Lost & Found

After a good four months of abuse to my blog, it's time to make a reappearance, and revamp now that winter break is in full swing.  Travel has been on my mind a lot (as always), day dreaming of moving next summer and the desire to do something crazy and maybe just go to another country.  With this being said, I still have my wild desire to some how claim my way to fame and host my own Travel Channel show.

As far as the "revamp" to the blog, my daily topics are going to slightly change:
Service Sunday, Marvels Monday, Travel Tip Tuesday, Website Wednesday, Trivia Thursday, Favorites Friday, and Savory Saturday.
I'm not going to explain what the all mean, you should be able to get the hint, if you don't then stay tuned to my blog.

In honor of Marvels Monday, I want to "marvel" in some natural beauty which I will always find quite astounding.  And no, it's not from Australia, for once!

Far, in the northwest corner of the United States, we find a state snug between Canada and Oregon, looking out onto the great Pacific.  The great, green state of Washington!  Seattle has become a new place close to my heart, since my old college roommate is from the gorgeous city and has since moved back.  I've only traveled their twice, but from all that I've seen I love it so far.

The lively, little city and breath taking mountains makes Seattle a place inviting to all.  Each time I have flown home, I have been lucky to be stuck in the window seat looking out at Mt. Rainier.  This folks is my marvel for this Monday.  Beautiful and breath taking.  Enjoy the photos!
 

Mt. Rainier --January 2011

 

Mt. Rainier --August 2011



Stay Tuned!

Lately I have disappeared from the blog world, abusing my blog and my love of writing about travel.  My busy schedule has worn be down a bit making me lack the motivation to blog.  While I think this is a horrid excuse myself, I have also been thinking of a new idea and here it is--hosting my own mini-series about travel.

I have career dreams, and this one is a crazy one that I will always strive for even if I don't reach it.  I would love to host my own travel show on the Travel Channel opening the eyes of viewers to see beauty in very popular places, but also the "hidden gems" you wouldn't expect.

So here it is, my first episode.  It's short and give you a brief synopsis of what this series will entail.  More episodes will be coming regularly a few times a week.  Please watch, stay tuned, and feel free to comment or suggest things!  Enjoy!

Caitlin Takes on the World -Introduction: "Just a Small Town Girl"



Similar Pride and Honor Across the Sea

June 5th, 2009 was a day in which I never existed.  No I did not die and return back to life, but I was settled on the biggest plane I had ever been on crossing the International Dateline heading towards Australia.  The memories aren't quite as strong which each new passing year, but for what ever reason why I'm captivated by that country lives on.  In honor of Memorial day last week, I noticed pictures from Australia that relate to war memorials we have in D.C. but found in Australia.

Roll of Honour

The capital of Australia is Canberra, with a lot of open area surrounding it.  Unlike Washington D.C. everything is not just a hop, skip, and a jump away.  You will find other similarities though, such as a Senate and House of Representatives, although their government is ran in a British structure with their Prime Minister as the country's leader.  You will also see war memorials and monuments dedicated to those who had served in the Australian military because they were dragged into another country's battle as a helpful ally.  I found all the monuments to be touching, beautiful, and a great way to honor those.  The Roll of Honour is similar to the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C., but here visitors place red poppies in the wall as a symbol for those who lost their lives in battle.  Also like us Americans, Canberra holds a special tomb to the Australian Unknown Soldier, though not as heavily guarded as the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in Washington D.C.

Like us Americans, Australians really show their pride and love for their country in their nation's capital.  The war memorials I was so lucky to see allowed me to have a deeper connection with Australia than I ever thought possible.

Slang on a Sunday

After realizing how much abuse I have done to my blog, I wanted to write a short, fun post to prove I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  This past week I moved home from college and found a lot of my stuff from Australia, including my journal I kept.  In the back I kept some fun slang terms I learned while abroad.  Here are just a few random ones:

Lift = Elevator
Rubbish = Trash
Cheers = Hello/Goodbye
Dunnie = Outhouse (although we called ever bathroom a dunnie because we thought it was silly)
Chooks = Chickens
Fire Brigade = Firemen
Sun Bake = Tanning

These are the first few slang terms I really encountered, but have more to come in the future that are a lot more fun.  I will close with this insult our professors told to us:

"I hope you chook turns into an emu and kicks down your dunnie!"

Think about that one!

The 60's Live On

As I was boarding my flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia I day dreamed about that great experiences that were awaiting me.  Seeing the red dirt of the outback, taking post-card photos of the Sydney Opera House, and most importantly listening to those charming Australian accents.  Now I knew there would be things I would come across that I would not expect, but this one was really off the charts.  The village of Nimbin is tucked away off numerous side roads in the mountains of New South Wales, about an hour drive from the university I was at in the Gold Coast, Queensland.

