Plans so far

Arrive in Melbourne March 11.  Stay about 5 days.  Steve 'introduced' me on facebook to some punks he knows, so hopefully I can crash there.  Would be AMAZING to know people right away, and have people to party with/place to crash.

Head out of Melbourne around March 16.  Wanted to check out Adelaide at this point, but no time if I want to get to Cairns when Tom and Tara are there.   So head to Perth right from Melbourne (hopefully this works for Lisa), get there on the 17th. Stay in Perth about 3 days.  

Head from Perth to Exmouth. This should be about the 20th.  Here, I'll get my SCUBA certification and dive around coral bay.  HELLS YES.  Will be here at least 5 days, as the course itself is 4.

From here, I'd like to head straight to Cairns, as thats where Tom and Tara will be from the 28-31. But I can't find any direct ways to get from Exmouth to Cairns.  I'll have to get to Broome somehow, and from there I can fly to Cairns.  So, if I leave Exmouth on the 26, spend a day in Broome, then get to Cairns on the 28th.

This is where I think I'll spend a LOT of time.  Gonna surf with Tom and Tara, then when they leave, I'll want to do a LOT of diving, and might finally skydive as well.  And there is just SO MUCH stuff to do around here.  Tjapukai, Fitzroy Island, and I get so crazy excited reading about Atherton Tablelands I almost wish I could pee myself.  THe more I read, the more time I know I'll need.  Lets see... surf/dive in Cairns from the 28-April 2, then spend time in Kuranda (Atherton), until April 7?  Goddamn I need to research more.

From Kuranda I'll then head back into the middle, checking out Alice Springs/Uluru, then heading over to Flinders Ranges.  This gets me to about April 15.  HEad into Sydney, stay there about 3 days, checking out Blue Mountains, then back into Melbourne to leave on the 20th.


Uuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhh... okay I think I may be planning a bit too much.  I really need to plan this better, I can already imagine I'll have to cut out the whole Exmouth plan and just head straight up to Cairns from Perth, it'll give me more time.  But I don't wanna.  I wanna do it all!

Panic mode ON

Why.  Why did I think I could do this???? I'm reading my guide to Australia and every time I get excited thinking 'I get to GO THERE!!!', the joy is followed up by immediately panicking and being hardly able to breathe.  I barely 'backpacked' around Belize/Guatemala for TWO WEEKS.  Two weeks.  On a trip already planned out from start to finish by Sarah, and with 2-3 other people.  So of course it makes purrfect sense to then plan a solo, six-week tour all alone, and to buy my ticket as a way of forcing myself to actually do it.  Yeesh.  Gawdammit!

One kind of sucky thing is that there WILL be some things I really won't have the balls to do.  Like a six-day Overland trek.  Def can't do that alone.  I'm not an experienced hiker at all, and the thought of sleeping in a little tent alone outside makes me want to cry.  That's something I wish I had a partner for, because it would be amazing.

So far, plan is: (without adding the smaller stops that I haven't looked in to yet)
Fly into Melbourne.  Stay in Melbourne about 4 nights.

Begin heading west.  Probably stop in Victoria and Adelaide, but want to look into whats available deeper inland.  Want to read more about Lake Torren and Flinders ranges.

Unless I find something I really, really want to do along the way, from here I'll probably head straight to Perth, to see my friend Lisa from Toronto.  Hopefully the dates line up for her.  She said her boyfriend can help me surf :D

Then I'll start heading north but probably along the coast, I see both Shark Bay and Carnarvon on the map, might look at doing SCUBA certification here if its available, and def stay for some outback coast tours.

From there, heading inland to Uluru.  Def dont' want to skip that.

From there, heading up to Cairns  This will be end of March, and Tom and Tara from Ottawa will be there.  Surf with them a couple of days, then dive in the Great Barrier Reef.  Get scuba if haven't done so already.  I have a feeling my longest stay will be in this area, anywhere from 1-2 weeks.  Want to spend a lot of time in Atherton.

From there, I'll start making my way down to Sydney.  Its just awful whats happenign in the rest of Queensland right now, I may look into some short-term volunteer opportunities if they're available and if I can make any difference in just a few days.

Spend a few days in Sydney, then depending on timing may just have to head back to Melbourne to come home.

This is a very, very loose idea, I haven't looked into any transportation things or anything yet.  This is just from viewing the map.  Also there are possibilities of meeting up with a couple of somewhat familiar faces in and around Melbourne, so this may change my plans a bit.   One is this dude Mark I went to high school with, but he's leaving Aus mid-march I think so it may not happen, and that cute Brit J should be kicking around somewhere when I arrive.

