Travelling Fool

24 Hours in Perth, Western Australia

2025-02-14T22:50:00.006-05:00

2025 Indigenous All Stars Game (image by TravellingFool.com)

Taking day trips by plane isn't new to me but this is the first time I did it for a sporting event. For the first time in a decade the AFL brought back the Indigenous All Stars game.

On 15 February 2025 the best indigenous and first nations players from all of the different teams came together to take on the Fremantle Dockers at Optus Stadium in Perth. I knew I just had to be there!!

Tune into the YouTube video (also linked here) on this post to join me as I get up before the sun had risen to head to Tullamarine airport in Melbourne and hop on the first JetStar flight to Perth. My time in Perth started out with a trip to the best brunch in Western Australia at Folklore cafe, then a quick trip to the cultural district to see the Western Australia Museum and State Library, before finally making my way to Optus Stadium for the festivities. After the game I grabbed dinner downtown before getting back on my flight and heading home to Melbourne.

In Search of Third Places

2024-06-01T02:44:00.007-04:00

MCG on a classic Melbourne winter day (photo by TravellingFool.com)

Walking to the exit, after visiting Buckingham Palace, I found myself walking closely to an older man and his wife when one of the employees walked by us and said to the man, "Oh hey! Hawks supporter, huh?" The man replied saying something about the team and then I jumped into the conversation. The three of us spoke for another moment, laughing and enjoying the conversation, then we all continued on our individual ways. My family was bewildered by the interaction and said it sounded like we were talking in a foreign language.

I'm not a sports person. I'll go to a few baseball games in the summer and maybe hockey and basketball in winter but I've never been the person to insist that the television be on to "the game" during family dinners and holidays. Moving to Melbourne changed all of that. When looking for an escape from the dreary, depressing Melbourne winters I found Australian rules football aka footy. It started with the enthusiasm of the Australian classmates in my MBA cohort wanting me to pick a team, which is a serious lifetime commitment, and snowballed to me spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in a sports stadium watching every team in town play live.

In the stadiums you can get swept up in the excitement, and sometimes stress, of cheering on the teams. High fiving people and having conversations with strangers sitting beside you about the latest play. On the streets during the week people will look at your team scarf and want to start talking to you even if they support a rival team. Standing in a packed tram car talking about which team is might be the champion that year or what players coming back from injuries will impact the next match. Walking back home late at night after the final siren sounds with a crowd of people.

Footy is a cornerstone of Australian culture, especially in Melbourne, Victoria where the sport originated. While I fell in love with the fast pace, hard hits, and dramatic inter-team rivalries it also gave me something that I don't think I could have gotten anywhere else - an instant connection with the people around me. As a foreigner it can be difficult to get over the initial trepidation that locals have when you try to talk to them. There were conversations that I've had where I was instantly dismissed for being a foreigner or treated differently for it. Bringing up Australian rules football is like entering the cheat codes on those interactions. Suddenly people who would normally be shut off are open and happy to help.

Now that I'm in my second season of Aussie rules, the stadium feels more like home then anywhere else. I know when I'm in there I'll see familiar faces and be welcomed to the collective joy of watching two teams battle it out for the win. It's my favorite way to chase away the winter blues.

Is the Ultimate Penfolds Experience and Magill Estate Tour in Adelaide, South Australia Worth It?

2024-04-12T02:05:00.000-04:00

Penfold's sign at the Magill Estate (photo by TravellingFool.com)

South Australia is well known for their wide variety and expansive range of vineyards that scatter the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Coonawara, and Clare Valley regions. If, like me, you're only planning on staying around Adelaide then 20 minutes outside of the city you'll find Adelaide Hills and the old Magill Estate, the original home of the award winning Pendfolds wines.

There are a few different options available for enjoying Penfolds' city adjacent location that range in opulence from enjoying a glass or bottle of wine and a few nibbles in the bar area to private parties hosted in their underground cellars. We went for the option right in the middle, the Ultimate Penfolds Experience, which still cost us $175 AUD per person.

The tour started on the front lawn where we looked out onto the road leading into the vineyard and the vines which were just recently harvested. The vineyard was once much larger but the city reclaimed much of the land after it spent years laying inactive while Penfolds expanded their operations into the Barossa Valley. The few vines left are still used as part of the production of the Penfolds Grange, a blended bold tasting Shiraz that's been awarded over 30 perfect scores from different wine grading institutions.

After looking at the empty vines our guide brought us to the building just behind us, which is where they process and ferment the grapes after harvest in large cement tanks that were painted red for some reason that I've forgotten. Once I walked in the door I was greeted by the warm pungent smell of old wine, like after a college party where someone spilled their Carlo Rossi in a corner of the room that no one got to in the cleanup process. In this room the smell could be attributed to the tiny purple patches of left over liquid left behind from the most recent harvest. You can only look from the catwalk since it's an operational processing plant. If I wasn't filming the experience I would have been content to just poke my head in while the guide explained how to make wine rather than being cramped on the steel grating of the tiny catwalk just inside the door.

From the fermentation room we were brought to the small lawn in front of the original office and learned about Dr. Penfold who thought all sickness could be remedied by some fortified wine or brandy. He must have had a lot of happy patients. After the tale of how the doctor started the vineyard our tour continued into a bare bones room just behind the bar and restaurant. There were portraits of all the heads of the Penfolds' family who operated the vineyard along one wall, ending with a middle aged man who sold the entire family owned business in 1976 and after exchanging hands a few more times it's now owned by the Treasury Wine Group, formerly part of the Foster's Group. On the other walls were a few large photographs of the different stages of the wine making process and some huge clay pots from ancient Greece that were used hundreds of years ago to make wine. At the end of the nearly empty room there was a huge door that lead us right into the cellar.

The ramp in the center of the cellar entrance is flanked by huge wine barrels. I'm not sure if there was any wine in them but they looked pretty at least. At the end is an even larger barrel that's named for Helen Keller who visited the vineyard and then was challenged by some man to calculate the size of the enormous wooden tank. The story goes that she walked around it, running her hands along the structure, and once she had circumnavigated it gave a spot on accurate measurement of the tank. Which, of course she did.

In the next room was a small bar and a long table set up with a few wine glasses at each seat. Apparently it's one of a few different rooms and areas that you can rent out for hosting a party. Our guide said that they had a 50th birthday there recently where they were drinking the famous Penfolds Grange line, so I can only imagine how much the shindig cost. Our guide kept us walking until we reached the end of the cellar which split off into multiple smaller rooms with jail cell gates blocking them off. After a brief explanation of the history of the cellar we then walked into the Grange room.

Grange is arguably what put Penfolds on the map. The story goes that the head wine maker had an idea to make a new Shiraz blend, but when the blend was tasted by the board of directors they declared it undrinkable. Unfazed by this feedback the wine maker tried to convince them that it just needed to age for a few years to achieve the flavor profile he envisioned. The board didn't want to waste time and money on something they found so vile and told him to shut it down. Instead of ceasing he instead hid the bottles behind a brick wall in the cellar and after a whole bunch of years gave it to the owners to try again. They said it was the best wine ever and the wine maker reminded them it was the garbage swill he had given them years ago. Convinced that the wine maker was right they gave him the green light to resume and the Grange line was born. Each vintage gets added to the display case in the center of the room the original was aged creating a little Grange museum of sorts.

The historical, walk around and see the facilities and mostly empty rooms part of the tour was finally over. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a history lesson just as much as the next geek but hearing about wine and getting to drink it are two very different kinds of fun. So I was happy that after viewing the decades of Grange, the tour guide informed us it was time to do the tasting. We backtracked to the first large room we entered and grabbed a seat at the long table. Each seat had 5 glasses of wine, poured with tastings of both white and red Penfolds wines. Our guide walked us through each wine we were tasting, including what the flavor notes were. Interestingly enough the wine was poured earlier, which gave the white wines chance to warm up a bit which was supposed to enhance the flavors you could taste.Overall the wines were good, but there were definitely some misses for me.

2019 Reserve Bin A Chardonnay

I've never met a card-o-nay that I liked before but this one had notes of lemon and a smooth finish. 100% delicious. In fact it was so good that when I saw it was offered on a flight I was on I broke my rule of no drinking on the plane to enjoy it again.

2018 Yattarna Chardonnay

This chard was a solid meh for me. It smelled so much like peaches that I was hopeful it would be light, crisp, refreshing, and a bit sweet to match but the taste was just a fine white wine. I wouldn't be mad if someone handed me a glass of it but I definitely wouldn't pay $180 AUD for the bottle.

2020 Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley & South Australia)

This one tasted like Trader Joe's 3 buck chuck. Most of the grapes come from the Napa Valley and are mixed with some from South Australia before being caged in California. Even after a second taste it was mid at best.

2018 St Henri Shiraz

Big nope from me on this one, mostly due to the big campfire energy that it gave me. My brother, who is a big fan of smokey Islay whiskeys, didn't mind it so much.

2019 RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz

Very yummy. Notes of dark chocolate, blackberry, and black cherry. Bold, fruity, and a bit of a bite.

2019 Grange Shiraz 750ml

Penfolds' flagship wine did not disappoint. It was double decanted and poured 20 minutes before our arrival to ensure that the bouquet had plenty of time to bloom. You're supposed to age the Grange wins for at least a decade if not longer. It's so serious that every year a group of expert wine raters gather to grade each of the Grange's and provide recommendations on how long they should be aged and the window of time in which they should be consumed. Although about 5-10 years early the 2019 Grange was excellent. I tasted cinnamon, red currant, leather, orange peel, black currant, and lemon. It was slightly dry as well which was pleasant. Overall it tasted like the smell of Adelaide which I found fascinating. Although at $1000+ a bottle I suppose it should be that good.

After the tasting you get dropped off back at the bar. The only downside to this version of the tour is that it doesn't come with lunch but that was easily remedied by the tapas-like food that was available. The tapas come from the same kitchen as the restaurant, which unfortunately has to be booked well in advance, and if the tapas were any indication about the quality of the larger dishes offered in the restaurant then the restaurant must be amazing. I had fresh oysters and a lamb skewer that was covered in a delicious eggplant puree. My brother enjoyed the smoked mackerel and said it was the best one he ever had.

Overall the Ultimate Penfolds Experience was worth it. Although expensive it gave me the chance to try a bunch of very expensive wines that I probably wouldn't try anywhere else. If the tour gets sold out, however, you could easily replicate the experience at the bar on the premises which was comfortable and full of very friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Travelling Fool Rating: 8/10

What is MPavilion? Functional Art in Melbourne

2024-04-02T23:34:00.001-04:00

MPavilion 2023 is a concrete community center (Photo by TravellingFool.com)

Months in advance a whole section of the botanical garden lawn gets walled off with huge plywood boards and signs that say MPavilion is coming soon. I watched it for weeks as I walked along the Yarra River enjoying the early summer. Then when I came back to Melbourne it was opened! MPavilion is at the edge of the botanical gardens and park, south of the river near the highway. It's something that happens every year in the same spot. The Naomi Milgrom Foundation finds some famous architect to design it and then uses it as a spot to run programs, workshops, and other community engagement activities. This is the 10th year that they've done it and I don't recall paying it much mind in my previous summers in Melbourne. Instagram has a funny habit of promoting a lot of government funded or sanctioned events that turn out to be not nearly as pretty, fun, or glamorous as they appear in photographs. Whoever does the photographs for What's On Melb (@whatsonmelb) is truly an artist when it comes to digital photography.

Plenty of bike parking at MPavilion (Photo by TravellingFool.com)

I knew exactly where the Pavilion would be since I had walked past it a few times when it was being built and later when it was open, but they did a great job with putting signage in a place where it can be see and making the path into the exhibit as well as the bike parking easy to find without being an eyesore in the beautiful park that surrounds it. That didn't stop someone from dragging their bike into the exhibit and leaving it leaning against the wall. From the outside it wasn't much to look at. Tall concrete walls and a large sphere covered in newspapers, I believe it is meant to look like paper mache but there was no signage to confirm what it was from what I could tell.

I walked into the concrete box and was shocked to find so many people in there! The area was so quiet I thought it was empty but there were plenty of couples, families, and small groups sitting on low wooden stools. Just beyond them was a pool of water that someone was walking through with a net and the far wall had a slit in it to allow you to look at the paper mache sphere sculpture. A long line had formed with people waiting to get the permanent art installation in the Pavilion, Escala De Cinzas (Greyscale) by Brazilian artist Joao Loureiro.

Hot weather and ice cream art don't mix (photo by TravellingFool.com)

Escala De Cinzas (Greyscale) is grey gelato. Grey gelato made by João Loureiro in collaboration with Piccolina Gelateria which is my favorite gelato chain in Melbourne. I suppose it was more popular today due to the hot weather and the very cute Instagram photo that MPavilion posted to their feed. I watched as two young women were standing in the 2 feet of sun that leaked beyond the umbrella roof of the Pavilion and scooping gelato as best as they could. I looked took a few steps closer to get a look at the six shades of grey "from light grey to almost black with no flavours labelled" and instead of finding a mind bending array of shades of grey of mystery ice cream instead I saw 8 tubs of the same light grey flavor. Not only were all the colors identical but the reason the young women were working so hard to scoop the gelato was because it was melted! It was barely sticking together in the top 3 inches of every tub they had because the sun was so hot and the freezer door was open the whole time. If they were better organized they'd have one of the pair collecting the money and instructing people to go take a seat and wait for their order so that they can keep the freezer closed as much as possible.

Community library in MPavilion (photo by TravellingFool.com)

I turned to admire the length of the line for $7 cones of gelato soup when I noticed the library. The library consisted of a metal book cart from Ikea, complete with about a dozen books on it. There was a sign printed on neon orange paper within a plastic placard labeling the book cart as the community library. I didn't get a very good look at the books on the cart since a family was sitting right on top of it.

Plenty of seating in the shade! (photo by TravellingFool.com)

For a moment I thought of taking a seat myself but when I looked more closely there were no solo people. Everyone was in a group or pair and having conversations. It felt incredibly unwelcoming but I did make a note that it seemed like a good spot to take a break from walking around the park or museum. The cafe was actually a food truck posted outside the pavilion and on the opposite end from the single entry/exit. Come to think of it it does make sense why I felt like the pavilion was a bit of a trap, with only one exit and entry and no windows it has to be failing some kind of safety standard.

Overall I would rate this experience a 2/10. If you're into architecture and modern art, or need somewhere to hang out in the shade if you're in the area, then this experience may be for you. I would not go out of my way however to see it again.

The Australian Open Sucks Now

2024-01-21T22:34:00.000-05:00

Back in 2019 there was some very cool stuff at the Australian Open (photo by TravellingFool.com)

I was pretty excited to be able to get to the Australian Open this year. I missed it in 2022 by a couple days so 2023 was definitely going to be my year to get back to the festivities and I was more then ready for it. I had such a good time the first time I went to the Australian Open in 2019 that I dragged my parents to the US Open in 2022. I'm not sure if Wimbledon does something similar but both the Australian Open and the US Open have a special ticket that you can purchase for grounds access.

The ground pass admits you into the tennis area where all of the stadiums and courts that the players use to practice or play early competitive rounds are held. It allows you to go to any of the practice courts and enjoy the specialty drinks and foods that are sold by different vendors as well as go shopping for everything tennis. Sponsors of the event usually have stalls selling their wares as well which can be a fun way to check out the latest shoes from Adidas or pick up some funky socks.

My first trip to the Australian Open in 2019 was magical.It was like being in a tennis themed amusement park. I drank my way through the park enjoying the warm sun and watching the matches on the big television screens. Each of the vendors had such unique designs and decorations, offering a different vibe in each booth area with food trucks interspersed between the alcohol vendors. There weren't too many other people there so it felt peaceful to sip my Aperol spritz and watch the tennis as a few groups sat at the picnic tables in another booth nearby chatting. There was an announcement in the afternoon asking people to go into the Rod Laver arena to watch the Australian duos play in the final (and they won!). It was so epic chanting and cheering with everyone and it was followed up by the best vibes at a concert in the park next door.

On my second trip this year (2024) I was so excited. I was ready to live whatever the updated version of the epic adventure I had in 2019 was. Maybe I had too much fun that first year and it was a blip. The US Open was pretty great but not as good as my first trip to the AO. It honestly could be just me chasing the joy of an epic adventure, wanting to do it again. But the Australian Open was such an overall disappointment that I'm not sure if I would go again or not.

Let's start with getting there. The tram provides easy access to the Rod Laver Arena (after a bit of a walk) or you can walk up from the Yarra River where the botanical gardens meets the AIA Center. There was a new entrance I noticed from my usual perch on the lawn in front of the rowing clubs in Southbank so you could even walk in right from Flinders into the Kids Zone then take the long walk into the main festival grounds. How did I get there? Well. I bought an UberOne pass because I had been getting a lot of takeout and everything has a delivery fee unless you have it.

UberOne happened to send me a push notification at the beginning of the second week of the tournament and told me I could get a free ride to the US Open since I live close to the stadium. So I woke up, got dressed, put on lots of sunscreen then opened my phone and ten minutes later a sick looking Kia SUV pulled up to pick me up. I got in and the interior was gorgeous! Honestly the free ride in the Kia EV9 GT-Line all electric 7-Seat SUV to the Australian Open did more to convince me that when I eventually need to buy or lease a car I'm going to spend the money for that one. The backseat was so comfortable and the double moon roof was such a vibe. The coolest part was seeing how the sideview mirrors worked because the car doesn't have any. Instead of a domed mirror at the end of the plastic arm of the sideview mirror it was a small square camera. And inside the vehicle on the passenger and drivers side were these 4-inch (roughly) TV screens. The part that I liked from the functional perspective of the car was that the controls for the radio and speakers were really straight forward. Not this mess of nested menus and different interfaces. I even asked the driver how he liked it and he said it was nice to drive around the city all day. That ride was only like 10 minutes but it really convinced me that this was the EV of my dreams. To be honest the booth that they had at the Australian Open made the car seem so uncool. They would've been better off with the cute slate blue AO themed version they used with Uber.

I arrived at about 11am on the Wednesday of the final week of the event and I noticed in the Instagram posts from friends who went that in all of their photos there were tons of people in the crowd. So I wanted to be there as early as possible to get a chance to check out the whole event and see what was going on before I picked a spot to hang out later in the afternoon when it would inevitably start to get more crowded.

This year each section of the tennis center was named and there were lots of color coded maps around to tell you which one you were in. I started off in the "Grand Slam Oval" area. Before you even scanned your ticket there were multiple sunscreen stations where you could slather up. Inside there were sunscreen stations in each section where you could reapply as well and there were lots of shaded seating areas. This was a huge change from my first visit where there was almost no shade whatsoever.

There were areas of food and then areas of drinks but there didn't seem to be many non-food sponsors this year. Chemist Warehouse had one of the smartest booths where they sold everything you could need on a day out in a very cold air conditioned box. Dunlop had their usual tennis ball filled room for IG worthy photos and there was an Infosys booth that I'm not sure what they had and the Kia display that I mentioned earlier. There wasn't anything that fun and I found out why when I eventually wandered my way over the foot bridge to the other side of the park and saw the Kid Zone. The Kid Zone was insane with the amount of children in there. I learned from a guy I was chatting with later in the evening that all of the activities in the Kid Zone have to be booked well in advance so if you didn't there isn't really anything to do in there. If you're like the guy I was talking to you didn't notice that bookings were required and show up only to have a very disappointed kid.

The food and drink options were interesting. Each drink provider in the venue had their own area of seating and tables in their bright brand colors with a bar selling their specialty drink of the event. They were also the only drinks available for sale from the food vendors. The branded bars themselves were such a bore. Like sitting in the middle of a 3-dimensional billboard. Each one had an "Instagram worthy" posing area too which sat empty more often then not. So they were just these huge pointless sculptures taking up space. I will say that Aperol had the smartest looking one - a deep red colored 2-person high top table on a matching deep red backdrop. Otherwise they were treated like awkwardly arranged open seating with people sitting on any moveable object they could find because it was so jam packed.

By 1pm it was already crowded. I tried to see if I could get into the stadium to see a game since the general admission ticket I purchased included open seating in the arena (it was very confusing with multiple levels of general admission tickets in general) and there were so many people sitting on the floor inside and just hanging out that I knew any general seating was long gone. At 5pm it was so uncomfortably crowded and people started sitting on the ground. People yelling at each other across the area and packs of young people posing to take huge group photos. The ground unfortunately was also made of dead grass and with such an intense amount of foot traffic it kicked up a layer of disintegrating grass that took me two showers to get off my body and left me coughing up dust for two weeks.

At the end of the day it was a good time but I could've done all the same things I did at the Australian Open on a rooftop bar anywhere else in Melbourne and not walked away with a cough at the end.

Melbourne Street Eatz Summer Foodie Food Truck Festival

2024-01-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

Melbourne is well known for it's delicious, creative, and ever expanding restaurant scene. Restaurants and eateries are usually in brick and mortar locations or permanent street stalls so I was surprised to see advertisements on Instagram for Melbourne Street Eatz. Melbourne Street Eatz is a food truck and street food festival nestled along the Southbank of the Yarra river. Seeing that it was food trucks sparked my curiosity since they aren't commonly found in Melbourne so I was eager to see what treats could be found.

Fun in the sun at Street Eatz (photo by TravellingFool.com)

The Melbourne Street Eatz event is located just to the right of the Melbourne Convention Center's front door on Clarendon Street. It's open from 11am-11pm everyday and I happened to stop by around 7pm on a Saturday. As I approached the entrance I noticed in addition to the banner with the Melbourne Street Eatz logo there was a sea of sandwich boards. Each sandwich board sign had a different color, logo, and theme which made me realize that each of the eateries inside the fenced area must be advertising to try and lure people into the event. It was a bit perplexing given the amount of advertising I saw but I suppose it's a good tactic to get the attention of people walking around the area or exiting the casino across the street.

After traversing the sea of signs and entering the fence gate I was immediately greeted by a wide dirt path flanked by a hodge podge of what I'd describe as food stands. Some of the eateries were in trailers, up-cycled shipping containers, DIY converted box trucks, and there was one that was just a bunch of industrial white plastic folding tables and a collapsible nylon sunshade. As I walked down the soft dirt path taking in all the different smoothie/juice stands the song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" played and it felt like I was at a 1980s carnival as German sausages, Nepalese dumplings, fresh gnocci, Columbian arepas, and West African spices filled the air.

