Hey-o so I have arrived!!!
All and all a pretty uneventful travel day. Flew out of SAN to LAX to Heathrow. In San Diego, I was in the commuter terminal… I had some time to kill so I grabbed a water and a better homes and garden (yes I am my mother’s daughter) and cozed up in those sweet, sweet airport chairs. After sitting down, I realized the error of my ways, as I gazed across the terminal I locked eyes with the TSA security, ah yes, that is right body scanners are in full effect now in san diego. So I promptly repositioned myself next to security to watch all the drama go down. For an hour plus, I watched people go through the check point and only about 2 people were asked to do the body scan.. I tried to make eye contact with them before they committed to the scan and shake my head mouthing, no don’t do it don’t do it, but sadly they were too focused on the TSA agent and ended up relinquishing their nudie photos over.. I mean last time I checked you are usually compensated for photos of that nature.
So arrive LAX, and take the fancy little bus system over to the international terminal. The bus lady said oh yes get off here for tom brady, so I hopped off and as soon as I was off realized there was no signage for Tom Brady,,,, right,.,,, so the this little Indian lady and I were in the same boat, stuck in random terminal and needing to get to Bristish Airways. We found an aiport lady who directed us, that it was just a short walk outside to the left and that’s the terminal, so the little lady and I took off together, there was a massive moving walky thing so we chatted. She told me about her trip to SD, her daughter in London, her son in SD, her last six months of traveling, her granddaughter that drives (she’s grown up now), her grandson in law school, etc etc etc… yeah, getting the picture?? this was not a short walk by any means.
Finally we get outside, and are lost, again. At this point my little Indian friend was wheezing and she had a bad knee, so she was moving super slow. I felt really bad and offered to carry her bags, but she declined.. I dunno if she thought it was creepy or not since they always say mind your luggage and don’t let others by your bag yadda yadda yadda, but I felt bad not asking. We stop again asking for directions and once again were guaranteed it was a short walk, so we head toward the phantom terminal “just to your left” and walked for another decent amount. Arrive Tom Brady terminal, no sign of check in, again stop and ask for directions. And again “just keep walking , it really close,and just up three floors”, gorgeous. I found us a lift though and me and my friend jumped in and finally arrived at the glorious British Airway line. And by glorious I mean endless lines to check in and a big old DELYAED sign next to my flight. Fourty five minutes later and after befriending a little finish girl, I arrived at the counter.
Actually, I guess befriending is a strong word to describe encounter, she spoke Finnish, I spoke English. Although we did find some commonality on dog and hi… other than that is was all facial expressions and awkward hand gestures. Which she seemed to enjoy, I think I’d be a big hit in Finland. Anyways, checked in and the flight was delayed an hour twenty. So I cozed myself up to the airport bar, the same one I actually sat at before I left for argentina… Killed a little time and then head for security…. Excited for another chance at the TSA groping, I mean security check.
So I rounded the corner and to my sweet, sweet delight there was an image scanner and numerous TSA individuals slapping on the lovely blue latex gloves. Oh yes, it’s my big day I thought. So I performed the typical TSA strip down to just leggings and a tshirt and proudly walked towards the security guard ready to decline the body scan and cause a scene when I was directed to the pat down. Instead, I was waved though the metal dector and given a sweet smile approving me to go forward. WTH,, serious, that’s it!! Lame, although I saw a little business lady getting her TSA pat down and I wasn’t sure who felt more violated me watching the whole process or her actually receiving. I probably go with her.
So board the plan, the largest plane I’ve ever been on, two stories, hey-o. I climbed into my window seat and waited with heavy anticipation as to who my row companions would be or more like who my space violator would be… time ticks by and they announce they are closing the door and preparing for departure, oh heck yes, whole row to myself. I waited for take off and the fasten seat belt sign to disappear then I grabbed the extra blankets and pillows and built myself a nice little bed across the seats. I was out cold for a couple hours but then I woke up because my hips hurt… apparently child bearing hips and British Airways chairs do not mix… or I’m just getting old. Either way, my sleeping was in and out after that.
