Switzerland - August 2009

What better way to treat ourselves after doing a triathlon than go to Switzerland for an extended weekend?!? Terry and I were looking forward to relaxing, getting in some hiking, taking in the culture and eating.

We took a red-eye and slept for most of the night however when we got there we were still really tired. Up to that point (and even to today), I have never seen Terry so sleepy! For a guy that thinks going to bed before 1am is crazy-talk, I was humored to look over at him and be zoned out in the early afternoon. We had a beautiful train ride over to Lucerne, a place my brother recommended visiting. We went through the hills and passed through little towns and rivers. It was so wonderfully beautiful!

We got to Lucerne in the early afternoon but were still tired so we did what two really tired people do....take an afternoon siesta. The only thing, however, is that the siesta ended up being about 5 hours! We missed most of the afternoon but were starving so we went out to dinner at a French restaurant near the river. It was so nice, we sat in the courtyard that was made of brick and there was even a mini-clock tower behind us. The food was fantastic and so was the wine.

After dinner, we took a stroll through the streets and over the river and had dessert at another restaurant. Since it was the end of the summer, berries apparently were really in season. They were so deliciously sweet.

After dessert, we decided to check out a local pub, the only one that happened to be open after 10pm on a Thursday. It so happened to be an 'American' themed pub. It's always amusing to see what people think of as "American". It was like they took Hawaii 5-0 and an 80's looking frat house and combined those two themes together. We nonetheless had a great time! We drank and laughed and were just plain silly.

We left around 4am and on the walk back to our hotel Terry dared me to climb on a flag pole over the lake - I thought he was crazy for even daring me to do so. I did, however, decide to take a quick dip in the lake on the other side. The water was a little slimy from the algae but it was a great temperature - not too cold.

The following day both of us were a little tired from the time difference and also being slightly dehydrated from the drinks from the night before. Nonetheless we took a ferry over to the base of a mountain. From there we took a funicular up to the hiking routes and began our hike.

It was a little warm and we were pretty tired, but probably mostly from the heat. I was really surprised by the fact that it was so quiet...almost eerily quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were the cow bells in the distance. We had a good walk up and then a huge descent down. At the top of the hill, we had some juice and water nearby Hammetschwand Lift, is the highest exterior elevator in Europe. After a quick breather we started our descent down. Going downhill was way more tiring than going uphill!! On the way down, we went through grassy fields and through farmers backyards. It was super picturesque, with the exception of the horse flies that were biting us all over. That probably helped us get down the hill faster than we would have otherwise. At the bottom of the hill we took a bus (I actually took us in the wrong direction, oops) and then a really old school train back to Lake Lucerne.

A trip to Switzerland would not be complete without a fondue experience. We had quite a yummy one with chicken, breads, fruits and vegetables. Needless to say, we left stuffed and tired. The following day we went in a pedal boat on Lake Lucerne and when I say we, I actually mean Terry pedaled us around while I got to take in the landscape.



We also go to spend some time in Zurich - the lake there is not as clean as Lake Lucerne but it was still pretty darn nice. We talked/hung out by the lake and went on a ferris wheel ride which freaked me out. We walked further out to a restaurant that was recommended by our hotel, it was nice, right on the lake. We listened to a jazz band and had wine/dinner. I loved Switzerland because it was clean, people were nice and it had a very distinct culture. The culture was familiar and one of the few I feel like I had an impression of prior to visiting, that was the same after I visited. This was a most relaxing trip and we both decided that we'll want to go back again at some point since there is still much to be explored.

Aruba - April 2009

Aruba's tourism board can thank the Beach Boys for 'Kokomo', the song that put this ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) Dutch ruled islands on the map. I hadn't planned to go to Aruba but as luck would have it, my friend Frances works for a friendly airline that was able to get me a free ticket and hotel stay while she worked and I played. I've been to Curacao before (if you read my blog, you would know) and I was interested to see how Aruba compared.

Aruba was definitely different, however my most cultural experience was taking the local bus into town from the airport. It definitely was not my usual route on M15 in New York! The bus was actually not a bus, it was a minivan from the 80's and the "bus" stopped anywhere...literally. The bus stopped when anyone rang the bell - mind you it was a door bell that was glued to the top of the van, classy!

Because Frances was working during the day, I had a lot of time to observe people and sleep - both on the beach, of course! My general impression about Aruba and most of the Caribbean is that it's where the gap between adults and kids exists but not really. Adults wear their skimpy bathing suits as they probably once did in their adolescence, while kids stayed out late and drank mud slides by the pool like the lushy adults I know. It was kind of funny to watch at first and then just became strange the more I thought about the situation.

One day I decided to go windsurfing - I've always wanted to try it and Aruba is a great place to learn because it is so windy, or at least while I was there. My instructors name was Henry, he was a really funny tan Dutch guy. He taught us how to read the wind, sail (when people go uncontrollably fast), turn and stop on the windsurf board. As soon as Henry let us go on our own to practice, I looked over to a woman in my class and she had lost her board. She claimed that it suddenly got away from her as if she couldn't see it coming. I was amused and laughed as I thought she was such a novice as I was doing pretty well staying up. Soon enough though, I found myself way out in the deep part of the ocean or Chavez (Arubans referring to Venezuela, the So. American country closest to Aruba) with my board and someone had to come rescue me in a power boat to get back to land! I enjoyed it and will definitely do it again - not the getting stuck part but windsurfing.

On a side note, I put on tons of sunblock given that I'd be in the sun mid-day but there was an area on my back that I couldn't reach. I ended up having my back towards the sun for most of my time on the windsurf board and resulted in an unfortunate burn. I have had multiple friends point out that my burn looks like a bat which is awesome because that's exactly what I want to show off during the summer months!

Frances friend Karen came into town for the weekend and we all went horseback riding. We got picked up by a shuttle and driven out to a horse farm. The ride was actually the best horse ride I had on holiday - the terrain was desert-like and mid-way through was right by the ocean.

A random story about dinner - so we found this restaurant on tripadvisor.com called Gostoso Restaurante, rated number one in Aruba. It was sort of out of the way but people were RAVING over the place and so off we went. We got there and it was in a neighborhood, which was good, but no one was there, which was bad. Upon arriving to the restaurant we were promptly seated (because no one was there) and our hostess came to greet us. All was well, well with the exception of Frances who got a bit sick on the turbulent taxi ride over but we were all hungry and looking forward to a nice meal. As we were picking our food the chef came over to speak with us as well which was great, until he started to read the entire menu from top to bottom - not really adding more to the description than was already written. After he stopped by the waiter came by and talked to us. Well, we finally ended up ordering but after we ordered the hostess, waiter and chef would come by to ask us if we were ok or make small chit chat. Perhaps New York has made my skin a bit tough, but I was seriously starting to get annoyed with the constant disruptions to our conversations. At one point I thought we were on a hidden camera show to see how much we would take before blowing up from all of the visits to the table. They 1) had way too much time on their hand and not enough customers and 2) thought we were from tripadvisor or another website doing a secret review (they kept alluding to this and asked if we were or not more than once). After all of that, dinner was just ok - at least I had good company and something to write about :)

One of my memorable people-watching moments in Aruba was watching the sunset sitting on the beach next to some old hairy men shaking their bon bons listening to Your Wildest Dreams by the Moody Blues from the 80's. The song was playing on a bright yellow boombox that still had a cassette player - I truly felt like I was somewhere else.

Nepal Adventure - September/October 2008

Nepal and Tibet are two countries I've dreamed of visiting at some point in my life so I was excited to be visiting one of the two countries. My journey to Nepal was not necessarily an accident but I had not actually planned on going when I did. My co-worker and I were talking about trips and I decided that I wanted to do a bike ride from northern Tibet all the way down to the border of Nepal. Given that I am or was by no means an athlete, my co-worker kindly told me that I was crazy given the altitude and the terrain (imagine going down pebbly roads next to trucks and all other forms of transportation starting at 20k elevation).

After my reality check I decided that I still wanted to do something active and a little bit off the beaten path so I started looking into Nepal. Given the nature of my project in Australia, I didn't have much time to plan ahead. Approximately 3 days before I was to leave the country, I was given the go ahead to make plans - I organised an Aussie outfitter, World Expeditions: http://www.worldexpeditions.com, for the entirety of my trip while in Nepal to do the trek. My co-worker, who is passionate about mountains and hiking also joined the trip, which was great!

Upon meeting my co-worker in Thailand, we took Thai Airways to Kathmandu and were instantly in the heart of loosely organised chaos. I've been to some poor countries (So. Africa, Guatemala, El Salvador to name a few) but Nepal was by far the poorest of them all. Apparently they rank as one of the poorest countries in the world, I didn't know that going in but it became crystal clear once I arrived. In order to enter the country, I was required to get a tourist visa. The line to get through their customs was ridiculous. You think the DMV is bad? Go to Kathmandu. While I waited in line I talked to the guy standing behind me, a British bloke. He had moved out to Nepal for several months on a whim and was just returning from a short holiday in Thailand from his holiday in Nepal. He told me welcoming stories of Kathmandu like the prostitutes that his 'friend' had over at his place and who stole all his money and belongings. He also talked about the children that beg in the streets that use the money to buy glue and get high from sniffing it. As I stood there, taking in his freakishly scary stories in the hot, chaotic environment, all I could think about was being somewhere I had only dreamed of going to one day and it finally being a reality.

After about an hour of waiting, I picked up my bag and made my way outside where our guide was to pick us up. We took out some cash and was on our way to the hotel. At the hotel, we were kindly greeted by the staff with a warm-hearted namaste, something I'd hear a hundred times over during the course of the trip. Namaste is a common greeting for the Indian Subcontinent and means "I respect that divinity within you that is also within me". The Nepalese say this with a kind bow and most formally with hands clasped together as if praying and bowing.

The rooms at the hotel were extremely modest - the beds were super thin and smelled like spices. I love spice in food but in my sheets? Not so much. On the bright side, the window faced some local buildings with local people so I was able to do some observing (some would call it stalking) in a non-invasive way. That day my co-worker and I walked around town and had a Nepalese dinner. In the evening, I just read up and tried to ignore the spice market in my room and the overly ginormous spider in the bathroom. The next day we went biking through the foothills of Kathmandu. This was actually a lot of fun as we got to really see how the locals live. There are no lanes, everyone just goes about their way pushing and moving along with the people around them. It was sort of hard getting out town proper initially but once in the hills, it was better. Aside from the pollution and random men urinating on the sides of the road, it was a beautiful sight. Imagine rolling green hills and rice paddies as far as the eye could see.

We biked with our guide, a Nepalese pro-biker, through the hills, the cities, the rice paddies and even the countryside. It was a lovely day and great way to see the city however it was scary for two reasons: 1) the fact that you ride side-by-side amongst trucks is never a safe situation and 2) upon getting back into the city we were amidst my first riot ever! The people were protesting, burning tires and shouting over the loud speaker on the way to our hotel. Looking back, it seems cool because I've never been in a riot and can appreciate new experiences, but at the moment I was scared and had no clue if the people were going to do stuff to the three of us because we obviously didn't fit in with our tourist clothes and bikes. Luckily they did not, we made it safely back to our hotel, picked up our bags and got on a tuk tuk (ghetto rickshaw bicycle) and headed over to our hotel to meet the rest of our group. Just a quick aside about the tuk tuk, it cost about $2 USD to go about a mile from our destinations. What was amazing about this ride is that it was bumpy and slow, however our driver probably weighed less than me, had a bike that looked like it had gone through the garbage disposal and was reincarnated AND he carried me, Mara, our heavy bags...guessing that it was about 2.5x his total weight!!

Upon meeting the group, I was a little surprised as the group was very mixed in age. With the exception of a teenage boy, we were the youngest in the group by a number of years. There was an element of excitement amongst the group - for many of us it was the trip of a lifetime. We had one bag that each of us could bring which could weight no more than 25 pounds for the entire trip - needless to say, it was important to pack efficiently. The next day we left early for the airport to Pokhara, our departure point to the Annapurna region. Once we arrived, we were picked up by our group operator and taken to the base camp for lunch. There we met the 17 people that would support our trip from the head chef and foreman to the porters and TT (Toilet Tent) boy.

I had caught a cold the night before in Kathmandu which made the journey a bit harder, however the scenery was so surreal and the air was so fresh that I quickly forgot my physical ailments. The first camp we hiked up to was called Australia camp in honor of the first campers to settle on that land. The camp overlooked mountains as far as the eye could see. Every day I woke up to the porters singing and making breakfast (that's my kind of life!). While appreciating the beauty and splendor of the area our cook put together a fantastic 4 course meal. Since the outfitter caters to westerners, all of the food and drink are purified beforehand. For a country so poor and relatively unsanitary, I don't believe anyone on the trip had stomach viruses.

After a fantastic dinner, we all retreated and prepared for the long trip ahead. Dinner was usually served at 5pm and everyone was usually in bed by 8pm - overall we had a really early schedule. It probably didn't help that most nights it rained and was on the cold side. Since the bathroom tent was outside (but covered), I think we all tried to avoid drinking too many liquids to avoid the dreary trek to the toilet tent. The other thing that the rain brought was leeches! During the day, we would constantly check for leeches that crawled up on our hiking shoes and somehow managed to make their way up to flesh. In the evenings, since we ate dinner usually on a grass field, it became difficult to avoid them. I'm proud to say that I am the only one that wasn't leeched by a leech - that just goes to show you how paranoid I am about creepy crawlers! The other travelers weren't as lucky. One of our mates got leeched on his forehead while he was asleep.

Some hiking days were better than others but I can confidently say that each was beautiful and unique. We passed through a number of villages and got to see how people lived on a day-to-day basis - it was quite humbling to see how little people lived on yet seemed so happy and full of life. If we hiked down to a base camp, the next day was surely a hike back up the next mountain. Given that there were no roadways, yet alone cars, the pathways were not necessarily marked but were fairly clear. With every person that was passed, a friendly smile and 'namaste' was usually exchanged.