The cutest cocktail table I've ever seen (photo by TravellingFool)

The place was a little more empty then I expected on a sunny Saturday in January. Most of the stalls had one or two people in front of them but many were empty including devoid of employees as I noticed the huge open windows of the food stalls with not a soul to be seen inside. At first I wondered where everyone was then I walked a little further and there were lots of picnic tables filled with lots of groups chatting and enjoying their dinners and beers. Everybody made it look like a good time but as I looked around there really weren't many open options for grabbing a seat and enjoying a bite except for the adorably painted standing tables made out of steel drums with beautiful wooden tops. They looked so cute I briefly thought about trying to drag one home with me to my apartment.

Tennis viewing party in the sun (photo by TravellingFool.com)

Amongst the 12 different food stalls there were lots of solid options like juices, burgers, kebabs, all the usually Australian foods you'd want to enjoy on a lovely summer evening on the river. The picnic tables sat near the white plastic fence along the riverside and there were even black ping-pong tables with neon colored decorations. At the end of the area was a large screen playing one of the Australian tennis tournaments and rows of white plastic adirondack chairs facing the screen. There were a few people watching the post-match interview on the screen but most of the people sitting in the area were trying to balance plates and containers on their laps as they ate.

To accompany the sports playing on the big screen there were two bars. In a city like Melbourne where you can have four seasons in one day, it seems like an unfortunate planning decision to sell food and drinks on a grassy lawn. There must have been some very good times in the bar area combined with the recent rain because as soon as I got within 10 meters (30 feet) of the bar my foot got sucked into the Melbourne mud. For a brief moment I thought I was going to lose my shoe in it the mud was so thick.

Ama's Delishes Jollof Truck smelled AMAZING! (photo by TravellingFool.com)

After getting lose from the mud and walking back exclusively in the grassy parts of the area instead of the dirt path I stopped for a third time at "Ama's Delishes" which was a jollof "truck" - it was a storage container that had been converted into a colorful portable kitchen. The smell wafting from the jollof truck was an enticing blend of spices and meat that made me feel like a cartoon character floating on the breeze towards a delicous bowl of meaty rice. I was about to grab some but $22 for a container of food to takeaway felt steep. That's the kind of price you usually see in sit down eateries here!

At the end of the day I would recommend a stop by Melbourne Street Eats. At the very least it breaks up the normal monotony of burgers and chips and has spectacular riverside vibes. The Melbourne Street Eatz food truck festival is open January 5-February 25 from 11am-11pm.

Dreams Come True With an Epic Day at Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood

2023-06-23T00:25:00.000-04:00

Super Nintendo World in 2023 - all hype and all fun! (photo by TravellingFool.com)

From the moment my parents gave me an NES for Christmas when I was a baby, I have been a huge fan of Nintendo. So when I heard rumors of a Nintendo theme park opening I was filled with such joy and excitement that I couldn't wait to get there and experience it myself. With the pandemic and the first park being in Kyoto, Japan it took a while. But in June 2023 I finally got to head to Universal Studios Hollywood to see for myself if Super Nintendo World lived up to all the hype

While planning this trip I spent a lot of time weighing the pros and cons on whether or not to pay the extra $30 for a Super Nintendo World Early Access ticket that allows you to enter the park an hour early and Nintendo World before it opens to the general public at 11am. When the big day got here my brother and I woke up early to head to Universal Studios. We got to the entrance gates at 8am, an hour before the park officially opened, on a cloudy, warm, California morning, As we got closer I thought for a moment that we had been scammed when I looked at the clock and say it was 8:07am and a huge crowd of people were waiting at the entrance. As I said to my brother, waiting to get in defeats the purpose of paying for early access! But when we got to the gate we heard a cast member inviting people with early access to go to the special Nintendo World themed door to the park where there were only a couple dozen other people filing in.

It was a little surreal walking into a mostly empty park but we couldn't be distracted by the novelty of having the place to ourselves. At least 40 people walked through the Super Nintendo World gate at the same time as us so we knew we had to hustle in order to make proper use of our early entrance fee. Power walking through the park we made a quick detour at one of the gift shops to pick up the Power-Up Bands for use in Super Nintendo World. They cost $40 each but are a crucial part of enjoying the Nintendo part of the park. I got a Mario one and my brother got Toad. We were told by the cashier, and later found it to be true, that the Toad bands usually sell out first each day.

Had I known that Super Nintendo World was located on the back-lot of Universal then I may have gotten to the park even earlier. The journey from entering the front gate, traversing the entire park, riding down 4 very long escalators, and walking across the secondary section of the park to reach the entrance, took about 30 minutes. When we finally got to the entrance to Super Nintendo World I was already a little sweaty despite the sun being behind a bunch of grey clouds. There was a person there checking tickets and turning people away who didn't have the early access pass.

Once they confirmed our tickets we were allowed to enter the green pipe and get warped into Super Nintendo World. As you walk through there are rainbow lights swirling colors all around you and the warp pipe sound effect plays. I was immediately immersed and enamored as the pipe let out into a small room of Peach's castle, complete with shape shifting portraits from Super Mario 64. I could've stayed in that room for ages, and I probably did stay a tad too long based on my brother standing in the doorway to the park and telling me "c'mon, you still have to go into the park."

Walking through the castle doors into the park would've made my head explode if I was still a little kid. It was still amazing as an adult but I had enough self control to hold in the squeals of delight that I wanted to let out. The park is small. Very small. And within in they've crammed as many Nintendo things as possible, leveraging the space in a way that provides you with a few hours of exploration despite it's small size.There's Koopas walking around up top and Pikman hiding in corners. Secret 8-bit Mario holograms to find that are hidden on the walls. So many little touches.

We made a beeline for the Mario Kart ride which had an estimated queue wait time of an hour. It took about that long to reach the front but along the way you're treated to so many immersive rooms that it is worth waiting in the queue even if you want to skip the ride. You start off with entering Yoshi's Story themed rooms. The candy colored pink walls and flowers with smiley faces eventually give way to a dark cave filled with colorful crystals, that then brings you out again to another candy pink room where Yoshi waits upstairs, swallowing a Shy Guy on loop. At the top of the stairs is another green warp pipe that brings you to the outdoors part of the queue and a panoramic view of Nintendo World from up high. After winding our way through the queue, the path brought us to the front doors of Bowser's Castle (or King Koopa's Castle if you're Japanese). Inside the doors a giant statue of Bowser waits to greet you, creating a huge bottle neck in the queue as people stop to take photos with him before continuing into the castle.

Everything looked exactly as it appears in the games. From the Mario Kart trophies to little hand written notes from Bowser taunting and challenging Mario to a race, to the small pile of Bomb-ombs in a corner. The queue winds through Bowser's living room, study, and workshop until you go through another set of doors to watch the pre-ride orientation video, in the locker room of the race course where you can see the classic racing uniforms on display from Peach, Mario, Luigi, and Toad. There was even a small tanuki suit folded up in Mario's locker! After watching the video you're brought to another room to pick up the heavy plastic visors you have to wear for the ride and then it's back to waiting in the queue but this time on a flight of stairs that lead down to the cars that you lock yourself into and connect the visor to for the Mario Kart ride. The atmosphere, however, was far more immersive and impressive then the ride.

The other ride in Super Nintendo World is Bowser Jr's Lair. It's not even a ride as much as it is an interactive game. To get into the lair, however, you need to do two things - buy a $40 Power-Up Band and successfully complete 3 challenges around the park. The staff in front of the lair was kind enough to explain all of this and point out the location of the challenges we had to play. There are 4 total - Thwomp Panel Panic, Koopa Troopa POWer Punch, Goomba Crazy Crank, and Piranha Plant Nap Mishap.

Thwomp Panel Panic is located in a dark alcove underneath an thwomp block moving up and down above it. Peaking into the dark area there wasn't much of a line for this challenge but it also looked like not many people were clearing the challenge either, and those that did had a group of 4-6 people doing it with them, so we skipped this one to wait in line for Koopa Troopa POWer Punch. Koopa Troopa POWer Punch, or the POW block game as we called it, had a really long line but moved at a decent pace. It took us about 15 minutes to reach the front but that time wasn't wasted. We used it to figure out the timing of how to beat the game. There are so many people that failed and had to get back in line! When someone finally did win the next person asked how they did it and slowly we all figured out how to clear it - you have to hit your Power-Up Band on the bottom of the first POW block as the Koopa shell is entering the pipe. Not when it's in the pipe, not when it's far out of the pipe, just as the shell is about to touch the pipe. You only get 3 attempts to get the precise timing right before you fail and have to re-enter the queue to try again.

We moved to the Goomba Crazy Crank next, which had a queue that went all the way around the toadstool seats and just past the front door of the gift shop. It was 11am by this point and the exponential increase in crowds told us that we did the right thing by paying extra to get there early. Not too many people failed the crank game but not because the game was too easy. You have to move the crank very fast to win, something that most of the smaller kids couldn't manage on their own. The line was long enough that we could take turns checking out the gift shop and get back with plenty of time to spare before it was our turn. The crank was surprisingly hard to turn, and you had to do it so fast, that I found myself slightly out of breath after watching the Goomba run along the spinning wheel to get the coin.

Two games down and the third to unlock Bowser Jr.'s Lair was a choice between touching blocks on a light wall at Thwomp Panel Panic or running around in circles turning off alarm clocks at Piranha Plant Nap Mishap. At this point the park was so packed full of people, and we had woken up so early to get there, that I wanted to do whichever one we could get done the quickest. Both had huge lines of people, but I noticed that the Piranha Plant game had a worker who was a little more relaxed then the others were and let his relatives cut the line to play. I stood there and watched a few rounds of players and noticed that it required at least 3 people to beat the game, 4 or 5 to do it without literally running. The objective of the game is to hit the top of the alarm clocks as they light up but the alarm clocks are spread out across a pretty wide area. Instead of waiting in the queue, I waited for another group of 2 people to get their turn to play the game and before it started asked them if we could join them to make it easier. They agreed and we were able to complete the game with them, getting the final key to enter the lair without having to spend more time on a line.

I checked the app to confirm and sure enough all three keys were there. We were able now to go back to Bowser Jr.'s Lair and sure enough as soon as we tapped our Power-Up Bands on the lock we heard a sound and were admitted to the building. The queue area was quite small but there were a lot of things to check out and take photos of in Bowser Jr.'s version of Bowser's castle. It let us out into a big room with a large screen that wrapped around in a semi-circle and spots on the floor in front of it to stand-on. Although the whole experience to enter this game/ride required spending $40 on the wristband to access it, it was well worth it. The game was so much fun and everyone was laughing and shouting as you had to cooperate with the other 10 people in the room to win. It also requires standing and jumping, moving up and down doesn't work you have to actually jump, but I had a blast playing it.

There was only one stop left on our Super Nintendo World adventure - the restaurant. The Toadstool Cafe requires a wait list reservation, which you can book ahead of your visit online via this link on Zomato according to Undercover Tourist, but when I went for my visit I had no idea how. It was actually our first stop before we got in the queue for the Mario Kart ride but by 8:30am all the reservations were already gone. The restaurant wasn't even open until 11am! The cast member at the front door apologized and said that we might still be able to get on the wait list if we came back around 12pm because that's when they release more time slots. About 10 minutes before noon I went to the restaurant to wait for the additional time slots to become available and luckily enough could grab one for 3pm. There were so few available that half the crowd that was trying at the same time as us were met with the disappointment of not getting one.

3pm is a very late reservation when you've been in Super Nintendo World since 8:30am. There just isn't enough to see, do, or shop to fill in the gap so we spent about an hour and a half just sitting outside. I spent some of that time streaming the park on Twitch and the rest of it catching up on work. Finally when it was time we were admitted into the queue to purchase our food. Once again the interior was charming and delightfully themed with Toads in chef uniforms running around and appearing in the faux windows of the restaurant. The menu and photos of the food can be reviewed while you wait and once you get to the register you're greeted by a lovely person in a chef uniform matching Toad's with life size power-ups on the shelves behind them. I wanted to order one of everything on the menu but my brother had to stop me. There were also a lot of items that were already sold out for the day like the Toadstool Cheesy Garlic Knots, and Mt. Beanpole Cake.

After paying and waiting for any beverages that you've ordered it's time to wait at the hostess' station until they can bring you to an empty table. The dining room was packed with people. The theming is also continued there with huge windows showing animations of the Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom going about their day. Periodically Bowser comes to visit and the dining room turns stormy and dark before his ship sails by and the sun (and Toads) come out again. The cute and immersive atmosphere was accompanied by cute food that was absolutely delicious.

Super Mushroom Soup

The soup came in a very cute mushroom power-up bowl that you can take home with you. The mushroom soup was delicious, tiny bits of mushroom throughout a light cream base with little crackers on top with cute mushroom power-ups on them. My brother said the Tomato Soup in Super Mushroom Bowl that he ordered was great too.

Mario Burger

A classic bacon, mushroom, cheeseburger (or without cheese as my brother got it) had a little Mario moustache burned into the top of the brioche bun. It was quite large for a burger and came with plenty of fries although the truffle taste was so mild I couldn't even taste it. You can also order this burger as a veggie burger if that's your fancy.

Bowser's Fireball Challenge

I was really hungry by the time we got to eat and since the Chef Toad Short Rib Special was sold out I went for the next best thing, Bowser's Fireball Challenge. The one pound meatball it came with looked more like two or three hamburger patties squished together and covered in a light layer of melted mozzarella cheese. It was laying in a pool of spicy marinara sauce and came with a deliciously flakey and buttery puffed pastry shaped to look exactly like Bowser's head. There's a cup of Frank's Red Hot hot sauce that comes on the side but the dish didn't need it. It was so spicy! Red pepper flakes were in everything but despite being so hot it was still delicious. You can get it with a souvenir bowl that we saw a few other patrons get, and it looked really cool. It seemed to be a shallow plate bowl hybrid with Bowser's face in the center.

? Block Tiramisu

Normally I would never order a tiramisu, it's just not really my kind of dessert, but ordering all three desserts was the one thing I could do and not break the bank. Unfortunately for me one of the desserts (the Mt. Beanpole cake, a chocolate, vanilla, strawberry layered cake with a matcha mousse) was sold out. If I had the chance, however, I would order this tiramisu any day of the week. It was light, fluffy, and delicious. The question block walls were like cookies and the interior was soft and rich.

Princess Peach Cupcake

A raspberry filled Funfetti cupcake with loads of pink buttercream frosting and a Princess Peach chocolate crown. The redeeming part of this cupcake was the chocolate crown. The buttercream was so sweet that I couldn't eat more then a single bite of it and the cupcake base was decent but nothing special. This dessert definitely looked better in photos then it tasted.

Super Star Lemon Squash

The Super Star Lemon Squash is the only specialty drink served. It's a honey lemon soda with mango stars and tropical boba. I usually don't like honey flavored things but the drink tasted tropical and was sweet but not overly so. The mango stars were bits of mango fruit cut into star shapes and the tropical flavored popping boba was delightful. I savored it until the last drop and even then was sucking the last bits of the drink from the leftover ice cubes.

We left the restaurant to find a beautiful blue sky had replaced the gloomy grey one from earlier. With a cloudless blue sky overhead Nintendo World looked even more like the video games. Our journey back to the main park began from here. We stopped off in the Simpsons land, where you can't buy a Flaming Moe anymore because of a general shortage of liquid nitrogen but you can buy Duff beer, Lady Duff, and canned Duff (which is orange soda). From there we headed to the classic Universal Studio Tour.

The studio tour was always my parents favorite. I remember being on it, at both the California and Florida parks, as a little kid and it's one of the few rides I remember being on in general at Universal besides Jaws and Terminator 2. So I couldn't leave the park without doing it. It's changed quite a lot since I was a kid and now in addition to seeing the old sets and props from various movies and television shows, there's also two mini-rides within the ride. The tram car drives through a dark tunnel where screens on either side play through a scenario before bringing you to the end where the tram is locked in and the floor begins to shake, move, and shift in choreography with the video playing on the screens that fully surround you. The Fast and the Furious one was so corny that it was great. My brother and I just kept saying "family" to each other in our awful Dom Torreto impersonation, so when Vin Diesel appears on the screen and says "it's like I always say, it's all about family" the entire group cheered and we laughed our heads off.

Neither my brother nor myself had been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter part of the park before so we stopped off there as well. It really felt like we really missed the hype train on this part of the park. It was more or less empty, with the majority of people waiting in the queue for the Flight of the Hippogriff coaster which was a 1.5 hour wait when we looked at the sign. Instead of waiting for a ride we explored the shops instead, even doing Olivanders, the wand selecting room, with another family which my brother had to chug the rest of his butter beer to walk into it. The cast members did a great job putting on a show with the little kid that was selected to get fitted for their wand, and afterwards it drops you off in the gift shop to get your own wand. There's two types that are sold - the expensive kind that interact with things around the Wizarding World and another that's more affordable but doesn't do anything.

Our shopping excursion continued with a stop into the Hello Kitty shop and the larger, general Univeral shop near the exit to the park where they were celebrating the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park, one of my favorite movies. It was difficult to pry myself away from some of the merch that they were selling there but then I remembered that I was doing a two week trip with an already overstuffed carry-on size suitcase and was able to control my purchasing impulse.

Overall I found Super Nintendo World to be truly delightful. I was originally planning to follow up my visit here with a visit to the park in Kyoto but I learned from an Australian I met in Tokyo Disney that Universal Studios in Kyoto is very expensive inside the park and is very small. I'm sure I'll get there one of these days but for now the Universal Studios Hollywood version of Super Nintendo World is plenty for me. I would definitely recommend paying extra to get there early because if you don't, and if you don't wait in front of the entrance to Nintendo World from 9-11am when the first general admission is allowed in, then you may not be able to enter that part of the park until 3 or 4pm as they cap how many people can be inside at one time. You also really need to buy the Power-Up Band to get the full experience in Nintendo World which I was a little annoyed about because at $40 each it's a lot of overhead to interact with a park that you spent $30 extra to get into before it's overrun with people. Despite the cost, and the shabby bits that you'd never see at Disney, I can't wait to get back. Once they've added more things to see and do.

Recommendations from Locals about Seattle, Washington

2021-10-05T00:40:00.005-04:00

The rules for international travel have been really difficult to navigate over the last 6 months so I've been thinking of all the places in America that I really liked and want to see, taste, and experience before I leave the country for an extended period of time, at least if things don't stay locked up.

One of those places is Seattle. I went there on the JetBlue "All You Can Fly" promotion back in 2009. It was so long ago that I don't even have Foursquare/Swarm check-ins to see what I did. I remember really liking it there, like it was some kind of rich Binghamton - all bricks and hippie vibes. My blog post back then only has a few notes on Seattle specifically:

Screenshot of blog post titled "25 Things I Learned on The JetBlue Adventure"

Well it turns out some streamers that I've been hanging out with on Twitch while I work on my side projects are headed to Seattle to visit and I thought well, I want to head there too so why not help them (and myself) and reach out to my friends Eric and Andrea who live out there for the latest on what to do. So here's their recommendations for September 2021

Sushi Kashiba

I traveled through Japan with Eric and his wife Denise while they were living there. That trip to Japan ruined me for life when it came to sushi. Once you eat it out there it's hard to enjoy a lot of sushi places back here in the States cause they're just not as good. Sushi Kashiba is in Pike Place and the owner is a sushi chef from "Jiro Dreams of Sushi." That's a long way of saying if they say they found a sushi place they love then it's really really good sushi. Read about our Japan adventure here.

Manmoons

Described as "the most incredible Persian food" that Eric's ever had. Honestly I might book a trip just on that statement alone.

Archipelago

This is a new upscale Filipino fusion restaurant that not only Eric recommended but the Twitch streamers headed to Seattle were also told to eat there. So there's gotta be something substantial at this restaurant to back up the hype and reviews.

Pike's Place Market

I remember seeing a tour of Pike's Place Market on Real World Seattle. And it was still cool to walk through and see all the little merchant stalls and interesting goods sold there. Plus all the cafes and restaurants in the immediate area. I had some of the best Pho at a place just up the block when I had arrived in the early afternoon. Andrea makes a good point saying it's the "kind of place to be when you first visit."

Coffee

What's a trip to Seattle without coffee? I don't drink coffee but I was more then willing to dip my toes in that part of Seattle culture especially with so many options out there. After all the original Starbucks is here! It was given a universal "skip it" rating from my friends unless you're looking for cool merch and a long wait on line. Head to Ghost Alley Espresso in Pike's Place Market instead for your fix or my favorite Top Pot.

Cake Donuts

Donuts are one of those desserts in life, along with pastries, where you'd have a hard time finding a bad one but you'd also have a hard time finding the best one. One of my all time favorite donut shops is in Seattle, Top Pot. I love a good cake doughnut. I've been told that I need to check out Mighty O's too.

Yeast Doughnuts

You know those big fluffy doughnuts. Like a classic chocolate frosted. Or those doughnuts that are stuffed with cream or jelly? Those are yeast doughnuts. If those are your jam then head over to General Pourpoise and treat yourself!

Getting Around

When I was there as a young fool I walked the entire weekend, from one end of the city to the other. Back in my day Google Maps didn't have a bus schedule built into it so you either had a car, took a cab, or used your own two feet. Considering how little money back then walking made the most sense to me. Andrea though has enlightened me to other alternatives - the classic electric scooters that live in most American cities these days, as well as the bus of course, and a car share service Gig car that you can sign up for straight from your phone and go.

See the Sights

These are some general tourist must-sees in the city or popular places to check out.

Seattle Art Museum
Museum of Pop Culture. This is great for any music lover (I'm not so it fell a bit flat)
Space Needle. I would skip this one personally. When I close my eyes and think of Seattle I think of the Space Needle, so any photos from there would be nice but when I look at them in 10 years would I even know they were of Seattle?
Rainier National Park. There are multiple trails and something for everyone. Plus the greenery!!
Troll under the bridge. This was something I found purely by chance and it was really impressive in person. The official name is the Freemont Troll or the Troll's Knoll. Solid spot to check out if you're walking around and the nearby shops and restaurants are great.

There are even more recommendations on where to eat and drink and hang out in Seattle. Too many to share on one post really, unless you feel up for reading a full novel. Instead you can find all of the above recommendations as well as some bonus ones on this Google Map that I created. Feel free to share with your friends and family!

Ask TF: Should I Stay In a Hostel?

2020-01-20T21:19:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of hostels. If you go back and pick any one of my posts chances are you'll read about my experience in a hostel in whatever foreign country I happen to be in at the time. A bunch of my friends, however, have reached out to me recently to get help when venturing into the backpacker's lifestyle. I've consolidated my best advice below so that whoever reads this can find the best hostel experience possible. All of this is based on my own personal experience and findings, because I often learn best when learning the hard way. Hopefully this is helpful and you can learn from my own triumphs and mistakes.

