Category Archives: Sibling Issues

The Itinerary That Wasn’t

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I am very much a “planner” – I prefer my life organized, my lists checked off, my plans lined up. But for whatever reason, this has not been the case during my preparation for the upcoming trip. Perhaps John’s casual attitude towards planning rubbed off on me after the adventure in Australia. Or maybe my mind has been too preoccupied with daily life to focus on the trip. Whatever it may be, this newfound lack of concern has transformed this vacation into a new experience for me. Avonie and I have created a list of activities and sights to see and do, but other than that, we have no set itinerary. It will be an adventure to see what ends up happening!

Farewell Cairns!

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Our final day in Cairns was uneventful. We lost our chance to do bungy jumping and a tour in the rainforest due to our procrastination. Oh well, you live and you learn! Instead, I worked on putting my memories into words for you all to read, and repacked my bags. I might be the most unorganized traveler there ever was – by day one, my clothes were stuffed into my suitcase with no rhyme or reason, my medicine was mixed up with hair scrunchies, and I had already lost my room key. Yet so far, I have managed not to lose anything (to my knowledge) and my clothes have miraculously stayed wrinkle free! We went to a popular pub called PJ O’Briens, which was overflowing with backpackers. I ordered a Guiness meat pie, which came with salad, “chips” (French fries), beer, and a salad. It was the cheapest meal I had eaten yet in the country, since I had picked up a voucher earlier in the day. It came out to a total of $7 and was absolutely delicious. Since I’ve arrived in Australia however, I have not had a huge appetite, despite the good food. I’m hoping that this inability to finish my plate goes away soon, as I am finding everything here to be a party for my taste buds. After we finished at PJ’s, we headed back to Whackabee’s for karaoke night. John met up again with a sweet Aussie named Rachel, and they took turns embarrassing themselves on stage while I watched in amusement (Okay, they weren’t actually that bad…). The bartender welcomed us back, as we had been there only a few days earlier. While watching the show, I met an American named John, who is on a one-week leave from the Navy. It is always fun talking to a sober American, and he had many great stories to tell from all of his travels. Soon after, we headed off to Gilligan’s. Unfortunately, the selection of suitable individuals to make conversation with was slim, and those that I was willing to dance with even slimmer. I did meet two Aussie Rules players, but they were not sober enough to give out their autographs and I quickly left. Other than talking politics with a nice young man, and avoiding the scum of the evening, Gilligan’s was rather uneventful. It was a disappointment, especially after the fun time we’d had the previous night. We headed back to the hotel for our last evening, and had no trouble falling asleep. And speaking of sleep…apparently the night before I had a very active dream, as John tells me. Early in the morning, I leaped out of bed and started reaching towards the ceiling. John told me he thought I was dreaming and I got mad at him and told him to shut up. I said that there were these things that I had to get and they were right there! I vaguely remember the dream, and I find it very amusing that he got to witness my insanity first hand! I pity my poor husband someday…I have a feeling that my sleepwalking is not nearing an end any time soon.

Arrival in Cairns

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Finally back on the blog again! Thank you all for your patience as John and I have had troubles with hotel WiFi and Mac computers rejecting blog uploads. We are finally back online! We boarded our 15 hour flight on June 23rd at midnight, Los Angeles to Brisbane on Virgin Australia. It was by far the nicest airline that I have ever traveled on! Individual screens with a decent choice of movies, popular music, and games. You could even chat with individuals from whichever seat you chose! Luxurious. The in-flight service was fantastic as well, and I can highly recommend Virgin as an international traveler’s choice of airline.

As we boarded, exhaustion hit me like wave. I took an Advil PM to ensure that I would sleep soundly, and I was out before we even left the tarmac. I slept solid for about 4 hours, and then on and off for another 5 hours. John and I both slept through dinner, so unfortunately, I cannot tell you about it. As you will soon see, food is a very important part of my adventures overseas, and I have so far documented everything I have eaten! Once I woke up, I wrote a blog entry regarding our time in Los Angeles, watched “This Means War,” and enjoyed a satisfactory breakfast consisting of French toast, orange juice, coffee, yogurt, and a croissant with butter and jam. John and I also ate ridiculous amounts of white chocolate candy bars and chocolate chip granola bars, as we packed quite a bit and were not able to bring anything into Australia due to strict quarantine rules.

Landing went smoothly, and I only experienced mild discomfort in my ears. This is a huge improvement, as in the past, I have had intense pain due to pressure build up in my Eustachian tubes inside of my ears. It took a lot of work though, with medications and assistance including: constantly drinking water, which caused often trips to the bathroom; Airplane ear plugs; Afrin nasal spray; chewing gum; and Advil. It was a pretty successful combination, and I am very grateful to all the individuals who have assisted me in finding a treatment for this horrid problem.

Our layover in Brisbane was not the best, as both John and I were extremely jet lagged. The problem with traveling with a sibling is that you have no problem showing them your worst behavior and attitude, and jet lag enhances that problem times 1,000. Thankfully, all issues have been resolved since. On our 2 ½ hour flight to Cairn from Brisbane, I read “The Vow” on my Kindle. This is a non-fiction book that the recent movie was based off of. The book was exceptional, and it was incredible to see how this young couple’s faith enabled them to start over when the female main character lost her memory. We received lots of Coca Cola and pretzels on our short flight, which didn’t curb my monstrous appetite.

