Once upon a time, when I was planning my trip way back when, Laos wasn't even in the equation at all. Then, a little later, I thought it might be fun to take the train to Vietnam and was going to pass straight through Laos without really paying much attention. But once I got to Australia everyone I met that had visited Laos said it was the most amazing place they had ever been. So clearly I had to go. And it turns out that it was amazing. Dad and I crossed the border in the evening, so there wasn't a [View Full Entry]

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Uneventful flights, though boring, really are the best kind and apart from my inability to properly fill out my customs card I managed to exit the Bangkok airport without incident and met dad at the arrivals gate. Dad and I have 5 weeks together to travel, which is nice. I’ve already been away from home for over three months, so its nice and familiar to have some family around. Plus it’s a good way for dad and I to spend some time together. When I was planning my trip from home I really wanted to visit Thailand and Vietnam, taking the [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Cairns January 1st. The flight was uneventful and I arrived well after dark, but the humidity slapped me in the face as soon as I stepped out through the airport doors. Even in the middle of the night it was shocking. All I wanted to do while I was in Cairns was dive. It had been my big dream in life, for as long as I can remember, to go diving in the Great Barrier Reef and I decided that I was going to spend my last 10 days completely in the water - no partying, no late [View Full Entry]

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The night bus to Sydney was worse than most over-night bus rides. But we made it to Sydney in one piece. Nicole’s friend Ceri met us at the train station because we were going to stay with her. Everything in Sydney has been booked for months, so the fact that Ceri has space for us is amazing. She’s staying in a hostel style building in a room with 8 beds that she’s rented out with her boyfriend and four of his friends. Lucky for us, two beds are unoccupied. We had a nice long nap before heading into town to lounge [View Full Entry]

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When I first left home I was a little worried about how I would end up spending my holidays, since I would be away from all my family and friends. Turned out, though, that I had an amazing Christmas. Nicole and I had been thinking about how we would spend Christmas for a long time. We decided we would make a lot of food and watch our favorite Christmas movies and just be relaxed. The plan didn’t exactly turn out that way, but it was better. I got back from the Great Ocean Road trip on the evening of the 23rd [View Full Entry]

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The Great Ocean Road is one of those sights that people will scold you for not visiting if you come home without that particular experience. Stretching barely 400km, it is one of the most beautiful scenic highways in the world, and definitely one of the most beautiful parts of Australia. The best way to do it, really, is to hire a camper van with some friends and drive from Melbourne to Adelaide, stopping and sleeping wherever you like along the way. Unfortunately for me, all my friends did the Great Ocean Road while I went to Tasmania so I left on [View Full Entry]

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Normally I sit around at the end of a section of traveling and write all about and then post it for all to see. It's been at least 2 weeks since I've posted stories about my travels in Tasmania, so even though I'm not finished this section of my traveling, I figured it was about time for an update. I arrived back in Melbourne from Tasmania the morning of November 28th and moved straight into my home in a suburb called Brunswick just 20 minutes outside the city. I'm sharing a room with Nicole in a large shared house. My other [View Full Entry]

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My seat on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry is an Ocean View Recliner, which is bigger than an airplane seat and reclines quite far. Considering I’m on a ship, I sleep pretty well, and it’s not rocky at all. I arrive in Devonport at 7am, but before I de-board I check out the tourism office in the ship to see if I can book things with them. I’m wearing my university hoodie, because it’s the most comfortable thing I own, and the Tasmanian woman behind the counter just looks at me and says “did you go to Guelph?” as I walk [View Full Entry]

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The weather never does clear up in Sydney so on the last day we all lounge around and later in the afternoon Nicole and I take a walk to Darling Harbor to just sit in the breeze and relax. Sunday night is our last night and Monday morning we’re determined to go to Canberra - no more extensions, no more hanging around Sydney. Everyone tells us that Canberra is boring and that there’s nothing there worth visiting, but we figure it’s the capital of Australia and on the way to Melbourne, so we can’t very well just drive by without stopping. [View Full Entry]

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We left for the Blue Mountains Monday morning from Sydney. The Blue Mountains are one of the world’s largest national parks, and according to Dad it is larger than the entire country of Lebanon. We’re all looking forward to getting out of the city for a little while and getting a little fresh air. I’m lucky that I’ve found some girls (Lea and Nicole) who are just as ready to sweat in the mountains as I am. We’ve booked 3 nights at the Blue Mountains YHA in Katoomba and we intend on getting exercise everyday. We’re coming back to the same [View Full Entry]

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