Use HostelWorld and Pay For a Flexible Booking

HostelWorld is my go-to. Occasionally I'll book directly with the hostel that I'm staying at if they're offering a discount or running a special if you do so but 90% of the time I'm going through HostelWorld. They don't have the most modern website but it works and it works well even when you find yourself standing around in London with 3G cellular service trying to book a new room because the hostel you booked is being shady and asking for more money in cash only (true story).

Go For Hostels With a Rating of 80 or Higher

I've flirted with 79 rating hostels in the past and have been disappointed by the cleanliness. That's really the biggest difference between something below 80 and something above it. Sure you're staying in a shared space and sharing a bathroom with a dozen other people but it doesn't have to feel like that. Good hostels will keep it tidy and clean so that you don't feel like you're taking a shower at a public pool.

Read the Comments on Ratings

Like on Amazon, comments will tell you everything you need to know. Do they vacuum often? Is the room super loud until 3am when the bars close? Will you find a dead mouse under your bed? Can you expect to make new friends there? All the possible things you may want to know are in the comments section. Read them. Go a few pages deep and keep reading. It's important to go into this knowing what to expect.

Stay in a Room of 8 or Fewer Beds

Prices are typically based on the number of people you're sharing a room with. See that $15 a night bed? It's in a room with 15 other people. It may not seem to bad now but in my experience the more people you add the less civil it becomes. In a 4 person room everyone is cordial and apologetic if they come back in the middle of the night, trying their best not to wake anyone up. In a 20 person room they'll throw on the lights and start talking loudly to their friends when they come back at 4am then sit at the foot of your bed on Instagram for the next hour because it's the one next to the only outlet of the room (both are true stories).

Get a Social Experience - Party Hostel or Happening Common Room

Remember my tip about reading the comments? You should also read the description of the hostel. Does the hostel describe themselves as a party hostel? Do they have a bar in the lobby? Then go into it knowing that everyone is there to be social and have a good time (and probably not sleep much). Does the hostel talk about their popular common room? Do the comments talk about hanging out in the common room? Or activities that the staff organizes? Awesome! Then you've found yourself a hostel where they may not be party animals but people are looking to make new friends. Staying somewhere without either of these things feels more like a shared hotel then an experience - look for a place that people describe as social for the best possible experience.

Going Solo? Consider a Single Room

I hate the top bunk. It is my worst fear when traveling alone and staying in a hostel, that I get assigned the top. With a bum knee and a bad ankle and not nearly enough upper body strength it's a recipe for torture. I've been lucky to only have one occasion where I was assigned a top bunk and had no choice but to stay there for my entire visit. It was torture, especially going out partying all night then having to somehow make my way back up (I had actually considered sleeping on the couch in the common room but when I got back they were all taken, probably by other top bunkers). You can request a bottom bed at check-in but I've found sometimes when I'm traveling alone that it's nice to just have a single room. You get all the best parts of the hostel - other people, activities, adventure - without having any roommates. If it's economical I'll sometimes splurge and get a single room, but sometimes the cost can be just as much as a hotel so be careful and do your homework first.

Check Out Their Website

Even though I usually book on HostelWorld I'll still check the hostel's website. Their site will tell you a lot about the patron they're looking to attract as well as give you a heads up on any activities that you can expect to be happening. They may also have better pictures of the rooms and building to help round out your research from reading all the reviews and descriptions. Rarely you'll find one running a special or find out that it's part of a network of hostels. For those that are part of a larger network it's helped me to steer my decision making on where to stay in other cities where the hostel network may be present, especially if I've had a great experience in sister hostels.

Location, Location, Location

Like with any real estate location is critical. The vast majority of hostels are typically just outside of the city or on the outskirts. There are a few cities where the hostels are in the center but even then it's critical to be mindful of everything else surrounding the hostel. Once you've done all your research and think you've narrowed down the list to a couple of options, open up your trusty Google Maps and see where it is in the city. How close is the hostel to public transportation? The tourist sites? Restaurants? Grocery? Liquor Store? Bar? How far is it from the airport? These are all important questions. There's nothing worse then being at a great hostel but finding that you're a mile away from the nearest bottle shop or on a subway line that is inconvenient to the major ones.

The Third NYE in Melbourne

2020-01-06T19:52:00.000-05:00

In October I fretted over what to do for the New Year's holiday. My office would be closed and, having such limited vacation time, it seemed like a waste to just stay at home and do nothing. I considered my options - Croatia, London (again), Poland. They all would require a degree of planning that at the time I didn't have the patience or general time to dedicate to it. My eyes lingered on the flight calendar showing me all the possibilities for a week's vacation and finally I said forget it, I'm just going to Melbourne.

This was my fifth trip to Melbourne, the first was New Years 2018. Each time I return it feels more and more familiar to me. So much so that I didn't even think of writing about my time while I was there.

So what does one do on their fifth trip to a city? Well all the things you enjoyed the other times. I spent my days in the sun sipping Bundaburg and my nights at lovely dinners or sipping cocktails at the delicious and uber trendy Above Board until the wee morning hours. When the weather was too hot to bear I retreated indoors to the Casino where I watched a great movie (Knives Out), wandered around, got carded even though it's 18 to enter, and had the chef's omekase at Nobu. My normal routine was to leave my AirBnB around noon, after working all night and trying to take a nap while the sun beat down on my face, head to the grocer to get a drink and some snacks or breakfast/lunch, then make my way to the park where I'd find a nice bench in a not too sunny part of the park and watch the people walk by or read my book or even nap on the bench if the work day had been particularly hard. My new coworkers find it just as odd as my old coworkers that I would willingly trade a nights sleep to be in meetings, on Slack, and typing away from 2am until 8am. But I did it for nearly half my trip without complaint.

Most importantly on this trip I was finally able to breathe (despite the smog from the Australian wildfires) and unwind from the stressful six months I had. Starting a new job is never easy, especially when you've been at the same place for a few years. This new job in particular has brought with it a whole new set of challenges and the return of a lot of old ones that I had already conquered. I'm a manager now, of sorts, and the lead of my team. It's a position I always found myself in by circumstance but never before on purpose or with any kind of authority. Unfortunately it didn't mean leaving my previous responsibilities behind and only expanded upon them. Then a few weeks before my trip I found myself with yet another job placed on my plate, this one with industry changing capabilities and a hyper aggressive, nearly impossible, deadline.

I didn't realize how tightly I was wound up from work until I found myself, after a bit of a false start getting into town at the crack of down and not being able to drop my things at my AirBnB then being saved by Bren who let me leave my luggage with him and use his apartment as a waiting room, sitting outside of Alimentari eating breakfast. Full of delicious food and coffee I exhaled and felt lighter somehow. The next day as I sat in my favorite park sipping my favorite ginger beer in the brilliant sun with the cold wind on my face, the last bit of stress dissipated into the air.

For New Year's I headed into the city with Bren and got to see the fireworks for the first time ever. Three trips for NYE and it took booking a night at a bar on the south side of the river to see them. It was absolutely worth it though, surrounded by everyone staring up into the sky and looking all around us as the sky lit up with multiple colors shooting off from the top of the skyscrapers.

By the time I was back on my plane on January 6 I thought I was leaving much too soon. I look forward to the year when I can have two summers again and be where things move just a smidge slower and the sun is just a bit brighter.

Three Days In Melbourne

2019-07-16T15:31:00.001-04:00

Tonight at a lovely fancy dinner with wine and aperitifs Bren asked me the question that burns on everyone’s mind when I do this winter excursion to Australia, “so, was it worth it for such a short time?” The answer is always yes, but why?

I didn’t do a tremendous amount of things these past two days. Day one was an adventure and so when I woke up on day two I was perfectly happy taking it slow. I wandered around Collingwood taking in all the differences from the last time I was here six months ago. Plenty of new restaurants and businesses, some old ones shuttered, the weird dvd store replaced with a trendy thrift store. I took a nap and met Bren for dinner afterwards at Chotto Motto, a restaurant I had watched get set up when I was here in the summer and happens to be run by the same guy who has an Instagram famous dog (the motivational shiba inu Tofu Pupper who I discovered when going to a cafe also run by the same people). They have a phone set up with recordings from the dog and to be honest that was at least 50% of the reason I wanted to go eat there. The food was good and the phone was so much fun.

On day 3 I found myself on my own again since Bren was busy with errands and my other friend had just moved houses and hurt her back. I tried to continue my cultural excursions by going to the ACMI museum in Fed Square. With the day all to myself I decided to recharge my local phone sim and walk to the city, playing Pokémon Go the whole time. Even though it was a walk I’d done at least a dozen times before, playing Pokémon along the way helped me learn more about the different landmarks and little odds and ends through the city. Still the streets were as familiar as the ones I grew up wandering in Queens. The ACMI museum it turned out was closed for renovations so I went to an aboriginal cultural center. It was tiny and there wasn’t much to see but it was still interesting to hear the aboriginal stories of how the rivers in Melbourne were created. I looked through the artwork and interactive table and admired the similarities from what I had seen in the aboriginal peoples or the world portrait exhibit in Estonia. Amazing how people from the four corners of the world have such similarities amongst their vast differences. After the mini museum I continued my walk through the city and then hopped a tram to the park where I watched the skateboarders outside the Melbourne Museum for a while.

The evening of day 3 was spent with Bren. I went over the Wellington house and gave him his very belated birthday gifts and gifts from Estonia while I finished up some paperwork for my new job. I was grateful to be able to get it done and not have to worry about doing it when I got home. Bren’s new room, formerly Jobin’s room, was also nice and warm, a great change of pace from the cold wet weather outside. Finally done I forced him to put on socks (“I can’t be fucked with finding socks” I just got you a pair and it’s sitting right next to you. “Oh, yea alright”) and we headed out to a new spot. As is our odd tradition we went to a slightly fancier place then usual. We picked the chef’s selection option and drank a bunch of different wines. I was laughing so hard at times that I couldn’t breathe. Bren posed the question if my short trip was worth it and I did think on it for a moment before confirming it was. When we left (Bren insisted on paying despite my protest) the server brought us our jackets and I learned a new Australian-ism - “it’s absolutely Baltic out there.” Bren and I glanced at each other on the verge of laughter and when we were finally out of range he wondered aloud if the server knew I had just come from there. Although the temperature there now (in summer) is similar to the winter in Melbourne I’m not sure if I’d classify an Australian winter as similar to a Baltic one.

The only unfortunate part of the evening was Bren leaving me at 10:30pm to go to sleep. I had to be up for my flight at 3am but thought we’d at least continue the party a little longer. He was a sleepy quokka though and I couldn’t convince him otherwise so we hugged goodbye and I thought well at least I’ll get good rest before my 4 flights tomorrow. I’ve never been so wrong in my life. The Airbnb I was staying in has a second door on the outside that can only be locked and unlocked from the inside. The family staying in the other apartment had the nasty habit of locking it when they came back and I had hoped when I left for dinner earlier that they were in for the night and wouldn’t lock me out. And boy was I wrong. I didn’t want to keep Bren up late so I went to the bar across the street to wait out the conclusion. The Airbnb host couldn’t wake up or get in touch with the other apartment and so I found myself walking back into the nearly empty bar to share the news and wait the hour it would take the host to get from their home to the apartment to let me in. Normally I wouldn’t care much but sleeping before a 30hr journey home seemed like such a good idea earlier. I shared the news that I’d be in the bar a while longer and then quickly found myself in the thick of the party. I got the chance to celebrate a Chilean girl’s birthday and she kept gushing about how much she loved that I was there that night and that I was from New York. Her classmate also couldn’t believe my travel schedule and the bartender was kind enough to give me a free beer for my troubles. I spent the rest of the night talking about everything from her life in Chile to life in New York to Australian’s abuse of the English language.

It was in that moment that I went back to Bren’s question from earlier in the evening, was such a short trip worth it? The answer before was absolutely and in that moment as this Chilean woman was pouring beer into my glass I realized that while I’ve almost never found myself in this situation back in New York it was far from the first time in Melbourne that I had quickly made a new friend. I have a whole collection of them that I keep in touch with through Instagram. And that’s what keeps drawing me back again and again. Cause even if I didn’t have my best friend Bren I would still have a whole city of strangers to meet and become friends with.

NGV in Melbourne and My Second Home

2019-07-14T22:07:00.002-04:00

I didn’t realize that this trip was essentially an around the world ticket with just two destinations. By hour 23 of my 28 flight hours (not including layovers) I was anxious, claustrophobic, and wondering if consuming nothing but airplane food for two days was sufficient for meeting my daily vitamin and mineral intake and if airlines took extreme flyers into account when creating their menus. When my last flight landed in Melbourne I turned my phone back on and was greeted by a litany of texts from friends/family in the states, each more heartfelt and emotional then the last. I immediately missed the Estonian family I just left and again thought maybe this leg of my journey was a mistake. Outside of the airport I waited for my uber to my Airbnb in the cold dark winter night of Melbourne. At first I thought I’d drop my things and then head to a bar for a couple drinks before calling it a night, it being Saturday and all, but by the time I got to the Airbnb, showered, went to the grocery for a snack and water, the exhaustion of so much time on airplanes set in and all I could do was send Bren a text that I was here and already of dreaming of my favorite breakfast.

When I woke up at 9am the next morning I felt brand new. And I was starving. This is the first time since my first trip to Melbourne that I wasn’t staying with Bren and it felt weird to wake up all alone with no housemates and no one snoring to let me know he was still asleep or not. I finally was getting ready, sent Bren a text and he said he’d just woken up himself and would meet me for brekkie. I think we’ve been to the cafe (Terror Twilight) at least half a dozen times by now if not more. Every time I order the same thing and most of the time Bren does as well. It’s my favorite breakfast in town, a simple but amazingly put together ham and gruyere grilled cheese on sourdough with spicy mustard and a sweet pickle on the side. Anyway I arrived to the cafe some time after Bren since he said there was a wait and was already out the door by the time I was putting on my pants. I walked in and there was no one waiting so the waitress asked and I said a friend of mine was already sitting and she said oh Brenton? And pointed to my quokka sitting there on the bench at the window sipping black coffee. I walked up and he had the biggest smile on his face when he saw me, I could feel the same stupid smile mirrored on my own as he scrambled to get out of his seat and hug me hello. We took our seats again and all the anxiety and worry I had about this leg of the trip, leaving Estonia behind, was gone as I realized I was home again.

Now when I describe Melbourne as home it’s not the same way New York is home or even the same way that Tallinn is becoming like home. New York will always be the place that made me who I am, deeply rooted in my family history and blood there is something about it that formed the essence of who I am and will never leave. Going back to New York is always like putting on an old pair of sweatpants, it’s comfortable and familiar if not always the best. Melbourne on the other hand is like wearing my favorite pair of jeans. It fits, I feel like myself, comfortable, familiar but just different enough from New York to be interesting. I’ve grown to know the neighborhood of Fitzroy as well as my own Astoria (both of which are actually amazingly similar to each other).

So after breakfast Bren said “I know you just went to a bunch of museums but would you be keen to go to another one?” I laughed and was totally in since I had planned on a return visit to the museum while I was here anyway but I figured I’d have to do it on my own. Having fun company was just so much better. We walked back to his apartment and went right to his car, a throwback to my first visit when he drove me all over Melbourne, and I hear Bren say “what is this?! Someone was in my car!” I peered into the window and it was hard to know if anything was out of place or if, much like his room, he just had his things everywhere. So I asked what was different and besides some objects being moved the most glaring thing was a cut bike lock had been placed in the passenger side of the car. Very strange indeed. On our ride to the museum we speculated about not only how the bike lock had gotten there but why someone would want to put it in a strangers car to begin with. When we parked and walked to the museum I was a little surprised to find it wasn’t the one we went to last year (NGV Australia) but one I hadn’t been to yet (National Gallery of Victoria). Bren said there was a new exhibit with the terra cotta warriors from China and I was even more excited since I had always wanted to see them. It seems I wasn’t the only one excited to see the exhibit because when we arrive there was a line of about 50 people waiting. “Brenton John does not like waiting in lines,” Bren said and I simply rolled my eyes and replied that I already knew this but at least it wasn’t what he calls “New York style lines.” He claims that as a New Yorker not only am I equipped to wait in excessively long lines but that it is expected of me. While I can’t really recall waiting for anything except the subway, waiting in lines is definitely a distinctive memory of my childhood.

It wasn’t long until Bren was buying tickets and audio guides for us and we were entering the exhibit. Overall it was one of the better exhibitions I’ve seen on my travels. The audio guide was informative and engaging and the layout of the exhibit was fascinating. Above our heads were hundreds of small porcelain birds that had been colored using gunpowder by and artist who was collaborating on the exhibit with the museum. His work was so good that I wished I could have it at home, and it seems I wasn’t the only one because they were selling prints on display first thing as you exited the exhibit. I ended up buying a greeting card version because I couldn’t fathom bringing home an 11x17 print unscathed. The other artifacts on display were amazing as well and the terra cotta warriors were spectacular. They had a sample from each of the different kinds of statues that were in the mausoleum in China - generals, foot soldiers, archers, clerics, etc. the differences in them were subtle but astounding. I could barely fathom the labor required for such an undertaking.

Once we were both done with the exhibit and perusing the gift shop Bren said that he wanted to show me a painting in the main museum. I thought we’d be touring the rest of it room by room but he was on a singular mission to find a specific painting so we passed a lot of rooms while barely looking around them. It wasn’t too disappointing since the works in them were nothing spectacular. We did slow down for the interesting rooms and eventually as I was looking at a painting I hear Bren say this is it come look. I turn around and I see a large painting of two people having a feast surrounded by servants and slaves. The man is dressed as a Greek warrior and the woman in a Victorian looking gown. It seemed very strange and then Bren said, that’s supposed to be Cleopatra. I told him that he must be joking and he simply smiled and said nope. I still didn’t believe him so I looked at the description and sure enough it was a painting that was supposed to be Cleopatra and Marc Antony having a “who can have the most decadent feast” competition. I moved my nose closer to the painting and declared it baloney. I’m mixed, most of my dad’s family is mixed, and I know damn well that genetically it would be impossible for Cleopatra who was half Egyptian and half greek to have the milky white skin of an English monarch. I ranted about it as we continued our museum tour at a more leisurely pace now that Bren’s mission was completed and he simply giggled at my rage.

The next best part of the museum would have to be the Chinese modern art exhibit. The pieces ranged from street art to classical style to think pieces. One of the think pieces was a pile of brown ceramic leaves, like the kind you find in fall in New York just caught up in corners of the sidewalk that don’t see much foot traffic. I read the description and it said the artist looked at fallen leaves and said it reminded him of the passage of time and had to capture it. I must have scowled while reading this because when Bren said what? I told him “yea this artist looked at a bunch of dead leaves piled up on the ground and it reminded him of the passage of time but every five year old has that thought!” I distinctly remember having had this thought process as a small kid on the playground. Who doesn’t?! I yelled at Bren and he simply laughed and laughed. He was still randomly giggling to himself much later as we walked through another room and said he was just remembering what I said about the five year olds.

Once we survived the remainder of the oddly curated museum, the last few rooms having existing pieces simply shoved behind designer clothing and a room with just tons of paintings piled high on each other on the walls, it was off to find some food. It had started to rain a bit which is typical for winter here but thankfully we were warm and dry eating delicious burgers outdoors at a restaurant along the river by the time the rain was pouring.

It was already getting dark by the time we were back in Collingwood and when we regrouped for dinner about two hours later I thought it must be midnight! It was so dark. Then I remembered that I was quite literally on the opposite side of the world from Tallinn and that it was just 7pm.

Originally our plan was to go to Chotto Motto, a Japanese hipster dumpling shop run by these guys who have a cafe about a kilometer up the road and also run the Instagram famous Tofu Pupper account. We discovered Tofu Pupper after visiting the cafe back in January and talking to one of the guys who helps run the account. We’ve been following it ever since and I get a kick out of watching this fluffy shiba inu walked around my neighborhood. The new restaurant was nearly done when I left and I was really looking forward to finally eating there, especially after Bren said he’d been a few times and it was really good. When we walked up to the restaurant, however, we discovered that it’s closed on Sundays. I was pretty disappointed but Bren said the bbq place next door was good and we could go back tomorrow night for dinner.

The BBQ place was good. Texas style BBQ and a lot of American beers. They had a country band playing in the front room and we stayed until they literally kicked us out. Not ready for the night to end we wandered back closer to the apartment looking for anything that was open. Old faithful, The Noble Experiment, was and we walked in to find a bunch of Pakistani guys watching the cricket World Cup and enjoying their beer. Except for them the place was all ours and the bartender even let us stay later then closing. Bren had said that these guys looked like they were visiting their friend the bartender and once he closed up they’d probably go to the casino since that’s what all the tourists do. I looked at Bren curiously and said should I be going to the casino then if that’s what the tourists do? And with the most serious face I think I’ve ever seen on him he said you’re not a tourist. It is the best compliment I think I’ve ever received in my life so far.

When it was finally time to head out Bren asked for a hug and slowly we parted ways. It felt a bit strange to not be going back to the Wellington house but at the same time it makes being here feel less transient.

I’m certainly looking forward to a lazy day wandering around to see what’s changed, picking up gifts, and then finally getting to Chotto Motto for dinner!

Roadtrip to Tartu

2019-07-11T22:50:00.001-04:00

My wake up call this morning wasn’t the sun, thankfully my bunk mates realized that the sunblocking curtains in the room had a real purpose and weren’t just for show. This time it was a mosquito who had invaded the room and bit me four times. At least it was 6:30am and not 4:30. Itchy and tired but wide awake I decided to start getting ready for the day ahead. It was a good thing too because by 8:30am the bathrooms were packed and there was a line of people trying to access the sinks as a small pack of women hogged the area putting on their makeup and blow drying their hair. I wound up waiting outside for Tonis and Meri to arrive, having stopped at the convenience store to pick up a bottle of water for the day. I had also picked a random juice to try that ended up being blueberry with sea buckthorn, a supposedly super healthy super fruit that Tonis rolled his eyes about and argued with his wife about the dubious flavor of the fruit. I didn’t mind it, it was very tart and a little bitter but in general it was fine. Not something I’d pursue further. I also ended up picking up some carrots that I was munching on when the long grey Volvo rolled up to my hostel door. I climbed in the front seat and awkwardly tried to keep up a conversation, enjoy the tranquility of the early ride, and finish loudly munching on the carrot I started at the same time.

Our first stop was a grocery where we got coffees and buns/rolls for breakfast as well as spent an inordinate amount of time for such an early hour in the liquor aisle. My guides were kind enough to point out which were made in Estonia, what they were and what flavor the liquor was (if applicable). It was amazing some of the things that were there like my favorite Vana Tallinn in marzipan flavor or birch flavored vodka. Back in the car I was sipping on my coffee and munching on my butter rose which is the Estonian version of a croissant and having a great time watching the trees and fields roll by while Tonis argued about the best place to find wild blueberries and I was giggling at the scrunched up faces he was making.

