aliciaspassport

[aliciaspassport]

final day (almost)

the next day was pretty boring to say the least, homeboy had to work so i was in the house all day. i pretty much just watched netflix from what i remember, i also packed and reorganized my suitcase. my flight left at 7:30 or so that night so we just hung out until we had to leave, but PLOT TWIST. my flight from Fredricton to Toronto got cancelled due to the weather. this was just great. I immediately called westjet to get on the next flight, after listening to terrible hold music I finally talked to a guy who said the next flight out that they could get me on was WEDNESDAY. how about no, as much as it was a good time in NB, i was ready to leave and that simply wouldn’t do. Long story short, they booked me on a flight to Toronto leaving from Moncton airport the following day. It was later, but still better than Wednesday. 

With our extra evening, we made dinner (another pre sourced meal) and watched the rest of incredibles II. 

Moncton was about 1.5 hours away, so we had to head out a little earlier. all day that day I kept checking to see if my flight was cancelled, or delayed or god knows what. thankfully, it wasn’t. I got there about an hour early because homeboy said it was a bigger airport. It was not big in the grand scheme of things what so ever. There were only 4 gates for departures, and security took like 10 minutes tops. This time I didn’t have to get extra checked at all, which was weird. anyway, i basically just streamed big bang theory and sat at the gate. I anxiously awaited for it to be cancelled though, it wasn’t. the flight even left on time. Goodbye, NB see you soon.

I was seat D, so I sat in the seat and then this old lady comes up and says (kindly i might ad), you’re in my seat. I replied and said oh, I’m __D, and she goes, oh I’m C. C is the window. Inside my head i was like wtf no it’s not, why would the seats go ABDC, that would just be poor design. Lets be honest, the flight was short and i really didn’t care to argue, so i just said oh sorry and moved over a seat. While sitting in the aisle, I looked at the diagram of seats and I was right. I just rolled by eyes.

the flight was fine, a little turbulent but i basically spend the whole time mentally calculating if i would make my final flight... that was a fun experience. I was towards the back of the plane, so when it finally did land on the tarmac i stood up right away. luckily, my next flight was still in the same terminal, but I still booked it because there was only an hour between landing and departing. I sped walked across the terminal and made it. I guess they had began boarding early, so when I got to the gate almost no one was there. I was like cool, sweet, might get to go early. this time I was 5A, so right in the front. 

the plane left late because they were waiting for about 20 passengers coming off of different flights. it was a nice gesture, just a little annoying because if i had known they were going to delay the flight 45 minutes I would’ve peed at the airport. oh well, i thought i would get a whole row to myself, but the passengers next to me ended up coming. their last name was pickles and they were clearly coming from somewhere hot because they were tanned for the gods. 

the final flight coming home was probably the most turbulence i’d experienced on a plane but in all honesty, i slept most of the plane ride. it landed, i got off and drove home with my mom. it was like 1AM PST when i landed. 

now that was basically my trip to NB. A little hellish getting there and back, but I got to see 2 more Provinces than I bargained for. The end. 

[aliciaspassport]

nova scotia bound

we didn’t wake up super late from what i recall, but we didn’t leave the hotel until almost check out. we pretty much pulled a ross and got our $ worth. after we checked out we headed for Nova Scotia, which was a 4hr drive away (at least Halifax was 4hrs away). Who doesn’t love a good road trip?? we stopped at a gas station to fill up (obviously) and they had a giant blueberry statue which i was quite amused with. 

there are 0 mountains in the area and all the trees are tiny compared to BC trees, nonetheless i took in the environment. New Brunswick was pretty flat, but Nova Scotia was more hill-y. they also had those big wind turbines which was cool, we don’t really have those in BC. we drove this little summer tourist spot called Peggy’s Cove. it was super cute, but super cold. Apparently it’s pretty bumpin’ in the summer though. theres a lighthouse there and little shoppes, known for lobster. We also stopped at some memorial along the way as well. I don’t recall what it was called, but both places were right along the Atlantic Ocean.

afterwards we headed into downtown Halifax which was probably an hour away from the cove. we stopped at the citadel and walked around a little bit but  no one was there other than a few straggling tourists. our last stop was the boardwalk. it was closed as well, but still a nice little walk. pretty chilly when you combine the winds and the water though. apparently, like Peggy’s Cove, that spot is bumpin’ in the summer months too.

it was around 6:00 when we headed out, A. because it got dark out and B. there was a storm headed so we wanted to try and beat it. Update: we didn’t, but we still got home safely. 

[aliciaspassport]

the paardeburg ball

day 3 in NB. the day of the ball, the actual reason I was in town. the morning was a lazy day morning nothing spectacular. homeboy ended up teaching me (sorta) how to play smash bros, it was fun. i’d never really played it before. apparently, my character is isabelle. i basically fucked around pushing buttons and knobs. apparently, i got better over time, but i’m pretty sure i still sucked. 

we stopped at the miltary base where i got to go inside one of the buildings, it lowkey looked like a prison(?) idk nothing grand. 

afterwards we went to fredricton to the hotel we’d be staying at. it was pretty swanky to say the least. it was the kind of hotel that had spa water in the lobby and the kind that hand the TV greet you by name. we got there right at check in so we had a few drinks, listened and got ready blah blah blah. nothing too exciting. 

6:00 rolled around which meant it was time for the ball, i met all of the people we’d be sharing our table with and headed downstairs. it was pretty fancy schmancy to say the least, all the ladies had dresses that hit the floor and all the gentlemen had their DEU’s on, or some fancy red outfit that apparently cost $1600 and was only for special occasions. there were 8 to a table where we listened to some aggressive guy give a speech about the Battle of Paardeburg. Then there were some more speeches, I tried to pay attention but in the end i didn’t. oops. they also played some bagpipes and snare drums which were pretty cool. dinner was served in four courses, starting with salad then soup then the main course and concluding with dessert. despite the fact that i didn’t eat all of it, it was really good. they also had 4 bottles of wine on the tables, so we consumed that as well.

later in the night they had a live band who was doing some pretty okay covers, so we danced and that was pretty fun to say the least. party dancing isn’t really my forte but i had enough alcohol in me to give me the courage to do so. i don’t remember the rest of the night, it was pretty chill. went back up to the hotel room around midnight as i was tired and most people had died out. 

