Hawaii Noms

Ahi Poke

There is so much I want to eat in Hawaii. Could almost be a food tour!

I am going to eat so much fish in Hawaii it is going to be ridiculous. They eat heaps of Ahi (Tuna), ahi poke, a common mixture of raw ahi, onions, peppers and soy (basically sashimi with vegies) is even sold in all the supermarkets!! Mmmm can't wait.

I'm assuming a Luau is the equivalent of a Hangi. I don't really appreciate well cooked food but I will give it a go! The show itself will be cool to see.

Seared Ahi

Can't wait to try Guri Guri, a frozen Hawaiian (hopefully dairy free) dessert. Looks yummy.

There are heaps of buffets... sushi buffets... I'm going to get so fat.

Then there is all the fresh fruit... can't wait to browse the farmers markets!

Must work out heaps before I go there ready for the excess weight upon arrival.

Visa so hard

Getting my visa is proving painful... or rather perhaps I should just learn to read instructions properly.

It's not that it is hard... Just frustrating.

So today, I ran around getting a 'digital' photograph of myself to the required specifications for my Visa. Nobody did actual digital ones so I headed to Aus Post & just got passport pics done then scanned them.

I thought that was the last part I had to complete for my Visa and I was well under way to getting it back in good time before I left for Hawaii. Was pretty amped to be honest and relieved to have it gone.

You see for a NZ police check you just have to sign a release form. What I didn't realise however was that as I had lived in Australia over 6 months I had to get an Australian one also. And theirs takes up to 15 working days. 3 weeks! That's three weeks too long. (Insert smart quip about Aussie's not being as efficient as Kiwi's here.)

Now I will potentially be in Hawaii, about to leave for Vancouver, before I even get my Visa... cutting it fine alright! That's if the police check takes the 3 weeks and the visa takes 8 weeks... any longer on either side and there is the possibility I could be stuck in Hawaii...

Could be worse!!

Stuck here.. Damn.

I'm 25, it's not my fault

I would be lying if I said I'm happy to be turning 26 on Sunday. I'm not sad as such about it but it just sounds so much older than 25.

Plus when you're 25 you can get away with heaps of stuff. It's like 'I'm 25, it's not my fault' and people are like 'well that's okay then, understandable considering your age.' Try doing that when you're 26.. Not gonna happen! I have 6 days to use this excuse.

At least in the last year I have kicked some goals. I finally made it to America, somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time and had the best trip ever. I also moved out of sports marketing and into hospitality marketing when I was head hunted for my latest position. An industry I have wanted to get into for years.

I am however, quite upset about these lines that seem to be appearing on my forehead. I don't like them very much and although everyone says that can't see them, I can. So I think I might look at getting a fringe haha.

Otherwise turning 26 isn't all that bad. It's just another day. And thankfully it's not a work day!

Next holidays I want to do:

While I still have a few coming up there are sooo many more I want to do!

• Back to America, NY, Vegas, LA
• THIS contiki around the east coast of America – I love contiki.
• Visit my friend Sheldon and her husband in the UK (a place I don’t love but a dear friend I miss enough to travel to somewhere I dislike to be with)
• While I’m in the UK it would be rude of me not to go back to Italy. I want to travel more around the coast and especially visit Cinque Terre. Mostly I just want to eat and people watch. Just be there.
• 
• South America – Riioooooooooo!! Would love love love to check out Carnivale. Must admit I am a little hesitant due to the amount of murders during this time but would be incredible to see all that colour and music!
• Swim with whale sharks ANYWHERE – I don’t care if I have to go to Perth or Japan, these animals are so graceful and majestic I just wana be with them.
• Speaking of Japan – that place is funky as hell. I can’t wait to go back there. Back to Tokyo to visit my mate Seiji and then Kyoto to visit Toshi and then Okinawa, an island where the people live until they are really old.
  
