Missing Out

I've been home for almost a week now. It's good to be back.

Between catching up with family, friends, and running errands, I've managed to stay decently busy. However, I've also gotten the chance to do some reflecting on the last couple months, thinking about adventures, conversations, and experiences I've had. I realized something.

Americans are missing out.

I'm all for America. I love this country, the culture, the food (yay iced tea and good tacos!), but there is something Americans are generally terrible at doing:

Vacationing.

For starters, we have some serious workaholism issues. If an individual isn't a workaholic, their job tries to make them one. The fact that a person usually gets a SINGLE WEEK of paid vacation after starting a job is ridiculous. If someone goes away for more than that because they value rest and fun and holidays and think it's worth missing out on the pay, they are sometimes resented. I usually have to quit a job if I plan to do any significant traveling because otherwise there is no way they'll let me not work for that long. I realize there are some who don't, but too many Americans live to work instead of working to live.

Our young people are missing out, too. Two options are presented for high school students upon graduation: go to college or get a job. I would like to present a third option, an option that much of the rest of the planet has already embraced.

See the freakin' world. We are so connected to the world through TV, internet, and whatever, but at the same time so disconnected. Gone are the days when you don't know what's going on across the ocean because it takes months to cross it in a boat, or you have to write letters with actual pen and paper and then wait weeks for a response (although snail mail is still pretty great). We have the opportunity to hop on a plane and actually experience other cultures. To do things like chase kangaroos, climb the castle steps that kings and queens climbed, gaze in awe at the mountains that amazed the Spanish conquistadors, work alongside the truly impoverished and learn the value of every single meal.

And to discover that the world that is supposedly at our fingertips with computers, smart phones, and television is actually so much bigger, more beautiful, and more amazing than anyone can imagine.

Imagine what might happen if our young people could learn that before spending four years studying what their 18yr-old selves think they want to do with their lives (or what their parents want them to do). We might just end up with a bunch of people who know what genuine adventure is, what it's like to connect with another human being that grew up in an entirely culture, to genuinely be in awe of an aspect of creation that they've only read about in books or on wikipedia. To no longer view cultural arrogance and ignorance as an acceptable option.

Some might argue that we have plenty of things to see in the US, there is no reason to go abroad. To this I say, yes and no. Yes, there are amazing things in the States. We live in a diverse country that has mountains, lakes, deserts, plains, hot, cold, waterfalls, beaches, and an extremely wide variety of food. I've seen a bit of this country and it is beautiful in rugged, colorful ways. There are many cultures within our borders (just put a northeasterner in the south for a bit and you'll see that). And honestly, it is in my plans to see more of these places and people. But when traveling in one's own country, it's so much easier to try to retain one's culture. I lived in Michigan for four years while at school and I tried to remain as New Jerseyan as possible (I pretty much succeeded, although occasionally a squished "a" will come out and I'll grimace). There's a "yeah, I'm 1000 miles from home, but it's still America" kind of attitude.

Overseas, I've found it much different. It's "Holy cow, I'm in England!" or Australia, or wherever I may be resting my head that night. And then there is a desire to actually interact with the culture, to see how's it's different and similar. To try things I wouldn't ever try at home.

I think everyone should try it at least once. If nothing else, you'll hopefully come home with a deeper appreciation for iced tea, good Mexican food, great burgers, and driving on the right side of the road. And to become more sensitive to different cultures and customs, even within our own borders. It doesn't have to take a lot of money (South American hostels are CHEAP), or a ton of time, but whatever it does take is worth it.

It's also just a great opportunity to grow as a person. It's amazing what you can learn about yourself while by yourself in a far off place.

All this is to say I think we miss out by limiting our options or by arrogantly believing we've got it all here. This world is huge and wonderful. Even if we don't have the chance to go overseas, we should be taking time to experience other cultures, to look into the eyes of our fellow human being, acknowledge the differences, and then see if we can learn something about life from them.

Going home

Today I played a  game of hungry hungry hippo. I'm not sure the almost 2-yr old understood the concept. It was hilarious.

This morning we went to Ikea. Part of me is really thankful that I don't live closer to one at home because then I would have no money. The other part of me wishes I had my own home so I would have a place to put all the amazing things I could buy at a store like that.

No trip to California is complete without going to the beach at least once. So we did, and it was a little chilly. My niece loved it, though.

Tomorrow I got home to New Jersey. I'm excited and yet I'm having a hard time believing it's been 8 weeks already.

California Dreaming

This has not been a productive jet lag. For the first couple days in California, I kept calculating in my head what time it was in Australia. I'm hoping I'm just about over it.

I love visiting my sister. Not only is she hilarious but so are her kids. Oh my word, they just say the funniest things. And they have a mild obsession with Mexican food...

...which I love.

There are very few things I missed while I was overseas, two of these being iced tea and Mexican food. I haven't had any iced tea yet, but I've had Mexican thrice (we need to use "thrice" more often - it's great). Of course, one of those times was Pollo Loco, so that might not count, but the other two times were legit.

I missed Thanksgiving, too, which my sister deemed completely unacceptable. So what did we have on Thursday? Turkey, mashed taters, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, cottage cheese, and sweet pickles (because no family meal is complete without cottage cheese and pickles - seriously). Mmmm, delicious.

Saturday we went paddleboarding! (Yes, it took me until I got back to the States to do any sort of water activity). It was wonderful. We went with a couple of friends, and though it wasn't all that warm, we had a really good time. And I didn't fall in! There were a few times when I got awfully close, but somehow I managed to not lose my balance.

One of the times I almost lost it was when a bird popped up out of nowhere. One moment there was no bird, the next BAM! Black and white bird just a couple feet away. The pelicans were also really cool. They did a lot of splashing about as they hunted fish. I was fascinated, and also a little concerned they were going to poop on me as they flew overhead.