Soon enough Tonis thinks he found a spot. At this point we’re somewhere between Tallinn and Tartu and there’s a dirt and gravel road heading off into the woods. The roads shifted and changed as we made our way through the forest from dirt and gravel to just dirt to low vegetation to no tracks at all and wild brush with soft flooded mud. The latter was arguably the most dangerous. We had stopped a few times along the route having found nothing but pretty flowers and random herbs and started taking the path less traveled. Now it may seem poetic and fantastic but the reality was the hard ground underneath the foot tall grasses became soft mud with puddles of water. I watched as Tonis’ posture shift from his normal position of casually driving a car to knuckles gripping the wheel and ten and two and lifting himself as close to the windshield as possible so as to see the ground and make the best possible on the fly decision about where to point the hurtling Volvo. “Momentum is what we need we can’t get stuck here,” he repeated as the car shifted and hurtled its way through the brush like a small ship in a rough sea. When we finally made it out of the muddy puddles a collective sigh of relief could be heard and I finally let go of the breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. When we finally got back to the dirt path Tonis was visibly a very grumpy driver as he whined about not finding the blueberries. He thought aloud that we may have better luck closer to Tartu when I heard Meri shift towards the window in the back seat and say something in Estonian, Tonis presses his nose to the window and said something in agreement and then he said that he thinks they may be just in those trees there. Now I am nearly blind as a bat and nearly as aloof to match but it amazed me the whole time how Meri was a scouting super sleuth spotting the most random plants from a speeding vehicle. The two Estonian mountain goats went leaping off into the forest to investigate and soon enough Tonis came back to tell me that this was it. Small buckets the size of Chinese food takeout soup containers (the large size) appeared and I was making my way through the brush and across a small divot to the wild blueberries. Tonis was straddling the divot and giving me specific instructions on where to step and where not to step to get across. Naturally I stepped in the one spot he told me to avoid and I felt my foot squelch into mud. It wasn’t much damage or wetness to the shoe but I could hear him shake his head and sigh when he reminded me that he said not to step there. Then he pointed to some shin high plants and said that was the blueberries. I have no clue how anyone could spot them from the road but I was thankful they did! The blueberries were so tasty but instead of eating them I found it much more relaxing to just pick them. I went on combing each little bush for the delectable morsels until I felt a mosquito bite me and realized I wasn’t quick enough, nor wearing long enough sleeves, to avoid them or the other army of bugs surrounding me. I persisted in my mission of gathering berries and kept going until I could feel my glasses sliding off my nose. I was terrified I’d drop them in the under growth and lose them and spend the rest of the day blind. That was when I turned it around and made my way back to the car on my own. I successfully baby mountain goated my way through the spongey moss floor and down the steep went edge to the mini ravine, back and up across it again. I took a few minutes to scratch my new mosquito bites and took a short walk down the dirt road to see what was going on around me. There were tall flowers on either side and I started following the butterflies around before waving goodbye to them and the bumble bees going about their work. Soon Tonis and Meri were back with exponentially more blueberries then me and then they put it in the trunk and said we could enjoy them later with yogurt and sugar on top. That lead to a discussion about brown sugar that lead to a playlist of songs about, or mentioning, brown sugar.

Back on the road again, this time a paved one, we had to stop off for petrol. We had gotten dangerously low as we were still Lewis and Clark-ing our way to blueberries and filled up just enough to get to a second gas station road stop. The second stop was really amazing. While it had the standard fuel pump and mini mart it also had a whole cafeteria style restaurant. There was indoor and outdoor seating, a playground for children being built, and a menu that was far from the usual truck stop fare. It was all in Estonian of course so I listened to Tonis’ translation but was too overwhelmed by everything to really discern what sounded good. Thankfully Tonis also has a habit of repeating things that he finds more or less notable and so I was easily able to tell him to pick one for me and then be presented with a binary but delicious choice. He then handed me a tray and when we made our way down the line and got to the drink area poured a thick white liquid into a glass that was speckled with brown bits and put it on my tray with no explanation. Highly unusual I cocked an eyebrow and stared at him, then said do I want to know what this is? His Cheshire grin and response was enough to have me both suspicious and curious. The three of us found a table in the outdoor seating area after the Estonians ordered everything and while Tonis simply said to try the mystery beverage, Meri was nice enough to explain what it was - some kind of sour/yogurt milk with shredded grains mixed in. A tentative sip and I found it tasted pretty much like shredded wheat blended together with a milky yogurt. It was pretty good but also a ton of the dense treat in a glass so Tonis went to get another cup and split it with me. For lunch I ended up with salmon, potatoes, and salad that was far better then it had any business being coming from a roadside rest area. It made me realize amongst many other things that America simply isn’t doing roadtrip support services correctly at all.

After lunch it was back in the car then zipping down the road to Tartu which grew out of the highway so suddenly that I found myself standing inside Martin’s flat before realizing that we hit the end of the road trip. His flat was small but cute and so clean that I was shocked a bunch of university students lived there and that it wasn’t an Airbnb or something. It definitely brought great shame to the relative squalor that I lived in at his age. Despite the stark differences in living arrangements the behavior of his parents in the flat upon arrival had me biting back laughter as I noticed how similar their movements, actions, and conversations were with my own parents when they would come visit. Mom asking for a vase for the flowers she picked along our trip and futzing around in the kitchen asking a bunch of questions while Dad futzed around with the electronics and started moving things that he knew you no longer wanted in the flat and needed him to take home and the younger brother sprawled on the couch like he was about to move in tomorrow. I was soaking it all in and letting the conversations happening in Estonian wash over me when suddenly a glass with yogurt and blueberries and a container of sugar were placed in front of me. I looked up and Tonis was there with instructions on how to enjoy the fruits of mostly his labors (literally). The treat was delicious of course and a few moments later I was scraping the cup clean while watching a video of one of the traditional Estonian dances being performed on the television.

Well fed and with time quickly running low the whole family piled into the car and we made our way to the Estonian National Museum. The architecture of the building was astounding, coming out of the ground at the end of an airfield landing strip with a forced perspective giving it the appearance that it was thrusting out of the earth like some kind of space ship. When I found the award for European museum of the year inside I knew I was in for a treat. In past trips I had stumbled upon other museums that received the same award in years past and even though I wasn’t interested much in the topics they were so well done that I’d find myself enthralled but the subject matter regardless. So needless to say I was pretty damn excited to get in and start seeing some Estonian history. The excitement only grew when Tonis handed me my ticket and explained that there’s an RFID chip inside that will change the text displays on the items to English. Sure enough when I tried it out on the very first thing I saw inside the exhibit the electronic text display flashed and the e-ink changed from Estonian to English. It was so amazing that even for things that I wasn’t interested in learning about I was still waving my ticket in front of the glass just to see the text change. There were a number of interactive exhibits as well and we all spent an inordinate amount of time playing with them. So much so that we had to rush through the other parts of the museum a bit faster so as to make sure we saw everything. Eventually I found it was just Tonis and I walking through after I got separated from the larger group and we made our way to the history of the ancient tribes they eventually became Estonians and other Eastern European groups. That part of the museum disappointingly didn’t include the language changing displays but it did have a bunch of movies and interactive features. Soon I found myself sitting beside Tonis while we waited for the others to catch up and he was explaining to me how the art on the wall was created using a new printing technology. It was fascinating and I found myself grinning knowing that there were probably exceptionally few people who would actually understand and appreciate that level of technical detail, the early years of my career spent learning all about how things are printed.

At the end of the ancient people’s exhibit was the thank you list and I took a look more out of curiosity then anything else. I didn’t think that I would recognize one of the names up there much less find that it was Tõnis’s company of all things. In the final exhibit that we entered about Estonia in the 1990s there was also a large group photo featuring his father and uncle and I realized that Tonis is really really Estonian. My family may have been in NY since the dawn of America but we had nothing like that to point to. It was a bit daunting to see. Probably my favorite part of the 1990s exhibit though was the old computers and computer games. I sat with Kyto and explained how the original version of Doom worked then Tonis and I reminisced about the old version of the mouse with the physical ball that you had to clean to keep it working right. The boys would look at the two of us as we talked about interacting with Netscape navigator and the Apple II computer like we were ancient. It amazed me how quickly technology has changed over the last twenty years along with the social atmosphere of places like Estonia that found themselves going from communist propaganda to now EU propaganda. That in such a short amount of time they went from uniforms featuring the communist symbols to being an independent republic.

Full of Estonian culture and history I joked with Tonis that after this trip I was now ready to sit for a citizenship test. We poked around the gift shop that featured a lot of traditional style items at very modern prices then as the announcements reminded us that the building would only be open for a few minutes more we left and headed to dinner before they could kick us out.

Now through this trip Martin has been a great tour guide. Just like the last time I was here he is quick to share a fun fact or some history about whatever it is that we’re looking at. He also has the uncanny ability to always know a restaurant nearby where we are that’s trendy and delicious. It’s pretty amazing, I know if the roles were reversed my response would be more like Tonis - a hem and a haw followed by a few minutes checking my phone or just walking into the first place I saw to see if it was suitable. I’m really not sure how Martin manages to always have a place on his fingertips but he immediately brought us to a very hip and popular restaurant in town. The food was delicious and of course Tonis made sure that I drank plenty of the local beer. After the first one I shared that I was surprised to be feeling the effects of the alcohol so quickly and then was told that beer here is usually at 5 or 6% alcohol by volume which is nearly double what the average is back home. Things started to make a lot more sense to me after learning that. Still the beers were great and after being fed dark bread with salted butter and plenty of saucy chicken I was ready for a nice nap. We piled back into the car and dropped Martin back at his flat. We hugged goodbye and I told him I’d see him soon, realizing that this was it for me and my Estonian adventure. It hadn’t hit me before that moment but as I got into the car I felt so sad. I felt like I was drowning in the melancholy of the situation and realized for the first time ever that I didn’t want to go to Melbourne. Until that moment Melbourne has been my happy place, the place I go to escape or celebrate, it always felt like I was leaving where I live and returning home. Now I realized that for the first time I didn’t feel that way. As the Estonian countryside passed by my window I felt for the first time torn between two places that I felt so much at home in. I told Tonis that for the first time ever I didn’t want to go to Melbourne, that maybe I had messed up and should’ve just spent the rest of my trip in Estonia. Much like what Bren would have responded he told me that it would all be fine and that I’ll have a great time there as well. I knew he was right but it didn’t make me feel much better. We stopped and I picked up a bunch of Vana Tallinn to bring to my Australian friends as gifts and then at our second stop I found a Vana Tallinn ice cream bar that was delicious and a dubiously cheap energy drink called Hustler to help keep me awake. Tonis played DJ in the car as he drove and soon we were laughing hysterically and singing along to Flight of the Concords.

Before I knew it the streets looked familiar again and we were back at my hostel. Meri gave me the other roll leftover from the morning and some black bread toast package. Tonis insisted that I take my blueberry stash with me and tried to give me his more impressive bucket but I’d have none of it. I hugged Meri and Kyto goodbye then Tonis was last. As we stood in front of each other sharing some parting words I found that I didn’t want to leave at all. I wanted to be making plans for tomorrow or next week. Finally I walked away promising to let him know if I run into trouble at the airport in the morning and to let him know how the new job goes.

Back in the hostel I didn’t even bother trying to head to the bar and have a final night of fun. With only five hours til I needed to get ready for my 28hr flight to the other side of the world and nothing but dread at the thought of it (especially when I realized like an idiot I didn’t call to book a seat assignment) I simply packed up my bag and my six bottles of Vana Tallin and craft gin and started writing about my day.

In the wee hours of morning as the sun rises at an absurd hour I’m ready to see what the next part of my journey holds in store and am already trying to figure out when I can come back here to see my friends.

The Other End of Tallinn Walking Tour

2019-07-10T18:33:00.002-04:00

The sunrise in Estonia is not a joke. At 4:30am I opened my eyes and with great venom and bewilderment wondered why I was awake yet so tired. Oh it’s sunrise at 4:30am and the sun is at power level noon so it feels much later then it actually is. Eventually I got back to sleep for an hour and then got dressed. I wasn’t sure when Tonis would be around today or really what we would be doing and I didn’t feel like laying around doing nothing today and my stomach was grumbling so I put on my shoes and went for a wander. Unsure of where to go I started towards the nearby coffee shop but then thought that’s dumb there’s other shops I haven’t been to before that I can try so I turned around and headed to old town. By the time I was crossing the street Tonis let me know what time we would be meeting up and said he would meet me wherever I ended up. I wandered through old town and revisited the areas that Tonis and Martin had brought me to on my last visit. This time there were about a dozen walking tours going on as well and I later learned that a cruise ship was in town and that’s where most of the tourists came from. I just barely stayed ahead of the hoards of older tourists spending money on everything they saw and ogling each souvenir shop they passed. When I made the trek to the second scenic outlook I heard from Tonis again with a location (the Fotografiske museum) and a time (in 40min). I felt my stomach rumble again and went looking for a cafe. It turned out to be right next to where I was standing (except under ground and beyond a small narrow staircase) but I didn’t realize that until I had gotten a few blocks away and rechecked my map. The cafe looked to be hewn out of the mountain itself. I picked up a latte (that was made as a cappuccino) and a croissant then made my descent on the switch backing stairs that lead from the outlook down to the park. Through the park, an underground walkway, and then I found myself at a farmers market. There were so many fruits and a few vegetables. I saw the wild blueberries that Tõnis had fed me the day before, after galloping into the forest like the long legged mountain goat that he is, as well as raspberries, cherries, all kinds of currants and some veggies I didn’t even recognize. I bought a container of raspberries and munched on them as I continued my walk towards the museum. There were all sorts of unique shops in the mall/marketplace and when I reached the other end it was a court full of food trucks. I kept going and saw a restaurant in an old train, a cafe made of shipping containers, and tons of amazing graffiti. I thought to myself why haven’t I been here before, and again later learned that I had on my mini bar crawl with Tõnis last, visit but it was so dark then and so light now that even thought it felt familiar it was still totally new. I found a great bench to sit on and enjoy the sun while I waited for Tõnis. About 30min I opened my eyes and saw a familiar face followed by another - Martin was joining the fun!

The three of us entered the museum and the boys immediately started debating in Estonian. I took the moment to peruse the gift shop. When they finally had an agreement on what we were doing I got handed a ticket barcode and followed them up the stairs to the first exhibit, Jimmy Nelson “Homage to Humanity.”

The exhibit was amazing. This guy traveled all over taking images of tribe members, all of which are endangered from disappearing all together. I was excited to see the aboriginal tribe near Broome, AU as well as tribes from Peru, Argentina, and Mexico. I wondered to myself why Honduras didn’t make the cut? I know from my aunt that there are at least a dozen Indian languages still spoken in Honduras and that some of them only have a handful of speaking members left. The coolest part of the exhibit however were the videos associated with the images. They were all behind the scenes and about the author meeting the people. I had trouble viewing them since the WiFi was spotty but some of them were interesting.

Once we finished soaking in the unique cultures of the world it was up another couple flights of stairs to a different exhibit from a photographer. Just as we were turning the first corner a message came on over the loud speakers and shocked me. It was only a moment later that the siren could be heard. Tõnis and Martin translated for me and it turned out to be a fire alarm. The boys asked if I wanted anything to eat from the cafe on the ground floor as soon as we were clear of the hordes of people coming down the stairs behind us. I decided to forgo the snack but got a matcha latte. Martin got a raspberry tart and Tõnis got an almond croissant which must have been good because he literally licked the plate clean. I couldn’t bear the thought of walking all the way back up the stairs again to the third floor so I called the elevator and told the boys I wasn’t walking up again.

The other exhibits were solid. One was like watching both a western themed movie of the struggle to be single/solo and the other was a bunch of cool looking landscape photos in black and white. All cultured up we headed across the road for some gourmet organic local Estonian ice cream. I got the black white chocolate one just because it was black colored. We kept on walking and backtracking my steps to the market place. I thought at first we would walk the entire way but after backtracking our way through the market place to where I had entered from the underground tunnel and instead the boys announced they had an idea for lunch and we got in the queue for the tram.

Lunch was in a cafe in a very residential yet old neighborhood. It felt like sitting in someone’s backyard and eating lunch, a perfect pair to go with the beautiful bright and hot sun bearing down. I had a delicious shrimp wonton dish and a beer with a giant shark on it. Kyto, Martin’s younger brother, was on his way as well and I got to chuckle at Martin trying to give Kyto directions to the cafe since he doesn’t have a smartphone. I couldn’t believe how much older he had gotten from the last time I saw him while he was still a little kid in America. Now he’s a grown pre-teen out there sailing boats on his own and playing Fortnite.

Well fed on more then just sugar we walked down to the park where Kyto and Martin said their farewells. They were headed to Tartu tonight and the plan is to join them tomorrow for my last full day in Estonia. Alone again Tõnis and I just kept walking and walking through all the different parks, pointing out the different buildings and landmarks.

The next museum was Estonian art and for the most part was also solid. There were so many Russian pieces and even a whole exhibit about an avant guard artist who specialized in propaganda posters. They were really good posters. As we traversed the halls of the museum I found myself at times laughing so hard at some of the works that I thought for sure security would ask me to leave. We ended the museum on a high note with a special exhibition from Tommy Cash, an Estonian artist, and a Californian artist. Their exhibit was irreverent enough to be good. The pieces were at times hysterical, like the mannequins positioned to mimic an Estonian traditional contest of wife carrying and a video memeing traditional art pieces with animation and their faces painted over the other works, and some that were thought provoking like a painting of one of the artists as a pregnant woman.

Our next stop on the road to 20k steps was the Presidential palace/pink house and the old Kong’s summer home. Once the walking group of tourists descended upon our peaceful spot we left and went to the Japanese garden which is still a work in progress but was very peaceful. After the garden we sat on a bench for a bit so Tõnis could figure out what to do next while he complained his knees hurt and we checked how many steps we took for the day. He figured out a bus stop we could take and soon enough we were off again walking through the park. We reached the other end and stopped off at a hotel but left soon afterwards finding no draft beers available. Back on the road again we kept walking and Tõnis brought me to the great song and dance festival grounds. It was absolutely amazing the size and potential the space has. The dome works so well I could hear someone’s conversation when they were so far away sitting on the bleachers underneath the band shell. Walking through the space and then out the other side we hit a snag. A closed fence preventing our exit. I watched the man in front of us hop the fence as we continued walking and slowed my pace. I was in no condition to attempt such a feat. Thankfully I had a smart and very tall companion who figured out (and could reach) the latch on the other side and unhook it so we could open the fence and walk through. On the other side was the city urban camp grounds with a dozen or so camper vans and RVs. Finally our journey brought us to another restaurant and even though they didn’t have draft beers either we stayed because the view of the sun and ocean were great. I was grateful for the break again and the glass of water and cold beer. Tõnis made arrangements for dinner where we’d be joined by his wife Meri. I was more then happy to welcome another family member to our band of merriment, it makes it feel even more like being home. When we were ready to continue our trek across Tallinn Tõnis called a waiter to bring the bill. The Russian man who brought it over was quite good looking and since he was off in his own world and Tõnis was futzing around with his wallet and paying I took the chance to admire the waiter. Of course my companion noticed and I spent the rest of the night getting poked for it as his story of me ogling the waiter only grew more elaborate and hyperbolic as he retold it.

Thankfully we didn’t have to walk to dinner which was close to the starting point. We hopped a bus then a tram and thankfully the tram stop was only a few streets away and the restaurant had a wide variety of draft beers. It was a great ending to a long walk. Once Meri joined the three of us told stories and discussed travel and food. I ate amazing lamb dumplings in a broth and wondered why no one had thought enough to put lamb in a wonton wrapper and feed it to me before. The family discussed the wide uses for sour cream as I turned away using it on my food. I had a great stew and plenty of delicious beers and little donut hole zeppolli things in a raspberry dipping sauce. While it was a little different then the other meals I’ve had with Tõnis having a third person there it was still a wonderful experience. We made plans for the next day’s activity and my Estonian friends quickly convinced me that my next trip here not only needs to be soon but needs to be longer and that I’ll need to find a way to work remote from here so that they can show me around more parts of Estonia and I can really immerse myself in some of the more intense experiences like living on one of the islands. Honestly, you don’t have to ask me twice. I already can’t wait to come back and will have hard decisions to make in the future as to whether I use my time to hang out in the home style living of Melbourne or the home style living of Estonia.

For now I will simply enjoy the moments and look towards the next adventure of a road trip to Tartu.

Location:Tatari,Tallinn,Estonia

Tallinn Take 2: A New Adventure Awaits with Old Friends

2019-07-09T17:40:00.002-04:00

Two years ago I had the time of my life in the Baltics. I got to see Tõnis and Martin for the first time in ages, made a bunch of new friends, and had a grand adventure exploring small but old cities. With some time between jobs I thought where is it that I could go and feel like the grueling journey was worth it? I immediately thought of the wonderful time I had in Estonia laughing my ass off with Tõnis. I haven’t spoken to him much since then so I sent an email and was unsurprised but happy to find his response to be so gregarious. So I booked some flights. My journey this time brought me through Moscow, I was rewarded with an empty row on my overnight flight (behind a screeching toddler) and then again had an empty middle seat on my flight from Moscow to Tallinn. I even got a chance to try French champagne and Russian beer thanks to my priority pass. Still I found myself napping in the reception slash common room of my hostel, still in my clothes from the day before, until I realized lunch with my friends would be soon. I decided to get up and take a walk to shake off my sleepiness.

After finding Tõnis, and walking with him and his bicycle to a cafe Martin picked, I began to remember why I loved Estonia so much the first time. As we sat at the cafe table for lunch, and then later as I watched the Estonian Brain Trust debate on what to show me and do with my in my 3.5 days here, I couldn’t help but have the biggest grin plastered on my face as I watched their conversation in Estonian volley back and forth, their tone so serious you’d think they were making monumental decisions rather than deciding how to entertain their American visitor. It ended with a (more or less) plan for the next couple days. Today’s plan was to eat lunch, break for work/check-in to my hostel, then meet again at 5 to do a mini road trip and see a concert of Estonian singers.

After my delicious halibut lunch Tõnis hopped on his bike and headed back to his office while Martin offered to walk me to an atm and then back to my hostel. On the way there was an exhibit for the anniversary folk song and folk dance celebration in Estonia. It’s a big deal and I had missed it by just a couple days. There were tens of thousands of performers and nearly ten times that in the audience. To celebrate it the history of the folk celebration was on display in one of the squares near old town. Martin walked me through it and explained the history of the event and it’s meaning to the Estonian people. Afterwards we said our farewells as he hopped a bus home and I walked across the street to my hostel.

