The Thing About The Northern Hemisphere…
by Amanda on November 27, 2009
I s that travel is so accessible and easy. Most of you Northern Hemispherians would not realise what kind of ridiculous ordeal it is to get on a plane and go anywhere from Australia. Try 26 hours to Dublin from Sydney.
Living in Australia or New Zealand means a life devoted to travel needs to be sporadic and worthwhile. We don’t just fly to New York for the weekend, we don’t do a few days in Paris, we don’t even do a week. For us, travel is a big thing, full of as many country stamps in our passports as possible and 18 month hauls in Europe.
In Australia it can take us 2 days to drive to the nearest major city and there isn’t much to see along the way. We are surrounded by sea and even though it’s massive, I call an island my home.
So for me, having a border to another country just 5 minutes down the road BAFFLES my mind. The fact that I can drive on a road that is Canada on one side and America on the other does my head in.
Imagine not being able to talk to your neighbours because they live in another country? Search lights will beam down when your tennis ball goes into someone’s yard. Border guards will shoot you down if you try to take some chocolate chip muffins across the street. How does the Christmas street party work? Do they throw sausages and beer to each other across the border? Do they use megaphones to swap eggnog recipes?
As an Australian who loves to travel, having all these fabulous travel destinations so close by is too tempting. I have about 6 different trips planned already, none of which are likely to happen until I get a real job. The dream list is as follows:
- Seattle for lots of shopping and catching up with friends.
- Christmas in New York (swing by relatives in Boston)
- Paris in the summer with a dash of Spain, Italy and maybe Switzerland.
- Japan, oh Japan.
- Banff
- San Francisco
- Edmonton for my birthday with a road trip through The Rockies.
- Montreal
- UK and Ireland
Instead of always dreaming, we just booked the cheapest flights to Honolulu for January! It will be my 4th real trip to Hawaii and I am beaming at the thought of sunshine and POG juice, plumerias and Maui chips.
What are your travel dreams?
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I never thought of the difficulty of traveling if you live in Australia! No wonder Aussie’s take such long holidays! Your dream trips sound amazing. Japan has been on my list for YEARS. This coming year, I hope to make a trip to Puerto Rico, where my mother is planning to retire…I’m so excited at the prospect of having an excuse to visit a tropical island at least once a year!
P.S. If you or your readers are interested, I am having a giveaway on my blog: http://nothing-elegant.blogspot.com/2009/11/holiday-giveaway-2010-shoes-wall.html
Ooh Puerto Rico sounds lovely.
I keep seeing all these Caribbean and South American holidays advertised for super cheap in the papers here. Those all inclusive deals look nuts!
We don’t see advertisements like that in Australia hehe
Ooh, giveaway looks lovely! I should have another one around here too.
Good heavens, girl. Four times to Hawaii?! I live seven hours (by plane) away and I’ve only been there once and it was 11 years ago. I think I’ll add that to my dream travel list! I just got to cross NYC off my list, and next to go is San Francisco, and someday: New Zealand.
LOL Steph! Well once was only for like 2 days and the first was when I was 7.
I think that’s what happens when things are close by though. I haven’t seen a lot of Australia or been to any of the Pacific islands just near Australia.
let’s see… two places i want to revisit:
paris (preferably in may)
new york (in december)
new places i’d like to visit:
barcelona (to get a gaudi fix)
amsterdam (because it seems like everybody loves it)
buenos aires (to improve my argentine tango)
i never thought of the fact that australia is so far away from everything. i guess your country seems so exotic to a norwegian!
hawaii is lovely! i’ve actually been there – it’s literally on the other side of the earth for me…
Edmonton is on my short list of travel wishes too!
Italy again. Sicily. Amsterdam and Paris.
I need to get to Portland OR and the Oregon coast. And Vancouver this year again. I need to see my sister and soon!
Oh Hawaii…you lucky girl! I have never seen Hawaii.
We don’t have much vacation time to work with here in the US so I am planning my 2010 travel plans at the moment. Unless I start a new job…
-My brother lives in NYC so I’ll visit him again for a long weekend in February, possibly head to Washington DC.
-Savannah, GA with some friends for Spring Break.
-Aiming for a weekend in South Texas to visit my grandpa.
-Also aiming for a trip to Paris and other areas of France in September. Want to come with, Manda?
But if I could dream up other places…
-Still have never seen the PNW…Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver,too.
-Montreal and Quebec
-New Orleans
-Visit my friend in Montana again. So serene there.
-Many, many places in Europe.
-Anywhere, really. :) I tend to enjoy any visit to a new land. Heck, I even get a kick out of little road trips here in the Midwest to a town I’ve never visited before.
I promise to give you my all best adresses if you come to Paris !!! Italy’s gorgeous, and Spain soooo cool. You’re quite right : we’re so used to going all over Europe and North America so easily (especially when you have family in some places). One day, you should try the Greek islands (Hydra …). I’m sure you would love it ;o)
We’re heading to Maui this spring! Do you have any recommendations as to where to stay? We love the small town life of the North Shore on Oahu near Sunset beach.
alright, so you need to add PORTLAND to the list.
for MANY, many reasons. but with amtrak cascades, you can get from main street in vancouver to downtown portland, ROUND TRIP, for 70 bucks. and the train ride is ridiculously beautiful.
one of my biggest reasons for moving to vancouver was the accessibility to everywhere else in the northwest, which i adore! so i understand all the temptation.
my next travel rendezvous? back to south africa in june for the world cup!!
so excited!
but hawaii is sounding pretty good right about now…
cheers to travel dreams! and not having a “real” job!
dani. xoxo..
Nik, our Paris plan is for September actually. It will all depend on money!
I love little road trips too. Anywhere that is different is good for me lol
Thanks Catherine. I will take you up on that. I much prefer to know the local secret places to go rather than usual touristy spots.
Kate, Maui is gorgeous! I stayed on the Kaanapaali side. It’s so beautiful, just beaches and very different to Oahu. Lahaina is the cute little village there. You’ll probably really love Maui if you like the North Shore.
Dani, Portland is definitely on my list, forgot to add it! I love train travel too, so that might be a good option. :)