Sunday, December 09, 2012

A big trip to the northern hemisphere

The original plan was for David and Ray to go to Las Vegas while I go to France to visit Vivian. When Beth called and spoke to Ray, a commitment was made that we will all spend the Christmas with them.

I was a bit hesitant to travel with them as I have just made 2 trips to the Philippines this year. However, David and I made some impulsive decision to spend some of our 'retirement' payout on a big trip to the United States and a bit of Europe. I like to go to Europe as I haven't been there before.

Ray deserves a big break too as he had been working nonstop, sometimes close to 75 hours a week since he started with the National Gallery. It's been 10 years since the last time he saw his cousins in the US. He is 22 now and according to him, he has  a totally different perspective of the Museums he had visited in DC before.

I think that this will be the last big trip that I will do. It's becoming physically challenging and stressful but  I must admit that I enjoy the days in between airports, trains and bus stations.

These are the places we are going to visit as soon as we leave Australia:
  • California - Anaheim, San Francisco, LA, San Diego (the last one is pretty tentative)
  • Nevada - Las Vegas particularly the Hoover Dam
  • Virginia and Washington DC
  • Florida- Jacksonville and Orlando (my choice to visit Walt Disney World, my favourite place!)
  • New Jersey - New York
  • Europe - London in the UK , Lille and Paris in France, maybe Belgium and the Netherlands
I hope to meet up with friends, family and former primary and high school friends.
I also hope to see other places that I haven't seen before.

We are flying with different airlines like Virgin Australia, Frontier, United, Iberia, Icelandia. We will also be going on the Amtrak train and the Lux Coaches to Las Vegas.

It will be an ADVENTURE of a lifetime. I am also looking forward to the Christmas decorations of every place that we see. For now, waltzing matilda will be traipsing in snow while singing "White Christmas"

Until my next update, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !