TerryVision.....

Sorry bout the Hiatus

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you all, but I had an awesome time. I spent 16 days with some AWESOME people touring around the national parks and seeing some AMAZING sites.

THE BUS – The tour bus was no ordinary bus, it was a “Green Tortoise” tour bus, modified for the best experience you can have on the road. It had all the seats removed and the guts modified so that there was basically 2 huge beds and a couple of tables. For 16 days we lived with the bus, either camping out (tents, or just under the stars) or if we had a long distance to travel our awesome tour guides would drive us overnight while we all slept in the 2 huge beds, some hanging bunks, or in the “honeymoon suite” (which I’ll get to a little later). It wasn’t a tour in the sense that our guides would walk us around and tell us all about the history and such, it was a tour in the sense that they would drive us to a point, say there is something cool up there, and let us do our own thing. Which I think was great, not being lead around by the hand and spending time with people from the group.

All the people on the trip were awesome and from all over the world. Germans, Norwegians, Chinese, Polish, French, Indian, British, and Aussie. Jeff, and aussie, was a great mate to have on the trip and like most Aussies who meet up overseas we got along pretty well.  The bus had the bunks and the open plan sleeping spaces, but it also had these 2 “caves” under 2 tables which Jeff and I claimed and affectionately referred to as the “honeymoon suite”.

Crazy Norwegians – We had one girl on the bus who was awesome, but slightly crazy (yes I know you are reading this Anniken, but you know it’s true, and we love you for it). She had this infectious laugh which would start out as this HIGH PITCH squeal that I didn’t know any living thing could achieve, and then turn into a completely incomprehensible ramble about why she was laughing. Most of us would sit there trying to figure out what the hell she was going on about, and then burst out in laughter once we had deciphered her blend of English and Norwegian. We would constantly give her crap about being a “strange Norwegian” cause we would keep catching her eating really strange combinations of food that all seemed completely normal to her. Breakfast one morning for Anniken was a Bagel with Watermelon slice and Nutella…. Everybody else was eating these items as well, but not all in one sandwich style breakfast disaster.

Germans – We had 5 Germans on our tour, and all of them were pretty cool, but especially my 2 favourite Germans girls, Chrissi and Jasmin (Yasmin). One night me and Jeff started harassing them (and one more girl, Franci), asking them how to say all sorts of words in German. Sitting out in the middle of the desert on a blue tarp, next to a canyon, pointing at random things asking how to say them. They taught all the human body parts (tho now all I seem to remember is Knee, because it’s the same but pronounced Ka-nee) and then I started to pester them for German pickup lines. Franci taught jeff one, who then tried to teach me. I was particularly suspicious though because I wasn’t there when Franci taught him, and he had this grin on his face which told me that I was getting led astray. He told me it was “Your hair is wonderful”….. which after a while I figured out was actually, “Your lady beard is wonderful”. Chrissi and Yasmin were awesome. After our trip was over we hung out in Las Vegas for a couple of days, and then I spent the day with Chrissi at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

The trip went all through the national parks of west USA, Zion, Kodachrome Basin, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon, and it was all awesome. Yellowstone was a bit crazy tho because I had the constant fear of Bears, every night we camped I would carefully select where I was putting my tent making sure I had a clear escape route in case a bear decided to visit me in the night.  

One of my favourite days on the trip was Zion National park, climbing up to the top of “Angels landing”. It was a really long and hard hike uphill to the top of this massive cliff, but it was the most rewarding climb ever. At one point, you’re walking across the top of this ridge, barely 1.5 meters wide with cliffs on either side, and all that’s there to stop you from falling is a knee high chain for you to hold onto, and then you spend the next 20 minutes “climbing” (scrambling) along a path that’s barely there and very close to the edge. But when you get to the top it is the best view, and felt so good to get to the top. I’ve never done so much hiking in my life though, every day we would hike somewhere, but it was always very deceiving cause all the hikes were described in miles rather than kilometres, so it was always further than I thought.

