It's Been A Wild Week

Well a lot has happened since my last post. Literally as soon as I got back to the hostel after my last post me and these 2 Welsh guys named Hugh and Ryan started chatting it up and decided that we are going to go down to Margaret River and try to find work there on the vineyards. These guys are totally chill and we're already becoming good friends. Basically I'd say I've got a good beat on the pulse of the job scene. I could definitely find work in Perth in time but it sounds like most of the jobs they offer up don't pay much more than enough to live off of. Now that's all fine but I'd like to save some money up so that hopefully by the beginning of April I'll be able so just ravel around without working after that. It sounds like labour work down in margaret River is the best way to do that. It's wine season here so they need a lot of people to do seasonal work hardcore. By all accounts it's long hours, hard work and very monotonous. It's also very different from what I've been doing, a good glimpse into another work field, a fast way to stack some cash and an interesting community experience. What i mean by the community is it's backpackers from all over the world that are doing this. One of the drawback's to travelling is when you meet some cool people you don't get to spend a lot of time with them to get to know them well. This would be an opportunity work alongside with people for a couple months and then possibly even travel with them after. basically it seems like the best option so we're going for it. Having the 2 Welsh guys with me helps it all as well, especially with getting stuff moving, although I kinda need to get on them sometimes to set stuff up and get plans moving. All in all great guys though. We're starting to become pretty good friends already. I'm supremely impressed by their laid back nature and take on life and friendship's with people. very optimistic lads. they've also got a couple of funny Welsh phrases that I just crack up at sometimes when they say it. We're also looking into buying a car down there. it's funny that the first time I'd be buying a car is in Australia. Apparently it opens up a lot of doors because then vineyards don't have to hire a shuttle service to come and pick you up. Also it's pretty common practice for backpackers to do this and then sell it back for what they bought it for because most cars retain their value here. We've also talked about doing a road trip up to Darwin and seeing everything on the west coast out here and then selling it up there. Also common practice. So basically I've got a pretty good plan now I'd say. And it really only took about a week. If i don't have anything going in about 2 weeks then I'll have to re-evaluate. But it should be all good.

Being here reminds me of what I've read about the States back when all the immigrants from Europe came over. Just show up and give it some time and you'll find work. With the whole global financial crisis Western Australia (WA) has been chugging along and damn near laughing at the world. With an unemployment rate of 4.3%, continuous growing jobs every month and the sheer amount of money they're brining in WA is completely carrying Australia which has lost jobs and money everywhere else. Because of WA Australia's economy is growing vastly. People from all over just show up without a plan and enter these communities of people like them that are out here for work. the mines is a big thing. From what I've read about Australia it just hasn't been fully explored much because of how massive it is, how far away it is, how few people there are here and so on. But, there's vast resources here. Just within the last 2 decades people started realizing that they have all sorts of untapped minerals here that can make a lot of money and be sold all over western society for loads of money. So lots of people are coming in and doing all sorts of things related to the mines whether it's actual mining, labour, or just cleaning the facilites and then turning around and making an absolute killing. No experience, no problem. if you can drop a couple grand on some training courses you can step into a job that pays about 70,000 a year or more and not have to pay room and board when you're on your 3 week shift out there. That sort of industry opens up all sorts of customer service jobs in Perth because it's the hub and capitol of WA. The way i've found this out...I read some about the economic aspects of it but really as far as how to go about getting work, what's available, housing and such that's purely word of mouth and at this point I'd say I know quite a bit about it. I made sure to return the favor and help an Italian guy out yesterday by giving him some info about good job agencies here in Perth for his specific interests.

I've also discovered how chill of an area WA is. They call it WA for Wait Awhile because things move so slowly here. There's not as much beaurocracy here for 1 so no one feels real pressured to get things done in a very efficient manner. It's also just part of being a giant beach town with fantastic weather and partly being so isolated from the rest of the world distance wise (although you couldn't tell that with all the different cultures in the city). I've heard that Margaret River is even more so that way. Here's the perfect example of that. On thursday me and the Welsh guys decided we should book the hostel on monday for a week. mind you this is the busy season. I called Will, the guy who runs it down there. I said my name and how I had briefly talked to him a few days earlier and that I was heading down on Monday and was hoping to book 3 people for a week. His response, "No worries. See you Monday." That's it! I asked him if he wanted more info and he seemed almost offended when I did. So we're good to go. This place should be chill. It's 10 mintues outside of Margaret River right on the beach overlooking everything. The waves are supposed to be massive. Such good surf in fact that they have a world class tournament there every year with all the best in the sport. Oh yeah, and that tournament is going to be in a couple of weeks when I'm right there. Maybe I'll take a day off and watch Kelly Slater tear it up for free.

