We left our friend’s parent’s house in Naples and drove to Florida’s capital – Tallahassee. Yes, we didn’t know it was the capital either! We drove to a cinema, hoping to make the late night session of Dunkirk. We made it with a few minutes to spare, so after walking through the metal detectors and passed the police and security we decided to jump in line because who can go to the movies without getting popcorn and a drink? Probably lots of people but I am not one of them. This need to get popcorn and a drink did cause us to be late by a couple of minutes (oopps!) nevertheless, the movie was amazing and we were so glad we booked a hotel right across the road. Our excitement quickly evaporated as we checked in through what seemed like a bulletproof glass window and were watched by what we assumed was another guest. Once we got our room key we drove around to our room and started grabbing our things from the van. As we were doing this we noticed that the guy was watching us was walking around the corner with another guy by his side. It was at this point that I asked Mark to “maybe bring the axe inside the room”. To which he looked at me, looked at the guys and then told me to take our things inside. At first neither of us felt threatened but after spending a decent amount of time in the States we had watched enough news to see how quickly things could escalate. The guys eventually reached our room and because Mark was still outside asked him for a light. They stayed for a minute or so before walking away. Mark eventually came inside and we discussed how we both thought they were pimps for whoever was occupying the rooms a few doors up from ours. Our simple movie night turned out to be rather interesting as we fell asleep with an axe and two cans of bear spray beside the bed.
It’s safe to say we didn’t have the best sleep, you know, with the axe and bear spray beside our bed just in the backs of our minds which meant we were up early. Our destination for the day was New Orleans. We had been told to stay in the French Quarter so we booked another hotel and made our way there. The hotel was beautiful but we didn’t spend much time there as we were out exploring New Orleans or NOLA as the locals like to say. Our first full day we explored the French Quarter and found that although the city itself was pretty it was really dirty and smelt bad. The next day we ventured out to check out the surrounding areas of the French Quarter and enjoyed those parts of New Orleans a lot more. As we were walking along some small streets we noticed the blue sky had disappeared and been replaced with a light grey, within minutes this light grey turned to a super dark grey and all of a sudden rain started to fall. It went from blue skies to heavy rain within minutes so we ran to hide under a huge tree whilst we waited for our Uber to arrive. He eventually showed up in a black Jeep and when we jumped in I noticed that he had what I can only describe as a huge beanie on his head. This beanie was so huge because it was covering his mass of dreadlocks. He reminded me of the twins in 22 Jump Street that always say the same thing simultaneously. We went back to our hotel and hang out there to wait out the rain and once it stopped we ventured out to meet up with an old colleague of Mark’s. She had been travelling through America with her boyfriend so we spent the rest of the night hanging out with them, eating and drinking our way through New Orleans. To top it all off we ended our night with a visit to a blues and jazz bar. We figured it was a perfect end to our stay in NOLA.
Our night out began here at Brennan’s
We had treated ourselves to some nice hotel stays in Key West and New Orleans and with our next stop being Austin, Texas, we decided it wasn’t going to hurt to treat ourselves once more. Mark found an amazing hotel in Austin and we stayed for a couple of days exploring the city. Austin immediately become one of our favourite cities in America. We stayed in the South Congress part of Austin and it was brilliant. We were able to ride into the main part of the city and to the outskirts so we could explore even further. We walked down to a huge park by the river and thought it looked like such a nice spot to relax that we laid down on the grass and admired the sky. I’m not sure what is wrong with us these days but every time we look up at the sky it turns grey. And so while lying on the grass in a park in Austin rain began to fall just like it did in New Orleans. It was not all bad news though because I did manage to get this photo of Mark on my polaroid camera.
Driving to Charleston was really straight forward and we arrived in the afternoon to find a town that we loved immediately. The architecture and vibes were amazing and we sat down at a bar to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. When we first arrived we thought we would definitely stay the night, how could we not? but after spending a few hours there the novelty began to wear off and we agreed that yes it was a cool city but we didn’t want to stay there just for the sake of it so after dinner we drove through to Savannah. In the van it was nice and cool with the air conditioner on so I convinced Mark that we would be totally fine to just pull into a Walmart and sleep there. A couple of hours later I woke up feeling like I couldn’t breathe so moved to the front of the van to open the door and get some fresh air. The stuffiness inside just didn’t seem to go away which was when Mark woke up and told me how hot it still was outside. Neither of us could sleep after that so we drove around looking for a hotel to stay in. We ended up finding a really dodgy looking one, got a room and slept in our clothes on top of the bed linen for a few hours before we woke up and left straight away. Safe to say that will be the last time I try so hard to convince Mark that we will be ok sleeping in the van in that heat.
