Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

As I lay on my couch for the 7th hour straight, nursing a headache and blurred memories of dancing in sand, bad music and eating pizza on the side of the road at 4am, I figure I will do at least one productive thing with my day: this post being it.

I am dying to post about my trip to Spain, I had the most amazing time and saw so many great things, but unfortunately those Internet cretins that lurk in the depths of cyberspace have got my computer with a virus and it isn't working so good lately. Poor little lappy laptop. So I'm making do, just a little briefer than normal (probably a good thing for some of you).

I arrived back from Beijing yesterday morning and was happily slothing around the house in my brand new "genuine Australian" Ugg boots, when I got the call up for a girl's night out. We decided to venture out to a Dubai party institution: Nasimi Beach Party at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm. What we didn't realize, was that it was a Halloween party. Massive bummer, as I love getting dressed up and don't get nearly enough opportunities to. But some of the costumes were incredible -sumo suits, scary make up, superheros and the token skank costumes. A lot of people went to a lot of trouble! It was so great to see, and made the night a lot of fun (so my headache tells me today, anyway). It's times like that when I realise how great this whole "living overseas" experience is, and I really appreciate the huge mesh of cultures that come together in Dubai. Coming from Australia, where Halloween isn't a big thing and generally passes by without a great amount of fuss, I really enjoyed myself and wish that I'd been able to dress up too - but I guess there's always next year!

The one thing that I do get to do every year on Halloween, however, is celebrate my dad's birthday. I miss my family a lot, and wish I could be there to give him a big hug, and take him out for dinner somewhere nice with a decent wine list (highly important part of selecting a decent birthday dinner venue). I'd love to be able to wish him a happy birthday in person, and it's days like that when I realize that this "living overseas" thing has its downsides too. What I tell myself when I feel like that is that it's not forever, and I just need to make the most of the opportunity while I can. But Daddy, I love you and miss you and hope you have a special birthday on Sunday. I'll cook you a birthday dinner and have a glass of red with your name on it! (Will keep fire extinguisher handy for cooking challenge.)

This Sunday, the day of Halloween itself, I get to do something truly scary; I am flying to Bangkok, Thailand. Normally one of my very favorite destinations, I'm a bit concerned about this flight as there is widespread flooding throughout the city, coinciding with a king tide in the next few days. The airline has moved the crew to a different hotel, in a safer location, but my concern is that one of the city's airports is already closed. I don't want the main one to close (unless it is today or tomorrow!) as I definitely don't want to get stranded in a watery Thailand. Especially if MBK (shopping centre) is closed! Ok I'm only kidding. Sort of.

Details and photos from Spain, Niagara Falls, Oktoberfest and South Africa to follow once deadly computer virus is extinguished. Yes, it seems it's been a busy month and I probably had lots of better stuff to blog about than this. But the really cool thing about this blog, is that it's mine. And that means I get to write about whatever rubbish I want and somebody out there (you right now, my lucky individual!) is still going to be bored enough to read it. And with that, I believe I have conserved enough energy to remove myself from the couch.

Have a wonderful day!!

Jet Set, Jet Lagged and Jaded

Well I am on vacation again and we all know that this time cannot be worse than the last! Here I am in Spain, enjoying sun, surf and two weeks' company with my favourite boof head. I don't have time for a full update but just quickly: we hired a giant blue and green camper van with Super Mario painted all over it, we named it Yoshi. We've been to Barcelona, San Sebastian, Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Cadiz, Tarifa and Granada. My camera has died only twice; once in Madrid, once at the Alhambra (insert tears). I've never eaten so much bread and cured meat in my life - thought I'd never say this, but I'm almost getting sick of the sight of ham. While on our way to the coast south of Valencia yesterday Yoshi failed us and we had our 2nd tyre blowout in as many days - and these aren't little flat tyres, they are full on exploding firework tyres, with the one yesterday ripping not only all the rubber off the tyre but half the back bumper as well. Imagine being in the middle of nowhere, with no phone credit, no batteries, no Internet, not speaking the language...it was not the ideal situation. But after a few hours delay and the help of a tow truck driver with whom we couldn't exchange a single helpful word in the same language, we managed to work it out and I'm currently sitting in a hotel in Cartagena waiting on a phone call to let us know we're roadworthy again. Soon, hopefully. Plenty more to see as we work our way back up to Barcelona.

Hopefully things get better from here, as I'm beginning to think maybe holidays aren't really for me - will things ever go to plan?! Although in saying that, I'm still really enjoying myself despite this little hiccup!! And I'm confident things will be fine once we have Yoshi back in the family, silly little bugger he is. Couple of photos until I get the chance to post a full update: