Money money money...

Day 3

Sleeping patterns still not adjusted. Went to bed at 2am in the hope that I would be so tired I'd wake up at a normal time. Woke up at 5am. Fail. Anyways, today was spent exploring Lucerne (even though I had seen it on my previous trip). My uncle and I decided to act like tourists and blend in with the busloads of Chinese tourists going through all the high-end stores. It's so hard to believe that people would pay so much for some of the items in these stores. The most extravagantly ridiculous item I saw was a watch for $200K. Who needs a watch adorned with diamonds?! Nevertheless, I'll be back to buy in the future when I have so much money that I have no idea what to do with it.

Living the active life in Switzerland...

Safely in Switzerland!! Apologies for any weird typing or symbols that may appear; I'm using a Swiss keyboard and a lot of symbols are switched around, as well as the letters Y and Z. Anyways, let us begin the recount...

*******************************************

Day 1


The trip begins!! The flight from Sydney to Dubai was full, even on an A380. I was right in the middle of a huge soccer academy who I later found out were on their way to Manchester to play some matches. Pretty uneventful flight. Surprisingly I was able to sleep through most of the 14 hours which was quite odd given that I usually find it realy difficult to sleep on planes (unless I'm absolutely exhausted). I guess it's just me getting old haha.

The next adventure begins...

So last time I wrote, I had just finished my USA trip. I had also mentioned that while in NYC, I had received an email inviting me to a final interview with a new company. Well here's how it went down. I had a Skype interview with them the day after I flew back in Sydney, having to suit up in my own room and angle the camera away from all my wall hangings. It was also an odd sensation talking to a screen (which on their end would mean I was not making "eye contact" with them). All in all, it went well and I felt like I had left quite a favourable impression.

And that concludes my USA trip...

Day 18

Honestly these last few days in the US were pretty empty/slow since after Jersey, I was really mellow and going at a very relaxed pace. Day 18 was pretty much dedicated to souvenir shopping. Loaded up with chocolate from the Herscheys store, as well as a few Friends memorabilia from the NBC store, I went and waited in line at TKTS in Times Square for discounted tickets to Avenue Q (40% off). Ended up waiting in line for about 75 minutes before I got my tickets, but thankfully, once you buy once, if you decide to go see another show in the following seven days, you get to go straight to the front of the line. Definitely was going to use that advantage.

Avalon thankfully nothing like the Jersey Shore...

Day 15

ROAD TRIP!! My friend, Dave, who I met while backpacking three years ago lives in New Jersey and he said he would pick me up from Newark (North NJ) and we'd head to his holiday house in Avalon way at the bottom of NJ. A short train ride later, I was in Newark station waiting for my ride. And it was dirty. Not only that, there were hobos everywhere and I actually felt a bit unsafe just sitting in one spot so I constantly walked around. I guess it was my own fault for getting there half an hour early. Upside though was that the station had a strong police presence so that put me at ease slightly.

The city where dreams supposedly come true...

Day 13

After a good night's rest on Jen's couch, I was ready to set out and see what NYC had to offer with Nikki as my tour guide. Unfortunately it was a really gloomy day. Low hanging clouds forced us to postpone our trip up to the top of the Empire State Building, with visibility very poor according to the staff working there. I believe the exact words were "you can go up but I don't see the point". Despite the weather, I still had a really full day in terms of sightseeing. First stop was Grand Central Station, which I initially didn't think was that impressive mainly because I wasn't in the grand foyer part. Once I entered the large open area, I understood why it was such a tourist attraction, but honestly, I thought Antwerp's train station was more impressive (one of the largest in Europe).

I didn't go to Orlando, I went to Harry Potter World...

Day 10

Woke up to pack my things before enjoying one final meal with my cousins at a great little café which called Breakfast Klub (all the C's were replaced with K's so I loved this place). They were famous for their Southern hospitality, which I definitely felt straight away everyone working there, as well as their signature dish of Waffles and Wings. Combined on the same plate, it was an interesting (and delicious) experience to eat wings slightly dusted in sugar. And once you finished the wings, you poured the syrup and ate the waffles. I contemplated dipping the wings in the waffles, but alas, I just wasn't brave enough. Breakfast done, I bid farewell to my cousins and bid farewell to the Lone Star State!