A sneak peek to where I have been this weekend

Amiens, France - Sept 2014

Where in the world is Mirebella??

Have not blogged in a while. Been meaning to.. Seriously!!  A lot has happened but for the moment - am away  on the other side of the world - no, not Dubai but in Europe!

More stories to come. x

Exhausted.

So freaking tired. Am now in Adelaide for the day after 4 days in Brisbane this week. Then back home for the weekend where I am still working both days before I fly to Adelaide again on Monday.

No rest for the wicked they say!

Travel smart!

Been a while since I last blogged.....



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I travel like Jane Goodall !
You are well known for traveling around and dealing with wild primates, but the people you share the hostel dorm rooms with can sometimes have a human-like charm anyway. Try to resist using them for slave labor.
What type of traveler are you? Take BootsnAll's Travel Quiz to find out.

Gluttons Galore - Malaysia

I am and have been a big piggy.
One of the downsides of being back home is the copious amount of food that you miss when you are away from home.
Yes - there are things that you can find but it never the same. After all, it is always toned down to suit the local palate or even worst, a bastardized version which is past off as the real thing - bleh!
Some of the things I have had so far - let's see
- Nasi lemak bungkus
- Pappa Roti
- Appam balik ( both biasa and garing)
- Cendol
- Chee Cheong Fan
- Vadde
And not to forget
Mum's home cooking!!!!
Indeed - will struggle to get into the saree at this rate. ;)

Sunset over Santa Monica, CA

It has been 3 days since I've been back from break and my mind and body feels like it hasn't been away.
Seriously, I am exhausted at the end of the day ( I was back to work on Monday and we got back to Mel on Sunday evening ) and I feel fat! Blame it on over indulging over the holidays.
I miss not thinking about anything. I went away with friends (BF, P and S) and if I am really honest with myself, there were moments where I wished it was just BF and I. Traveling with other ppl can and is quite stressful and the group dynamics change when it is a foursome as opposed to a duo or threesome.
Lesson learnt I suppose.
I do miss certain parts of things tho. I doubt we will go on a snow break for a bit. We've been going for 5 consecutive yrs so trying something different will be a welcome change.
LA was not as glitzy as it makes itself to be. Sad to say - even sleazy at times.
I left my heart in San Diego and Santa Monica. x

Hollywood ... Baby!

A sneak peek of more to come.

Back home to Melbourne - and... Guess what I brought back with me?

There has to be something I do to bring the stormy weather wherever I go. After the massive thunderstorm experienced in Sydney yday, guess what greets me after a few hrs back home today ??

Pic taken from my coz who lives in a high rise apt in Prahran.

Drowning Sydney

Like drowning rats, Sydneysiders were scurrying all over the place trying to keep dry - most not very successfully.

It doesn't help either that Sydney CBD is geographically very 'hilly' with ups and downs in numerous areas thus making the torrent of water rushing down in large pools esp near pedestrian crossings.

The aftermath? Blackouts to around 20000 households, downed traffic lights with a stop on rail and flight services 16mm falling in 10mins.

Brisbane from the air..

One of the perks of constant work travel is getting to see new things.
Always love my bird eye view of cities esp when you are flying in our flying out.

Here are a few of Brisbane - after the massive floods that hit this beautiful city this yr.

I miss....

Madrid, Spain - all pics (and rights) taken by yours truly - March 2011

Off to the "Mighty West"

Yes, you heard this right - am off to Perth for a mates wedding - flying off in a coupla hours and as always - I have not started packing!!! Oh well .. as always - procrastinating me...

Where I have been.. so far....

Plenty of places left to explore....stopovers don't count!

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Whistler, BC

To continue on from where I left off, Whistler was absolutely AMAZING! So amazing in fact that we've booked our flights for next yr! But I digress..... back to my original blog entry. The intention was to snowboard, and snowboard we did - all 6 days off it. To be honest though,even after 8 days, we really didn't want to leave. The snow was that good. Whistler ski resort itself is made up of 2 mountains - Whistler and Blackcomb. As such, one could spend exploring over 8000+ acres of terrain, parks etc and 200 marked trails from beginner to advanced. Facilities wise, it was good. Having boarded o/s before - it was impressive with amenities and entertainment close at hand.

