So what finally drove me here? Something about a 2 month work-holiday overseas adventure!
That's the "best of times" part. The "worst" part? All the wretched work that has to be done before blast-off!! No matter how hard I try, I've never yet had a trip where I haven't been working like a slave right up until my flight is called. And then on the plane until the laptop battery runs out.......which is a killer if the person in front decides they want to recline. But I digress.
Where are we going? I hear you cry. Well, prepare to drool, folks.
Trip is thus:
April 24: Head to Adelaide for much Easter love with hometown friends and fam.
April 29: Fly to San Franscisco, grab car and try not to kill jetlagged self driving south to the gorgeous Santa Cruz. Hole up at Pleasure Point Beach Cottage (avec hot tub, free bicycles, and surfing lessons on tap) and settle in for a month's awesome work on fleet dynamics modelling with esteemed colleague, Prof. Marc. Mangel of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
May 21: Sean arrives! Yay!
May 27: Head to San Francisco for 3 nights of fun in one of my favourite cities
May 30: Fly down to L.A. and head to Disneyland for 4 nights to let our inner children loose.
June 3: South of the border to Cancun, Mexico. 4 nights of margaritas, Caribbean beaches and swimming with whale sharks
June 7: 7 days of car rental to fang around and check out more Mayan ruins than you can poke a stick at, staying at Valladolid, Merida, Pelanque and Calakmul. Hope the GPS is in good working order!
June 12: 5 nights at Playa del Carmen, soaking up the Caribbean. Diving, markets and serious relaxation are on the agenda.
June 17: Head down to Ecuador for a couple of nights in Quito.
June 19: Fly to the Galapagos for 8 days of island hopping, diving, mountain biking and interacting with sealions, blue footed boobies, marine igunas, Darwin's finches and Lonesome George the tortoise.
June 26: A couple more days in Quito to make sure we've consumed enough guinea pigs.
June 29: Fly home.
July 4: Nat heads back to S.A. to hopefully join a week-long Great White Shark research cruise, tagging and cage diving with these amazing beasts.
So there you have it. Yes, I'm pretty darn excited. Look, here I am having a kiss from Hercules. (Man. I look damn tired. Most unattractive. That's what working 8 weekends straight will do to you).
Hercie and Pickwick are going to have a holiday with Auntie Kat and Uncle Dave. Thanks, Kat and Dave (big hugs). We'd love to take our boys with us, especially as my beach cottage in Santa Cruz is dog-friendly, but that quarantine thing is a bummer. So Pickwick and Herc will be having fun with Panda Bear and Nonnie and new cousin Sebastian.
For the humans, buckle up and prepare for a wild ride as we explore California and Latin America!!!
Thanks for reading, it'll be a blast sharing our adventures with you.
Natalie xx
There's just one moon and one golden sun, but a smile means friendship for everyone, there's so much that we share, and we're all well aware, it's a small world after all....
ReplyDeleteARGH! I blame you for this!!!!!