Well in the meantime other then getting more info and getting some stuff straight this week let me tell you about the other stuff that has been going on. Monday did a bit more research at McDonald's but I was having more trouble with the internet. Honestly the research hasn't been how I've been most productive. I mostly just hung around the hostel on monday and Tuesday slowly getting stuff done in a WA pace. I also just bombed through The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Great read. I called Will down at the Surfpoint hostel in Margaret River and talked to him about the work situation and got some great info from him. Real chill guy and super resourceful. he also gave us some info about getting cars down there and so on. Can't wait to meet him. I was also just staying out in the main socializing area and getting to know some different people staying there. Chatted with a cool guy named james from london who's involved in music producing around the world. An older Aussie who's been around the world countless times. We talked a lot about So Cal because he lived there for a number of years and the mines. he had some great stories. I got to know this guy Dave the Kiwi fairly well. He's made a lot of assumptions about me being American but i can tell that he's really just kind of uncomfortable with me because I'm a physically imposing guy that has a hard to read face. The main way I can tell this is because he kept bringing it up. But then he was saying that I've seen some tough things in life and I'm closed off and then I need to be more open to the people around me and don't be afraid to show emotion. Also that I should work on not being as opinionated which is common for Americans according to him. Mind you, he would say this while cutting me off when I was trying to respond to what he was saying this. And as far as being more accepting of other people go he was basically telling me to change aspects of my personality. In addition he didn't start doing this until he found out I was 25 and not 33 like he originally thought. He made some good points about things but man that's pretty clear cut hypocritical/false wisdom. I decided to drop it and not go back and forth with him. Outside of that though he's a very social and outgoing guy that you can talk with about anything and he's always game to share and give to others. This Brit named gavin who showed me all of his pictures from SE Asia and other parts of Australia. Great guy and for some reason he's just got a way of the being the sensitive one with the ladies. We've had some good laughs over that. He's also paused now to work at a concrete factory part time. Jacquelyn from Switzerland and Claudia from Germany. And then Ashley and David from Miami (originally Georgia and Colombia and then met in Miami). David is a cool dude man. Me got on a massive talk about Miami because I was just there and have been good buds every since. His gf Ashley is an awesome person. In his own words he is a pice of shit without her. I don't know him well but so far I'll disagree with that. Her and I got in a good chat the other day and she exclaimed at the end of it that we must have been good friends in the past and that we still are now. I agree. She's a very warm and social person that just loves people and seems to find the good in them. She's a bit of a fircracker too. She had an extra beer last night that she was trying to get rid of and she gave it to me. It was her birthday and I said that I couldn't take her drink from her that she bought. She turned and said, "It's my birthday! if you don't drink that beer you're an asshole!" Yes ma'am. I gulped it down. Believe it or not she actually said it in a friendly way. She reminds me of Sandra Bullock's character in The Blind Side. there's others too like marty the unreal snorer from Ireland. I was fortunate enough to be on the bunk above him. Ben, Leon the front desk guy, the 2 Welsh guys of course and others.

