"If we took a holiday...la la laaaaah"

Why, hello there!

Only me!

I must apologise for my extremely lax blogging activity. There are a few excuses reasons for this:

1. A mahoooosive holiday with the Boy (more on that shortly)

Ok ok! I'm on it!

2. A severe case of Black lung (i.e awful chest infection, one that I won't bore you with the details of. I could barely barely stay awake at work, let alone entertain you with a fabulous piece of writing. Ahem.)

Sooooooo. Let's start at the beginning shall we?!

I guess it should start with Graham and the fact that he turned the big 3-0 in June this year. Ages ago I asked him what he wanted to do. He wanted nothing more than to go home and see all of our families.

This was awesome. But I had bigger plans.

"How about making a bit of a trip of it?" I said. "Haven't you always wanted to visit New York?"

So that's how it started. We then realised you couldn't get to NYC directly from Sydney without stopping in LA, so we thought we may stay there for a couple of days...and then figured we should have a little trip to Vegas whilst we were in the area. Why not??!!

And so the Big Trip was born.

Graham and myself have not actually had a holiday together. When you're from where we are, you normally head to *enter hot and sunny European Country here* for a couple of weeks each year with your other half, way before moving in together, or travelling for example. 

On the way to the Whitsundays.
Idiots.

We like to do things a bit differently, and move to the other side of the world together, 8 months after starting our romance. Seriously. Told you we don't do things by halves!

So as much as we live in harmony (almost) all the time, holidaying together is something fairly alien to us, and so this mammoth month-long trip was quite a big deal. 

4 days sailing in the Whitsunday Islands doesn't quite compare! It also doesn't compare to a 3-month South Asia adventure with my curly-haired companion Raquel. We are 4 years older and as much as I am happy to back pack in Laos...I don't think you could get a 4* accommodation for a fiver in New York....

Gra and I in the Grand Canyon...told
you we don't do things by halves!

May 18th 2012: The day has arrived. We had fallen out before we even got to the airport. HA!

3 days in Vegas and NO sign of Elvis.

A quick stop in Hawaii before arriving in Vegas, 17hrs or so after leaving Sydney. We arrived around midnight, got a quick shower at our amazing hotel, then headed straight out to the strip. It was awesome. It was insane. It was VEGAS BABY!!

The Ballagio Fountains, Cirque du Soleil, gambling at the Paris, not to mention a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon...it felt like we had packed a year into 3 days in Vegas. That place screws with your body clock!

Notice I have all the chips??!!

We loved every second.

Then onto Los Angeles. Our accommodation was in Venice Beach. Just a stones throw from upmarket Santa Monica, but the rawness and air of poverty along the boardwalk at Venice seemed a million miles away from the shiny beach town up the road. I really loved the vibe, it was shabby and it was real - unlike the TV shows have you believing in 90210/Fresh Prince land.

Venice...amazeballs.

If any of my....3 (?) blog fans know me but at all, you will know how utterly obsessed I am about the crazy world of Hollywood (see previous post) so after a scrummy dinner and an early night, our first full day in the City of Angels was spent in HOLLYWOOD!!

Oh. My. God. It was mental.

"BIG mistake. Big. Huge."
Name that film!

We did the TMZ Hollywood tour. Saw the Chateau Marmont. The Viper Room. The Ivy. The Roosevelt, The hairdressers where Britney shaved her head. EVERYTHING! If any of you have seen the TMZ show, or checked out their website, you will get the kind of sentiment the tour was going for. Even Gra (who isn't that partial to having 'Heat' magazine thrust in his face every time I read some scandalous gossip) loved it. It was so much fun, made even better by the fact some crazy couple (who loved 'Kardashians' and 'Real Housewaives' more than me) got engaged...on the tour bus! Ha ha!

Arnie would've been shaking in his boots.

A shop in Kitson, a trip to Malibu and some yummy So-Cal Mexican food finished our trip to LA....

...Or so we thought.

When we got to the airport, we realised (a little too late) that our flight had been changed internally and was flying out of a different terminal. It took 1 hr and 20 minutes to get this information, wait for a shuttle, move 3 miles an hour on said shuttle, queue to see an attendant, get ignored several times before being finally told by the rudest airport attendant ever that we had missed the last flight of the evening from LA to New York.

