no updates = boring blog

Haay haay everyone, a quick update to those still reading this. Things have been crazy busy but awesome, we are currently in Holland with some friends we met in Fiji, the ones that saved us and drank with us through Alcatraz island. I have not had anytime to update India or any of the other country's we have gone to. We have 33 days in Europe and have been boogying all around super quick. After India time has flown, we went to Germany (Frankfurt and Berlin), Prague, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Switzerland (Interlacken), Barcelona, France (la Rochelle), Holland, and on our way to Amsterdam and London for the final leg and partys of our trip. Soooo I have to regretfully inform you, if you haven't picked up on it already that I am not going to update any more country's/pictures until I get back to the states... yeah I know boooo to me.



highfive!

Thailand

Bangkok Thailand

Hot and steamy, full of pictures of the king and buddha buddha buddha everywhere. The city is intense, traffic completely unorganized. The streets were filled with tuk tuks, bikes, motos, cars and cabs. To get a cab you had to argue with 5 before you could find the one to take where you wanted to go for a tourist price of course, he then would lead you into a shop so you can "look" and then he gets a free gas card. Funny how he benefits....There were Temples upon temples with such amazing detail, I could not capture it in its full essence. We had 1 day in Bangkok before we were to catch a flight to an island off the coast of Bangkok, Koh Phangan for the full moon party and a week of beach for some rest to get ready for India and Europe craziness. You know because we need rest from Australia, NZ and Fiji, ....
We ran around seeing as much as we could, trying new foods and of course trying the local beer singha and taking it all in.

police

Koh Phangan

Fire limbo! These people are crazy, ok so they have a series of different things they light on fire. Like a jump rope, limbo, fire sticks and people. Yes people, a girl caught on fire they did nothing except keep the jump rope going... I have decided Thailand has no regard for safety at all. The place is crazy, The time I was there I saw handfuls of accidents about to happen, such as people walking almost getting hit, people nearly falling out of tuk tuks, off of motos, boats nearly missing each other and swimmers getting close to chopped up by the motors on the boats. I fortunately did not get hurt in anyway, but the people we met all had stories and/or bandages....

A full moon, turned sideways.... This is the only picture I have of full moon night right now. I had a fun camera and have to get it developed so full moon party pictures to come lata!

water taxis that took us from one island to the other

The sanctuary, the place we stayed on the beach




our long tail boat taxi driver

my backpack for all of you wondering what the thing looks like. Im not really hiking and yes im wearing a dress while carrying it...(im walking down stairs from my bungalow) My bag is also half in size now for Europe

So on the boat over to Koh Phangan, we came across this fish that our driver apparently felt he needed to turn the boat a complete 360 twice. This boat was big , it had about 300 people on it all trying to get to the island from the mainland. The driver turned the boat off and jumped in to wrestle the fish. He attempted 5 times, wrestling the fish and fighting to capture the thing. Sure enough he caught it, no one new what to do so half decided to cheer for him and the other remained confused as to why he stopped the boat to get this fish... it was quit the wrestle, he swam up to the side of the boat with the fish hanging from his finger in the eye socket, the guy was all smiles of course.

Bangkok city

reclining buddha

this lady at first was so happy and tried to make me eat those purple things, I did it was a fruit...then she tried to make me buy them i said no and she got mad and showed me her no teeth and threw the peels at me.

Bangkok temples

Thailand was good relaxing fun, we ate good food, partied hard, met tons of people and the beaches were amazing. I dont know where my camera was half the time because I feel like I didn't take half of the pictures I should have... India on the other hand, I have tons...that post will be up soon!

We are in Austria right now and intend to do 16 citys in 33 days Eurothon whad up! So I will try to get India up soon.

Oi from Australia! MORE PICS!