On Wednesday I decided it was time to get out and see Perth a bit more. A big group of us went to Scarborough beach and i saw the indian Ocean for the first time. AMAZING! The beachw as fantastic and the water was light blue and warm with some good waves. We all found a spot, dropped our stuff and jumped in. It was great. We all worked on some tans as well. Coincidently me and the 2 Welsh guys got these gnarly burns only on the middle of our backs. No sunscreen. It wasn't too painful though. We played some hackisack and just generally chilled out. I went back out into the water with Dave and Hugh and we were trying to body surf our way in, just goofing around. I was out a little ahead of them and got caught in a rip tide where I could not put my feet down on the ground. Scared the fuck out of me. If I hadn't decided to get into swimming a couple years ago I think I would have been in much more serious trouble. they noticed the rip but were on their feet and backed out. I swam furiously and had to put some effort in to get back and then got thrashed by the waves on my way in. Well that was enough swimming for me for the day. I knew with the gorund i was gaining and what my energy level was that I was probably gonna make it in ok. Still a bit scary though man. The unpredictableness of the ocean is why I don't think I'll ever really take up surfing or any sport of the sort. You're supposed to respect the ocean if you get into that and just in general but man I just don't think that's for me. We grabbed some beers and headed back. We then went to a free poker tournament at a bar. now i haven't played in years but I actually did the best out of our whole hostel group. i made the final table and bluffed out some of the regulars pretty consistantly. Still made some unwise bets and ended up losing out but no worries, it was free. That was a good day.

Thursday i left and went to meet up with the couchsurfer I had arranged. Alright so far this has not been a very good cs experience. First off her profile doesn't seem to describe her that accurately. Now with the free couch and accomodations I wouldn't complain but she probably needs to get a little more set up before she starts hosting people. The place is still kinda junky and she has these new flatmates that she barely knows. She just moved in. She's also had her kids over which is fine but she clearly has them as priorities more so than showing people around. the thing though is she made it sound like she wanted to meet up and doo all these things together but she clearly can't. now i'm fine with that but it makes it a bit uncomfortable when I'm saying that I'm gonna head out because I'm thinking she wants to spend time together but then we aren't. There are some other things too that aren't that big of a deal but I'm just kind of picky about. I don't like people that dominate the conversation and she definitely does with all the insignificant details of her life that I wouldn't necessarily share with everyone right away. That's just kind of me being picky though. The real bad thing is this. Now I guess it's not her fault but I think she could've done more. See her x-husband is bipolar and suffers from paranoia. he was supposed to bring the kids over for dinner on Friday but was 3 hours late and making excuses. Basically he stopped taking his meds and was starting to do pretty bad. So that's why the kids are there permanently for the moment. I understand that. And with all that going on she still let me have her couch too which I'm sure it would be easier if i wasn't there. Here's what pissed me off. She lied about me being there and then when he was sitting in the car and wouldn't leave she brought him in and introduced him to me. She told me later she did this because I'm a big guy and it might make him think twice. Now I'm used to being in those situations because of my jobs but that's not something you just spring on a guest. And of course since he's paranoid he's now completely fixated on me. Of course you idiot! The weird, burly American that's randomly staying on the couch in the house where his kids are staying. What the fuck do you think! But then he leaves but just sits in his car and won't leave. Every 2 hours he comes up and starts knocking incessantly at the door wanting to know if the kids are alright. She ries being reasonable with him but he can't be reasonable. He keeps repeating the exact same things and waking everyone up. He thinks that I slipped the kids something and demands to see them. She didn't call the police until 3 in the morning and that was a bitch of a thing to overhear. he got a 72 hour restrainging order and broke that at 5 am when the neighbors called the police on him because he was pacing on the front lawn with a hammer for 30 minutes. He got picked up and sent to the courts and they ruled to extend it and that if he broke it again he was going to jail for 6 months. Directly after court he came back to get his car right when I was leaving and he was sitting in it with thengine off. When he saw me he drove off like a madman. She also tried to play it off like I didn't hear every single thing that was going on by telling me that he was fixated on her not me and play down how serious it was. I worked in a pych hospital and this is my field. Trust me this was a serious fucking matter. If anyone's gonna understand it's me. The main thing is how stressfull is this to the kids? Being optimistic it's a good learning experience for understanding more about te dysfunctional families that I'll probably end up working with again in the future. Now they didn't call the plice on him again. I guess it's cause they care about him and don't want him to go to jail. he also hasn't been back since then so that's a good sign. I've pretty much stayed out of it because I don't want to meddle in their family problems. I'll tell you what though, if he comes back with a hammer in hand making demands I'm gonna fuck him up. I trained people on how to take patients down and this guy is half my size. If he thinks he's gonna make threats to me he has no idea what he's got himself into.