Pink house in Charleston
Our next stop was Florida, Daytona Beach to be exact and what we found there was just like what you see in the movies. It just so happened that there was a huge truck convention going on across the road from where we were staying so there were all of these trucks (Utes in Australia) with raised suspension, intense looking paint jobs and flags flying out the back. Walking along the boardwalk in Daytona was my favourite part of our stay there. The weather was still warm, there were rides and carnival games, music playing everywhere and people galore, walking around enjoying the summer. But like a lot of places these days, one day was enough there so we left and headed straight for Cocoa Beach. Along the way we stopped at this small independent surf shop where Mark bought a surf board and we met some really nice locals who gave us some tips on where to go. We booked a stay at a camp ground right on the beach and made our way there. After we had set up camp we ate dinner and Mark went out to surf before it got dark. I decided to enjoy the alone time to read. Mark made his back back just before it got dark and his answer to my question “How was it?” was simply “Someone stole my thongs.” I laughed and couldn’t believe it. Who wants someone else’s old thongs when they already have the foot groves worn into them? Luckily we were in Florida and finding a new pair of thongs wasn’t going to be difficult. On our drive the next day we stopped off at Melbourne Beach to check it out before continuing on to a small inlet. Along the way we stopped at 4 different surf shops and none of them sold Havaianas. After the first 2 shops we had to ask for them specifically because the first 2 directed us to a wall of “flip flops”, none even remotely looking as comfortable as Havaianas do. We gave up on the search for new thongs and just chilled by the beach for a couple of hours. Again, Mark surfed while I read. We drove along the Florida coast and pulled into our hotel in Miami Beach late in the afternoon. After sorting out the van and all of our stuff we went out for the night. Miami was just as I expected but also completely different. I was shocked with the amount of different types of people there. Most other places we had been to there were only a handful of different types of people, but not in Miami. In Miami you can find people from all different nationalities, from all different walks of life. I was definitely pleasantly surprised and more so the next day when we were riding around on bikes and finally found a Havaianas shop! Mark walked out with a huge smile on his face wearing his brand new thongs. As much as we enjoyed Miami we had more plans down south. We were going to Key West.
After we bought Mark his new Havaianas
The drive down south was uneventful and along the way we stopped off at a local golf course where Mark played 9 holes of golf for $10 and then went back to play the holes he liked a second time. The golf course itself was just a piece of land amongst some houses that anyone could walk onto. Their club guidelines were some of the most relaxed Mark had experienced.
We spent a relaxing few days in the southern most point of the USA. Cuba was just 90 miles away! Each day we would wake up, sit by the pool, walk around for a bit and then I would go and sit by the pool again to read usually while Mark went out to play more golf. On our last night in Key West we went to the boardwalk by the water to watch the sunset and were amazed at how many people were around. To top off the amazing sunset we bought homemade lemonade, pina coladas and guacamole from food stands and sat by the water to eat and drink as the sky got darker and the crowds thinned out.
We listened to buskers whilst watching the sunset.
On the drive back up north the next day we stopped by a wakeboard park where Mark spent half an hour on the water. When he got out his arms were killing him so I took over the driving. Our aim was to make it to our friend’s parent’s house in Naples, Florida. We arrived just in time for dinner and sat down to home cooked BBQ ribs, corn and coleslaw. Their plan was to give us a “typical American meal” and it was amazing! To further relax we spent 3 days in Naples just hanging out and also because Mark’s arms were still so sore he could barely move them and we thought long hours of driving probably wasn’t the best idea!