A map of the places we went so you get an idea of how much we covered in 4 weeks.... (all the blacked out right coast)

Brisbane and Whitsundays (Hamilton Island)

Fifth Island in 4 weeks, Fiji eat your heart out.
Australia: glorious weather, azure waters, brilliant white beaches, awe inspiring coral reefs all in a laid back luxury type of setting, yes tooheys extra dry included.

We arrive in Brisbane and are directed to our local travel agent mr Luke Moses, oh this should be good we thought. Someone with some experience knowledge perhaps on what the best way is to get around from all the destinations we have on our list. Destinations being the whole east coast of Australia. "Wow you have quit the trip ahead of you, its going to take forever, are you sure you will have enough time?" no Luke we are not sure, that’s why we are here asking you for some advice. "I can’t even tell you how long it will take to drive from Brisbane all the way to Melbourne..." Ok Luke...perhaps you can get us to the Whitsunday’s? We knew we had options; we could catch a bus, maybe rent a car or just fly. A breeze, not a big deal.... just direct us Luke, we have not slept for 48 hours and we haven’t planned crap because that’s the whole point of this trip, no plans just go and figure it out so maybe you could help 2 young ladies out?

On a side note: The Whitsunday’s is perfectly situated in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, basically one of the most beautiful destination islands in Australia. Hamilton island is located in the cluster of the Whitsunday islands and is filled with yachtys, family’s, weddings, couples, and employees of the island who are carefree people working for the lifestyle not the dollar, ages from 20- 35, not really any backpackers and of course soon to be me and Sarah. The island has no cars, all golf carts, no open container laws, pools upon pools, beaches and views and also a crapload of cockatoos. It all makes us feel we are in a dream and we smile knowing we are a long way from Fiji island hell. We were fortunate to have an apartment given to us to use by Sarahs grandparents who own it. Ah luxury here we come!

Ok so...Luke MOFO Moses, we are informed we cannot drive to the Whitsunday’s ferry...this will take us "15 hours" (aussie time, in which we have come to find out they have a weird perception of how long it takes to get places) Ok so we can fly, can you book us some tickets, perhaps? ok, so basically mr smarty pants Luke booked us flights and a car for when we get back from the Whitsunday’s to drive our "forever" drive to Melbourne in hopes we will make it. We wanted a campervan but mr Luke informed us that they only come in standard stick shift form. (you try driving on the wrong side of the road with a massive van and a stick shift placed on the left side of you...yeah, pretty much the worse idea and an accident about to happen, so sadly we had to opt out of that one). Luke then told us it will take about 5 days to get to Melbourne driving straight through. What!

Ok so im calling Luke mr smarty pants because A) he booked us on the wrong flight on the wrong day and to the wrong airport. We showed up to be informed our plane left yesterday, What?! what the hell! We would have gotten on that thing yesterday if we knew he gave us the wrong itinerary. Yeah you think its no big deal the airline will fix it, bump us up to the next flight....yeah not really we have found out Australian airlines are whack ass! We lost that money we paid, we then had to play a gamble and buy a standby ticket for a couple hundred in hopes that 2 people do not show up and we get on. If you don’t get on that flight, you then loose that money and have to come back tomorrow and play some gambling again. Thanks, awesome! B) We found out there is an array of campers and no they are not all standard shift...yeah we could have researched this more, but remember we hadn’t slept in 48hrs and just wanted this stuff booked in and also figuring a travel agent could supply us with some useful information. Highly unlikely... C) It does not take 5 days to get to Melbourne; it took us about 12 hours. We Also could have flown directly to the Whitsunday island, but instead we had to get a cab to a boat to the island, upping the cost in transportation even more....Ohh Luke you are the smartest lil cookie we have ever met as a travel agent.... I must be mistaken but aren’t they supposed to know this somewhat crucial information of the best ways of getting around? Maybe im wrong.... Needless to say we made it to the Whitsunday islands on the flight that day because thankfully 2 people did not show up.