• Singapore, good food, decent shopping cool buildings
• Dubai – this place looks cray. 
• Phillipines, some gorgeous beach where I can chill. Oh and that place you can swim in the Jelly Fish lake! Palau. 
• Bora Bora. I MUST stay in one of those over water bungalows so I can look at the fishy’s all night!!!!!! 
• Mexico – especially Belize. It just looks breath taking.
   
• Maldives. See above. Beautiful.
• South Island of NZ - Ironically I have travelled the world and yet not my own country properly.
• Anywhere my family is. Hopefully on a cruise somewhere… Bahamas again anyone? 

 Must stop writing and start working out how I can earn more money and have more time off. This sh!t is expensive!!

Reality Bites/ Post-Holiday Blues

Post-Holiday Blues is a real condition. I swear.

As this article reports “The post-holiday blues might not (yet) be a recognised syndrome but it is something that darkens the first few days after a break for many of us.” The article also provides tips for getting through this difficult time. You can read them HERE. I have been reading them over and over and over…haha

But in all seriousness, it’s not that bad. There are some things I am thankful to be home for. My own bed is one, followed closely by normal food with normal portion sizes and no ‘bags to coach at 7.45am’.

The things I miss from my holiday far outweigh the niceties of being home in Brisvegas though. I miss my new friends the most. And Gemma of course, who is back in Perth slaving away at the mines. We met some awesome people on our trip and after spending all day with them on Contiki for 8-11 days it is sad not to be able to pop down the hall to their hotel room for a chat.. or a beverage… or ten beverages. Thank-god for Facey!! Yewww!

After my new friends, I miss not having my bed made daily, all my food prepared for me, having to organise my own transportation… I'm making myself sound rather lazy here, I better stop there.

Luckily I didn't have to go back to work the day after I returned from the USA as originally planned. Since I resigned while I was away it was decided it would be best that I didn’t return to my old position at the Brisbane Lions and made a clean break. It’s been lovely being a ‘lady of leisure’ this week! I have pretty much done nothing, but still managed to hardly be at home? Not sure how that works…

To recover from my post-holiday blues it is advised to think of things you have to look forward to… ironically all I can think of are my next holidays…

• NZ for a week in exactly one month for a wedding when I am bridesmaid and will see my family
• NZ for a week at Christmas a month after that
• Thailand for New Years 2013
• Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays for the weekend of 18 January.
• My next trip to America… hopefully soon! Anyone wanna come?

Anyway starting my new job tomorrow, must go organise an outfit!

San Francisco.. The welcome city

The welcome city in that everyone is welcome. Hence the huge population of homeless that reside on the streets. I swear you get high just walking down the street from passive weed smoking. Snoop Dogg would love it. I was pretty much floating around the whole time I was there.
Story goes that in the 60's some guy turned up to a street party with a whole heap of weed and LSD which he gave out to everyone for free. They had a great time party time and consequently didn't want to go back to work and became addicted to the drugs. Not sure how true that is but that's what our tour guide told us.
I have never seen so many homeless people. I'm not sure if we were just staying in a dodgy area or what but they were everywhere. They don't really attempt to make any communication with you. They just smoke and lie on the side of the street with their trolley full of their only possessions. Ironically, this is right by downtown which is where the most upmarket stores are - Gucci, Prada, Chanel etc.
San Francisco is also home to the most billionaires after only three other cities in the world.

Unfortunately for us it was Fleet week and the city was swamped with the Navy, Army and other military organizations. This meant that the street cars, buses and cable cars were all full, with huge waits. It was difficult to get around the city and piers as it was so crowded.
We ended up only doing the organized tours with our crew as we were now exhausted and still drinking every night.
When we arrived we did a city tour on the bus, stopping at famous sites such as Pier 39, the houses where Full House was filmed and museums etc.