So basically I've been trying to stay way from the house if I can and give them their space to deal with everything that's going on for them. As frustrated as I am I know it's significantly tougher for them. Amazingly I got great REM sleep that night. So Saturday I woke up and headed out to Fremantle on my own. It was much needed I'll say and I ended up having a great day. I met up with my friend Anna from the train and a bunch of people from the hostel and just had a blast. The city is on the ocean and on the other side of the river. They started out being around the same size as Perth and remained a sort of sister city but worked hard to maintain it's own identity. They don't have as many people but they definitely have their own vibe. It's a party town definitely but it's much more relaxed. At first appearance it looked like a fatty beach party town but in interacting with the people there it's anything but. The only time I've been to a party place like that that wasn't full of douchebag people was Lagos, Portugal. It was a blast, the weather was perfect and the people I was with we're great. It was my friend Ashley's 27th birthday so we were all rockin out. The original reason we all decided to go as well was because of this guy Donovan Frankenreiter. I hadn't heard of him but apparently he's Jack Johnson's best friend. They grew surfing together, went pro together and then started playing music together. He was putting on a low profile show and this guy was chill. Same sort of melody Jack Johnson but had his own voice. He pulled 2 people from the audience on stage to sing some with him including Ashley because it was her birthday. He put on an awesome show with great audience interaction for maybe 125 people. Fucking great. And then we went bar hopping some. So now I'm feeling much better. I spent Friday exploring King's Park which is the main park here. It's bigger than Central Park and has a lot of maintained bush land for people to go exploring through. And then today I was just getting some stuff done at the library and now I'm gonna explore just a bit more of the streets of Northbridge which is where my hostel was and where I've been spending most of my time. Can't wait to get down to Maragaret River though. Perth isn't actually right on the beach. It's actually kind of a ways away. Ultimately guys I'm feeling good and all's good. Hope all of you are well and I love you all. Feel free to Facebook me if you guys want. It's kind of hard to get Internet access here but when I get to the hostel I'm gonna try to get that all sorted so that I can Skype with people as well.

Perth

Well let me just say it has been a long day on the Internet and I didn't even get everything done that I wanted to get done. I went to McDonald's for 2 fine reasons. $2 double cheeseburgers and free wifi at all McDonald's in Australia. I ate my food and drank my water in about 10 minutes and have now spent the last 6 hours getting shit done online. No one's bothered me though so I can only presume it's more than ok. Gotta do things cheap right. I think tomorrow I may splurge a little bit more. There's a place whereI can get a kangaroo burger for $7.50 and get free Internet as well.

Well Sydney was fantastic. Originally I was thinking of traveling a

Title more before I got here just in case I really started running out of money but I felt that. Train trip out here was good enough. I couchsurfed for the first time and it was fantastic. Maureen andMick were their names and they were just the nicest couple. Down to Earth, had traveled the world and had a lot of life experiences, cute and funny together and completely opened their home to me. I already gave them a positive review and she shot back a super nice review of me so I'm gonna try and get some steam rolling on this couchsurfing thing. I'm at a great hostel now but I sent out several cs requests today for when my hostel time is up because it's cheaper and it's a different way to see the city as well (even though my hostel is amazing butI'll get into that later).

In the meantime Sydney was awesome. Thanks to Maureen I did this free walking tour of Sydney that she found online for a few hours. I gave the 5 bucks because thT's how he makes his money. Overall a good and inexpensive way to see a city. I also met someone from Chicago on the tour and her and I grabbed a beer at the opera house before we set off on our different ways. Then I explored the park near the opera house and had a great lie down on this grassy knoll that overlooked the opera house with the harbour bridge in the background. I then strolled through the botanical gardens and went back to my host's house. That was my full day in Sydney. Pretty chill.

When I first got in I was somewhat tired and just had a cab take me to a bar near my host's house to wait for them while they were working...excellent decision. I had some cold lagers and ended up getting into a fantastic conversation with2 local older guys about sports. The Super Bowl had been on and then they explained some rules about cricket to me. Overall, American football is a lot more respected out here and abroad than I thought. That night I went to dinner with Maureen, Mick and Maureen's siblings inahipster neighborhood of Sydney called Newtown. We had great Vietnamesefood and they were totally awesome. We were also walking around in an area where bats live in the trees at dusk time so there bats flying around everywhere. I don't think I'd ever seen bats up that close.