[aliciaspassport]

bulk barn & nackawick lovin’

ok so homeboy had to go to work, so i was basically left with the cat for the day. i didn’t mind though, luckily i brought my laptop to do whatever on, but at some point in the day i decided to wander the town. i ended up at “the mall”, which was about a 40 minute walk. the sidewalks were snow covered, so i was never 100% sure if i was walking on pure ice or the proper sidewalk. either way, i made it i guess. 

at the mall i wandered atlantic superstore, which is basically a small version of the real canadian superstore as well as bulk barn. bulk barn is the shit though and apparently theres a local one at home. it’s bulk everything. i thought it was so fricken cool. i got some fish candies because i was one of 2 people in the store and it woulda been weird if i didn’t get anything. 

behind the mall is the st. john river, it was frozen so you’d never really assume it was a river. 

on the way back my phone was having a spazz and kept dying so i thought i’d have to use my pro navigation skills to get back. luckily it turned on so i was at least able to figure out which streets i’d need to hit. i made it back with ease though. the walk overall was nice, i even ha my jacket open. there was no wind child which was really the highlight. when i returned i just bummed around some more. 

we were looking for things to do that evening, and we eventually settled on seeing ‘the worlds largest axe’ in nackawick, NB. population: 900 people. it was probably about an hour to 1.5 hour road trip. we stopped along the river, trying to find a dock we had passed. naturally we walked along the frozen, snow covered river. that was a fun adventure. there were many times where i stepped and landed in a pile of snow that went up to my knee. short people problems...the car got stuck where we parked on the way back so that was fun getting it out. the axe itself was pretty wild. it was huge, not a real axe obviously. nonetheless, it had a 4.5 star review on google. we were kind of obsessed with it and the small town aha. 

afterwards we were going to get dinner in the small town of nackawick at a small town place but there weren’t any places open. the only thing we found was a brewery that just served beer. that wouldn’t do, so we headed back for Fredricton. we ended up at a restaurant called Rustico where we split a margharita pizza. it was so good, felt very authentic, not like take out pizza. thin crust- fresh toppings, all that jazz. 

i don’t remember much of the evening, im pretty sure we went back and went to bed. 

[aliciaspassport]

small town feels

i finally arrived in NB. the plane was alright i guess, it was half empty and i had a row to myself. the Fredricton airport is hella small. I got off, got picked up and off we went. my friend lived super close to the airport so it was only like a 20 minute drive maybe. 

first thoughts: snowy, very snowy. it wasn’t as cold as i initially thought it would be but i’ll consider that as a blessing. i landed at like 12 or 1PM or something like that. for the afternoon, we just drove around pretty much, I saw oromocto (the very small town which i was staying at), the military base (gagetown) and fredricton. we stopped at the mall for something to do and wandered the aisles of toys r us which was pretty fun. also in that mall they have a vanelli’s pasta place. so that was pretty rad. we didn’t eat there, but i hadn’t seen one in years. 

the area is definitely different than i thought, fredricton isn’t a big city in the way vancouver is a big city at all. in fact most of the town is old buildings that have been converted, the roads are narrow and theres piles of snow flipping everywhere. huge piles of snow, 6-7 ft tall at least. idk i thought it was cool though. i also learned that fredricton isn’t even the biggest city, moncton is... i had never heard of moncton, but i guess in grade school you only really talk about capital cities.

oromocto itself is a tiny town, there aren’t even buses that run through it. the local “mall” has like 12 stores which include ‘atlantic superstore’, ‘shoppers’, ‘the source’, ‘doolleys’, ‘bulk barn’ and a few other places that i don’t remember. it’s a military town, so most of the people who live there are in the military. they also have shells of military vehicles etc chilling around town, so if that doesn’t say military town i don’t know what does. all the houses are smaller looking and they’re very spread apart, especially in comparison to the lower mainland. i don’t think i saw any apartment buildings either. 

oh i also learned that NB is one of the only true places in Canada that is bilingual, as in they have both french and english on all their signs. 

after our drive/tour around we returned to his place we made dinner. it was one of those home dinner delivery services, where they send u the recipe and the exact food measurements. that was fun and the food was honestly so good. 10/10 would make it again. it was this like vegetarian noodles in peanut sauce type dealio.

we were pretty tired, so after that i’m pretty sure we watched half a movie and then went to bed. nothing wild honestly. 

[aliciaspassport]

travels to NB

lets give some background to this... new brunswick.. what the fuck is in new brunswick? honestly, nothing exciting tourism wise. I had never really ever planned on going to NB but a friend invited me and i decided why the fuck not? when am i ever going to NB? 

the journey started early on Tuesday February 19, my nearest and dearest pal soraya had insisted on taking me to the airport at the early hours of the morning. The mini road trip was fun, despite being tired af. Once we got there we said a quick goodbye and into YVR I went. Security was super quick, 5 minutes tops - most of of it was because i had to undress all of my layers.