Lesson learned, book all your own stuff and ditch even the professional travel agents, they are hired by companies but do they really know anything and what you want? Going back to the old saying: If you want something done right do it yourself.

Brisbane

A small little city with a lot of shops, boutiques, culture, restaurants and bars. We strolled; we ate, drank, met some designy folks, got inspired and want to come back. We were eager to get to the Whitsunday’s. Believe it or not we arrive to a hostel and the first thing Sarah asked was if they had bed bugs... no it was not me who asked this and yes I burst out laughing on the spot.... the girl responded with a giggle and a long nooooooo like we are freaks. On a side note before we got to Australia all the backpackers we met in NZ were dissing on Australia that they have loads of bedbugs... made Sarah a lil freaked and myself well??? I will leave that up to you all to decide my thoughts on that one....

Hamilton Island

Ahhhh we finally made it by plane, cab, and boat. We arrive to our apartment to a view we are speechless over. The great barrier reef at our fingertips, pools lining the shores, cockatoos flying above, all smiles. What’s next? Crack open the minibar of course... needless to say there was a lot of that going on for the 6 days we were there. Along with beach bouncing, snorkeling, sailing, champagne, and taking in all the island had to offer. We met a group of "yachtys" (as we labeled them) on the island. Luke, Meg, Dunkin, Fabs and Ads. Our crew of friends for the next 5 days... they invited us to ride their boat jefeticca. She was a quick little beauty... we island hoped that day, of course had a day of road sodas in hand and everything seemed so bright and colorful that day. We cruised through the areas of the ocean only high tides allow you to be in and only had about an hour to get out of there before the tides went out. It was quit a thrill, sorta thought I was on the crocodile hunters boat looking for crockys...it was that swampy kind of water but no crocs :(.... We then headed back for a huge party of all the yachtys hanging out at the "boat house" on the docks. We met more friends shared laughs and beers. Had an amazing sunset and drank bubblys, ahh French bubblys and sunsets it makes me smile.


The view from our room!



day trip with the new friends




the people we met

The next few days consisted of us lying on the beach, snorkeling and having more sunset sails. Aka riding a huge sailboat and watching the sunset on the Great Barrier Reef. Pretty much magical. We were ever so lucky to meet our new friends as they hooked it up with all kinds of boat rides, to Whitehaven and catseye beach. Stuff people pay thousands for on that island. We were stoked to meet such cool people. Soon enough our 5 days merged into one long permacation. We partied and partied and had lots more bubblys and sunset cruises and a few charters. We also left the door open in our apartment and a cockatoo came in....Our new friends wanted us to stay and skip the rest of the trip but we decided to keep trekking because the rest of Australia hadn’t seen boots and Sarah in action. Hamilton Island was magic, dreamlike, pure beauty and essence. I will own something on that island or perhaps just return again in the near future...

Noosa/Frazer Island/Steve Irwins Zoo!

We drove 3 hours to Noosa after flying into Brisbane. Depressed, sad and cold from leaving pristine Hamilton Island we ended up at this hostel that was shit. But nothing is as bad as Fiji (this is what we tell ourselves every time we get in situations now)...We asked for a private room to get some sleep from our day of traveling away from all the party backpackers for the night. Ended up in a closet like room off a 8 bed dorm room, with mice running around in the walls (why did we pay more for this? sometimes I think I have the big word sucker written across my head) , basically not your standard type of room....we wanted the Whitsunday’s, how could we have been in such a nice place 8 hours ago, WAH! But whatever it seems to be the standard, we get nice then we get crap, the crap days are the days we seem to want to drink more... Anyhow the next day we ditched that place and headed to a much better hostel, with awesome people and clean sheets. Otherwise the town of Noosa, can be related in looks to a small New England ocean like town. It has tons of shops and little restaurants as well a nice beach, surf and fishing.