Alas it was time to leave and take my train from Sydney to Perth through the Outback. Honestly it was awesome. Amazing how vast the outback is. There is absolutely nothing for soooooolong but it was cool to get out of the train when it stopped and just be in the middle of nowhere. We stopped in one town called Cook that had a population of 5 and only existed for servicing the train. The train conducted made several tongue and cheek jokes about coming in at rush hour in downtown cook. They were good ones though and that was awesome. It was cool. Saw some kangaroos and emu's from a ways away and actually the train was quite comfortable. The first couple days on the train were not so social but after some people warmed up and others got off and on at a stop in Adelaideit totally changed. I met some cool people on the train whose numbers I got and hopefully we'll spend some more time together. There wasn't much to do but read and shoot the shit while looking at the amazing views. I read a lot! I am halfway done with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and I was also reading quite a few other things. That was nice to do for a while actually. I met people from all over the world on that train but not too many from the US actually. It was kinda fun to play the only A,Erica's in the room card and it still is.this lovely older woman named Rosie who was traveling with her fired and Watkins of motherly offered up her couch when I return to Sydney.she was sitting across from me and her and I talked quite a bit. She said she understood how sometimes you just need to sleep, eat some good food and do some laundry so I will be taking her up on that for sure. She also has a son around my age who is a dj in a hotspot neighborhood in Sydney and said she'd be sure we could meetup when I visited. Boom! That's fucking awesome.

I got into Perth and dropped my stuff off at the hostel and the headed put because it wasn't check in time yet. First I had to chill. I got a couple of beers at this place and my God it's expensive out here. I don't thinkI'll be going to pubs too much when it's $10 beers. Jesus Christ. Ingot a Subway sandwich after that because I didn't want to pay $20. For food at the bar. Apparently February is their $7 footling deal month. As I was chilling in a park in some shade in a very urban area these obnoxious aboriginals cam up and were hassling everyone. They said some pretty vulgar shit to me too but I decided it best to not start something with with 3 probably intoxicated dudes. Now this is a topic I have read up on and because of that I have gone out of my way to not mention anything about Aboriginals while I've been here. Some things I'venoticed isAustralians seem to be very embarrassed by this part of their history. Now I understand this but I don't see how ignoring helps. Germany may have fucked up with the Nazi's but they take very step now to educate all likes of people about that dark chapter of their history so as they say " it will never happen again". The other thing is the way these guys were acting I didn't feel sorry for them or anything that had happened to them. Maybe that's because the States is based more on individual rights and actions but fuck that. Those guys (as well as otherstoriesI have heard) chose to act that way and they should be stood up to and recieve consequences for their actions appropriately instead of trying to sweep it under a rug.i think until that's done Aus is always going to have a major problem on it's hands.this also shows why thecivilrights movement was monumental not just for minorities but all people of the States. I could go on and on about this but from a sociological standpoint I find it fascinating.

Back to Perth. Bill Bryson compared the sleakness and easy going nature of this town toMinneapolis. So far I would agree. It's got that sameawesome vibe Minneapolis does. Parks, sleak downtown, a couple of cool and trendy neighborhoods, an artistic community and super friendly but well educated people. Just imagine if Minneapolis was not in an ice cold tundra and on a warm bay/ocean/river. That's my first impression of Perth so far. So after that I walked through a cool neighborhood, the city center and god a great view of the skyline and the river. I also bought a phone but at a super cheap tourist rate(which is pretty common) because it's necessary for being in contact with people and getting jobs. Definitely talking with people about how to get this stuff going has given me good info.it's gonna be a bit harder than I originally thought butI'll holding out hope. My hostel is the best hostel I have ever stayed in. People are up drinking and talking but nothing crazy. Then people will head out if they want to be crazy. But you pretty much can just stay in and chill if you want. It's far enough away from the bars that it's very peaceful. The people are amazing. I've just been walking around,inning my own business and all sorts of different people have gone out of their way to come up tome and introduce themselves, share something with me and start and overall great conversations. If it was super cheap to stay at the hostel it would be my permanent hoes for sure. Think I'll come back to it though.

