I am soooooo tired. After a few false starts last night, we finally got on the road around 4:30am after staying up til 2am. A bittersweet drive away from home and all of the wonderful people there...After I stopped dehydrating myself through my eyes, we were on our way through Manhattan, the Holland Tunnel and somewhere along 78W in Jersey. We had to stop in Lebanon for some sleep as the sun wasn't rising soon enough for me to stay awake. Much thanks to Jeff and his insight on sleeping indoors as every nook and cranny of the car is packed!!!! [View Full Entry]

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My grandpa was still sick in bed when I started packing for the flight to the USA. He was still alive so I wasn't sure if I should pack a black suit, shirt, tie and shoes for a funeral if I wasn't 100% sure there would be one (whoever created the world "funeral" used a bad combination for the first three letters). Since I was half unsure there was going to be a funeral I only packed half an outfit required for the funeral - a black shirt and black tie. Unfortunately these were the cheapest elements of the funeral outfit [View Full Entry]

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After years of hearing about it on American sitcoms, I finally got to experience my first real Thanksgiving. Back home in Melbourne we were planning on having a Thanksigiving dinner, which I unfortunately missed out on. One thing I didn't realise is how huge Thanksgiving is over here. No matter what race or religion you are- you celebrate it. It's the biggest holiday of the year. Lots of families come together, hence the reason for the traffic at the airport (our plane had to wait a while to land) and the traffic driving from the airport (JFK in New York to [View Full Entry]

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Background At the age of 92 my mother's father was my last surviving grandparent. He lived a full life raising 13 children in the Philippines, and managing to move most of them over to live in the USA. Papa Polding was the Civil Engineer grandpa I'd gotten to know quite intimately from a distance, through the countless stories told by his proud daughter. He was my inspiration to become an engineer. After his wife and long-time love of his life went ahead of him a few years ago, he awaited the moment he could follow her. On his 92nd birthday his [View Full Entry]

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I've moved on to the next stage of the application process! Things have been a little hectic around here as I get ready to depart for a fine adventure halfway around the globe. I finally finished my TEFL certification. I should be receiving my certificate in the mail sometime soon. I have also been mailed the material for the other, "bonus" certificate that Kate and I got when we signed to get our TEFL certificate-- the Certificate for Teaching English to Young Learners. Fitting, considering this is exactly what I will be doing when I complete training after touching down in [View Full Entry]

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I've reached a bit of a block as far as it comes to writing my NaNoWriMo novel (November is National Novel Writing Month, to those of you who don't know), so I figure that I might as well start my travel blog. Let's start at the beginning: my senior year of college. Last October, my awesome roomate Kate ( Kate in Africa for those of you who don't know her) was scouring the internet for different travel opportunities, volunteer work, and jobs. We discussed some of the things she had found on a nice brisk walk to the local Gian [View Full Entry]

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Yeah. I know. But it's the closest I've come to NY so I'm making the most of it. Was not expecting the muggy weather though...I had to peel off 3 layers. Yuck. 71 degrees and 70 percent humidity. We already checked out a few shops and the fast food that this airport has to offer, I'm killing time online while Warren is off drinking a beer somewhere. I'm going to try a Nathan's hotdog before I leave. I know the rest of our trip will be much more exciting than this but I definitely want to come back and see the [View Full Entry]

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Stockholm, New Jersey, 30th September Arrived in Newfoundland to collect our vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, a big gas guzzling 4 litre (in fact it wasn't too bad at all but then fuel is half the price over here). Upon arrival at the bus terminal there was no AutoDriveaway representative to meet us as arranged. Whilst we waited we entertained ourselves with a game of penny flicks, with Bowks whipping my backside with a score i wish to forget! 10 minutes later still no pickup so off went Bowks to give them a call from a bar close by. I'll let her [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday September 30th 2009 If you have been a regular reader of the blog over the past week and a half or so then you have probably been thinking that there has been an awful lot of ‘Nic’ activities and that Kay has not maybe had the most romantic Honeymoon. Well rest assured, that was changed today or at least this morning with something that I had planned long before we got to New York. I had a surprise in store for Kay and had not told her about it, though anyone who knows Kay will realise that she’s not the [View Full Entry]

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Text coming soon! [View Full Entry]

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