a drink on Christmas Eve. Later that afternoon we called everyone back home to wish them a Merry Christmas. We were up early the next day so that Mark could hire a surfboard and head out surfing while I took my book and read on the beach. This is how we spent this first half of our Christmas Day. The second half was spent with Mark throwing up after lunch (we’re still not sure if it was the food or the smoothie that got him). He didn’t want to cancel our dinner at the hotel so we ate our dinner there in what we thought was going to be a decent meal. Mark spent half of the time in the bathroom being sick, while my steak was cold, and after waiting over an hour I thought it wasn’t worth it to send it back. I don’t think the hotel was expecting that many people to eat at the restaurant for Christmas dinner because the staff looked completely overwhelmed – Poor Mark didn’t look much better.

Our days in Cocoa Beach were spent by the beach and one night while we were deciding where to go for dinner an ad came on TV about popcorn to which I announced “I could easily go some popcorn right now”. We normally only really eat popcorn at the movies so we decided to combine something we each wanted to do – Mark wanted to watch the new Star Wars movie and I wanted to eat popcorn – and so we did both. I had never seen any of the Star Wars movies before but apparently watching ‘Star Wars: Rouge One’ first was going to be a good starting point. I admit that is was better than I was expecting which is why after 7 years together I finally said yes to Mark’s question “Can we watch Star Wars?” Each night after that we watched a Star Wars movie and one day when the weather wasn’t great, we stayed in, ordered pizza and watched 3 movies back to back.

florida — Not a bad view for Christmas morning

We left Cocoa Beach after just under a week there and flew to New York City which was so busy it was ridiculous. New York City is unlike any city we’ve been to. Mark calls it a jungle because every day we left our hotel and even if we just walked around we experienced something different compared to the day before.

New Years Eve we went across to Brooklyn early in the morning and relished the lack of crowds and the quietness that came with it. We spent the afternoon in Soho and at the Chelsea Market eating lobster and drinking beer before heading back to our hotel to get ready for the night. We didn’t have any plans as such because we weren’t sure how everything would be working in the city so decided to take things as they came and we had an amazing night because of it. We got the metro to China Town to eat Vietnamese for dinner, went to a speakeasy bar afterwards where we drank amazing cocktails and met an Aussie bartender working there who gave us some recommendations for other bars. After our drinks we took the metro up to Central Park where we set out our small towel as a picnic rug on the edge of a pond and counted down the last few minutes of 2016. At midnight the fireworks started and we opened our small bottle of champagne, drank straight from the bottle because we forgot glasses, and toasted to the amazing year we had together. While sitting on the edge of the pond with the champagne in hand, looking at Mark while he was watching the fireworks I couldn’t help but feel so happy it took my breathe away. How lucky we were to have experienced the year we had and to know that the end of the year didn’t mean the end of our trip. After our champagne we each took a shot of vodka from the small bottle we took from our minibar, toasted to each other again, and set off back to the bar we came from. We didn’t spend too long at the bar again and then while we were at the metro station we took the train in the wrong direction and at 2:00am on January 1^st 2017 we were sitting at a train station in Brooklyn, nowhere near where we needed to be so we got back on the train heading in the opposite direction and eventually made our way to our hotel.

Mark on our trip back from Brooklyn heading in the correct direction

We slept in on the first day of 2017 and when we finally woke up we completely unpacked our bags and re-packed them properly for our trip down to Colombia the next day. After this entire process we went back to China Town (because it’s so cheap) and ate lunch and then headed to Central Park – we were going ice skating! Once we got to the ice rink we saw how long the line was and decided it was best not to start our new year waiting in lines so we found another one up towards Harlem but still in Central Park and went there. At this one there were no lines and we were in straight away. I couldn’t remember the last time I went ice-skating and it was a lot harder than I remember but after a few laps (and Mark holding my hand) I was getting the hang of it. I honestly couldn’t have thought of a better way to start 2017 – ice-skating in Central Park, NYC with Mark, after nearly a year of travelling and with so much more to go. How lucky I am to be me, especially as we are heading to Colombia to meet up with a friend for a month!

January 8, 2017

Tacos and beer cure the soul

So we arrived at Cancun airport and got into a taxi without anywhere to go because the internet connections in Cuba blocked us from booking any accommodation. Luckily our taxi driver knew of a hotel and took us right to the front. It was nothing special but after 3 weeks in Cuba it was nice to be in an actual hotel and not someone’s house. We left the hotel straight away and went to a local taco restaurant where we ate tacos and drank beer and I watched the tension physically leave Mark. Safe to say he was happy to be out of Cuba and in Mexico.

We had planned to spend 12 days in Mexico. The first 2 days we spent in Cancun, the third day visiting Chichen Itza and then the next 6 we spent in Tulum. We booked an apartment with a kitchen and cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday while we were there and we felt so much better for eating fresh cooked food everyday. We hired bikes and rode 6km to the beach most days and on the days we didn’t go to the beach we sat by the pool, and when it was too hot to do either we sat inside. We felt like we had a home for a change and thought we could stay there for the whole time but as usual we were too excited at the beginning and after 3 days started to get a bit bored and thought we should look at going somewhere else. The million dollar question of course was “where to?” Did we want to have a white Christmas? If so we needed our winter clothes that were all in Canada being stored by our friends. Could we rent snow gear? Yes, if we wanted to spend an exorbitant amount of money on accommodation, board hire, clothing hire and flights. Quickly a white Christmas was drifting further from our minds but then what do we do? And so after spending hours looking at different options we decided on Florida – the weather was warm, surfing was possible and we could fly to NYC easily from there – we just had to decide where in Florida. Miami was the obvious answer but neither of us liked the idea of spending Christmas in Miami surrounded by so many people. A quick google search of surf spots in Florida pointed us to Cocoa Beach, and because we were getting over researching we booked a hotel and booked flights to fly out on Christmas Eve.

aadsc08064 — Chichen Itza early in the morning

We woke up early one morning and rode in the rain (yes, the one morning it rained) to the ruins nearby to check them out. We got there shortly after they opened which we liked because there were so many people arriving within an hour of us being there – and because we are the way we are, we left shortly after to get away from the crowds. We really enjoyed our time in Tulum and plan on going back early in the new year because even though we had 6 days there, time flew by so quickly and we didn’t get as much done as we could have. We’ll see what it’s like when we go back in a few months time!

December 27, 2016

Goodbye Fidel, Goodbye Cuba

We arrived in Havana on a Friday afternoon and after we stood in line to change money at the airport and then got ripped off by a taxi driver we were standing face to face with a small Cuban lady rapidly talking to us in Spanish. She owned the casa particular that we would be staying in for 3 days. Although I could barely understand what she was saying I liked her immediately for the small reason that her house was spotless. We left our bags in her room as our room was still occupied by some other people – I noted that she didn’t seem really thrilled with those particular people – and went to explore Havana. We made our way to the main square and climbed 2 flights of stairs to get to a bar with balcony views over the square, and it was here that we sat, ate lobster, drank mojitos and watched the musicians and dancing that we were expecting to find all over Cuba. We moved onto another bar and after more music, more lobster, more mojitos and some Cuban cigars we decided it was time for bed, after all, we knew we had over a month of this so why cram it all into one night?

The next day we were up and noticed the casa owner didn’t have that same spark she had the day before so thinking we may have gotten in her way some how we quickly left for the day. We spent the whole day walking around and checking out what Havana had to offer. At one point a local was trying to sell us a newspaper and we kept trying to explain to him that there was no reason for us to buy one as we didn’t speak or read Spanish, he looked at us with a bewildered expression and eventually left. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant (for Cuban standards) and thought we would take our time eating because there didn’t seem to be a lot going on in the city at the moment and figured we just had to wait until it was later in the night. While talking to our waiter he just casually through in “well because Fidel died yesterday we are hoping it is the start of change” and then because we were too slow to actually say anything in reply, he continued talking, told us to enjoy our meal and walked away. It was now our turn to look slightly bewildered as we realised the guy selling the newspapers today was selling the edition announcing Fidel’s death. We then heard from other people talking that there would be 9 days of mourning which meant no alcohol and no music. That explained what we thought was a rather slow Saturday night, we also realised that explained why our casa owner was down this morning – she had learnt of his death. Sunday in Havana was a weird experience. The privately owned bars and restaurants were still selling alcohol while the government ones most definitely weren’t, however the private ones didn’t know if they were going to be allowed to do so for the entire 9 days of mourning or if it would change again, there was quite a bit of confusion. A lot of the locals, especially the older ones could be seen crying on the side of the street while most of the younger locals looked like the whole process was going to be an inconvenience to them. We walked around for the day, eating churos and eventually bought the newspaper announcing one of the biggest events in modern day Cuba – Fidel’s death.

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We left Havana for Vinales, the land of tobacco, and when we arrived we were swamped by local casa owners wanting us to stay with them. We weren’t in the mood to really fend them off so very quickly we had one lady follow us and tell us we could stay with her. We just went with her because, well we don’t really know why, I guess we just couldn’t be bothered. She was lovely though and her house was on a side street where we had a view of the mountains. The next day we were up before sunrise for our horse ride through the countryside. Our first stop was what can only be described as a jungle lookout where we climbed to the top to watch the sunrise over the mountainside of Vinales. It was so peaceful up there that we stayed for a while just to relax. Our second stop was a tobacco field where we were given a mojito for breakfast and a quick 2 minute show and tell on how cigars were made and then because we were the only ones there we bought 3 cigars fully aware that we were probably being ripped off, just as we read that everyone seemingly is at these types of places. We had a few more stops after the tobacco field but we were in and out very quickly as they didn’t really interest us. With the horse ride over after 4 hours we were both hurting and tired so we went back to the casa for a sneaky nap that turned into a 3 hour sleep. We had thought we would need 3 days in Vinales but after our horse ride there wasn’t really anything else we wanted to do so we spent the next 2 days chilling out on our balcony and walking through town. We had caught a bus to Vinales and thought we would try a Taxi Collectivo to leave Vinales. Everything seemed great when we got picked up and were only sharing the car with another couple who sat on the bench seat next to the driver. After half an hour we pulled into a stop off the side of the main road that was filled with all other collectivos and had a restaurant and a few stalls. We thought we were there just to grab a coffee but after a little bit our driver was taking all of our bags out of the car and palming us off to another driver. This happened 3 more times before we were finally in a car driving towards Playa Giron. Our days in Playa Giron were just what we needed. We went to the beach everyday, read and ate great food. We were a bit hesitant to leave because we had been having a great time but we felt we needed to keep moving otherwise we wouldn’t get to visit all of Cuba.

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We left Playa Giron and spent the last days of the country wide mourning period in Cienfuegos and Guajimico and then ended in Trinidad. We had a couple of days in Trinidad but it was here that Mark mentioned that he wasn’t enjoying Cuba the way he thought he was and my quick reply was “me neither, I’m happy to leave if you are”. He was quite surprised by my response as he thought I had been enjoying our time there. We spent a couple of hours the next day working out what we were going to do and how soon we were going to leave. We agreed we would spend another week in Cuba and then would fly to Mexico and spend our remaining free time there before flying to New York. After working all of this out we had a really good final week in Cuba. We saved ourselves a decent amount of money by getting a local train for 3 hours between 2 cities and although we had to stand for majority of the train trip it was better than some of the buses and taxis we had been in. We stayed at a casa of a lovely family and from there we met a Spanish couple travelling on their honeymoon with their baby daughter. They offered to drive us an hour and a half the next day so we could get to our next stop and go to the beach. The beach at Cayo Guillermo was simply breathtaking and it was nice to spend a day with some other people, chatting to them and getting some advice for our travels to South America. After two days by the beach we packed up our stuff and travelled to another city just for the night before we made our way to Varadero, which would arguably be the most tourist-populated area in Cuba with a long stretch of beachfront all-inclusive resorts. We didn’t stay in an all-inclusive because it’s just not in our budget but it worked out much better for us. We stayed in a quiet street, a 5-minute walk to the beach that brought us to a part of the beach that was relatively quiet – our type of beach! Another great thing about Varadero was the amount of international cuisine restaurants that thankfully gave us a break from the standard Cuban dish of meat, chicken or seafood with rice and beans, which we had been eating everyday since the day we arrived in Cuba.

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We left Varadero and spent our last day and night in Havana. Havana is a really cool city and it ended our time in Cuba perfectly. Next stop: Mexico.

December 6, 2016December 6, 2016

Canada ey

For our past week in Canada we have spent the majority of our time with an old friend of Mark’s (back from his Canada days) and his girlfriend. What still amazes me along this trip is the hospitality of friends and family but especially those we don’t expect it from. Steve and Danelle have been amazing from the moment we saw them. They came out on a Thursday night to have drinks with us, stayed out until late, went to work the next day and then met up with us again the next night for dinner. This was all before they picked us up at 5:00am on Saturday morning in their RV full of beer, wine, food & snow gear. They had planned out our weekend for us and for the first time in a long time we didn’t have to organise a thing. We arrived at Sunshine, hired snowboards and jumped on to the gondola. It has been maybe 3 years since I’ve been to the snow to attempt to learn to snowboard and so this time around it was just starting from scratch although in much better snow than we find back home. After Mark spent an hour or so with me we met up with Steve & Danelle to sit in the snow and have a drink and chat before the 3 of them went off to go down a few runs together. After they were done we ate some lunch and then all went for a ride together, I again spent more time on my ass than I would like to admit but hey, gotta start somewhere. We spent the night in a campground in Banff and made a trip out to the town for dinner where we encountered more Aussies & Kiwis than we did at ANZAC Day in Gallipoli. They were everywhere and we learnt that most people would just assume we lived and worked there when they heard us speak.

Waking up in the RV after such a deep sleep and stepping outside in the cold was surprisingly refreshing. I am glad though that we parked as close as we could to the bathrooms because it quickly stopped being refreshing and quickly became cold. The only shower in the bathroom was occupied and I felt like a bit of a creep waiting in the bathroom for the lady to finish but I didn’t want to lose my place in the imaginary line I had conjured up in my mind and therefore keep everyone waiting. It didn’t take too long though and when I made it back to the RV everything was packed up ready to go. We drove back to the town and bought breakfast before stopping by Lake Louise to have a drink, enjoy the scenery and just relax before we were dropped off at our hotel and Steve and Danelle made their way back home.

The next two days we spent at Lake Louise. The first day Mark spent up on the hill snowboarding and I spent the day doing nothing that was particularly interesting but all the same needed to be done – I worked on our trip. When Mark got back I asked him how his day was and all I got back was “I was sick”. I thought at first it was something he ate so started asking him about everything he ate during the day to which he just shook his head and said “No, I was sick because I was so exhausted.” And at this I just laughed and knew he would be sore the next day but he unfortunately had to drive us into town so we could eat.