Sunday night we walked around Balboa Island to look at all the Christmas lights. The weather was absolutely lovely and the houses are just beautiful. Well, most are beautiful. Some look like this:

This house may not be beautiful, but it was definitely impressive. The guy who owned the house came over and talked to us for a couple minutes. He even gave us a business card, which was specifically for his Christmas decorations. That's what dedication looks like, friends.

That's all for now. Good night!

No Flux Capacitor Necessary

Yesterday was the longest day of my life. Not because anything bad happened, but because when flying back to the States from Australia, the day really does go on for about 43 hours. 

After my time in Nevertire, I went back to Sydney for a couple days. It was a nice relaxing time. I took the train into the city and wandered around a bit, did some souvenir shopping, ate some ice cream, saw a man with a seagull perched on his head. Good times. 

Then I took a train to Wagga Wagga, which is about halfway between Sydney and Melbourne. I really only stopped there because of that and because it's named Wagga Wagga. I have this unfortunate thing that often happens in which when I'm only in a city/town for one full day, it usually rains. It definitely rained in Wagga. I waited for it to stop then walked around the town. It's a nice little town, but everything closes super early on Saturday. Even stores in the mall were closed at 4pm (it's even Christmas shopping season!) So there wasn't much for me to do.

My last stop was Melbourne  (or more accurately, Sandringham, south of Melbourne). I had a lovely time chatting up with people there. I even went for a bike ride, which made me realize a few things. 1) I'm out of shape 2) I don't like the idea of getting stuck far from shelter in the rain (because it was looking pretty ominous). But that's okay, because I got a lot of sorting of pictures done. I did not take all that many photos this trip. I think I was too busy actually experiencing stuff.

I flew out yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) at 2pm-ish. I'm not really sure of the time since the plane was late. I arrived at 11:30am-ish in California. Still Tuesday. I'm visiting my sister for a week in here in Cali, and I got to finally meet my nephew. He's adorable. 

And that brings me up to date. Thank you so much to everyone who made my trip awesome! Seriously, I would have had a lot less fun without you. 

Here are some pictures for you:

The Melbourne Aquarium has a fantastic penguin exhibit with a couple different species of penguins. I stood there for a while watching them steal each others' stones for their nests.

Merino sheep in the shearing shed waiting to be shorn. I don't think they were looking forward to the experience.

Koala crossing! I did not see any koalas crossing the road, but just knowing they were someone in the forest around me was very exciting.

I failed to get a picture of the lightning, but it was very exciting. Also, the beach was made entirely of colorful stones closer to the water, which I enjoyed.

Sydney Opera House. Sorry there is not contrast between it and the sky. It was rather cloudy that day. Pretty cool place though (even though I did not go in bathrooms, which I hear are amazing)

This is my noble steed. I spent a lot of time of this bike, finding and rounding up sheep, chasing kangaroos and just riding around doing random tasks. The board on the back is for the dogs to ride on. 

This is the view from the plane. So much open space, it's amazing. And in case you are wondering, emus tend to run from planes. 

A Nice MLT

I had a very Miracle Max kind of moment the other day while eating my first ever mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. And cheese, because few sandwiches are complete without cheese.

Oh, and I'm no longer in the middle of nowhere. While going to the bus stop to leave said place, I noticed a sign (which I unfortunately did not get a picture of) which said:

Nevertire: Population 103.

That's right, folks, one hundred three people live in Nevertire, New South Wales, Australia.

Anyway, overall it was very interesting and mostly fun. I admit, there were a couple things that were not fun. The first being the overabundance of ants. One of the gates into the property happened to close over the middle of a GIANT ant hill ("giant" applying to both the ants and their home). You know that scene in Indiana Jones (the most recent one - if you haven't seen it, good on you) in which the person gets overtaken by all the ants and it's pretty creepy? Or, if you haven't seen that particular cinematic masterpiece (sarcasm sign) perhaps you have seen The Mummy where the person gets eaten alive by scarabs.

It was kind of like that, only I didn't die. Seriously though, I did not like it. I had to stand over the hole from whence they poured while fumbling with the padlock to the gate. And everyone knows when there is a threat of being eaten alive by insects, it's never easy to get the lock on the chain.

The other was the evening when I couldn't get the dog to cooperate and because of that the sheep were very confused and I was very frustrated to the point of yelling and there may have been tears involved (it was late and I was tired and hungry). I was feeling pretty bad about it until Jack the Englishman mentioned the same exact thing happened to him and he went off screaming at the dog, too. Failing at being a shepherd is much less depressing knowing I'm not alone.

Oh, and speaking of Jack the Englishman, he was staying with the son of the people I was helping. He helped out with the wheat and sheep sometimes, so we ended up working together occasionally. Somehow between on the laughing and making fun of each other for the way we talked, we got something done. I don't even think we broke anything! It was really nice having someone closer to my own age to hang out with some times. And to share frustrating stories about sheep.

I just went back to look at what I've told you about where I was and realized it's not much. This is me and Kevin in his plane! So cool. I wish there was enough free air space in New Jersey for me to get an ultra light. I also wish there were emus in our fields that I could chase with the plane. That would make for a good time.

Where I am right now (which is Sydney) is not too hot, but Nevertire the last few days I was there was beastly hot (upper nineties/100). I got a pretty nice farmers tan, even while applying SPF 50 twice a day. Well, on my arms at least. I think I only wore shorts a couple times (riding a motorbike through harvested canola fields while wearing shorts is painful).

The family was super great and they have ice cream almost every night after dinner, which immediately raises my opinion of them. Australians in general have been pretty cool.

Now I have to figure out how I'm spending my last few days here. It's crazy to think it's almost over. It's also crazy to think of how cold it is at home. I'm going to freeze.

Bound, bound, bound, and rebound.

If you drive to the middle of nowhere Australia and then drive another hour, that's where I am. It's very peaceful out here, and the sunsets and stars are absolutely breathtaking.