I really, really want to visit Tasmania.  But it's where the things that scare me the most are.  I've been saying for YEARS that my dream vacation is to hike through Australia.  Tasmania seems like th best place to do it, but I can seriously see me losing my mind and crying myself to sleep a few times.  I dunno.  And it would take up at least a week of my time there and I don't have a whole lot of it.

Planning planning planning.   Hopefully I'm not just planning my own brutal death by surfboard and shark bite.

I love Sarah

Sarah makes me smile.  She just said  'the great thing about travelling is that there can't be drama - even when it starts, you just leave town'. SO TRUE!

It's really happening...

I was scared I was going to pussy-out, so when I found a ticket online today for $500 less than I'd expected, I went ahead and BOUGHT IT!!! HELLO AUSTRALIA!  Leaving Ottawa March 9, returning April 20.  Fuck yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Planning planning

Okay, so Cuba wasn't a big success.  Luckily Belize/Guatemala WAS, so I'm still holding on to the travel bug.

So, Australia next.  I've been planning on heading there around beginning of March, for two months, but now there are two small changes.  For one, I don't think I want to do two whole months for my first big travel, and my first SOLO travel.  So I'm going to do six weeks.  And second change, is I won't be leaving until March 10, so I can go see LADY FUCKING GAGA.  Hells yes.  With Alanna, Dusty, and DD.  If anyone thinks it's odd that I'm postponing my trip in order to see Lady Gaga with a bunch of punks, you clearly don't know me very well, hahah.

So, Australia for six weeks in March.  Then...duh duh duh... I'm postponing moving back to Toronto for school from this year til next year.  Too much traveling to do, plus I'm not ready to move back there just yet.  So, this means I can head to England/France for six weeks in the fall.  Then next year, I plan to do Thailand, and not sure on the second one, but I'll be doing two 4-6 week trips then.   Aaaaaah.  So much to see!

Home time yet?

Can we go home yet?  Today is our last day here, and while I know we both will enjoy the sun and the waves, both of us would be so much happier if we could just get HOME.  We've learned for sure, that if doing the resort thing, SPEND MORE MONEY.  Getting a cheaper place has meant terrible food, shitty service, NOTHING available to you when the restaurants close, etc etc.  And the place is full of barely-legal French assholes who scream and pick fights. 

The week hasn't been terrible by any means.  But, besides the dolphins and my initial excitement at swimming in the ocean waves, nothing has been spectacular either.  I'm currently COVERED in bug bites (definitely not bedbugs, don't worry!).  Like actually covered.  About ten on my left thigh three on my left calf, not sure how many on my right leg, one enormous one on my ass, and a bunch on my upper arms too. YAY!  Bug bites are sexy!

We tried to make last night a Party Time night, but basically failed.  We checked out the resort disco but neither of us really felt like dancing much on the liquid-soaked floor, cause we could barely stand on it without slipping, and they kept playing crappy American music like Taylor Swift, followed by Cuban music, followed by Ke$ha.  Weird.  Neither of us were really into it, but we sat in the common area and had a couple drinks before heading back to our room around midnight.  OH YES we know how to party!

Right now all I can think of is how happy I am to be going home tomorrow.  Its too bad.  I wish we'd had the time of our lives.  For me, I don't think that will ever be possible on a resort.  I keep thinking how I wish I'd had a nice little hotel in Havana, so I could have taken my time, walking through gorgeous old Havana, being able to just sit and look around in the squares, having time to enjoy a nice, relaxing meal at one of the pretty little cafes, being able to just soak up the sun and people-watch.  Rather than have six days on the beach and one day there, I wish it had been opposite.  One day on the beach would have been enough for me, and six days spent on the move, seeing MORE. 

30 hours til I'm home to my wonderful little furry feline family, where I will revel in the kittycat love, while planning out my trip to Australia.  Two months til I head out for my first solo trip, I'm soooo fucking nervous for this!  But I can't WAIT :D :D :D :D

Dolphins!

Today, we swam with dolphins.  One gave me the tongue, twice! HAHAHA!  Amazing. 

  Want this to never end  Never ever ever EVER.

THE OCEAN

I take back everything negative I've said.  It's 12:22pm, Ive spent my morning swimming the waves in the Atlantic Ocean, an soaking up the sun while drinking mojitos.  LOVE.  Want this to never end  Never ever ever EVER.

Havana

Back in bed after a day spent in Havana.  Havana was incredibly beautiful.  Unfortunately, we went on a tourbus there, which meant we had about 5-15 minutes in each area before we were herded back onto our bus.  It was nice, because if we'd gone on our own we wouldn't have had a chance to see everything we did, but at the same time, we didn't get to actually SEE anything.  It was like, 'Okay, we're in Revolution Square.  You have five minutes to take pictures then get back on the bus'.  Uhhhh.....seriously????

