To Another Adventure at The Pond's Edge: February 2011

27.2.11

Mugged in Melbourne

Sorry about not having any pictures in these past posts. I don't have a camera anymore. Let me explain.

This may be a long post, so bear with me. I'm going to cover two days in one post.

On Saturday at about 10:30am I arrived back in Melbourne after a nearly sleepless 4 hour trip back from Mulwala. After I was told off by the bus driver for putting my bear feet on the seat next to me while I was trying to take a nap (from 6am to 9am), I realized that I didn't have my good-luck travel necklace! Thankfully my aunt will be sending it to me! I think that's where some of the travel trouble began.

I was able to make it from the main train station in Melbourne, Southern Cross Station, to my friend Sully's house just fine. While there we spend quite awhile just catching up. I hadn't seen him in nearly 6 years. We had a full day planned after lunch however. We started with a picnic for a friend of his; he was having his 30th birthday. It was a beautiful day most of the day with blue skies and puffy white clouds, but turned gray, cloudy and rainy later on. We ended up taking shelter underneath a beautiful green umbrella tree. There were about 30 of us that fit under the tree. It was nice to end the party with cheese cake under this wonderful tree. One thing that really stuck out about this party was the Polish tradition of taking vodka shots and followed by eating fish (my shot included a little bit of herring). I'm not sure I know how to describe the feeling, but I'm not sure I'm willing to do it again. Some places have the oddest traditions.

Following the picnic, we head back to Sully's to get changed for a birthday dinner. It was a very lovely place that serves Vietnamese food, called Red Rice. The food was delicious and the company was wonderful! I think everyone at the table had very like minds. It was quite fun hearing interesting "coming out" stories. One lady had told her mother, "I love women." The response she received was, "You love all women!?"... "Not all at once; one at time, mom." Oh, did I forget to mention that all the people at the table were gay? :)

The party didn't stop there though. After spending close to 3 hours at the restaurant, we moved on to a pub called Southpaw. It had good atmosphere, but I was so dead tired, that I just wanted to find a bed, lay down, and sleep. After mentioning this to Sully, he suggested we grab a taxi for me and I head back to his place. While standing in the small rain showers and trying to hail a taxi, we talked about the distance to his place; approximately 10 minute walk away. I didn't really want to stand in the rain waiting, and I figured 10 minutes was nothing. I'd be there in no time. Although never at night, I had walked streets by myself before. I knew to look confident, walk quickly, walk in the middle of the sidewalk versus closer to the street where someone could stop a car or closer to the dark areas where you can't be seen, and keep our bag close to you.

At about 12:15am, only a few houses and seconds away from Sully's place I heard a bike approaching from behind me. I figured that the person on the bike would just want to pass, so I got over, father away from the road. Suddenly the bike stopped just behind me. Without the chance to turn around to see who it was, they placed their hand over my eyes, as you would if you were trying to surprise someone with, "Guess who it is?" Thinking at first that it was Sully who had borrowed his friend's bike to catch-up with me and check on me, I didn't put up too much of a struggle. Before I knew it though, the guy was reaching around me and grabbed my purse. That's when I knew this wasn't a friend. Although I tried to grab the bag harder, it was too late. Left with a small scratch on my wrist, he had my bag, got on his bike and rode away. I tried to notice as much about him as I could, but I was so shaken that all I really got was that he was medium build, somewhere between 5' 6" and 5' 8", wearing a light blue jacket or hoody, and riding a bike that seemed just a little too small for him. I couldn't wait to get inside Sully's place and feel safe... or as safe as I could feel. Within 30 seconds I was in the house. Thankfully moments before I was mugged, I had pulled the house key and my phone out of the purse. Unfortunately though, the antenna had been pulled out of the phone during the struggle, so I couldn't call anyone. Once inside I called Sully using Skype to let him know what was going on. It was really scary and needlessly to say, I didn't sleep well that night.