As a result, the moment we landed in Cairn, John and I went to Hungry Jacks, the Australian name for Burger King. It is exactly the same company, with whoppers and all! I ordered a double stack bacon lover burger, which had a slab of bacon so huge and so thick it looked like ham! It was absolutely what I needed to recover some strength for our transfer to the Novotel hotel where we would be staying. We found our bus driver and the transfer went without problem. Right outside of our hotel, he pointed out a tree which had large vulture-like creatures flying around it. However, once we looked closer, we saw that they were giant fruit bats, hanging upside down and flying around the treetop! The noise was wonderfully horrendous, with screeching so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. I have never seen bats of such a massive size! It was our first introduction to Aussie wildlife. I’m excited to see the rest!

Sidenote… It is important to note that Cairns is pronounced “Cans.” You sound very ignorant if you say anything otherwise.

Adventures in LA

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Our first flight from Orlando to LA went smoothly. Once we landed and grabbed our luggage, my friend, Chris Peters, picked us up from LAX to give us a tour of the beautiful city he calls home. LA is exactly what I expected so I guess the movies portray it pretty accurately. The streets are narrow and everyone drives a little crazier than in Orlando. The mountains are gorgeous and I would see them in almost every direction. There is a very diverse mix of people in LA and almost all of them dress straight out of Express, Anthropologie, and whatever other “hip” store you can think of. Super short dresses and boots seem to be the craze right now, and considering they have lovely 60 degree weather, it works out pretty well. The short dresses and strong wind isn’t the safest combination though if you’re trying to stay covered up! Chris took us up into the mountains, where we arrived at the Griffith Observatory. The scenery was incredible and we had the perfect view of the infamous Hollywood sign. I tried to capture the scene with a ridiculous amount of pictures, but I doubt that they will do the moment justice. The Observatory itself was also very interesting, with dozens of astronomy exhibits. My favorite part was going up onto the roof and looking out over the entire city of LA. Words can’t describe. Next, we stopped by the Paramount Studio, where Chris works on the movie set “Animal Set.” (I still think it’s crazy that I know someone who works for a movie company!!). We weren’t able to get a tour, but I still got a picture of the Paramount water tower! Next, we went to Chris’ favorite restaurant, Tender Greens – all organic food, very LA-ish decorations, and absolutely delicious! I ordered backyard-marinated steak, lemon chicken soup flavored with thyme, and melt-in-your-mouth gold mashed potatoes. After devouring our meals, we walked downtown and enjoyed Barnes and Nobles, as well as an exceptional music store called “Amoeba.” Talk about a music-lover’s paradise! Vinyl records from every artist imaginable were sold there, and the entire two story building was filled head-to-toe with records, CD’s, posters, etc. I was tempted by a John Mayer original, but I resisted! The last stop of the day was our drive to Santa Monica Pier. We made our way through the shopping center and down the busy main street, passing street musicians and dancing monkeys. The pier itself was packed with people, but it just added to the festivity! There is a carnival situated on the pier, with a giant Ferris wheel among other rides. The sugary smell of cotton candy tickles my nose, and the air is filled with children screaming from the old rollercoaster as it goes out over the ocean. The view from the pier was beautiful; we watched the waves crash onto the sandy beach, and at the same time we were able to see the towering cliffs in the distance. We finished out our day at In ‘n Out Burgers, which was a new treat for me. Although fast food, the burgers were very high quality and absolutely amazing! They toast your buns and use a thousand-island type sauce on top. REALLY good! Chris pointed out the bottom of our cups while we were there: they had Scripture verses in tiny font written on each one! Apparently the company is a Christian organization, so that was a pretty neat discovery. After dinner, Chris drove us back to the airport to check in. L.A. was definitely an experience and I would highly recommend spending at least a day there! Huge thanks to Chris Peters for the great tour and taking time out of his day to spend with us. It was great seeing you!

The Crazy One

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Now that the trip is only a week away, I would like to introduce you to my fellow traveler! Since you have met me, you should now understand that I am a compassionate and sensitive individual who is drawn to all things beautiful. But to fully appreciate this post, you must also realize that I enjoy getting a full 8 hours of sleep (7.5 hours is not sufficient), plans/lists/schedules are necessity in my life, and I would like to live to be 100.

Meet John. My 25 year old brother who is a “virgin-traveler,” meaning he’s never traveled internationally. He has been rereading the same page of the world (titled America) his entire life and I feel so privileged to be the little sister who takes him on his first big adventure.

John isn’t quite like me though. Okay, understatement of the year.  John and I are the definition of opposing personalities. He is the daredevil adventurer who prefers activities that have a 75% injury rate. Sleep is a luxury he doesn’t believe is affordable to those who truly want to live life. And I had to convince him to go on this trip because he thought Australia wouldn’t hold enough excitement for him.

Our personalities clash a lot. If you read between the lines, you will probably see some tension between us for the duration of this trip. But part of what makes a team dynamic is conflict (or so I’ve heard), so together, this should be the trip of a lifetime for us.

John will be the primary videographer for the trip, and will be sharing his own insights at his blog, sn4ves.com. If my writing is a bit too proper for your taste, visiting his site is the way to go!

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