Tomorrow we're going to take the bus into Varadero to check out that town, and hopefully find an adapter so I can charge my camera battery, otherwise I'll be done with photos by tomorrow night.   I looked in the Ottawa airport before leaving, and asked at the resort, and no dice.  Monday should be the best day of the trip, we're heading out on a catamaran and are going to SWIM WITH DOLPHINS.  Oh yes.

I'm tryng really hard to remain positive, but honestlly, I'm hating almost everything about the all-inclusive resort experience.  People who work here are paid so low they're literally pushing each other out of the way to try and serve us to get tips, and since the drinks are free, Imade myself finish my last sangria before coming back to the room, so I could get a refill, but chugging that drink has only resulted in me having a swollen, full stomach from drinking too much. 

So far I can definitely say at least I've seen enough of Cuba to know I want to see more.  To come back to Havana and actually spend time there, not just take a photo to show I've stood in that spot. 

The biggest difference so far between this and my last trip is that I can't WAIT to get home.  I' already thinking of going to Montreal and giving cigars to my men and partying while drinkinkg the rum I bring back.  But on my last trip, even though I love some people back home more than life itself, going back wasn't an active thought.  I wanted to keep going, going, going.  Being on a resort, I could go home tomorrow and honestly not feel like I've missed anything, even though I've only spent one day on the resort so far.  And it was fun! We layed in the sun, watched an incredible sunset, and met some decent people.  Not a bad day at all - but not my kind of day.  I want adventure!  Or at least,  I don't want to only be able to get breakfast between certain hours of the day because thats the only time the resort will feed us. 

Whine whine whine huh?  At least I'm not home in Canada, with blizzards of snow whipping me in the face!  I guess I'll shut up now :P

So far...so shitty

So far, this experience has shown me how I never would have traveled again if I'd let this be my first 'travel' experience.

Flight was fine, but upon arrival  - shitshow.  We get on a bus to our resort with a family of 21-francophone assholes, who think its funny to interrupt our guide by doing things like sing 'who let the dogs out', and who clearly know that they are more important than the rest of us, which they prove by actually pushing me out of the way at the reception desk so they can check in first.  Awesome. 

We check in, then are told to wait for the bellboy.  So we wait...and wait...and wait.  Finally he comes, looks at our room number, and moves on to another group.  Um, hello?? I'm losing my fuckign mind at this point - all I want is to check in to my room.  One guy then takes our bags one way, while another guy smiles at us and goes another....ugh.  We eventually get to our room, wait a half hour for our bags to join us, I wash my face and relax and head for a drink.  The ONE bar that is open has no cups.  Oh yes I'm serious.  I ask for a bottle of water, something, ANYTHING I can drink.  Nope! Sorry lady!  So, three hours after I arrive, they can't make me a drink.  LIVID. 

Eventually, we got some drinks.  Try to relax.  But relaxing isn't really possible when you're in a place full of kids screaming WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! and falling all over themselves. 

Oh, and there's no internet access.  I hadn't anticipated this, based on the readily available wifi in Belize, so I haven't fully planned out where I want to go while here. 

Oh, last thing to bitch about - there is actually only ONE place open on the resort right now.  And the only food they have is crappy ham sandwiches, and they have no bottles of water.  They said the water should be in our room, but there isn't.  And the wind is blowing our window so badly it feels like the room is shaking.  So I'm hoping, tomorrow when we wake up in the sun, and can prepare to have food and water in the room, things will be better.  I hope.  I hope I hope I hope.  

Two days until Cuba!

Its weird to realize how quickly the urge to travel can fade away once you're back in the regular grind.  I don't even have a regular job, but just being back in Ottawa, back to the usual, is enough to have made me think a few times, do I really want to fuck off to Australia for two months?  Is that something I can do?

But then I look at the photos Sarah has posted, of things I wasn't there to see, and I know that YES, I have to go.  It's so easy to just stay, and do the normal - but what fucking fun is that?  It's odd too, because anyone here who knows me knows that I'm a very solitary person.  But the idea of being alone for two months - it's a little terrifying, and a little exhilarating.  I hate to admit that in some way I wish I had someone to share it with me.  I hate that because I am single by choice, but there is a part of me that wishes I wouldn't be trekking all over a foreign country alone. Hahaha maybe I'll try and sneak She-Ra into my bag, he's my soulmate anyway so he should be my travel partner :P

I'm off to Varadero, Cuba, in two days, with my sister Tracey, and it's going to be a blast.  But it's weird, I'm packing and am able to bring whatever the hell I want, because we're staying in one place the whole time - so I don't have to shove everything into one backpack.  It'll be very different from my last trip, and from my next trip, but it should still be great.  I definitely want to head to Havana for at least a day, if not more, and I'm going to take advantage of all of the crazy little activities they have.  This will likely be the only time I ever do an all-inclusive resort thing, so look out bartenders, PARTY TIME is on it's way!