coming to america

Home to me is very debatable. I’m from Chicago, I live in San Diego, most of my family lives in Florida, and I’m moving to New York. Never before have I felt that my home is just America, but I do now.

It’s funny how traveling away to foreign lands makes you appreciate the subtleties of home - even though these foreign lands sometimes look like home. Like when you discover that Seven-11’s are more prevalent in Thailand and Japan than McDonalds. They’re everywhere! Or when you realize after you go into an unknown fast-food restaurant in Australia that it actually is a Burger King (The name Burger King was already taken before “Burger King” made it down under). But it isn’t until you look closely or are starving for some Doritos that you realize the Seven-11’s are quite different as is the rest. Instead of normal chips, they have hotdog bisque flavored chips or cheddar and prawns or #>~*). They do have Big Gulps, but don’t understand you when you say “Big Gulps huh? See ya later”. I know I’m supposed to go away to get away, but isn’t just being there enough?

I mean, we scuba’d the Great Barrier Reef! They don’t have that in America. I walked next to the hunky Russell Crow for 5 minutes. How cool is that? I kissed (and licked) Sydney’s opera house! Everyone has seen pictures of it from the Olympics but what they don’t know is that there are 3 foot bats that fly above it every night - or that it is infested with pet rats. I feel so fortunate to be able to take this time in our lives to go get $3 massages everyday (talked down from $4) – to rent scooters for $5 a day and go exploring or to meet awesome people and talk about their views of America.

While traveling abroad I felt like I was either 20 years in the future or 100 years in the past. Everything in Australia and Japan was so new and clean. Australia had problems, but they were problems you’d expect us to have in 50 years or so. For instance, the number one political topic for the upcoming election was where the country is going to get drinking water. Drinking water! Not war or welfare or the economy. Drinking water! Talk about an issue.

Tokyo – You have to go there to have a clue what I’m talking about, but it’s basically like the Las Vegas Strip meets 25 Times Square’s meets what ever image you have of some back alley flea market in Vietnam. It’s crazy. Katrina asked me where they were going to go from here (in terms of growth) and I have no clue. It’s already so built up and so crowded with so many people. Rush hour on the subway is always. These people must work 15 hours a day because we’d be going to a bar at 10:00PM and the subway would be packed with people in suits.

Thailand – Despite it’s natural beauty outside the cities, Thailand is so backwards. The streets are lined with row after row of broken down huts. It seems to me that they have lost their proud tradition and heritage and exploit the temples and religion for tourist dollars. The islands are another thing. They are still very poor and backwards, but are also very peaceful and fun. You might think that riding around on a scooter with no helmets on a street that’s not a street might be unwise, but when in Rome I guess. Despite the poverty, Thailand is a great place. You can find the smartest dogs in the world, a perfectly made banana crepe at 3:00AM and some really nice people.

Which brings me back to America. I’m always going to have a desire to explore this world and the unknown. I’ve always been interested in seeing things first hand and meeting new people, but when I took my seat on this plane to come back home, to come to a place that is familiar and known, I realized that I frickin love America!

we ate the shrimp from the barbie

here we are in our final days of australia. I think that we both feel like we are leaving our new home, and keep thinking about how exactly we could make it work to stay here just a little bit longer… particularly since we have gotten used to visiting the chemist and answering ‘how are you going’ with a ‘good’ instead of ‘I think we are walking, but should we take the bus?’

before we left sydney we were able to make it up to the blue mountains for a day. it was a total escape from city life, with beautiful hikes amongst the waterfalls. the forest was so lush, and we agreed that it felt like a forest from the midwest, but with palm trees. after making our way down the ravine we were somehow convinced that it would be easier to climb up the scary ‘grand staircase’ than taking the tram, so over 1,000 steps later we made it to the top of ‘the three sisters’ and called it a day.

now we are in melbourne on our last day of oz. this morning a mate at breakfast compared sydney to a blond headed bimbo and said melbourne is the bookish brunette. hmm. don’t know where he came up with that, or if we really agree with it for that matter but it was an interesting thought.

melbourne is a bit like san francisco with the hills and street cars. the harbor definitely does not compare to sydney, but there is a river running through with all kinds of activity. people keep saying how melbourne is ‘artsy’ which we think means people with dread locks, tattoos and peircings. but there are several very quaint neighborhoods with a variety of both modern and very old styles of architecture and certainly many galleries.

the best part of our melbourne stay though, has been throwing the shrimp on the barbie! we met some friends out on the town and they ended up inviting us to dinner at their house for an australian barbeque. we had an amazing dinner with such a great family, a young couple with their two kids. it was so interesting to see how an australian family can differ in their views on life and politics. they also had a beautiful home in a trendy part of town and we just couldn’t believe that they would invite us, a completely random couple, over to their home and cook for us. Later on they took us out for some cocktails and we ended up in these hole in the wall places that were fantastic, and places that we never would have known to go into. they honestly made our time not only in melbourne, but maybe even in australia!

