Homecoming

Question… Is it too early to be feeling nostalgic if I haven’t even boarded the flight home? Because I totally am.

Summing up this trip in one paragraph would be impossible… but here is my crack at it:

6 months, 3 countries, 11 cities, 7 towns, 19 flights, 5 road trips, 1 (unnecessary) bus haul, 1 skiing experience, 3 boat rides, 2 lost U.S phones, 1 smashed IPhone screen, 2 damaged cameras, 1 runaway suitcase, 1 wallet lost, 1 wallet found, a hefty debt, 2 spring breaks, 1 music festival, 17 hotels, 3 guest houses, 1 college dorm room, 1 super bowl, 4 live ball games, 5 rounds of beer pong, approximately 40 cheeseburgers, over 100 ice-creams, too many litres of alcohol, invaluable new friends, 10 000 photos, countless stories and one once-in-a-lifetime experience later, here I am… a very happy and extremely lucky camper.

A friend of mine shared this on facebook and I thought it very appropriate. Also kind of eases my dread about the debt I have accumulated, though I have never doubted that it’s all worth it…

  

Ran out of time to share all the stories about our travels in the last few weeks so I’m not done raving about it all just yet!

But for now, I’m coming home. See you soooonnn, Brisbane!

Back in the Big City

I considered composing a post for our time in Vegas, but wasn’t sure how much I could write about what is now a blur of bandage dresses, champagne and pool partying.

In other words, it was about as memorable as Memorial Day weekend in Sin City should be. Definitely something worth bucket-listing, however, if the aforementioned blur sounds appealing to you.

It was quite fitting, really, that we arrived in the city that never sleeps having not been to bed in 48 hours.

In attempt to save money, we decided to navigate the subway system to get from JFK to our hotel on the Lower East Side. To really paint the picture of the ungraceful events that followed, please note the following points:

1.     We were hung-over, and lugging 3 bags each which, when combined, weighed more than us,

2.     The humidity rivaled that of a sauna,

3.     There were no elevators or escalators in the various stations we had to change lines at – just a seemingly endless amount of stairs,

4.     It was peak hour, so we were sharing the narrow underground tunnels with the 1.5 million commuters on their way home from work. And yes, I googled it.

Put simply, our economical efforts resulted in us being two human-sized witches hats in the middle of a stampede.

But, our catastrophic entrance into the Big City didn’t deter us. We still managed to get a (well deserved) magnolia cupcake fix that night.

Having ticked off the tourist to-do’s during our first visit, we decided to devote this stay to experiencing New York as New Yorkers do.  

Apologies in advance for the envy the following sentence may invoke in some – gloating is not my intention (and if it helps, I have a big fat debt eagerly awaiting my return to the land of Oz). But, after brunching in Nolita, sipping martinis overlooking the Manhattan skyline at a rooftop bar, cycling across the Brooklyn Bridge into markets at Williamsburg, unknowingly walking into the middle of a fluro flash-mob in Times Square, and scoring free sangria at the Madison Square May Markets – I have to say, it’s all completely worth it.

Indeed, my second bite of the big apple was just as sweet as the first.

Now, to get that one-year working visa so I can temporarily call it home.