In the morning I tried to relax and organize my stuff before Sully came home. He had spent the night at his boyfriend's place. In the afternoon we went to the police station where I filled a report. Missing; about $35, Burt Bees lip gloss, my Cannon Powershot camera, my really awesome handmade purse hanger, and my Queensland 18+ ID card. I'm sure the guy who mugged me was a bit disappointed. I spent an hour and 20 minutes at the police station. Although the officer had said it was only going to take about 20 minutes to do a report, he was the slowest typist in the universe! In the time it took for him to type my name, I could have written a paragraph! When he had too google things.. well, lets just say I could have gone to lunch and come back. Okay... so it wasn't that bad, but I did almost offer to type up the report. I don't think it helped that he was getting overtime pay for taking my statement. Oh well. He was very friendly and got all the details I could give him. I hope they find the guy so that this doesn't happen anymore.

Later that day I found out that a friend of a friend knew of someone that was robbed by a guy on a bicycle as well the previous week. Very bad.

I really like Sully, and I'm glad we were able to hang-out, but I needed to get away from that place. On the train ride from Sully's to Lucy's I was really nervous because I spotted a guy that matched everything I knew about the guy who mugged me. I couldn't believe how tense I was. I was so happy to get to Lucy's!

That night we watched Footloose, had a nice dinner with wine, and ate ice cream and brownies for dessert. It was so nice to feel welcomed and relaxed. I was so happy to finally feel like I was coming to terms with the incident. I was so lucky it wasn't worse. What a wake-up call.

Tips for future reference... don't make decisions when you're tired... don't walk alone at night... and be ready for anything... (Those sound like pretty good tips, no?)

Today I'm writing to insurance. Hopefully I'll get some money back so that I can buy a new camera at least.

Thank you to everyone who gave me support following the mugging!!

More of Mulwala

My last day in Mulwala was spent with my aunt Martha. It was very nice. I saw where my cousin works. He's helping to renovate a site that will become a car sales place. Afterward we went to the Mulwala Water-ski Club and had some tea, played some mock- Kino (a lottery type game), and had lunch. We were very glad we didn't bet any money on Kino, because we weren't very good. Out of 8 numbers we picked , the most we could get were 3. In the end, that would have won whole $2 though! It was nice to just sit and chat. At one point we we tried to list all the U.S. Presidents we could think of. I think we got to 20 maybe. Not bad really.

After lunch we went for a drive along the shore of the Mulwala lake and then headed home. It was just nice to relax.

For dinner we went to a distant relative's 18th birthday party. It was at a nice Italian restaurant in Yarawanga (across the river from Mulwala). We were there for nearly four hours! I'd have pictures to post, but I don't have a camera anymore. I'll tell you about it in the next entry.

It was good to see almost the whole McKee family. The only one I didn't get to see was my cousin in Perth. Hopefully I'll get to see her and her newborn later in the year! :)

All in all a good time was had in Muwala. I finally got to bed at 12:30am... and got 5 hours of sleep before I had to get up to catch the bus and train back to Melbourne.

24.2.11

An uncle's wine tour

When you visit Mulwala, you're surrounded by wine country. So when my aunt asked if there was anything I wanted to do while I was here; my answer, "It might be nice to visit some wineries." A few days later my uncle planned a route for us in the morning, and by about 11am we headed off to the first winery.

Although at our first winery, All Saints Winery, we only had a few tastes of a variety of wine and some cheese, we had a plan after that. It was my uncle's plan. First we would have lunch at The Pickled Sisters Cafe, and then we would follow it with three wineries; one for white wine, one for red wine, and the last for fortified wines (like port, sherry, and brandy). It was a wonderful tour and I'm so happy I got to spend sometime with my aunt and uncle! Thank you you two!!

The whites weren't too memorable, but Uncle Brian messed-up our plan at the first winery after lunch anyhow by ordering a Muscat; the most famous wine of the region. The reds were nice, including the easily drinkable Bobby Burns. The fortified wines were very sweet and strong. After a few sips of those I was finished with the tour. I was happy enough to get back to their house and relax before dinner.

For dinner we went to the Waterski Club and met my cousin and his girlfriend there. The smorgasbord was nice and the company was great. Uncle Brian even won $50!

(pictures to come)

23.2.11

Another relaxing day

It was another relaxing day in Mulwala/Yarrawanga.

I didn't do much, but Aunt Martha did happen to get me out of the house for maybe an hour, which was nice.On the way out of the house we saw some wild kangaroo (not kangaroo from the zoo) taking a little rest in the shade. It was a beautiful day for a little relax; about 75'F and sunny with a few puffy white clouds.

In the big city of Yarrawanga (which really is quite tiny, but very lovely), we went to a little bookstore where I got my ticket back to Melbourne, and a little book to boot; "Mickey Mouse and Goofy Down Under". Too cute and funny! Apparently some of this book is not Australia PC... e.g. character "Dingo Dan". *shrug* something about a dingo being a sly dog. I also paid my aunt back for my ticket to Brisbane. I'll be headed there on Wednesday the 2nd of March. It's about time I took things a little more seriously about finding work and a place to live. I was just having a difficult time deciding between Melbourne and Brisbane, but then realized that I want to get as much sun as possible; even if that means putting tons of sunblock on every day. At this point I think I'd rather put sunscreen on than a jacket.

After my aunt and my adventure into Yarrawaga, I was pleasantly surprised that all of my family was on Skype (except my little brother). It was really nice to talk to all of them and see them!!

Otherwise we spent the evening listening to news about the big quake in Christchurch, New Zealand. At this point they're estimating 300 dead. Scary.

In happier news however, dinner and desert has been delicious every night I've been here!! Thank you so much Aunt Martha!!

21.2.11

In Mulwala

Forgive me for "Step six" of my last entry. I should have been more specific and mentioned that "Step six" was actually suggested by an Aussie. Still pretty funny, because Aussies are pretty funny, at least all the one's I'm friends with and like.

On Monday, most of my day was spent in transit to my aunt and uncle's house in Mulwala. Thankfully Lucy let me leave some things at her place, so I didn't have as much to carry. The train and bus ride was uneventful, but enjoyable. The countryside is plain and mostly farms, but it all seems so calm and relaxed.

Once in Mulwala, everything became that much more relaxed. My aunt and uncle own a very serene home in the small town, and it's quite nice. It's just a time to breath. I think I've finally decided for certain that Brisbane is the place to be. I'm already looking for a flight there.

20.2.11

First Weekend Back in Oz

Step one: Sleep in

Step two: Relax

Step three: Eat food

Step four: Continue to eat food

Step five: Shop

Step six: Laugh at Australians

Step seven: Find out what a Sanga is ... apparently it's a sandwich

Step eight: Go to the beach (Torquay and Jan Jun)

Step nine: Swim in the ocean (optional) I didn't go in because it was actually quite cold in the Great Southern Ocean

Step ten: Watch classic Australian film (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert)

Last step: Quit enumerating and post some pictures

18.2.11

On vacation?

I'm hoping that I'm starting to figure out the right length for my blog posts; not too long, enough photos, and most importantly, that I'm not spending to much time typing them up. Just as a fair warning, I've been pretty good so far about writing, but until I figure out a nice balance, entries may be long... or they may be non-existent.

I feel that I should still be asleep at 7:30am on a Saturday, however here I am typing a blog entry instead.

Yesterday (Friday, 18th of February) was my first full day in Melbourne. In the morning Lucy did some work, and I got my internet fix. It was very relaxing. I must be on vacation. (Next week though, I need to get serious about finding a job and a place to livve, for real, because I'm having small panic attacks about how expensive everything seems to be, and apparently I can't handle the freedom of having nothing in particular to do, or nowhere to set down my stuff. At least I think that may be the root of the problem.) *shrug*

By the afternoon yesterday, Lucy and I went to Yaraville, a small suburb just outside Melbourne for lunch and to look in the shops. Along the way I saw a number of strange things, but that's normal in Melbourne, or even Australia for that matter. Lucy says that I should watch out for Hipsters though, which I believe are people that think they're trendy. I haven't quite figured out the true meaning of the term, but I'm sure I will eventually.

For dinner we had Butter Chicken Tikka Masala from a local Indian food place. It was really good. I could probably have it for breakfast this morning it was that good. I won't though, because that doesn't actually sound that nice. Breaking news on TV while eating dinner was "Welcome to the town of SpeedKills". Yes, the city of Speed has changed their name. Good ol' Australia. Why would you name a city "Speed" in the first place?

Following dinner Lucy and I prepared to go out. It was her sisters 24th birthday party last night. We went to a pretty posh bar called Charlies. It was nice.It was good to meet Lucy's friends. The music was a little too loud to talk and a normal volume and I didn't feel like shouting, so believe it or not, I didn't talk much. If I did it was about some of my park ranger experiences, because they were fascinated by it. One of the discussions we had was about Polar Bears' fur. Yes, as a matter of fact it is not actually white. Due to the hollow nature of the pigment-free and transparent fur, white light is scattered and refracted back to your eye which makes the fur appear white. While talking about stereotypes at the end of the night, I did have Lucy's roommate, Kate, convinced for a split second that I had lived in an igloo while in Alaska. Good times. :)

After coming back to the apartment, I think a few Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were had and then we all headed to bed.

As a side note to my Aussie friends... if I bring Reese's Peanut Putter Cups over, make sure to remove the paper wrapper before you try to eat the chocolate. The chocolate doesn't taste as good with the wrapper on as some of you may have figured out. :)

17.2.11

From Sydney to Melbourne

As you may remember, goal number 1 was to find free wifi today. With wifi found, at the New South Wales State Library, I was a happy camper; as you may have noticed with my blog updates and possible emails you may have received. I was kind of happy that the McDonald's free wifi wouldn't let me long in. I didn't really want to hangout at a McD's at the train station.

Following a long session of internet fix, I was headed to a small park nearby. Australian cities are wonderful at providing green space around and even in the city centers. It's very nice to be able to sit on a bench in the park and watch the world go by. On my way to the park I stopped to give Linda, the nice woman I met on the plane a call. She had been to Manly Beach in the morning. She said it had been a nice escape from the humidity in the city because of the nice cool breeze off the ocean.We met up shortly for drinks in the afternoon at Pitt street; one of the biggest shopping meccas in all of Australia. I had a Lemon, Lime, and Bitters, a drink that I've personally only seen in Australia. The bitters are really the interesting part of the drink. They make an already sour drink, bitter and according to the label, "it also gives an exquisite flavor to..." well everything from soup to fish to ice cream and more. Fasinating.

The cafe we were at wasn't as fascinating. We ended up at the cafe in the Myer (a department store much like Nortstrom's; expensive), mostly because it was out of the heat and humidity. I would have rather had drinks in one of the arcades, which are quaint little shopping areas out of the hustle and bustle of the mainstream shopping areas. Following drinks I wondered around the shops, stopped at Woolies for some shampoo and soap, and headed back to Clare's apartment to clean-up and take a much need nap.

For dinner Clare and I got fish and chips to eat down by the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was beautiful! It's really unfortunate that I didn't get a picture of some of the HUGE bats that had flown past us though. Very interesting/slightly creepy.

To get to the airport after dinner Clare rented a car for an hour. It's really a neat system. It's called GoGet CarShare and you can find cars parked all over the city both in Sydney and Melbourne that you can rent on an hourly basis.

I got to the airport with plenty of time (thanks Clare) and I wasn't charged $15 (AUD) a kilo for my 5/6 kilo of excess baggage! Yay! I was so happy! The flight went well, and Lucy picked me up from the airport... eventually. She didn't realize how far the Avalon Airport was. It's about 45min to an hour outside of Melbourne. We finally got to her apartment and we crashed at about 1am. It was another good day in Oz. Soon I'll have to quit thinking I'm on vacation. I'll give it at least the weekend since it's already here.

Maybe my cousin-in-law will hook me up with a place to live and work in Echuca for a little bit or I'll get an email back from Darren, my former boss from when I lived in Brisbane during my graduate studies, about a job. It's such an adventure I live really!