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-8-49-29-pm — Mark out and about

On the second day we packed our things into the hire car and spent one last day together on the hill. We left Lake Louise that day and drove to Radium Springs to enjoy a bit of quiet and also enjoy the hot pool. We spent the night there and the next day after a quick last stop at Banff Mark put an address into Google Maps and told me to direct. When I looked at it I saw it was a Cinema. Not sure if that was correct I asked him where we were going and his reply was “I thought we would kill some time and go see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. I love Harry Potter so going to see the movie at an actual cinema was so exciting I sat with a smile on my face the entire drive but then wasn’t focussing and nearly caused us to take a wrong turn which would have meant delays and we were already running down to the minute. We got there though and the act of walking into the cinema reminded me so much of home it was strange. When we got to the counter though we had just missed the screening by about 2 minutes. After 30 seconds of slight panic on my behalf Mark bought tickets to the next one which was in 15 minutes. One movie, one large popcorn, two large drinks and a bag of Twix later I actually skipped to the car. I was so happy and excited – I can’t wait for the next movies to come out! We drove to Steve and Danelle’s straight from the cinema and met them there for a drink before we went out for one last dinner at a BBQ House. We ate, drank and laughed for hours before it was time to go home because although we haven’t worked for close to a year, they still had their normal lives to attend to the next day.

And so that next day brings us to today. After saying thank you and goodbye we drove to the airport (stopped by McDonald’s for breakfast on the way), flew to Toronto and then got the shuttle bus to our hotel where we have had dinner, packed our bags and I finally managed to book a house to stay at in Havana, Cuba, where we flew to tomorrow. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. We don’t expect to have much internet (if any) in Cuba so you might not hear from us for a while.

Until we are back, our love, B & Mark xxx

November 25, 2016

New York, New York

After an easy flight from Iceland we arrived at JFK Airport in New York and I was pretty excited but also trying to act cool… Customs officers always make me nervous; I never know if I should smile or frown, look at them or look away but while I was being pre-occupied with my internal struggle of if I was smiling too much the officer handed us our passports and through we walked into America. We grabbed a cab and waited patiently for the drive to end so we could get to our apartment and start exploring. If you were to look up the definition for rush hour traffic you would find New York City there which meant by the time we got to our apartment the time difference from Iceland had started to hit us and we were getting hungry. All we did for our first night in NYC is eat and then sleep, which was probably a good thing considering the mood New Yorkers were in after the election results. The next day however we were up early and our first stop was Washington Square Park to check out the archway and fountain. The archway was there as was the waterless fountain. Not to worry though because we were in NYC and nothing could ruin our mood. That first day we quickly became familiar with the NY Subway system and also become very familiar with all of the interesting people, smells and sounds that can be found below the surface of NYC.

We’ve learnt to get up as soon as the sun rises, if not before to start our days when we are in heavy tourist areas so we got up early and made our way out to Brooklyn for our morning walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We were lucky enough to experience Brooklyn Bridge with the locals while they all started their days with their morning routines; walking, running, or riding. We decided to spend the morning doing our laundry because we knew if we left it any longer we would be exploring NYC in our summer clothes so we picked up our bags of dirty clothes, grabbed a coffee (hot chocolate for me) from our new ‘local’ cafe and made our way to the laundromat. 2 hours later we had bags full of clean clothes and were ready to start our real exploration of the city that never sleeps.

We are lucky enough to have a couple of friends from Melbourne living in NY so we caught up with them to get their recommendations on what we should do while there. Because of them we were able to eat some amazing food and visit some amazing sites free of charge thanks to their memberships. Thanks also to the US Election we were also cut off from many roads and access paths due to protests. I found the protests themselves quite uneventful to be honest except for one where a lady started yelling at us to join in. At this point I thought about trying to tell her that we weren’t American but didn’t think she would actually care and sure enough after about 30 seconds of yelling she was back walking with the crowd. These posts I write are never meant to be about politics, they are only meant to be about our trip but I’ve learnt a lot throughout our travels so far and I believe I am quite well versed on the world these days. One of the main things that has stood out from our travels for me, and I know Mark feels the same, is that a lot of people never see how deep a scar runs. People living in cities all over the world who have jobs and can support themselves rarely think about the indirect affect a government’s policy can have on their own population and on those who were already doing it tough. I don’t think any country is perfect in the way they do things but I strongly associate myself with the government and social systems of Scandinavian countries. The sense of pride and gratefulness shown by so many Scandinavians about politics is truly unbelievable and I hope that in the future Australia heads more towards the Scandinavian way of life instead of the American. There are simply too many people hurting in America that are being left behind and forgotten about thanks to the media. There are many places I would like to live in this world, American is not one of them. I find this feeling of mine hard to handle when I absolutely loved New York.

