September

September kinda sucked.
A couple positives are that it's over and the weather was much nicer than last year and gave glimpses of the coming summer.
When we got back from our trip we had a little over a month to find a new place to live (because of lease was ending and the owners wanted to move their Mother in, hence no lease renewal). We anticipated this being easy but our expectations were high and it seemed like every real estate property management agent we contacted could care less about showing us these places. It was extremely frustrating and annoying.
BUT at the last minute we ended up getting our dream apartment in Glenelg (i.e. the best suburb in all of South Australia)! It's modern, right on the beach, and within walking distance of everything you could ever want (grocery store, shops, banks, bars, restaurants, tram to the city, etc).
Since we were so last minute getting a new address it took the internet guys 3 weeks to get our internet up and running here in the new place, of course, haha, and it feels like just today things are finally getting settled.
Now all we need is some wall art to spice the place up!

The new pad

LA

Our drive from Vegas to LA seemed to take all day. We stopped for lunch at a cool 50s diner called Peggy's Diner or something like that. It was indulgently delicious!
Back on the road traffic slowed down going through the San Bernardino Mountains due to fires. At first I thought it was notrious LA traffic and smog until visibility continued to worsen and we saw firefighters trying to put out the flames and water helicopters with giant hoses hanging out of them. After that it was smooth sailing all the way to Elaine's place in West LA. We made it in one piece in our fancy rental car! ha!
The next day Elaine took us to a great breakfast place and then down to Venice Beach for the day. It was a gorgeous day and we socked up the sun and freaks of Venice! Later we walked down to Santa Monica for some drinks and food.

Between Venice and Santa Monica

The next day Ashley Razo dropped by with yummy bagels and we caught up for a bit before she had to head to orientation at Pepperdine (she's in her second year of the MBA program there). Then Andy and I ventured into Downtown LA to return the car and see the Hollywood sights! Hollywood was a bit of a let down, I didn't see a single celebrity :( But we had Chipotle for lunch and Andy was very impressed (it was his first time!).

Hollywood Chipotle

We ended up at Venice Beach again and met up with Elaine (who coaches little swimmer kiddos) then it was off to another mini-Texas reunion with Elaine, Nikki, and Deals! It was an awesome last night in North America!

Reunion #2

The next day was our last day on the continent. We had giant pancakes for breakfast that we barely touched and ended up giving to some homeless people in Santa Monica. Then we beached and shopped and enjoyed the lovely California sun. Back at Elaine's we walked Molly before Elaine took us to LAX and we said goodbye to North Amerca.

Walking Molly

The trip back was uneventful and seemed much quicker than the way there had been.

Back to reality.

Viva Las Vegas!

Our flight from Newark ended up being delayed by over 2 hours due to severe thunderstorms so we didn't arrive in Sin City until after midnight. We were still tired from our big New York night out so we grabbed a few snacks from the gas station next to our hotel (we stayed at the Westin Causarina, just off the strip)  and then it was time for bed.
We were up in time for the buffet breakfast at our hotel the next morning and over indulged in that then waddled up to the pool deck for some much need Nevada heat and desert sun.
Next we walked up and down the strip taking in the sites and wandering in and out of the hotels and casinos. That pretty much summed up our time in Vegas: laying out, shopping, walking, drinking (and not just alcohol, we were all over trying to stay hydrated and were loving the cheap Gatorade and iced teas available everywhere).
We went to Cabo Wabo Cantina for dinner our first night and then went into Planet Hollywood afterwards and were somehow talked into a 90 minute timeshare presentation for the next morning because we got discount show tickets and free dinner. Oops. Trying to get our money back the next morning was NOT fun. But we did.
Anyways that night we walked along the strip to the MGM Grand and somehow got into the big arena (a concert was just finishing, Josh Gorban I think? and we just sort of wandered into the arena). That made Andy happy.
Our last full day in Vegas consisted of the same things but this time we went to Old Vegas for breakfast. There was a certain something about old Vegas that I liked and had we had more time in Nevada I would've liked to spend more time there. It is more like the Las Vegas I dreamed about- the Fear and Loathing  and Elvis Vegas of yesteryear.