After spending a few days in cities we were looking forward to getting out to the Great Smoky Mountains. The mountain range there is something else. the huge contrast between the cities and nature was amazing and we really enjoyed just driving through, admiring the scenery and breathing in the fresh air. We did spend a day hiking and through the first part of the hike we were talking and laughing, trying to make as much noise as possible to scare away any bears that may be nearby. It started to rain towards the half way point and didn’t seem like it was going to stop. On the way back it was a lot harder to talk as we were hiking on an incline most of the time. So because I was unable to talk as much while walking up hill we clapped a lot. At the beginning Mark was doing most of the clapping but then I took over. It was probably a good 15 minutes of solid clapping before Mark turned around and said “You know you probably only have to clap as we are approaching corners or coming up to blind spots in the path” ohhh thanks for that late bit of information. Definitely could have saved my solid clapping skills instead of wasting them on a solid 15 minute performance. The hike became more difficult because of the amount of rain that had come down as there was big puddles of mud, and any rocks we had to walk over had become slick with rain. I started to get excited once the rain stopped and I noticed we were getting close to the end without seeing a bear. Pretty sure it was all thanks to my brilliant clapping.
Chilling out, waiting for the rain to stop.
Leaving the Great Smoky Mountains wasn’t too bad because the weather had started to bother us already – where was the sun? As we were driving we noticed that the van wasn’t doing great uphills but we just figured that was because of how many hills there were but while Mark was driving the ‘check engine light’ came on so once we got to the next town we pulled into the first mechanics we saw and asked the guy there to check it out. He checked it using the diagnostic tool he had and told us that it was showing a “solenoid b” issue. He wasn’t sure exactly what that meant but told us it had to do with the transmission. That was not something we wanted to hear but we had places to be so we said thanks and continued driving. We were aiming to get to our friend’s parent’s house in North Carolina which at this stage was 2 hours away. Mark continued driving while I googled what the issue could be. We established that best case scenario it needed the solenoids in the transmission replaced, which would take a few hours to fix but wasn’t as bas as a whole new transmission. We called a transmission specialist workshop near our destination and they told us to stop by if we made it before they closed at 5pm. We got there at 4.30pm and told the mechanic there what was going on. He thought it sounded strange so drove the van up the road to see for himself. His first thought was that it was our clutch because of the issues we were having with the van struggling in reverse. It was probably our bad luck that all of these issues were happening on a Friday afternoon but after chatting with him for a while we booked in to drop it off the next day so that he could look at over the weekend or on Monday morning. We did just that and while we didn’t have our van to get us around it wasn’t a problem because we spent the weekend hanging out with our friend Chris’ family. Mark shot BB guns with Chris’ brother and went fishing. On Sunday morning we were up early to go to church with them. The church itself was so big and the amount of people was something else. Over 2000 people were there and that was small because it was summer and most people were away, the usual attendance rate was around 4000. Mark and I sat there through the service and then sat in on a bible studies group which meets weekly after the service. We were introduced to the group and so many people came to welcome us. Neither of us had ever experienced anything like it and it was very interesting to sit and listen to people talk about how their beliefs help them through their day to day lives. Sunday night after dinner we went on our own private plane ride where Mark even got to fly for a bit. Chris’ dad is a pilot and he was generous enough to organise a small flight for us which was something neither of us had done before. It was the perfect night for it as well. Monday afternoon I was sitting on the bed folding our washing when Mark came in and sat at the end of the bed. “We need a new transmission” he said. He had such a serious face that I thought he was trying to trick me. “You’re joking right?” “No” So I laughed at how well he was keeping a serious face, he normally isn’t that good, but a few seconds later I remembered that, yes normally he wasn’t that good at tricking me so he must be telling the truth. “You’re serious aren’t you?” He just nodded. “How much is it?” “$3500… US.” and at that point I just cried. That was so much money and there was simply nothing we could do about it. After sorting out a few things Mark called the mechanic back and told him to go ahead with it. We had to get on with it. So the rest of Monday was a bit of a downer but everything picked up again on Tuesday, we both did something we love to do – Mark played golf and I read. We really enjoyed staying with Chris’ family and were sad to be leaving but we had places to be once again.
After an entire day of travelling we arrived at our hotel in Calgary, and our shorts and t-shirts were no use to us in the freezing weather. We spent a couple of days in the city organising our next 5 weeks. Even as I write this I know I can’t post it, not immediately anyway. We were trying to organise visas to enter China with the plan being that we spent a few weeks snowboarding here in Canada and then flying to Hong Kong and Shanghai before surprising everyone back home. This all would have worked fine if the Chinese Consulate would give us visas but because we weren’t Canadians or permanent residents they weren’t able to finalise our visas and then we were left in a bit of a dilemma. What to do? We did a bit of research and decided to take advantage of Shanghai’s visa free stop over policy. This meant though that we needed to fly into Shanghai from one place and fly out to another. We decided to combat this by booking a short stay in Macau. With all of that sorted we had nothing else to do but catch up with our friends and enjoy the snow.