As per usual, I waited around the flight sucked ass. The flight from YVR to YYC always sucks. i think i have an automatic negative connotation about Pearson airport. At least there was an empty middle seat. Anyway, after finally landed and stressing about how I would get to my connecting flight, I found out my flight was cancelled. Awesome. I loooked for a few silver linings, 1. i got to pee on the ground, 2. i would get to see a little piece of toronto. I found myself a hotel, and hit the town. I learned that we were really close to Niagra falls, and lord knows I would’ve gone there if i had time. Only about an hour from where I was staying. However, it was late, cloudy, I didn’t have a car and my camera wasn’t charged. I could have got an uber but it would’ve been expensive.. Today just was not the day, but hopefully next time i’m in Toronto! Last time I had a flight canceled in toronto, I regretted not going to the aquarium so I knew pretty quickly that this is what i wanted to do. It was pretty late in the day once everything was sorted so this is all i really ended up doing. It was a really nice aquarium, lots of fish n stuff. Unlike the Vancouver Aquarium, there were no mammals or large sea creatures. this is okay with me because it’s not very nice to have them anyway. I spent about an hour and a half in the aquarium, walked around the city centre and then headed home. The aquarium was right next to the CN tower, I entertained going up but it was a cloudy day and didn’t think it would be worth it. Maybe next time? I did take some photos of it and with it. So basically I was there. I ended up back at the hotel at 8PM so it was a pretty early night. I reluctantly took a bath, watched big bang theory and curled into bed afterwards. I had a king bed so that was fun, i tried to sprawl out as much as possible. Even then, i still only took up half. I had an early flight, so I was up at 6AM. I had a full 8 hours but was still tired. I packed up my stuff, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Eggs and toast, this was the only real food i had had in the past 24 hours. I mean, aside from a junior chicken, mini melts and half a small fries. The rest is pretty boring, I waited at the gate for my delayed flight. It was delayed by an hour but I finally got on the plane. It was only half full, so I had a seat to myself.

[aliciaspassport]

soo kenya

hey future me (because you’ll be the only one who really reads this),

I guess you didn’t blog about kenya as you had so planned and now its about 3 months later and you’ve gone on a plane since then. 

just kidding, you checked your phone and you did a little bit, you just didn’t get around to posting it.

note to self: post them later. 

in the mean time, i’ll post about New Brunswick because it’s current. 

[aliciaspassport]

36 hours in transit

currently i’m sitting in the ethiopia airport, number 3/4. we’ve been in transit for over 24 hours and i mean it’s sucked, but it isn’t awful. we had a red eye from vancouver to toronto and then a 14 hour flight from toronto to ethiopia.

the plane to toronto sucked because i was supposed to have a window seat but my seat wasn’t against the window so i couldn’t lean on the wall... nonetheless, i pretty much slept through the whole thing.

toronto airport wasn’t as confusing as i remember but i think we got dropped off somewhere else. the layover was a layover, we had to change gates but i won an apple. jen also won an apple and she was pretty stoked about it.

we flew ethiopia air which was fine i guess. i had a proper window seat. there was a nice selection of movies, i watched classic chick flicks including: bride wars, devil wears prada and a cinderella story - which i was stoked for. i slept on and off for no more than 2 hours at a time. they fed us a bunch but i didn’t eat much, mostly because it looked gross. the lady next to me, whose on the trip had a special diet and had seafood. it smelt so fucking bad. i almost vomited every time the hot food came around. they also tried to feed me this sandwich that had two small slices of tomato and cucumber and a piece of limp lettuce.

our flight doesn’t leave for another two hours so we’re all just sitting at a gate. this airport certainly isn’t like YVR. there’s not even a place to buy bottled water so i’m rationing my BC water. currently, i’m too tired to do anything, i brought books and shit but that’s not happening.

so we’re finally on plane #3, and i’m in the seat right after the first class section. sounds cool, right?? WRONGO. the guy next to me has uncontrollable limbs and his elbows keep coming into my zone. like buddy gtfo. this time i passed on the food cuz it’s still gross.

apparently our travel day was 36 hours or something... and let me tell you, I WAS SO DANG TIRED. i had so many cat naps in the midst of trying to stay awake. Luckily my luggage made it to the airport, however one ladies didn’t so we worked on sorting that out. Currently, it’s not here yet. Otherwise Sam & David were our drivers... one of them got lost in the parkade trying to find the vans.. the other knew where they were but we obviously were following the other guy.

All was well, we eventually found them. i don’t know how long it took to get to the hotel but it was 3 hours after we landed. when we got to the hotel we had to go through a metal detector thingy and they checked the cars for bombs!! we also weren’t allowed to leave the hotel gates at night. at the hotel, i took a long awaited shower, checked my phone and napped. i also met my roomie for the night, yet another retiree.

at dinner i had soup and bread because i wasn’t very hungry. i also chatted with some homies from home which was name. afterwards i forced myself to stay awake until 10 and then fell asleep for the rest of the night!

[aliciaspassport]

24 hours to go.

in just under 24 hours, i’ll be on a plane headed to my favourite airport Toronto... yipeee.. not excited for that in the slightest. However, if I remember correctly they have places to keep you occupied. anyway, the final destination is Kenya. It takes 3 planes to get there via the route we’re taking and i’m not excited for that at all either, but honestly the flights are the least of my worries (even though they’ll be super duper long).

i guess you can say i’ve been planning this trip for over a year and with less than 24 hrs, i don’t know how i feel about it. there are things i’m excited for, things i’m anxious for and things i’m just not sure about. I go through bursts of giddy excitement to feelings of anxiousness and sadness. I’m certainly excited for experiencing something new and going to freakin’ Africa. I’m excited to make a difference in someones life, and I’m excited to go on a safari. These are things i’ve always wanted to do. I’m excited to be immersed in a whole new world. 

however, with this trip bring immense sadness and guilt. i originally planned this trip with a real good judy and we were excited for it for so long but sometimes life just gets in the way and unfortunately she wasn’t able to come anymore. it left me between a rock and a hard place; wanting to go for my own sake but leaving on a trip with other her felt wrong. her not being able to go broke my heart. i know she’s happy that i’m going but i also know she’s sad couldn’t go too. so i try not to bring it up; i wish for more than anything that she could come. 

i also feel guilty leaving my mom and my family because theres lots going on in life and i don’t want anyone to feel alone. i will miss her so much. i wish that life was different right now. 

honestly, this whole trip is just so bitter sweet and it seems like barely anyone knows i’m going. the lead up seems very different from Australia. i think once i’m there, or even past the gates i’ll feel better. 