16.2.11

February 16th skip the 15th

With the anomaly that comes with flying over the international dateline, I did not experience the 15^th of February. The fight over the dateline was otherwise uneventful. I received broken sleep and then arrived in Auckland.

I have to say Auckland is a nice airport! I could spend a few hours there if I had to without getting too bored or having my butt hurt before getting on the plane (the couches and other seating were very comfortable). The internet and outlet situation was about the same as it was at LAX, non-existent and/or expensive, however the variety of artwork seemed to make up for it somehow. I thought that the most interesting thing at the airport was the schedule board. The flight number, flight time, flight destination, and flight boarding time appeared on the board; however the gate number did not until it was almost time to board. I believe my flight finally had a gate number when there was only 15 minutes until we were to board. What a great way to keep passengers in the gift shops and food courts! It’s a good thing I’m not a compulsive shopper.

I met a wonderfully nice lady on the plane. She’s going to be doing a house-swap in New Zealand, and figured that along the way she would see some of Australia. We shared a taxi upon arrival in Sydney and planned to have dinner together. It’s really a shame her phone didn’t work and we weren’t able to meet up for dinner. I’m hoping that tomorrow we can connect for a little while. I really don’t have much planned and it would be nice to have someone to walk around with.

After meeting up with wonderful and beautiful Clare, the distance relative that I’m staying with for the night, I finally made it to her apartment and relaxed for a little while. But only for a little while; Clare was amazed that between 11:30a and 5:30p when she got home I had already found credit for my phone, walked across the Sydney Harbor bridge, practically went to the Opera House, walked around a really nice area called The Rocks, and walked back across the Sydney Harbor bridge. She doesn’t live more than a say 2km from the Opera House, so it wasn’t too bad. My feet were a bit sore, but that happens. While walking around I reminisced about Amanda and I being here, and the Sydney family reunion we had there a few years back, to those who understand, all I can say is “Jet Boooats!!”

Following a long day, Clare and I had dinner close by, and spent most of the night laughing. It was a very good day. My goal for tomorrow- find free internet. I’m thinking the library. :)

Day of the flight to Australia 02-14-11

My first thought for this entry… “LAX is the lamest airport I’ve ever been in”, and that’s saying something. Ignore the next paragraph if you don’t want to read about me complaining about the LAX airport.

There is nothing to see or do inside or outside any of the terminals, unless you’re at the international terminal. There are very few shops and all of them, like most airport shops, are overpriced. Once in the terminal, forget about being comfortable or finding an outlet to charge any of your electronics. If you’re looking for internet, you can forget about that too. There are a number of wireless networks that are visible, however most networks you can’t connect to, and if you can connect, they’re an arm and a leg price wise to connect to the internet. When I connected to the T-Mobile network, they wanted me to pay $7.99 for a whole day of internet, but who spends a whole day at the airport? Nearly no one. I would have been paying $8 for an hour and a half… if I could actually get the website to load. There was a service problem. “We're sorry, we are unable to process your request at this time. Please try again later. If the problem persists, contact us at 1-877-822-SPOT (7768). “It’s unfortunate that I decided to leave my U.S. cell phone at home… or I’d be calling to tell them how lame they are. Then to top it off, their recycling program sucks. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people throw food into the “newspaper” container now because they can’t figure out where else to throw away trash. Maybe it’s like Atlanta where they sort the recycling after the fact anyhow. All in all, LAX needs some improvement.

If you’ve skipped the last paragraph, good for you. If you read it, I’m sorry. Today was spent doing last minute things before my trip; doing the last load of laundry, packing the last few items, mailing a few last things and saying a few last minute “see ya later”s.

At about 5pm, after eating a few fresh strawberries that Carl had brought home, we were off the airport. We had no problems with traffic, and other than me having to pay $50 for my extra bag, things went smoothly at LAX.

