Try this for a laugh

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/DRXX0005?from=36hr_topnav_business

I just got an email telling me that after a long wait (seriously--over 6 months), our timeshare exchange has gone through!! Next September we will be spending a week at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas on Maui. Woohoo! It is a very fancy resort that is totally no comparison to our very nice but teeny resorts in Puerto Vallarta. We would never be able to afford to stay here

Our website: http://www.playadelsolpv.com/ Their website: http://www.westinkaanapali.com/

Fancy, no????


We were SOOO thinking that our timeshare purchase was a waste of money and perhaps a very bad financial decision. Time will tell, but at least we have one great vacation coming up!!

We are trying to get together with Justin and Kim in February/March to go to Mexico for our timeshare, so that is two fairly free vacations next year! I love having them all planned out ahead of time so I can look forward to them and think abou thow much fun I am going to have. We have two buy-one, get-one for $50 tickets through Alaskan airlines, and since they now fly directly to Maui and Honolulu, we have two more fancy vacations on cheapo prices. I swear, getting those Alaskan airlines visa cards were our absolute best ideas. We always use the free ticket, and we are using the miles for our trip to DR and I used them on a last second flight to Redmond earlier this year. Easy to book, so convenient, and we just use the cards on things we are already going to buy--groceries, etc just so we get the miles as a bonus.

Anyway. Travel!!!!

Things you did not know about Jobie

Jobie and his partner at work, Matt Adams (tee hee, I know), won the Red Bull soapbox derby here in Seattle a couple weeks ago. They fabricated the car and had some other buddies who provided the driving skillz. Pretty cool!

Fire up your snapfish!! I am going to bring my laptop to work with me tomorrow so I can upload my gazzillion Australia pictures for the viewing public. I only have the first week-worth edited, but that is about 600 pictures to peruse so I am sure it will keep y'all busy. I will make one folder for the "all star" pictures if you just want to see the ones that are actually in focus and everyone has their eyes open....

I will use snapfish.com, unless anyone knows of a better site....I am not purchasing from here so I don't really care about the prices so much (I use costco.com), but a site with a good uploading system and a good viewing system would be nice. So....lemme know if you know of one???

On returning home

Where did I leave off??? Okay, we snorkelled, we SCUBAd, we went to the Aboriginal show.......

Thursday, we headed back to Sydney. Our flight was delayed around an hour because the reverse thrusters were not working on our plane. Kinda important. We ended up getting to Sydney around 4pm and checked into our hotel around 4:45. Mom and I were upgraded to a Queen balcony suite because they were all out of cheap crappy economy rooms. We had a nice view over the water, but did not stop to enjoy it...

We all headed out (me as trail guide), and walked across the harbour bridge to the Rocks area. Did some souvenir shopping (well, Mom and Lynne did), then caught a ferry to Darling Harbour. We walked around there, did some serious shopping (more Mom and Lynne.....)then headed to a fancy Italian restaurant overlooking the harbor.

Actually, I did a teeny bit of shopping--I bought a didgeridoo to add to my travel collection. Ethan and I are decorating our living room with things from our travels together--we have a fancy hand carved cane from Jamaica with our wedding date and names engraved on it, sand from Lake Tahoe, a set of glasses with a hand painted juice jug from Puerto Vallarta, etc, etc, etc. We always try to bring something back with us, even if it is just a cool shot glass (which I also bought in Sydney). So. I got a cool didgeridoo with an aboriginal design on it and handpainted birds. Pretty, and I like the colors.

Back to that Italian restaurant. Very fancy with wonderful food. We shared a bottle of wine and enjoyed our last evening together. Afterwards, we walked across the pedestrian bridge crossing the harbor and caught a ferry over to Luna Park, which is just next to the north side of the Harbour Bridge. From there, we walked back to our hotel.

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at our bed-and-breakfast, then caught our shuttle to the airport. Mom and Lynne did MORE shopping, then separated for our flights home.

Vacation is fun, but coming home sucks.

I had the worlds most irritating woman sit next to me on the plane home. She didn't speak English, so she kept trying to give me her customs declaration form to fill out, saying 'no english, no english'. Since I don't know if she has had contact with farm animals or her home address or how much cash she is carrying, I declined. Then she was leaning over me to open and close the window shade. I am in the window seat. That is MY window! Then she was sleeping on me and crowding me and being very irritating.

Anyway.

I landed and all was well. I flew from Sydney with Pat, mom's friend's husband. He is an executive VP of a company in Portland and has boardroom passes for United Airlines. Mom and Lynne were on Qantas, so Pat and I ditched them in the Sydney airport for the comforts of the boardroom. Very nice. Sandwich fixings, juices, fruits, snacks, a full self-serve bar and laptop area. I did some photo editing on my laptop while waiting and passed the time nicely.

Once home, I got my bags and Ethan drove me home. I was feeling fine, so we went out for dinner and drinks at McCoy's, our favorite hangout.

I cannot sleep. I am now on "normal" time, but I lie in bed and do not sleep. It sucks. I am buying Benadryl tonight......

I took over 1200 pictures on this trip. I am in the very slow process of editing them all. All. ALL. I will start putting some up for view once I get them prettied up. Stay tuned...