tokyo baby!

it was at the end of our thailand trip, we chose to do a stop over in tokyo! christa was soooo stoked about this part of the trip! tokyo was very very interesting!  we tried our hands at navigating on our own!!! when i first flew in i didnt realize tokyo wasnt right on the water so to speak...it was more inland...when we arrived we took a train into the city, and there were some japanese school boys!!!

it was soooo cold in tokyo, compared to thailand! but we still had awesome tans! once we were in the city i noticed nothing, i mean nothing was in english. we totally got trapped in the subway a few times...i was mostly in awe, tokyo was a huge place with bright signs and sooo many people...everyone bustling about with purpose!

our cab says it all! thank goodness for gps! and disposable everything! we eventually got a map and just wandered around to find a hotel room for the night!  we were soooo hungry!

our hotel room was so tiny hahaha everything was like being in a small motor home...it was funny but we had a great view!  we ventured out to find some food and to see as much as we could...you could get anything you like from a vending machine in tokyo! pretty crazy! tokyo is pretty expensive, but we managed to do ok in that department...

we wandered around with our mouths wide open, and our eyes bright.  it was soooo cold but everything was suprising or interesting and different!!

everything is stacked on top of each other and our reasoning told us that if we went where there were lines of people we would be on to something!! yet, our reasoning failed us this time hahaha... we would stand in line, thinking we were going into a club...then by the time we would get in it was something wacky like a library.  im pretty sure tokyo doesnt sleep... we were hoping to make our way to harajuku to see the girls dressed up like dolls... we had a few ideas... shibuya, ginza etc.  however things were so difficult to find...the only thing i was finally with certainty able to find...was...u guessed it! McDonalds!!! ahhhh so i followed the golden arches into hamburger bliss!

the view from up here was pretty cool too!!!

so finally with a lil food in my belly and out of the cold...my brain started to function and i realized that the guy a few seats over was clearly not japanese...maybe a brit, or scot. so i took the opportunity to start talking to him! whew, what a good idea. he spoke english! which im not going to lie was slightly refreshing for the moment. he explained to us that he was living here in japan and had a girlfriend who was japanese, he spoke fluently and also seemed to be well adjusted to the culture...he decided with our limited time, he would show us around as seamlessly as he could...

i have to say i loved the streets, the architecture...so modern and different from other things i have seen...

we found a fun lil bar and christa and i were welcomed like movie stars, her blonde hair, my blue eyes our tans the girls mobbed us and wanted to take pictures with us! it was so fun!!!

CLICK ME...IM AN AWESOME VIDEO!

this guy in the video was a beatboxer...haha, so awesome! we met up with his girlfriend and goofed around some more in the city... took some cool pics at a photobooth!

although tokyo is an enigma and i really think its not a city to be discovered in one 24hr stopover...we saw some wonderful things and met some really cool people!  just so you know it seems all the bars are on the underground floors...and i think they are open all night long!  but we had to get some sleep and get up early for our flights home!!! xoxo christa! and tokyo!

australia

well while in thailand i met gavin the australian!!! basically we kept in touch with each other and started talking every day...we talked about the idea of visiting each other really soon...we skyped and skyped and one day he just decided i should come there. and the sooner, the better...it was a really interesting idea, a lil bit foolish, a lil whimsical!! but after some consideration i chose to go!  so off i was to australia just in time for easter festivities! i flew out of jfk...to the other side of the world. it seemed like a dream come true! it was a 23 hour flight time...but i love the excitement of travelling and the journey to me is just as important as the destination!!! i had a stop in lax. then i was on the way to sydney!

so i arrived at the airport and my bags got searched! i had the biggest suitcase ever and a ton of tea with me! so apparently they mustve thought i was a mule! hahahha a tea mule! so gav n leigh were waiting for me and we hopped into the back of this awesome vw like van!  gavs sister fiona and her boyfriend were there too... we were on the way to a place called mclean town which is where gavs parents lived...(its a scottish community in new south wales) they have a huge scottish festival and i was excited to get there!!!

we finally got there and met the rest of the family. we went out to a local bar for a dinner and to listen to gavins dad play the bagpipes! it was pretty awesome!

we went to this amazing surfing reserve park...basically the beaches are awesome and so picturesque.  australia is a small town like country. everything is so clean, and they tread so lightly. health and fitness are very important, preservation and conservation as well...its just gorgeous. 

after the beach we went to get ready to go out after dinner to a local bar...i remember thinkin i hadnt seen something so breathtaking as the sky that night.  the bar was on a slope leading down to the beach. the moon was bright...the stars seemed to twinkle down at me.  we had a great evening playing pool and having fun!

it was really a beautiful night!  my new addiction so far was cheeseburger with beets on it! and benson n hedges cigs! hahahaha! so we headed out north there was a jazz festival in byron bay and we were hoping to catch it.  we stopped along the way for food!

the bluesfest woulda been awesome to see but we didnt get tickets...byron bay is the cutest lil beach town full of bohemians and it overlooks the most beautiful bay!  we walked around town and enjoyed the day then started toward mooloolaba which is where gavin lived...

ahhh finally in mooloolaba!!!

we had some pretty good times while i was there with gavin, leigh, and fiona!

we went waterskiing which

was hilarious! i totally had it on video but i lost my camera! so anyway, it was so much fun i was on a tube on the back of the boat laughing and bouncing around like a goofball!!!!

i tried meat pies and all kinds of silly things while i was there, i walked down to the main street and visited the beach early in the morning...it was so peaceful for me. altho things didnt work out for me n gavin i had a great time. fiona and her friends and i had morning mimosas and we went over to a friends house for dinner...it was the coolest house i ever saw!  and of course they had a barbie, and the food was fabulous!!!

one of the last days was spent at noosa heads reserve...i had hoped so much to see a kangaroo or a koala bear, they had cute lil signs with koala crossing on them! i never did see them. but there were big bats that swooped down while we were walking at night down the streets.  the weather was just perfect. noosa was a gorgeous beach and reserve...(we were in the area of the great barrier reef)

i love the freshness of australia...its clean, gorgeous, sunny mostly, and all around just perfect!!! you can get fresh fruit smoothies everywhere!!! so it didnt work out with gavin but i had a nice time with his family, his sister fiona and the girls, and with our friend leigh the scotsman!!! it was a long way home...and i seriously contemplated ditching my flight in sydney and making my way for a lil while... but i got on the flight. and said farewell to an amazing journey to ausi!  the guys from the roots were on my flight from sydney to lax... it was cool sitting next to this guy efraim who was with them...he told me funny stories and made me laugh a lot!!! we passed the time easily, when we arrived in lax apparently we were too early for customs...and so they had our entire flight funnelled into a tiny corridor sweating our asses off and most of the guys instruments and luggage hadnt arrived with us so they were freaking out!  finally the let us through and half of us missed our connecting flights!  oh well... like i said. its an adventure! lol!  finally got a flight to jfk. the guys were heading to philly...it was time to get back home and get back to life, and begin with a fresh new start!!!