Our Last Stint

A late night/early morning and many laughs with Jamie ended our holiday in America on a high. Today we hopped on a plane, prepared for twenty-four hours of flying. We got through the first flight of nine hours with no sleep and company of some good movies, like this one. The second flight, we managed to get 7 uncomfortable hours of sleep and the view of a gorgeous sunrise. It didn't take long to get through customs and security in Sydney but due minor delays we missed our flight to Adelaide, which then followed by us being informed that Jamie {apparently} didn't have a ticket home. A couple hours later, and after some communication with staff and our travel agent we sorted the problem out and were on our way to our home city {after picking up some of these of course!}. Joining some Australian olympic athletes and an ex-Getaway cameraman we made it home to see family greeting us at the gate. Excitement filled my body to see these friendly faces and to start sharing stories. I stayed up as late as I could to try and conquer jet-lag.

Some things I've learnt and realised while being away in America & Canada

• I love ice-cream {sometimes way too much!}.
• God's timing is perfect and He will get us through anything and everything.
• Everything involving a public toilet is automatic - the flush, the water, the soap, the dryer.
• Tipping is a must,  not an option.
• 1 cent coins are a pain and have no use {no wander we got rid of them!}. They are easy to collect but hard to give away.
• Public transport is easy and inexpensive.
• Wake-up calls were lifesavers.
• I love adrenaline rushes
• I love my family and friends an incredible amount. For their support, prayers, thoughts and guidance prior, during and after this trip.
• Chill out time is sometimes just as important as a jam-packed day.
• Money has a skill of disappearing faster than expected.

Hello Canada!

We got little sleep after washing our clothes and finalising our plans for today but managed to get up for a complimentary breakfast. We ate way too much delicious food but it sustained us until a late lunch. We caught our plane at 10:10am with no delays or hassles. Yay! Our plane was much littler than normal. The trip flew {literally!}, we were up in the air and down again before we knew it. Once we arrived in Vancouver we waited in a long line to get through customs and get our passports stamped again. We caught a taxi to the Greyhound bus station which was where we withdrew our first amount of Canadian currency {Canadian money is much 'prettier' than american money!} We organised and paid for our bus ride to Whistler which was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm. Our bus ride was two and half hours. Mr J slept. I witnessed the most beautiful landscapes and scenery I have ever seen! Canada is incredible and this was only the start! We arrived in Whistler and found our hotel without too much hassle. 7.30pm came around very quickly which was when we started meeting the other 50 people on our Contiki tour. Surprisingly over half of them are Australians {we are the only Adelaide-ians}, along with other people from America, England, Mexico, Germany and France. There even is another Teagan on the trip {spelt T-e-g-a-n though}!!We went out for dinner with everyone which followed drinks in the hotel bar. It has been very easy to talk to people and fit in as everyone is in the same boat as us - they don't know anyone, they want to have fun, travel and make the most of their time. We are excited for the next 10 days! I can't wait to share with you what we will be involved in. Stay tuned.

Delays

It was strange to be catching a plane today and for it to not be at a ridiculous hour in the morning. I hadn't experienced that since I left Adelaide. We waved goodbye to New York City as we caught a shuttle bus to the airport. Jamie and I arrived 2 hours early to hear that our plane had been delayed by 1 hour, 15 minutes. We were now leaving at 5:15pm. Another announcement informed us it had been delayed again to 6:30pm. We were a little frustrated but at this rate we could still make our connecting flight in Portland so we stayed calm. Things changed fast... we were then delayed to 7:20pm. Majority of flights from New York were delayed or cancelled due to the weather and storms coming through. We understood that they are looking after our safety but also worried about our connecting flight and deadline to get to Vancouver. We got on the plane finally and were ready to take off. We still had hopes that we could make our Portland flight until the pilot announced that they had forgotten to cater the flight, they had to call the caterers to come and fill the plane with the appropriate refreshments. An hour later we found our selves moving on the runway. We were going to miss our flight. At this stage we had got all our frustration out and left it to God. We put this situation in His hands and trusted that everything would work out. Nothing we could do now, at least we were moving.

We arrived in Portland, Oregon airport 5 hours and 13 minutes later where staff had already re-booked our flight for the following day. This meant we would miss the departure of our Contiki tour from Vancouver tomorrow. I rang our tour guide and he was extremely helpful, he instructed us where to go, what transport to take and where to meet the group. We organised a hotel room close to the airport and caught a taxi there. A positive out of all of this was that we could do our washing, shower up and sleep in a very comfortable bed before a packed 11 days. Prayers that tomorrow goes smoothly.