I'm currently on a farm that's about 10,000 acres. That's really big. They have some cows, a bunch of sheep, wheat, canola, and cotton.

And motorbikes!

Since they are way more practical on the flat landscape and big terrain than horses, they use motorbikes (or as we Americans like to say, "dirtbikes") for all of the rounding up of sheep. It's pretty fun.

Along with riding a bike again, I've learned some other things. Like how to cut off a sheep's tail (literally cutting it off, not just banding it), though I haven't actually done it. I just watched. There was something sort of disturbing about the blood squirting from where the tail once was. It reminded me of a bad slasher film.

I've also learned how to "drench" sheep, how to mark them, how to drive a stick shift with my left hand (which actually feels way more natural than the right hand - go figure).

Oh, and how to efficiently catch frogs that hang out in my bathroom at night. That's always a treat.

Another great thing about this place is the wildlife! Seriously, I saw about 100 kangaroos today, and that's after I chased a bunch on a motorbike yesterday. They are fast! There are also a lot of wild pigs around. I sampled some of the meat from one of their legs. It was pretty good. I've also seen lizards, snakes, spiders, foxes, and various insects.

I should probably stop hogging the computer.

Good on ya

The Sydney Opera House is not white. This sort of blew my mind, since in all the pictures it looks white. It's more of a cream color.

Crazy, I know.

Adelaide was super fun (thanks Caragh!) and beautiful. From there I took a flight to Sydney. Most of it was normal, minus the small detail of them not once asking for identification. I thought that was a bit odd. Less odd and more awesome, though, was me getting three seats to myself, which meant that instead of having an aisle seat, I got to sit by the window and see the coastline, some land, and then more coastline. Absolutely stunning.

My sister-in-law's sister, Lauren, lives in Sydney, so I'm currently staying with her. It's been very nice and the food has been delicious. She took me to see the Opera House (along with the harbor) and the beach. It's really strange being used to things like pigeons and seagulls and then seeing these guys around.

Today I went into the city with Lauren's neighbor. She has the philosophy, "a stranger is only a friend you haven't met yet." She's hilarious. Also, we were walking around the neighborhood last night and it went like this -

Lady: Oh, let's walk over here. That tree has spiders and I know you don't like spiders.
Me (in my head): true, but how do you know that? I just met you..
Lady: Americans don't like spiders, which is funny to me. We have these big ones (makes the circumference with hands - too giant)
Me: Ew, yeah, I'm not a fan of spiders.
Lady: These ones are harmless though. They fall from the trees in December, so I guess you'll miss that, dear.
Me: Bummer.

We went to the aquarium. I think I need to do an official aquarium tour of the world, because I love them. It's funny, since I don't like fish. Well, I don't like to touch them or eat them or know they are in the water with me. Behind glass is perfect.

We also wandered around Darling Harbour. They love ice cream and gelato here, of which I wholeheartedly approve, and since I like to blend in to whatever country I happen to be in, I decided to get some.

Tomorrow, at a time that is way too early, I head off to a farm in Nevertire, which is past Dubbo and pretty much in the middle of nowhere, which means phone service is limited and internet even more so. So if you don't hear anything from me, that's probably why.

Goodday Mate!

Yesterday I got to hold a koala, and it didn't even try to eat me!

I'm currently in Adelaide (at least for the next 18 hours) and so far it's been fantastic. After a nice, uneventful bus ride from Mt Gambier, I arrived here on Friday afternoon. I'm staying with a girl that I met in Carlisle, England.

Saturday we went to some wineries. Adelaide is known for it's surrounding wine region, and there are definitely a lot of wineries.

Yesterday we went to Gorge Wildlife Conservatory (or something close to that name). They weren't doing any more koala holdings for the day because of the heat (yay heat!) but Caragh used to work there, so the owner was kind enough to still let me hold one. It basically just chilled in my arms for five minutes, not moving much at all.

I also got to pet some kangaroos and wallabies. When there is a joey in the pouch with its feet sticking out instead of its head, it looks kind of bizarre.

The beach here is beautiful. Some high school looking kids were jumping off the pier into the clear blue water and it looked like so much fun. Unfortunately, we did not bring swimming-appropriate clothing so we had to settle for wading up to our knees. The water was a little chilly, but mostly great and seriously, so beautiful.

Today we went to see some waterfalls and then back to the beach. This beach, however, didn't have much sand but rather really pretty rocks - lots of different colors and all layered in colors. A thunderstorm was rolling in over the ocean so we watched that for a while before decided that it was starting to surround us and getting precariously close. It's still rumbling outside.

Tomorrow I head out to Sydney.

And again...

My computer is still on the wrong time zone.

Sunday we went to the sand dunes and did some sand boarding. Basically, it's sledding and snowboarding on sand instead of snow, which means it's a lot less painful and a lot warmer. It wasn't terribly warm because of the wind, but we did apply sunscreen three times I think. And there was the view of the super blue ocean that was sort of incredible.

Yesterday we were going to go to the beach but the sheep decided they did not like that plan. Shortly after lunch we started rounding them up. What normally takes ten minutes took two hours. There was one ram that was so fat that after running away from us for a while, he just sat down, heaving. Really fat sheep are hard to move because, shockingly, they are heavy. So we hooked up a makeshift sled to the back of the car and drug the not-so-brilliant thing out from under the trees. Ines (the German girl) had to sit on its back the whole time, which was hilarious. There was definitely some screaming involved.

Today we sheared some sheep. By we I mean a friend of the host family. Ines and I watched and picked up the wool. We got to try shearing too (just a tiny little patch), which is kind of scary because it's really easy to accidentally cut the sheep. Oh, and we got to put some bands on the sheep tails. I used to wonder if it was that important to knock off the tails, and then I saw the nastiness that results when you don't. Ew.