It felt like it took a million years to check in, get a low bunk, and finally get my clothes together for tonight. I got out of the shower and remembered Tonis’ very specific instructions: that we would be taking a road trip so he could show me some of the sights I didn’t see on my first trip and I was not allowed to sleep in the car. He told me to take a nap and post shower a nap sounded amazing. I set my alarm and fell into a deep slumber that I came out of just ten minutes before my alarm. I continued to lay with my eyes closed and then felt my phone vibrate, we would be leaving a little late. I used the time to relax and organize my things then got dressed and out the door just in time to get a message that Tõnis was waiting for me outside. He asked if I took a nap and I said yes to which he replied that it seemed like I was much better then earlier over lunch.

I got in the familiar Volvo and we were off on our grand adventure. We set off down the highway and Tõnis was pointing out Soviet buildings and the story behind different structures, forest areas, towns, cliffs, you name it. We also joked around a lot as usual. When Tõnis pulled off to stop at a scenic outlook I wasn’t sure what to expect. I followed him as he stepped over a guard rail with ease and continued to follow as he got closer and closer to the cliff’s edge. He stepped away and invited me to test my vertigo and so I stepped as close as I dare too. It reminded me so much of Australia’s cliffs along the great ocean road except green and more wintery feeling. I peered over the edge and into the nothingness of the ocean separating Estonia from Finland. Tõnis pointed out the old submarine base turned wind farm and shared stories of how people would fall off all the time and a friend of his who fell and broke her legs. It was then that I actually noticed the guard rail meant to stop me from being near the edge and Tõnis nearly tripping over it to get back to the car. We continued our journey and stopped at another scenic view, but this time it was a waterfall and I was well away from harm. We continued along the paved road until Tõnis turned off onto a dirt path just wide enough for a single car to fit. There were humongous trees on either side of the path and it felt like something out of a movie. When we reached the end of the path there were dozens of cars parked and a short walk through some trees after parking the Volvo revealed a natural looking amphitheater. The benches were beautiful wood and the stairs/flooring was all grass. Behind the stage was a playground with some kids playing on it. As we waited in the queue to scan the tickets Tõnis pointed out all the food options and I laughed when he said he was hungrier then he thought. Inside we got grilled chicken, salad, and beer. French fries for me and delicious pickles to share. Beer and pickled vegetables being my favorite thing ever I sat at the picnic table happy as a pig in mud. Soon enough the group came on stage and we went to find some seats.

We saw an Estonian acapella group called Estonian Voices. Tõnis was kind enough to translate the jokes and the music subject matter but in general I was happy to just listen. The group was great and after finishing my beer found myself hopping along with the tunes. During intermission we split forces. Tõnis went on the huge coffee line and then sent me to get the pancakes.

There were quite a few children helping out behind the counters so when I walked up to order pancakes I was met with a worried look from the boy. I was the only solo English speaker in the crowd but instead of backing down he visibly straightened up and asked the import question (savory or sweet) and even when one of the women said she would speak English for him he refused and said he could handle it. Tõnis arrived to the pancake booth holding three cups. Two coffees and a small plastic tumblr with a familiar brown liquid - Vana Tallinn. I was so excited to see my favorite rum based liquor and after a few sips of the coffee to make room I poured it right in.

We took our cupcakes to the opposite side of the stage where there were standing counters to eat. We finished the pancakes then made a quick detour to the bon fire then dumped our cups (tonis’ in the fire, mine in the trash) then took up seats on our original side of the stage. I don’t know if it was the Vana Tallinn or just that the group was better in the second half of their show but I found myself bopping along and tapping my toe to the sounds they were making.

When the show was over I looked up at the twilight, bright grey sky, and wondered what time it was. Amazingly it was 10:30p and still light out. I realized that was how Tonis was able to take a different route home as he discussed and still show me around. On the way home we stopped at a Russian fighter pilot graveyard where they used pieces of the wing as colloidal grave stones for quite a few of them, drove by the NATO airfield, but started with driving through puddles, ruts, and bumps to get to a flooded prison. I thought to myself as Tonis was driving that it was a good thing neither of us get car sick as we were thrown around the vehicle. Eventually he found an entry path but it requires climbing a small but steep pile of debris. As Tonis climbed over it with ease in his dress shoes and then lead us down the wooded path, over barbed wire, and then down a rutted path to the water that he must be a mountain goat. On the trek back to the car I dreaded trying to get down the tiny but steep mole hill standing between me and the car. The mountain goat traversed with ease but slight difficulty and when I got to the crest I thought there’s no hope for me. Thankfully Tonis came back and I asked for help. He gave me his arm but I didn’t really need it as I made my way down and when I was safely back on uneven ground he chuckled and said there you go no problem, you’re just a baby mountain goat with slightly unsure footing.

By the time we got back to the city it was dark enough for the street lights to turn on and after 11pm. Tonis said that the sun would rise again at 4am and I found myself grateful that the hostel has darkened curtains. He drove me to the hostel, got out to hug me goodbye, and said we’d text tomorrow to figure out the plan. I told him not to worry about it too much if he couldn’t see me in the morning then headed upstairs to drop my jacket before going up to the hostel bar. Coming back at 11:30pm found me at a disadvantage. There were maybe 9 people in the common room, two groups of 8 and then an older man sitting alone of the couch. I took another couch and with my beer sat back and tried to join in a conversation between two Australian women and two Frenchmen. I was unsuccessful but then another guy sat down. He ended up moving next to me and we talked about internal audit (which he is an auditor for the local government) and technology and what there is to do in Tallinn. He must have been pretty drunk because he couldn’t comprehend that I didn’t need his help finding things to do, that I already have been here before and have my own guide. After about 20minutes he excused himself to buy another beer and when I pushed his can aside to get to my water and found it was full. I hung around long enough to realize the night was over, finished my beer and then headed to the common area outside my room to write. It may have been an extremely long day but I am so happy to be hanging out with Tonis again. All we do is laugh and joke around. I smiled so much today that my cheeks hurt a bit but it was absolutely worth the long ride to get here.

Location:Tatari,Tallinn,Estonia

Dubai: Desert Adventure and Dubai Frame

2019-05-31T16:16:00.001-04:00

The last week of Ramadan is arguably the most serious week. It’s the last 7 days of a 40 day long period of religious reflection which culminates with Eid, a large celebration. In an Islamic state it means that everything becomes a bit more serious. It also means that on the Friday (the Islamic day of rest, similar to Saturday in Judaism or Sunday in Christianity) there are fewer things open then usual and this holds especially true for the last Friday of Ramadan.

So when my family decided to pay a visit to the Dubai Frame, which came highly recommended from Jean and his parents, before going off on an evening tour, on the last Friday of Ramadan we simply should have known better. With only a few hours between when everyone finally got out of bed and when we had to meet our ride for the Bedouin desert experience we were all singularly focused on getting to the Frame and crossing it off our to-do list. Mom said that she had checked and it was open today but as soon as we all piled out of our Careem another family approached us and said it was closed until 3pm due to Ramadan. I couldn’t believe that we got all the way out there just to turn around and go home. Thankfully the Careem we took was still sitting there in front of us so we were able to climb back in after I booked him through the app again.

Dejected and hungry I offered to order UberEats for the family. We had just enough time to enjoy some McDonald’s before the tour but not quite enough to endure the leisurely pace of restaurant dining in the UAE. That was another adventure as the bike messenger went to the wrong side of the hotel and I spent five minutes chasing after the little black motorcycle dot on the map within the app only to find he had walked through the indoor parking lot to the lobby. Thankfully my family was still waiting in the lobby and EJ knew enough to grab the food from him before the delivery man could disappear again. I got another McArabia chicken and an interestingly spiced chai. It was unlike any chai I had ever had before. We sat around the kitchen table in our apartment hotel room and ate lunch then relaxed for a few minutes before heading back down to the lobby to catch our tour.

The evening before Mom declared that one of us had to plan the next day’s activity because she was tired of doing all the work. I didn’t really blame her, having experienced the fatigue of being the sole person planning everything when I went to the UK with EJ a couple years ago. It was also what helped make Tasmania so enjoyable, the activity planning with Bren was a 100% shared burden. Anyway I awoke this morning at 6am and unable to get back to bed took it upon myself to do a search to see what was available to do today that we hadn’t already done, wouldn’t break the bank, and that everyone would enjoy. I had remembered years ago when JP was here and the photos he posted sand duning in the desert. So I did a search on Viator, which has quickly become my favorite method of booking tours on vacation at the last minute. When Viator first came out I remember being so skeptical of it but now it’s really become very useful. My search on Viator this morning showed that there were really only two options - a dinner boat cruise and a desert sand dune and dinner show tour. I confirmed with mom that there was no interest in the former and so I did more reading on the latter. There were mixed reviews from those who attended during Ramadan and the tour details said there was no guarantee that we could get picked up from our hotel. I thought maybe we shouldn’t do it but then I realized, after seeing the options just weren’t there to do it from Abu Dhabi and they had even worse mid-Ramadan season reviews, that this might be our only chance. Still I wasn’t convinced the Viator one would work and Mom said that she would go talk to the concierge slash travel guide in the hotel. Sure enough she came back upstairs victorious and a few dollars poorer but she had secured our spots on a desert tour complete with sand dunes, camel ride, a good dinner, and some entertainment.

So when 4pm rolled around I was excited to see our ride showed up on time and in a desert ready 4x4 just like I had read about. Mom asked if I wanted the front seat and I encouraged her to take it, knowing full well it would be the equivalent of the front seat on a rollercoaster once we hit the desert. I ended up in the third row with EJ which turned out quite well because the other two people on our tour were a retired couple from Sydney, Australia.

Now it’s no secret how I feel about Sydney and the average Sydneian (they’re generally obnoxious) so when Mom brought up that I had been there recently and I told the couple I lived in Melbourne, the obnoxious woman turned back to me and said “well you know there’s a bit of a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne,” and I replied “oh believe me I know” but omitted my opinion that Melbourne is the far superior Australian city. She then went on for the rest of the hour long drive about how New York was such a crowded and horrible city despite knowing that was where we were from. Mom even tried to explain to her, nicely, that she was a stupid tourist for staying in Times Square and expecting anything different. When we got off at a tourist shop so that our driver could deflate the tires in the 4x4, preparing for the ride through the sand dunes, Mom quietly asked me if all Australians were like the woman and I told her why do you think I hate Sydney? And explained my opinion that they are often as obnoxious as the woman in our car. I assured her that people in Melbourne were generally not like this woman and Mom said ok good. We used the toilet and Mom bought a bunch of souvenir gifts before we piled back into the car.

About 10 minutes later our driver veered off the paved road, that was covered in sand, to the mountains of sand. The ride through the dunes was amazing. Like some kind of wild roller coaster adventure but surrounded by the beautiful mountains of sand and a slowly setting sun. Our driver climbed up the piles of sand and then straight down them, drifted the 4x4 around piles and even managed a few slides down the sand. It was everything I had hoped it would be, thrilling and adrenaline pumping. EJ and I hollered and cheered with each stunt and the driver laughed as the older adults in the car grimaced and gripped the handles in the car for dear life. The driver did some great moves in front of tourists standing on the top of a dune taking pictures and I found myself wishing I could get a copy. He finally pulled into the sand clearing along with the other tour guides and we got out of the car to take pictures. Our driver even offered to take some of us as we wandered around the sand. A gentleman came by with a perigrine falcon on his arm and handed it to us to take photos with it for the price of 10 Dirhams per person. Of course we all took pictures and I said I should add it to my now growing collection of photos of me with wild predators perched on my arm or shoulder. Once we got our fill of photos around the area we got in once more, and once more road the dunes before our driver pulled up to an encampment.

Outside the encampment were a couple of camels that people could ride. They were huge and while part of me wanted to experience what riding would be like, the other side of me said it was better to just stand next to one and take a picture, so that’s why I did. Inside the compound was a stage surrounded by tables and shops along the walls with a bar that didn’t serve alcohol and a kitchen area where the staff was cooking. Our driver brought us to our table and I immediately went for a drink. I got handed a cold can of coke and shrugged as I drank it then grabbed a few flimsy plastic cups sealed with foil of water. I drank as many of the tiny waters as I could and when the food was served I found I wasn’t actually hungry so I grabbed a few things then returned to the table. The first performer was a fire juggler who was really good. The second performance would have been belly dancers but since it’s Ramadan they cancelled that part and we had free time instead before the final performer of the night. Dad got more food, Mom went to get henna on her hand, and EJ and I went to the shisha station. The double Apple shisha was free and the other flavors cost 50 Dirhams. I found EJ with a double apple and when I sat down next to him he informed me that much like the cafe we went to with Jean, double apple is actually a licorice flavor. I said no thank you and went back to the merchant to pay for a different flavor (I picked peach). We sat there together as the final dancer came out. He was great and put on quite he show. As soon as he was done the tour was declared over and people nearly ran each other over to get out of the place. I was still enjoying the shisha and everyone in our party seemed ok with being a few minutes behind all the other tours.

An hour of winding paths through the sand and then pavement and we finally made it back to the hotel. Thankfully we got dropped off first because the other hotel was on the southern side of the palm. Mom declared that it was now time to take another attempt at seeing the Dubai Frame. I called us a cab and 104 Dirhams later we were on our way to the top of the Frame.

It was such a surprisingly great experience. First there was a small history of the area and the tower then an elevator that brought us to the top. It was just Mom and I since the boys decided to stay behind in the hotel. The elevator showed the street quickly disappearing as you approached the top of the Frame. Once at the top there were large windows with old Dubai on one side and new Dubai on the other. In the center was frosted glass that turned clear, showing the long trip to the bottom of the Frame under your feet. I thought it was really cool but mom was scared of it. We took our time looking out the windows at the brightly lit city around us. The only downside was that the windows were covered in ornamental patterns that obstructed the view and a light show on the ceiling that reflected back off what glass did show. After a while we got back in the elevator. At the bottom was another exhibit. This one was about the museum of the future which we had passed a handful of times in our few days here. We sat and watched the whole thing, it was really fascinating to see what their version of the world if tomorrow looks like.

A quick trip through the gift shop, where Mom found some more gift to buy, and then we were back on the muggy streets waiting for a Careem. The driver was great and put on some really good dance tunes from the radio. Interestingly he turned the music off as we approached the hotel, a more crowded area where someone could hear his music which is illegal right now during Ramadan.

Tomorrow we head back to Abu Dhabi. I can’t believe that our trip is nearing the end. It feels like we just got here yesterday!

Dubai: A Race Against Time to See Everything

2019-05-30T14:39:00.001-04:00

My family has gotten into the habit of waking up late since we got to Dubai. This would normally be fine but, as my experience has shown. with bus tours the earlier you hop on, the more often you can hop off. We didn’t hop on until nearly noon and for a bus that stops at 17:00 that is extremely late. Still we got on and made our way back north through the city to see the sights.

Since the bus tour is really three routes there are two places where you have to get off and wait for another bus to arrive. The first is the Dubai Mall and the other is the Emirates mall. We got off the bus at the Emirates mall and Mom announced that she would like to see the Ski Dubai facility. It’s an indoor ski center with five routes and cold weather clothing for loan. EJ and I were skeptical that she could make it there and back within 20 minutes. The ski facility was on the exact opposite end of the mall and must have been a nearly mile long walk but Mom was determined to get there and back in the 20 minutes we had until the next bus. We made it to Ski Dubai in about 10 minutes. There were large floor to ceiling windows that showed a bit of the park in all its oddly rundown and mediocre glory. We didn’t really know what to make of the novelty of indoor skiing in the desert and so we simply took some photos and then high tailed it back to the waiting area for the bus. Thankfully the bus was running late so we weren’t at risk to miss it.

Back on the bus we wound our way through the city again, this time getting off at the Dubai Museum. The bus staff said that in order for us to make it back to the green line bus that we would need to be back in 30min for the next bus and there was no way we could make it through the museum that quickly. Now I’m not sure what museum they were talking about or what version of the Dubai Museum they went to but the one I experienced was easily seen in 30min, including a quick stop at the gift shop where Mom picked up a furry camel for her collection. The museum itself was interesting. It depicted the history of the area and the people who lived there with tons of life size exhibits of original dwellings and souks. The odd part was how half the museum was darkly lit and filled with lifesize mannequins in action poses going through their everyday life. It was pretty creepy at times and reminded me of the taxidermy museum we went to in Texas. It also filled quite quickly with a tour group from China who proceeded to bump, prod, and push us at every turn. It was so bad that we purposely pushed ahead of them, passing some of the life size exhibits, just to escape that group. Before we left the building Dad and I noticed another exhibit. This one was brightly lit, well manicured, and named after the Sheikh. Dad wondered why the whole museum didn’t look like this and I surmised that it must be the royal families personal collection and that was why we didn’t see it mixed with everything else.

After a brief wait in the sweating hot sun we hopped back on the bus for a final time today. We hopped off at the Souk Madinat Jumeirah, a fancy indoor replica of a traditional souk. I’m glad that we went to the old school ones yesterday because it definitely made it clearer what they were trying to achieve with what was basically an indoor shopping mall with an old school aesthetic. We wandered our way through the shops until we started getting snippy with each other and realized that now that the sun was setting it was time to eat. It is still a little surprising to see how quickly we adjusted to the Ramadan season and Islamic laws surrounding it on our visit. Still, hanger is a real thing and sometimes you have to just disappear beyond a curtain of shame to get some food. After some debate on where to eat we ended up at Noodle House, an Asian restaurant that served something from nearly every major Asian cuisine. We ordered probably more food then we needed but it was all delicious. EJ and I even got boba tea with passion fruit bubbles, something I hadn’t tried before but found to be amazing. I always forget how much I enjoy the taste of passion fruit.

Well fed it was now time to go shopping. EJ and Dad opted to go somewhere else and hang out (turns out they ended up at a cafe) and I thought I’d go with Mom so she wouldn’t have to shop alone and that way it would be easier for all of us to meet up again once she was done. Mom and I wandered around the souk for a while until she settled on shopping in the largest souvenir store in the mall. She wanted to get something for her coworkers and some of our family and this shop had literally everything under one roof. That said, it also didn’t offer anything unique from what we had been seeing at the other stores as well as other malls and souks. Every store has camel soap or chocolate, Aladdin style lamps, random gold colored dishes, tea sets of varying size from microscopic to full-size, hookahs, and then a plethora of apparel, pens, and magnets most likely made in China. At least this store had all of that in a single place. Mom got a whole bag of gifts and then we kept walking. She stopped suddenly outside an art shop, similar to the Metropolitan Museum of Art gift shop with local prints on all kinds of items. We had already visited the store but mom found something she didn’t see the first time - a pillow - that she wanted to buy as a gift. After she bought it she saw another pillow with a different design and decided to get that one too for herself. After buying both pillows my hands were now filled with bags and mom had finished shopping so I texted EJ to let him know we were ready to go. Half a minute later EJ and Dad reappeared behind us. EJ said that they went to a cafe for tea and shisha and I was pretty jealous since that was how I wanted to pass my evening tonight. Then we walked outside to call a cab via Careem and I immediately changed my mind as soon as the hot, humid air blasted my face. It was 40 degrees (C) all day and seemed to only get hotter since the sun went down.

After picking up our car sent via Careem (the local version of Uber) we made it back to the hotel, all our bags in tow, and EJ and mom headed out to the grocery store to get some snacks and stuff for breakfast tomorrow. I caught up on some email and am starting now to think of what activities we can fill tomorrow with.

Dubai: Shopping Malls, Shopping Stalls, And Lackluster Shows

2019-05-30T04:53:00.001-04:00

I awoke at the crack of dawn this morning. I had plans to play Dungeons and Dragons with my regular group but when I checked my messages at 4:30am they ended up cancelling so I spent the rest of my morning futzing around on my phone. By 11am the rest of my family was up and ready to hit the town. Our goal for the day was to take the hop on hop off bus tour and see all that Dubai has to offer.

We had a bit of a misfire getting on the bus. At first mom and EJ thought the bus stop was in one direction only for us to figure out it was in the opposite. Unfortunately we didn’t figure that out until EJ took it upon himself to walk 3 blocks ahead and turn the corner. He eventually figured out we weren’t all following him anymore and hustled back but our mistake meant that we got to watch the tour bus slowly pull away from the stop, unable to do anything about it.

We decided to pass the 30 minutes until the next bus in a coffee shop. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty yet but my parents got coffee and pastries. Mom ordered a toasted English muffin with butter and after a very confused exchange where the waitress asked if she wanted two pieces and mom said yes one in two pieces miming with her hands together then breaking apart. Dad simply asked what they had and selected a croissant from the verbal list. About five minutes later the waitress returned with their drinks and then a moment after that with their food. The English muffin was actually two toasted hamburger buns with butter on the side. I laughed so hard I thought I’d burst. Unfortunately she then handed one of the toasted buns to me since she didn’t want both and I was stuck eating this dry bread with no drink.

Our food adventure completed we then went back into the heat to wait for the bus on the side of the highway. We hopped on and then were off. I learned from the bus tour that the city of Dubai is so expansive there is no way we could’ve seen it all without a car and a guide. There were three bus lines on the tour and as we transferred from bus line to bus line I was a little shocked and offended by some of the things the other tourists were doing and wearing. So many of the women were wearing next to nothing - tiny shorts that barely covered their butt and tiny tops that were far too low. There were still signs in the mall entrances where we waited to transfer bus lines that said conservative clothing is required but unlike Abu Dhabi there was no one enforcing it or shaming them into feeling a need to change. There were, however, plenty of men leering at them which I’m sure was far more uncomfortable then receiving a ticket. The part that was more insensitive were all the tourists who blatantly drinking and eating out in the open. I even saw a woman smoking later in the day without a shred of shame. During Ramadan all of these things are banned from public, which is why the evils of shame are draped over any eateries so that you can’t be seen not fasting. Here in Dubai, however, there are far fewer shame restaurants and far more tourists just doing whatever they want. It felt disrespectful to be there standing near someone who was munching away on something and washing it down with water in full view.

We needed all three of the bus lines just to get to the northernmost part of the city, providing ample time to make mental notes of all the ways the tourists were ignoring local laws, which was also mom’s desired destination - the gold and spice markets. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but as usual my brother, father, and myself were harassed far less frequently then our mother. The shops in the spice market had all kinds of spices, nuts, dried fruits, individually wrapped candies, hookahs, shisha, saffron, and souvenirs and scarves. Mom loves scarves and managed to find herself lured into the back of one of the multi-storefront areas where it was nothing but pashminas and scarves. They were beautiful and made of all kinds of materials and mostly imported from India. She picked out a couple and then came time to haggle. The guy quoted us 1000D (270USD) which was absurd since we could easily get it back home for that if not less. It didn’t get much better then that and finally we decided to leave. The salesman chased us out of the store and then handed the merchandise to his friend at the entrance who blocked it. He tried to tell us we should buy it as well and then asked where I was from as I put my hand on his arm to push him aside so we could leave. I was about to respond when he asked if I was a local and I responded yes. He got out of our way and then said since I was a local he could give it to us for the price I asked (which was 300 Dirhams) but at that point we were already out and mom was well over the experience.