We made up about 30 minutes in the air and we got the glorious prepare for landing speech and just as we were going to descend the pilot gets on and lets us know we are going to have to circle some… so on the lovely map they share with you, you get to watch the plane go around and around and around in a circle. Finally, after 20minutes, we land and then taxi to the gate, the wrong gate as the pilot later disclosed and drove to a new gate, really british airways? really? my coworkers are texting me they arrived and are waiting at the taxi station and requesting etas, I was supposed to arrive an hour and a half before them… 45 minutes later the baggage thingy starts moving and my lovely neon pink bag pops out, alright here we go I thought, time, to just head out to the taxi station, then I realized nope, I am in terminal 5 my coworkers are in terminal 1. So I set off on my next mission get to terminal 1, but at this point I was exhausted and cold so I maximized my lost little girl face and got some quick and efficient directions from airport staff and bam, arrive at terminal 1, grab a coffee, and head out to grab a taxi with my coworkers.
We get in the taxi and I end up in the copilot like seat with my back against the direction we are going… take off towards the city.. I dunno if it was the extra large coffee on an empty stomach or jetlag or motion sickness from sitting the wrong direction in the cab, but oh my word I felt like I was going to yak. I tried to keep it together because if I didn't it would all end up on my coworkers lap who was sitting right across from me… 40 minutes later we arrive at the hotel and I am the first one of the group to check in. The hotel is pretty sick but at this point I am spinning and trying to keep from spewing. I am escorted to my posh little room and the duder gives me a tour of my room explaining all the fancy-smancy parts… I’m trying to rush him along… because I really just want to spew, finally he leaves and I bow to the porcelain god and pass out on the fancy pants bed. All and all a less than glorious first few hours in London.
I took a nap and woke up feeling better, oh yes… I had about an hour to kill before dinner so I got dressed and walked over to the Marble Arch and Hyde Park. It was already dark and there were all these Christmas lights up, super pretty. I got some nice photos, I think, I hope, sadly I forgot my usb cord for my camera, so I can’t share any of these photos. For dinner my coworkers and I went to Maze, it’s one of Gordon Ramesy’s restaurants, it was pretty good. We walked around a bit and called it an early night because we were so tired. I was out cold at 8:15, living the dream.
Wednesday morning was the first day heading to work, sooo we left the hotel at 730 and headed for the underground, oh my word it was intense, tons of people in very small spaces… It was in the underground tunnels that I learned a very important point, walk with a purpose. It you don’t you will be walked on or through, you must walk with the same authority as everyone else… and yield to no one because there are a line of twenty people behind them that will take advantage of the chance as well… and mind the gap. Yes, I learned all of these things the hard way.
We headed to waterloo. At waterloo I befriended a nice man that actually lives in waterloo... we chatted while i waited for the train... he asked if could spot him 10,000 GBP, I told him that was a lot of money. He told me he really thinks the we should start importing iron from mars, that's where all the money is. I told him I've never been to mars. He told me that life is much like a Christmas Story because it is about a debtors prison. I asked him if he was in a debtors prison, he laughed really hard and then asked for a cup of tea. Interesting fellow to say the least. Our train was coming, so I gave him some money for tea and as we boarded the train my boss advised me not to talk to strange men.
We got on a train to chessington south, the area were our subsidiary is. Once off at chessington we had to do an additional 10 minute walk to the office…. We arrived at the office at about 930,,, yep a nice two hour commute. Did I mention it’s 0 degrees Celsius? Baaahhh-eeerrrr.. Unfortunately before I left, I was unable to find thermal business casual wear, so I am a bit cold.
Worked a fatty 8 hours and then headed back to catch the train. Again the timing was a bit off which resulted in a hard sprint the last two blocks in order to catch the train back… the sprint was mandatory as the next train didn’t come for an hour and there was no inside area to sit. We would have died. We literally boarded with a second to spare. But at least we were warm.
We made it back to the city, back to the hotel, and then headed back out for dinner. Nothing too exciting. Today we woke up and repeated. Although we left a little earlier and timed the trains a little better and it was only a hour and a half commute. Sweetness.
So that’s pretty much it for now... maybe things will get spicer this weekend in paris.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Weekend in Victoria
Fascinators and fancy frock for Caulfield Cup
We each took a photo with our favorite horse at the Hilton
The "General Public" as the CEO put it, tragic.