[aliciaspassport]

day 33/34

we had another weirdly timed flight, it was like early afternoonish. so we got up early to see the Queen Victoria Market. it was pretty huge and looked nice from the outside but the inside was typical market. I couldn’t say it was anything particularly extravagant or different rom other markets. there were lots of booths and it was divided by department, we spent most of our time with the souvenirs. we did go to one of those booths where the guy paints your name but with shapes.. the kind you get at disneyland with the princesses. he did my name as an example, but i could barely tell it was my name..OOPS! 

once we left the market we stopped in this spirited christmas store.. there were ornaments, santa figurines and christmas things everywhere! each room was a different colour story, it was unreal.. yet very creep.. then we went to say our final goodbyes to miss @georgiabeavisx at her hostel. we hung out in the lobby for a little before the sad part. i did however buy the comfiest hoodie ever. it’s so big and so black and so wonderful. i wore it for almost 2 weeks straight when we got back. D & Georgia thought it was weird that i got a souvenir hoodie from the hostel, but i got it to remember the tour and all the lols we had in the places we stayed at. it was the best purchase of the trip - hands down. 

and with that, we headed back to our hotels, grabbed our bags and were off to the airport. the flight itself was short. i don’t remember a whole lot of about it, however we did have a seat between us and that was great. i had the window. they tried to feed us, but i was having none of it. to be specific it was a triple cheese and spring onion sandwich on whole wheat. absolutely not. and some vegetable pastry thing.. that was edible (sorta).  when we landed in sydney, we were staying at an airport hotel and it was sooo nice. it was definitely the nicest place we had stayed yet. they ad essence water and apples in the lobby! our room had a stocked mini fridge and a charging station for all international electronics and a non-office chair. there was also room service, like dayum. downfall was that there was only one queen bed. oh well, we’d make due.

after we freshened up, we headed back into sydney for vivid festival. it was a neon lights festival with music and stuff. we initially planned on going up the sydney tower but we didn’t have time to because we were going on some a boat cruise around the harbour to look at the lights. we ended up walking there and going to Grill’d a burger joint thats popular in Aus. (another Kat recommended place). we were real confused when we got in because they sat us then we had to order at a counter then they brought the food to us. so it was like half sit down, half not? i don’t know, but they also donated money to charity and had vegan options and used better sourced meat. i got some kind of chicken burger and a blood orange soda and it was really yummy! 

now that our stomachs were full we walked down to darling harbour. it was weird because the routes and the streets seemed all too familiar. it had felt strange that we were just there a month ago.. we somewhat knew where we were going. it was nice to feel that, and it was nice to return to sydney where our trip began. anyway, we got on our boat tour, we were definitely the wrong demographic again, lots of middle aged people but it was still nice to go around the harbour. they served dinner, but we had just eaten so we just enjoyed the views of the pretty lights. i don’t know why, but i’d always wanted to see the opera house lit up so that was a bucket list item checked off. there was also this police station in the middle of the water for the boats, you know to make sure everyone was driving them properly etc. and D was really obsessed with calling them boat coppers. i don’t know man.

the cruise was maybe 1.5 - 2 hrs. so afterwards we continued to utilise our time in the city. our first stop off of the boat was the scary canary. now that was a nostalgic feeling. it’s where so many memories began. we pretty much walked in and walked out. we also walked by XBase, our first hostel. I mean, it’s attaced to the scary canary, but still a weird feeling. it was really hitting that my time in aus was coming to an end... 

alas, we continued to walk around sydney enjoying all the lights. different displays were set up around the town and many of the main streets were closed. overall it was a beautiful night.. until it started raining. that was a bummer but it only happened at the very end, just as we were leaving. well, actually we went to find a grocery store... they were all pretty far so we spent like 40 minutes walking in the rain, but hey, we’re from vancouver - a little rain never stopped us. at the store, we got some snacks for the evening and the plane ride tomorrow am. 

oh also, sometime while walking around Sydney i got a ticket from a police officer. it was because i ran across the crosswalk when the red man was flashing. I had done this a bunch of times throughout the trip, but i guess because it was a festival there were more police officers out.. OOPS! the one cop who yelled at me was mean, but the one who was actually giving me the ticket was chill. he asked about the trip and how i liked australia. I told him that I was leaving tomorrow unless i’m going to jail. he chuckled. in the end, i ended up getting a ticket but he said i wouldn’t have to pay it because he wasn’t going to track me down in Canada. i did get the email a few weeks after getting back, but I’m not about to pay it. it was like $80.. 

we took the train back to the hotel, and we ordered uber eats for one. last. time. McDonalds because it was the only thing open at the time. I’m pretty sure it was almost midnight at that point. We spent our last bit of time, packing for our big travel day. it was a lovely last night in Australia. 

well, I guess that’s it. this was my entire trip to Australia. (the flight home was documented in the first post). it was honestly the most amazing experience ever, aus has taken a piece of my heart and i cannot wait to go back one day. i loved each day, and each of the 34 days was special.

until the next adventure, 

farewell. 