We continued our walk deeper into the markets where the spice market gave way to the gold market. The gold market was a much nicer experience overall. The only people on the streets were those trying to lure you into the silver shops or to buy knockoff merchandise which they call replicas. I’m wearing all white Adidas NMD boosts on the trip so the replica salesman kept offering hypebeast shoes to me too. Inside the gold shops the staff was friendly and helpful, not pushy at all. The price of gold is regulated by the local government so there isn’t much haggling if any at the stores. They’re also all air conditioned and have seats for the people getting dragged along with the shoppers like us. We walked (and waited) along the entire strip of stores while mom shopped. She couldn’t find anything she really liked but insisted she couldn’t leave empty handed either. We walked from one end back to the beginning and were about to start over again when she finally found a ring that she liked and bought. The store gave us some small waters to drink inside and while we were paying and sipping water from flimsy plastic hot lunch juice cups, Dad was outside waiting where a pigeon pooped on him. A salesperson for a local cafe noticed and helped him clean it off in the cafe and when dad asked for the toilet to wash, he was told he had to buy something so he bought an ice tea and then cleaned the bird poop off in a toilet located at the top of a three floor spiral staircase. When we found him he was back outside chatting and laughing with the cafe promoter.

Once again we found ourselves across the street watching our bus drive away from the stop without us. So we had to wait outside for 30min. There was an air conditioned, enclosed small wait area but it quickly filled with Chinese tourists making it ineffective since the door could no longer close. EJ and I spent the 30min standing outside near the subway stop in a section of shade provided by one of the advertisement structures. By the time the bus finally came I was so happy to see it and then so annoyed that the couple getting off the bus further prevented us from getting on as they asked all these questions while standing in the entryway for another two minutes. The bus had bottles of water on it and I grabbed a couple. Every time I had water I immediately sweat it out so I was happy to finally be in a cool area and sipping life giving water. The bus brought us back to the Dubai Mall which is one of the largest malls in the world and located at the base of the world’s tallest tower. Dubai is filled with “world’s largest” and “world’s tallest” structures. Since the bus service was ending for two hours we decided that we might as well take advantage of being there and see the sights. EJ had heard there was a way to get near the top of the tower without paying but by the time we trekked through the mall to the information desk we found out that was no longer the case and that to get to the top for the four of us it would be 1000D. No thank you. We decided to keep walking and make our way to the world’s largest fountain show instead. By this time I was starving and as we passed the food court (sealed off with plastic shame barriers) decided to stop in and grab a snack before continuing. After mom’s moments of indecision over what to have she finally settled on McDonald’s. She said she wanted to see if the cheeseburger tasted differently, EJ and I assured her it doesn’t but she insisted that it might (spoiler: it doesn’t). I got the McArabia Chicken, the most local sounding thing I could find on the small menu. It was grilled chicken patties in a pita with garlic sauce, lettuce and tomato. It was amazingly delicious.

Partially fed we continued our trek to the fountains. It was outdoors, which was a little disappointing because as the sun set the air was only getting more humid. There was, however, plenty of seating and we sat on the edge of the stone bench waiting for the sun to go down and the show to start. At 19:00 all of a sudden there was some Arabic singing over the loudspeaker and when it ended there was a brief pause before a canon was set off, shocking myself and most of the other tourists there. EJ laughed at me and said that he knew it was going to happen. It was another 15 minutes before the show actually started.

Now I’ve been to a few fountain shows in my lifetime, including the Bellagio a handful of times, and I can say beyond a reasonable doubt that this was the most half-assed, elementary school level production that I’ve ever seen. It didn’t last more then 5 minutes and was the same four water movements repeated while a song in Arabic played over the loud speakers. When it ended the lights in the plaza turned on and I turned to my brother and said, “that’s it?! I came all this way for that?!” To which he laughed and asked what did I expect from the world’s largest fountain show. I certainly expected something worth the mile and a half walk through the mall to see it. We slowly made our way back through the mall, got lost finding the taxi stand, and then were shuffled to a luxury car that took us the 20min back to our hotel. By the time we got to the hotel I was done. Exhausted, dehydrated, and up since sunrise I was a walking corpse. I drank some water and hydralyte, laying in my bed while the rest of my family puttered around the apartment, and regrettably got up only when they announced it was time to go to dinner.

At least we didn’t have to go far to eat. We hopped on the elevator and went up to the restaurant at the top of the hotel, called the Observatory, and after grumpily debating with each other over what to order either a la carte or the South American themed prix fix meal we finally settled on South American. The meal was amazing but I found myself barely staying awake as each course was brought out. We finished dessert (churros and tres leches) and it took all the energy I had left in me to get back downstairs, into my pajamas, and on my bed. I started to write and then swiftly found myself getting woken up by Mom, still laying on top of the covers, and being told to get in the bed properly. She didn’t have to tell me twice and sure enough I was out like a light once again.

Road trip to Dubai

2019-05-28T15:30:00.001-04:00

When my alarm went off at 8 this morning I thought to myself at least today is an easy day. We got dressed, ate breakfast, said goodbye to Jean and his parents (promising to visit them in Korea soon), then went to our rooms to pack.

By 3pm we were piled into a minivan and on the road to Dubai. I was able to schedule the car ahead of time using Careem since the option for a larger car doesn’t exist on Uber and our driver was a really nice guy from India. I slept through most of the drive but was amazed at how quickly the city melted into small desert towns and how straight the road was. When I awoke there were ginormous skyscrapers overhead, very nicely spaced along the skyline and I realized that we were already in Dubai.

I messaged Johnston who recently moved here from Gold Coast, Australia since his wife’s job moved her here last year. I met Johnston while living with Bren, he came to visit Jobin and go to Ultra (a music festival) at the end of February. When I initially arrived in January, Jobin told me that his best friend would be visiting and he hoped that we would meet. At the time I didn’t think I’d be staying in Melbourne that long but in the end I did and it just so happened that my final weekend there was also the weekend that Johnston was visiting for Ultra and Bren was coming down with the flu. I found myself on a Saturday night hanging out in my pajamas and drinking a beer by myself when Jobin and Johnston came home from the concert. At first I let them have the dining table but the boys quickly invited me to join them in the first of many Kraken and Cokes. I ended up having the best conversations with Johnston and we jived just as well as Jobin and I had, quickly becoming friends, and I ended up staying up all night and morning with the two of them. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. So when I found out Johnston moved to Dubai just in time for my visit I reached out to him to see if he would have time to have another great night of drinks and chats. I’m not sure if it’ll work out but I hope it does.

Anyway we pulled up to our hotel and I initially wasn’t very impressed at all. The Marriott Harbour lobby was a pitiful thing but the staff was warm and helpful. When we finally got up to our room I was amazed. It is a huge apartment with two bedrooms, a bonus servants quarters room with an extra cot in it, four bathrooms, a full living, dining room, and kitchen. I thought when I went to Tasmania with Bren that our one bedroom hotel apartment was fancy but this one puts it to shame. We also have a great view of the palm manmade island and the ocean. As mom started planning what we would do with the evening and the next few days I took a nap. By the time I woke up the huge red sun was quickly setting on the horizon.

We decided to do the Marina walk. It’s a 7km path along the Marina, which looks more like a river, and dotted with shops and restaurants along the whole thing. Mom originally thought she would walk the entire thing, even after I translated 7km into miles, but by the time we got a fourth of the way through it we were quickly too hungry to give it a go. The marina walk makes the San Antonio riverwalk look like a joke.

We ended up at a middle eastern cafe/restaurant for dinner, one of the many that had young men shoving menus in your face as you walked by. We sat outside with the ocean breeze on one side and a fan circulating air on the other. We ordered a bunch of food and I got Moroccan tea again (quickly becoming my favorite beverage) and I picked out a shisha for us. Mom was very curious about it and had a lot if questions for my brother and I about how we discovered it and what it was all about. She even ventured so far as to try a little bit of it along with her serving of Moroccan tea. I gorged myself on kebab, with garlic paste on pita, and tea and shisha while we talked about our trip and the Arabic drama that they were showing on a large tv outside.

With leftovers in takeaway containers we ventured back down the marina walk toward the hotel. Mom wanted ice cream so we stopped at Spinneys, a supermarket that it turns out is just a rebranded Waitrose. They had so many different juices and a little bakery and a great selection of ice creams and frozen desserts. We filled up a reusable bag with all kinds of treats and dad even picked up a camel milk because he said that if we came all this way then we should try it. Personally I don’t know if I’m adventurous enough to try it but dad is right that it is our chance to do it.

On our walk back I could feel the humidity rising and my pants and shirt sticking to my skin. I enviously watched the other women pass in their skimpy skirts and athletic tanks and I quickly realized that Dubai is far more liberal then Abu Dhabi was. In Abu Dhabi all the women were covered, western and local alike, whereas from what I’ve seen so far here the women’s clothing tends to be far more western. As my jeans seemed to meld into my wet skin I wondered to myself if I would be able to put the emergency pair of shorts I brought with me to work. Part of me feels like it would be fine and the other part just doesn’t want to chance it. I guess I’ll have to see how the rest of our evenings here go.

Now that we’re back in our apartment in the hotel it’s all about planning how we’ll get to all the different sights. It looks like our answer is the hop on, hop off bus tour which is one of my other favorite things to do when traveling. I can’t wait to get out there and see all that this city has to offer. Hopefully I won’t be too tired after getting up early to join my dungeons and dragons group for a game.

Abu Dhabi: Marina Mall, NYU Commencement, Beachside Cafe With Locals

2019-05-27T20:09:00.001-04:00

Today was all about the primary reason for our trip - NYU Abu Dhabi’s 2019 Commencement for Jean, my other little brother. But first EJ and I started our day with another hearty breakfast in the hotel cafe. We ended up eating just the two of us since mom and dad slept in. With a couple hours after breakfast to kill before we made a trip to the mall with Jean before going to his graduation ceremony, EJ and I went back to our room to watch tv and relax. Before I knew it there was a knock on the door and it was 13:15, about 15 minutes past the time we were due to meet Jean in the lobby. We quickly got ready and then hopped in a cab to go to the Marina Mall.

The cab was an interesting one. We grabbed a bigger one and when I went to get in the back noticed that there were 3 seats, like any other car, and then two seats facing backwards and attached to the bulletproof looking plastic divider between the backseat and the driver. It was reminiscent of NYC yellow cabs in that respect. I watched the cars behind us nearly hitting each other along the whole ride and I thought to myself it is a miracle there aren’t more accidents on the road. We finally pull up to the Marina Mall and got out to one of the biggest malls I’ve seen next to a replica of the London Eye style Ferris wheel on the beach. At the horizon I could see the meager skyline of Abu Dhabi glinting in the afternoon sun. We quickly made our way inside before we died of heatstroke.

Once inside the mall it looked like any other mall. Except the first few stores I saw were Rolex, Tissot, and Chanel instead of American Eagle and H&M. There were a lot of UK based brands there as well like Marks and Spencer and a Boots coming soon. We wandered our way through the mall for a while, Mom picked out a new bag from Gucci and a new wallet from Louis Vuitton that she wants EJ to buy her one day while EJ browsed the shoes and all the different watch stores. Eventually Jean asked if we would be ok grabbing lunch and while most of us weren’t hungry it seemed like a good idea to sit and relax for a bit before exploring the rest of the expansive mall.

Naturally Jean brought us to Five Guys. The summer that he came to live with us for a month I think he and EJ must have eaten there at least a dozen times so I was hardly surprised that he wanted to go there. We entered the curtain of shame to find an exact replica of the Five Guys that you find in the states. If the signs didn’t have Arabic on them and if the “where did our potato” sign didn’t say Netherlands then I would have sworn we were back in Fresh Meadows, Queens. It was nice to chat and spend some time hanging out as a family and eating delicious French fries. We finished up and then Jean lead us to our next destination, Carrefour in the basement of the mall.

Carrefour is like if Coles from Australia and Target in America had a baby and that baby was Arabic/British. Jean suggested it saying that we might like to see it and I was like OMG HAVE YOU READ MY BLOG?!?! I live for visiting foreign supermarkets. I was so excited to walk in and take in all the different sights, smells, and foods. So much of the food area was set up like a Coles that I had to take a closer look to notice the Arabic to remind myself of where I was. I was amazed at all the different kinds of dates, who knew there were so many permutations and kinds. There were tons of exotic honeys as well from all over the world in all kinds of flavors that I never knew existed. I went through all the different food aisles making a bunch of mental notes where I internally commented on what was the same as other places I’ve been and what was different. I was surprised to see how much of it was the same as Australia, I even found original flavor and cappuccino flavor Tim Tams. I grabbed them and a few other kinds of Kit Kats that I hadn’t tried before going to the checkout and then made our way out of the mall.

Back in the hotel we had just enough time to unwind for 10 minutes before getting dressed for the NYU Abu Dhabi commencement ceremony. It was scheduled to start at 8:45 and go until midnight which I thought was unusual for a graduation but when we got into the auditorium (and fought off competing families for front row seats, literally) I realized that it was probably so late because a huge group of the Royal family of the UAE attended the ceremony. They sat front row center in between the two groups of graduating students and had waiters serving them tea and dates during the ceremony. There were so many speakers and fluff that I was anxious to get out of there, not to mention hungry because we weren’t able to make it to the Ramadan meal that they served before going to our seats. Finally the students got called up and when Jean’s name was called we all screamed and shouted, louder then any other family in the ceremony in quite New Yorker fashion.

After the ceremony the parents went back to the hotel. EJ and I waited for Jean to get his stuff and planned to go out to a cafe together. We played a bunch of games in the student lounge like foosball and air hockey while Jean got his stuff since he planned on staying at the hotel after we ate. In the uber back to the hotel (so EJ and I could join Jean in changing out of our formal wear) we were trying to figure out where to go eat. Finally Jean asked the Uber driver if he had any recommendations and he did. The driver even let Jean use his phone to check to make sure the place was open late and then waited for us to change and come back down to drive us to the cafe.

The cafe was amazing. It’s apparently the most famous one in Abu Dhabi for locals and when we arrived we were the only foreigners there. In a huge open plaza there were tables and couches and a big tv screen playing local television. It was all locals. The food was amazing and we got to enjoy some shisha (hookah) as well and relax outside on the ocean. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the evening. By 3am the cafe was closing and we made our way back to the hotel. I spent the next hour writing this post and packing up for our road trip to Dubai tomorrow and at 4:07 we got a chance to hear the morning prayer, signifying the beginning of the fasting period for Ramadan, that was broadcast from the Grand Mosque.

Location:Al Khor Street,Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi - Grand Mosque, the Louvre, Korean Food

2019-05-26T16:03:00.001-04:00

My trip to Abu Dhabi and the UAE has been years in the making. It started six years ago when my brother’s best friend Jean told us he was going to be attending NYU Abu Dhabi. My mother immediately told him that we would be there for his graduation. On an air-con chilled late night (or very early morning) sitting at Bren’s computer in Collingwood while FaceTiming my mom back in January I booked the tickets and still it feels like this adventure snuck up on me.

We arrived late Saturday evening and I was tired, sweaty, and hungry. Thankfully it’s Ramadan and so finding food late at night isn’t an issue since that’s the only time you are allowed to eat. They even made an announcement when we landed that because of the holiday there is no public eating, drinking, or smoking allowed in the country. Doing so will incur a fine. So when we walked into the hotel restaurant at 23:30 we were invited to eat outside near the beach. Even with the proximity to water the heat and humidity was oppressive so we ate indoors. It took about a million years from ordering the food to receiving it. I am not sure if it was my hunger or the food but the chicken schwarma I got was one of the best I’ve ever had.

After sleeping like the dead (rock hard bed included) it was off to eat breakfast which was a buffet in the hotel. It was an interesting mix of British, American, and Middle Eastern food. There was this zatar croissant that I fell in love with and have since made a note to hunt them down back home in NYC. I ate to my hearts content and then we hopped in an Uber to check out the Sheikeh Zayed Grand Mosque.

The Grand Mosque is perhaps the poster child of opulence. White marble imported from a host of countries, artisans from the UK, mosaics, mother of Pearl inlays all over and each artistic detail painstakingly well thought out. Really an amazing structure. Being a Mosque it required conservative clothing so while the whole family wore pants my mother and I also had to wear robes with a hood on them (mom opted to use a headscarf she packed instead). I didn’t mind the robe much and after a while began to debate with myself how culturally insensitive it might be to buy a couple and wear them during the trip instead of the clothing I brought with me. I’m not Muslim but the robes they wear here are so much better for the weather then any western clothing I could think of.

By some miracle we managed to make it on the last tour of the mosque. The guided tour was hands down better then just walking around yourself or using an audio tour because the guide explains all of the art and architecture as well as brings you up close and personal with the ornate chandeliers in the main prayer area. The prayer room is thankfully air conditioned so I was happy to stand there and listen to the reasoning behind all the decorative items in the room. They also had a ton of water bottles out. My mom, dehydrated from the strong sun, thought that they were for the tourists but the guide immediately explained that the water is there for people who come to worship at the break fast time. It’s a good thing the guide didn’t let anyone even consider taking one.

At the end of the tour we walked back to the exit with the guide asking her all kinds of questions about Ramadan and not drinking water (the woman said it was a challenge cause of how hot it is but it’s worth it for her faith) and the weather and the area in general. She was very kind and helpful. She mentioned to my mother to be sure to get the shuttle back to the exit instead of walking. A few more photos later we were headed back down into the long tunnels that brought us to the mosque. We asked be security guard for the shuttle just like the guide said to and sure enough a large airport golf cart came to get us. A huge line of people gathered after we had gotten there but being first we were able to all get seats. The golf cart went down the tunnel path so fast that the wind blew off my head cover and he nearly ran over a few groups of people. It was still so much better then walking. Mom and I had to return our robes and while we were in the large closet slash changing area I scolded some women who tried to just toss the robe on the ground or furniture instead of hanging it up with the provided hangers. So rude!

At the entrance (and exit) of the mosque is a small shopping mall that is still being built. Part gift shops, part mall food court (complete with Cinnabon!) there were more shops being built then there were even in the mall. All the food shops had large opaque black curtains that you had to hide behind in order to eat or drink. We called it the shame barrier and I suppose that’s one way to eat a Cinnabon in shame without anyone noticing. Mom and Dad wanted water so we all sat behind the curtains of a Hagan Daz while they drank their sparkling water and talked about how we had to hide it from the world.

Our next stop was the St Regis Saadiyat where we would be meeting Jean for lunch. We tried to get an Uber but good luck getting data cellular service at the mosque. Our phones didn’t connect until we were at the front gate back into civilization. By that time we were already in a regular taxi on our way to the resort. The St Regis was more of an island compound then a resort. After the entrance it was a five minute drive to get to the main area. Jean met us at the front of the hotel and we were all so happy to see him. It had been a couple years since I saw him last but we all immediately fell back into how things always were. He brought us to a Lebanese restaurant which was pretty good and then we took another cab over to the Louvre which is near his campus. EJ was excited to see the Louvre because it is a bit controversial how it was all started in Abu Dhabi.

The museum was large but sparsely furnished with exhibits. It was all themed after the evolution of civilization in the world which I suppose made sense since the UAE is so close to the river valley civilizations. After a while the threads of the theme came apart and it was just a bunch of artifacts from Italy, France, and Greece. Then it was just modern art and saw what I could only assume was the sequel to the all white paintings Bren and I saw at the Melbourne museum of art - it was an all brown painting. We also saw some very famous paintings like Napoleon on horseback, Whistler’s mother, a bunch of Monets. I was kind of surprised to see such popular and famous works sitting in a museum in the middle of the desert.

After the museum EJ and Jean went back to his dorm on the NYU and the rest of us came back to the hotel. I was glad to have the chance to cool off and relax. It’s amazing how much the desert sun takes it out of you. I ended up falling fast asleep and awoke to the sound of my doorbell going off. Dragging myself out of bed I saw that I was 30min late for dinner and my mom was outside the hotel room door already dressed. I quickly got dressed and went to the lobby where I called an Uber to bring us to the restaurant.

The restaurant was near the golf course. I didn’t realize initially it was inside the golf course. My Uber driver however didn’t listen to his GPS, then didn’t listen to me, then changed GPS app, then didn’t listen to my mother, and then finally brought us to the restaurant. The golf course is right next to the airport so every time he missed a turn we had to do another loop through the airport. Even though it’s pretty small it is still a huge pain to drive in a circle for 5 minutes to get back to where we were. By the time he was on his 5th trip through the airport I was ready to mutiny and throw the guy out of the car so I could take over. We finally made it to dinner and I made a mental note to remember to fight the Uber charge which was almost double the maximum amount in their estimate.

Happy to be out of the car we were immediately greeted by Jean’s parents. It was so nice to see them again after so many years. They lead us back into the restaurant where food was already waiting. Jean and EJ were nice to leave me some of my favorite dish dubboki and Jean’s mom started cooking the meat on the grill. It was so delicious. After we ate everything Jean ordered kimbap and Korean fried chicken for us and his dad told me stories of how much Korean fried chicken he’s had and how you can order it to anywhere you happen to be. I told Jean’s mom and dad that I would need to immediately start looking for a job in Korea.

We gave Jean his graduation gifts and then hugged goodbye. It was so nice to have the whole family together and now I know I’ll have family in Korea too.

Location:Al Khor Street,Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates

Tasmania Road Trip: Vineyards, Distilleries, and Sheep

2019-02-19T17:46:00.001-05:00

Someone once said that getting drunk is just borrowing happiness from tomorrow. While I had amazing cheap and cheerful night the morning was a bit more bleary eyed thanks to the lost sleep from drinking. Finally at 9am I knew I had to get moving if we were going to check out of the hotel on time and sure enough we did. It was a bit of a flurry of packing and wondering where to stash the gifts I bought but we managed and then headed off to pick up a rental car and get on the open road.

I was going to be the sole driver of this endeavor and I had asked Bren if he was nervous about it. Without hesitation and a “what are you talking about” look he said no of course not. Naturally as I pulled out of the lot and drive around the city I could feel him tense a bit but he soon relaxing into being the navigator of our road trip. We had a bit of a false start at breakfast. Sid, as well as a bunch of his local Tassie friends, recommended a breakfast spot to us. He had warned us it was small and has a long wait on the weekends but we thought surely a Tuesday morning would be fine. And bit were we wrong. It turns out “Small Fry” is across the street from a Best Western and had an hour long wait. Back in the car and, thanks to a lost in translation moment, driving a lap around the city we found a small cafe in a shopping arcade that turned out to be really good. By then I was so hungry that I ordered two breakfasts which I later struggled to put away.