Our hotel itself was lovely, if not in the best area.
I could have spent the two days just in that bed! It was huge with the softest egyptian cotton sheets and about 6 pillows of various shapes and sizes. Ahhhhh **sighs**

We headed to Bubba Gumps (of the movie, it's a restaurant chain here) for dinner. Gemma and I sat with a Korean girl from our tour and the tour manager. It made for a hilarious evening. My meal was delicious, Cajun shrimps for starters and Scampi for my appetizer - yes they call mains appetizers, talk about confusing, no wonder I ate so much really!
If you ever visit Bubba Gumps try a pomegranate punch cocktail, sooo yummy and full enough of alcohol to get you going for the night!

We then headed to an irish pub to continue the drinking, which of course with Fleet week, was full of boys in uniform- much to the delight of the girls on our tour!
I may have danced the night away with a Navy hat on. So trusting of them to let me have their hat for the night!

More shopping in downtown on Sunday as again the lines for transport were huge. I was spending all the rest of my USD so had quite the merry time!

That night we had purchased tickets to watch a Kiwi band, six60, with some of the other crew from the tour. When we asked the hotel how to get there, their response was 'why would you go there?' So we already knew it wasn't going to be the best venue.
There was only one toilet, which, had the choice, I wouldn't have used! The place was so packed you could barely move, let alone get a drink.
Speaking of which, free pour is a killer. Two of my drinks I couldn't even drink due to the amount of vodka in them. They were all but straight. Makes for a cheap night out though!
Anyway it was all worth it to see six60 perform their little hearts out at such an intimate venue.
For a tiny, dingy venue in the middle of nowhere in San Francisco, it was full of Kiwis. The atmosphere was awesome and the band really interacted with the crowd.
After the gig the boys all stuck around an we had a whole heap of photos with the band. I felt like a bit of a groupie so hung back a bit but some of the others had no problem playing the role of a groupie!
Hilariously, the biggest groupie of them all wasn't one of us girls but one of the boys from our tour. He followed them round like a star struck puppy. He even hung out with them while they packed their vans an tried to go back to their hotel haha.
We finally got a 'taxi' which was actually a town car back to the hotel, and on the ride, Raul, the groupie, thought it would be appropriate to question our driver about the size of his 'dong' as he was a black man. The driver couldn't stop laughing, especially when Raul farted and tried to keep all the windows up!
At subway I managed to drop my MAC lipstick under the soft drink dispenser and in my drunken state thought it would be a fantastic idea to lie on the floor for a bit with a straw to try get it out. I succeeded but damn was I filthy!

Yesterday was our last day in the USA after 37 incredible, crazy days.
I am left fat, exhausted and broke but happy!

Grand Canyon - alcohol at altitude.

Did you know that drinking at altitude affects the way you respond to alcohol? I know now.

Grand Canyon is an amazing place. We started our trip in Sedona, a gorgeous town which is in completely muted and natural tones so that the beauty of the land is showcased.

We ate some cactus chips, yup made of real cactus! They spine and remove the prickles then soak the flesh overnight in buttermilk then coat in a spiced batter, fried and served with a prickly pear sauce. I wouldn't say they were yum.. They were interesting...

Next up on the agenda was a 4x wheel open jeep ride through the outback. I have never had so much red dust up my nose. Actually, I've never had red dust up my nose.
The driver was hilarious, taking the piss out of everyone and telling little jokes and stories.

The terrain is rough, red dust & stones on the path with cactus and shrubbery taking over the ground. The guy was a speed freak, driving like a maniac to our delighted squeals. He said he wanted to make us scream. I told him he would have to do a lot more than that to make me scream haha I think everyone on the jeep blushed. The conversation went downhill from there and I was in tears with laughter about ten times.

After the group photo all the guides were mucking around talking about rattle snakes, next minute one of them threw a fake rubber snake in the middle of us. Gemma, only looking after herself, literally jumped on top of me screaming. I have bruises on my shoulders!

I had been feeling particularly average all day, probably due to drinking for 3days and having about 3hours sleep a night, so decided to have a quiet night. Good choice on my behalf considering we were up at 6.15am ready for our helicopter ride the next morning!