[aliciaspassport]

last day in mellbourne.

honestly, i couldn’t believe our trip was almost over at this point. it felt like we had so much stuff to do, yet we had done everything we had wanted to. we started our morning pretty early, we went back to the area near the ice bar. it turns out it was called Fitzroy. there was lots of street art, small shoppes and second hand stores. we went to this extravagant vintage store. I don’t even know how to explain it but it was unlike any thrift store i had ever been in. we spent our morning shopping around, i didn’t buy much other than some sunglasses. 

we then headed for some pasta at the same place we had gone with hope, D really liked it so we went again. I got mushroom fettuccini and a blood orange soda. the soda was so good, it’s my new favourite aside from grape. Georgia met us at the restaurant when we were done. our plan was to go to the Queen Victoria Market but it turns out it was closed on Wednesdays or whatever day it was. Instead, we walked to some famous? graffiti alley. Georgia got us lost like twice but we eventually made it. it was pretty cool, but it was defs peoples home which made it a little weird to be there. kind of felt like an invasion. there was also some random store in the middle.. it was like a hiphop store? i don’t know anyway else to explain it, but it was the kind of place where they call sneakers Kicks.

the three of us didn’t really have anything specific in mind afterwards. we tried to go some avengers exhibit, but it was closed. So we walked along the river for awhile stopping to take pictures in random places. we cam across this little playground which had this mosaic elephant which we all tried to mount. i was the only successful one... we kept walking until we decided to go to a café for a snack. we ended up going to a Lindt café where the three of us shared a fondue plate. it was so delicious.. like way better than expected. There was ice cream, waffles, fresh whipped cream, brownies, strawberries, truffles, macarons and of of course melted chocolate. 

it was probably mid afternoon by this point so we headed back to our hotels to freshen up. it was our last night so we wanted to go out, but not before we ordered uber eats one last time. we got thai food. D got spring rolls and I got spring rolls and satay chicken. at this time, we discovered D had an immense amount of change which she tried to hand off to me.. 

Georgia took forever so we just headed out and she could meet up with us later.. We went to a place Hari recommended it was like a secret bar? I don’t know, it was dark and there was wooden palettes and barrels for people to sit on. it was called section 8. it had a good atmosphere despite the lack of people who were actually there... nonetheless, we split sangria and drank it all before georgia arrived.. CHEERS! 

earlier we had talked about boozy bingo at a hostel so we sauntered down the streets to that, but not before stopping at krispy kreme and getting donuts. we pretty much spent the night drinking.. they kept getting pitchers of cider and i kept drinking some blue cocktail.. i don’t remember what it was, but it was cheap and delicious. one of the punishments for calling bingo or misfollowing the rules was they had to drink some kind of cup of shame which had god knows what in it.. but it was gross looking. unfortunately none of us won bingo which sucked. we sat at the end of the bar, so it was convenient for refills. There were 3 rounds and the time in between the rounds was so long and boring. At the end they played some pretty good music but it wasn’t worth the wait. we ended up leaving halfway through the third round.

on our way back, D somehow ended up on the sidewalk. she like sat down and it was interesting.. and that was pretty much the end of our night. 

[aliciaspassport]

lols and good company

our days in australia were coming to an end and it was sad. today we had made plans to see Hope close to her home town of the Yarra Valley. It was maybe 1.5 hours out of Melbourne? I don’t know for sure. we got on public transit..successfully I might add. we got on at Flinder’s street station which is old or historic or famous or something. probably a combo of the three, but its definitely a main station. there were a couple routes we could take, we missed the first one by a few seconds so we had to run up and across the station to the other one. typical tourists... but again we made it. the bust itself was pretty empty so I put my feet on the seat diagonal from where i was sititng.. apparetly thats illegal or you can get a fine of some kind... OOPS.  

the town we were meeting hope in was in the middle of god knows where... it was called Lilydale... after wandering around trying to find Hope and her fam we found them. it was pretty quick actually, but we went to her school. that was pretty neat-o, there were a bunch of cubicles and we were walking around being obnoxious. no one was there because it was the weekend. shortly after hope’s sister arrived and we met her and went off to Healsville which as a short drive away. Neither D or I realized that her fam was going to be there, but it was chill. We went to some fancy ass pub/restaurant.. we couldn’t get in right away and had to wait because there was some kind of wedding going on. The menu was waaay fancy, like I just got fish n’ chips because thats all I could understand. I also tried a lemon bitters which was cool, not the best but i’d drink it again. they had some kind of straw tipi set up so D and I took a picture.

after lunch we went to the Healsville Sanctuary. this was our fifth and final animal stop.. the Australian animals were cool and it was set up nicely. as per usual, D and I took selfies with the animals. they had the typical Australian ones so it was still cool. Cassowarys, echidnas n ‘ shit. this was the place where you could wade with a platypus for like $200.. too bad there was a 6 month waitlist... since we couldn’t do that we went to some platypus show.. we thought it would be better than it was. there was just one platypus in a tank swimming (awee!) and some lady giving ocean facts. we did come a few minutes late so many we missed something great but i’m doubtful. they also tried to promote using bubbles and birthdays instead of balloons because balloons kill turtles. to do this they tried setting off bubble machines but they didn’t work and it was awkward..

after the show was over we split up from Hope’s family and walked around a little bit before the bird show. that was better than the platypus show because the birds did stuff.. it was like a show at disneyland. they talked about birds, had the birds do tricks and talked about conservation. shortly after we left the sanctuary and headed to the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie. 

there was lot of types of chocolate (obviously!) and they had samples so, bonus! they were different types of chocolate chips, the dark ones were so yum. I should have bought some, but oh well. it was pretty busy and overwhelming though. we did end up getting some yummy macarons though. after the chocolate shoppe, we headed back to Lilydale where we said our goodbyes. ‘tis always sad, but i know I will see her again. 

we headed back on the train and we were back at a decent hour. it wasn’t super late or anything so we met up with our ex-tour mate Georgia. we went to her new hostel, which was Nomads Melbourne. We stayed in a bunch of these on tour. we went for dinner at some asian restaurant? i don’t remember which kind, but i got wonton soup which was great. afterwards we ran across the street and got some Golden Gay Times and Kit Kat Bars.. Golden gay time was our last typical Aussie treat to try, and it was pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but i’d eat it again if I had the oppertunity. The kit kat bars were like 1/2 on flavour and half another. Mine was “Caramel Pretzel” two ways.. it was gross. I didn’t even end up eating it all. 

the rest of our night was spent in our hotel room just reminiscing in tour memories and talking with Andy and Hari via whatsapp. it was a bloody fun time filled with tons of laughs and bad dancing. we poorly sung G’Day G’Day so many times. D tried to rap baby got back, but did not succeed. its funny because we weren’t that close to Georgia on tour, but we had a great time lying on the floor. after georgia left we ordered Uber eats (obviuously!) we got a small pizza and some cheese toast. it was super yummy. 

