Travel
Planning an Australia Adventure
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 | Travel | 5 Comments
Great whites, aloof surfers, phenomenal seafood, cheap lobster tail, world class wines, cosmopolitan cities, a true cafe culture, and (to Justin’s delight) little penguins!
Sydney by Michael McDonough
We’re leaving for Sydney, Australia on Friday or Saturday night which probably has us landing on Monday the 24th and returning on Saturday the 6th, though, I am hoping to shift our schedule so we get an extra day or two. Jet lag, I imagine, will be a bitch.
Thanks to helpful people on Yelp!, I got a big head start planning things to do/places to see/foods to try! If I had a car reserved, domestic tickets purchased, and places to stay, we’d be all set. At any rate, I’ve concocted the list below as a result of the lovely suggestions Yelpers have given me. Justin and I also acquired a Fodor’s Australia guidebook today, so things may be added, if at all possible. :)
My rough trip outline, working with the number of days I have, is below:
- 2 days in Sydney
Beaches: Bondi (most famous), Coogee and Manly (start at Coogee then take the trail to Bondi, about 3.5 miles. Enjoy the walk and stop for food & drinks along the way. Get a drink at Icebergs, a surf & lifesaving clubhouse near Bondi.)
Breakfast at the Intercontinental Hotel
Harbor tour: lunch at Doyle’s at Watsons Bay/Taronga Zoo/Aquarium/drink at the Opera
Surry Hills (up and coming foody neighborhood to check out - maybe stay in this area) - 1 day hiking + climbing in the Blue Mountains (climbing if I can find a guide) - overnight at B&B or camp
- 1 day driving/sightseeing southward - overnight camping or in car
- 1 day @ Phillip’s Island - overnight Melbourne
- 2 days in Melbourne
Great Ocean Road
great cafes with Italian coffee - 1 or 2 days Yarra Valley wine tour - overnight in Yarra Valley?
- 2 days Alice Springs - an Oasis in the Outback (flight required)
- 1 day back to Sydney???
(Paddington outdoor market if here on a Saturday) - Depart for home
Melbourne by Andrew Hux
On the way from Sydney to Melbourbe, I’d like to possibly take the Snowy Mountain highway :) …unless it adds a ridiculous amount of time to the trip, and visit Canberra (the capital) if at all possible.
Also, I’d like to visit the Barossa Valley (if any way at all). So yeah, not too much to ask for 2 weeks. haha
Foods to try in Australia (aside from the seafood and Asian food which I hear is great):
Pides - turkish pizzas - try one at the nearest kebab place
Laksa - thai coconut noodle soup
Aussie hamburger - same has here but we like ours with beetroot
Meat pies - savory pies
4th Anniversary - Roundtrip to Polanda via Vienna
Saturday, October 11th, 2008 | Adventure, Family, Photography, Travel | 3 Comments
Justin and Vanessa at Castle Wawel in Krakow - Vistula River flowing past
As some of you already know, Justin surprised me with a trip to Poland for our fourth anniversary. While we did things tourists are typically expected to do, such as visiting Castle Wawel and snapping photos in Rynek Glowny (the grand square) in Krakow, and strolling through Stephansplatz and along the Danube Canal in Vienna, the primariy purpose of our visit was so that I could experience, first hand, the land of my ancestors.
For a time I’ve been working on a family website based on research my great aunt,
Justin at St. Stephen's Cathedral - Stephansplatz, Vienna, Austria
Vanessa in St. Jacobus in Nysa, Poland
Off on a ‘Top Secret’ Journey
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Travel | 3 Comments
In truth, it’s only top secret to me. Justin has something secret and special planned for our 4th anniversary (Wow!!! 4 years!); his lips are sealed on the topic. In a few hours, I’ll know where we’re attempting to go. We are flying standby, afterall.
What I’ve managed to deduce so far: It’s probably an international flight given how long we’ll be waiting at the airport. It’s not a JetBlue flight, given the attire I am wearing to attempt to get on the plane. I don’t know if we’re taking the puppies or if someone is watching them - though am guessing the latter considering it’s possibly a non-JetBlue flight. I’ve also managed to deduce it is not a Caribbean destination after all (I’d originally thought otherwise) as I was told not to packed sandals, hiking, or beach clothes. This goes entirely against typical Justin and Vanessa vacations - no hiking!? So, I am stumped. I just hope we make it on the flight. With only 5 seats open and an unknown number of standby passengers, it’s a gamble at best.