We did a lot of swimming, there wasn’t many chances for proper showers on the trip (being on the road and camping in places with drop toilets), so whenever we got the chance we would go for a swim. One day I conquered a lifelong fear I have of deep open water. We were all having  a swim in this huge lake, and stupidly Jeff, Anniken and I decided that the island we could see in the middle wasn’t all that far away. So I blindly followed them thinking “well its fresh water, and it’s a lake, so it cant be that deap and there isn’t sharks”. It was sooooooo much further than we thought, and the lake was a hell of a lot deeper than I thought, so I was freaking out. Didn’t help that jeff was swimming along out in front of me humming the tune to jaws and randomly pointing and saying “did you see that???”. It took forever, and a lot of time spent floating on my back, but we did it and then still needed to go back. After we got back, we worked out that it’s near 500m each way…

There is so much that happened on the trip, too much to go through, but I can say that it was one of the best experiences I have had in my 27 years, and the best on this trip. I got to meet some of the best people, people who I am hopefully going to see again in the future (Jeff and I have already started talking about the next trip). Trying to convince the girls to come to Australia (Anniken has already promised) and I’m really looking forward to someday going to Germany and Norway.

The last night of our trip we stopped in vegas to have fun and say goodbye to all our new friends. We all wandered around checking out the sights and sounds of vegas but eventually, late that night had to say goodbye to everyone. Myself, Jasmin and Chrissi hung out in vegas for a couple of days but even that had to end eventually. So now I’m back on the road. Ive spent the last week in vegas catching up with a mate from back home, and the last couple of days in San Diego.

Tomorrow I’m heading back to San Francisco to do another green Tortoise tour for 4 days. I didn’t get to see the Giant redwoods, and Yosemite National Park, and because I had such a good time on the last trip, I figured it was a good idea to do it with another group rather than trying to do it by myself.

SO… right now I’m packing my bags again for another trip. Sorry for the lack of stupid stories and misadventures, so much happened in the last 4 weeks that I can’t remember it all and it was all just so good.  Wish me luck.

Going MIA

I made my way up to San Francisco yesterday, from Los Angeles to start a tour around all the national parks for the next 2 weeks. So… unfortunately i doubt i will have internet for the next little while, but be assured ill be having fun and enjoying the wonders of the Grand canyon, Yosemite national park, and all the mountains in between

I spent the day walking around San francisco today, and really enjoyed it. Its very much a walking town, very easy to get from place to place, and it doesnt cost a fortune ($2 for the bus for the day…), so i did a lap around and checked out the town. But now i must sign off as i wait for my tour bus to arrive and drive us out into the wilderness.

Im really looking forward to this, cause i get to spend 16 days with 20 people, camping and having heaps of fun. 

Accidentally creepy..

Ok, so I sometimes take photos without really looking at what might be in the photo, and often don’t spot little things till later when I’m going through the photos to see details and touch them up.

When I was out on the beach late the other night taking some photos, it was pitch black, I could barely see 20 feet infront of me, wanted to do some long exposure shots of a Lifesaving Hut. So I setup my camera for a 30 second exposure to take in as much light as possible, and let it go for it, taking a couple over a 5 minute period. Now, having looked closer at the photos, I spot 2 people “sitting” on the beach. I might just be imagining things, but I don’t think they are just sitting… they may be getting a little too far into it. I’m not saying they are having sex… because they could just be hugging…….

So at the risk of being really creepy…

Heres a closer look! You be the judge…..

LOS ANGELES… 2 Ladies, and a FIRE

I eventually made it to America, after 23.4 hours of nonstop flights, airports, and airplanes. Though I nearly didn’t make it the entire way. Again things went wrong where things would normally go right. I was SUPPOSE to catch a train from Copenhagen central station at 3:30am to the airport but after carrying my bags the 2 miles to the station, I found that it was bloody closed, so bolted to the nearest taxi rank I could find an forked out however many Euro’s it was going to cost to get to the airport in time for my flight.

Then my flight to New York was late getting in, so I had to RUN RUN FAT MAN RUN from my arrival gate to check in my bags and RUN RUN FAT MAN RUN to departure gate for my connecting flight to Los Angeles. Ya know when you are sitting in your seat, getting annoyed at the fact that the plane isn’t moving yet, and youre thinking to yourself “What fool is holding this plane up”…. I was that guy. Last man on the plane, I had to do the “walk of shame” down the entire length of the plane to my seat with everyone scowling at me.