We chose groups to go on the helicopters with and arrived at the airport. When they weighed me I told them not to let me know how much I weighed, I didn't want to know as I'm sure I've put on about 10kg from this holiday!
I ended up being called into a different group to what we had chosen and we were taken away to their sister airport. Turned out we had been upgraded, yay. However when we arrived at the airport I was handed a sheet of paper with our names and details on it.. Including out weights. As bad as I had expected. Yay for unlimited hot yoga and no alcohol when I get home!

The helicopter ride was incredible and the pictures just don't do justice whatsoever to how huge and amazing it is. It constantly changes colour in the light and we were lucky enough to get a perfectly clear morning.
I was seated at the front of the helicopter, by the pilot, with floor to ceiling windows. Perfect.
Our flight was 45minutes, sweeping over the national forest then descending into the canyon itself. An awesome experience and though expensive, definitely worth the money.

Back at the cabins, yes we were staying in full on log cabins, very cute, we decided to go for a hike along the rim, going down into the canyon. We had been warned that it would be very easy going down and really hard hiking back up. They were right. Thankfully we listened and only went down for half an hour as it was an hour walking back up. Worth it though for the incredible views.

Did I mention it's tarantula mating season? Evidently they come out to the road to sunbathe during the day. My dreams were haunted by spiders and I kept waking up freezing, it's 2degrees at night and 26 during the day.

Fast forward to the evening and we headed as a group to Hopi Point, a lookout where we had a picnic and watched the sunset. As you can imagine it was gorgeous. We proceeded to have a couple of drinks before heading to the pub. As I mentioned earlier, drinking at altitude certainly enhances the effects. My legs felt so very heavy and I hadn't realized how fast the alcohol had kicked in. Drinking in America is so cheap, my bloody mary's were only $5.50 each. So I drank a few. And a few more.
The army boys thought it would be a good idea to lead us through the forest home, prob not the best idea but we made it. We actually made it to a cabin party... There were people everywhere, chairs being thrown, boys wrestling, wedgies so bad they ripped undies off, bottles of water thrown around. Great night! Until the security came and at which point all 15 or so of us tried to hide under the bed... Then ran and hid in some random bushes for a bit haha awesome.

LaLa Land

We arrived in LA after 7hours of flights and thankfully our bags were there to meet us this time, after they were lost there when we originally arrived we were a little worried they may not turn up!

You could say that our flight there wasn't the best one I have been on. You could probably accurately say that it was one of the worst flights I have had.
The poor child in the seat in front of me vomited the entire flight. He was maybe five years old and sick before he even hoped on the plane. I have a weak stomach when it comes to things like this and I was very close to a sympathy spew. The smell. The noise. Yuck I feel sick just writing this.
I was torn between sympathy for the poor thing and resentment. Resentment was coming in first place.
Between the turbulence, vomiting kid, lack of food, crying child and repetitive Mother ('relax, just relax your ears will pop. Relax your ears will pop. Are you listening to me? Relax, are you listening to me?' you get the point.) I was rather pleased when it was all over!

Our hotel was in Little Tokyo, super cute and very Japanese. I really wish we had more time in LA. The food in Little Tokyo - yum. Arigato!

When we arrived at the hotel late at night there was a crowd outside the restaurant across the road. A dowdy, run down, typically Japanese themed noodle bar, I presumed they were smokers. Fast forward check in etc and we were in search of something to fill our stomachs. Did I mention that there was no food served on our flight due to turbulence? We wandered across the road only to find that the crowd was actually a line waiting to get in!
Starving, we just went to the place next door. The tiny, ancient Japanese lady was hilarious and the food delicious.

We jumped on a hop on hop off bus.. Which I have bad memories of from the UK when I fell down the stairs in a retarded moment and bruised the crap out of my shins.. But it was awesome.

We checked out all the famous sights, the Hollywood sign, walk of fame, Viper Room, Santa Monica Pier etc etc. Everywhere has such a good vibe, really wish we had more time to explore the areas more and get to Venice Beach but there's always next time. And I intend on that being quite soon!