After two days of really warm, beautiful weather, today was kind of sad, but since we were inside the shearing shed all day, I suppose it doesn't really matter.

Fires, Dunes, and Sheep

We've done a bit of weeding of garlic, planting tomatoes, collecting wood, and other various farm-y things. And a bunch of other things.

Guys, Australia is fun!

Friday night was the birthday of one of the members of my host family, so a bunch of people came over for a barbecue. There were shrimp and a barbecue, but not shrimps on the barby. And they are called prawns here (the shrimp, not the barby). We ended the night with a giant blazing inferno of a bonfire.

And I just realized what time it is and I need to call home!

Righty-Oh!

Internet is a little limited, so as a courtesy for those actually paying for it, I'm not going to be uploading any pictures. Sorry.

Melbourne was really nice. Monday morning I took a stroll to town (about a half hour/forty minute walk). On the way I came across the Shrine of Remembrance, and since it was free I checked it out. Then I continued along until I got to the aquarium where there were PENGUINS! Lots and lots of them! There were waddling around, trying to steal the stones from other penguins' nests. Some of them were even swimming. I'll have to put together a "I love the Aquarium" video at some point and show you just how much I loved them.

They also had a tank with sharks and giant rays and lots of fun fish. They had a couple tunnels to walk through where the fish would swim over and you could see them up really really close, like the Adventure Aquarium in Camden (they still have that, right?). So cool. I do love fish...when they are behind glass and can't touch me :)

Then I walked back toward the hostel that was actually in the outskirts of Melbourne. On the way I went through the Royal Botanical Gardens. Lots of pretty plants and birds that I thought were ducks until they got out of the water and had chicken legs. Weird.

Tuesday I met up with Catherine, a girl I met in Wales. We walked through the center of the city and checked out the Victoria Art Gallery (with some fantastic albeit expensive pastel works). Fortunately for my wallet I have the problem of anything that I buy now I have to carry on my back for the next six weeks. Then we went to the Melbourne Gaol, which is a prison.

It was really cool. I learned all about Ned Kelly, who was sort of like Australia's Jesse James, only he wore armor! They hanged people right in the jail, so that was....interesting too. They don't still hang people there, in case you were worried.

We checked out the Koorie Heritage Center, which was really neat - lots of stuff about the Aboriginals. Their treatment was not Australia's shining moment. Not unlike some other people we know...

Then we went back to Catherine's house, walked the dogs on the beach (and had to watch out that they didn't try to eat the washed up PUFFER FISH), ate some snack, then some dinner while watching the Big Bang Theory (always a winner).

Wednesday was conquer the public transportation day. I got a bus at 6:38am to the train to another train to a bus. The bus ride was beautiful. I'm finding I'm a giant fan of wide open spaces, no matter what the country. And...

I SAW A KANGAROO! In the wild! It was just chilling under the trees by the road. I almost missed it because it blended in pretty well, but I saw it! I did not, however, get a picture. Sorry.

Met up with my WWOOFing family in Mt. Gambier. They are really nice and funny and there are two other girls here too who are pretty much hilarious. So far it's been a good time.

I'll be here for nine days I think before heading up to Adelaide.

Oh, and I'm staying in the world's most awesome camper van. I was a little leery at first since it's completely gutted except a bed and a heater, but last night I slept really really well and wasn't as cold as I originally thought I would be. I woke up to the sound of roosters, but managed to fall back asleep (which is great, since roosters don't have the best concept of when morning actually is). And it's nice to have my own space at night.

This is a lot of text for a post with no pictures. Hopefully I will get some posted at some point, but it really just depends on my connections in the future.

Airports and parrots

I've made it to Australia!

It took a while, but I finally got here. I was supposed to arrive a day ago, but I didn't. Also, I know what airline is no longer on my nice list.

Thursday evening I flew from Philly to San Francisco. The flight was uneventful, which is always good. I got off the plane, ate a highly overpriced sandwich, waited a bit at the gate, then boarded a 747. It had actually been a little while since I'd been on a 747. Everything felt a little old school, including the leg room.

But I digress. Next to me was a lovely gentleman traveling home with his wife and son. We chatted about Australia, his family's travels in the US, the usual sort of conversation that happens when preparing to sit next to a stranger for 14 hours. This conversation lasted, off and on, for four hours. The plane never left the ground. 

Apparently, when the latch to the cargo door doesn't lock, it's a problem (which I guess makes sense since otherwise all the luggage would end up in the ocean) which cannot be easily remedied. Or at least not quickly remedied. Four hours!! we sat on that plane before the captain announced, "Ladies and gentleman, thank you for your patience. Unfortunately the flight has been cancelled." Followed by a lot of information that you probably don't care about.

Awesome, because I really did want to be trying to find a place to sleep at 2:30am. 

So we took our merry time getting back off the plane, down to the ticket counter, and then over to the big ole board of hotels and various other places to stay in the San Francisco area. There was but one catch.

A convention was in town, which meant there were no rooms at the inn. At least not enough for most of us. I gathered my things, found a quiet place near the baggage claim, and tried to sleep on the floor. There were a lot of us scattered about the place. It was quite sad looking.

The worst part? I totally forgot my glasses case on the plane. I have my glasses (since I was wearing them in preparation to sleep), so that's at least something.

I hung out in the airport for 24 hours. I would have gone into the city, but my sleeping failed miserably and I had visions of myself getting lost in San Francisco and completely falling to tears in my fatigue. Because that happens when I'm tired. So I decided not to risk that; instead I would just try to sleep a little more. 

Happily, the next flight was not cancelled and since I was so exhausted, I actually slept a bit on the plane! And watched Men in Black III. 

My connection to Melbourne from Sydney went without a hitch, which was great. And the 1hr 40min flight went by so quickly after being on the plane for 14 hours before that. It helped that I fell asleep while waiting for it to take off and only vaguely remember lift off. I do, however, remember a very suspicious clunking noise as we went down the runway...