Luckily Justin has a couple of backup plans. =)
I read this quote a moment ago and it had a strangely peace-inducing effect. I thought I’d share it with you: “Give each day the chance to become the best one in your life“ - Mark Twain
Wild About Montana’s Beauty
Monday, September 15th, 2008 | Fun, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments
What a lucky gal am I? Justin flew all the way from New York City to Billings, Montana just to spend Saturday with me! He arrived at 10:30 pm on Friday night, and I dropped him at the airport at noon on Sunday. I could not have asked for a better time together, though I may have asked for it to be longer!
At first, Saturday morning was dreary and rainy. I was disappointed because I’d hoped Justin and I would make our way to Red Lodge and to the Beartooth Mountains. I knew there was hiking around and supposedly Red Lodge was a cute little town. Everyone told us to go there on our first trip to Montana in June, though the pass was still closed due to snow.
Despite the weather, we decided to head toward Red Lodge anyway. We had a delicious lunch at a pizzeria in Red Lodge. Slowly but surely, the day began to improve! We browsed in the local shops and Justin tried on, decided to buy, and then deciding not to buy a coat from an antique store. The store also had a really rad German hat from WWII but it was super tiny and wouldn’t fit my gigantic head, so I didn’t get it. We noticed intermittent patches of sunlight and decided to continue on our way to Beartooth Highway and the Beartooth Pass. I’d heard it was beautiful, but words could not express the truth of the beauty of this place. Check it out for yourself - captions and photo notes accompany the images: Photos of Snow, Hiking, Chipmunks and Kisses>>
After a lovely day of exploring a new town, a scenic drive and a bit of hiking, Justin and I relaxed in the hotel room, watched some TV, and noshed on hamburgers at Fuddruckers for dinner. We also played a hunting video game where we shot moose - that was a blast! Justin won (but I still killed more turkeys on the bonus round!). I love you, sweetheart. Thanks for coming out to Montana and showing me one heck of a good time. :)
Blogging from Billings
Thursday, September 11th, 2008 | Thoughts, Travel | 1 Comment
Incredibly creative subject line, I know.
So far, works been much the same as it is back home, except I’ve been putting real office clothes on and makeup. I’ve also been able to help with a couple of computer questions and walk into the other rooms to ask people things, so that’s been a nice change of pace.
Had I written yesterday, as I’d intended to, I’d have told you about the wonderful weather, the freshness, the smell of grass, the trees, and the whole town just having a clean, naturalness to it. It is amazing.
Today it was cold and rained ceaselessly. As I am driving one of ALA’s12 passenger vans around while I’m here, this is not the most comforting of weather changes. I went straight back to the hotel after work and ducked out only briefly for dinner at Carino’s (which happens to be in La Quinta’s parking lot).
I am engrossed in the book I am reading (Twilight series book 2). I read it before, throughout, and after dinner, pausing only now to check my email and update this blog. I’ll probably have it finished by tomorrow. Alas.
Well, I am going to read some more and hit the hay. I have to actually get up early and ‘prepare’ to be around people. Sheesh, crazy non-telecommuting types. Hope everything is going well where you cats are at! And I hope Val! is enjoying the wonderful city of Chicago. :)
Housewarming in Austin, the Ride Back to NYC, Anonymity
Monday, August 4th, 2008 | Family, Photography, Puppies, Travel | 3 Comments
Justin and I enjoyed Texas! We went to Sheila and Justin R’s 
housewarming party (which was actually also a birthday party, though we hadn’t realized that beforehand - our bad! Sorry Justin R!!!). It was cool to see them, their friends, and some of my relatives again. I must say, they also fed us some DELICIOUS BBQ and sides. Yummy! Aunt Sha Sha, Uncle Wayne, and Aunt Debbie all came up. Aunt Linda and Leanne (my 1st cousin) were in attendance as well, and ended up spending the night, which turned out to be very cool because we were able to sit around and talk this morning (photos of puppies new haircuts and the morning at Sheila and Justin’s). One takeaway - I definitely need to visit Leanna in Longview. She’ll be out of school before I know it, and I’d really like to see her in her college element, visit her apartment, and be a part of this brief, though significant period in her life.
