Every year I make a list of things to accomplish during the year. It’s not resolutions as such, like the usual “eat healthy, lose weight, get a new job” blah blah. It’s a list of things that I’m going to challenge myself to try, to make sure that each year I feel like I’ve actually achieved something. Given that we’re now almost at the end of the 7th month of the year I’m well overdue in an update to my 2009 resolutions.
Browsing Posts tagged holiday
This morning we woke early and immediately jumped onto a cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf. We were heading to Alcatraz today, so decided we’d explore the pier before we caught the ferry to the island. We were also incredibly hungry, so first mission was to find something for breakfast. We located a cafe, but nothing on the menu really appealed to Pauline, Mat or I. We left the others and decided to go get some McDonald’s. My only real reason for wanting “Mickey D’s” (as it’s known in America) was to compare it to what we got back home, and so I could say “oh my god we went to McDonald’s and (insert excited statement here).
The plan:
To visit California and Nevada over a 2 week timeframe
The dates:
May 10th through to May 24th
The participants:
- Kelly – me
- Mat – my boyfriend
- Amy – my sister
- Lynne – my mother
- Pauline – Amy’s partner
- Sue – my aunty
- Fiona – my cousin
- Madonna – my aunty
Amy, Pauline, Lynne, Sue and Fiona had already been travelling the east coast of America, and we were due to meet up with them in San Francisco. Madonna arrived a day earlier than us, and joined us for the entire 2 weeks.
Anything else:
I decided I would video tape this holiday, as video is so much more fun. It’s easier to see the emotions we expierienced, you can relive the funny moments, and it’s more interesting to share with others! Of course, you can’t quite tell the whole story by video, thus each day of our holiday will be explained in a blog post with a video highlights reel afterwards. Enjoy!
Today marked the start of my 4 week holiday from work. At the end of this week, I will be going on my first international holiday. In fact, this trip is going to be a lot of firsts for me: my first international flight, my first time taking a full 4 week holiday from work, and the first time Mat and I will have travelled somewhere together for 2 weeks. I suppose I could get technical and say it was the first time I’ve been on holidays with my family for 2 weeks (since I left home at least), first flight lasting longer than 4 hours, first time I’ve needed a passport etc etc. Perhaps it’s just easier if I sum it up and say that this holiday is going to be a huge first for me.
I’m feeling the stress too. I’m constantly thinking of things that I need to do, if I have everything covered etc. I’ve done the essentials – I have a passport, I registered for a Visa waiver for the US, flights/accommodation booked, and travel insurance booked. It’s the smaller things – what do I need to pack? Am I allowed such and such in my carry on bag? What have I got to do at home before I go? Is my dog Turbo going to be taken care of? But to be honest, I think I’m just making a fuss because I’m just so damn excited. If I’m not thinking of what I need to pack, then I’m googling where I want to go and what I want to do when I’m over there.
The lead up to the holiday has been interesting. I’ve been fighting a cold for the past fortnight, and sucking down the lemsips and tablets to make sure it doesn’t hit me. It’s worked too, but coincidentally a flu pandemic has just hit the planet. The swine flu. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to post a link because everyone has heard it/read it/become so sick of it they don’t want to hear any more. I tossed up with getting a flu shot but in the end decided against it – I never have flu shots and every year I’m fine. The flu shot also doesn’t deal with swine flu, so really it would almost be pointless. I’ve also had a cold sore which has thankfully now gone away. I think there was something else too, but come today, my health is pretty good so I’m happy!
Courtesy of twitter I was directed to a packing application that would allow me to create a list on my phone (or edit any of the template lists already created) and tick the items off as I packed them. When I get home I’ll be sure to post a full review of the app and whether it helped me. Hopefully I won’t forget anything, but if I do, I’m sure I’ll be able to find somewhere to buy it. Speaking of purchases, I sure have bought a lot of stuff in the lead up to this holiday:
- The big one – a brand spanking new video camera
- Camera accessories – camera bag, additional battery, new tripod with horizontal panning (worked out to be over $300 worth of accessories)
- New luggage – Mat and I only had a single old bag we’d been using for small trips, and it was pretty much dead. Definitely not something we could travel overseas with.
- Noise cancelling headphones – I’m expecting these to be my saviour when I’m on the plane
Of course there’s lots of small items not worth mentioning (small toiletries etc). When I look back at the list I’d made last year for the holiday, I’ve actually done pretty well! I’ve purchased 2/3 (camera & luggage). I didn’t buy a mini laptop (although Mat did once give me permission to buy one), but I’ll have my iphone to use, and will borrow my sisters laptop to transfer videos from my video camera onto my external hard drive.
All I’ve really got left to do before we go is pack my bag, hand my itinerary to a friend, and go! This week will be difficult to get through, I’m just itching to get to the USA. So I beg of you, is it time to go YET?
It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged, and as such there will probably be no one reading this…*grin* We’re travelling overseas next year, the huge family trip to America to celebrate my mother’s 60th birthday. For me, this is particularly exciting because I’ve never been overseas before. And reflecting upon this, a few things became apparent to me:
1 – There is no way in hell our current luggage will suit both Mat and I for a month overseas. It manages to last a 2 days, a week at most if we pack extremely light. So we’ll need to buy some new bags, one for both of us as we expect to pick up a lot of stuff when we’re over there.
2 – I want to document this trip as much as I can. Yes I have a camera, but that won’t be enough. A camera doesn’t record the ridiculous things we say and do which we reflect on for years to come (I quote – “smell that bush”, or Aunty Sue dropping her ice cream, or our giggles when we found “big cock” written on the sand, or Madonna stomping on ET’s head while he was breakdancing). Hence, I’ve decided to purchase a video camera. I want to capture the fun times on film, and the mundane things, and produce a movie which we can watch together as a family. Yes, that means we’ll be having movie nights in 20 years. But no doubt this will come in handy even after the trip, as Mat will want ego videos of his 4wd’ing adventures.
3 – Partly in conjunction with the last point, as well as a desire to be able to communicate with people back at home, I want to buy a smalll compact laptop. It will serve two purposes – the tool used to transfer photos & videos from my video and digital cameras to a store device, and the wireless feature allowing me to email my friends from free internet hotspots (like starbucks).
I have been told I’m planning far too in advance, but how am I going to budget for these additional purchases if I don’t start thinking about it now? I need to research, keep my eyes open, get bargains when I can. Any suggestions anyone has (if you’re still reading this) would be fantastic, otherwise I will probably just keep you posted on any reviews and purchases I make. Cheerio!
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