Other than sitting across the aisle from a French couple that smelled like they didn’t understand the concept of soap and water, the flight went equally as well. The flight attendant had even convinced the kid sitting next to me to sit somewhere else, so I had an empty seat next to me. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed flying with Air New Zealand, that I might say a few words.

Air New Zealand is one of my top three airlines to fly. They were extremely friendly flight attendants, tons of games, movies, music and even audio books to entertain you, and they have one of the funniest safety videos ever. They had some goofy character (we couldn’t figure out what it was) that would speak-up every so often. For example the flight attendant would mention the lighting on the floor to direct you to your nearest exit and the little creature would speak-up, “Like a nightclub in the sky.” It’s very nice to ride on an airline with a sense of humor.

Within about 3 hours of take-off I had watched the movie “Moring Glory”, which was quiet entertaining. Before I tried to sleep (10pm Sydney time) I had checked our flight status. It was quite interesting; there’s a place called Mathematicians Seamounts on the map, it’s 10497km from LAX to Auckland, and we were traveling at a speed of 0.83 Mach (whatever that might mean). At that point I knew it was time to try to get some form of sleep.

9.2.11

Expore your backyard!

There are definitely many gems around Southern California and in the time that I have been home, I’ve had a chance to visit a few of them again.

One is Irvine Regional Park; a small regional park in Orange County nestled in a little, unexpected corner of suburbia. It has a traditional park feel with grass and picnic benches, however offers so much more. Not only does it have a zoo, which holds many injured and interesting native Californian animals, but it’s a great place to seek out wildlife along the trails. I personally like to cross the river, which is sometimes no more than a dry riverbed with some brilliant, smooth river stones, and hike up to the look out that looks over the entire park. Sometimes I’ll see Red Tailed Hawks or small sparrows, but my favorite part is the smell of the sage. I love having that natural and beautiful smell on my clothes, it reminds me of something wonderful; it reminds me of home. It reminds me of peace and harmony. Who knew that in the middle of suburbia you could find such a place?

Another interesting, yet less visited by me personally is the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Up until recently I cannot remember the last time I was at the Queen Mary. I remember a time when I was very little visiting the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose with my grandfather and cousin. I remember being in awe of such tremendous structures as this big ship and big airplane, but what I remember the most was the ice-cream afterward. What can I say? I was young. This time around though, I went with my Pop, my Pop’s girlfriend, my brother and his girlfriend. It was my Pop’s Valentines gift to all of us. The big build up was the ghosts on the ship. There are said to be a number of them including a little girl on our floor.

After arriving we had drinks followed by dinner on the ship. The dining experience was a dinner and a show; a somewhat corny yet entertaining group of singers. It wasn’t bad; it was just a one-time only experience. They were quite amusing with singing their versions of popular Broadway show songs. After dinner music in the bar called to me and became quick (short-time) friends with the friends of the band and the band; Jennifer Keith Quartet. They played some great jazz and swing that kept my toe tapping until one o’clock in the morning! By the time I headed to bed, I was the only one of our group that had stayed awake. I thought that if anyone were going to see the ghost of the girl that drowned in the swimming pool on our floor, it would be me… I could lie and said I did, but I didn’t… maybe Pop got some photos of ghosts by taking pictures around corners. I told him that he should have brought some night vision goggles. Ha.

The next day I groggily got out of bed at 10am to get ready for Sunday brunch on the ship. By the look of the spread of the food, I was happy that we had given ourselves two hours to eat. It was exactly like eating on a cruise ship! Stuff yourself until you can’t move; that’s the name of the game at buffets like this one. It was all very yummy, but I could hardly stand another bite when I forced myself to have a cup of chocolate mousse. I’m a sucker for chocolate mousse. All in all it was a good experience. Thanks Pop.

Being on the classic Queen Mary for a night was truly like taking a step back in time to the 20’s and 30’s. It was delightful.

Often we neglect to see what is in our own backyard, or to see what adventures there are to be had in a nearby neighborhood. I say, why not? Get to know your neighborhood! Get to know what special things you’re missing right out your front door! I know that it’s easier said than done in Southern California, but there’s got to be a gem or two where anyone lives, right?

