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 train overland through Laos and Cambodia. Dad spent weeks reading through guide books and coming up with ideas and we decided in the end to cut Vietnam from the equation because there just wasn’t enough ... read more

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 around the Botanical Gardens and do nothing for a little while. At Circular Quay we ran into Leslie and some of her friends when we got off the bus. They had dinner plans, but would ... read more

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 my own. On Leslie's recommendation I booked a 2-day tour with Ride Tours that left December 22nd. Ride Tours is great because its geared towards young people, specifically backpackers. The bus picked me up at ... read more

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 through the door. I’m a little stunned, because no one knows where Guelph is, let alone how to pronounce it. I say, “yes, do you know about Guelph?” Turns out the Tasmanian lady and her ... read more

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 hostel in Sydney afterwards, so instead of dragging all our luggage with us we leave our big bags with James and just take what we need. It’s only $12 to take the two hour train ... read more