So my friend Christene basically gave me a great plan. Her and I met up in the bay and she passed on some pretty solid knowledge to me. I think I'll give till then end of the month and then basically re evaluate if I haven't got anything really going. I've got a couple of ideas but that will give me some time for sure. I'm gonna sign up for some employment agencies, I've heard getting a for,lift license is a worthwhile thing to do and it's a fairly inexpensive course considering the wage you'll be guaranteed with it. I still need to look into the wine work and other options will pop up as well.

Overall I was thinking about this on the train and when I was first pulling into Perth. I fucking got myself here. That's awesome man. I've always wanted to come here and I found a way to do it. That's a very gratifying feeling and it's reminded about the importance of goals and accomplishments in life, how important they are and how much more is attainable than you think. If it doesn't workout in the aspect of work out hereI think I'll be ok with that. I came out here and will have spent some solid time in Perth regardless and Igave ita shot man. It won't even be a failure so much as it just didn't work out. Some of the experiences I've had already have been so memorable and in some ways I feel like breathed new life into me. I will definitely travel until the day that I die.

It's interesting though because it's also given me time to reflect on my future, my past, my present and just what I want. I try not to think too far ahead but Ithink the next step for me will be focusing on trying to develop a career and pursuing some hobbies and community interests that I have. I'll still travelbut it probably won't be taking off like this again...at least for a good while.

Well in the meantime I'm gonna head off and have a beer on a perfectly warm night on this town city on the Indian Ocean. There's a breeze that comes in from this suburb Fremantle on the ocean. That breezes called the Fremantle Doctor because it comes in and makes everyone feel better on a hot summer day. And let me tell you...the Dr. Is in today. Hoe everyone is well and I love you all.

It's Been a Hot Minute

Well it certainly has been a little while and I've now for sure progressed into travel mode. I'm writing from the Fiji airport right now in Nadi waiting for my transfer to Sydney. Just from the airport this place is gorgeous. I'm definitely gonna stop here on the way back no problem.

Well siNce my last post I continued to chill while I was in the bay. In a dangerously lazy way actually. It was cool to see people but it was weird because normally when I'm n the bay I'm trying to see people pretty regularly and that was not the case this time around. I was sleeping in and relaxing and not even wanting to go out on some nights. I think I needed it but looking back it wasn't entirely productive. Part of it too was about a week after my last post I got a second degree burn on my hand. So I needed to stay in and let it heal and working out with a swollen burn mark wasn't really an option so I was super inactive.mlooking back it's kind of a funny story and even in the moment me and my friend Ryan were laughing about it as well as the other people there. Well long story short I was at a cabin in Tahoe and my friend Ryan was keeping the fire going. The bucket of kindling was moved and as I turned the corner I tripped over it a little. In a reaction I put my hand out but straight onto the wood furnace. Second degree burn and after 30 minutes it was clear that I had to go to the ER. The funny part though is that after this happened I instructed Ryan's girlfriend to keep bringing me whiskey so that I could dull the pain. It didn't work that well and I ended up being pretty drunk at the ER. I was under control but it made for some funny interactions.

So I just took the bandage off finally the other day and it's healing up just fine considering how bad it was. Looking back I did do some cool stuff in Nor Cal. I was in Santa Cruz for a while, went t Tahoe, went to Napa, went into San Fran for a couple days here and then, spent some time in Oakland and Berkeley, explored the Alameda which I hadn't done before and I relaxed a lot. Minus the burn it was a good time. And my overall time between leaving Chicago and then leaving for Australia was mostly spent with my family.

When I left the bay I first jetted off to Miami to visit my buyer. That was cool. I visited him before but this time I got a much better feel for the city and area overall. I explored some cool neighborhoods, particularly this one called Winwood. There was tons of street graffiti all over but it was done from people such as Shepherd Ferry, Banksy, Rob English and others of their sorts. A neighborhood 20 blocks by 20 blocks of this stuff. I went into an art studio and had to buy a small piece of art that totally fit the style of that neighborhood. My brother was also living with these 2 cool dudes in Little Havana on the top story of a high rise overlooking downtown Miami. I definitely spent a couple days just chillin at the apartment looking at that view. We went down to Keys where I almost got hit by a sting ray, to South Beach just good times. Colin's obviously doing very well too. He's got some good friends and he's loving his job too. He's got a good beat on Miami for right now.