Bren picked as our next destination the town of Richmond which was about 20 minutes north of the city. I wasn’t quite sure what specific part of Richmond he was directing me to drive but I do have faith in my quokka so I simply followed whatever the GPS told me. I’m glad I did because I was pleasantly surprised to find he picked the vineyard of the wine that I ordered and loved when we went to fancy dinner our first night in town. The cellar door (which is what they call the visitors area slash tasting room) was in what appeared to be an old farm house. We walked through a beautiful picnic area with large timber supported awnings and into the farm house which was set up much like a steak house with huge wooden tables and glass stemware waiting to be filled with their wares. We asked to do the single origin tastings which I’m okay with admitting that it took me 3/4ths of the tasting menu to understand what that meant. Basically Pinnoy has two vineyards and each had its own soil type, atmosphere, and micro biome. They make a special version of each of their wines where the grapes are sourced only from one of the vineyards which creates a surprisingly different flavor profile from the others. We had the director of the vineyard walk us through each one. It turns out that she’s the wife of one of the siblings who own the vineyard and it’s been family owned and run since it’s beginning. As we walked through the wines Bren and I had a great time watching each other’s reaction and listing to the different flavors we found in each. There was only one where we universally agreed that it was not for us and that was the Chardonnay. One of them was just meh and the other tasted like melted butter on toast, a strange flavor for a wine in my opinion. When we were done they offered us to try any of the other wines on their list and we went with a German sounding one and the one I had at dinner. I ended up buying the Pinot we had at dinner because why not right? I really enjoyed it and looked forward to either bringing it back to New York with me or sipping it with Bren while we watched tv together. We walked outside and took a look around the gorgeous scenery when I suddenly remembered that the young woman we first spoke to offered to take our photo. I whined to Bren that he didn’t remember so he went inside to find the woman and she came out to take our photo. She said that she was an expert and positioned us just right in front of the entrance of the cellar door. The picture came out wonderful and I was so happy to have it to commemorate our trip together.

Back in the car and the GPS just started talking and I started following and admiring the scenery as I drove. We drove through farms and then a small cute village that looked like it had a lot of money. Bren pondered about where they could have gotten their wealth from and I reminded him that we were in wine country, it was all wine money that built them up into something postcard perfect. All of a sudden Bren goes, here it is! and I looked around and said what? All I could see was a school up ahead and some trees near us. He said we're going over it now and I realized that we were crossing a stream on a small stone bridge but still didn't understand. It turns out he had lead us to Australia's oldest bridge, or maybe it was the oldest structure too, but regardless it was a very old stone bridge built by convicts. It took a moment to find parking as there were at least a dozen other tourists there frolicking on the verdant green hill that sloped down to the stream. Bren ran down to the stream too and found a spot on the hill to sit where he tried to communicate with the ducks who were swimming and fishing in the stream. I continued walking around to see if there was a way to get to the other side by foot (there wasn't) and admire the craftsmanship of the inexperienced laborers. It was a pretty good pit-stop to enjoy the sun and take in some of the local history.

I asked Bren where he wanted to go next and he picked out another vineyard that we had passed on the way. As I drove back down through the mountains I stopped off at Coal Valley Farm so Bren could try the cheeses (he loves cheese) and we took a look around to see that it was also another chocolatier. As we drove way he saw that we could’ve gone pig diving but I’m glad we passed on that. A few more farms and rolling hills later we ended up at the next vineyard, Frogmore Creek Winery. This one wasn’t nearly as warm feeling as the other but the scenery was magnificent. We got to overlook the grapes and a large lake that I had to get Bren out of his phone to look up and notice that morning as well as a huge radio satellite dish. Bren was convinced it was moving but I wasn’t able to look carefully enough while driving to confirm his suspicions one way or the other. I said to Bren let’s sit in the restaurant. I wasn’t hungry but I was hoping we could do the tasting from there since their sign said the tasting was free if you went to the restaurant. I was mistaken and while it was free we still had to get up and stand at the counter next to the register to do it. Most of the wines were pretty mediocre and some were downright bad. When we got to the dessert wine though I found I really enjoyed it. Again when we went to fancy steak dinner Bren had picked out a dessert wine that I would have slapped him to get another glass of it. The one from Frogmore was very similar but a little less syrupy which I liked. I bought it as well as a nice canvas and leather wine tote which was on clearance. After all if I’m going to be toting all this wine home I should have something fashionable to put it in right?

Back in the restaurant we sat and discussed the satellite dish and how this vineyard was a good wedding venue because there were plenty of bushes for people to sneak off to. Eventually I grew a little impatient. After all we ordered two raw dishes, why all the wait? Bren speculated that maybe she didn’t put the order in to fire yet and started to scan the room for our waitress. A few moments later she turned up with our dishes - beef carpaccio and raw scallops. Both were great and we nearly licked the plates clean. The waitress came back and asked if we would like dessert then handed us the menus again. At $18 a pop I wasn’t all that sold on getting something but since cheesecake was on the menu I knew quokka would be getting that. The waitress came by again to take our order and sure enough Bren got the cheesecake. The waitress lit up and said wonderful, it’s one of her favorites and it’s even shaped like a rabbit (true to its name). Suspicious I asked which was her favorite dessert then and she said that she loved them all equally. That after traveling all over the world and indulging her sweet tooth that she was hard pressed to find anything as good as the desserts here. Now my interest was piqued. I got the one I had been eyeing, a chocolate mousse called “Pearl.”

The desserts came out and they ended up being everything the waitress said an more. My Pearl was literally a pearl of white chocolate covered chocolate mousse on a chocolate seashell with crumbled cookie and chocolate balls. Bren’s rabbit was a rabbit shaped blueberry cheesecake surrounded by fresh berries. They were both as delicious to eat as they were to look at.

Stuffed we made our way back to the car. As we approached Bren was suddenly on his phone. I knew he often would talk to work on his day off but I had hoped that they would leave him alone while we were out of town. His tone made it sound like he knew the man and he was asking what time we could come by the shop, so I thought maybe he wanted to go back to Sid for his haircut? We got in the car and he finally got off the phone and then said ok let’s go. I asked him if he had been talking to work or something and he laughed and said no, that he was on the phone with Pete the owner and operator of Belgrove Distillery. It was a distillery that the woman at the Lark tasting room couldn’t speak highly enough about and in fact had an agreement with her husband that should Pete ever be available she’d leave her husband for him and he’d be fine with it as long as he got a few bottles of whiskey. So Bren chucked on the GPS and we were off again.

Now since we were using Bren’s phone for navigation that also meant we had to use his phone for the music as well. Personally I’m always a little nervous to share me eclectic music library in a public setting especially since I’ve been known to hang out with music snobs from time to time. I never take music that seriously and simply enjoy it if it’s good. I think Bren was a little surprised at first when the car started playing his music when we first go it but he quickly adjusted to roll of DJ, specifically picking out “good road trip music” as he put it. As we drove out of Frogmore he played something I was jamming out to and I turned to him and said that it was a good thing that we had such similar taste in what we like in music otherwise our road trip would have turned bad very quickly.

The road to Belgrove brought us on to one of the highways in Tassie. Bren scoffed every time the gps used the word highway to describe a road. Having driven all over Australia and New Zealand I already knew that in a lot of rural areas the word highway basically just means any road where the turn off points are far apart. The particular highway that we got on to go to Belgrove reminded me very much of the two lane highway that switchbacks it’s way through the Catskills mountains in upstate New York. I had really gotten into a grove when Bren said I think the turn is up here. Good thing the traffic was so light because I had to slow down in a hurry and turn onto a loose gravel road. It appeared to just be someone’s farm driveway and so I proceeded slowly as Bren and I wondered what we were getting into here. We passed a magnificent mansion of a home and I told Bren that I could have my wedding here too and he grunted in agreement. I parked the car on the grass next to another car and as we got out a shadowy figure appeared to come out of a small farm building. I couldn’t hear what he said but Bren shouted back. It turned out to be Pete.

The two men shook hands and exchanged greetings. Pete said he was glad to have us and I was amazed as he took out his phone to take a photo of his workers timesheet which was on a half of a piece of college ruled notebook paper. He was dressed in solid boots, shorts, and an old crew neck sweatshirt. As he told us the story of his farm I could hear the sheep bleeting down in the field just below us. Then he began to walk us through his small, handmade distillery. Bren was completely enamored with the tour, having never learned how whiskey is made before. I’ve been on a few of them and so I was more curious about how he managed to fit so much equipment in the small farm building and how he learned how to make so many of them or upcycle them. The grain sprouter was an old industrial dryer, the masher an old milk drum. Barrels were everywhere in all shapes, sizes, and types. Even the rafters were crammed with barrels and large stainless steel storage tanks that got fed down into the still. The still he had made himself which I found amazingly impressive, especially when he pointed to a three inch long piece of duck tape on the side and described how the alcohol slowly eats away at the copper and that he just needs to weld the hole. He then invited us to dip our fingers into a variety of plastic jugs of all stages of liquor and whiskey. As we tried the first his phone rang and he then handed it off to Bren and asked him to confirm with the gentleman on the phone that the spirit he tasted was in fact smokey. Bren did his usual thing of managing to instantly befriend whoever he was speaking to. It turned out to be the man who contracted Pete to turn some of his grain into whiskey for him. A lot of that happens at the facility where people will ask him to distill or store some of their own spirits.

After sticking our fingers in more questionable pools of liquid we went off to the tasting bar. Pete limited my tastings since I was the driver but Bren had open season on any of them. Personally I didn’t expect to like any of them since they simply aren’t my style of whiskey (they most definitely are Bren’s though) but when Pete handed us a white whiskey to start I thought maybe I just need to find the right one of each brand that fits my flavor profile. After two of the whiskeys I moved on to what I affectionately monikered the garbage half of the range. Pete is all about experimentation and not wasting anything so anytime someone has extra of something he distills it and turns it into a liquor. The funniest one was called “Kissing a Stranger.” They had gone to a wine event in France and noticed that everyone was mostly spitting out the wines since there were so many to try. Figuring that it was a waste of good alcohol, Pete asked to take the contents of the spittoons of wine with him back to Tassie. He did this twice and distilled the waste into a clear spirit which he then sold back at the event again as a fundraiser for aboriginal youth programs. All of the garbage spirits had a similar story - there was a bunch of liquor or alcoholic beverages or fruit that was going to get thrown out and instead he turned it into a whiskey.

We eventually hit the end of our whiskey journey and Bren picked out a bottle of one he liked and then convinced me to pick up a bottle of the coffee liqueur that I enjoyed. He said “get it. You can bring it into work for Scotch Friday and have a story to tell everyone.” I realized he was, of course, right and knew me extremely well so I got the bottle and paid for his as well. I handed him the bottle of whiskey and told him it was his birthday present as we walked out of the farmhouse distillery.

Back in the car with a few more hours to kill I said to Bren let’s find a place for dinner. Unfortunately our phones were pretty rubbish on the farm so I drove down the road to the only highway service area in the entire state probably. We pulled in and realized that we probably needed to do something with all our new purchases. The amazing part of domestic flights in Australia is that it’s like pre-9/11 America - you can walk on a plane with nearly anything including up to 5 liters of alcohol. Even with this open policy though we were flying a budget airline that has strict carry on weight limits that we would certainly be over with our sheep vodka, sheep gin, pinot, dessert wine, whiskey, and coffee liquor. Bren agreed to check his bag and take on the liquor as his carry on instead along with his suit so I got to work adding a checked bag to our tickets as he went to the bathroom. By the time I washed my hands and finished booking a checked bag I found Bren sitting at one of the tables outside with a water and something edible in a brown bag. I thought it was a pie at first but when he handed me the bag to grab one saw it was a dim sim, one of our favorite nibbles. I told him he had to find us a place for dinner and so we got back in the car and he started searching. At first Bren said let’s go back to the city but I reminded him that we were already on the same peninsula as the airport and would have to drive 20min back in to the city just to drive 20min back out so we scrapped that idea and went for one of the small towns nearby.

That brilliant logistical decision was made moot by the poor city planning of the greater Hobart area. I basically missed one turn in a roundabout and that brought us all the way back to the suburbs of Hobart. By the time I made my way back to the restaurant we wanted to go to I was annoyed and cursing all traffic circles ever made. Bren had to start specifically pointing at which exit to take which I’m sure helped his confidence in my driving ability. The upside was that we ended up doing a quick stop at a beach near the airport and it was probably the highlight of getting lost. We made our way down the sand and took in the beautiful view of the bay while feeling the cool sea breeze and tasting the salt in the air. Bren caught me out of the corner of his eye taking a selfie and told me he'd take my picture instead, climbing back up the sandy hill to frame me with the water and the cliff faces of Tasmania. We stood there for a little while longer enjoying the beginning of the sunset and wondering aloud where everyone else who was running or walking along the beach had come from since there was only one other car parked near ours before returning to the poorly planned streets of greater Hobart.

I got turned around a few more times but we finally made it to the restaurant and I was happy just to get out of the car and stretch my legs. The restaurant is basically what I would call part of a family fun center. I wasn’t sure what to expect but we walked past the mini golf course, through a mini mart of sorts, a cafe for pizza that was closed, and finally ended up in a pretty fancy looking restaurant. It wasn’t super fancy thankfully but they definitely nailed the aesthetic. We sat down, looked over the menu real quick, and just as we decided what we wanted Bren realized that he may have left his brand new and very expensive headphones back at the hotel. He had been leaving them in the living room on the coffee table while we were there and we both had the same thought looking at them there that there was a good chance he would leave them behind. I didn’t think it was really my place to babysit a grown bearded man and his belongings so I didn’t bother checking to see if he had grabbed them. So Bren got nervous (the gps on them is absolutely rubbish) and went out to the car to look for them while I sat there examining the menu. Thankfully they were in the car and he returned victorious.

Dinner was pretty good. Afterwards I could see the effect the lack of napping was having on Bren’s face and I could feel it on myself as well. He said he was tuckered out and that I must be tired from driving all day. We tried to figure out a place to just relax but couldn’t think of or find one. I said that it was a great business idea to open up a lounge where you can just sit on a couch and watch Netflix. Rent by the hour like a PC gaming cafe and we could make a bit of money. Unsure of what to do and clearly over sitting at the dinner table I suggested we just hang out in the car. The temperature had really dropped while we were eating and I was glad to have the shelter of our vehicle. I couldn’t convince Bren that the backseat was more comfortable then the front so we split the car - I took the back and he took the front. He put on YouTube which was super easy to watch together while sitting behind him and then a few minutes later we were both asleep. I woke up at 9pm and Bren roused from his slumber a couple minutes after that. I told him to go pack up his bag to get checked then got out of the car to move back to the front. I was rudely welcomed back outside the car by the roaring cold wind. I ended up changing my shirt into something thicker then hopping in the front seat where Bren already had the keys in and the heat on waiting for me. We sat there for a minute thawing then made our way to the weirdest gas station ever.

First Bren had asked if we could return the car without refueling. Unfortunately pre-paying for fuel wasn’t an option with Avis Australia but if we couldn’t find a petrol station that I would just pay the penalty. When I told him how much it was he said absolutely not and found us a gas station. There were two options and so I just stopped at the first one and it was the oddest gas pumping experience I’ve ever had. It was at the end of a long term parking lot and unmanned. The pumps here don’t have the credit card machines built into them, which for a country that’s arguably much more credit focused then the states is extremely odd. The unmanned pump was old school but they set up what looked like an atm machine in the center of the two pumps where you basically put in the pump number, your credit card, then you got petrol. I managed to navigate the whole ordeal and get us back to the airport without issue. We were, however, running late.

Bren was worried about returning the car by I told him that it should be the case where we just drop it in the lot and then hand the keys to someone at the rental desk. That said I didn’t know exactly where the rental desk was and we were cutting it very short. We hustled our way down the tiny airport and suddenly Bren stops and turns around to go inside. I look and somehow he managed to spot the rental car desk. Keys dropped we headed to the baggage counter next with 25minutes before our flight was supposed to start boarding. The gate agent didn’t seem disturbed by our lateness at all which I found suspicious.

We made our way to the security point and suddenly the lack of urgency made sense. Our flight was delayed by over 30 minutes. I guess it’s just as well. We sat around the airport, Bren watching Netflix and I had started writing then had an uneventful flight home and an extremely eventful uber after that where the driver refused to go to the pickup point and at 1AM we had to walk to the other side of the airport to finally meet him.

I’m sure I’ve written it here before but I am a really glad that I had Bren with me on this Tasmanian adventure. There is no one in this world that I would have rather done it with. Next time I’ll just have to make sure we go for longer then three days.

A Wander Around Hobart

2019-02-18T08:36:00.001-05:00

Bed was so welcome last night that when I heard Bren making coffee in the kitchen I couldn’t believe it. Then I checked the clock and saw it was 8:30, and then it started to make sense. I groggily made my way to the living room slash kitchen and heard “tea?” To which I must have grunted affirmatively in an easy to understand way because a minute later a cup of green tea was in my hands. We sunk into the couch and, after Bren went to fetch the single remote we have for two TVs, chucked on the final episodes of Trigun. It’s one of his favorite anime’s and I have to say it was really good! By the time Trigun was over we had more or less decided on our plans for the day.

First stop was Salamanca Square which is right next to the hotel. A little disappointed that we missed the market on Saturday since it’s supposed to be the largest in the country but as Bren said, “and who’s fault is that?! (Points to self and smiles).” Still the square was beautiful and we were lucky enough to have a bright sun and brilliant blue sky to accompany our walk. I was starving and so when we stumbled upon a crowd of people eating breakfast food we decided to stop and join them. It didn’t hurt that it was one of the recommended breakfast spots in my travel guide. The restaurant was funky. An operational laundromat was on one side of the interior and the other side was split between a kitchen and eating area. After a short wait we got a seat outside. Poor Bren with his blue eyes sat there squinting at the menu as the sun shined down on us. He wondered how the sun managed to be brighter here and I fished out a pair of sunnies (sunglasses) from my bag and handed them to him. Now that Bren was able to see we were able to eat. I had a great egg roti burrito and he got some kind of sliced beef sandwich. We both got sausages, which for me is unusual because I don’t generally care for sausage much especially when bacon is an option but Australians don’t understand that bacon isn’t salmon - you don’t serve it seared and rare!

Well fed we restarted our wander through town. One of the tourist information pillars had a great map and as I studied it I laughed and pointed out that the entire central business district is 3 blocks wide and 2 blocks tall, talk about a small city! We popped into a grocery store which had a surprising number of random American things, and I explained to Bren that my two favorite things to do when traveling are grocery stores and the hop on hop off bus tours, so we’re already half way to completing my list. We continued our walk until we reached a made in Tassie shop. I walked in hoping to find something to bring home to my mother who texted me specifically to remind me to bring her home a souvenir (or many). I found something great for her and for dad amongst the stacks of wool garments, stuffed toys, and anything else you can make from wool. Even the cashier was knitting wool socks for her boyfriends family members. As we left Bren said that if anyone gave his family knitted socks that they’d probably make fun of them forever, but he’d definitely wear the socks. I’m not sure how ruthless my family would be but it would definitely get some strange looks to just get a random pair of socks. Scarf? Hat? Absolutely great but socks seemed like an odd choice.

Our wander then brought us back to the pier. Bren wanted to go back to the shops at the MONA ferry terminal, specifically the one with sheep whey vodka. We debated quite a bit the night before trying to figure out how it was made and he decided to go to the source to find the answers. It turns out that since it’s a sheep farm that specializes in cheese, they couldn’t figure out what to do with the leftovers from the cheese making process. Eventually they realized that they could use the natural sugars in the whey to make alcohol. The woman as she explained it was pouring us tasters of the two vodkas, gin, and later the vanilla milk cordial. They were all amazing. I wish I had been filming Bren as he tasted the gin, which is one of his favorite liquors, because I have rarely seen his face light up in such a way. I bought a tiny bottle of the vodka for a friend at work and added the tiny bottle of gin for Bren. He told me I didn’t have to but I responded that anything that made him react that way was worth buying. Bottles in hand Bren moved to the other side of the table to try their cheeses. I decided to pass on the cheese and he looked at me like I was crazy. I had already ventured into the unknown with lactose vodka, I wasn’t mentally ready to venture out into strange cheese tasting so early in the day. The woman behind the counter even pointed us in the direction of a local distillery and gave us some tips on where to find Tassie whiskeys to try. It was really a good stop on our wander.

Satisfied with our purchases and questions answered we continued the wander and ended up near the restaurant we ate dinner at the night before. Bren had to use the bathroom so we went into the fanciest hotel wharf in town. I’m glad we did because on the way out we saw the coolest bar. It was called Evolve and has fossils everywhere. Inside every table and on display on the walls. There was even a skeleton of what I think was a bear in the middle behind glass. The bar selection looked mind boggling as well. The only bummer was that it was closed until 4pm. We exited and stood at the end of the wharf for a while enjoying the sun and cool ocean breeze for a bit before continuing around the pier. I mentioned to Bren that we should look for a tour and so we made our way to the information center.

On the way there we got sidetracked a bit when we came upon the distillery that the woman at the sheep farm shop mentioned. Distillery is a generous word but they did have a huge selection of Tasmanian whiskeys and gins. The staff was incredibly helpful too. We each described what we like in a whiskey and the woman set us up with a flight that included a little bit of everything including a whiskey that’s made by a local guy who has a sheep farm. He’s known for experimenting with his blends and distillations and only producing a few kinds for the general public. I thought that was so cool that he just happened to make his on whiskey on top of having a job in town and a farm and sculpting in whatever spare time he has. We sat outside with our whiskey flight, next to the famous hut that costs $15 to tour, and discussed the pros and cons of each one. In the end we decided if we had to buy a bottle we would have gotten the Spring Bay single malt that was aged in a sherry cask. It was a unanimous decision.

We then finally made it to the tourist information center which was great because they had something for every region of the island. It immediately became clear that we would have to return to Tasmania and explore the rest of the island. We also used this opportunity to figure out what we would do with our final day here tomorrow. I rented a car for the day so we would have the freedom to really explore. As we looked around Bren and I saw a poster for a hop on hop off bus tour and I told him I was bringing him on it. As we were buying tickets Bren announced that he needed lunch. My stomach rumbled a bit at the prospect and so we asked the guide where to go. He suggested a few places, most of which were no where near our current location but there was one he recommended that was and happened to also be recommended in my guide book. With only 30 minutes until our bus left we hightailed it to the restaurant.