With Fear and Loathing in mind we headed to Circus Circus for out last night in Vegas and were somewhat disappointed.  There were no clowns or Circus freaks roaming around, and the place was rundown and full of families. Boo-urns. But we did have a delightful meal at the Steak House inside the casino.
On the walk back we were lucky to have timed it right and caught the Mirage Volcano's eruption. It was pretty sweet!

We pretty much wasted our last morning in Vegas looking for somewhere to eat breakfast. We ended up eating in the Bellagio because it was where we had to pick up our rental car.
We got the car and picked up our bags from our hotel and then headed to the famous Las Vegas sign on the way out of town. There was a wait but we got our picture with the sign!

Next stop California!

I Heart NY

Next stop: New York City!
My Mom drove us from Kingston or should I say Amherstview to Syracuse, NY where we hoped a plane and after a short 40minute flight landed in the big apple! Andy had been previously but this was my first time and I instantly fell in love.
We were lucky enough to be able to check in to our hotel (Four Points by Sheraton Midtown) early, freshen up, and then head over to The Empire State Building. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day: warm, sunny, and incredibly clear. The view from the top was outstanding!

Afterwards we walked over to Times Square to try to get Broadway tickets for that evening. We really really really wanted to see The Book of Mormon (by the creators of South Park) but it was sold out so much so that the best the scalpers could do was $300 per ticket. That was a little, well okay a lot out of my price range so we settled on Avenue Q. It ended up being very good and very funny. We ended the night in a little bar on Restaurant row and then a totally cliche photo shoot in Times Square, oh and New York Style pizza!

Day 2 consisted of a very excited Andy waking up a slightly hungover Liz at about 7am. We headed out and got a cab to the bottom of Manhattan, then ran through the rain looking for the ticket booth for the ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island. We found it, bought our tickets, then bought an umbrella, and then of course it didn't rain another drop and the sun came out!!

Anyways, we did the whole Statue of Liberty thing but then skipped Ellis Island because this was all still pre-coffee and I was suffering a major caffeine withdrawals headache. Sad face.
Back on the island of Manhattan we made our way towards Ground Zero and found a little cafe/diner for breakfast and coffee.
The rest of our day was jam-packed with Ground Zero (or what we could see of it since they're building the new freedom towers), Wall Street, a few dumb cab drivers, The Brooklyn Bridge, and then a few hours of shopping in Soho.
Later we headed back to our hotel for a break and to get ready to meet up with Katie.
We met Katie (who now lives in New Jersey, 40mins from NYC by train) at Penn Station and then took a cab to Little Italy. We had a few drinks at one place and then headed to a small and non-assuming joint to eat. It was probably the best Italian food I've ever had (possibly better than Italy??). I decided on the Eggplant Parmigiana even though I'm not the biggest eggplant fan and was very pleased with my choice!
After dinner it was time for some bar hopping... except we ended up walking the wrong way on Canal Street and ended up at a little but packed bar that had only local beers on tap. Then we headed to The Gold Lounge, which really did it for me in terms of New York (ie Sex and the City stylez, duh). It was tiny but drinks were strong (and f*cking expensive!) and the tunes were sweet. We drank and boogied in there for a while, then ended up at an Irish bar somewhere else, where we saw an afroman lookalike and Andy had a Guinness. By this time it was getting quite late and we had to get Katie back for the first train of the day (at 5:15am!). We couldn't find an open bar, let alone any bar, near Penn Station so we bought a few tallboys from a shop in the station and drank until the train arrived!

Day 3 hurt a bit. We slept in and scrambled to check out on time. We were able to store our bags and set up a car to the airport for later that afternoon. Then we walked to Penn Station again and met up with Meghan and her b/f Rob. We hadn't been to Central Park yet so we headed that way and had lunch along the way and then met up with Katie and her friend and wandered around Central Park for a few hours. It was another warm and sunny day and the park was beautiful and made me fall deeper in love with the city.