We spent ages in the Napoleon Perdis flagship Hollywood store, I wanted to just check the prices of everything, see if it was cheaper than Australia but we ended up with makeovers and mini makeup lessons and a crapload of makeup!
Desmina, the assistant was fantastic. Her sales must be through the roof she is so good at her job and her passion and enthusiasm for the products and brand is obvious. With Napoleon himself popping in and out of the store constantly I suppose it would be easy to be inspired. Anyway I ended up walking out of there with heaps of products and even Gemma's Christmas gift!

We found tickets to Cirque Du Soleil Iris online for cheap and it was sensational. Being the fifth show I have seen I always wonder if I won't be as amazed and awed. They did not disappoint.
Especially the twin boys from the UK doing the aerobatics.. Hello!!
Iris is a journey of film through time, following an actress around who is picked to become the new best thing.
At one stage one of the little Asian contortionist girls was doing the splits and literally just popped upright using just her thigh muscles.. I can't describe it but the entire crowd dropped their jaws.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, we were time poor and headed home after Cirque Du Soleil as Contiki started at 7am the next morning and we thought it would be appropriate to rest up before the tour started. Thank goodness we did....

Post cruise blues & Butterbeer

I thought getting from Miami to Orlando would be easy. I thought there would be buses and trains aplenty connecting one major city with another only three hours away. I thought I would just wing it when the time came and all would be well. I thought wrong.

When we arrived in Miami on the ship at 8am it was black outside. There was a massive storm right over us. At breakfast we sat by the window and watched the city light up with each lightening strike. The rain was steady and the thunder loud.
We were estimated to be off the ship by 9am but due to the weather there was a wait and we weren't off until 10.30.
The night before I asked guest services how to get to Orlando. They were blasé, said hire a car or head to the bus station, it would be easy.
Being completely relaxed after the cruise (read lazy) I decided I wanted a shuttle to collect us from the port and take us to the hotel. So I started googling. I'm a pretty good googler. Soon enough I realized it wasn't going to be easy.
20 websites and 10 phone calls later (perhaps a slight over exaggeration) I found a 'luxury coach line' and decided to jump on that. We had to take a taxi to their depot and the bus was $50 but dayuum it was nice!
Huge leather, fully reclining chairs with electricity points and wifi. Was a comfy way to spend the 5hour bus ride. Red Coach Bus lines USA is the company if you're ever stuck.
Anyway we get to Miami and promised a taxi has been ordered. Wait 20mins, a town car driver pulls up and promises ours is on it's way to us now and won't be long. Fast forward an hour and still no taxi. Town car driver pulls up apologizing profusely and offering discount. Lucky is was a Chevvy Suburban and I was distracted with the pretty-ness of the car and forgot how mad I was at the wait. I hate waiting. Think I got that trait from my Dad!

I have decided I have Post Cruise Blues. A disorder one contracts when leaving a ship that had immaculate customer service and being thrown into the world of poor, crappy customer service.
It's not that bad really. Customer service as a whole in the US is fantastic as the service industry employees are always trying to get tipped. Maybe it's just Orlando.

The reason we came to Orlando was to check out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Islands of Adventure theme park next to Universal Studios.

I must admit that I have been pretty excited about heading to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
So much so that I even dreamt about Harry the other night on the cruise. I often have vivid and crazy dreams but this one was hilarious so I will share it.
Okay sooo in my dream I made out with Harry hahaha! I don't find him attractive in my waking life but evidently sleep me does.
The dream gets better, Heath Ledger was his brother and I made out with him secretly behind Harrys back! Haha then I was so scared Harry would find out that I bewitched my bright pink sneakers (which I don't own) to run me as far away as fast as possible. Seems I had powers in the dream too.