Fish Frenzy was quite the popular eatery. There was a good sized but quickly moving line of people. It gave us enough time to figure out what to get (fish and chips for him, grilled salmon with chips for me). Finally there were only two people in front of us in line but somehow these women took twice as much time as the four different people who had ordered before them. I was quickly losing my patience and Bren giggled as he told me to settle down. I said to him how hard is it to order?! There’s only 10 things on the menu! Finally the one girl finished and the other, who STILL didn’t know what she wanted, after seeing my unamused facial expression allowed us to go in front of her. We ordered, sat down, drank a couple of disappointing un-spicy ginger beers, got the food and just as I finished my salmon Bren was packing up his food and said we better go. Now for a man who perpetually runs late or with only seconds to spare I knew if he was saying it was time to go then I had better not delay. Thankfully the bus was just two blocks away and already waiting. The driver nicely let us eat on the bus so we went to the top deck where I finished my chips and Bren enjoyed the rest of his lunch before handing me the left over chips to carry in my bag.

The bus set off and the narration began. I looked over to see Bren beaming with a huge grin on his face and asked him if he had ever been on one of these before and he said no. I was shocked. Later on the tour during a lull I told a story about being on one of these busses and nearly burning my butt off on the seat but I couldn’t remember what city it was in so Bren rambled off a list of cities and was a little surprised when I said I had done this kind of tour in each one of them. The tour itself was solid and it was certainly helped by how great the weather was. We decided not to hop off anywhere and just do the whole thing in one go. I was glad we did because I love learning about the city and the surrounding area, plus with out limited time here it was much quicker then walking.

The bus tour ended and we started the walk back to the hotel. I knew that Bren wanted a nap before we were going to meet his friend in the evening, I could just tell, but as we walked past a tiny chocolate shop I made him stop and go in with me. It’s called the Nutpatch and it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a shop in a long time. We did a lap around the tiny store and admired all the different chocolate sculptures and shapes. There were candles and footballs and even LEGO. Then we turned to the case of chocolates and I saw what I was looking for. The night before we had been served chocolate whiskey truffles after our meal and I wanted to buy some. I pointed to Bren and said there they are! The chocolatier slash former chemistry professor finally glanced over at what I was pointing at and asked where we had had them. Bren explained we had them served after dinner at Landscape and the chocolatier said no you didn’t. I was confused and he continued to explain that a lot of the other chocolate shops copy him and his confections but none even come close. He said that he only sells them to the Macq hotel and their restaurant and even though we ate at a sister location around the corner there was no way it was the same thing. To prove it he handed Bren one and I looked over to watch his face. As soon as he started chewing I knew it was different and Bren confirmed it tasted totally different and much better. The chocolatier started to tell us stories of his life and his business and how his loyal customers will tell him when other people copy him. I knew he was very good when he told a story of how the Laphroig people asked him to make whiskey truffles out of one of their 21yo scotches and told him they were better then the ones they sell in their shop. Having had those truffles while in Islay with my brother (and loving them). He even had a customer come back from Switzerland and bring him a local candy to replicate for her. He showed me the box and I immediately recognized it. It was a chocolate hazelnut candy that they sell everywhere in Switzerland and I had eaten quite a bit of it and brought a bunch home as well. I told him so and then he sticks a popsicle stick in a bowl of chocolate and hands it to me. Sure enough it tasted the same and even a little better because it was richer in flavor. I told him so and he laughed and said that mass production makes the flavor suffer but he can reproduce anything. Eventually I bought a bunch of truffles including the whiskey ones and we walked out with huge smiles on our faces and continued our journey back to the hotel so Bren could get a nap.

After Bren’s nap (which I spent writing) we got dressed and went off to meet one of his old coworkers who is from and lives in Tasmania. Bren had been talking about it since we set a time to come one this trip and was hoping to get a haircut from this guy while we were here. I originally was a little miffed that Bren and I were going to fly all the way here just for him to get a haircut when he works in a salon but I could understand why at the same time. Anyway after rushing to get ready we ran down the stairs and were off for the evening.

We met Bren’s friend Sid at the barber shop he works in and manages in the at the top of the five block wide and three block tall city center. Sid was just wrapping up at the register when we walked in and casually shook our hands. The barber shop was awesome, the kind of place I wish I had back home to hang out in the handful of times I’ve accompanied one of my friends or my brother while they got their haircut. Sid sent Bren upstairs to the storage area to grab us a beer and there was a small lounge area with a non-functional fireplace, darts, and a couple bottles of whiskey. We sat and drank our beers while Bren and Sid caught up. Bren helped him sweep hair and I sat in the chair as a fly on the wall while they chatted. Once Sid was done closing up for the day he asked us where we wanted to eat. He had a few places in mind and Bren picked the one I would have picked - a pub that was run by a former five star restaurant chef. Sid it turns out used to be in the hospitality (or hospo as they call it) sector before making the switch to being a barber. He also said he loved food and eating as we sat down in the pub. Bren picked a seat at a table instead of the bar and the two boys sat next to each other. I found it very kind how Bren made sure to include me in their chats about things. We shared stories of what we had been up to with Sid and eventually, as it does with coworkers, the conversation changed to complaining about work. I actually found it felt like being home because I knew if I had met Alec for dinner that we would be doing the same thing. The food itself was really amazing. Sid had recommended getting a starter to go with our meal and so I got us the fried chicken but it really wasn’t necessary. Later Bren and I spoke about it and realized we were so used to eating dinner at 9pm that sitting down to eat at 7pm we weren’t all that hungry. Still the food was so good. We got pastrami sandwiches that had a peppercorn gravy and I had never encountered such an amazing combination of flavors. I found it just as enjoyable as the dinner the night before and realized as we spoke to Sid who told us how restaurants source everything from local farms and Tassies love restaurants that we probably couldn’t find a bad meal here even if we tried.

After dinner we ended up walking all the way back to the bar next to the barbershop. I was so full I could barely keep up with the boys. As we walked I noticed that Sid really looked like his name. Short dark hair, dark eyes, a funky half beard and covered in black from head to toe with a biker jacket, Americana style tattoo sleeve, boots, a chain wallet, and piercings. Bren had told me earlier that he hoped I would like Sid, that he was a good guy and I had told Bren that if he likes him I’m sure I would and sure enough I was right. Sid was a laugh to hang with even as he was splitting his time between his local friends and Bren at the bar.

We arrived at the bar and it turned out to be hosting a bartender cocktail competition sponsored by a New Zealand rum company. It made for a good show but also a little difficult to buy drinks. They had five sponsored cocktails on the menus but all anyone drank was daiquiris and beer. Bren and I stuck to daiquiris and enjoyed watching the show of the bartenders displaying the cocktails they made. The winner was to receive $3000 and after a long night of hanging out with hospitality folks we finally found out the winner who just happened to be one of Sid’s long time mates and the reason we were there in the first place. By the time we found out the winner I was feeling a little pooped. Bren asked if I wanted another cocktail and I told him how about we go to the bottle shop instead. So we said our farewells to Sid and walked down to the bottle shop.

I found the place to be a little overwhelming. At first Bren said let’s get cider but then we decided to get red wine. I still picked up a small batch cider though and Bren picked a “cheap but good” cab sav then I called us an uber and we came back to the hotel to enjoy our bounty. I knew Bren wouldn’t last long with the way he was already yawning and shutting his eyes but I pushed him to stay up with me just a bit longer. We polished off the cider and most of the wine while watching Netflix and showing each other photos from when we were in our early 20s and I started talking about all the people I knew way back when. Finally I pried the empty wine glass out of Bren’s hands and we crawled into bed. Tomorrow we get to pack up and get our rental car and explore some more of Tasmania before heading home. I knew Bren would be a good travel mate but I didn’t realize it would be this easy to be on the road with him. Maybe I’ll try to convince him to use some of his paid holiday to come with me on a trip again. Definitely when I’m back next year, which we’ve already started planning our return to Tassie and we haven’t even left yet!

Tasmania: Hobart, MONA, and Landscape fancy dinner

2019-02-17T07:43:00.001-05:00

Back in November, I asked Bren if he’d do a trip with me while I was here. He picked Tasmania and I told him to just let me know when. It may have taken a while to pick the when but he did and we finally made it to Hobart, Tasmania.

After arriving at our hotel we quickly unpacked and set off for MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. It’s the most popular destination on this island and for good reason. It is an art museum that’s pretty much some rich gambler’s personal art collection. Housed in what feels like a super hero (or villian) hideaway it was surreal.

It took us a bit to find the ferry to the museum. We walked right past it and then turned around and finally went in to what appeared to be just a shopping and restaurant area but it turned out to be a tourist hub. The woman who sold us the tickets clearly was not thrilled with her job and as a result I missed out on paying double for the VIP experience which included access to a couch on the front of the boat and an open bar with canapés. She also told us to immediately to the boat queue since it would start boarding shortly. Well it wasn’t boarding shortly, in fact we stood there for 15 minutes waiting to start boarding the boat during which Bren got upset that we missed out on perusing the goods upstairs just to wait in line. He said that since I’m a New Yorker I was trained to wait in line but he doesn’t have the patience for it.

The ferry to the museum was cool. Everything was branded to match the funky aesthetic of the museum itself. There was a giant cow and a bunch of sheep on the rear upper deck that you could sit in. We took a bench and watched the scenery go by. As we pulled up to the museum the captain made an announcement that there were exactly 99 steps from the dock to the museum entrance and that if anyone needed special help to let them know and they would dock somewhere else.

We made the trek up all 99 stairs and around number 80 I thought of the five flights of stairs that awaited me when I would go back to commuting to NJ. We got into the entrance and were to go straight down to the lowest level. All those stairs to get to the top of the mountain only to take a dizzying spiral staircase back down. At the bottom it was amazing. Giant marbled stone and a couple paintings made just for the space. Ahead of that we spotted the thing I was most excited to see in the brochure that Bren has grabbed - beer roulette machine. The machine had a bunch of different beers from the brewery that sponsors all the beer in the museum. The losing option was a warm fosters (they don’t even sell fosters in Australia, it’s only an export beer). Bren got a pale ale and I got a brown ale. I was disappointed to not get the warm fosters and as we sat and enjoyed our beers I wondered out loud how I could convince my boss at work to invest in one of these beer roulette machines for the office.

The rest of the museum was actually really amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in an art museum that I enjoyed more. The pieces were thought provoking, irreverent, and actually made sense as art. A lot of times we look at modern art and wonder who would pay for this? The companion app to the museum explained exactly why, or why not, someone would call a specific piece “art.”

By the time we made our way through the whole thing I was mentally drained and exhausted, having been awake since 5:30am and barely sleeping thanks to Alana turning in all the lights and drunkenly screaming in the kitchen with her friend around 3am. Anyway we set off next in search of some food since dinner was still five hours away. We tried to go to a bbq pit they had set up but when we got there they were just closing up for the evening. The wine bar had a bunch of weird food and the only thing next to it was a regular bar so we went back down the hill to the regular cafe. From the cafe Bren got a lamb wrap and I got a meat pie. We sat by the window and watched two of the fattest chickens I had ever seen roaming around the backyard seating area. Some of the tourists were feeding the chickens and I thought ok that’s how they got so big. It was great revenge watching the chicken peck the crap out of a lady who kept trying to feed them random stuff.

A quick ferry ride back and then we walked back to the hotel. I sat with Bren for a few moments before being too tired and I crawled into bed to relax. I wound up falling asleep and when I woke back up it was nearly 8pm. I had made us a fancy dinner reservation at 8:30pm! I couldn’t believe Bren let me sleep that late, although I could believe he fell asleep on the couch in the living room until then. We got dressed, I packed a dress and Bren brought his suit then headed out to dinner which thankfully wasn’t far from the hotel.

The restaurant was so nice. Artwork on the walls and a classic steakhouse design. We sat down and with a huge grin Bren put his hand up for a high five across the table and said good work. We tucked in for one of the best dinners I’ve had. The waitress we had was also amazing and brought us extra bread and even an extra oyster. We ordered oysters three ways, sirloin steaks (I got mine with lobster), duck fat fried potatoes and zucchini with feta cheese. I had an amazing glass of Pinot noir and Bren has a fancy negroni style drink with bourbon. For dessert I had strawberry ice cream (very fancy style with meringue and elderflower and yogurt) and Bren has a deconstructed cheesecake with gooseberries. Bren also ordered us an amazing dessert wine that I wished I had found sooner in my life. It was so much fun getting dressed up and treating myself to a fancy meal. The company was excellent as usual too.

Now we’re sitting in the living room of the hotel watching Trigun. Tomorrow should be quite the adventure. The waitress told us the vineyard with the amazing wine is only 20min away from here and Bren has a friend who lives here. Traveling with Bren is a bit more disorganized then I like but he is a great companion and is always willing to go with the flow. I’m only sad we don’t have more time here to explore.

Fremantle and Cottesloe Beach

2019-02-02T11:08:00.001-05:00

I was mildly upset this morning as I schlepped through Perth, towards my rental car pickup, that I didn’t get a chance to see what the nightlife was all about. If I had made my first flight I probably would’ve spent Friday night in some bar trying to make new friends. As it were though I missed my flight and my schedule in Perth was a little tighter then I would’ve liked.

The plan today was to get a car and drive into Freemantle, a part of the greater Perth area that lies just to the south and across the river. Driving in Australia is becoming old hat but even so I was grateful to find the roads pretty sparsely populated. I made it to Freemantle without issue and got a parking spot immediately near the main part of town. I looked at the sign above the parking payment machine and thought the way it was written that parking on the weekend was free so I walked into town and went for a wander. It felt so good to be able to walk around without my backpack. The muscles in my neck, shoulders, and back were slowly unknotting as I wandered unencumbered.

Freemantle, or Freo as the Aussies call it because heaven forbid they have a name for something and there isn’t a cutsey abbreviated version of the name that’s in common use, is pretty much what I expected Byron Bay to be. A bunch of artisans and hippies with a well structured tourist center to accommodate visitors. So where Byron Bay was run down, confusing, and poorly organized from a city planning perspective, Freo is the exact opposite. Much like Scotland, Freemantle has benefited from a cash infusion from the Queen over the years that has helped them to renovate and modernize the town.

After walking through pretty much the whole town center I noticed a sign for a hop on hop off tram tour. Loyal readers and friends will know I’m a sucker for those and I entered the tourist information center to find out more about it and get a ticket. Ticket in hand I had about 20min before my tram was scheduled to leave so I wandered in a new direction. For some reason as I was walking I thought of my parking spot. I quickly looked up if parking was ever free online and found the official town website that talked all about parking and all the different regulations but never once used the word free. In a panic I corgi-ran (that’s walking very very fast at the verge of a run by never quite running) to the parking lot. I got there just in time to watch the attendant shove a ticket under my windshield wiper. Defeated I bought an actual parking pass for $11 which covered me until 1am, way more time then I would ever need, and put it in my car just in case they double ticket in Freo. I also made sure to pick up the parking ticket and made note that the fee ($50) was nearly as much as the entire cost of my rental car.

All this and I missed my tour. I slowly walked my way back to the tram stop and saw that the next one wouldn’t be for another hour so I grabbed a bench in the main square and listened to the local musicians who were busking for a buck. One of them was quite good and had even drummed up an audience for his one man outdoor concert who sat on the ground and clapped after each song. I also took the chance to catch up with mom who, after commiserating over my parking mishap, had a list of demands for souvenirs which happened to include bringing her a stuffed quokka. I had already picked one up for myself the day before at Rottnest Island and had noticed that some of the souvenirs shops in Freo had a couple stashed. I told her I would try to find one and when I looked up sure enough there was a souvenir shop that I was sitting right in front of. I went in and they had two versions of quokka - one that matched mine but was 2x the size and another which was very cute but not nearly as accurate. I went with the smaller less accurate one and then spent the rest of the day walking around with him in a bag til I got back to my car. Mom was happy regardless that a little furball would be coming home to her.

Finally I managed to kill enough time to have the tour tram roll up. I waited a moment before boarding since I wasn’t sure if the driver was planning on getting off for a minute or what but when I saw he wasn’t going anywhere I approached the tram. Phil introduces himself and I explained to him that I was supposed to be on an earlier tram and was it ok to take that one now? I’ve never heard any Australian call me mate so many times in one interaction. Phil said of course it would be fine and gave me a new ticket to use if I got off and wanted to get back on. I took a seat two rows back and the two of us sat there in silence for a couple moments before Phil announced that it looked like I would be the only one on the tram. That made me a little anxious since I was already so tired that I had hoped to just blend into the background and not have to interact, especially when Phil asked where I was planning on doing then gave a quick rundown of what the tour was all about that I only half understood. I told him I didn’t think I’d be getting off anywhere and he said that was fine and sure enough we were off on my own personal tour of Freemantle.

It turned out to be great. Phil was friendly and super informative. Since it was just me he even stopped at a few of the more popular places and waited for me to go in and take a look around. So I got to see the Freemantle prison and learn about its history as well as their world war memorial. The rest of town I saw from the comfort of my seat with Phil’s official rundown of what was up with everything. He would ask me questions and to take guesses on things and was very impressed that I knew Chicago wasn’t called the Windy City because it’s actually windy there. He even told me stories of the other passengers he’s had. By the time we rolled up to the last stop I was so disappointed that it was over. I could’ve hung out with Phil learning about the cities history for hours more.

Sans-Phil I made my way to the Fremantle market. It’s one of those things that’s in every tour book and was even posted on the wall of my hostel as a daily activity. Part of me could see why and the other part rolled her eyes at the hype surrounding the place. The concept of it was very cool - a huge open space with tons of little shops tucked into every nook and cranny that opened up to a second open air room that hosted a grocery area. The practice sort of missed the mark. At least half the vendors were the same kind of gimmicky toys, lotions, and cleansers that you see in the mall. People just trying to make a quick buck without any creativity. The other half were actually pretty creative but at the same time didn’t really feature anything that new from the other Australian markets I had been in. I suppose if you haven’t seen one before then it’s pretty good.

By now I was tired and thirsty and peckishly hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything since the pbj sandwich I had in the hostel at 8am and since I was sans backpack I hadn’t had any water or anything since earlier in the morning either. I wanted food but I also didn’t want to sit in some random restaurant. I also knew that I wanted to go to the beach and watch the sunset, and that it was slowly starting to get darker. After cramping up pretty badly two days ago water was my higher priority to food so I drove over to the local grocery, paid $6 to park for 30min and picked up a bunch of drinks and some Tim Tams then drove off to find the beach.

I found Cottesloe beach through a google search for “best place to watch the sunset Perth” and by reading through a locals guide to all the hot spots to go. This one seemed to make the most sense and I could actually find it on the map so I figured why not. The drive there was beautiful with small beaches dotting the whole left side of the road. I passed a few with benches to sit on and cursed myself for not pulling over fast enough to just stay at one of those. In the end I was pretty happy with Cottesloe though.

I pulled in and found a parking spot immediately, then spent the next three minutes before I left my car searching for all possible parking regulations. Thankfully parking was free but limited to 3 hours. I wasn’t sure how much longer I would be then that since I arrived a little early. I was so paranoid about missing the sunset that I ended up getting there two hours early. The cool part about this beach in particular is that there are stairs going down to the sand and surf but on the way there there are some elevated patches of grass, almost like stadium seating to watch the beach. I grabbed a spot and got comfortable in the second row and waited for the show to begin.

Having gotten there so early I found myself abandoning my post in search of a bathroom. Another point for Cottesloe is that the surf center, complete with multiple toilets, is right next to the viewing area. After my pit stop I actually headed back to the car to grab some things like my phone charger and my second shirt. The wind on the Indian Ocean is fierce and was making it incredibly uncomfortable to sit there as it cut right through my shirt and socks. I noticed that the parking lot had completely filled in the hour and a half since I arrived and now I was thankful that I rushed to get there because I certainly didn’t have to worry about missing the sunset now.

Resupplied I returned to my spot in the grass, plugged in my phone, put on my second shirt, and waited. The sunset over the rough surf of the Indian Ocean was beautiful. As I sat there watching the firey ball of a sun disappear into the ocean I thought of my grandparents and their trip here. I know it’s something I’ve talked about a lot but their stories and souvenirs that decorated the home for decades afterwards had such a profound impact on the path that my life has taken. I dreamed for so much of my life to have grand foreign adventures like they did together. The fact that it is happening feels so surreal and so serendipitously right that I wake up every morning I’m here thankful that the stars aligned in such a way that I am here living my dream.

After I raised my juice box to the setting sun and gave silent thanks for being here, I started to take a bunch of pictures and even a time lapse video of the warm round sun disappearing and it being replaced by the inky darkness. I originally wanted to wait until the sun was completely gone so that I could see the stars but as soon as it hit 95% set the stadium lighting for the beach turned on, ruining any chance I may have had to see what kinds of stars show up in Australia.

By the time I left I was one of five people on my part of the beach but the parking lot was still pretty crowded. I guess people were in the restaurants across the street. I considered venturing over to see if any of them were still serving food but then I could feel how tired my legs were and thought to myself that maybe I’ve had enough walking today. I repacked my bag, which was quite the task since I was already over capacity before I picked up the second stuffed quokka, and then set off towards the airport and the only restaurant I knew would be open for sure: Macca’s.

I drove through a bunch of winding neighborhood roads before finally ending up on a highway. I must have passed 12 McDonald’s and Hungry Jacks before the one I choose as my waypoint came and went. Then I found myself on a long stretch of inky black road and little clue on how to get back. Thankfully there are about a million roundabouts in Australia and I was able to take one all the way around like a very elaborate u-turn. I wound up at one of the other Macca’s and was grateful that the restaurant itself was still open so I wouldn’t have to eat in my car. Overfed and happy I was able to sit there for a while and digest while watching some YouTube videos. It’s amazing how much more like restaurants McDonalds is here. It was so comfortable to just sit around in.

Finally I made my way to the airport where I had to drop off my rental car in an unmanned parking lot, walk two terminals away with the keys, and hand them to an employee. The woman asked me if everything was fine with the car three times before wishing me a safe flight and then i ended up at the gate for my flight where I sat and wrote this post, then thanked all the travel gods that my bag, even at 110% capacity, still is under 10kg which is the maximum allowed on a Jetstar flight.

Once again I feel like fate or the force or whatever you want to call it has given me such a wonderful opportunity and experience. If I hadn’t given Jobin free reign of my computer or let him and Bren pester me into continuing with my trip to Perth after a disastrous start then I wouldn’t have gotten to see one of the better cities that Australia has to offer. I am really so thankful for their encouragement and support throughout this whole adventure and don’t know what I would have done without the two of them.