So here I am in Melbourne. While waiting to check into the hostel, I walked a bit and found a place to get a prepaid phone. I walked into one shop and told the girl what I wanted. She responded with, "Oh! The cheapest one we have is $129, but there is a sale at such-and-such a place. Much cheaper. Just take a left on Chapel St and it'll be on your right." 

Love it. And it was much cheaper :)

Also, on my walking adventure, I heard a bunch of birds in a tree and went to investigate. Parrots!! Pretty green ones with red and yellow markings. There were probably about eight of them. I was walking away and a couple of them flew right by me! Seriously, they were precariously close to my head. It made me nervous.

Since then I've taken a much needed shower and an even more needed nap. The pillows here are kind of great. 

Hopefully next time I'll have some pictures for you.

Eek stravaganza.

I am leaving in 20 minutes to go to Philadelphia International Airport. It's my first stop on my way to Australia.

I'm really nervous.

But I'm also really excited. These last two weeks have flown by, leaving me not a whole lot of time to process the fact that I'm leaving again for two months. Fortunately, I have 26 hours of traveling to come to grips with it.

That's all I have time for right now, since I still have to stuff a couple things in my bag and print a couple things out.

Jet lag can be very productive

I am not a morning person, BUT I have been getting up early (for me) because I can't sleep past 8 or so. I know, I know, it's been a week since I got home and I really should be over the jet lag. But I figured something out.

I can get a lot done during the day when I actually get up.

For some of you, this is a no brainer (and I guess it is for me too, I just try to deny it). Since I'm only home for a couple weeks though, I want to be extra productive and helpful with farm stuff, because I really do enjoy it. And because the weather was sort of fabulous at the end of last week.

Friday I poured concrete with my mom, sister, and dad. Mixing concrete by hand is a really good core and upper back workout. We managed to get all the concrete in the sales room done (yay!).

Saturday I learned a new skill! Using a torch to cut metal is fun and useful. There was a bunch of steel or iron  bars (I don't know my metals very well) that were about 16 feet long and needed to be much shorter to scrap, so we cut them up. I managed to not burn myself! And now if I need to break into a vault or something, I can do it with a torch. Of course, I don't condone burglary, so I probably won't be using my new skills for that much.

Sunday I went to a lovely wedding of a couple friends. The weather was very not summery, but the rain held off long enough for the ceremony to be outside.

Which reminds me, I'm mourning the loss of summer. There are a lot of crazy people out there that are excited about fall (yes, I believe you are crazy - you are welcome to judge me back for my love of sweltering heat). I suppose I shouldn't mourn it too much since I'm going to fly to summer next week.

That's right, folks, I'm going to Australia next week. I'm excited, but really nervous since I'm going by myself and it's halfway across the world. Also, I'll be there for seven weeks. If I end up not liking it (which I'm not expecting) I'm in a bunch of trouble. I'll  be WWOOFING (world wide opportunities for organic farming), so at least I will be staying with people and working alongside them, so that should be fun.

Time to get working on all that logistical stuff that goes along with such a trip.

Planes, trains, taxi cabs, all the choices hip

Yr wyf yn gartref!

That means "I'm home" in Welsh. The language is a bit crazy, at least to this American.

I successfully managed the bus, train, tube, and plane to get home. As someone who has a fear of public transportation, I'm rather proud of myself.

The last bit of my trip went really well. I met some very interesting people. It's always fun to hang out with a bunch of people who all have different accents. Two of the guys (one from northern England, the other from Ireland) were having a conversation that I think was about soccer, but I seriously didn't understand anything they said. Most the time I did know what they were saying, though, so it was fun.

And I went horseback riding! Yay! I contacted the people on Saturday and they wanted me to go on Tuesday, which I could do. It rained all day Sunday, was really nice Monday, and rained most of Tuesday. I did, however, manage to find the time on Tuesday that happened to not be raining. We rode through some of the Snowdonia hills. I love that the region is called Snowdonia. It sounds like a place in a fantasy novel. There are even legends of dragons! I love a good dragon tale.

I didn't get any pictures of the actual riding because I occasionally don't think through these things. I only thought, "I don't need my phone," and then completely forgot to take my camera with me.

Just picture lots of sheep, hills, and clouds. And some railroad action. And me trying not to fall off an English saddle while riding a slow slow horse.

I'm home now. I can run to the store and pick up my pictures at any time (though I'm thinking I'll wait until after rush hour). After sorting through them, I ended up with 500 pictures. We'll see if they all end up in the scrapbook.

Reflection

The last two and a half weeks have been a bit of a blur. An awesome blur, but there hasn't been a lot of time for processing. I did some today, and I realized something. Like really really realized something.

I am extremely blessed. 

The town I'm staying in right now sits on a strait. The view of the water is beautiful and I walked about 4.5 miles today along the shore. With the sun shining, the wind enthusiastically blowing, I got some time to just think. Also, there was a food truck toward the beginning of my walk which supplied me with a great burger. Thinking is always better when I'm not hungry. 

I'm blessed that I even have this opportunity. I'm in Wales. I took a plane across the ocean to get here (and a train, bus and taxi - I don't discriminate) I have now been to England and Scotland, which is added to a list of various other countries. So many people never even leave their region of the US, let alone go to a foreign country. But I've been granted the opportunity and resources to do just that.

I have an awesome family. I've always loved my fantastic family, but after discussions with various people I've met, there are a lot of families out there that aren't as cool as mine. As in, some families argue that one should be focused on building a career, not gallivanting across the globe, and therefore try to make the traveler feel guilty for wanting to see the world.  My family has always been supportive of my travels, and having that support makes traveling even more enjoyable.