The kids LOVED getting their pictures taken. They would stand up straight and have small smiles that could not hide their enjoyment of interacting with the foreigners. Afterwards, they would run over to me and ask to see their picture and quickly laugh and run off to continue to their destination. I enjoyed this simple yet genuine interaction almost as much as the landscape. The porters were also an interesting group. They carried the tents, our bags, the food, tables, chairs, kitchen supplies and other miscellaneous items. They carried most of the weight on their heads and what was more amazing is that they didn't have hiking clothes and fancy shoes...they just wore jeans and flip flops. Guess it's in the blood or something! All the guys enjoyed singing so in the morning before our trek or at night at camp, you would often find 3 or 4 of the guys singing. As we all got closer, they called me 'congee'. At first I was weirded out and not sure how to respond given that 'congee' is Chinese ride porridge. It turns out though that it means little sister in Nepalese - much better than porridge :)

On a walk as long as ours, I had a lot of time to think about the most simplest things (what's for dinner) and more complex things that tend to arise when I'm on holiday and out of my daily routine. The experience I had in Nepal was unforgettable and in some ways has altered how I view poverty and the value of material goods on a society. It goes without saying that I will one day go back to Nepal - hopefully bringing something back to the community, more than just me and a pair of hiking shoes.

Cambodia and Thailand - September 2008

After hearing about 24-hour tours of Cambodia, I thought it'd be a great way to kick-start my long awaited trip to Asia! The plan was to enter into Cambodia in the early afternoon, see as many of the ruins in and around Angkor Wat and then leave by the next morning back to Thailand. Upon arriving into Bangkok from my stint in Sydney, I put all of my belongings into storage, bought a round trip ticket to Siem Reap and was on my way!

Flying into the airport was fantastic, the fields were so green and lush. Upon getting off the plane, it was so humid and sunny, a nice little change from chilly (relatively speaking) Sydney. The 'unofficial' currency is the USD and they even have an ATM in the customs area that actually dispenses twenty-dollar bills. The image to the left is $.10 in Cambodian currency. Hilarious! The system at the airport is quite inefficient as far as getting a travelers visa. There was a row of about 10 guys that basically were like a conveyor belt. I'm certain that half of those guys were literally just passing down the passport and doing nothing more.

Upon exiting the airport I hired a motorbiker, Wannak, to take me around the whole day - I wanted to bike to each of the main ruins however my time was pretty limited so off we went. Upon arriving to the first temple I was really surprised by how ruined it was! I guess they are called ruins for a reason. The area is so lush that insects, plants and mold took over the whole area. We motorbiked to and from other ruins and ended at Angkor Wat which was beautiful. There is a moat around the ruins and the temple itself was well kept. While I enjoyed my day looking around, I think I most enjoyed the stories Wannak told of the area, the culture and the people.

While I only spent a short amount of time in Cambodia, I had a good time exploring but was really excited about getting to Thailand. Once I got back into Thailand, I left Bangkok and headed up to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. It was amazing being in the hills and I could feel the freshness of the air and the environment. My old colleague from Disney was living in Chiang Mai and so we caught up and had a grand old time talking about the last 5 years we hadn't seen each other. It was like nothing had ever changed! Paddy connected me with his travel agent friend that set up my days of sight seeing in the vicinity. Some highlights from the trip were:

* Taking a thai cooking class on a farm. We made about 8 dishes in total, needless to say between the heat and all the eating, I was so lethargic by the end of the day! Randomly, there was a Asian cooking channel show taping an episode on Thai cooking. I must have seemed like a good chopper since they interviewed me and taped me for the TV show which I believe aired across one of the networks in Asia in the Fall.


* Going to some of the most beautiful monestaries with a former monk. He showed me the monestary he lived on for 13 years. We also went to Doi Soy Tep, a monastery at the top of the mountain that overlooks Chiang Mai. The view was fantastic!

* It was amazing and surreal waking up early in the morning to see a bunch of orange robed monks scouring the city for food donations for the day. Don't see that in NYC all that often (or ever!)


* Visiting an elephant camp -- it was cool! I love how simple elephants are yet do amazing things like play soccor and paint. In fact, their paintings were so much nicer than I ever could have painted. The elephant camp is a place where elephants can live in the foothills of Chiang Mai in peace. I'd like to have a pet elephant one day....

Australia Bon Voyage - 2008

I sort of slacked on my travel blog (oops). Instead of pretending like I kept it up to date while living in Oz, I decided to do a 'best of' Australia blog entry. If you care not to read, just know that I loved it there!

I went to Sydney not knowing anyone and I feel so fortunate to have met some really amazing friends. I met all of my friends through NYC friends who knew of someone that was moving there or had a friend who was out there for work. I had many a great memories with my peeps and also met some great aussies and kiwis through work and friends of friends.

Aside from meeting a great group of people, I thoroughly enjoyed the cuisine in Sydney. I'd venture to say that the food is better quality and therefore tastes better than a lot of the food in NYC (gulp, NYCer's please don't take it personally). I'm a huge fan of dairy and sweets - which is a bad combo for my body, but that's not the point - and they were so good in Sydney! The yogurt tasted like Haagan Daaz ice cream and the chocolate tasted like real chocolate...mmmmm! The food is extremely eclectic due to the influence of Asian immigrants as well as other immigrants from Europe. I couldn't decide which Thai restaurant was my favorite - there were too many yummy ones! My favorite tapas restaurant, Kika's, will always have a special place in my heart. Bill Grangiers restaurant Bill's (clever name) was great for brunch. If you are ever in Sydney, be sure to check it out! Order the banana ricotta pancakes with honeycomb butter and you will not be sorry!

As far as travels, I had an opportunity to travel up and down the east coast of Australia on the weekends when friends and family visited. Here is a re-cap of the places and experiences:



Byron Bay is known for it's great surf and amazing beaches. It's also known for being really chill. One thing to note is that Australia in general is really chill so you can just imagine the breezy attitude in this town. I went to Byron Bay with my friends Martha, Mel, Ayano and a gal named Sarah. There was some drama on the night I arrived - someone broke into our room and stole iPods, docking stations and anything else of value while we were out. It was such a downer for everyone and some took it harder than others. But back to happier memories, we went to Byron Bay for the Blues and Jazz Festival where they had great local bands and other more well know bands like J5 and Ozomatli. The venue was open, grassy and under the stars...needless to say, it was awesome! There is nothing better than the energy of live music; we spent the night dancing, drinking and having a grand old time.


Tasmania is where some of the most notorious convicts were sent - as if Australia wasn't far enough from England. Sireesha and I went there over Anzac Day weekend - a holiday to honor soldiers, but a day of celebration more like New Years Eve! There were parades of older folk dressed up in their soldier gear and afterwards people headed to the pub for some afternoon drinks and a game of two-up - a gambling game ANZAC soldiers played during war times. Anzac Day is the only day in the year it's legal to play in public.

Anyway, we stayed in Launceston, the second largest city on the northern part of the island. It was quaint and had a unique small town appeal even though it was technically a large one. We stayed at a little place called the Old Bakery Inn, which was originally a bakery established in 1870 by an ex-convict (of course!) and turned into an inn some years later. Tassie was beautiful and the landscape reminded me very much of New Zealand with it's majestic mountains and infinite bays. We drove all around the island and it's nice because Tassie doesn't have that many people -- roughly 500k - which equates to easy driving, well, with the exception of the wombats and other road kill. Every hundred feet or so on the smaller highways there would be something dead plastered to the ground and it became a mini mission to not squish more animals. We went to Wineglass Bay, which was stunning and on another day went to the wine country. In the Tamar Valley, I had one of THE best meals in Australia at a restaurant called Daniel Alps at Strathlynn. Daniel, the head chef, made dishes with local product. I had a sampler plate of heaven and became a huge fan of beets of all random vegetables. The area was so cosmopolitan that I found it hard to believe that I was in Tasmania...it's Tasmania!