sad to leave sydney

four weeks later, we are still getting along and apparently are annoyed by each other 3-4 on the scale. that is with 10 being maximum and 1 being no annoyance whatsoever. great.

sydney continues to impress us. each day we start walking and end up in some ultra-chic neighborhood where everything is so clean and people are soo friendly. there are parks and gardens all over the city, with these fig trees on every corner. and the people are great! if we ask for directions, we will end up hearing about the kids and the cricket game and do we want to join in shepards pie for dinner.

so now we switched it up a bit, and are staying in kings cross. yes, that is right. the red light district. a very colorful neighborhood we could say, but one street off in either direction and the neighborhood turns back to these quaint federation style houses where everyone walks their 3 dogs.

on friday we leave for melbourne for four days then we will have to wave good-bye to all of our aussie friends. in the meantime we spent the day watching the chicago bears. sad day, but in the end we met some more american friends who also felt that the best way to recover was by distracting ourselves with a pub crawl through the historic rocks district of sydney australia. if only all of the worlds troubles could be softened with this therapy.

several tooheys new later and multiple gooday mates and cheers we ended up on the roof of some local bar, which are all called hotels, overlooking the city on what must be sydney's best kept secret. amazing view, and we are pretty sure that memory isn't decieving us.

tomorrow we are heading up into the blue mountains and will hopefully see some kangaroos and koalas. we still can't manage to sink our teeth into the kangaroo rump steak, or even slip into the koala skin bikini that was really tempting. anyway, here's to seeing some wildlife!

oh, and ps. mike saw russel crowe.

tropical queensland

it is not humid here, it is simply 'tropical'.

we are spending a few days in northern australia in cairns, where we are permanently kind of damp. the city is very touristy, on every corner we found the latest and greatest travel deals and hostels. it is very much a backpacker area, so there always seems to be something happening on the social scene.

we spent our first day scuba diving in the great barrier reef which was just amazing. the reefs were incredible and when the sun came out the colors were so brilliant. the best highlight was seeing the clownfish swim in and out of the anemones just like in finding nemo. we easily could have spent several days on the reef.

then we spent a day traveling into the rainforest via the jungle gondola. naturally, there was a thick tropical fog but that just made it even more mysterious. we could hardly see out a few feet in front of us in our little car. but the diversity in the rainforest was amazing to see and it even smells good. all the vegetation is so lush and thick and colorful, it seems like paradise despite the rain. we also went on a train ride to get back down the mountains which was pretty cool. save the rainforest!

we met a few more travelers who each have a great story. christina from london quit her job and left her boyfriend behind to travel solo for 3 months, somothing she has always wanted to do. others are taking a year of travel after college to see the world. most people seem to tell us that our 8 weeks will be too short. can you believe it?

out and about

we have now been in sydney for almost two weeks. what an awesome city, we both agree it is a favorite and don't really want to leave. sydney is a combination of the beach scene of san diego, the harbor feel of seattle and the cosmopolitan feel of san francisco. the city has it all, and it is so clean and easy to get around in. we have also become close friends with bus number 380

january in sydney is like july in the states, it is the height of summer with a huge festival going on all month. there are great music venues with outdoor concerts and cultural events going on everywhere we turn. at the end of the months things cluminate with australia day, one big party and fireworks over the harbor. everyone is very friendly and laid back, the city is pristine and people say 'no worries' at any chance they can get. run someone over... no worries mate!

we are staying in bondi beach, so our days have consisted of sleeping in until it gets too hot, taking a coffee at our favorite cafe, running along the beach and then going out. we could get use to this lifestlye!

we have learned the kings cross is NOT the place to go out, unless we are looking for some red light district action or a night show of a very particular persuasion. oxford street is not the place to go either, unless we are looking for rainbows and real life leather chaps.

so, in the end we have found some great places to eat crocodile and grab a cocktail, not too bad of a deal while watching the sunset over the harbor bridge and opera house. cheers!

aussie! aussie! aussie! oi! oi! oi!

say cheers and walk on the left. order lemonade instead of 7up. wear pudgy huggers on the beach and start the day off with a flat white instead of a latte. see the southern cross instead of the big dipper and watch the sunrise over the pacific instead of the californian sunset. and of course we love cricket, but go bears!

we have been here a week so far, and are still learning how to blend. soon we are off to tropical north queensland to explore the great barrier reef. some more pictures to follow soon...