After 3 full days of exploring it was Sunday so we slept in and then went and treated ourselves to brunch. After brunch we went back to our apartment to pick up our bag and while Mark sat down to do a bit of research on where we should go, I did some research on tattoo shops that take walk ins. I easily found heaps but after a bit more research I found one I liked and showed Mark. We had already agreed on what tattoos we were going to get but once we looked at them again there was something that just didn’t feel right so I began researching new ones and quickly found ones that we felt worked better – bind runes symbolising love. We sent photos of them to our phone and off we went to see if the tattoo shop could fit us in and within minutes they were leading us through to meet our tattooist and get everything set up. I went first and it was over so quickly with minimal pain. I don’t understand though how people could sit there for hours. Mark went after me and after an hour the entire process was done and we were walking out of the shop with our new tattoos – Mark’s second and my first. Now we’ll never forget NY. We spent the rest of the day with one of our friends as she showed us around the Chelsea Markets. We ate the most amazing lobster and tacos that we vowed to be back there before we left for Canada.

Monday was the start of another week and thankfully talk of the election was slowly (and I mean at a snail’s pace) starting to die down. The weather was starting to go downhill on Monday so we tried to fit in a few of the last things on our list and before we knew it the day was over. Our days in NY just went by and before we knew it we only had 2 days left. Our second last day was met with pouring rain so we hung out inside and began organising ourselves for our trip to Canada. We applied for our ESA’s and mine came through straight away that it had been approved, Mark’s however came back ‘pending’. This caused Mark to go into slight panic mode but within an hour he was all smiles after getting his ‘approved’ email. To further lift his spirits we went to Chelsea Pier Driving Range where I agreed to let Mark try to teach me how to hit a golf ball. It wasn’t quite as boring as I always imagined it to be but I can’t say I could stand there and hit over 100 golf balls. Leaving the driving range we walked past a sign for the bowling alley so we turned and went and played 2 games of ten pin bowling. Mark won the first game but I won the second so I was happy to leave it at that… I hate losing. Before we knew it we were back at our apartment packing our bags getting ready for our last day in New York.

For our last day we decided to head out of the city and drive up state to Storm King Art Centre. The drive up there was really nice and we were able to see so much of New York. The first thing we noticed when we arrived at Storm King was the fresh air thanks to the large open space. To make the most of our day and to see as much as we could we rented bikes and rode around. It was so peaceful compared to NYC that at some of the art installations we stopped and sat down on the grass just to take in the tranquility. Of course driving back into NYC took some much longer than it did to get out so by the time we dropped the car off we were happy to be done with it and jumped back onboard the subway to head to Soho and then Times Square just one last time.

325cc975-0fe3-4f92-90b8-77bb8bfda94d — Getting that pout on at Storm King.

I loved New York and although I’m looking forward to the several weeks, I can’t wait to get back to the city and next time it will be for New Years Eve.

And now, off to Canada we go!

November 5, 2016November 4, 2016

Dear Family

We’ve spent the past month travelling with my family and it has been an amazing experience, not always easy but always worth it. Mark and I had a total of 9 people meet up with us – my Mum and Dad; my three brothers, Chris, James & Oliver; Chris’ girlfriend Jess; my Aunty and Uncle; and another Aunty. This is an open letter to them all after we travelled through Rome, Bratislava, Prague, Ancona, Venice, Tuscany and Sorrento.

Dear Family,

Growing up I used to think we were normal and it’s not since I’ve gotten older that I’ve realised we are not normal at all. It’s like when they say “if you don’t know who your annoying co-worker is, then you’re the annoying co-worker”. Well that’s us, we are that crazy family you see out in public that can show up anywhere and just take over but not always in a good way. The past month stirred a range of different emotions in me.

You made me so happy. You travelled so far to see Mark and I. Of course I know you didn’t come just for us but the fact that you came because of us meant the world to me.
You made me laugh to the point it hurt and I made ugly snorting sounds.
You angered me when I watched you treat each other badly.
You reminded me of our old life by talking to us about life back at home.
You frustrated me because there were so many of you and it was so hard to make everyone happy.
You made me cry, both in good ways and bad.

I loved being able to watch your faces as you experienced things I had already experienced.
I loved having you there with Mark and me when we went to a new city and were able to experience it for the first time.
I loved being able to split taxi costs, which meant splurging on a taxi wasn’t as bad, as normal.
I loved watching you meet your relatives for the first time and getting to know them.

I hope your trip away was everything you imagined it to be. A month away is a long time but I hope it was worth it. It was worth it for me.

Dad, I’ll never forget listening to you talk to all of your family in Italian, smiling the whole time while learning things about your family you never knew.
Mum, I’ll never forget the smile you had on your face as you watched your family walk through unknown cities in foreign countries. You were watching us, but I was watching you.
R, S & J, I’ll never forget the heated debates and intense discussions we had after dinner some nights, the laughter and tears that came from them.
Mum, R & J, I’ll never forget the typical ‘mum’ comments that were made throughout the whole trip, giving us ammunition to laugh and to tease you about.
Boys & Jess, I’ll never forget being able to hang out with you like we did at home, laughing at each other and with each other.
I’m not sure when I will see you all again but it’s ok because this holiday with you will stay with me forever. Thank you for giving that to me.