Specifically to this trip, the fact that I didn't have to come here by myself is a HUGE blessing. Not only because I was scared, but because I got to travel with someone that I didn't know very well, which I felt ended up being fantastic because then we always had something to talk about (like, "how many siblings do you have?"). Seriously, it was so fun getting to know her and finding out how completely different our lives are, and still enjoying each other's company. 

All of these things can be easily taken for granted and I don't want to do that. I don't want to get to the point where I lose the wonder of it all, or stop thanking God every day for the life He's given me. Even when I'm not travelling, when I'm not seeing the world, when life is not all that different for me than the person sitting next to me, I want to remain grateful.

Eddie the First and Charles

So guess what! There is a castle in Caernarfon. Shocker, I know. But it's actually pretty interesting BECAUSE it's the place where the princes of Wales are actually made princes. Edward I built it...just in case you were wondering.

I went with one of the girls from the hostel. It was a good time. We got a really good leg workout. Holy spiral staircases, Batman! I just kept trying to imagine climbing the staircases in full armor or carrying a tray of tea. Craziness, I say.

It was a pretty good-sized castle, and almost all the towers were able to be climbed and explored.

After the castle, we strolled around the town for a bit. The weather was great until we saw this heading our way.

Yup, that's a giant cloud. So we said to ourselves, "This looks like a good time to head back." We walked the 50 or so paces back to the hostel and as we reached the room, we heard it. Rain. Lots and lots of rain. For the sake of Wales, I'm glad it didn't rain for very long. Poor people have had a lot of flooding in the last week.

I'm sufficiently tired now. Seriously, though stairs were killer. By the time I got to the top of a couple of towers, I was self-consciously wheezing. Well, not badly wheezing.

I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow. If it's nice I may just take a nice stroll along the water.

I'm such a n00b

When it comes to traveling on my own, I'm a noob. I have no idea what I'm doing. Yesterday went a little like this:

We left Stratford upon Avon at 8:10am. Traffic had been disastrous around cities up to this point so we wanted to leave time to get to London Heathrow on time since the car needed to be returned at 11am.

The traffic ended up being great, so we arrived an hour early. This meant that we had an extra hour to sit in the airport.

At 12:50pm we found out that the Picadilly Line of the tube was severely delayed due to a person under the train and some issue with the signals. That was the line that I needed to take (because it's the only underground line from the airport to the center of London) so I go a ticket for the Express Train to London.

I left TC in the airport at 1pm because I wasn't sure how long things were going to take and I needed to be at a different station for my 3:10 train to Bangor, Wales. Surely two hours would be more than enough!

Seriously folks, it was stressful. I don't really know how to describe the crazy of that two hours. Actually, it was 1hr 45min. I eventually got to Euston station at 2:45pm. After asking information to insure I had the right train, I boarded at 3, pretty confident that I was going the right way. Switching at Chester (sorry these places probably don't mean much to most of you), I got on a train that I was not as confident was going the right direction. Eventually I got to Bangor, but the train was running late so I missed the 7pm bus to Caernarfon (we got there at 7, so by the time I walked to the curb it was gone). That meant that I had almost an hour to wait for the next one, hoping that my information was actually correct and the bus would come at all.

If there is one thing I have learned in the last 24hrs, it's to ask questions. I asked a taxi driver, and he informed me there was another one at 8. It was chilly and getting dark and I didn't even really know where I was going to get to the hostel from the bus stop anyway, so I took a taxi. It was a little pricey, but I had a lovely conversation with the cabby and he dropped me off right in front of the hostel (which was great, because it doesn't have any sort of sign on it or anything).

So now I'm in Wales. I didn't really think this plan through all the way, so I hope it goes well. I'm going to check out a castle this afternoon.

I'm already scared about the journey back to London on Wednesday. I need to get over this traveling alone thing, since I'm going to be doing a lot of it next month.

Eagle Owl FTW!

I don't know how many pictures I'll actually get to post since the interwebs are being super slow. Sorry if it ends up not being very many.

After Inverness, we went to Cawdor Castle. It was described as a "fairy tale" castle. It was kind of small for a castle, but cute. And the gardens were fun. They were walled and we kept yelling, "Colin! I'm in the GAHden!" 

Then we drove down to Kilchurn Castle. For a while we couldn't find it in the GPS until we put it in as a town (it's not a town. It's not even a functioning castle anymore). So after the GPS took us to a bunch of trees, we made a few U-turns and eventually found the right parking lot. There was literally one tiny little sign that said, "This way to castle." The arrow pointed to a small path. 

The ruins ended up being fairly awesome. The view was spectacular and there were just a handful of people around. It wasn't all touristified, which was a nice change of pace. Also, it was free! We hung out at the castle for a while - we soaked our feet in the frigid lake for a while, too! 

My camera battery died, so all my pictures for that are from my phone, which was also dying. Bad planning on my part, but oh well. 

After Kilchurn we headed to Stirling for the night. We basically were trying to find a hostel in a town that wasn't big (we were avoiding Glasgow and Edinburgh). We found out when we got there that they, too, have a castle and old time jail.

So naturally, we checked it out the next morning. It was splendid. In my opinion, way cooler than Edinburgh Castle. The weather was less than awesome with some rain and a lot of wind, but nevertheless, we had a good time.

Oh, and there are huge tapestries with unicorns everywhere in the castle. And the story behind them is really cool. Also, I got to pose with a unicorn horn. My life is now complete.

We went to the Old Time Jail in Stirling, too. Interesting and fun. I love live actors - they really add a great vibe to things.

We didn't go to it, but we did drive to the Wallace Monument, in honor of the great William Wallace. It was quite the site from far away. Very tall.

Then so. much. rain. We stayed outside of Carlisle again, in the same hostel as on our way to up Scotland. Honestly, I was a little nervous we were going to get stuck there because of flooding. Apparently the rain storms this September are the worst they have had for this time of year in thirty years. Go figure. 

But we managed to not get flooded in and got to Birmingham the next day.