After that I flew to LA to visit my sister before heading out here. We went out most nights with her college friends to where all the deals were. I think the NorCal in me has always just shutdown LA as possibly being an enjoyable spot but I tried to keep an open mind while being there and you know what, it was pretty cool. There's more to do there than I would've given it credit for. We drove around to some cool spots like the Sunset Strip, The Grove and she lived in Westwood too. Plus the UCLA caus is just awesome. I also got to meet her boyfriend for the first time and he passes. We got along well and he seemed to genuinely care for her. Plus it's been over 3 years so I'd hope so. No but he's a cool guy for sure. And her roommates and her friends are awesome as well.

My last day was pretty sweet. We went to meet up with my Aunt and cousin and then we went to the tide pools at low tide and I forgot how awesome those things are. My Aunt and my cousin are funny too so we had a lot of fun joking with them. My cousin Becky is like the perfect match for Sheldon n the Big Bang Theory when she gets a little older. And my Aunt Laurie made us a fantastic dinner that was simple but just what I needed right before I headed to the airport.

My sister dropped me off and it really was a lot of fun hanging out with her. But I was ready to go at that point. It's funny there's always that little feeling of nervousness just when you're about to get on the flight. I couldn't have planned this better for now butit's still kind of unbelievable when you're checking like wow I'm about to do this. You know how you got there and at least for me I wasn't worried about failing it just weird having no idea what to expect because it's something you haven't done before. Now that I slept on the flight some the excitement is starting to take back over.

Some interesting things about the whole flight process that I've noticed so far. First off tons of backpackers waiting in line all over the place. People saying where are you going, oh no way that's awesome we're going to this dope place to do this dope thing. You know that sorta talk. Second, these flights are huge. I'm gonna try to post a picture but man these planes hold a lot of people. I lucked out and got to sit at the top portion of it which was less cramped and just kinda cool. Also these flights don't nickel and dime you. Everything was free and plenty of room to stretch out even for a guy like me. I sat next a nice couple from Saint Louis that was going on a 2 week vacation with some friends to Fiji. We didn't talk to much though cause we were sleeping considering the plane took off at nearly 11pm. Another really interesting thing is looking out the window over the Pacific when you are in the middle of nowhere. It's just vast and even at night time

Well now I'm off to Sydney. I've been trying to make sure I try new things while I'm traveling just as kind of a rule of thumb. One, which I'm pumped for is couchsurfing. I've got a host set up in Sydney. Her and her boyfriend seem like awesome people. They're some world travelers themselves. They even offered to pick me up from the airport if they weren't working but they are. No worries I'm gonna go to their neighborhood and chill at brewery called Waterworks until they get off work. Then I'll be joining them for dinner with some friends in a cool neighborhood in Sydney called Newtown. I'll crash with the, for 2 nights and then take that train all the way across the country to Perth. 3 day train trip and then I'll be trying to get set up out there. I'm pumped and I'm catching my travel stride at just the right time.

At the moment I'm mostly excited but I was thinking about missing the States while I'm gone. That's why I'm hopin to make enough money so that I can do a little bit of traveling in the States again when I get back. A couple fun things would be going to Burning Man and spending like around 3 or 4 weeks in Chicago over the summer. I still think about Chicago and sometimes I even consider moving back. I doubt that will happen. It would probably have to be the perfect storm of circumstances but I'm trying to remain open minded about all options. Just writing about this reminds me, that was a large part of why I wanted to do this trip too. Just getting away I hope will give me some time to reflect and analyze what exactly I want to do because I'm still not totally sure on what I want the next step to be. I don't know but I think some time away will help with that to see everything from more of a removed perspective. I do know that when I ge back I want to be a bit more settled and pursue some other interests that I won't even delve into now. Well I gots to go the flight's boarding soon. To everyone and anyone I love you all and hope you are doing well.