And now to Mark, I’ll never forget what you did for my family and me. Thank you isn’t enough but it’s a start.

All my love,

B xx

November 4, 2016November 4, 2016

Here come the Griswolds

Leaving Denmark for Rome was a bit of a shock to the system but oddly enough we felt at home. We have after all spent months of our trip in Italy. We got a taxi out to our apartment to meet my family there to find that they were all out and about exploring so Mark and I walked up to a restaurant, ordered a pizza and ate. After finishing our food we went to wait outside the apartment as we didn’t have a key. I sat down to read while Mark played his guitar and after an hour and a half my family showed up. Months ago I would have said it was going to be emotional but before I saw there I knew it wasn’t going to be. I speak to them quite often and if it’s not on FaceTime then it’s via emails or messages – they also keep track of what we are doing via our blog and Instagram. It was nice seeing them all and it’s funny how even after being away for 8 months, our relationships just didn’t change.

The next morning Mark and I woke up early to go to the Trevi Fountain and before we knew it almost everyone was up and walking out the door with us.

It was funny watching them over the next few days grapple with their jet lag. I always find that you think you’re doing fine and then it just hits you like a tonne of bricks, and slowly, one by one, without them really noticing that it was happening they all experienced their jet lag. The next 2 days in Rome Mark and I were getting used to the idea of travelling with 9 other people and then once we thought we had the hang of it we got a flight to Bratislava. One of the main reasons for my family’s trip was to meet relatives and Bratislava was where my mum and two aunties were to meet their father’s family. My grandfather had one younger brother who married and had a daughter. My grandfather died many years ago and as a result my mum and aunties have minimal memories of him so meeting direct relatives of his was a huge thing for them all. It was an emotional 3 days for them all and I know memories were created that will last a lifetime. It was an teary goodbye for everyone but everyone was so happy to have had the opportunity to meet.

We left on the train for Prague early afternoon and it was just like a circus rolling into town. We got to Bratislava station early just so we could take our time and I’m so glad we did. Once everyone was settled the 4 hour train trip went pretty quickly and with 30 minutes to go the Griswolds aka my family, starting bringing all of their luggage down and preparing themselves to disembark. We arrived to a rainy and cold Prague and once we got to their apartment everyone was happy. The apartment was beautiful but didn’t have room for Mark and I so while everyone went out to explore Mark and I jumped online to find somewhere to stay. A couple of hours later we had checked into our own place and met up back at their apartment. This was pretty much the pattern for the next 2 days. Mark and I would meet up with everyone at some point in the day and we would hang out for a while. We didn’t have a great experience when we were in Prague earlier in the year and our visit there this time was a bit non eventful except for the fact I got my hair cut again. This time it’s actually all gone!

We left Prague late in the afternoon and caught 2 flights to Ancona, Italy where we were to meet my dad’s relatives. Mark and I had spent 3 weeks with them so seeing them again was quite easy for us but it was emotional for my Dad to see his aunty and uncle who he hadn’t seen for 30 years. We spent 5 days in Ancona, visiting relatives and seeing some sites when we could. The main event the family put on for us was a huge family reunion where more that 70 people came to see ‘the family from Australia’. It was an amazing night and we were so grateful to be able to meet so many people who we were related to in some way. I think it was more amazing for my Dad as he was able to speak to everyone with the need of a translator like the rest of us. Towards the end of the night Mark managed to get a group photo of everyone which was absolutely amazing.

We left Ancona with bags full of food curtesy of my Dad’s family. The quick train ride to Venice was really easy and when we arrived Mark and I pointed my family in the direction of their water bus while we walked in the opposite direction towards ours. After google maps sent us to a completely different address we eventually found our way to our apartment and settled in. I had always wanted to go to Venice but being there in the windy, cold weather didn’t really match what I had imagined so I promised myself I would be back one day in summer and then was able to continue on enjoying our short time there. We spent a day checking out the Burano and Murano islands. While we were all standing around waiting for Mark and James to relax after their ‘friendly’ wrestling match I noticed something fall on Mark’s head and then when I looked up I saw a huge seagull had just flown over us, and then quickly putting 2 and 2 together I realised that Mark had been shat on. The laughter and commotion that followed was hilarious and once I had cleaned all of the bird shit from Mark’s hair we were ready to go get some drinks! On our last day we took a gondola ride because you can’t go to Venice without getting one and it was the perfect end to our trip to Venice.

We were staying in a beautiful Tuscan Villa that took hours to get to by the time we left Venice, got the train and then drove to the countryside. It was such an amazing house and we spent the week there cooking, drinking and simply relaxing. We woke up early one day during our stay there and drove out to Pisa. It was a long drive for a relatively short visit but it was a great experience, especially once we got everyone involved in taking the classic tourist shot. We found that, at the right angle, the photos looked great!