Cairns was a cool little town - a common departure point to the Great Barrier Reef. I went with Mayra, Geoffrey and their friend Linda. We stayed in the heart of Cairns at a serviced apartment which was OK.

On our first night after a delicious dinner, we retreated back to our apt to get some sleep and to get ready for the GBR. The next day we went to the Green Island, about an hour and a half east of Cairns. After the number of horror stories I heard about choppy waters and people throwing up, I was afraid of getting sea sick and purchased rolls of Peppermint Mentos and found a place on the boat that had lots of fresh air. It actually ended up being a really smooth ride and we all got there ready to snorkel! Geo, Linda and I got our snorkel gear and quickly headed to the water while May decided to do an underwater tour. As Linda and I were getting our gear on we heard Geo yelling from the water. I wasn't sure what was happening but it turned out that he lost his wedding band after diving in the water! We searched around him for a while and had no luck finding it :(

While that was a bummer, we still ended up snorkeling and saw some of the most amazing underwater creatures...ever! From brilliantly colored fish to water snakes it was almost hard to believe that I was there swimming with all of them. The water was really low so after walking in about 10 feet, I was in a whole new world. Towards the end of the day the low tide made it hard to move properly, I could easily touch and see all of the sea life hiding, eating and camouflaging in the coral reef. It was an excellent experience and something I'd love to do again one day.

Mission Beach was our next destination, our friends Caroline and Kenneth highly recommended going to the Mission Beach Sanctuary. It's a new age yoga retreat and has interesting accommodation. The eco-lodge nestled in the rainforest has 'huts' which are essentially mesh screen that cover an area of about 8ft x 10ft. It was far from fancy but honestly one of the most fun places I stayed at while in Australia.

As for the beach itself, it's not really a beach people swim in since it was jellyfish season. Needless to say, we stayed far away from the water. The town itself was pretty sleepy so we ended up spending the several evenings we were there at the Sanctuary admiring all of the moths, spiders and other creepys that spent their time in the main lodge area. We also played a heated game of spades (I shall not disclose the winners names), played board games and talked to the people that lived/worked at the Sanctuary. Anyone who decides to live in a place where wearing black is the norm, yoga is always available and walks around barefoot for most of the day is an interesting one in my book.

Every night we had a ritual where we'd get geared up to head down to our 'hut' - we'd walk down together since it was really dark and sort of scary! Once we made it to our 'hut', I did a bug check in and on the blankets, sheets and anything else that had been left out and then would get into bed and pull my sheet over my head. I don't know how in the world animals sleep there, you'd think that a rainforest would be quiet and serene but it was quite the opposite! Every animal and it's mother was buzzing, chirping, squeaking, mate-calling, hissing and any other sound you could imagine. I'm used to city noise (garbage trucks, honking, people walking), so it definitely took some getting used to. One day we did get out to a neighboring island to do some ocean kayaking and chilling by the beach, which was nice. The water is generally calm so there is no chance of tipping over into the jellyfish infested waters.


One of the highlights of Mission Beach was seeing a cassowary bird up close and personal. He was hanging out at the Sanctuary, drinking water from a standing fountain. It's the strangest looking thing and turns out one of the most violent birds in the world. The one that was near us didn't do anything though, it just sort of stood around for a bit after its drink and then walked off to the yoga retreat center. We ended the trip back in Sydney celebrating May's birthday eating Mud Cake, yum. Lucky gal went to Tahiti the next day and got another birthday since it's on the other side of the date line.

Melbourne is known as the fashion capital of Australia because of its strong European influence. Eleni, Gareth, Mara and I went there for a weekend trip of wining, dining and shopping. It was a lot larger than I thought it would be, especially considering it's about as far south as you can go in the country. In addition to just hanging out and seeing the city, we went to Melbourne Cricket Grounds and watched Aussie rules footie - it was cool to see how passionate the Aussies were about the sport! There were kids decked out in gear from head to toe and a guy behind us almost broke down he was so upset by a ref decision he didn't agree with. Ladies, the shopping was superb! I bought most of my clothes in Australia while in Melbourne. Oh, and Ackland street has THE MOST amazing cakes. Definitely worth checking out if you're there. The cake shown above is a vanilla cake, 70% cream. Heaven on earth I say.

Airlie Beach/Whitsunday Islands is another area by the reef. I went to with Mara, Michelle and her friend Christy. It was such a fun but random trip. The town is really cute and great for backpackers. There's a huge beer garden and tons of restaurants in town. I was particularly impressed by the lush landscape considering how close it was to the water. The weather was a little chilly when we were there, I was sort of disappointed because I had cold weather leaving NYC, relatively 'cold' weather in Sydney and then cold weather in Airlie Beach. Either way, we were determined to have fun!

One day we took a ocean raft trip out to the reef and Whitsunday beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was SO much fun riding the ocean raft - we went over 6 foot swells and landed pretty hard only to do another and another! I was pretty wiped out by the time we reached the reef but excited to snorkel.

I put on my wetsuit and hopped into the water with the other gals. The water was cold and I realized that I would get tired pretty quickly because there was nowhere to rest, except on the boat. I swam back to the boat to grab a floating tube for me and Christy and headed back to her. En route I felt someone grab my foot - I freaked out a little bit and thought it was Mara. I waited for a few seconds for her to pop up her head but there was no one there. At that point I became scared and started swimming quickly towards Christy. On the way to her, I still felt something pulling at my leg. At this point, I had lost a flipper and was starting to panic. I'd look below every once in a while and would see a white looking blob. I pushed on it with my foot a couple of times and I was definitely being followed. Interesting how the mind starts to go into survival mode - note: it probably didn't help that I had read 'In a Sunburnt Country' by Bill Bryson where he tells many tales of people in Australia dying in water from sharks, etc. I started thinking about my family and friends and what I could do without in life if I were to live (i.e. legs, will I miss them if I don't have them? Arms, I could probably get synthetic ones). I got to Christy, asked her if she saw what I was seeing, which she did not. I decided that the shark or whatever it was liked me and had chosen it's victim. Also, at this point, I realized the rocks would be too hard to get onto without getting hurt so I just started screaming and waving my hands like a crazy woman. The guys on the boat, about 200 feet away, asked if I was ok and I said 'NO!' but no one really actioned. A guy on the trip with us ended up coming over and helping me back to the boat. After discussing with the guys on the boat, it turns out that coral reef was the 'predator' and the thing that grabbed my leg originally was long algae! Needless to say, I was the butt of jokes for the remainder of the day.

Another random thing we did while there was rent a moke, which is a little mini jeep that goes no faster than 30mph or thereabouts. It was bright yellow and we took the top down for the full effect. It was almost like being on spring break +10 years driving around town and to the beach! We went Dingo Beach which was a cool beach escape for locals - by the looks of it we were definitely the tourists. While at the beach I went for a long walk and soaked in the rays before heading back to Sydney.


Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, was one of the last destinations I wanted to visit before leaving Australia. I heard so many positive, lukewarm and negative reviews so I thought it was best to check it out myself. My friend Kevin and I went there on a bit of a whirlwind tour. Most tourists that go to Uluru, stay for less than 24 hours, with that said, we left on a Saturday morning and returned Sunday afternoon. Flying into the area, all you could see was red sand and shrubery and the two big rocks. The city, Yulara, which is the main destination for tourists visiting Uluru is owned and run by one company, Voyages Hotels and Resorts. Everything with the exception of the bank and the post office are managed by the resort. From budget accommodation to luxurious accommodation, the resort had it all. Upon arriving to the hostel, we threw down our bags and headed out to check out the rock from some of the lookout points near the hostel.

We were both equally excited (I think) about being there and seeing 'the rock'. It's the desert so needless to say it was sort of hot, but we walked around anyway. We went to a lookout point but decided that it wasn't a long enough of a trip so then we outbacked in the outback (meaning we made our own trail) down into some of the rolling hills. When it became obvious that we weren't going anywhere in particular we decided to head back up to the main trail. We got a recommendation for another trail across the street, which again didn't take very long to hike up.

There we met a father and daughter from Alabama that had coincidentally met our friends parents who were coming to visit her in Australia from the states. It was quite a random meeting. We ended up hanging out with them for several hours chatting about culture, people and how/why Australia is so darn expensive! Afterwards Kev and I went to a dinner under the stars. It's an outdoor dinner where they prepare a buffet of Aussie foods and talk about the stars. The only problem was that it was cloudy so there were no stars - we had to pretend there were some to look at. It was such a long day that I actually got really tired and slept through part of the astrology discussion. By the time we got back to the hostel, I quickly retreated into bed.

The next morning, I woke up early to catch the bus to see the sunrise over Uluru. It was actually pretty cool to see the multitude of colors that Uluru changes into over the course of 30 minutes. It was also truly amazing to see how ginourmous the rock was when looking at it from up close. The way our guide described how Uluru was formed was the following - 'it's like a pimple that's ready to be popped'. Graphic but to the point. We did a hike around Kata Tjuta, another rock formation about 55km away from Uluru. It was a long, but good hike and we learned a lot about the fauna and animals that the indigenous people used as food. I think the highlight of the trip was the hike as well as the sunrise moment.

There are so many things I loved about Sydney that I didn't get a chance to write about like the Bondi to Coogee walk, playing social tennis at the Coogee tennis courts, hanging out at the Observer (oh so many memories!), doing the day trip to Blue Mountains with Ayano and Martha, rollerblading around Glebe, going to the beach at Manly, exploring new restaurants, walking around Surrey Hills - my favorite neighborhood, bbqs and many many more.

I left with some lifelong memories and experiences and look forward to going back again one day.......

Sydney, Australia

G'day Mates!

This is the first installment of the adventures in Australia blog! I am working and living in the heart of Sydney, the CBD (central busines district), for the next 6 months. I never got around to studying abroad in college so I guess this sort of makes up for it!! Upon arriving, I could have kissed the ground. Why you might ask? Coming from chilly New York it was absolutely wonderful to step outside of the airport to be greeted by humid, warm temperatures and green lushness everywhere.

My accommodations are at Fraser Suites, http://sydney.frasershospitality.com/accommodation.php, a swanky hotel/corporate apt that's close to just about everything. While the complex is awesome, the clients have been across the board from corporate folks to tourists to borderline prostitutes (I think they were just some promiscuous looking women...hopefully). Jackie Chan also stayed at the hotel earlier this week per the bell boy.

The area is very convenient to lots of restaurants. The Spanish Quarters is right around the way and there are all types of Asian food nearby as well. The supermarket is a block away for when I get tired of eating out. The restaurant mix is quite varied. It's sort of like NY, though their mix of Asian food is of a greater variety. Can't say that I've had anything really 'Aussie' yet with the exception of Tim Tam's, a chocolate biscuit that is really popular here. It's sort of like a chocolate covered Oreo or wafer, but instead of lard they fill the cookie with a light chocolate ganache filling. I've never seen a product dominate the cookie isle like this one. Who ever did Tim Tam's marketing was a genius.

It hasn't all been fun and games. On my first day here, I went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown and was happily enjoying my first meal in Sydney until I looked down at the ground and saw a baby roach running around the feet of a couple eating next to me. I tried to block out the image and focused in on eating rice, well, because it's white. I had a couple more bites and stopped completely after a medium sized roach walked in a wall that was right behind me where I'm quite certain the rest of the family members could be found. Because the climate is on the humid side, I guess roaches are common like they are in the summers in NYC (yuck). If you know me well, you know that I have a slight phobia of cock roaches and dirty bathrooms. I walked out hungry searching for my next meal which was at McD's (I'm almost too embarrassed to admit). I have been here a week and have eaten out a total of four times, of those I've seen roaches for three :( My co-worker tells me that they follow me because they know how much I hate them.

The first week has been about acclimating to things like different brands and product names. For example, Rice Krispies is Rice Bubbles, Burger King is Hungry Jacks and there is a heap of lamb in every kind of cut possible! Also, they have a lot of discounted beef and meats at the grocery - sort of gross and something I don't recall seeing in the states all that often. Fruits and vegetables are god sent. It's like being back in California where produce is quite fresh and tasty. Also, the sun must be really intense here since some items are huge! Carrots in the supermarket are almost the same thickness of my wrist and the melons could do some damage if thrown.

Things are expensive! I never thought I'd say that after living in NY, but I'm saying it now! The Aussies include tax and tip in everything which results in a pricey menu. What's been more interesting is the people, they are absolutely hilarious. Everyone is super-laid back, yet a little edgy. Also, it's a very slang-like culture, I may try to compile a little list to share; there's so many things that people say here that just crack me up.

Other than that, the city is a great walking city and it reminds me a lot of SF with the rolling hills and bays. So far I've checked out Darling Harbour, Chinatown, Hyde Park - I work across the street from the park, the Opera House, the Royal Botanical Gardens and Bondi Beach. The beach was pretty awesome, it is like Venice Beach and Santa Cruz meeting in the middle. I went with a couple of co-workers and we even got to surf for a little bit! So far so good though I miss things at home a bit, mainly familiar faces. That's all for now, will be writing ad hoc when there's enough to write about so stay tuned....

Zihuatanejo, Mexico: New Years 2008

What better way to ring in the new year but in a sunny, beach destination with great friends and Mexican food! Well, that's what I did for New Years, 2008. A couple of friends, Carolee and Christina, just turned 30 (old hens ;p) and wanted to celebrate in style which resulted in a trip to Zihuatanejo, Mexico. For those of you that don't know where Zihua is, it's on the Pacific Ocean side of Mexico, about 2/3 of the way down the country. It's a little fishing town that is a vacation destination for Mexican locals and in the native tongue means 'place of woman'. Rightfully so that it was mostly a girls trip! It's also the town that's referenced at the end of the movie, Shawshank Redemption.