Australia Zoo
aka Steve Irwin the croc hunters zoo!! (still in Noosa)

Kangaroos, Crocks, Kowalas, Turtles, Wallabeeys, Dingos, Turtles over 200 years, Wombats, Tazmanian Devils, Dingos and Kookaburras all located in this massive zoo. We even saw the new Croc guy who is taking over for Steve Irwin; he got all crazy close to these massive crocs. This place was so much fun, I felt like a kid again. I even got to pet a Kangaroo! They have this huge field you just go up and hang out with the kangaroos. I also almost got a bird slammed into me. Or so I thought... a bird was coming at me and I dodged it like it was a bullet, everyone pretty much saw me do some crazy dodge move, found it humorous and were laughing crazy at how stupid I looked... I thought I was going to have bird all over me, but yeah Sarah then informed me that the thing was about 5 feet away from me. Sweet!

Frazer Island
A place of exceptional beauty, it has 75 miles of uninterrupted white beaches flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs, and over 100 freshwater lakes ringed by white sandy beaches. Ancient rainforests grow along the banks of the crystal-clear sandy creeks. (Imagine how creeks are always rocky, dirty like these were Caribbean blue water creeks with sand) This whole island has more sand than the Sahara desert. It is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 600 feet! You can only get to the island by a charter, bringing your 4 wheel car on the island to get around. This is also one of the most dangerous beaches in Australia because of the man eating sharks and the fact that the beach is so big, it is not even safe to swim here.
We saw some whales breach, we swam in the lakes and streams, visited the Meheno ship that was shipwrecked on the beach in 1935, and drove on this 75 mile beach in a huge 4 wheel bus and thought we were going to die because the driver was whipping around in the sand in this large school like bus.
Shipwreck

colored sands

Surfer’s paradise
Reminds me of mrytle beach, malls, cheesy stores, people selling stuff on the sand, and weird fashion. We stopped in as quickly as we left. It was on our list to get a kebab there, I don’t know why but everyone raves about the kebabs so we got one and they were good!

the car we cruised all over australia in, much larger than the mini in NZ.... the lady at avis felt bad for us, i think she new something we didnt (aka how luke moses screwed us maybe?) so she gave us an "upgrade" to a holden, the car was big, so we called it big bertha because it felt like a grandpa car and it doubled in size from lil bb.

Byron Bay
Land of the furthest eastern tip in Australia, remarkable views, amazing surf, cafes and yoga to be had everywhere. This small town has a laid back feel "no worries" nothing can touch us and our sunsets relaxed vibe. A hippy land where the gardeners grow fresh herbs and the smell is so sweetly apparent. Everyone is in a bubble here, the place is crazy. It’s as if nothing is going on the world. Being there for 3 days I must have gotten walked into 15 times, almost taken out on a bike 3 times and another car nearly missing our car 10 times.
We headed out to a local bar and took in the scene; we saw a live band and met some locals. One of whom was dressed in a cowboy getup and started taking pictures of our feet.... weird I know. We met some other locals who showed us the "outs" and took us to some crazy bars/clubs. Then we ended up on a beach, and then back into a bar, twas a long night of seeing what Bryon was all about. But all in good fun.

We rented bikes, took a ride up the coast to see the lookout point and came upon a completely surreal scene of surfers and dolphins all sharing the waters and waves as the sun was setting, I wanted this moment to last forever. Except I had to tread back on a bike and come to realize how I am out of shape and couldn’t breathe as I try to tread up this hill. So naturally we reward ourselves and buy a six pack. Beers on bikes can’t be as bad as hippys on drugs. We then rode into a drum session as the sun was setting. Basically anyone who owns a drum comes to this spot to play and howl at the sun setting, quit the scene. The rest of the days, included more beach, walking around, cafes and Tooheys extra dry.

Somewhere along the way to Melbourne we stopped at this weird banana place...first off bananas are super expensive in Australia like 1.50 for one banana, this place decides to grow them in the middle of nowhere and attract tons of people and then dip the bananas in chocolate and sell them by the bunch.... sarah is holding a chocolate dipped banana and yeah i have no more words....