The Trifecta in the Members Reserve
Great Ocean Road
Apollo Bay
12 Apostles!!
Me and the 12 apostles, not 12 anymore though...
The people that took our photo were from Mammoth Lakes!!
My stellar park job
The Great Ocean Road
Oh yeah, and I got a speeding ticket... a really expensive one..
Videos
Hi Mom Hi Dad
12 Apostles - Windy!
Driving
Thursday, October 14, 2010
the left side = the ride side
The stats:
- 1 horn honk
- 2 lane drifts
- 2 wrong turns even with the GPS
- 4 giggling fits
- 30 minute drive
- 30 minutes of nervous shaking
- 1 successful park job
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
the tomato sauce... i mean ketchup.... get it, bahahaha
Alright, so I am going to do a quick and dirty recap of the last few days to get things current…
Saturday 10/9/10 – Day 7
We slept in and toured around Cairns. We let a Germany named Chris from the hostel tag along with us. He was very quite but very nice because he offered to carry maria’s camera in his back pack. We did a little shopping to get our fix but most of the time we usually just left the shops with dropped jaws due to sticker shock. We also laid out by the lagoon, which is a pool built right on the beach. It’s really pretty and is where everyone goes since you can’t go to the beaches because it is basically a mudflat and infested with crocodiles. We got ourselves real crispy in the 35 C weather… hhhheeeehot!
That night we headed to the infamous woolshed for dinner and an hour of 2 for 1 specials. There we ran into our front desk guy, Steve, who is super nice, and joined us for dinner. There was also this poor german guy, Patrick, by himself and looking for a seat… taking pity on him we let him sit… mistake. Dude was creeper status. Once we finished dinner we went to the balcony to have a drink, steve went home and we were hoping Patrick would disappear as well, no luck… Rather he continued to violate our personal space up until I was about ready to us the ‘please don’t touch me” line but instead we opted to leave… he asked to be fb friends, I said no that’s personal, he asked how will we stay in touch, I said that’s kind of the point…. I know I sound mean but dude was seriously creeper…
There we walked home and then maria and I decided to head back out for some dancing at Giligan’s. Giddy up, really fun… Ran into the rugby guys again but thankfully not Dan the taxi man.. le sigh…
Sunday 10/10/10 – Day 8
Jules and I up at the crack-o-dawn or at least it felt like it to me since I crawled into bed at about ooo 3:30 am or sooo. We headed to the airport to catch our flight 930am flight to Melbourne. Maria was on a later flight that didn’t depart until 7 pm.
Arrive Melbourne, hop in a taxi only to discover the driver had no idea where he was going,,, instead of following his gps he continued to drive aimless around Melbourne… I restrained myself from grabbing the steering wheel from over his shoulder. He was a mess. We finally got to the hotel, argued over payment because he took a more than scenic route, and then scurried inside to check in and relax.
Downside of Melbourne, I have to work. Upside of Melbourne, staying in a ridiculously posh hotel way outside of our budget and having our own bathroom that does not have to be shared with an entire hostel. I spent the afternoon ironing my weeks + of business casual that had been packed down my backpack and then Jules and I met my boss and his friend for drinks and dinner. We are right on the water in Melbourne which is suppppperrr pretty and it is close to a casino with really good resturants, all and all a nice city.
Monday 10/11/10 – Day 9
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria took Melbourne by storm and considered eating vegemite.
da hotel and views from the room
and some shots of melbourne on the way to dinner
Tuesday 10/12/10 – Day 10
Get up and go to work…. Jules and Maria hunted for Australia bachelors in the streets of Melbourne. Due to the considerable amount of success they had in finding such men, they returned to the hotel to discuss an Australian man import service. Much like an Australia order husband service, man tanks and glamour muscles included.
Wednesday 10/13/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria scoured the local shops for some new fancy pants frocks for this weekend. Sadden by the turn in weather, they returned to the hotel and discussed how they are going to launch the Chilean miner diet in the US
Oh and I went to a business dinner and had kangaroo loin
Thursday 10/141/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria went to the local fire department for Australian firefighters to learn about the careful maintenance of glamour muscles and all that entails. While there they discovered that in Australia, they are the cute girls with accents that can get whatever they want as long as they end the sentence with a smile and a head tilt to the left (their left, your right).
my view everyday this week... at least there's a window :)
**Note**: all Jules and Maria activities might have been grossly exaggerated do to the level of boredom I am maintaining sitting at a desk for copious amounts of time.