I have to admit, my first impressions of America were all pretty bad. Most of the horrible stereotypes I had in my head about Americans were confirmed within the first 24 hours. But it was probably more where I was staying that was the problem. I had booked into the CHEAPEST hostel I could find online, which was in the middle of the slums and surrounded by empty lots, closed down shops, abandoned cars, and filth. So my first couple of days were pretty awful, I was in a horrible mood, the conditions of the hostel were terrible and was contemplating moving my home tickets closer so I didn’t have to spend so much time in this place. Thankfully tho, I met these 2 50’ish year old ladies from Utah, who were staying in a hotel down the road from my hostel and we got talking. I had a blast with them, we had a few drinks and decided we wanted to go to the beach that night to light a fire and see the sunset. We drove towards the coast and got soooo lost, ended up driving through some really scary neighbourhoods and somehow found ourselves at the Los Angeles city Powerplant. I was sitting in the back seat laughing my ass off while these 2 sitting in the front were honking the horn, driving on the footpath, wolf-whistling out the window at passers-by, and just being outrageous. We did eventually make it to the beach, but WELL PAST sunset, and with no firewood. Luckly tho this beach is where everyone goes to have a fire and chillax, so we just claimed one that didn’t have people sitting around it. I got some photos, we had a couple of drinks, and had a great time.

We eventually made it back to our street at 1am, and as we said our goodbyes one of the awesome ladies admitted to me that having a fire on the beach was on her bucket list, but they were too worried to do it by themselves. So apparently they saw me as protection….. HA… I really doubt that either of these Ladies (girls at heart) needed my protection.  

Terry Doesn’t speak Italian…..

So I’m on my way to America, but decided to have a 2 day layover in Denmark (mainly so I didn’t miss my connecting flight like last time). I walked off the plane, messed about in the airport for a while and then headed to the train station to figure out which train I needed to get to the city centre and my hostel… I took one look at the 100 friggin platforms and endless screens with departure times (well maybe 10 platforms, and 2 screens…) and walked back to the airport to get back on the free wifi and have myself a good traditional Danish Lunch (Burger King….. HEY, don’t judge me, they had free WiFi…). After devouring my Danish cuisine and researching the net for which train I needed, I managed to get to the right train to near my hostel, and then wander around for an hour working out where the frig the hostel actually was……. Had I noticed the enormous sign with arrows “HOSTEL »»” the first time I walked past it, I could have saved myself 40 minutes, but that’s not how terry rolls.

Today I figured I would spend the day walking around the city centre with my free map I acquired, so I threw on my hiking boots (I spent $150 odd bucks on these bad boys in Australia, I’m going to get my monies worth dammit) and started walking. To those of you who know my talent of getting lost back home even with GPS enabled iPhone, would love to have seen how hard it was for me using this god dammed non interactive map lacking the “YOU ARE HERE blue dot”. And as I found out today, I’m one of those twat tourists you see standing on the street corner with the map fully folded out, rotating it in mid-air, looking around for landmarks that aren’t f’ing there.

After walking around for 3 hours I came across canals with tied up tour-boats loading on wide eyed tourists and a flag on the front of each indicating what language the tour guide would be speaking. I walked up to the ticket booth and found that the English tour boat had sold out till the next run (40 minutes away or something), so I said “I don’t really mind what language they speak, I’m probably not going to listen anyway” so I got my way onto the Italian tour group. Ive always pretended back home that I can speak Italian, having memorised those old “Leggos pasta” adverts on TV back in 2005 which I would rattle off like a pro and seem so much more “cultured” than the xbox playin hick I really am. So I sit down with the 30 other tourists on this boat and we cruise down the canals and around Copenhagen city, not understanding a word that is being said by both the tour group leader and the lady sitting next to me. Eventually I explained to the lady that I didn’t speak Italian (cause nodding my head had workin..) she thought it was hilarious that I was on the boat and didn’t know Italian, so I busted out my Italian spiel to see how convincing it really was. Keep in mind, this spiel last about 30 seconds, and I have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what I’m actually saying, but I’m convincing. She said I had the pronunciation pretty good, but apparently I explained how to make pasta and how good it tastes. So I got to see the sites, learn some more Italian words (tho, I have a feeling the lady may have been lying to me..) and have a gentle relaxing cruise.

Now that I’m back at the hostel (finding my way back was much easier, probably wasn’t the most direct way, but at least I was following my footsteps), ive worked out using google maps that I walked 15km today around the city…. Good thing I had my hiking boots on..

Now to pack my bag again and get ready for the plane to America tomorrow morning   

Leaving Scotland.. Take Two

Sorry for the lack of posts, and photos from scotland. Honest truth, ive been working and sleeping most of the time, and the few moments where it wasnt raining, i was distracted by other stuff. 