[aliciaspassport]

penguins penguins penguins

in Australia, i got the most insane blisters in the most annoying spots. it was my own fault, my superstars started it on the backs of my heels. I should’ve known better because when i went to nyc they gave me blisters from walking long distances in them, and then i wore my blundstones without proper socks and they cause blisters too! i went through so many bandaids, and it was fine for awhile, especially on tour because i wore birks most of the time but when we got to melbourne i had to wear actual shoes. so that was a pain, the blisters sucked so bad they’re almost healed completely now and i’ve been back over a month. 

(update: it’s now september and i still have scars from those blisters) 

today we booked yet another day tour. not being able to drive really sucks. we were off to see the Phillip Island Penguin Parade. did you know that all the penguins in the world live in the southern hemisphere? at least the tour started later, at like 10:00AM.. so we got to sleep in. this time our tour guide was Amy, she seemed cooler than Bryce. However, we were the first ones on the bus this time so that was annoying because we had to pick up everyone else. it also meant we were last off. the only upside was that we got to pick our seats first (again). this time i sat in the single seat and D sat in the double. I don’t remember if anyone sat next to her though.. 

we started off the day by going to the Brighton Beach Huts. They were just these cutie patootie little beach huts that were painted in an array of colour. we did learn that there were some extreme restrictions on them, such as you can’t rent them, you can’t stay overnight and you can’t have electricity run through them. they are literally just cute shacks on the beach, initially meant for beach store. alas, they’re worth around $300,000 each - bragging rights i guess. we had only stopped for like 20 minutes, just enough time to get some cute photos. i wish we could’ve stayed longer. although the beach huts were cute, this wasn’t the best start because the last tour we went on stopped so much. I’d hoped this one wouldn’t as much. 

we then went to the Moonlit Animal Sanctuary, this was 4/5 animal encounters. it was similar to the other sanctuaries where most of the animals roamed free in their little habitats. we had more opportunities to feed kangaroos which we did take advantage of. we had also seen some koalas that were awake and walking around, oh and of course we found the wombats. other than that, there was nothing new or exciting. if we had our own car, we would’ve skipped this. 

our next stop was point grant to visit the nobbies and seal rocks. what that means, i honestly don’t remember. i’m pretty sure i slept until we got to this location. it was basically a gorgeous view with a board walk along the edge. this was actually our penultimate stop before the actual penguin parade. on the side of the rocks there were man made penguin huts. i guess the penguins come here too. 

the final stop was the penguin parade itself. i have 0 photos to show for this event as we were not allowed to take photos. it would disturb the penguins. the penguin parade was impressive, but not that impressive??? we had upgraded seats so we had a pretty good view. this asian kid behind me kept standing up and leaning on me and almost fell on me.. but the penguins were cute. we had to wait until it was completely dark because thats when they come to avoid predators. they just waddled up the shore and onto the hill, we got to watch them as we walked back to the bus. there were sooo many people so inside the building was crowded af. it was also pretty chilly outside, luckily i brought some layers. 

this is a photo from google images:

the bus ride back was long again, i think we were like 3 hours away. again, i think i just slept for most of it. this tour was better than the other one because there was less stops. however, i don’t know if it was completely worth the money.. but at least we saw the penguins! when we got back we got uber eats. now that i think about it, i think tonight was when we got the mac n’ cheese. refer to the last blog post for the 411. other than that, we just spent time in the hotel, vegging out as per usual

[aliciaspassport]

whats a game plan?

i can’t really say we had a game plan for today, but we did have things to do.. if that makes any sense at all. we had these prepaid passes that we had to use up and i wanted to go to the ACMI (a museum about media), so we did that. we did sleep in a little bit more today though. i mean i was super wiped from the day before, so it was nice to sleep in and just have a morning to do whatever. we were in no rush. 

we walked to the ACMI, we were now becoming more familiar with the streets. the museum had a funky Alice in Wonderland exhibit which I was obviously all over. It cost extra but it was so so cool. they had different rooms which featured all the different movie interpretations. they also had alice sized doors and what not what you first walked in. they also gave you these map cards which you could place on special spots and little animations would occur. it was honestly the coolest exhibit ever. i have no regrets. they had this room called the mad tea party which was a light projection show. i wouldn’t even know how to explain it but it was super cool. they also had this room where you could make your own playing card and be one of the queens little minions. D & i had fun in that room watching out little people roam about in screen.

the actual ACMI museum was all about media, so that was something new and interesting. we tried virtual reality movies which were neat, mine was about convicts. there was also this jumping room that was neat and honestly reading back I probably won’t remember what i was referring to but for the moment, I know. it was called a time slice. There were bits n bobs about Australian movie stars and old hollywood stars in general. I remember the part about Toy Story being the first animated movie of its kind. Overall, a unique museum. one of my favourites so far. 

afterwards we walked to the Melbourne Star. We stopped for noodles on the way at this little strip mall. there were tons of fancy restaurants along the river but we naturally went with noodles. I got a small plate and D got a large which had a shit ton of noodles. They were pretty good for the most part. Afterwards we continued our journey after maybe an hour we had made it to the Star. It was just like the London Eye but it was hella dead. The carriages were had capacity to fit 20 people each, but D & I had our own. Inside we danced around, laid down and listened to our classic Aussie anthems. They gave us a map when we arrived but I put it in a backpack which had to be stored separately so when they did the audio tour inside the carriage we had to guess what we were looking at OOPS. It was pretty neat to see Melbourne from all the way up there, a different view from the Skydeck. When we got the bottom we walked into the outdoor mall that was neat by and got Dippin’ Dots. I got cookie dough because they didn’t have my fave, Rainbow Ice.