Saturday 10/9/10 – Day 7
We slept in and toured around Cairns. We let a Germany named Chris from the hostel tag along with us. He was very quite but very nice because he offered to carry maria’s camera in his back pack. We did a little shopping to get our fix but most of the time we usually just left the shops with dropped jaws due to sticker shock. We also laid out by the lagoon, which is a pool built right on the beach. It’s really pretty and is where everyone goes since you can’t go to the beaches because it is basically a mudflat and infested with crocodiles. We got ourselves real crispy in the 35 C weather… hhhheeeehot!
That night we headed to the infamous woolshed for dinner and an hour of 2 for 1 specials. There we ran into our front desk guy, Steve, who is super nice, and joined us for dinner. There was also this poor german guy, Patrick, by himself and looking for a seat… taking pity on him we let him sit… mistake. Dude was creeper status. Once we finished dinner we went to the balcony to have a drink, steve went home and we were hoping Patrick would disappear as well, no luck… Rather he continued to violate our personal space up until I was about ready to us the ‘please don’t touch me” line but instead we opted to leave… he asked to be fb friends, I said no that’s personal, he asked how will we stay in touch, I said that’s kind of the point…. I know I sound mean but dude was seriously creeper…
There we walked home and then maria and I decided to head back out for some dancing at Giligan’s. Giddy up, really fun… Ran into the rugby guys again but thankfully not Dan the taxi man.. le sigh…
Sunday 10/10/10 – Day 8
Jules and I up at the crack-o-dawn or at least it felt like it to me since I crawled into bed at about ooo 3:30 am or sooo. We headed to the airport to catch our flight 930am flight to Melbourne. Maria was on a later flight that didn’t depart until 7 pm.
Arrive Melbourne, hop in a taxi only to discover the driver had no idea where he was going,,, instead of following his gps he continued to drive aimless around Melbourne… I restrained myself from grabbing the steering wheel from over his shoulder. He was a mess. We finally got to the hotel, argued over payment because he took a more than scenic route, and then scurried inside to check in and relax.
Downside of Melbourne, I have to work. Upside of Melbourne, staying in a ridiculously posh hotel way outside of our budget and having our own bathroom that does not have to be shared with an entire hostel. I spent the afternoon ironing my weeks + of business casual that had been packed down my backpack and then Jules and I met my boss and his friend for drinks and dinner. We are right on the water in Melbourne which is suppppperrr pretty and it is close to a casino with really good resturants, all and all a nice city.
Monday 10/11/10 – Day 9
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria took Melbourne by storm and considered eating vegemite.
da hotel and views from the room
and some shots of melbourne on the way to dinner
Tuesday 10/12/10 – Day 10
Get up and go to work…. Jules and Maria hunted for Australia bachelors in the streets of Melbourne. Due to the considerable amount of success they had in finding such men, they returned to the hotel to discuss an Australian man import service. Much like an Australia order husband service, man tanks and glamour muscles included.
Wednesday 10/13/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria scoured the local shops for some new fancy pants frocks for this weekend. Sadden by the turn in weather, they returned to the hotel and discussed how they are going to launch the Chilean miner diet in the US
Oh and I went to a business dinner and had kangaroo loin
Thursday 10/141/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria went to the local fire department for Australian firefighters to learn about the careful maintenance of glamour muscles and all that entails. While there they discovered that in Australia, they are the cute girls with accents that can get whatever they want as long as they end the sentence with a smile and a head tilt to the left (their left, your right).
my view everyday this week... at least there's a window :)
**Note**: all Jules and Maria activities might have been grossly exaggerated do to the level of boredom I am maintaining sitting at a desk for copious amounts of time.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Great Barrier Reef - Day 6
Ahh so obviously a little behind on the blog business… but I am now at work, so I am going to maximize my computer time and free internet. Of course this is not during business hours :)
Day 6 – 10/8/10 – Great Barrier Reef
AMAZING… if I ever have a chance to go back I will. We got a lift from our hostel down to the wharf. There we settled up our balance due with Jeremy the dive instructor and bee lined down to dock five to board the Osprey to the reef. The trip we selected allowed us snorkeling and a scuba dive at two different locations.