We were really just in Birmingham because we needed a place to stay. The weather was miserable so we didn't do much. Then today we drove to Stratford upon Avon. Multiple people had suggested we go there. Honestly, I'm not really a Shakespeare fan so I wasn't that excited about it. But it was nice. Not really because of the whole Shakespeare thing, but because it was a glimpse into the Tudor life. And the architecture and furniture of the era are very interesting. We also got to see a falconry demonstration! There was a sign that said that they have training days so people can learn falconry. I really wish I had time for that! So cool.

Tomorrow TC goes home, and I'm off to Wales. Hopefully that will go well...

Charming Inverness

Goodbye big city, hello little Inverness! It's a cute town, a nice "Capital of the Highlands". We quite enjoy it. 

The drive up here was nice and uneventful. We stopped off to get some food, following signs that had a little fork and knife on it. Eventually they led to a "grill" in the middle of no where, surrounded by cows (which really shouldn't surprise me since everything is surrounded by either cows or sheep here). It was basically a diner. The guy that served the food also cooked it, worked the register, and was doing other various things about the place. There was a lady that was working there too, though I'm not sure what she did. He seemed to have it all under control.

And there were dramatic clouds while we were driving (and some rain, but nothing serious)

We reached Inverness in the afternoon. The hostel is super cute and the people here are kind of awesome. We played monopoly with a couple of them last night. And I didn't even lose first! I didn't win though. Someday, I will....

There's a badger puppet hanging out in the fireplace.

There is also a castle a few hundred feet down the street. I saw it and thought, "that looks like a very new castle". After some research, I found that it is relatively new. It was built (if I remember correctly) in the 1800s because someone had the nerve to blow the other one up in the 1700s. Rude.

Today we got up, did some shopping (there is a store here called Primark. It's great) and then went to Urquhart Castle. It's pretty much a bunch of ruins. We had fun.

I decided the best way to make us happy is put us somewhere with a great view. Because seriously, it was lovely.

And look! A trebuchet! I love when I have the opportunity to explain to my less geeky friends the workings of an ancient war machine. So fun. And at a time like this they don't ask ridiculous questions like how I know all about trebuchets (I watched a documentary once). 

There were a few boats that do tours to see Nessie. We didn't do that. We aren't quite that delusional. However, I really did want to go in Loch Ness (so I guess I can say that I swam with Nessie?), and I did, but only up to my knees. I wanted to go further, but there were people around so I couldn't change. Also, the water was a degree above arctic. 

It wasn't so bad after I let my feet and lower legs go numb. In fact, I hardly felt anything at all at the point! After I got out, I mentioned the coldness to a couple guys coming down the steps towards the water, you know, in case they also wanted to have a bit of a swim. 

"Haha, oh no! We're not going in!"

They said it like my suggestion was crazy....

Another winning view

Oh, something to keep in mind. There are great gift shops EVERYWHERE! Seriously, it's going to be the death of me. Or at least end with me in the poor house. Do "they" still have poor houses? I did, however, successfully NOT buy a highlands cow hat today, so that's something.

Fairies, Elves, and probably Centaurs

It's been a week and a day since we landed in the UK. It seems so much longer than that (in a good way) because we've seen so much.

We left Bath Monday morning (at least that's what I think. I ask TC at least twice a day what day it is. They all mush together), and headed to Derbyshire. The day was spent mostly just driving and relaxing once we got to the inn (we took a night-long break from hostels).

According to Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy owned half of Derbyshire, and the house that Jane Austen probably had in mind while writing about Darcy is the Chatsworth House. Now, that's all going on what I've heard, but it would make a lot of sense.

Because ohmygosh it's amazing.

Tuesday, we thought it was going to rain on us (which happens a lot here - the thinking it's going to), but the sky cleared and was very blue. I've decided England is the land of the dramatic sky. All of our surroundings looked like a painting; there were even sheep.

The inside of the house has a pretty impressive art collection and an amazing library (I have not been dreaming big enough). You can seen the doors at the bottom of this picture for scale. They were probably 8ft doors, too.

The garden is huge and lovely. We had a great time wandering around and seeing all the flowers and statues. We could not get over the sky and surroundings. I cannot tell you how many times I kept saying "Oh my word, this is gorgeous!"

I did nothing to the color of the sky in this photo!

We also took some time to have afternoon tea. It was delicious :)

There was also a small animal farm section of the property. We hung out with some guinnea pigs, pet some horses and goats, and watched a cow-milking demonstration. As we got into our car to leave, it started raining. Oh! And I had to stop to let some sheep cross the road at one point, so that's checked off my list of things to do in the UK.

We were originally going to drive to Edinburgh after that, but in our planning, we decided that was a long drive. So instead we stopped off at a hostel outside of Carlisle. That was an adventure.

The GPS got really confused because apparently there have been quite a few changes to the roads very recently in that area. So we were wandering around until after dark trying to find a tiny town in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I'm sure the surrounding were beautiful, but we missed most of the them between the hedges and the dark. When we did finally find the road that the place was on, there were about twenty cows in the way. And they did not want to move. For way too long.

We brought the number of people staying there up to four. The guy was from nearby, but the girl there was from Australia. She was super cool. We did not get a lot of sleep that night because we were talking about life and accents until late in the night. Hilarious conversation. I love hearing non-Americans try to do the American accent. Just "park the car" made us laugh for a while.

Wednesday (right?) morning we drove up to Edinburgh, where we are now. At one point we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures because the drive (the GPS took us the scenic route) was phenomenal.

On our way, we discovered that in both of our minds, Scotland is a magical, mystical land, and that maybe there would be fairies that sprinkled fairy dust on us as we crossed the border. And that elves probably lived somewhere in Scotland. Maybe even centaurs.

No fairies did we see at the border (but fairies are small and we were driving quickly, so it's not a definite), and I'm guessing the elves are in the Highlands, so maybe we'll see some in the next couple days. There is, however, a painting of a centaur on the wall of the hostel.

