Spot the Difference

One of the very first differences I noticed about America was the public bathrooms, actually it was the toilets to be more specific. The toilets flush with such intense ferocity you almost need to step back for fear of being sucked down into an unknown world. There's none of that flushing twice because the toilet paper was left behind like so often happens with Australian toilets. 

    While in Miami I've noticed blinkers seem to be an optional extra while driving. There's no need to consistently let people know you will be turning or changing lanes. If anyone around you has a problem with it they can just beep their horn. It really is a much better system than a blinking light on the corner of your car. 

    They're also quite honest about their food. Whether they're telling you the food is gross. 

Or letting you know the food just isn't that attractive. 

Unique New York

    Brace yourselves. The long blog post is coming...

    New York is a fast paced city and there's no time for blogging if you want to keep up. So I'm sitting in my sister and brother-in-law's study in "sunny" (the sun is yet to reveal itself) Florida telling you about my adventures in New York.

 

Plane ride

    My Sydney Airport experience all began witnessing an encounter of the cute kind. A young Asian boy was waiting in the check-in line with his family behind me and then all of a sudden I hear a little Asian girl call out to the boy across the zig-zagged barriers. He then called out to her with such delight and surprise. They ran towards each other under the barriers as though they hadn't seen each other in years. They were so excited jumping, holding hands and skipping around. I later discovered they were in kindergarten at the same school and had only seen each other a few days before.

    I actually scored the most comfortable seat on the first plane. "Comfortable" compared to the rest of the economy seats. I tried to select my seat earlier online, but the website decided it didn't want to cooperate. I thought surely I would be forced into a seat in the centre, but the opposite occurred. I was given a seat that many people pay for in advance. I got myself a window seat in the emergency exit. My short legs had more room than necessary. By the time I got off the second flight my legs actually did feel like jelly, but I managed to stay upright.

 

Sisters Reunited

    Our reunion wasn't exactly like the cute reunion at Sydney Airport. As I slowly wheeled my two large suitcases with my jelly legs I saw this figure running towards me. After a few paces I realised it was my sister, but I continued at the same jelly legged speed. From then it felt as though we hadn't been separated for a year. One minute we were all laughs and then the next minute the gloves came off, but only figuratively. It was too cold for that to happen literally.

You Know You Love Me
    We had scheduled a Gossip Girl tour for our last day, but with our flight being pushed forward and staying outside the city for our last two nights we decided it was not a good idea to go. But after my GG marathon before we left, I decided we should go to some of the show's locations throughout our short NY stay. So C and A were spotted at Grand Central Terminal, at Central Park "feeding" the ducks, on the steps of the Met (unfortunately we had already eaten our yoghurt that day) and at The Palace.

Cultured Occasions
    We didn't just stop our Met visit at the steps, we also went inside. It wasn't originally on our itinerary, but the rain made sure our schedule was edited. Like the rest of NY, The Met is rather large, crowded and too big to experience in a day. Alicia (the sister), Carlos (the brother-in-law) and I each chose a section to look at. The sculptures seemed to have a lot of unhappy faces, the armour was rather fancy and the furniture provided me with some great decorating ideas.
    The Nutcracker by the New York City Ballet was also on our schedule. It seemed we weren't the only ones who had the great idea to see the show. Our good friends Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise were also enjoying themselves a bit of NY culture. Just two rows in front of us, it wasn't until intermission when the lights came on and my speechless sister punched me that our attention was drawn to the celebrities. I wouldn't believe all the rumours your hear about Suri being a brat. She sat more quietly than the children sitting directly in front of us and excitedly clapped when the curtain was raised for the second half of the show.
    We also attempted to get cultured at the New York Public Library, but our late finish of a tour and dodgy directions resulted in us arriving at the library at closing time. It was actually on our walk to the library that we discovered the recipe for the most efficient way to walk through NY city street crowds.
Step 1: Walk into oncoming crowds.
Step 2: look directly ahead with an expression that says you're important and don't believe in stepping aside.
Step 3: The crowds part like the Red Sea.

Ain't Snow Body Got Time for That
    I was dreaming of a white Christmas until the I saw the forecast for my NY stay. After the disappointment of a sunny forecast there were still very low hopes of snow, which matched the amount of snow we saw. On two separate days it snowed for approximately two minutes and we found a squared metre of snow on the footpath sidewalk that of course we posed with.
 

It's Christmas Time in the City
    NY really goes above and beyond with the Christmas spirit. The window displays, oversized street decorations and Christmas trees scattered throughout the city rivaled anything in my imagination. SantaLand at Macy's is stunning, or so I hear. The minimum three hour wait prevented us going inside. The Rockette's Christmas Spectacular was as spectacular as the rest of the city. Our seats were literally front and centre so it felt as though we were high kicking along with the intensely rehearsed dancers. We spent Christmas day out of the city with Carlos' friend, wife and one year old child on Long Island. We were treated to a delicious feast, which included prawns shrimp and thousand island dressing, so it felt a little more like home.

