Thongs & Piss

Well, the title was supposed to be funny, but after reading it...I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea! ha

Thongs are flip-flops
Piss is beer

hahahahaha...not so bad now, huh?

And here we go...the last few days of my trip!


Sunday, Dec. 13th
-My last FULL day in Oz! :(
-Today we woke up and get ready, then waited for Gab to have her morning nap before checking out of the apartment.
-We ventured to Carillion City (another mall) in the main area of Perth. I found a few more souvenirs and we had lunch in the food court.
-Then we decided to make the trip up to King's Park again so I could take pictures in the daylight! ha :) The sun was SOOOOO hot, it felt like it was cooking us on the spot. It was about 110F that day.

view of Perth from King's Park during the day

-We made one last stop at Woolworth's for some snacks and then it was time for me to check in at the hotel.
-I hated saying goodbye to my dear friends, but it was that time! :( We said our goodbyes and I watched them drive off.
-I spent the evening at the hotel...packing, resting, surfing the internet, etc. I had dinner at the restaurant there on the property and attempted to get myself to sleep EARLY. I didn't sleep well, but it was a nice thought. ha


Monday, Dec. 14th
-Today my journey home begins....*sigh*
-I am sad to leave this beautiful weather, but am looking forward to being home in my own bed!
-Checked in bright and early at the airport. A lady doing marketing research came around and spent 20 minutes asking me about my trip. She was quite excited that I was American because she said they don't see many Americans at the Perth airport. (Most people fly into Sydney.) The flight wasn't full, which was really nice! I must be getting used to the long flights...this one went more smoothly! :)
-I arrived in Hong Kong and made it through immigration. It was a long line, but per usual they moved us along fairly quickly.
-I finally figured out where to store my luggage at the airport so I didn't have to drag my carry-on suitcase around with me. Then it was quite a process to figure out how to get to the ferry station for my tour. Goodness! It gave me a headache trying to get directions, but after many conflicting comments...I made it there!
-Symphony of Lights Harbour Cruise

• so worth the hassle to get to the ferry station!
• rode a boat around the harbour and watched all the buildings light up, some in time to the music played on the boat
• open bar on the boat was nice too! ha ;)
• HK is such a pretty place...and I can only imagine the electric bill! :p

our boat

views from around the harbour

-I came back to the airport and had dinner. Managed to find an open lounge (a few hotels have rest lounges in the airport) and got settled into my own little suite with a daybed and bathroom/shower. It was well worth the money (cheaper than 1 night at a hotel) since I got to sleep in an actual bed and take a shower/change clothes before the next long leg of the journey!


Tuesday, Dec. 15th
-My "partial" Groundhog Day! :p
-I got ready and had a hot breakfast in the lounge. I've never had baked beans with eggs for breakfast, but it was good. hahaha
-I had some time to waste, so I searched the airport for a few elusive souvenirs and managed to find them! It's been nice walking around all this time since I'll be stuck in a seat for 15 hours!
-Plane was supposed to board early, but of course that didn't happen. I also got stuck by a window this time, so I'm not sure how well this flight will go (still ended up being okay). At least this flight was shorter than the last flight between Newark and HK! Why didn't they take this route on the way here? :p
-We landed in Newark and I made my way through customs one final time on this trip! They definitely should have checked my bags, but the goof working the line taking the customs slips didn't read mine or didn't care. haha So I had a shortened trip without getting my bags scanned! ;)
-I took the monorail from Terminal B to Terminal A and once again made it through security. It's always an experience in New Jersey!
-I had to wait several hours for my flight to Indy and once again dealt with flight delays. We left an hour late, but luckily the plane was practically empty. I slept all but about 20 minutes of the flight! ha I was asleep before we took off, woke up long enough to hear the captain say we were cleared for departure, and fell back asleep before we were off the ground. Think I was tired?!?
-We made it to Indy 45 minutes late and I made my way to baggage carousels. With so few people on the flight I figured it would be easy to grab my luggage, but wait...where is my luggage?? Argh!! I take a deep breath and march over to the Continental office and thankfully, I can see my polka-dotted suitcase sitting there through the glass window! I walk in and say, you have my luggage. :) The guy says, yeah it's been here awhile. Somehow I just knew that would happen since there was an Indy flight that left right after I got through security (I wanted to get on that flight, but they didn't have any open seats). All I cared is that my luggage did make it back!
-I walked outside and woah!!! The cold air took my breath away! Thankfully Jenna was quick making it to the pick-up area from the cell waiting area. Hard to believe my trip is now officially over.

**For more pictures, check out my facebook albums!


Thank you Pete, Karissa, and Gabriella for letting me come visit! Hopefully I'll be back one day! :)