Once the boat departed we were required to release the boat from any sort of liability,,, we breezed through the fine print, did an appears reasonable test, and signed our lives away… since we were diving they also had a series of questions on recent trips, illnesses, and medicines. One specific question asking have you been sick recently and have you taken any medicines today… So I carefully contemplated, the truth was yes, I was sick and yes I took Sudafed that morning because I had a cold… but I also new the truth was if checked yes, it would raise questions… but ah well I thought, honest is the best policy and it was only Sudafed, nothing major, so I should be fine. Passed in our releases, Brendan, the collector paused, asked me some questions about my yes-es but everything seemed ok, so we headed to the bow of the boat to watch the trip.
We got fitted for wetsuits, which were stunning absolutely stunning.. but downside was the fitting was inside and the choppy water made Jules pretty nauseous. Then they sent us up stairs for a intro scuba briefing… there our dive instructor Jeremy let me know they were calling the doctor to make sure it was ok for me to dive and I should stay in the briefing because I will probably be able to dive. We listened to all the fascinating facts about how you can die diving and the importance of equalization. I think poor Jules felt more like she was dying sitting inside the cabin with all the massive rocking back and forth…. from an outsiders perspective she looked like the motion sickness was hitting her pretty hard. I wasn’t the only one with this opinion because another dive instructor handed her option B… option a is ginger tablets, option b is a yak bag. But she trooped through it and managed to sit through the whole presentation.
We arrived at the first location and jumped in for some snorkeling, literally jumped because we were to impatient to wait our turn to take the stairs down into the water. We were dive group 5 which gave us about an hour to swim around before having to suit up. Also, fortunately once Jules was in the water she felt much better, just another reason to keep floating around. The reef was amazing, super vibarant, awesome fish, the water is sooo blue. I felt like at the rainforest we were in the setting for Tarzan and at the reef were in the setting for little mermaid. We swam all around, but with in safety meters to our boat. Maria and I saw a shark.. I think it was a great white.. not 100% positive but if not a g.w. it was definitely a leopard shark.
We heard our dive number called so we headed back. Once there they told us they hadn’t reached a doctor yet and that I couldn’t dive tell they had an ok, so we collectively decided to be the last group to dive to give the dive instructors time to call the doctors. So back in the water more swimming, then back on the boat to eat lunch, except for Jules because she still felt like she was going to die on the boat. At about one they packed things up and took us to the second location. On the way there Jeremy called the doctor and came back with crappy news. Apparently, the doctor would not give their approval and I would not be allowed to dive. So bummed, like really really bummed. I may have even started crying but I could tell Jeremy felt really bad, and I acknowledged it totally wasn’t his fault… and then retired to the bow of the boat to finish crying and curse myself for being honest.
Jules and Maria came back and we snorkeled around together. The safety guard from the boat let us know he could hear us laughing from 15 meters away haha, and Jules mentioned she could hear mine and Maria’s laugh under the water across the reef. Which I thought was awesome. That is why I started humming/singing in some of the videos because I wanted to see if I could capture the sound, haha, worked in a couple.
At about 3 we had to leave, it was hard to tear us out of the water. But on the way back they had a complementary wine and cheese session. It was supposed to be only one glass but the instructors felt bad that I didn’t get to dive so mine became an endless glass of complementary wine.