It was also a really good onslaught of socialization for the puppies as Leanne brought her chihuahua, Pixie; the neighbors brought their poodle, Apricot and their labradoodle, Pinky; a gigantic chocolate lab was there (I don’t recall his name) and of course, Sheila and Justin’s very own Brodie was running around. Ruby and Eve got lots of sniffs from the other dogs and petting from the people. :)
On a random side note, one very pretty, well-dressed girl with expertly curled blonde hair told me that she really liked my hair and thought I looked like a certain actress. I was actually taken by surprise as I never expected a compliment at all (been spending too much time in NYC!). Now, waaaay back when, I was told frequently that I looked like this actress and once, upon entering a Chili’s, the hostess refused to believe that I wasn’t this actress…. Hello, I was in Chili’s in San Antonio, for crying out loud. I personally have never thought this actress was attractive, but the gal that paid me the compliment last night thinks she is very pretty and sexy, so I am taking it in a positive manner. ;) I am sure you’re wondering about this actress. *sigh* She’s the goofy girl from Scary Movie: Anna Faris.
Sheila drove Justin and I to the airport and Linda, Leanne, and Pixie rode along. It was amazingly nice to be surrounded by good conversation (though somewhat heavy subject matter) and loving goodbyes and hugs as we departed. As we were hugging goodbye, we ran into Shelley from JetBlue and got to hang out with her a little pre and post flight, which was awesome.
On our flight back to NYC this afternoon, I had the good fortune of sitting next to a fascinating woman. I want to say her name was Rebecca, but I am terrible with names, so I am probably wrong. She is originally from Ireland, though lived and worked in NYC for a long, long time. She majored in fashion and spent 2 years working for Geoffrey Beene and another 8 years working for Ralph Lauren at which point she decided to ditch her fashion career entirely and backpack around the world for 3 years. Did you catch that? Yeah, she backpacked ALONE around THE WORLD for THREE YEARS! 
She ended this backpacking stint in Madrid, where she spent six months learning Spanish and subsequently met her husband as he was enrolled in the same language program. Well, not only did they meet, but the program placed them as roommates in the same apartment. Was it fate? He was an engineer/international business major from Austin, Texas that decided to take some time off and spent half the year learning French in France and half the year learning Spanish in Spain. Hmm… Sounds like a great idea to me. I don’t know his career history or anything, but they both sound like super interesting people. Now, they spend half their summers primarily in New York (Westchester) and winters in Austin. I like their setup. They’ve also started their own business, which is doing pretty well I gather. Anyway, of course I know most of this because I asked her loads of questions, but it was really fun getting to know her. It turns out we were both in Madrid at the same time - when the trains were bombed! What are the chances?! I hope our paths cross again sometime, because she was a nice, fascinating lady and I’d love to hear more of her stories. She recommended I watch a show on the National Geographic channel called “Locked Up Abroad.” It sounds interesting, but so depressing judging by reading a couple of the summaries.
On a side note, Val! sent me an article today that got me thinking “How public do I want to be with my life?” A lot of recruiters, and certainly the last few of my employers are testaments to the truth of this statement, Google you and look you up on MySpace to see if they can find any dirt, legitimate or not, to disqualify you as a potential job candidate. Now I need to decide between entirely censoring myself (mmhmm) or maybe just posting elsewhere with a nom de plume. Not sure yet.
For randomness’s sake, I’m dredging up a post I wrote on this very same day last year that was published on my MySpace. I will probably be going back through and censoring old posts on this site and elsewhere, so enjoy the freedom of writing while you can. ;) “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” and all that rot.
Feel free to fill this out for yourself if you’d like -
August 3, 2007 - Ten (10) random things about me:
1) I over analyze almost everything and place situations side by side (relationships, work, etc) comparing past to present almost constantly. It’s maddening.
2) Adults are just like little kids. The most important thing is having people be legitimately pleased and proud of something you’ve done. This applies to me.
3) Money is important to me, but it’s far less important than the strange and magical sense that there is so much more in the world, like literature, and understanding, and human contact and the passion that comes with that.
4) I must have a puppy.
5) I miss TeXaS!!!!
6) I know I am not happy with my life when I am lethargic, which I have been lately. I also have an upset stomach almost every day that I go to work.
7) I haven’t written anything for my novel in 3 months. I think it has a lot to do with the fact I have no moral, and it feels empty. Speaking of writing, I am constantly blown off by the one place I was published that actually paid me. I told them to remove me from their list. Now I hope they fail.
8) Hence, I must have a mean streak. I constantly have to tell myself I am a good person. Half the time I believe it.
9) I will always be skeptical of people. I am usually always right. My wariness makes people think I am a bitch. They are almost always wrong.
10) Justin and I are in the same building almost 100% of the time.
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