About 7 of us hopped into a van, and after two hours of being totally lost, found this magical village known as Nimbin.  As we pulled up to the village, I had to blink twice.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen, something you would see in a movie or hallucinate when you are high (which is probably how it was developed).  Nimbin was a true hippie village, creating everything from all natural hemp, and hosting rallies each day at 4:20 p.m.  The rallies were hosted by locals who either sang or spoke in the support of legalizing marijuana.  The locals who hung out there and work their were as friendly as they come, I'm sure for reasons than other being a welcoming Australian.  You could roll your own fatty in some of the cafes, enjoy a hemp cookie or some hookah.  Either way it was a place to escape the bustling cities on the coast and really just chill.  A couple of us tried the cookies while we were there--absolutely delicious!  Resulting in absolute happiness later.

Nimbin also had their own special museum dedicated to that special green plant.  The museum had replicas of old VW buses as well as protest signs for legalization of marijuana.  One room is dedicated to wars Australians have been brought into as allies, promoting nothing but peace.  It was just astounding to me to see such a museum exist in such a town.  If not for my pictures I took I would have thought I was dreaming it all up or just on some crazy high.

This is something I can truly never forget, even if I tried.  So as I close with this wild adventure I experienced, I leave you all with some pictures.  Nimbin made me love Australia even more.

In a Sunburned Country

If you know me at all, you know I have an obsession with Australia.  If you don't know me, well here's your heads up.  Ever since I studied abroad in Australia I have felt connected to that beautiful country and always feel like it has a part of me.  Sounds like a cheesy love story doesn't it?

One of the girls I studied abroad with recommended to our group to read this humorous book about traveling through Australia.  Since our program was a study tour, we got to see a vast majority of the country experiencing all climates, which made the book easy to relate to.  The book is In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, and he takes you on his own personal trip through the country allowing you to feel like you are actually there.  His witty personality and dry humor keeps you gripped into his wild adventures.

I've enjoyed reading this book, relating to my own memories of my trip there.  Take the time to travel on the wild side while still sitting in your own home.  You'll get an idea of the mystery, marvels, and mischievous adventures found in Australia.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
--Dorothea Mackellar, "My Country" (formerly "Core of My Heart")

Flying Solo

The first time I flew on a plane on my own was an experience all on it's own.  Of course I have been on other flights here and there with my parents or some friends, but never alone.  This was the summer of firsts for me, I was doing my first big trip and all on my own--I was heading to Australia.  The trip itself was a leap of faith; about 6 weeks in a country with no one I knew, as you could imagine my parents were thrilled! (yes that was very sarcastic--my parents were beyond worried.)  Flying across the country and the international dateline was more of a manic adventure than I would have ever imagined.

On June 4th, 2009 I showed up to the Pittsburgh International Airport with my monstrous suitcase and a backpack carry-on.  It was a fiasco as soon as I showed up!  I flew all red-eye flights, my first flight wasn't until 6:30 p.m., but the airport was crazy, as usual.  Internationally I would be flying Air New Zealand, but domestically I had no clue!  In a small panic, I was frightened I would miss my flight, my online booking did not clearly show I would be flying American Airlines.  After a moment of panic, a polite attendant helped me out.  After checking in and hanging by the gate, I was finally boarding the longest flight I had ever been on: 5 hours to the LAX.  Yes, my flight to LA was the longest flight I had ever taken, until I had to swap planes and head across the Pacific.  While on my flight to LA, a mother was trying very hardly to set her 15 year old son up with.  Wisely, I turned my iPod on and pretended to sleep.  Upon landing our captain had informed us we were running a little behind, checking the time on my phone I realized I only had 45 minutes to find my way out of one terminal, search for the next one, and hopefully find my gate.

I grabbed my backpack, and ran out of the terminal.  Being in the sleepy state I was, I paid no attention to what terminal I had left and only knew I had to be in terminal 1.  Standing on the street outside of LAX, another kind attendant saw my distressed look and asked if she could help.  After feeling slightly stupid, she kindly showed that I had just left terminal 2, and terminal 1 was only a few feet away.  I bought some food right outside my gate to save for the plane, called my parents, and within minutes I was boarding my 12 hour flight to Auckland, NZ.  As I found my seat, I found myself lucky to be sandwiched between two Aussies!  I only remember Simon from Perth, OZ because he was rather nice looking and very friendly.  Him and I had struck up a conversation for some time, until I felt the Eastern time zone catch up to my body.  Sleeping for endless hours, skipping dinner, and forgetting about my food in my backpack--I woke up feeling slightly light headed.  I rushed to the bathroom to splash water on my face, but it was too late.  As soon as I locked the bathroom door I had a momentary blackout, scary as all hell when you're flying above the Pacific Ocean.  I woke up in a panic, thinking my feet were dragging on the runway--oh yeah very trippy black out.  I splashed water on my face, sat back down and ate a granola bar, then slept until breakfast.  I scarfed down the flight meal that was distributed, and felt so much better.