After our short visit to Pisa we drove back to our Villa, stopping off to have lunch at the amazing Antinori Winery. The architecture, gardens and vineyards there were so spectacular that after lunch we spent an hour walking around admiring everything.

We left Tuscany for Sorrento, just south of Naples. Arriving at Napoli Centrale station was a stark contrast to where we had been further north. There is a local train that can take you straight from Napoli Centrale to Sorrento station and when I asked everyone they were all happy to get the local train. So as soon as we arrived we headed for the local train and were engulfed by a sea of people. It was quite an adventure just getting through the crowds and down to the platform but we had just missed the train so had a 20 minute wait before the next one. While everyone was slightly anxious (I had told them all to be vigilant with their belongings as Naples was famous for it’s pickpockets) and waiting for the train, the crowds around us started to grow and before we knew it the platform was packed. Our train was approaching so we all pushed forward and my aunty had told Chris to go first because she didn’t want to hold him up. As soon as the train arrived though she panicked, ran, tripped and fell, blocking the pathway onto the train. Once somebody (maybe my uncle?) helped her up and we were all on board the train like sardines we were in tears of laughter. (Disclaimer:We checked she was ok and once we knew she was we were free to laugh.) And so began our last week together we spent it in Sorrento which is such a picturesque holiday town that it was the perfect way to end my family’s holiday. On the sunniest day there we got the ferry across to Capri where we hired a private boat to take us on a tour around the island and just like so many other parts of Italy it was amazing. It was also my mum’s birthday while there so we hired Fiat 500s and drove the Amalfi Coast for the day. Mark booked us lunch at a restaurant high above Positano and the view and food there was unsurpassable. I don’t think it’s a birthday my mum is likely to forget any time soon! The last 2 days in Sorrento Mark and I had some planning to do for the next part of our trip so everyone else went off to Naples and Pompeii and on our last night in Sorrento we ended it with a family dinner with possibly one too many bottles of wine.

We took yet another train back to Rome and once there we packed our bags and sorted everything out. I had done quite a lot of shopping in the past month so bought another suitcase to send home with them all. At one point it looked like everyone was carrying some of my shopping! The next day we were up super early to say goodbye to them all. It was an emotional goodbye for me because every other time I’ve said goodbye it was always goodbye until a certain date, this time the date is unknown so it’s goodbye until we see each other again. Once we saw them off Mark and I walked to the Colosseum, bought ourselves some breakfast and sat and ate while the sun rose. It was the perfect end to our time in Europe. We arrived in Rome for the first time in the middle of April and now here we are, end of October finally saying goodbye to Europe.

Our time spent in Europe was a dream come true and when I look back I’m constantly trying to remember things that have already begun to slip my mind. I think it will be time soon to go back and start reading my blog posts. Europe is such an amazing place and Italy truly began to feel like a second home to us. I can’t wait to come back here again but for now it’s time to move on to new places and it feels like another adventure is just about to start. First stop – Iceland!

Love, a soon to be very cold, B

October 1, 2016

I Am Pilgrim

Lisbon is such a cool city. Both Mark and I liked it as soon as we arrived and over the 2 days we were there we spent them walking around the city, enjoying the sun and enjoying the city. Towards the afternoon on our second day there we stopped by a market place set up with small restaurants selling food. We sat down straight away, ordered a starter of tuna in passion fruit and a glass of rosé each. We finished our food quite quickly and our wine even quicker and moved onto the oyster bar where we down 6 oysters between us and moved on again but this time to a deli where we bought fresh figs stuffed with prosciutto. I didn’t even sit down to eat mine, just took the plate from the lady, picked the fig up and ate it while standing. By this stage we were in a great mood but were literally eating through our money so we decided to have a quick walk around before heading to our apartment. This then turned into us finding the Gin Bar and ordering 2 gin and tonics, after which Mark thought another glass of rosè would be lovely. I was struggling to get through the G&T so gave Mark my wine glass. Back at our apartment we sat down and looked for a cheap place to eat dinner after blowing most of our money at the market. It was while we were looking for dinner that I started to feel sick. I laid down and an hour later was experiencing probably the most violent case of food poisoning I’ve had since I was in Mongolia a couple of years ago (that’s a whole other story). Mark later told me that he had been feeling sick too but after seeing what I was going through forced his body to get over it. I went to bed hungry and so exhausted that Mark woke up early the next morning to pack my bag for me so I could sleep a bit longer. He also left me at the apartment to go pick up our rental car, again giving me more time to sleep.