We headed to Newcastle, for the wine country, tried all kinds of wines...sooo good. We made it to Melbourne! Its an artsy european city with lots of flair and style. It has small "laneways" that are super hip with cafes, coffee shops and great lil botiques. We checked the nightlife out, was a mix between east village and club like very intersting...had a chance to catch a local band, eat late night grub, meet some locals and naturally, party...

unclear pics= really good wine






i love melbourne street art, hot!



We drove the great ocean road















Stopped in Canberra, then to sydney. Which is were we are located now. We leave for Thailand, full moon party and then to India, sooo I dont really know when i will have time to update more! Time is flying, So sorry if Im a slack ass on this!


Sydney
After trecking it all the way down to melbourne and back up to Sydney our final destination in Australia, we had 4 days of taking in the sights. Sydney was a cool city to see, we partied, met up with some friends from hamilton island and the time flew...soon enough australia was over and we are off to thailand.

sarah and her chipper self, natually with a beer in hand

Australia was awesome, everyone has to see it...the best beaches I have ever seen.

New Zealand

ok first off sorry for not posting in like forever, how boring for you guys beacuse I know you are all checking this like every 5 mintues to see what im doing :)



The land of huge mountains and small cars surrounded by water and beauty. The Flight to Auckland NZ was heaven, sarah and I were all smiles, I ordered a bloody mary hoping to wash away all that fiji beer. We ate the most amazing plane food ever. Apart from our FIJI experience we were happy travelers once again, ahhhh. Crowne Plaza here we come. We arrived in Auckland and kissed the ground of the clean hotel room and large beds. We were physced to be back in the land of civilization and real food. First things first, no not beer :( laundry.... to wash away all the filth that we brought with us from Fiji. We ordered room service, both took about an hour steaming hot shower we were close to heaven....

We walked around Auckland for the day, a business like city comparable to wall street south street seaport.

Caught a flight from Auckland to Christchurch heading to the south island to snowboard and hit up the winter fest!

Christchurch: amazing hostel cleaner than a hotel, met new nz friends kiwis they call themselves, drank like we did in fiji experienced Christchurch nightlife and how kiwis cant dance for crap also saw a live local band ohh fun times...

Rented a car, the smallest thing ever,I swear we could park it sideways. It was a suzki swift we named her blueberry bb for short (creative i know), we have to drive on the left side of the road with the steering wheel also on the left its so hard to back the car up. An English man told us maybe the Americans drive on the right side of the road but its not the proper side of the road...ohhh dis from the english man!




we drove about 2 hours to mt hutt picked up a hitchhiker with a snowboard trying to get to the mountain, I dont know what we were thinking squeezing him in the car but we did and he was happy

road block to mt hutt



OHHH Hotness!


the hitchhikers name was Andreas, he traveled from country to country looking for the best snow aka pow and work to keep him snowboarding. he is going on his second year of doing this.

we had to put chains on our car to drive up this treterious snow covered rocky path that had falling rock signs and avalanche signs. The chains that came with the rental car were broken. We hoped A) our car didnt drop off this massive cliff edge and B) our little wheels wouldn't pop. C)I wish we took pics of this but we were freaking out because we had such a little car and didnt know what was going on and if we could make it up there.

Needless to say we made it and I was stoked once we made it to the top, a huge mountain snow covered in new Zealand, that I was about to ride. A happy bootsy at last


The views were amazing the mountain range was our playground, The trails open and free to ride anywhere. A challenge the east coast mountains dont give you. Powder everywhere.



I met alot more people going on the lifts and riding down, everyone is so interesting and has a story of how they got there and what they are doing, some very inspirational folk out there.

Sarah was in her own challenge as she is a beginner skier, she did awesome and came out of it with nothing broken and all smiles




I missed my brothers and snowboard friends, I wanted them all there with me so we could race down the mountain. (BIATCHES WE HAVE TO GO BACK THERE!!!!)