We had planned to go to an Icebar later in the evening so we just walked back to our hotel making a pitstop at a grocery store. Naturally, we bought pringles, gatorade and tim tams. At the hotel we just did our own things for a few hours. we ordered Uber eats for a third night in a row. We had hit an all time low and just got McDonalds... we didn’t even walk down the road, nope. we got it delivered, but it was worth it. Afterwards, D defs took a nap because when I went to go get her she was fast a sleep. 

It was pretty chilly outside, so I wore my toque and I was pretty stoked about it. For multiple reasons, 1. I love toques and 2. packing it wasn’t wasted space. !

We walked to the Icebar and it was honestly a disappointment. We were only there maybe a half an hour and it was just us two and the bartender for a majority of the time. You also couldn’t take your phones inside so no pictures were to be had unless you got theirs. Inside it was like you press a button and pose. Once we left, we asked for a recommendation for a bar, the lady recommended Naked for Satan - a rooftop bar. It was pretty great, a cool atmosphere. Very dark, but they had a headed balcony so BONUS. D and I slowly inched our way over to a good table with a view of the city. They also had the most bomb ass cocktails but they were hella expensive - like $20 expensive. It was defs worth it though, mine was called The Pavlova - very Australian if I do say so myself. 

Once we left the bar, we passed many cute shops and decided that we wanted to return sometime before we left. We also encountered a bushtail possum. it was so cute, way cuter than the possums we have here in BC. At the hotel, we went straight to bed pretty much. it turned out to be a busy day with tons of walking.

[aliciaspassport]

the great ocean road

another day tour we embarked on, this one was prebooked by our homegirl Stephanie at Flight Centre (not sponsored). once again we were up at like 6AM because the bus picking us up arrived at 8. We were greeted by Tour Guide Bryce. He had a man ponytail. we sat at the back of the bus, D sat in a single seat and i sat in a double. I thought *maybe* no one would sit with me seeing as on the last bus tour, the bus was half full.. but not this time. the tour bus was full, and I can’t even recall who was on it. probably a bunch of tourists from China..oh wait.. there was a group of like middle aged travellers celebrating someones birthday and a Mom & son pairing. I sat next to the son the whole bus ride.. he didn’t freakin’ fit in the seat.. 

anyway, once we picked up everyone we hit the great ocean road. i swear we stopped like 20 minutes into picking everyone up. we stopped at this quaint little beach... it probably had a name, idk what it was, it was early. we got tea and some loafs though, they weren’t too bad. after a ten minute stop we were on the road again, the drive itself was really beautiful. unfortunately i sat on the wrong side of the bus, but i saw enough of it - it reminded me of the big sur in California. we also mad a quick pitstop at a sign that said great ocean road. apparently a bunch of them got blown away or something in a wind storm. i don’t remember what Tour guide Bryce said and honestly I could be making that up. 

for lunch we stopped at this shitty thai place in the coastal town of Apollo bay. There wasn’t a whole lot in town but D and I did wander to the beach after lunch. i didn’t really talk to any of these people but it was just a weird group. the staff at the thai place were really mean to each other. I guess the bus boy wasn’t doing shit right and the owner or manager or whoever was like ‘WE DO THIS EVERYDAY!”. it was awkward, and like i said. the food was gross. 

we hopped on the bus after lunch and headed into the forest for another forest tour. i don’t remember much of the tour, but it was very nice. there were the second biggest trees in the world in there, after the california red wood. i sounded pretty smart when i knew that that was the biggest tree. the Hobbit was also mentioned but that was all i remember. the forest was really busy, definitely a common tour spot. it was just a short loop though.. i don’t really kno why this was a necessary stop. i guess this tour company has many tour buses going out daily, so the forest was HELLA busy. 

oh yeah, some time today we also spotted some wild koalas... well one wild koala. they were in some gum trees by some private property. i dont know, there was also a plethora of wild birds.. the pretty ones that had been conditioned to sit on peoples shoulders, heads, arms etc. if invited. D was not a fan. seeing the wild koala was cool - lots of wildlife seen on this trip overall. 

after the bus we continued onto one of the highlights of the whole trip, which were the 12 apostles. weirdly theres only 7 of them, there never even was 12 and they’re just named that because it sounded fancy. probably some kind of religion in there too. anyway, there were two different spots to see them. at the first one, you could only see two of them but you got to go down to the beach. it was fun getting chased by the waves, got some pretty nice shots even though it was cold and misty. too bad it wasn’t a perfect sunny day. to see them on the beach we had to go down/up Gibson’s Steps, these steep ass stairs, my body was not prepared, but neither was the lady’s in front of us..

the second stop was just up the road.. ironically we drove. there were waaay more people here, definitely a popular tourist spot. when we arrived it was misting like crazy but we still went along the walk to see the other rock formations. the business of all the tourists kind of ruined the enjoyment and about half way through the rain got worse and it started to pour! i think we even got on the bus early. i don’t know why we drove between the two spots.. i guess for time sake but they were only maybe a 40 minute walk away from each other.

after being wet, we hopped on the bus one last time and headed to Loch Ard Gord. Something about a shipwreck.. i most definitely fell asleep. this place was really pretty, it was sunset so lots of good photos were taken. the clouds even looked pretty cool. 

overall this bus tour was so-so.. it stopped like eery twenty-30 minutes which was annoying, and although we saw a lot of stuff, we didn’t get a whole lot of time in each place. I wish I could drive on the opposite side of the road, it would’ve been much easier. we were like 3 hours away from Melbourne city by the end of it so I just slept on the way home as much as possible. we stopped in some tiny ass town for dinner. no clue was it was called, but D and I split a 6 inch subway sandwich as a snack as we planned on getting food at the hotel. I strayed away from my subway usual and that was a big mistake. regrets all the way. 

when we got back we had uber eats. day two if you’re keeping track. i don’t remember what it was which was quite a shame. I’m pretty sure it was pasta again, but I can’t remember if it was the carbonara or the mac n cheese. if it was the mac n cheese, we ordered like 10 minutes before the restaurant closed. i felt kind of bad, but at the same time i had wanted the mac n cheese. if it was the carbonara, it was pretty yummy. thats pretty much it for this particular day. for the rest of the evening D and I just did our own thing in our own rooms. 