The first day was spent just chilling by the beach and enjoying the delicious food, we went to Sirena Gorda for dinner, which translates into the Fat Mermaid. Strange, slightly depressing name but I suppose goes with the meaning of the city name. On the next day we went to Ixtapa to lounge at one of the fancy resorts pools that friends of friends were staying. Life was quite amazing sipping pina coladas by the pool and again...eating good Mexican food! A couple of us also went para sailing which was totally cool. It was really nice to see the city from a different angle. Imagine brown/tan villas tucked away along the mountainside that cascade to the beach front. Fantastic! We spent the evening eating and drinking the night away and preparing for NYE!

First thing in the morning, Giao went to lay out some towels to save a chair for us all. Bless her heart considering she was several months preggers and probably quite tired at 7 in the morn. We arrived to the chairs around 9:30am only to find most of them taken! In addition, the hotel wrote a mean, poorly written sign stating that people couldn't save chairs. Thanks for letting us know beforehand!

Given that we had a chill day the previous day, Carolee and I decided to go on an adventure. We walked up, down and around the area. We walked and walked and walked some more till we finally made it to the area we were trying to reach, Las Gatas. It is a cute little area with snorkeling and clear shallow waters. After having a refreshing drink by the beach and admiring the water, we took a boat to town and caught a bus back to the hotel. After we got back, both of us fell asleep on the beach chairs. I woke up to a swarm of people in front of the area we were lounging. People were taking pictures, and instantly I wondered if there was a famous Mexican star that I was just not aware of. Turns out there was a turtle that laid her eggs right under the guy sitting in front of us. They must have dug out approximately 100 of them - they were quite cute! They were quickly placed in a bucket of water until sun down when they were released into the ocean. I actually missed the release part because Carolee and I were doing happy hour at a beautiful bar (I believe it's called sunset bar) at a mountainside resort eating fresh guacamole and drinking tropical drinks. What a way to end the day!

In the evening the whole group met up and had a lovely dinner under the stars and watched the fireworks for new years eve. Also, some of the folks we were with decided to take the challenge...the grape challenge. We were all given 12 ginormous grapes, symbolizing twelve sweet months, and the goal was to eat a grape a each second and then to make a wish. I think Travis was the only one that finished and made it - Travis, hope it was a good one!

After dinner, Christina, Carolee and I headed to downtown Zihua to get loco (not really). We got there and venues were practically dead, but we found a dive bar and had a drink and we also watched the local people dance in the town square. FYI, the town square doubles as a basketball court during the day. That was the trip in a nutshell, it was a very relaxing and refreshing way to bring in the New Year and birthdays. Viva la Mexico!

Venezuela and Curacao

Patria, socialismo democrático y vida....'patriotism, socialism or die'. This is the tag line for one of the first notable billboards I saw on the drive to Caracas from the airport. This advertising effort for socialism is all over the country. Before planning to visit Venezuela, I did not know the degree to which the country was struggling to be socialist and that it affected everything from government monopoly of natural commodities (i.e. oil) to everyday things like buying eggs at the supermarket.

As a tourist, I was affected most by the currency exchange. There is something called the parallel or 'black' market where American dollars are exchanged at a higher rate than the government issued rate because foreign money is not easy to come by. So, for example, if I was to take bolivares out of an ATM, I would receive 2100 bolivares for every dollar. On the black market I could receive 3500 bolivares for every dollar. To bring that to life...if I had dinner and it cost 50,000 bolivares, with the government issued rate it would cost approx $25 vs. $16 with the black market rate. Venezuela was a very cost efficient trip especially on the black market :)

My friend Leo, who is Columbian but lives in Venezuela with his wife Marcia were kind enough to put us up in their apartment the nights we stayed in Caracas. The first night we stayed in Caracas for about 7 hours since Alyson (friend from AMEX) and I had a flight to Merida at the crack of dawn the following day. The first day was spent acclimating to the altitude and eating lots of delicious foods. Cachapas, which is grounded corn batter filled with jamon y queso or however you like it, was delicious. I also had fabulous fish on the trip, Merida is especially known for their trout. Yum. In addition, we checked out a heladeria (ice cream parlor) that had around 200 ice cream flavors including salmon, pepsi cola and calamari to name a few.

Most of the trip centered around outdoor activities and enjoying the beautiful, lush Andes. On the second day in Merida we went canyoning - which is repelling down a rope through a waterfall and treading through streams, rivers and jumping into small bodies of water. In wetsuits and helmets, we tackled three waterfalls, one of which was so powerful that it was impossible to keep balance. I was so disoriented from the impact of the water coming down that by the time I got to the bottom all I could say was 'gracias' several times to the guide that helped me unharness my safety rope...first for helping me, but second because I made it through ok! The remainder of the canyoning trip was fun and exciting until I hurt my ankle. There were three rocks that we were to slide down slowly. I made it through the first couple fine but the last one I slipped off of and landed on my right ankle. I had it wrapped in gauze and was told not to put too much pressure on it. This took place right before the big daddy waterfall and hike back down to the van that was take us back into the city. It was a very exciting first day, to say the least!

In the days to follow we did more outdoor activities like bike riding. We began our bike ride 56km from Merida, mostly downhill and a little bit of off-road biking. The grand finale was to bike up a hill that would never end. We must have been going vertical (think Andes mountain steep) for a good 15km. Keep in mind this is after a long day of biking and enjoying the small cities we passed through. Sheesh, I was completely out of shape and nearly passed out from dehydration. Quite an opposite experience was the teleforico (tram) -- the longest one in the world which is located in Merida, that we went on the day after. It was a low energy day on our way to the top of a snow capped mountain. It was sort of cool because as you got closer to the top the vegetation changed dramatically from large, lush trees to cactus like plants. The one day we did do separate activities, I went horseback riding through the Andes and had a wonderful picnic at the top of a mountain peak with a crazy Frenchman guide, Jackie, and an Austrian law student while Alyson went paragliding.

Another hobby we took part in was shoe shopping. The Venezuelans are crazy about shoes. There were so many shoe shops we must have visited over 20 stores in Merida alone. There was every kind of shoe color, shape and style - it was fun!

On our last evening we decided to try a street food vendor across from our hotel. Boy, was that a bad idea for me. I had major stomach pains on the flight back to Caracas. When we arrived I spent half the day trying to get better, the other half shopping :)

The following day Alyson and I traveled to my 30th country....Curacao which is part of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). What better way to spend my 30th country but on a beach....sleeping and reading! It was such a treat after all of the activities we had done in Venezuela - to do nothing. Though my favorite moment in Curacao was a day I decided to swim out to a platform about a quarter of a mile from the beach. It was built as a part of our hotel but apparently the bridge that connected land with the platform had collapsed. There was no way to get up on this platform since it stood about 3 feet above the water. Someone who must have tried getting up had tied some wire to the base of the platform but it was pretty hard to maneuver while swimming to stay afloat. Just as I was about to give up there were these three Dutch kids that swam out to try as well. We all tried to get up there for a good long while and we were about to give up when these three Italian guys swam over like a swat team. They re-engineered the wire and they made it up and helped us get up as well. The view was amazing (there were two stories on the platform) and it felt good to accomplish something, even on a relaxing part of the trip.

If I had to pick three themes for this trip, I'd say it was physically challenging, culturally enlightening and motivating for future plans and aspirations. On that note, this is the end of my 30x30 journey, but not my travels. Thank you to those who provided fabulous suggestions for places I visited- they will be forever memorable. Also, thanks for the rockin company steph, kevin, cat, amy, malik, alyson, leo and marcia!!!