So really, other than working at the bar, and the occasional drive to the coast, i havent done a hell of a lot in this Extra 5 weeks here. Im glad my original flight got canceled and i ended up staying here longer. I got to see some people i hadnt had a chance to catch up with, and i ended up working at the pub for the Highland Games. 

Oh and on top of working at the pub for the last month, and then having a huge weekend with the highland games, i wore a kilt behind the bar! haha, i looked like a twit. A couple of weeks ago, i made the mistake of saying infront of some of the regulars at the pub “Anyone got a spare kilt i could wear for the aboyne games”, and next thing you know, everyone is chipping in bits and peices for me to dress up in. 

The kilt i ended up with was more than 40 years old and was worn by an Guinness world record holder while breaking some record at a highland games. I thought i looked like a twat, but a heap of the old locals said i actually looked the part and should have been competing

So my bags are packed, im sitting at the pub waiting for my bus (2 hours, and several pints to drink), and im absolutely not going to have another canceled flight stop me from continuing my journey. Ive made sure that i have 2 days to get to my connecting flight in Copenhagen, so even if my flight tomorrow gets canceled i still have 48 hours to get there and catch my flight to america.

I promise to do more and have some good stories and photos to show you all, once i get to america. Im glad i got to spend more time here in scotland, but im glad to be continuing on now and cause some trouble in the USA

Terry vs the fuel gauge

So, I’m still in Scotland, and haven’t done much for the last couple of weeks, just been working at the local pub to keep me entertained.
But I had the night off last night and decided I would go to see a movie in the city
So the movie was good, I had some dinner and started to head home at midnight. I thought to myself “the fuel gauge it pretty low, I better find a petrol station soon”, but to my pain there is no 24 manned stations here, they are all automatic after 10pm and don’t except my credit card. So I pelted my way back to Aboyne hopping that the fuel gauge was accurate…. 30minutes later, and 2 miles from home.. The car dies…. With the needle still above the empty line. SON OF A BITCH the gauge isnt correct. Sooooo at 2am I find myself pushing the car the last miles to aboyne and into the closed petrol station to abandon it for the night an walk the rest of the way home.

This morning when I returned to the petrol station to get the car and put fuel in now that they were open, all the staff looked at me sooo confused as to why a car had just been dumped in their driveway and an aussie was collecting it now.

Up side, now I know exactly where empty is in the gauge…..

Fog cancels flights, apparently

My month in scotland was up, id enjoyed my time here. Mostly uneventful, as i was happy to just coast along and visit family. Thought my time on the houseboat was awesome. 

The weather seems to be following me and doing whatever it can to mess with my plans. In the month that i had been in scotland, i got 2 sunny days, but otherwise it rained or drizzled the entire month and id barely taken my camera out of my bag. So on thursday, i packed my gear, and headed to the airport to start my journey to america. On the drive to the airport, the fog coming in from the sea was getting thicker and thicker, and i jokingly said to my friend driving “Whats the chance of fog stopping planes? Like this is the 21st century, we have radar and shit”. Calvin dropped me off at the airport and i went through checkin and customs with no problems

I sat watching, out the window of the terminal, the ground crew walking out into the fog and dissapearing. The fog was so thick that i couldnt see the 20 feet out the window, let along the airplane that i assumed was parked at the end of the boarding platform. I started to worry a little, so i wandered over to the departures screen, and watched as all the flights on the screen flicked from “awaiting status” to “CANCELLED, COLLECT LUGGAGE”.

SHIT my flights canceled, i wasnt going to make it to my connecting flight with a different airline in copenhagen, and had no idea how long it was going to be before i found out what was going on. 

One of the amazing ladies at the ticket desk let me borrow the phone (after i spent more than 4 hours in queues) to call Finnair and let them know i wasnt going to make the flight and i would need to move the ticket to a later day. To my horror, Finnair told me that the next flight on tuesday was available, but would be $3400 because it was a different ticket grade to the one i had, and explained that its not their fault that another airlines flight was cancelled and i didnt make it in time for their flight. The only available flight, in the same ticket grade, was for more than a month away on the 10th of august.