We were devastated. Due to the time difference, the first flight out the following morning would cause us to miss 7 hours in New York. Not too bad if you are there for a long holiday. Not us. We needed as much time there as possible!

After a miniature (ok massive) strop from me, we decided we should just stay at LAX airport and wait to hopefully get on the 6am flight the next day...

Its funny how each of us reacted to this (major at the time) bump in our otherwise seamless trip. I cried. Gra stepped up, realised he was not going to get ANYWHERE with his sniffling whiny girlfriend and took matter into his own hands. He found a map. He found us food. He found me gossip magazines. He was awesome.

The sleep we got on the rubber couches at McDonald's however, was not.

We can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was awful. On a positive note, it also showed us that in times of stress, we didn't kill each other, we just looked after each other, and helped each other out. It was the same when we were in Manchester airport coming back to Sydney - we (and by 'we' I mean Gra) realised there is nothing worse than an airport with Kelly Adams. If on his own, Gra would chill, grab a coffee and a paper, sit by a window and chill until his flight gets called. Not with me. His new experience featured no coffee or chill, but being dragged around duty free and a manic dash between each and every WH Smith to find 'Heat magazine'!!

So anyway, 6am finally comes around, and by some miracle there were spare seats on the flights from LAX to JFK! I could of kissed the woman at check-in!

I passed out as soon as we took off and slept the whole way.

Don't you feel like you're watching 'Friends'?!

New York.

New York. Yup, it did need a double mention (Sinatra wasn't wrong). What a place. From the moment we got to our funky apartment, we didn't stop. Up at 7am every morning and coming back long after the New York revelry kicked off (which we were usually involved in!) we fitted in everything we wanted to and more in those 5 - well 4 and a bit - days. Broadway shows, Rockefeller, Empire State, Central Park, Hot Dogs, Ellis Island, Reuben Sandwiches, Shoe shopping, Times Square, Breakfast (and presents!) at Tiffany's....you name it, we did/ate it!

A few pictures to give your brain a break...

Getting into the NYC spirit...

At the 'Top of the Rock'

Breakfast at Tiffany's! Audrey, move over!

My belated birthday present from Gra!

On the Brooklyn Bridge

A family affair....

We left New York to head to the Motherland. Back to Blighty. As much as our trip to the U S of A was our holiday, our big trip to celebrate Gra's birthday and to test our holiday compatibility (What do reckon Gra? I say we scored A*!) nothing would compare to getting home and seeing the family.

2 long years we have been away in the land of Kangaroos, Didgeridoos and er...Alf Stewart, so getting to Manchester Airport with 2 sets of parents waiting was by far the highlight of the trip.

Gorgeous baby Lola

The two weeks in the UK went by in such a blur. After being with Graham 24/7 in America, it was weird going home and spending 5 days apart whilst he went away to Anglesey. It was nice though, as it meant we both got to spend quality time with our own families, but then had celebrations to attend together...Gra's 30th birthday party, my mum's 'Kelly's home from Oz' party and Lola's Christening.

A night in Liverpool maaaate!
With Raquel and Fenna...

I also got to spend a night out in Liverpooool with my besties from Uni, then a crazy night out with my girly besties in Southport...safe to know if we ever move back to England, they do a FAR better night out than the Boatshed in Manly!

The girlies hit Southport...til 6am!

When it was finally time to leave, we had overspent, overeaten and overdone the fun...but no matter how many times you do it, nothing prepares you for the blubbering mess you become when it's time to say goodbye. My only saving grace is that my mum had told me her and Layney Bobs (my Auntie Elayne to you) were going to come over. First time. Yesssssssssssssssss!!!!

Gra wasn't too bad saying goodbye. He had seen everyone he wanted to see and we had a fair idea of when were coming back, so he was prepared. He was ready. He was...

....going to have to spend the next 3 weeks comforting me and my homesickness/horrendous chest infection!

I WILL get better, I promise! And when I do, it will be time to move back to the motherland and have those babies everyone is midering me to have (give me time dudes, PLEASE!) 

Until next time,

K x