We said Goodbye and then headed back to our hotel. Our car was waiting and ended up being a Lincoln town car, fancy schmancy! It took us to Newark airport for our flight to Las Vegas. I nearly had a panic attack when we arrived because the check-in was ridiculously long and not moving! But there was no line at curbside check-in and the measly tip we gave was worth not waiting in that horrible Continental line.
Next stop: Vegas, baby!

Ktown

On arrival in the town of Kings, I was pleasantly surprised that the bed in my room had been substantially upgraded... two words: memory. foam. This was both a good and bad thing. Good because it was so damn comfy, bad because it facilitated giving in to the evil of all evils known as jet lag. My allergies also went nuts on our arrival to Kingston and I spent most of the next two weeks with some weird vertigo "I'm on a big ship at sea" sensations and also on antihistamines. weeeee!
Saturday morning we were up early with all the hustle and bustle of Julia, Sarah and Greg transporting the pig from the bath tub to the spit.

It was a lengthy task and I got hungry half way through, ended up making breakfast for everyone and totally missing the head being cut of with a pairing knife!! We later learned that the head was disposed of in a public garbage bin somewhere in downtown Kingston (why is another story that heavily involves raccoons). Andy and I went to Cataraqui Mall at this point to try and find a SIM card but came back disappointed and empty handed and took it as a sign to start drinking.
Moosehead was had in all its glory on this hot and humid day. Guests started to trickle in and the pig continued to cook. Looking back it was sort of a big blur with the jet lag and Moosehead and all. But a fun blur at that.

The next day started with clean-up and a $51 load of returns at the Beer Store. Then it was off to Bubba's to see Paris and for Andy to experience poutine for the first time EVER.

The next ten days were spent playing pool, enjoying Canadian beer and  Andy sampling the fast food, wandering Princess Street, meeting up with old friends, going through my closet, a sail on the Short's sailboat, visiting Fort Henry (thank you Taylos) and even a few spins on the wakeboard and tubes!!
We also took a day trip to Prince Edward County for wine tasting and a little taste of the county.
By the end of our time there it'd felt like we were there nearly a month! which was a good thing because we felt recharged and ready to tackle the whirlwind we had planned in the remaining 8 days of our time in North America!
To be continued...

Canadialand

Waking up in a dark, cool basement was a little strange at first, but then we realized where we were- my Aunt and Uncle's basement. It was nearly 11am so we had somehow managed 9hours of sleep. After some glorious Messina lunch we climbed in the van and my Mom took us to the great North American establishmen known as Walmart. Wandering in, wide-eyed and jetlagged, I couldn't believe how cheap everything was! I had totally forgotten about the convience this side of the world had to offer. They have everything and it doesn't cost you much. We made a few more stops after Walmart, including the LCBO and the Beer Store, and then went back to John and Cathie's to enjoy the humid afternoon heat and few cold beers on the patio. As the afternoon turned to evening we had a few small friends drop by:  the neighbourhood raccoons!! They were brave little f*ckers and would let you get very close to them before turning away and strolling away.
Dinner was served fashionably late, as usual, but the poached egg salad and and steak frites was well worth the wait. Oh and the ice cream sandwiches for dessert- just as good as I remembered!
Somehow after all that food we made it to a bar for a few hours before staggering drunkenly home and back to bed.
The next morning it was off to the CN Tower for lunch. It was only my 2nd time going up and my first time going to the restaurant. Since we didn't spend much time in Toronto it was a good chance for Andy see the size of the city from above. We said goodbye to John and Cathie and got in Julia's car to drive home to Kingston in and get ready for the next day's Pig Roast!

The Big Trip: Getting there

Fat feet: the result of a 30+ hour travel day

In late March or early April I found some really cheap flights from Sydney to LA, so sort of on a whim and some coattails, we booked them for the beginning of August! The next 3+ months were a serious waiting game since our new visas hadn't come through yet and if they didn't in time we would have to go through a big hassle of getting a different bridging visa to be able to leave the country. eek!

But luck was on our side and the visa was all honky-dory by mid July (good thing cuz we had planned and paid for all our little bits and pieces of the trip by then!) and on August 3rd we were ready for take off!