I was pretty excited yesterday. May have something to do with my sugar diet though. I don't usually have a lot of sugar, I eat reasonably healthily but before lunch this is all I had:
- a red bull
- a double choc chip frappacino from Starbucks with extra choc sauce and no cream
- a Butterbeer, as in the what they drink at Hogsmeade in Harry Potter. They are quite possibly the most scrummiest drink I have ever had in my life. And I've had a lot of drinks! They are butterscotch/ caramel based and oh so yummy!!
- a cinnabon roll. Try these - they're so delicious
-some cookie dough fudge
-a turkey leg. Of which I only ate a little as it was too salty
-another Butterbeer

So I was bouncing off the walls on a sugar high and when the sugar coma started to set in I would just top up with more sugar. Win win.

We arrived at Universal Studios and finally got into the Islands of Adventure. The park is split into themes, Harry Potter, Jurasic Park, Hero Land, Dr Seuss etc.

We headed straight to the Harry Potter part as weren't disappointed. It's awesome. I may have squealed a little like a child. You walk straight in and see the castle, followed by Hogsmeade Village and the train station.
You can buy Pumpkin juice and Butterbeer, which as I previously mentioned is utterly delicious.
In Honeydukes you can get all the HP favorites. From choc frogs to fudge flies, everything is there.
The rides are amazing. The first one we did was a roller coaster ride, something to do with running away from dragons. Holy crapballs it was fast! But it messed with my blood pressure (there may have been warning signs which I may have ignored) and I was really dizzy and light headed/footed afterwards.
The HP simulation ride is just amazing. I didn't even know the technology to do that stuff is around. You're riding around with Harry, then being chased and it's pretty scary. Unfortunately for us the ride mis-functioned and we were left hanging mid air for a few minutes until it resumed. Luckily we were sitting with some nice boys to keep us calm! In the ride photo Gemma actually has her hands over her eyes haha she didn't like the spiders.

The other rides were just as good, spiderman ride is awesome. I kept getting motion sickness and dizzy but still managed to do lost of the rides. Gemma even talked me into getting completely drenched in one. Good news for the boys as I was wearing a white singlet!

Shark infested waters

The waiters know us so well when we arrive at our table for dinner there is already two butter dishes and two pieces of french bread each. In 'real' life I hardly even eat bread but here I can't stop. Thank goodness I have 1 month unlimited hot yoga booked when I get back to work it all off.

Our waiter is lovely, Raj from Nepal. He actually knows where New Zealand is which is more than I can say for a few people here! He has been working on ships for 12 years. I suppose it's almost like being institutionalized. He won't ever want to leave.

We just arrived at our last stop, Grand Turk. This place is postcard gorgeous. Just beautiful. Tropical paradise. Snorkeling time!

A day later...

We did a three hour snorkeling tour first off. Was amazing. The first reef we visited however, they failed to mention that there would be about five sharks floating around. And of course, me, ever the over enthused snorkeller was first in and first to get the surprise of sharks right under my flippers circling me!

The sharks were reef sharks, with a mouth under them, similar to a sting ray. The crew went to the bottom, picked them up, cradling them upside down like babies for us to pat on the surface of the water. They were beautiful and gentle, soft on the bottom and sandy on the top. Hopefully some of the pics from our underwater camera turn out.

There were lots of other cool fish their too like these ling skinny flute like kingfish type fish that swam only on the surface of the water. There were also jelly fish everywhere, I was pretty worried but they were harmless.

The second reef was at the 'drop off' just like on Finding Nemo. The ocean went from 15 feet to 60 feet over the ledge. Was awesome. Huge schools of fish everywhere, from little blue and orange ones to big silver and yellow ones.

After snorkeling we relaxed on the picture-perfect beach and swam in the clear turquoise waters.

I'm really sad that this was our last stop on the cruise as we've had such an awesome time but happy to finish off with such a beautiful location. Would definitely recommend a Carnival Cruise to anybody heading these ways!

I went ring shopping again, ever in search of the perfect diamonds, but there wasn't a large selection of stores and I wasn't particularly fussed on any.

One more day on the ship and then back to normal civilization... Nooooo!

Ps. Kim if you're reading this, and I know you are, you must learn how to make amaretto cake.. Melt in your mouth goodness!