Hit By New York

It was a struggle to wake up at 5:00am for our airport shuttle. You would think we would be used to the early morning flights, but we're not. Our flight arrived in New York half an hour early but the airport wasn't expecting this so we had to wait on the run way for about half an hour anyway. Jamie and I sat next to the flight attendant on the plane so we had the opportunity to talk to her about her job, she was also interested in our holiday. A shuttle bus took us from the airport to our hotel. Crazy! The traffic was crazy. We haven't seen anything like it, horns beeping, traffic merging into non-existent spaces. At this point we were thankful we didn't have to drive in this. As we were too early to check in, we dropped our luggage off and went for a walk to Times Square, only meters away from our hotel. It was overwhelming. Not only were there cars everywhere, but thousands of people. We didn't know what to do or where to go so we decided to activate our Hop on Hop off tours. This allowed us to hop on a bus and they showed us what to do, where to go and what surrounded us. After an hour and half bus ride we felt much better, we saw the outskirts of Central Park, the tallest bell tower in the world, Trump Tower, Lincoln Centre and the surrounds of Times Square. After our tour we went back to our hotel to find out we were on floor 24 (out of 52)! We have a lovely room with views of Times Square. We settled in and then enjoyed the yummiest meal I have ever eaten at 'Brazil Grill'. It was a stuffed pork with sundried tomatoes, spinach, cheese and prosciutto. Yum! Jamie enjoyed his steak too. We walked through the city that never sleeps back to our room. The tallest building in Adelaide would be half the size of New Yorks building. They are so high here. We are ready to do some more exploring and tours tomorrow.

Tampa, Florida

After speaking to my family on Skype, we caught out shuttle to the airport at 5:15am. We checked in (again - we are getting pro's at this!) and went through the security check - in America everyone has to take their shoes off for this aswell. We ate breakfast at the airport before boarding our 2.5 hour flight to Tampa, Florida.

We arrived at a hot, humid city where we had to catch a train to pick up our luggage. Jamie's Aunty, Uncle and cousin picked us up and showed us some of the sights on our way to our destination. Florida is beautiful! apparently they think they are in drought, but to our eyes it is green everywhere with hundreds of palm trees. We went back to where Jamie's relatives were staying to have lunch and relax before checking into our hotel. Meanwhile, I went shopping with Jamie's aunty. As you enter shops in America you realise they all smell different and nice, this is because they put fragrances through their air conditioners. Lovely!

We got to our hotel around 4.00pm. At this time we were experiencing one of Tampa's storms. Tampa received at least one storm at day. The temperature only drops slighting so it is still very warm but has lightning, DARK clouds and rain {when it rains here, it really rains!}.We watched the storm from our hotel window. We are very impressed with our room! The next 5 hours were a struggle to stay awake but we knew that's what we had to do to beat jet lag. We went out for tea at Cafe Alfresco - approx 10 minute walk where we were served by a lovely waiter. As this was our first meal out in America we didn't know how to go about tipping. We asked our waiter and he was very helpful!! After dinner we went back to our hotel and straight to sleep.

A helpful tip we were given:
73 degrees Fahrenheit = 23 degrees Celsius, 95 degrees Fahrenheit = 35 degrees Celsius

It Has Begun

Day One
9th July 2012
Location: Adelaide, Air, Sydney
After a lovely breakfast with my family at Billy Baxters, they drove me to the airport! The countdown was over. I was starting my holiday to America. While waiting to board the plane, there was one problem - I could picture my luggage keys on my bed at home. After a mini panic, I was reassured from loved ones that I wouldn't have been the first to do this and there are ways around it. Surely someone can break a lock! Nothing I can do about it now. I said goodbye to my family and friends as I walked down the ramp onto the plane and sat through a very painless and fast flight. I picked my luggage up from the baggage reclaim area in Sydney and located a gentleman working for Qantas who broke my locks for me {phew!!}. Shortly after this I met Jamie in Sydney after his time in South Africa. We caught a shuttle bus to our hotel {via Bondi Beach}, or at least we thought we thought we were going to our hotel! As we walked into the reception area and started checking in, we were informed that we were at the wrong hotel. There were two hotels on the same street with the same name. After a 10 minute walk we found our proper hotel and checked in. Jamie and I ate dinner in our room and had an early night for a big day tomorrow. As I got ready for bed I found a lovely note from Mum ironed into my pyjamas { it made me smile}!

Day Two
10th July 2012
Location: Sydney, Air, Seoul, New York
This morning we had a prearranged wake up call at 3:45am and caught a taxi from our hotel to the airport {my first taxi drive!}. Before checking into our flight and going through the security check, a lovely gentleman who worked in the airport took a photo of Jamie and I in the airport. This man was very excited to be using a 'flash' camera like Jamie's and was so enthusiastic, especially for this time of the morning! It wasn't long until I was exposed to duty free shopping! Although it was very tempting i kept all my money in my pockets except for buying some new locks for my suit case. The following flight went for ages. Jamie managed to get some sleep while I spoke with a man travelling to London with an over 60's cricket team, who are scheduled to play England. Impressive! 9 hours later we arrived in Seoul where we bought our first thing with US dollars - a water bottle! After having a delay of half an hour we boarded for our next flight bound for New York. Although this flight was 4 hours longer than the previous one it seemed to go faster due to more sleep. We flew into New York and saw the amazing city lights from the sky. I went through my first immigration process {giving fingerprints and photos} - this was Jamie's third time after South Africa. We collected our bags and found an information desk which directed us to the air train. The air train took us to a shuttle point from where we were taken to our airport hotel. The hotel smelt digusting but we were greatful we had a bed to sleep in for a couple hours instead of a plane seat.  Today went very long {literally}. With very little sleep and gained hours in our day {due to time zones} we were very tired and after getting to our hotel around midnight we knew we would only get in a few hours sleep before we were up again to fly to Tampa tomorrow. I can understand why jet lag decides to visit. After that though, we don't have to fly for a little while. Yay!