Well we were ready, Qantas on the other hand, were not. We had decided to go with them, despite the slightly higher price, because we thought they had the least chance of delaying or cancelling our flight... wrong. so wrong.

We had a 7am flight out of Adelaide, which would get us to Sydney with almost exactly 3 hours to get our bags, switch terminals (by taxi b/c Sydney Kingsford is a thieving bastard that doesn't have a free train connecting domestic to international. bastard.), check-in for the big flight, and get through security. Lots of time, shouldn't be a problem. Well. At 2:30am on Wednesday, August 3rd, I got a text message, me, not Andy whose name and contact details were part of the booking, me. Because I'd (luckily) stuck my Qantas frequent flyer number on there! Anyway, the text told me that our flight was delayed 1 hour and 20 minutes. No customer service phone number, no apology. We didn't have an hour and 20mins to really spare with the connection we had to make in Sydney, so at 2:35am I rolled out of bed and ended up having to turn on the laptop to find a freaking customer service number for Qantas. Then I spent over 45mins on hold, at 3am, before I spoke to a real human being. The agent was polite and efficient at least and got us on the 6am flight, no worries, and there was no change fee. Sooooo, back into bed for 30mins, then time to get up for a shower and to get to the airport. yay.
At the airport Qantas continued to be problematic.  We tried to use the self-serve kiosks to check-in, no dice. One of the many Qantas staff milling about at 5am told us we had to check in at the international desk because we had an international connection (but not with Qantas and not on the same booking). There we were directed to the service desk. What service desk? So we asked another lady, and she checked something on her computer and told us to go to the ticket counter. Huh?  Because I had said we had to make an international flight with another airline on a separate booking on the phone earlier it had really confused Qantas. The lady at the ticketing desk was trying to make it so we didn't have to re-check our bags in Sydney even though I kept saying "We are happy to collect our bags in Sydney." I must've said that at least 4 times. duh. Finally, she sorted it all out and we went back to the self-serve kiosk, checked-in, and said Adios to Adelaide.
In Sydney we got our bag, switched terminals, checked-in again, went through security and missed Hungry Jacks breakfast :( then hung around til our 1pm flight to FIJI.
3 hour layover in FIJI. Still August 3rd.

[A Fiji Aside: On the jetway to board the flight from Fiji to LA there was a really drunk guy and this poor American girl who was too polite for her own good got suckered into talking to him. He kept putting his hand on her shoulder and offering to buy her a drink on the plane (it was a full service airline, drinks were complimentary). He also said he only had 2 beers while waiting in the airport... HA! Yeah right, i saw him laying across the seats in the departure lounge nursing a Fiji Bitter or 2 or 3, his poor walking skills also pointed to more than 2. I was really surprized they allowed him on the flight at all!]

Arrival at LAX, only 10 minutes later than when the plane took off in Sydney, still August 3rd. Amazing! haha In LA we were due to have an 8 hour layover til our 10pm flight to Toronto, but there was an earlier flight at 3:30pm that I was hoping we would somehow make. I didn't want to book us on that one because I knew LAX is the place that nightmares are made of and didn't want to take any chances. We had to check-in by 2:30 to get on the flight, so that gave us an hour to get through US customs and to terminal 3 (not a far walk from the where we were in international terminal).
We ended up getting to the Air Canada desk at about 2:40pm. With fingers crossed, I asked the lady behind the desk if it was possible to switch to the 3:30 flight, as we were on the 10pm. Why yes, she says, because it's been delayed by an hour! HALLELUJAH! But it will cost you to make the change. How much? $75. Sold. Did I mention it was still August 3rd??
The delay gave us time enough to have a sit down meal at Route 66 bar and grill, yee-haw, in the airport before it was time to get on the last plane of our super long day.
Because of the delay we didn't get to Toronto until August 4th, just after midnight, so the longest August 3rd on record ended somewhere over Ontario. Customs and bags were a breeze and my Mom was waiting to whisk us off to my Aunt and Uncle's place and finally a bed to lay down on!