Argentina and Peru

The main characters:

Cat (Catherine) = great friend from CA, roommate, traveling buddy, google guru extraordinaire

Amy = well traveled, care free co-worker/friend of Cat’s

Malik = co-worker, friend, traveling buddy that photographs like it’s nobody’s business

Bill = friend of Malik’s and ex pat of beautiful Buenos Aires

And the story begins….

Cat and I decided several months back that we’d go somewhere…just not sure where the where was until about a month before the trip. We decided on Buenos Aires, which worked out great since Malik was planning to visit his friend Bill. We coordinated our schedules and started planning our travels.

I took Copa Airlines, a Panamanian airline, down to Lima, Peru where I’d eventually end my trip. I had about an 8 hour layover so I decided to go to a district called Mira Flores. It’s in the fancier part of Lima. I organized a round trip to and from Lima airport from a taxi driver by the name of Segundo. He dropped me off and we agreed on a time to meet so he could take me back to the airport.

There, I walked around till I was tired, shopped till I was tired and then ate my first (one of many) delicious meals. It was fish/shrimp sauteed in a cream sauce, Peruvian style. While I ate, I overlooked the sea with the sunset in the background and watched paragliders letting the wind take them to wherever the heart desired.

When my time was up, I went back to our meeting place but no Segundo…. I waited for a good twenty minutes before I needed to take another taxi so I wouldn’t miss my flight. I felt TERRIBLE since I didn’t even pay him for the portion of my ride coming from the airport. Thoughts of him needing to feed his family made me feel even worse. I figured at best, he’d have good karma with his next ride. I checked my bags in and was on my way to the gate when I heard my name… “Susana! Susana!!!”! I look to the left and see Segundo! He claimed that he was at the meeting spot and that I wasn’t there. Either way, I was really impressed that he found me. I quickly paid him the last of my US dollars and was on my way.

At the airport, I met Malik and we started our journey down south on an overnight flight. Landing into Buenos Aires, I felt a sense of relief that I was finally there and an excitement because I had never been to South America and it already felt really different. Overall, I spent 24 hours traveling, so when I got to a bed I crashed out. Soon thereafter Amy and Cat arrived and we were off for the day. We met Malik and Bill for brunch in an area called Las Canitas. It’s a super cute neighborhood with lots of great bars and restaurants. Bill, who had been living there for about 7 months, seemed to have a lot of ex-pat friends there. It was like Cheers, except in BA.

Afterwards we caught a futbol game and this was an interesting experience. The fans were going loco; making music with their cheers and a beat with anything that was in smacking distance. In the evening we went and had some Argentine carne. Now that’s what I’m talking about. We had about 5 different cuts of meat, papas, vino, ensalada and dulce de leche for dessert and all for about $10 per person. Life was really good at this point.

We continued to eat really, really well the next couple of days. In between all of the eating we also went to visit Evita’s cemetery, visited the place where Evita’s house stood (at one point in time, it’s now only a statue), visited Evita’s famed balcony where she spoke to her people, drove down Avenida 9 de Julio: claimed to be the widest street in world (it was pretty wide, but apparently NOT the widest said our tour guide). In addition, Cat, Amy and I took a tango lesson and watched a tango show afterwards. The lesson was awesome – our teacher was this little man that had some serious skills. Either way, I have a new appreciation for the art of tango.

Mid-way through the trip, us gals took a trip to Iguazu Falls. The falls are an UNESCO World Heritage site and for good reason. The 275 waterfalls make for a unique experience. Niagara Falls? Hmmm, you ain’t seen nothing yet till you visit Iguazu! What makes the falls really special is the surroundings since it’s in the tropics. It was so lush and incredibly warm. Although it rained in BA everyday, I still managed to get a little tan from being out at the falls for a day.

In my pictures you’ll notice butterflies….there were LOTS of them. Do you see butterflies and think ‘how pretty’? After this trip, I will never look at them in the same way. They were ALL over the place! They would try to fly in my ear, would land anywhere they could on me and their favorite place to land appeared to be on hats. At some point in our hike around the fall when there were so many, I would run through sections in order to avoid dozens that were waiting to inadvertently tickle me and gross me out. Back to the falls….we visited both the Argentine and Brazilian side. Every view of the falls provided a unique one. We took a jungle tour – which really turned out to be a plant tour. Our guide was so passionate about the plants that he made it interesting, but boy, were there a lot of bugs around. I’d definitely recommend checking it out the falls and the jungle tour, but only if you like plants :)

Cat, Amy and I were scheduled to go back to BA on a 5:30pm flight – which would have been perfect so we could get back to eating more steak. Unfortunately our flight was cancelled and we ended up getting sent to a nearby hotel to wait and chill out for about 10 hours till the plane arrived. The hotel was a pretty nice one….we had a buffet (though the food wasn’t as good as in BA), played ping pong and danced under the stars to live music. It was surprisingly a fun, unexpected night.

Back in BA we did some shopping, which was excellent! The day after we were supposed to go to Colonia, Uruguay but the ferry was sold out! Apparently it was a long holiday weekend and the Argentine’s go to their summer homes in Uruguay. Instead we went to check out the MALBA museum nearby – it’s a modern art museum. Really cool inside and it was the perfect amount of content…not too little and not too much. For lunch we met some of Bill’s friends. What was for lunch you might ask? Vino, carne, huevos con papas and of course for dessert, dulce de leche ice cream. This is also the lunch I tried blood sausage and kidney for the first time. The blood sausage was actually pretty good – it had a lot of flavor and the texture wasn’t too weird. The kidney, on the other hand, was not a winner in my book. In the evening Cat and Amy headed back to CA and Malik and I went to a Mediterranean restaurant where we watched belly dancers and a male belly dancer that was not very good at balancing stuff on his head.

Afterwards we met up with Bill and his Argentine friends and went to the poonchie poonchie. What is poonchie poonchie? It’s the sound techno music makes and is what the local peeps use to describe clubs. Anywho, we went to the poonchie poonchie and danced till about 6 in the morning. What I really liked about clubbing is that people were getting their groove on, not necessarily in a ‘I’m trying to mack on you’ way. If you don’t understand, I guess you just have to go see for yourself. It was a refreshing environment.

My final day in BA was spent shopping, eating some dang good empanadas and departing for the airport to Lima. We decided we’d sleep in the airport since our flight to Cusco was at 5:30 in the morning and we arrived into Lima at 11:30pm. I don’t remember the last time I slept in the airport but it worked out ok. We found some really comfy benches right next to our gate so we wouldn’t miss our boarding call. Malik woke me when it was time and we proceeded to board our flight. One of the ticket checkers ran out to the plane as we were about to board and asked if we were Malik and Suzzy to which we answered ‘yes’. He said that we were on the wrong flight to Cusco and that our plane had already left!!! So much for being alert! Luckily we were put on a flight not too long after our original flight and we left for Cusco.