I met Mario! There is a run named after Nintendo and "Mario", while skiing down the run kept on going "Where is Luigi!" - so funny.

It started snowing every night after day 2 - a little bit of snowball fight was definitely on the list.

Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics so there was still a lot of its memorabilia around the place.

Taking a breather over food and drinks (and watching the English Premier League match at the same time)

At the Peak 2 Peak gondola baby!

Still getting a feel to boarding. Watching little rugrats just zooming past you on a blackrun makes you feel so small sometimes...

More to come....

An off away we go...

It has been close to a month since my last blog update and I do admit, I had WIFI access but blogging on an iPad is nearly close to impossible! Furthermore, it was pretty much go-go-go all the way so the last thing on my mind was blogging. Alas - reality hits and am back to the reality. 2nd day back to work and it is as if I have never left on a near 5 week break. Where did I go? Well, it was an awesome trip that took me across 3 continents and 6 countries. Destination 1 - Vancouver via LA.

The actual destination itself was Whistler, BC. Reason - snow activities i.e snowboarding. Problem was, as we landed in YVR - we heard our names paged on the intercom and was informed that even though we made it on flight, our baggage didn't! It was stopped in LAX by the TSA for random checks and was coming on a later flight which arrives at 5pm. It was 130pm. Thing was, as we were heading to Whistler - the next trip up to Whistler was at midnight - and with no spare warmer clothes, we were sooo screwed. But persevered we did and arrived at Whistler at 5 pm (caught the 230 bus up) and after a quick bite, waited for our bags and our adventures began.

We snagged ourselves some upgrades which meant we ditched cattle class and went slightly up-market to Premium Economy. It was simply a blast flying on Premium Economy with Qantas (this is not a paid post btw); you sit on the UPPER DECK of the A380 - *score*. The cherry on top of the cake was that we had the exit row seats which meant - plenty of leg room and the ease of roaming around without interrupting anyone :)

I could get used to this - and the flight starts with free beer/bubbly! We even got mistaken as newlyweds :))

View of LA as we head into LAX before rushing to catch the next leg to Vancouver (YVR)

People on the upper deck get away with heaps! We took the opportunity to walk down to Economy ~ I've always wanted to walk up onto the upper decks but on these A380's - the airports actually have their walkways set so that it brings you directly upstairs...

Flight path - nearly there - well, somewhat - 14 hr flight - and at this point we had 6 hrs 50 mins left. There is only as much movies and reading one can do before you start getting bored.

On our Air Alaska flight to YVR. Isnt that such a gorgeous view from above?

And fast forwarding to Day 1 - taking 1 of the gondola's up Whistler :)

And.. I am back!

4 1/2 weeks, 6 countries - and I am back "home".

Home, after all is where my bags are in my mind.

Still rather sleepy after no sleep on flight on the Sin-Mel leg last night having me arriving at 7am today.

Had a bit of a kip so am not feeling all that bad. Just hoping I do get more sleep after this so I don't get hit with the jet lag.

Updates and pics to come soon!

OMG!

OMG! I am leaving in 40 hours! I havent even started packing yet!!

Travel Wish List..

So....
Was thinking of places I want to visit - not necessarily soon but definitely before I die.

Pretty sure the list will be never ending but at first thoughts - the top 3 are:

• Sao Paolo, Brazil
• Las Vegas, USA
• Marrakesh, Morocco

Where would you want to visit if money wasn't an issue?

Little things...

What do you do when your flight home is delayed and you have time to burn?

At the Qantas lounge while waiting for my flight which was delayed by 6 hrs.

Taking a breather with a coffee smoothie at the Cafe Vulcan.