Upon landing in Auckland, I found it was a new day, and also found that I totally skipped June 5, 2009.  That's correct--I never lived on June 5th, 2009--how's that for a fun fact?  Auckland's airport was very small, so I managed to work my way through it very quickly.  After an hour of waiting, I was finally boarding my flight to Australia!  This flight was only 3 hours, so very short compared to what I had gone through.  I was so excited I could not even think of sleeping.  Once I landed in Australia was where the fun began.  I walked around the Brisbane airport jet lagged and confused for a good 20 minutes until I found the exchange station so I could get some Australian cash.  Another 20 minutes later, I found the train that would take me to Robina which was about 45 minutes away.  After arriving in Robina I flagged down a taxi to take be to Bond University, where I would be staying for 2 weeks of my visit.  I was amazed by everything I saw, Australia was so beautiful, sunny, and clean.  Once I was dropped off, I attempted to tip the driver--who kindly reminded me they don't take tips in Australia.

Once at the university, I was confused as to where I had to be, but found my way shortly.  I snuggled into my dorm room, and passed out.  Only 4:00 p.m. in Australia on June 6th, but 2:00 a.m. in my hometown on June 5th.  20 hours of traveling had never been more eventful.

Toppin' it off in the "Top End" -Manic Monday

Australia--the land down under--and the land of many wonders.  The land of kangaroos, wallabies, and the thorny devil.  The land of beaches, bars...and army crawling through city landscape?!  This is where one of my crazy and manic stories come from, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia--this region also commonly referred to as the "Top End."  It is referred to the "Top End," mostly because this area is not ideal for living in.  Dry and tropic, no great vegetation, and some beastly critters around.  Read some more about this crazy place in a chapter from Australia for Dummies, which I so intelligently researched via google!

photo: wikipedia.org

The highlighted area is the Northern Territory, what is highlighted in red is considered the Top End.  Darwin is all the way at the very top! 

As for my manic story, it comes along in the latter half of the trip, about 10 days left in this beautiful country.  Being the crazy college students we are, of course we made sure to hit up every party scene in every place we went.  Darwin, even though rather small, had a very typical tourist area full of shops, restaurants, and bars.  Our final night it Darwin, 6 of us girls decided to hit up the bar scene one last time.  Not only would we find fine looking Australia men, but this was a big area for the Australian military--a man with and accent AND in uniform?!  Oh yes, we loved the sound of that.  Not everyone in the group felt the urge to stay up until 3 a.m., like myself and my friend Blair (that's another manic story itself).  Our group withered away person by person--and yes it is okay for a girl to walk home or take a taxi by herself, Australia is really safe (I'm sure some areas would be questionable, but we were in safer areas).  The next morning our friend Lauren had quite the story for us while we were heading to the airport preparing to go back to Brisbane.

On her walk home, an area halfway between the bars and our hostile had been barricaded by police due to a water leak flooding the streets.  Some girls told Lauren to follow them--up a block, over a fence, and crawl through some bushes--the "only" detour around the water leak.  In her intoxicated state, she believed the girls, even though she was slightly skeptic.  The 3 of them made it all the way to the bush crawl, army style, when they heard the police--"Oh shit!  We're out," chimed the two navigators, Lauren was stuck by herself.  She popped up from the bush behind the Holiday Inn, tangled in branches and soiled in dirt, while the cop had a puzzled look on his face.  "Excuse me Miss, what are you doing? Can I help you?"  Lauren replies with sobs, "I...just...want...to go...back.... to my...hotel!"  The cop spoke in a comforting tone while giving her directions back to the hostile, Lauren face began to get red and well-up with tears.  The cop realized she was completely lost, and offered her a ride in the cop car back to the hostile.  Lauren was the only one on this trip to be escorted in a police car, thankfully for no law breaking reasons.

We were dying of laughter, attempting not to pee our pants.  Lauren is a very sweet girl with a sense of style, and enjoyed getting dolled up for a night out.  It was very comical that out of everyone in our group, Lauren would have been the one to crawl through a bush at a Holiday Inn, then getting taken home by a cop--an Australian cop none the less!  I guess Lauren met the dream man after all, and Australian man in uniform.

July 2009

Before we headed out for our final night in Darwin

Bethany, myself, Susanna, Kim, Lauren, & Blair