There I stayed at a place called Ninos Hotel very close to Plaza de Armas, the main square. The first day there was really just about acclimating to the altitude (11,500 feet above sea level) and catching up on sleep. Between poonchie poonchie and sleeping at the airport, I was a little sleep deprived. That evening Malik tried the alpaca – it’s one of the typical dishes in the area. I tried a bite and thought it was OK. It tasted like beef and had a really chewy consistency that I didn’t really like.

We left for Macchu Picchu early the next day. We took a taxi, to a bus, to a train, to another bus and were at the trail after five hours of travel. Our tour guide took us through all of the major sections of the lost city of the Incas and we got to spend a lot of time taking pictures. The pictures just don’t do justice to the beauty of Macchu Picchu. I want to go again at some point to do the trail – one day was just not enough. Upon returning to Cusco, we went out to dinner and then I proceeded to pass out J

The following day was all about doing touristy stuff in Cusco. Saw the cathedral, the Inca museum and the temple of the sun. All of it was good, but I will say that I won’t need to do more touristy type trips, especially involving cathedrals, for a while. Also, Malik tried the guinea pig – another specialty dish for lunch. I have a picture of it….it literally came out the way it’d look like running around in a pet store. Nonetheless, he bravely tried it but it didn’t really work out because it was disgusting. I tried a piece and it tasted extremely floral, like it was masking something gross. Also it was really chewy and the meat was thready. I give it a thumbs down. The evening was better though. We met up with my friend Lyde, who also lives in NYC and her brother and another friend and had a great dinner outdoors.

The day after Malik left and I did a self guided tour around Cusco. The city is built on a hill so I went walking all around the hills and got to see how the other half live. No wonder the people are in shape! I did some serious power stairs that day….can’t imagine doing it everyday! In the afternoon I did some shopping and went to my favorite hole in the wall restaurant. There, I ate with the locals and had some of the best soup in my life and a typical Peruvian plate, all for $.80. I could eat like that everyday….

Early in the morning I left for the airport and began my arduous travel back home from Cusco to Lima, Lima to Panama and Panama to NYC. One of my BIGGEST pet peeves about flying is when I specifically request a window seat, which the ticketing agent acknowledges but still gives me a middle seat. On my last leg home, I was looking forward to getting into my book that I had been reading on my trip, “Under the Banner of Heaven”. I got to my row, only to realize that I was in a middle seat – not to mention it was between an old granny with man hands and a chubby kid that had the arm rest up and was spilling into my space. I asked the stewardess if I could move seats but there wasn’t a chance. I ended up spending part of the trip perfectly angling myself so that I could use part of the arm rest the granny had put down and not be touching skin with the big boy. Eventually I pulled down the arm rest and had my space but I just wasn’t in the mood after a long day.

That was my trip! I feel like I got to do so much in two weeks and that some down time was much needed to think about those things I put off in my normal, everyday life.

Edinburgh, Scotland

I was really excited about this trip for several reasons: 1) it was my first trip in 2007, 2) it marks country #25 and, 3) got to see and travel with my friend Steph, who moved to London last year, and her beau Kevin.

After taking a red-eye on Friday after work I got off the plane there was a beautiful greeness all around, as far as the eye could see. It reminds me of how much I miss vegetation.

WARNING: if you're taking a weekend trip and pack light like me, get ready to justify your existence and passion for travel! ...... I had a rude awakening when I got to the customs fellow. I recapped most of my convo with the customs official at the bottom of this entry, it was too amusing looking back, but I assure you I was as red as a tomato with anger at the time.

After I got out of the airport, I made my way to city centre. I met up with Steph and Kevin at a rented apartment right down the street from Edinburgh Castle. It was super cute and centrally located. We made our way down to a cafe to get breakfast. Had some delicious bacon - real bacon - it was so good! Kevin got some haggis for us and we tried it out. Not too bad! It tasted like a garden burger.

We started our journey by walking down to Prince Street on the new side of town. The city was one big facade - you can walk down a mile and it looks like an eternity away. We made our way up to the Nelson Monument. At the very top there's a ball that raises and drops at 1pm so that the boats in the harbor can sync their clocks. The ball drops with the firing of the cannon at the castle - I guess this is where the tradition began. We waited until 1:03 and saw nothing. The second we all looked away, guess what dropped?

We did some more walking and went to a gallery. Afterwards we went to the Whiskey Museum where we did a scotch tasting - well, more like steph and kevin did a tasting and I had a couple of spoonfuls of each just to get the taste down. BTW, famous words by Kevin who's a bit of a scotch connoisseur "Good scotch is really good" - this was before the drinking even began.

At that point sleepyness was catching up with me so I went to the apt to take a power nap. After I was refreshed and ready to go, we went and had dinner at Freshers? The place is known for their seafood and man was it good. That was one of the most delicious meals I had had in a long while. The dessert was AMAZING....Steph got sticky toffee pudding - it was heavenly. I had a lemon tart that I was feeling. We're kind of full and happy from a couple of bottles of wine and headed to the City of the Dead tour.

Apparently there is a poltergeist that lives in Edinburgh, along with other characters. We toured a graveyard that people have had random scratches/cuts and have been "knocked out", which our guide referenced again and again. It was fun but not uber scary...well not till I was sleeping that night and I woke up with weird scratch marks. j/k :) Rounded out the night by listening to some fiddle players.

The next day we started early and spent the first half of the day at the castle. The royale jewels were pretty cool and it was amazing to see how small things were back in the 1600's. Apparently I am on the tall side since my head was near the top of the door way for some entrances. Imagine that. There was also a demonstration on how to make a kilt (but it's actually called something else for the highlanders but I don't remember at the moment). It was amazing since this one piece of flannel fabric that served as a sleeping bag, day wear, evening wear, rain gear and man purse. The view of the city was also phenomenal.

After the castle we had lunch and then walked down the royal mile to the queen's residence. Unfortunately it was locked so we ended up spending time at the park walking around. We walked some more (notice a theme?) and went to another cool museum. The venue was incredibly large and housed all types of art from many periods - reminded me a lot of the MoMa in NY. We spent the rest of the evening eating, dining and chatting the night away.

I flew back the day after and that was my short, long weekend!


This is the conversation with the customs guy - imagine this:

me: [in my pj's with a shoulder bag and nothing more]
him: [an old Scottish man with a white mustache]

me: hi
him: hi, may i see your passport

me: sure [pass passport]
him: how long are you visiting for?

me: oh, just for the long weekend (giggles)
him: it's an awfully long flight to take just for the weekend [start the stare down]

me: yes, that's true, but i like to travel so it's ok
him: where will you be staying?

me: not sure, I'm meeting friends here
him: you don't know where your friends are? you must not be good friends

me: well, I am meeting them here and they flew in from London last night
him: why didn't you just go to London to visit them? why here?

me: well, I've been to London plenty of times and if you looked at my passport, you'd see that
him: you don't have any stamps for London [me now remembering my passport was renewed last year, oops]

me: i have a new passport, check the date
him: do you know that less than 10% of Americans have passports (I think the number is a little higher but I didn't question it)

me: well, I travel alot
him: let me see your return ticket

me: i don't have it - i was going to check into closer to my departure date
him: (checking every single entry in my passport)

me: [feeling uncomfortable because all the other Americans are waiting for customs to let me through]
him: [no 'thank you', no 'welcome to scotland'. i get stamped and pass through as though i hadn't been a victim of 20 customs questions]

the end... :)