I can’t say I remember much of the drive as I slept as much as I could but as we got closer to Peniche we started to notice this thick fog everywhere and as we pulled into town we could barely see a thing. It was like this for the whole day so we just drove around checking out places close by and planning our few days there. The whole reason we went to Peniche was so that Mark could surf and I could learn to surf. Thanks to the fog and cold weather I sat on the beach each day in a jumper and read while Mark braved the cold water to surf. Had the weather been warmer in Peniche our time there would have been even better but despite the cold we still had a great time. I was looking forward to heading down south though because the weather forecast was much warmer there. We left Peniche early one morning and drove south to a place called Salema on the Algarve coast. Salema is a really small town so there isn’t a whole lot to do there. Our days there were spent driving to some sites and towns nearby. We hired a kayak one day and paddled for awhile around the caves and rock formations along the coast. After nearly being run over by 2 boats we decided it was maybe best we turn around and head back in. By this stage my arms were killing me and because we swapped and I sat behind Mark on the way back I found it was easy to just relax and let him paddle. Once he realised what I was doing he was constantly looking over his shoulder trying to get me to participate. The Algarve coastline is so beautiful and I loved our time there so I was a bit sad to be leaving.

algarve — Beautiful spot along the Algarve coast

On the morning we had to leave we were up early and out the door by 8am so we could drive 2 hours and get to Monte Rei by 10am. Now before you go googling Monte Rei to see what kind of town it is I will stop you there. It isn’t a town as such but a County Club and Golf Course. Yes, that’t right, we were there to play golf. I don’t play golf but I am an excellent golf cart driver so I drove while Mark played 18 holes. To occupy myself I had downloaded a new book and after 2 holes I decided the book was more important than driving so Mark drove both of us around the golf course.

golf_fotor — This is what a backpackers golfing attire looks like – a mix of old, borrowed and new.

My day went super quick thanks to my book and by the time we were at our new accommodation it was late afternoon but not so late that the sun was hidden so I quickly changed and sat by the pool to continue reading. To be honest I can’t really tell you what Mark did that afternoon because I wasn’t really paying attention. And so the next day when he asked me what I wanted to do my first answer was to continue reading which is exactly what I did. I spent the entire day moving around the accommodation grounds reading either in the sun or in the shade. It was after I had moved a third time that I noticed Mark had been following me and he now had quite a large collection of photos of me reading. Again, I can’t really tell you what else he did that day apart from follow me around with his camera for a bit and drive us to go get lunch. By the time I was in bed I only had a few chapters to go and of course there was no way I was going to sleep until I had finished the book.

file-oct-01-10-19-02-pm — One of the photos Mark took while he was following me around

I finished the book and had a very restless sleep thinking all about it. I love books in general but I especially love books that play on your mind days after you’ve finished reading them. That book was one of them – it’s called I Am Pilgrim and even as I write this post I can’t clear my mind entirely of it so I will quickly tell you that we are at Rome Airport waiting for our flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. First stop will be the Royal Palace to say hello to our fellow Aussie, Princess Mary.

Love, I Am Pilgrim

September 23, 2016

Reminds me of home

We flew to Barcelona and instead of getting the bus into the city we splurged and got a taxi. After the day running around Malta I just couldn’t be bothered and thankfully Mark felt the same. We arrived at the front of our friends apartment and were organising all of our stuff on the side of the street when I saw them drive up in their car and there I was waving on the side of the street like a fanatic… They didn’t see me. When they stopped the car I walked up while Mark minded all of our stuff and said hello before we made our way up 85 steps with everyone’s stuff. After that we decided it was time for a drink so we walked down to a bar and sat outside catching up. That night we didn’t go out for dinner but stayed in, eating, drinking and talking. When I woke up the next day Mark bought me breakfast in bed while I was on my phone replying to some messages. When I got up, I went to the kitchen and sat at the table with everyone. While everyone was talking I found that I couldn’t look up. It was the oddest feeling but I felt that if I looked up I would feel like I was back at home and I knew I wasn’t. After a few minutes I looked up and smiled, thinking about how Mark and I were back in Barcelona with friends from home; some we knew better than others but friends all the same.

Mark and I spent the day riding around Barcelona and then chilling at the beach before meeting everyone back at the apartment. We sat around for a while talking about our day and choosing a restaurant to eat dinner at. Once we found one we booked a table, got ready and went out. We spent the next few hours eating an amazing Spanish tapas tasting menu. I lost count of how many courses we ate and by the end we were all so full. We walked for about 10 minutes after to dinner to find a bar Mark and I went to when we were in Barcelona the last time. This kicked off the start of our night and the next morning we were all feeling a bit sorry for ourselves so everyone seemed to take it easy.

Taking it easy for me turned a 20 minute rest into a 2 hour nap. It worked out quite well though because by the time I woke up, Andrew and Paula had just finished cooking dinner for all of us so I sat at the table and ate a home cooked meal. It was so nice. We talked some more after dinner but not for too long because we were all so tired. Mark and I packed our bags ready for the next morning.

It felt strange walking out the door the next morning. I knew we only had a short time with them but I was shocked at how quickly time went by. Mark and I are both so happy we were able to see them all and spend some time with them and we are looking forward to catching up when we get home some time next year.

We just got to our apartment in Lisbon and so far this place seems really cool. We are looking forward to heading out to explore!