We stayed in a little lodge called Breckenridge in the town methaven about 20 mins from mt hutt It was run by a couple living on the property. The place was your typical log cabin lodge, they offered everything and more to us. The lady running the place was so loopy and smiley, I loved it.... The views from the lodge were of the mountain we just rode on.



To queenstown we went. 6 hour drive through the mountain range, stopping at lake Tekapo and taking in the views. Literally driving through the mountain range, we had treterious mountain road after another, oh our lil bb she will make it and hope those chains dont pop off

arrived in queenstown the city is buzzing, its like a city met a log cabin ski town, the air was brisk and cold and the fire places were smokin

The remarkables were the next set of mountains to conquer. Amazing views and snow I smile as I write this. The thought of riding at the end of july in new Zealand.....



A full 8 hours of riding need i say more?


we partied that night and the next :)




Queenstown proves to be a place I want to come back too and offers amazing food and drinks





One more night in NZ, we headed to lake Tekepo, a glacier lake, the water bluer than the Caribbean. Stayed in a cozy cabin hostel, met others, drank, made food and listened to this loud lady all the through the night talk about nothing because she had too much wine. needless to say my ear plugs came in handy...





on our way back we stopped at this awesome cookie shop, ohh those cookies were good



We had to get to christchurch for a flight back to Auckland to fly out to Brisbane Australia. We had to boogy quickly in lil bb, we did manage to have an amazing meal right before leaving nz with some Belgium beers and huge buckets of mussels. It was to prepare us for a long night in the airport to catch our 6 am flight out.

We camped out in the airport, "the terminal" movie style ya know the one with tom hanks in it. Yeah like that.....

Aussie here we come!!!

+++++++++

Would I recommend New Zealand? without a doubt, driving down the coast was the most amazing part with views of the mountains, untouched lands and pastures all around you. It was used for the set of Lord of the rings, so picture that....

Currently listening to " the national" - daughters of the soho riots

Currently located in Australia on the Noosa coast heading to Fraser island

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the world of FIJI and its water: dont be fooled

We arrived in fiji set up our plans, 2 nights on the main island (coral
coast) at a hostel called the "beachhouse" popular for being used as a film set for a london reality tv show and 2 nights on a smaller island called mana, at another hostel with our private "bungalow" (i used quotes on that one for a reason). Oooh our first experience of hostels, we were introduced so comfortably and fell right in a mudd pit.

grrr im trying to post pics but this stupid slowass computer will not let me, ill try to do updates later :(

The beachhouse was a quiet little village, beach front, filled with backpackers from all over and equipped with the most welcoming friendly Fijian staff. Ahh we were in heaven and didnt even know it. After a 12 hour flight and 2 hour bus ride to get there, sarah and I headed to the bar. First things first get a beer because we are on vaca. We slowly slipped into dazed and confused, looked around wondered why noone else was drinking but us. About 2 hours later as we sit at the bar, we were informed that it was only 10 am. Yeah dont ask, basically we missed the whole tuesday due to crossing the international date line and were 5 hours and a day ahead of nyc time. So we drank more thinking this would help?...





The next 2 days consisted of us going to a waterfall, swimming, hiking in the jungle, and being apart of a kava ceremony in the night hours, which is basically drinking this muddy water that is suppose to make you hallucinate. The ceremony is part of some old fiji tradition. I was named chief because I was from the US? I got to drink the Kava first which is probably not awesome because I would be the first to die, which is the reasoning maybe why i was named chief because of where I was from? Anyhow, Did I hallucinate? Probably not like the malaria pills will make me....

MANA ISLAND/ FIJI (the second location after the beachhouse)

Aboard a boat, in the waters of beauty. Fiji what you see in the pictures, what you think of when you drink the water out of the trendy water bottles. We were in it, the bright aqua blue waters and the excitement to get to the island in our private bungalow. Nothing but smiles as we cruise the boat.