Returned to land, had some serious sea legs, but regardless, scurried back to the hostel to shower and change and head back to the wharf to hit up bella vista since the dive instructors invited us out. Tee-hee. We actually were more focused on the two for one drink specials since everything here is sooo expense. It is really ridiculous, the exchange rate is pretty much one for one and everything is overpriced,,, i.e. a soda is 2.50, chocolate 3, coffee 5, a tshirt $50… outta control.
here are the photos from that day....
goggles do wonders for your face
So anyways, met the divers, had drinks, left for dinner, and then started to walk the downtown area trying to determine where to head next….. being the largely indecisive group we are we just ended up walking around and around and around until a rugby league team stumbled upon us and decided to take us under their wing and directed us to Gilligan’s. We had a great time people watching at Giligian’s. Oh well that’s until about 2 hours into our night, when jules elbows me and goes oh my gosh look who just sat down next to Maria. I look up and what do you know it’s Dan the taxi driver. Bahahaha!! He proceeds to try and chat us up which was super awkward because the rugby guys were like who the hell is this. After a few minutes, he kind of got the message, kind of because he still asked us what we were doing later and if we wanted to hang out… again we declined… after than we danced out little American bums off and then called it a night, only after walking ten minutes home in the intense rain, like hardcore soaked to the bone wet:) it was awesome
Rugby boys after dancing
We’ve made the observation here that man tanks are all the rage… in fact, glamour muscles on men are all the rage here, please refer to season five episode six of it’s always sunny in Philadelphia for a detailed definition of glamour muscles.. but to demonstrate here is the glamour that was over seeing Jules and Maria on their dive, bahahha.
Another fascinating observation is that guys here are really really into dancing, and you don’t have to have girls to dance, nope dudes just rock out with each other. Much like how girls circle together to dance, guys do that… in fact I think there were many more guys dancing on the floor compared to girls that night.
Here are some videos from the day... it's so fascinating down there, the photos really don't do it justice
Sorry val, this might make you a little motion sick
Hi mom and dad
Scuba
Day 6 – 10/8/10 – Great Barrier Reef
AMAZING… if I ever have a chance to go back I will. We got a lift from our hostel down to the wharf. There we settled up our balance due with Jeremy the dive instructor and bee lined down to dock five to board the Osprey to the reef. The trip we selected allowed us snorkeling and a scuba dive at two different locations.
Once the boat departed we were required to release the boat from any sort of liability,,, we breezed through the fine print, did an appears reasonable test, and signed our lives away… since we were diving they also had a series of questions on recent trips, illnesses, and medicines. One specific question asking have you been sick recently and have you taken any medicines today… So I carefully contemplated, the truth was yes, I was sick and yes I took Sudafed that morning because I had a cold… but I also new the truth was if checked yes, it would raise questions… but ah well I thought, honest is the best policy and it was only Sudafed, nothing major, so I should be fine. Passed in our releases, Brendan, the collector paused, asked me some questions about my yes-es but everything seemed ok, so we headed to the bow of the boat to watch the trip.
We got fitted for wetsuits, which were stunning absolutely stunning.. but downside was the fitting was inside and the choppy water made Jules pretty nauseous. Then they sent us up stairs for a intro scuba briefing… there our dive instructor Jeremy let me know they were calling the doctor to make sure it was ok for me to dive and I should stay in the briefing because I will probably be able to dive. We listened to all the fascinating facts about how you can die diving and the importance of equalization. I think poor Jules felt more like she was dying sitting inside the cabin with all the massive rocking back and forth…. from an outsiders perspective she looked like the motion sickness was hitting her pretty hard. I wasn’t the only one with this opinion because another dive instructor handed her option B… option a is ginger tablets, option b is a yak bag. But she trooped through it and managed to sit through the whole presentation.
We arrived at the first location and jumped in for some snorkeling, literally jumped because we were to impatient to wait our turn to take the stairs down into the water. We were dive group 5 which gave us about an hour to swim around before having to suit up. Also, fortunately once Jules was in the water she felt much better, just another reason to keep floating around. The reef was amazing, super vibarant, awesome fish, the water is sooo blue. I felt like at the rainforest we were in the setting for Tarzan and at the reef were in the setting for little mermaid. We swam all around, but with in safety meters to our boat. Maria and I saw a shark.. I think it was a great white.. not 100% positive but if not a g.w. it was definitely a leopard shark.
We heard our dive number called so we headed back. Once there they told us they hadn’t reached a doctor yet and that I couldn’t dive tell they had an ok, so we collectively decided to be the last group to dive to give the dive instructors time to call the doctors. So back in the water more swimming, then back on the boat to eat lunch, except for Jules because she still felt like she was going to die on the boat. At about one they packed things up and took us to the second location. On the way there Jeremy called the doctor and came back with crappy news. Apparently, the doctor would not give their approval and I would not be allowed to dive. So bummed, like really really bummed. I may have even started crying but I could tell Jeremy felt really bad, and I acknowledged it totally wasn’t his fault… and then retired to the bow of the boat to finish crying and curse myself for being honest.