[aliciaspassport]

melbourne day 1? 2?

i’m just going to star this post off with the fact that D had a sit down shower in her hotel room, and i said that it was probably for disabled people or old people who needed to sit in the shower, but she was adamant that it was for couples to use. 

i think it’s also important to mention that in melbourne we pretty much lived off of tim tams, apples, pringles and sports drinks.

i’m going to reiterate how nice it was to have my own space again, as well as waking up with limited obligations. the weather was pretty chilly compared to carins, but D & i were prepared with jackets, sweaters and long pants. in fact we were kind of looking forward to these days because they were some of the only clothes we hadn’t worn. we also wanted to get use out of them, so we didn’t bring them for nothing. 

after some morning chillaxing, we hit the streets to meet Hope at the Eureka 88 Skydeck. it’s a tall building with a view of the city. except, the hotel took the sheet with the reservation code on it because it had their reservation code as well so getting up the tower was a hassle. the lady couldn’t track down the tickets because we had made the reservation 6 months prior, and then the email they needed wasn’t going through.. so finally after calling me up to the desk like twice, they just took a picture of my phone with the code on it. 

the tower itself wasn’t anything extraordinary. i’ve been up many tall buildings and this one was no different i suppose. a nice view of the city, again it was kind of overcast so it would’ve been more spectacular with some sunshine. however, it didn’t rain on our parade. at the top we listened to G’Day G’Day and had a dance jam. Hope was not impressed. 

Afterwards we weren’t too sure what to do, so we ended up just walking to this pasta place because we had been craving it for a few days. it was pretty yummy though, like 10/10. mine had too much chicken though, but flavour wise it was delicious. then we showed Hope our spectacular 2 hotel rooms, before heading out again. we went to the nearby mall, it was actually pretty big. here we just shopped around and made customized kit kat bars. Hope had to catch a train mid afternoon, so D and I just continued shopping. I remember we were pretty excited to shop, and I was ready to drop some cash however I didn’t see anything worth buying so that was a disappointment. 

we headed back to the hostel where D got some great news about the bachelor. from what i remember this girl was obsessed with a guy on the show and the guy was not down but now they’re together and getting married or something. i don’t know.. but we spent the evening doing our own things and D was watching some long ass video about the bachelor. if i recall, i probably just did homework or watched Queer Eye or repacked.

an hour later she paraded back into my room to gush about the bachelor ON MY BED! what nerve! but whatever, tonight was the first nice we discovered UberEats. It’s pretty sensational we ordered a pizza and garlic bread before actually going to bed. 

[aliciaspassport]

carins to melbourne

i guess you could say that today was our first day on our own in the aspect that we wouldn’t even see the people from our tour, so that felt pretty surreal in a sense. our day started off fairly early i guess, we woke up and packed. we had an early afternoon flight so once we brought our luggage down we headed for the main part of town. the shuttle didn’t come for another hour, so we just walked into town. it was about 40 minutes. along the way we were pleasantly surprised to see Hari waiting outside his jacuzzi hotel, waiting for the rest of the gang. obviously, we waited with him and just chatted n’ what not. after the car with jack, andy, georgia and sara arrived, it was officially time to say goodbye for the 2nd time. it was a classic driving off scenario, so we just waved through the window and took one final selfie.

after our goodbyes we continued walking, we kind of knew the route because we had walked it a few times. however, we ended up finding the water and walking along the Carins esplanade. along the way we stopped for some smoothies and aesthetic photos of said smoothies. then we continued along the esplanade. the weather was over cast, but it was still a bit muggy, being near the equator. we were dressed for melbourne weather so we were a little warm. once we got to the city we just looked in a few shoppes before sitting along the water. after sitting along the water for about an hour we walked back to the hostel and ubered to the airport.

the airport was so small, at least in the domestic flight area.. they didn’t even have proper gates. we got through security easy breezy but the people in front of us were struggling and the agent was getting really annoyed. he kept beeping through the system and not understanding that he had to take everything out of his pockets AND then this other couple went in front of us because they were about to miss their flight. however, once we got through, we did some typical airport stuff such as look at over priced food. 

the flight was pretty short, i think i tried to sleep. they tried feeding us this disgusting wrap... i did not eat it. i think D liked it though, so at least someone liked it. i don’t recall their being a TV or anything special.. maybe? i had a middle seat this time which sucked but oh well, the flight was short. we landed in Melbourne probably around 4:00. once we got our luggage we headed straight for our hotel.

it was the nicest of the accommodations thus far but it was a bit of a rocky start. they had us waiting for awhile because they had basically booked out all the single two bed rooms so they had to figure out a plan B. luckily for us, we each got our own single room with a door in between. so, two hotel rooms for the price of one! it was nice to have the space to spread out. especially after staying in hostels and constantly being around other people.

after we settled we went for a walk around, everything was so new again. we ended up going to McDicks and the grocery store. it also happened to be coincidence that Kat was in Melbourne as well, as she flew out in the early AM. which honestly, is the way to go because we kind of wasted our day travelling instead of doing. unfortunately we didn’t get to see Kat as she was busy with her next tour, that was sad, but oh well. I will see her again. 

the hotel had KILLER wifi, so we finally got to watch Finding Dory, we did so with timtams and felt extra australian that night. afterwards we crawled into our own beds and that was that. oh yeah and d kept touching her boobs all day.