Sometimes you meet the nicest people while traveling

I recently had the chance to go to a small town near Cleveland, Ohio. As a side note, who knew that I would ever see Ohio?! It sure wasn’t on my list of places to go. Never the less, I got the chance to go. My flight included Orange County to Atlanta, Georgia and then from Atlanta, Georgia to Akron, Ohio, and the reverse on the way back. On those flights I met some very lovely people. It’s amazing what one will share with another person if they’re willing to listen or in my case willing to talk. As many of you reading this blog may know, I have a slight shyness problem… as in I’m not shy often.

Upon boarding my initial flight in the OC I was to sit in an aisle seat however, after hearing the gentleman in the middle seat talk to who I am assuming was his wife about how uncomfortable he was going to be because he is sooo tall, I gave my seat to him. I know, it’s very kind of me. I just figure that I’m small and am not bothered as much by sitting in a seat with no leg room. My decision turned out for the best when I chatted with the gentleman in the window seat for most of the flight. I barely even noticed the flight “fly” by. Born and raised in the South, he was fascinated with my travel and ranger stories. I wondered if I was boring him and even asked for his forgiveness when I felt that I was talking his ear off. To my pleasant surprise, he wanted to hear more! I was in the mood to oblige. He also told me a little about the South. For example, do not go to New Orleans or Baton Rouge by yourself. It’s a lot of fun and there’s great food, but go with someone. Good advice! Thanks! Hopefully he’ll send me a message so that I can help with his travel plans to Alaska.

The problem with me meeting people however is remembering their names. There has got to be an easy way to convince myself to remember names.

On the flight from Atlanta to Ohio, I met a wonderful lady that was making her way from Texas to Ohio to see her dying mother. I really do hope she was able to speak with her mother before she pasted. To keep her mind off the thought of her mother, we talked a lot about her and her family. She and her husband teacher piano at the college level, from what I understand, and one daughter is an opera singer in New York and the other owns and teaches in a dance studio. Turns out is speaks Austrian! She spent 2 years in Vienna playing and teaching the piano. A couple of her students were children of a countess. She had some amazing stories of famous musicians she played with. We had a very long discussion about music and what it means to play. I’d like to believe that music plays a vital role in our lives. I hope she finds some comfort in music during these hard times that I could tell she was experiencing.

On the flight back from Ohio I slept on the first leg, but met a very interesting gentleman on the flight from Atlanta to the OC. He was born and raised in India (the same place my good friend Amanda is living actually) and moved to the U.S. when he was 23 years old. He travels a lot of his work, so it was fascinating to hear his take on different places. I was interested to know that Dubai lacks culture. Apparently I didn’t miss all that much when I spent 8 hours from midnight to 8am in the Dubai airport. Good advice: you’ll more than likely experience more Indian culture than Arabian culture if you go to Dubai, if you want Indian culture you should go to India. Just something to keep in mind. Speaking of people that we meet on planes, he was telling me a story of a young lady in her early 20’s that he had met once on a plane coming back from Dubai. It is a story worth repeating.

On a plane to Orange County he sat next to a young lady that calmly told him a story about a man she had met through a call center. There were no details on how long she had known this man; however she felt that she knew him well enough to go to Dubai to meet him. She had never left the U.S. before, no less on her own. She had procured a passport specifically for this trip. When it was time to leave, she told her family that she was going to visit a friend in San Diego and got on a plane instead. While in Dubai she called her family to let them know. Her father turned off her cell phone immediately thereafter. On the flight back she was unsure of how she was going to contact her sister to pick her up at the L.A. Airport. My new made friend lent her his phone. It was very kind of him. In my opinion and my friend’s as well, she was one crazy and lucky girl.

[As a side note, I wish it had been a completely clear and a perfect photograph day on the flight back, because flying over the Grand Canyon at sunset was beautiful. The oranges, the pinks, the reds were all so vivid through the haze that hovered over the canyon.]

Oh the people we meet on planes if we’re willing to meet them. It’s been a good couple of days of travel.

Onto more next week!