People of New York
    We came across a few characters in our travels, most notably Candy Girl and Mr Oh-Hell-No. My sister and I saw Candy Girl while in Central Park. She was about one year old, sitting in a pram looking like a pink marshmallow in her outfit to keep out the cold. Her facial expression was the direct opposite of her bright outfit. It said "Really Mum Mom? The park? Again? But we come here so much." But then as soon as her mom came over to take a photo of her she discovered a huge smile and suddenly pulled out a candy cane and started posing with it.
    Mr Oh-Hell-No stumbled upon us during our tour. We had just exited the Grand Central Terminal and crossed the street. We were in the process of condensing our group so we weren't in the way and then we hear "Oh! Heeeelll No! How am I gonna get through this?" This being us. The tour guide responded, "Just say excuse me and go around." The answer to that? "Oh no! I said 'Oh heeeeell no!'" He conveniently arrived right after the tour guide was talking about the characters of New York.

Stay tuned to later posts for photos and videos of my NY adventures.

Coming to America

    It's the post you've all (all zero subscribers and about 30 readers) been waiting for... It's finally the day I leave for my grand adventure. It's been years in the making and here it is.

 

   Before I leave I offer you my blogger's guarantee. I solemnly swear to update my blog as often as I can whilst avoiding excessive global roaming data charges. I also pledge to continue my promise of including words in my posts. And I vow that not all included photos will be selfies.

 

    Yours sincerely,

Your favourite blogger (assuming you only read this blog, but that would also make me your least favourite blogger), 

Clary

Sleepless and I'm Not Even Going to Seattle

    The sleepless night I predicted has arrived. I was feeling tired so as any other tired person might do, I went to bed. But then it began. First the headache, which led to getting out of bed and then the realisation that even though it's after 1am, I'm not at all tired anymore. Perhaps it's because my body clock is already so conveniently adjusted to New York time. What did I do with my newly discovered vigour (other than update my blog)? Well I packed some more things into one of the suitcases I bought yesterday. Yes, it is true, the dreams of creating The Sisterhood of the Travelling Suitcase have indeed been shattered with the purchase of a second suitcase in Australia. Requests for Aussie essentials like Tim Tams were just too much for one poor little suitcase. I will deny all accusations that my clothes, shoes and other items are the reason for needing to travel out with a second suitcase.

    And now I would say goodnight, but let's face it, it's morning in both Australia and New York. Plus goodnight kind of implies the intention of sleep, which I don't see happening just yet. So for now I will say (or sing) so long, farewell...

All The Small Things

    In the lead up to my BIG adventure, it's about the little things.

 

    Upon checking the weight allowance of my suitcase I was pleasantly pleased totally excited to discover I have a two piece luggage plan, which means I can bring home an entire suitcase full of shopping. I'm not saying I will, just that I can. And even better? My sister said I can have one of the suitcases she took over, which actually used to be our mum's. I guess it'll be like The Sisterhood of the Travelling Suitcase. I've never seen The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, but based on the title it sounds like a bunch of girls share the same pair of pants.

 

    At the moment it's also about the finer details, like double checking flight times. I'd hate to miss a flight or have an awkwardly early airport arrival. It's standard that I'll arrive far earlier than necessary which will be somewhat awkward, but I'd like to avoid extreme awkwardness. I've also been checking what I can take on the plane. According to the websites I've visited, aerosoles are not okay in my carry on, but are okay in my checked luggage. Explosives and deadly chemicals, on the other hand, are not okay in any of my luggage. Looks like I'll be leaving the fireworks at home.

 

    It's also about the small number of days until I leave - 6.58333333 days if you want to be exact.* Small talk this week could go a little like this...

Friend/Acquaintance/Frenemy/Relative/Colleague/Customer: "Are  you doing anything next week?"
"Oh, you know, just going to America," I will casually (yeah... completely casually) reply.

 

Questions like "What are you up to next week?" and "Got anything on next week?" would also elicit the same response.

 

    It's also about my smalls. Yes, literally my underwear. I can't forget to pack a sufficient amount like when I went to New Caledonia. There I go blogging about my unmentionables again.

    Right now life is also about those small moments of clarity on stage. Hidden beneath the intense make-up, the performance face and practised choreography at my dance concert yesterday was the realisation I get to experience the same immense and unique joy of dancing on the other side of the world.

    Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference.

*The figure stated was not even exact at the time of posting because the post took a little longer to write than previously anticipated.