Australia Day 3 - R&R

We watched the sun rise over the ocean this morning. It was beautiful. One advantage to jet lag I suppose (although I do hope we adjust soon … I don't like going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 4am!).

After a stroll on the beach we sat in a cafe and had enjoyed some delicious coffee. I've just started drinking coffee so this pretty unusual for me. I learned later that the coffee was nothing special, apparently their equivalent to Folgers. I guess it tasted so good because I am on vacation.

Later in the afternoon we rented jet skis and enjoyed some manufactured fun. Today was fantastic and something I told the Mrs that we should do more of (i.e. nothing). Our vacations often feel very rushed and hectic, but this one is starting off right.

Australia Day 2 - I know what heaven is

We arrived at Palm Cove today. It's a small, sleepy beach town that has been transformed into an upscale tourist destination. The scenery is beautiful and is surprisingly more tropical than I thought it would be. This whole region of Australia reminds me very much like Hawaii. Beautiful mountains covered in lush tropical forests in the background and beaches in the foreground.

There is one main, albeit small road that runs next to the beach here. Opposite the beach are a few small bungalows, several businesses and cafes, and a lot of new, multi-level apartment complexes. This town has apparently become a very trendy spot for locals.

The highlight of the trip so far is this apartment we're staying at. We rented it online and it is amazing! It's huge and the views are unbelievable. Large windows facing the ocean and a HUGE patio with our own grill. A full kitchen, several LCD TVs, washer/dryer, etc, etc. Basically all the comforts of home, minus my ps3.

Even without the fantastic vistas, this place is probably nicer than our home, and certainly more expensive (we were told there is one unit currently unsold … asking price is a cool $1.25 mill AUD).

Anyway, we've spent most of our time on the patio enjoying the nice sea breeze and the sights and sounds of the waves crashing in front of us. We are quite happy to finally have a home base for the next few days (let alone a home base as nice as this).

Australia Day 1 - I know what hell is

My wife/blog editor has suggested I cut out the rants and hellish description of our flights to Australia from my first draft of this blog entry. So I'll leave it at this … we had 3 flights (Houston-Honolulu, Honolulu-Guam, Guam-Cairns) totaling ~22 hours of flight time sitting in coach. I believe that has to equate to one of Dante's 9 Circles of Hell (and if not it should be).

We booked those flights almost a year ago using FF miles (it was a great deal that we could not pass up). In hind sight the money we saved on the plane ticket was spent later on our sanity. Bottom line, I have a new found respect for how big this world is and how far away home is from Australia!

We landed around 11pm local time and were in our hotel by 12:30am. Tomorrow we'll get to our home base for the next few days in a resort town called Palm Cove.

The trip that almost was NOT

We thought we had checked the visa requirements for US citizens to enter Australia. Well apparently we didn't.

We were very nervous when we were informed visas were required for entry while we were checking into our flight in Houston! Thankfully the Continental rep was able to handle it for us, but we were sweating it for awhile. Hopefully this is the first and last hiccup getting there.

new beginnings

I actually deleted this blog a few months back when I realized I hadn't written anything in awhile and I was unlikely to do so in the future.

But I find myself on another long vacation and I am moved to blog. Last year my wife and I went to Paris, and while I'm not sure it inspired anyone or drew any additional interest from the blogosphere, I found it to be an entertaining and effective way to capture my travel adventures and experiences.

So I've decided to repurpose this blog as my vacation blog … at least for now anyway. I wish I had this idea sooner because I could have blogged about my last ski trip to Breckenridge. I hope you enjoy the "new" blog!

We're heading to Australia and as I have Internet access I'll try to post my blog updates.

Wedding and Honeymoon Pictures

I was going to post my Paris pictures until I realized I haven't posted ANY of my wedding or honeymoon pictures. So without further ado ....

Wedding:

  Family Ceremony

  Church Ceremony

  Reception

Honeymoon:

  Hawaii

  Paris

Paris Day 7 - Heading Home

• It's been a wonderful week but we are excited to head home. In that regard, this vacation (aka Honeymoon Part Deux) was a complete success. We came, we saw, we would love to come back, but we're ready to go back home. We spent some time away from the normal paces of life and I got to spend some quality time with the woman I love. We've got lots of pictures and memories (although surprisingly we bought very few souvenirs). I'm ready to eat American food, drink a Dr. Pepper, and speak English (by the way, the wife has been great ... she took 4 years of French in high school and knows enough French to get by pretty well. I loved sitting back and not having to talk to ANYONE!). I'm also really glad to be going back to a "normal" schedule. My body clock has been screwed up this entire week. I really haven't slept well at all (I've never had jet-lag that lasted a week). Hopefully my normal surroundings will fix me up.
• On a side note, we're in the Continental President's Club Lounge at Charles De Gaulle Airport waiting for our flight back home. I was getting some pastries from their spread and saw an older gentleman sitting down near by. He sounded like a nice retired person who spent some time in France with his wife (perhaps for the first time). I came back a moment later to get a drink and looked more closely. His face and voice looked/sounded a lot like Robert Duval. The wife confirmed ... our brush with fame on this trip!  
• Speaking of the Continental President's Club Lounge ... my wife travels frequently enough where we get the perks of "elite access" and the lounge. We've enjoyed it on several occasions and I have to admit the lounge is GREAT! I bring it up because I feel (in a very small way) like all these French royals I learned about on this trip. As best I can tell their only job was to accumulate and show off their wealth. They showed off their wealth by building huge homes that also served to separate them from the commoners. That's the way I feel in the President's Club Lounge ... considering how crazy, loud, and uncomfortable airports are, a little "royal treatment" of comfortable chairs, quietness, and free wi-fi isn't too much for this King to ask for! :)
• Finally, thanks for indulging me as I blogged my way through this vacation. It was fun having this outlet to capture my thoughts. I hope you were mildly entertained. Once I get home look for a blog post with pictures.