We checked out Portabello, which is the coastal town part of the main city. It was nice but cold. I'm the slowest at adjusting to the cold, so I've been rather pathetic for a couple days.

Today it's raining. We check out a cathedral which was pretty, and then the Edinburgh Castle. Honestly, I was a little disappointed by it. Maybe because of the weather since the views weren't as great (when everything is grey, it just isn't that exciting).

I didn't get a lot of pictures because of the rain and because I just wasn't feeling it. That part makes me sad. I really wanted to be excited about it. I guess I can't have everything. I think part of it is that this is our third city in a week and we are sort of over cities, especially since seeing the country has been so great. That and my shoes have been hating me. My feet are not accustomed to so much walking and therefore get blisters. Boo.

Tomorrow we head up to Inverness and LOCH NESS!! Nessie better be ready, because I'm willing to risk hypothermia and/or pneumonia to say hello to her.

The Cliffs of INSANITY!!!

"Good-humoured, unaffected girls, will not do for a man who is used to sensible women. They are two distinct orders of being" - Jane Austen

(I couldn't find a quote that was relevant, but I thought I needed to quote Jane here)

We are currently in BATH!! And we have been since Friday night. The city is beautiful with all it's super old buildings and such. Yesterday we didn't spend much time in the city, but slept in and then went to Stonehenge.

Oh wait! I forgot to post about the White Cliffs of Dover! Mostly because my computer died and I was too lazy to charge it for a couple days.

Friday we drove from London to Dover to see the cliffs because we had heard they were gorgeous. During the drive my thoughts went a little like this:
"Huh, this doesn't look much different than New Jersey."
"Oh, now we are on to Lancaster. Nice farms, rolling hills. Yup, Lancaster."
"Oooo, this is pretty. Wow, that is a lot of open space! And it's pretty!"
"Okay, okay, no longer the US. Definitely looks foreign now."
This was all to take away from
"Oh my gosh, I'm on the left side of the road and this is weird. Oh no! I have to turn.....eek! I really hope we don't die. Whew, we survived."

For a minute of two we thought it was going to rain, but instead the weather cleared and we had a lovely time. The clouds were dramatic and everything was beautiful.

DRAMATIC CLOUDS!!

Seriously though, it was a beautiful day. We didn't really want to leave, but we didn't have anywhere to sit (there were some ledges, but they are chalky and, well, TC was already trying to get the white dust off her pants). And we needed to get going so we would arrive in Bath at a decent hour (since Dover and Bath aren't at all close to each other)

The hostel here is much more hostel-like than the last. As in, it has fun wall paintings, more space, a common room, and people that actually seem nice. Ask me about our first night here sometime though. It was a fun adventure.

Moving on. Saturday we chilled because the crazy running around and stress of driving on the left side (not a lot of conscious stress, just enough extra mental energy to make it tiring) left us pretty tired. So we slept in and then decided we were really really hungry so we tried to find a grocery store. We ended up at something that sold food and clothes (but not quite a super walmart). We bought this:

That's right: a block of delicious cheese, some pepperoni, and crackers. I would like to take this time to be thankful for a traveling companion that is low maintenance. We were both completely satisfied with this meal :). But then we realized that we didn't want to eat all of it at once, but had nothing in which to store it. Fortunately, we were still in the parking lot of the store, so back in we went! For paper towels, bags, and sunglasses (because neither of us brought them from the US and it was quite sunny).

Then we got distracted by the clothing. Oops. I'm now the proud owner of plum-colored corduroy skinny pants. Who'd a thunk?

Back in the car and then to Stonehenge. For some reason I had thought for years that it was StoneHEDGE. Nope. It's not. It's "henge" which means "hanging". Hanging stones.

Anyway!

Once upon a time  I was looking up different places in the world I wanted to go. I saw some pictures of England and thought "there is no way that the sky is that blue, it must be photoshopped." Not so much anymore. The sky was incredibly blue (my point and shoot camera does not do it justice). And the contrast between the blue and the green of the grass and fields around Stonehenge - ah, so great!

Thistle!

Just in case you wouldn't have noticed a giant metal machine crossing the road...

So that was Saturday. Today is Sunday. We started out pretty chill again, thinking, "We'll go to the Roman Baths. That shouldn't take that long, not like the Tower of London when we ended up taking a couple hours, not realizing it was more than just a tower."

Nope, it didn't take two hours. It only took an hour and a half. Ha. But it was really cool to see. It's crazy when the audio tour person says things like, "This was carved in 73 AD." Because as an American, my brain doesn't think like that. We say things like, "WAY back in the day, like 1650, so and so did this." And that's OLD for us. America is such a baby (I mean that in the young way, not necessarily maturity, although...)

This picture really doesn't make it as cool looking as it was. Sorry. After the Baths, we went to the Fashion Museum. I'm not a fashion buff at all (shocking, I know), but the dresses from the 17th to early 20th centuries were kind of awesome. And we got to try on corsets, hoop-skirts, and dresses! So fun.

Then over the the Jane Austen history thing. It wasn't really a museum, but it was pretty informative. I found out that while she enjoyed her six week visit to Bath as a young adult, she really hated living here. Apparently it was very superficial and she just didn't care for it. However, it was a key location in both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, so it definitely left an impact. Also, she came from a really big family - never knew that.

Bath is fun in that they let you try on stuff, a lot:

We are so cool.

Tonight on our way home after getting some delicious burgers and an Irish Pub, we walked by this:

It looks pretty awesome during the day (I think this is Bath Abbey - don't quote me though), but at night with it lit up, it's impressive. 

This has been a really long post. Now I know why it is good to update every day. Tomorrow we leave Bath and head up to Derbyshire. I'm excited to see more of the country-side, as I have a feeling it's going to be great.