We arrived at the second spot and Jules and Maria suited up for diving… Jules was dying of nausea and Maria was dying of fear… their expressions while getting ready were classic, but their instructor, Juliano, was super nice and eased them into the water and out into the sea… prop side of not being able to dive was I was able to capture some of their diving excursion on film and video. While they took off, I hung out with Wally, this giant fish that just hangs out by the boat and lets you touch it,.. pretty cool, but the thing was super ugly. I also went and snorkeled the reef which was even more amazing the the last location. The water was a little clearer and the reef was closer to the surface which meant I could get even closer, perhaps to close because I have scratches on my foot and bum from being pushed into it a few times, whoops.
Jules and Maria came back and we snorkeled around together. The safety guard from the boat let us know he could hear us laughing from 15 meters away haha, and Jules mentioned she could hear mine and Maria’s laugh under the water across the reef. Which I thought was awesome. That is why I started humming/singing in some of the videos because I wanted to see if I could capture the sound, haha, worked in a couple.
At about 3 we had to leave, it was hard to tear us out of the water. But on the way back they had a complementary wine and cheese session. It was supposed to be only one glass but the instructors felt bad that I didn’t get to dive so mine became an endless glass of complementary wine.
Returned to land, had some serious sea legs, but regardless, scurried back to the hostel to shower and change and head back to the wharf to hit up bella vista since the dive instructors invited us out. Tee-hee. We actually were more focused on the two for one drink specials since everything here is sooo expense. It is really ridiculous, the exchange rate is pretty much one for one and everything is overpriced,,, i.e. a soda is 2.50, chocolate 3, coffee 5, a tshirt $50… outta control.
here are the photos from that day....
goggles do wonders for your face
Miss Maria getting ready to jump in, soo precious. we were excited we just jumped from the side rather than take the walking stairs down.
Jules snapping some pics at the first reef
2 of the many fish i annoyed that day
Jules going in for a closer look
The view at the second reef
Jules and Maria getting preped for the scuba session
This is Wally, he is huge and slow. i touched him.
Away they go!
I felt like Ariel
The coral on the right had these purple tips that glowed, really really neat
So beautiful
Kind of was in love with the purple coral
Brains
Wally and some smaller fish
pretty little yellows
A fishy I chased
The lovely lovely reef.
Maria diving down
Oh goggles
Me and the reef
Maria getting closer
Maria and the reef
So anyways, met the divers, had drinks, left for dinner, and then started to walk the downtown area trying to determine where to head next….. being the largely indecisive group we are we just ended up walking around and around and around until a rugby league team stumbled upon us and decided to take us under their wing and directed us to Gilligan’s. We had a great time people watching at Giligian’s. Oh well that’s until about 2 hours into our night, when jules elbows me and goes oh my gosh look who just sat down next to Maria. I look up and what do you know it’s Dan the taxi driver. Bahahaha!! He proceeds to try and chat us up which was super awkward because the rugby guys were like who the hell is this. After a few minutes, he kind of got the message, kind of because he still asked us what we were doing later and if we wanted to hang out… again we declined… after than we danced out little American bums off and then called it a night, only after walking ten minutes home in the intense rain, like hardcore soaked to the bone wet:) it was awesome
Rugby boys after dancing
We’ve made the observation here that man tanks are all the rage… in fact, glamour muscles on men are all the rage here, please refer to season five episode six of it’s always sunny in Philadelphia for a detailed definition of glamour muscles.. but to demonstrate here is the glamour that was over seeing Jules and Maria on their dive, bahahha.
Another fascinating observation is that guys here are really really into dancing, and you don’t have to have girls to dance, nope dudes just rock out with each other. Much like how girls circle together to dance, guys do that… in fact I think there were many more guys dancing on the floor compared to girls that night.
Here are some videos from the day... it's so fascinating down there, the photos really don't do it justice
Sorry val, this might make you a little motion sick
Hi mom and dad
Scuba
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