We spent a week in Banff enjoying both Sunshine Village and Lake Louise. The snow was so unbelievably soft that I often just wanted to sit in it and relax. Each day we would wake up, have breakfast and then head to the mountains where I would become increasingly frustrated with myself when I would mess up and feel my progress slipping backwards. I think a part of me was not just nervous about the snowboarding but also nervous about surprising our family and friends back home. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep it from them. All of a sudden people just wanted to FaceTime us to chat and catch up and one thing we’ve learnt is that people always want to know two things. 1. What we’ve been doing and 2. Where we were off to next. Ordinarily both questions are easy to answer but we didn’t want any possibility of us slipping up so both Mark and I avoided FaceTime with anyone, simply claiming the wifi was no good. That in itself wasn’t a lie because wifi is often terrible where we go but it was still difficult to keep avoiding people.
After our time in Banff we travelled to Kelowna to go to Big White where Mark spent 6 months living and working when he finished high school. It was interesting to hear all of the things he remembered once we got there but the funniest thing was his comment about the changes. After the first day I asked him if it was as he remembered and his response was “Yeah everything seems the same except everyone is so much younger than when I was here.” To which I had to gently remind him that it was 9 years ago and these kids were doing just what he had done although now he was much older. He didn’t really like me pointing this out but it did amuse us for the remainder of our time. The snow at Big White was no where near as good as the snow at Banff which was disappointing but I had finally learn to snowboard so I was happy.
We left Kelowna for Vancouver and when we arrived, piled all of our gear into a tiny cab and set off for our hotel in northern Vancouver. We stayed at this amazing B&B right near Capilano Bridge where we spent an afternoon wandering around and where we bumped into a girl Mark when to school with, it’s such a small world. It was also where we both nearly revealed our surprise plans. After visiting the Capilano Bridge we walked back to our B&B and booked tickets to go watch the Canucks play. I was so excited to watch my first ice hockey game and then we had planned to go and eat dinner afterwards. Things didn’t go to plan as soon as we left the B&B. We were walking down the road to the bus stop and when we turned the corner, saw the bus just up ahead so we ran to get there in time. We jumped on board and then realised that neither of us had actually checked we were on the correct bus. After Mark spoke to the bus driver and we were told this bus would take us to where we wanted to go we relaxed and waited for the drive to be over. When we arrived at the stadium we grabbed ourselves a hot dog and drink because how could I not at my first hockey game? And then we sat down and watched a rather uneventful hockey game and to fill in some time during the breaks we ate more food, although I didn’t eat that much more as I was excited to getting Vietnamese for dinner. Once the game was over (Canucks lost) we left to go get dinner only to be upset when we found all of the restaurants closed and our wandering had led us to a not so inviting part of Vancouver. We quickly grabbed a taxi and made our way back to our B&B.
When we got to the airport the next day we realised we were 10 days from going home but to make sure we kept the surprise Mark sent our parents a message telling them we were travelling up north to the Yukon and we would be without wifi for the week we were there. This was not an unusual message from us so our parents all replied telling us to enjoy and then we turned off our wifi. Our flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong was horrendous and possibly one of the worst flights either of us had been on. The man beside Mark was so elderly he didn’t seem to be able to do much on his own without Mark helping him. To repay Mark, he would keep falling asleep and farting. The kids behind us were so loud and Mark discovered a downside to having long hair – when someone in the row behind you pulls on your chair to move and they grab your hair with it. Once the plane landed we ran off and fast as we could to get some space and then got a taxi to the safety of our hotel.
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!
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.
365 Days of Travel!
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
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.
Looking out over Rio
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.
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.
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.
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 1st 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!
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.
Amazing friends
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.
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.
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.
An empty Brooklyn Bridge
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.
Tattoos in NYC
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.
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.
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.
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.
Our early morning entourage
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!
Yep, nailed it.
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.
Antinori Winery
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.
Driving the Amalfi Coast
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!
theplaceswe 