WHAT THE HELL, i couldnt believe it, i kept asking the guy on the phone to confirm and hoped that he would eventually say “oh, actually, sorry sir, thats wrong” but nope, it was either fork out $3400 or stay in scotland till the 10th. SOOOO, im staying in scotland. The awesome ticket desk ladies felt so bad for me, that the arranged a taxi for me back to Aboyne (where i have been for the last month)

Thank god ive been lazy and kinda winging this entire trip, because in my awesome fashion, i hadn’t organized anything in america, and would only miss out on my first 2 nights accommodation. 

So i needed a beer, and went into the local pub where i had worked back in 2006. Told my story to Sally (the manager), and without batting an eyelid, she says “So, want your old job back then hey?”, and now im going to be working at the pub again. 

So in the end, im happy, and really not that bad off. Sure im not in america, and spending 6 more weeks here takes 6 weeks away from the america part of my trip, but it could be worse. At least now im going to make a little bit of money (enough to fund my drinking habit and fondness of Scottish cuisine).

WORDS OF ADVISE - To anyone wanting to book a holiday to multiple destinations, or around the world, book it all with one airline………..

oh and travel insurance doesn’t pay dick, when i called them up from the airport, they said the insurance policy for cancelled flights would only cover $750……….. 

Scotland

Hey everyone, so I’ve been a busy fella for the last 5 days.

I’ve been here in Scotland for 3 weeks, and managed to catch up with most of my old friends, and family in the area (apart from a couple of folk who seem to be MIA). Being back in Scotland is great, nothing has changed. The same old crew go into the pub every day, the same people work behind the bar, the shops all have the same stuff in the windows, Aboyne (the town I’m in), has barely changed. The only thing that has changed for me is that my grandfather isn’t here, having passed away 3 months ago. His corner in the lounge room empty, his daily seat at the pub taken by another, it just doesn’t feel right without him. When I worked in the pub 6 years ago (last time I was here), I had to make sure that every day at 11am, I had a nip of whisky and half a pint of beer on the bar ready for him as he walked in, otherwise I would get a barrage of “where’s my drink you ungrateful bastard” with his thick Scottish voice and a chuckle.  

Feels like the bad weather is following me, Cambodia it wouldn’t stop raining, and here in Scotland, I’ve managed to get a couple of hours of sunshine, but other than that, drizzle. With the continuous bad weather here on the east coast of Scotland, I decided I wanted to go for a road trip to the west coast. AND had been invited by a friend I met here in Scotland 5 years ago, to her Bucks party.

Yes, “HER bucks party”. Jen, an awesome young lady I met here in Scotland 5 years ago is getting married in 2 months, and rather than having only a hens party with her chick friends, she wanted to have a Bucks party with her group of male friends. So, the 7 of them hired a house boat on loch ness and Jen asked that I go with them. But more about that later

I drove the 4 hours over the hills and around the coast to the Isle of Skye. The weather wasn’t any better, but the mountains and valleys blow your mind, and when the sun did managed to peak out through the clouds for a moment, it was like something out of Lord of the Rings. I headed up through Skye towards a mountain with a stone column called “The Old Man of Storr”, determined no matter what the weather, to climb up.

I’m not fit, and I’m not built of steep hills, but it was totally worth the hike. The view from the top was amazing, though the wind was determined to push me off the cliff, and the rain was coming in sideways trying to embed itself into my hide.

I camped out in Skye for 2 nights and headed back to Loch Ness to meet up with Jen and the bucks party house boat. 3 Days of drinking, and boating, I couldn’t really ask for much more. It was great, it rained, but being out on loch ness with a beer in one hand and the other blocking the blasting rain from my face, it was epic. We were loudly boated our way through the Loch with ACDC blasting out the speakers, a pirate flag flailing in the wind, Jen dressed as our pirate captain, and the horn blasting, when we found a floating pub boat, moored up and took over. Before we arrived, it was quiet and respectable, with people happily drinking their coffee and beer, having a chat. When we arrived, within minutes we found a guitar and broke out with every song we could half remember and turned that quiet pub into a singing, clapping, and laughing ruckus that everyone joined in with.  Eventually we got kicked out at 11:30 when the pub decided it was best for them to shut than to continue to supply us with drink. Seeing loch ness from a boat is a completely different experience, but a lot of that could probably be from the constant state of inebriation, which when added to the swaying of the boat made for some close encounters.

So now I’m back in Aboyne, and praying for a couple of good days of sun. I haven’t gotten out with my camera nearly enough but I’m still happy to be back in Scotland.