Sumpin' Funny

This little guy.

While in Thailand, I had a favorite little morning coffee spot. I'd usually have an Americano or two and read for an hour. This little guy was owned by somebody who worked there. His funny little mug always made me smile on those days he graced our presence. I never saw him retract his tongue.

As for my next travels......not much on the agenda thus far. I've been vegging at my folks house and really appreciate the massive amounts of nothing I've been doing. March has Las Vegas, Tampa (hopefully! an invite-only job fair) and rounding out with the beginning of a San Francisco trip. April? Perhaps a trip to Calgary. And I definitely want to go to Mexico in the next couple of months.

But for now? For now things might be quiet around her.

Changes in Latitude

After Alice Springs, I took off to Sydney for my last few days Down Under. I'd seen all my must see's in Sydney at the beginning of my trip so I was able to just totally chill out- eating good food, drinking lots of coffee and wine and visiting book shops. Alas, all good things must come to an end and on December 13th I flew back to Wyoming. My flips flops were in for a rude awakening as I stepped off the plane into the windy southwest Wyoming night. Mostly it's just been cold but we even had a semi-decent snowstorm one night (coincidentally it was the same night I'd promised my two-year old niece to go to the Chipmunk movie).

I've spent the last two weeks here in SW Wyoming with my family, enjoying seeing Christmas morning through the sleepy (and somewhat confounded) eyes of my itsy bitsy nieces. But the traveling bug has already bitten and I head off tomorrow again..... my short term itinerary is as follows....

Through Jan 3d- NYC (by way of Laramie, WY) to whoop it up with two of my very good friends
Jan 4th- home!
Jan 5th through 10th- Disney World (two of my friends are running in the marathon and I've been graciously offered a spot in their room at the Waldorf Astoria....I contemplated that offer for all of 2.7 seconds)
Mid January for a week to ten days- probably western Montana (checking out the uni, a girl can't travel forever, yanno)
End of Jan- looking like I may be heading to Thailand for 30 days. Nothing set in stone yet.

That's all I got in the hopper so far.

Something I Forgot

Going through my European vacation photos the other night, I came across a photo so hilarious, so odd, so SE Europe that I had to post it- and was surprised that I had not already done so.

This was on the trail of the Plitvice Lakes death march.

As for my next adventures, they start on Monday when I fly to Sydney. The only thing I have planned so far is five nights booked in the Sydney neighborhood of Paddington, renting a room in a Victorian house of three stand-up comedians. What could go wrong?

After that, it does look like I'll be WWOOFing. Trying to get a gig on a cattle station (that's what Aussies call a ranch, apparently) or a creamery (mmmn, cheese).

Updates as I get 'em.

Jasper wants to know.

This is Jasper's best effort to look miserable on a fine, cool, Wyoming morning. I'm not sure but I think she's been reading over my shoulder and can see that I'm prepping some new journeys.

Nothing all too soon.

I don't head out till mid-October. But I'm planning to be back for the holidays. I don't even think my meager plans warrant an itinerary listing. I'm flying to Sydney; I'm gonna do some WWOOFing while in country, likely still go up to Thailand (thinking near Phuket, but not Phuket itself), perhaps Bali, hopefully also New Zealand. I don't know. If I'm enjoying WWOOFing, I may just stay in one spot. Although taking the train all over Oz sounds pretty cool too.

To Brazov!

Not quite 24 hours in Brazov, Romania is far far too little time. And now I just have a hankering to come back in the winter to eat big meals, and be surrounded by hills covered in snow, and kind of get lost in the romance of Transylvania. Still, Brazov in the summer is damn nice.

These outdoor shade coverings (which were everywhere) inspired me and Mizz S's favorite new toast, "To Brazov! PROBABLY the best city in the world!"

This photo was inspired by a dreadfully incompetent good samaritan "photographer" that couldn't take a decent photo to save his life. Here, Mizz S recreates his photog skillz. Yes, I am wearing running shoes. We'd left our luggage in Bucharest and I opted for the comfy and versatile and reflective and vampire-evading shoes.

REVISED (short-term) ITINERARY:
-Aug 13: Fly to Venice, overnight
-Aug 14: get to Slovenia somehow- most likely along the coast
-Aug 15/16: get to Croatia somehow- most definitely along the coast as well as Plitvice Lakes
-Aug 22: fly from Dubrovnik to Istanbul, with lots of bumming around Turkey, and a must-see of Derinkuyu
-Aug 28: USA, USA, USA!

Itinerary Update

Aug 7 - Mizz S arrives, I give her happy ass 36 hours to recuperate then....
Aug 9 - we fly to Bucharest and spend two nights
Aug 11 - car rental in Romania with plans to travel the countryside with a "must see" of Transylvania
mid-Aug - Mizz S and I travel to Croatia for beach time
Aug 23 - a couple of nights booked in Istanbul, and probably a few days driving around
Aug 28 - Mizz S and I go our separate ways, but both depart Turkey for the US
Sept - a little Montana, a little Wyoming, perhaps New Orleans with Martha, NYC with Gretchen, probably a bit of Las Vegas, perhaps Oklahoma with 2my (wink wink to the old nickname dearie)
Oct thru Dec - I am off again, destinations as yet undecided
.....and beyond is unknown.....

Short Term Itinerary, as I see it now

June 27: leave Las Vegas (as stated below)
June 27 - July 7: Green River, Wyoming (family bidness)
July 7 - July 10: Laramie, Wyoming with the fabulous Ms. Tara (it's Jubilee Days- rodeo and street dancin'!)
Sometime around July 11, 12, 13: fly to Europe
Rest of July: Barcelona
Early August: friend S meets me in Spain
Rest of August: S and I bum our way along the Adriatic all the way to Turkey
September: Croatia (once again a solo traveler)
End of September/early October: a couple of weeks in NYC with good friend Gretchen
Mid/late October - ??: southern Asia
After that: You'll know when I know.

It's apparent that I don't have a hard and fast agenda. There's not much about my schedule that's inflexible, and I hope to enjoy the winds pushing me where they may.

As it is today, they're pushing me to stay inside. I'd planned to venture out of the house and take some picturesque photos of the Green River area (they do exist!) but it's cloudy and rainy and I'm enjoying wearing pajamas and drinking tea. I might try to rally up a niece or two to come hang out with me- some of them aren't too old to still think I'm neat.