We arrive to be greeted by 2 men who were so eager to carry our backpacks, (hey take it that thing is like 100 pounds...) They bring us to this gate and the first words as we are about to cross in are "welcome to Alcatraz" I laugh, and do not realize this was my big red sign saying turn around. How could it be that bad? private bungalow, on the beach all meals included, great deal, booked it at the airport because it got "rave" reviews as being brand new from this lady helping us. We found out the island consists of 2 sides, separated by a fence. The nice side was a huge resort owned by a Japanese guy. We thought we were heading there.....

So basically to make a long story short, the bungalow was not a bungalow.
It was shared with this German lady, separated by a door and a thin wall sorta like a curtain. The bed looked like it was going to cave in, the bathroom like nothing you would feel clean after showering, you know the type you see at a gas station on a road trip, the only place in 100 miles and you have to go so bad so you ignore the filth and run outta there. There were no lights during the day to conserve energy and probably so we could not see clearly, and with the hopes in the evening return plastered to see nothing at all. Genius whoever made this rule up, nice way to save electricity....We were stuck, we came on the last boat for the night. So when in doubt head to the bar. As long as theres beer I think we can do this.... We arrive to the bar to find out all the beer is gone because go figure all the people staying there the night before drank it all, hmmm i wonder why. With reassurance we were told that more was on its way, we headed to the beach and waited.

The beach: the water was filled with sneakers, clothes, bottles, naked fiji kids and in between there was some crystal blue water, where are we?? Who could have possibly rated this as being brand new and with the title of a private bungalow. I wanted to have a word with them and also punch them in the face....

Home seemed so far away from here... We found about 6 others who have seemed to fall into the same trap. 4 guys from England, and A couple name Chiara and Perry from Denmark, within minutes we shared stories and were best of friends. Dinner that night consisted of rice, some kind of meat (couldn't tell ya) fried potatoes, and a couple choices of rolls, that which had an ant farm coming out of mine. No choice but to laugh, and finally beer has arrived, bring it on cause its gonna be a long night.

A few hours later, about 6 40 size beers gone, I found myself on the beach around a camp fire with the 4 English, the Denmarks and about 10 other locals watching the guy who carried my bag and welcomed me to Alcatraz (Leroy was his name) fire dancing. I was amused..... not really, I drank more until I could not see, this sounds bad but if any of you were to see this room, Sarah and I decided that this was going to be the worse of the trip and to drink is what we had to do to stay here and mission accomplished...3 hours later as the sun was rising, we were awoken to the German lady staying next to us having a little too much fun, fun that we all don't want to hear. You New Yorkers I know can relate with the way our apartments are, except imagine a curtain separating your apartments. We were confused, who could it be she is with, she came alone, we have met everyone on the island, could it be the fire dancer local guy, Leroy?? GROSS! Im not going on anymore, Ive just decided you guys have heard enough..... to the beach I went to swim off the beer I have drank the night before. Salt water cure all for hangovers. Hopefully this day goes by quick.... we contemplated to leave the island somehow, escape....

ME putting that stupid fire out


The kitchen they made our food in!



THE BEER WE DRANK TO SLEEP!! and then some.....

We went to the "other side" of the island to see if we could just get a room, buy out of our prepaid crap and buy into the resort. Be a "flashpacker" - backpackers with money... We were told in these exact words without even asking " the cheapest room is 400 dollars" followed by a look up and down. This included a simple room, no air conditioning, no fan, possibly shared bathroom. What a rip off, we decided we could just suck up the room we had the same way we did the night before. We went to the candy shop to get some candy and were told since we were backpackers and were not staying on that resort we could not purchase the candy!!!!!!????????? I was so livid I wanted to blow up the whole island.

So I marched back to the hell side, never feeling so discriminated in my whole entire life and ordered up the bar once again. My diet consisted of Fiji Bitter in a 40, at least I looked good in a bathing suit because I haven't eaten in 2 days. The dinner that night was some fish crap in some weird soup, yes I tried it but I wanted to barf, who serves soup in 100 degree weather and swimming in bones?? The couple from Denmark (Chiara and Perry) Sarah and I finished the bar that night (really Im not an alcholic, really) and wandered around our locked in compound, stumbled into another Kava ceremony with tons more hostelers (where did they come from I thought?)shared laughs, and stories on this place. In the back of our heads, the thoughts of knowing once we arrive in Auckland NZ we are going to the crowne plaza with 2 huge beds, a huge clean shower, and the idea of ordering room service....its what made us keep going. Are we snots? I thought, no i reassured myself we have standards and I know even the grungiest most tolerable person would have a word to say about this place.

Late night, we then experienced the "street rats" the posse of the village looking for trouble, they picked on us because they assumed we weren't staying in their hostel, (but where else would we be staying, we wouldnt be there if we were apart of the other side?) Junior was the ring leaders name. He got in my face telling me to go home, I informed him I would if I could, but Im stuck in this craphole. I also then informed him that I was staying at his hostel, to which he then stoped yelling and decided I was his new best friend and hugged me. Where the hell are we????? All I wanted was another beer, my own bed and some food but we supposedly we drank all the beer, i couldnt buy a candy bar and my bed was far from there, WAH!.... Due to our run in with the street rats, the amazing couple Chiara and Perry from Denmark, opened their much cleaner bungalow filled with about 8 beds and 2 fans to us, as ours only had one bed, no fan, roaches and ant farms. We were saved by our new friends. Finally a decent nights sleep a unification of hostelers sticking together and incase the street rats came to bother us again...That next morning we slammed packed our bags in a hurry, caught the earliest boat out, went to the airport, ordered the biggest pizza and sodas ever and laughed at what just the hell happened to us, so much for our relaxing fiji experience. On to cold NZ and snowboarding, wooooo hooooo! I can not wait, by morning we will be there at last the time as passed out of FIJI.

The Bathroom!




Below is a quoted paragraph email from our new friends Chiara and Perry, on their escape of Alcatraz...

"We tried to get our money back for the days we're not sleeping or eating there, by telling them I was so sick, "she had to go back to the mainland to see a doctor", but they didn't buy it... (ofcourse!!!) We spent 1,5 hours in a boat, with a driver who probably got his boat licence free with 3 bar-codes from beer bottles... Even a toddler would have brought us back more comfortable. But it couldn't ruin our mood at all: WE ESCAPED FROM ALCATRAZ!!! Woohoo!

oh, they only had 2 beers left on the day you left... So we couldn't drink ourselves to sleep that night.."

First lesson learned in traveling:
-never prepay for a private bungalow and all meals included unless you have seen pictures and have done your research on the place. Dont go off of locals advice....

would I recommend Fiji? Yes but not the island I went on, If you have money and you plop yourself at a resort your gold like the beer!

currently listening to "must be the moon" !!! - myth takes

currently located in- queenstown, NZ 6:30 pm cold and rainy evening, just ate a fergburger about to go drink at the winter fest

highfive!

LA bound

Sarah and I have started the jet set around the world no better way than to head to LA to meet up with some old college friends and boogy it down. Couldn't think of a better way to start a world tour.

Flight #1 5 hours of a 2 year old crying

50 more flying hours to go weeeee!

My backpack is about 45 pounds, i might just fall over, ill let ya know

Heading to Fiji in 2 hours

so much fun in LA, MJ you were missed

day 3 of beers, my high life tastes so good right now

whad up world tour 07

the flights

LA>>>>
FIJI>>>>
New Zealand>>>
Australia>>>>>
Thailand>>>>
India>>>>
Europe (Germany)>>>>
NYC

it all feels so surreal