International travel AND WHERE you land matters most! Ha!
Have you ever thought how wonderful it would be to have your own personal assistant?
Women my vintage always joke about how great it would be to have a 'wife', but I do not do all things for my husband...many things, that's for certain, but not all. He does an enormous amount for me and I treasure that. Tinto, however, was not with me, nor was I with him when we were packing (more like moving) back to this great land of Australia. Packing large quantities and moving them is extremely stressful. You've seen the picture before at the airport: People frantically tossing personal items out of their suitcases or trying to cram them into something else to avoid outrageous fees and this is happening when they are already later than they wanted to be! Angry words are spoken, frustration fills the air, and you don't really want to be a witness. Well, I tried hard to avoid that. I diligently read the airline's luggage rules and for the FIRST time (love those first times!) I dragged my oversized, heavier than Hell luggage UP and I do mean UP my daughter's driveway...at one point I thought it was going to drag me right back down the driveway again...barely managed to get it in the back seat of my car and I drove those suckers to UPS and had the nice UPS woman weigh them. The lovely UPS woman did not want to pick them up and place them on their scales; I did not blame her, so I helped. And...rightio! Each suitcase weighed less than 32 kilos. Yep, that's right. I did it. I did a luggage dance right in the middle of UPS reception while singing 'What a relief!' I kept trying to pick up my grand-daughter whom weighs just a little over 100 pounds, but I couldn't pick her up. So, each time I filled my suitcase with yet another 'thing' and I COULD pick it up...I knew I was close to the maximum weight allowance. AND what do you think that got me? After the reading and research with type written restrictions/instructions so tiny that one needs a magnifying glass I thought I had done my homework properly and no one would be able to question my intentions. Instructions stated 1 large suitcase allowed for international travel and you could purchase second one (up to 32 kilos) for $170.00. That was fine. That dollar amount was far less than shipping and at that point I had decided to leave HEAPS of my life and my Mother's life in Georgia. Those decisions alone are complicated enough, but when you live overseas you need to know that THE most important thing you take with you are the memories. Now I am one person travelling with 2 oversized pieces of luggage, one carry on suitcase, and one extremely large purse - I cheated because I placed my purse inside of a nice BIG BAG to go under the seat in front of me. Impossible for me to get 4 pieces inside of the airport so I went directly to curbside check in. A very old man seemed to grunt at me but after a few moments he looked up over his glasses and said I was allowed 2 large suitcases to go overseas for FREE. WHAAAAAAT? Hells Bells, I did another dance out in the wide open and told him I would dance at his wedding, too. I think he was as happy as I was for the moment. Then...Gheeeeez-Louuuuuuise, Drats, Damn, Darn, he uttered the words, 'But, Ma'am, you're going to have to pay for the excess weight.' WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? I calmly advised him that I had both gigantic pieces weighed and they were under 32 kilos. 32 kilos equal 70.4 pounds. Well, I did not give him the math, but he stated, 'No Ma'am, you're in the red - come look behind at my screen; if you're in the red, you gotta pay.' I took him up on his request. I stepped behind his counter and looked at his screen and sure enough, in red, it stated 68 pounds and 64 pounds. Now, I know I am frustrated but, math is math and no matter who you are...68 pounds and 64 pounds is still LESS THAN 70.4 pounds. He is not budging. He also tells me he cannot assign a seat for my Virgin leg of the flight. Why? I ask. He just can't, he answered. I maintain. I fork over my card feeling like a squashed bug and pay $100.00 a piece for each 'Bend your knees because it's soooo friggin' heavy' piece of luggage. I figured out my ego was damaged. It wasn't the money; still, no matter what if I had sent any extra items any other way it would have cost us far more than that, but it was the fact that I worked really hard and took extra effort every step of the way to ensure nothing would catch me off guard for this flight. I did march inside to the counters where the nice man told me I could probably get my international seat assigned to me, (I already HAD the seat written in the confirmation I was sent), but no one would recognize it. None of this is vastly important but you do have to realize this is why you need to show up early to the airport...IF it can go wrong it probably will. Be a good boy or girl scout and BE PREPARED. Not that it will do you any good...I think, well, I know that having the right attitude serves a passenger better than any other tool he could have in his pocket!
Tinto and I had made plans to meet in Melbourne. Two out of four of Tinto's children live there and he has one incredibly precious almost 3 year old grandson whom we could not wait to see, too. Tinto arrived the night before I flew in. The game changer after flying internationally is to land in a 'soft place' = to settle with family is a beautiful thing. We suffer jetlag in the worst possible way flying to the Southern Hemisphere. It takes us days and sometimes weeks before we get passed the point of feeling like mush and sneaking naps mid afternoon. It is never as bad flying the 'other way'. Not sure why. It IS what it IS.
We are thrilled to tell you that Thornbury, minutes from the central business district of Melbourne, is old, yet new and absolutely groovy, too. People have gone back into Thornbury and rejuvenated the place with quirky cafes, nice restaurants, lots of bars and barbers, hair salons, and the best of all - boutique breweries. We went to one brewery and it was set up for families with a ping pong table, sofas, coffee tables, picnic dining benches...café area up front...and a super Scottish chef! A little bit of everything was on offer including sharing platters with some of the best chicken kebabs and satay sauce we've ever tasted. Many satay sauces look as if someone has melted some peanut butter and a glob is placed on your dish. This sauce was light, fresh, creamy, aromatic and no one said a word while they gobbled the kebabs down except for 'Yummmmmmmy'. Tinto's son in law pointed out a fairly new restaurant whose cuisine was based on New Orleans' style Cajun and Creole; wish we could have tried it, but it was closed. Darn it. Southern Americans refer to this city as: Nawlins!
The best part was even though we were feeling fairly battered and shattered we were surrounded by family in this lovely cocoon. There was no hurry, no rush, everyone fell into this simple routine. We were offered beautiful home cooked meals and fine wine...some of the best wood fired oven pizzas. They were cooked in an outdoor grill and were better than any in a restaurant. Simple pleasures in life remain high on our list. Catching up with family members whom have been out of your life for a long while is a gift.
We did not spend a long time in Thornbury, but it was quality time and we needed to get back to South Australia and face the big chore of putting our lives back together. We struck another dilemma and it involved luggage again. Imagine that! IF we chose a domestic flight from Victoria to South Australia we would have been forced to pay drastic amounts of dollars for our big butt luggage. So...we chose the train. How novel~! The Great Southern Rail - The Overland from Melbourne to Adelaide.
Australia pays millions of dollars in support of the tourism industry and we have beefed up advertising to entice people from around the planet to visit us. Rightly so. Australia has some of the most gorgeous, picturesque terrain in the world - like no other. If we are going to invite people to come and see us and travel from state to state we are going to have to lift our game when it comes to the older trains. We love a good train. Tinto thought this was the best option for us. It was supposed to be an 8 hour journey; it was more like 11 hours. That was not a particularly bad issue, but we did hear comments in front of us and behind us from fellow travelers. We were not on a time schedule; but, others were. I treated myself as a tourist, wide-eyed with wonder at what I was going to see along the way. I should have known. The landscape in western Victoria is much like South Australia...wheat fields and sheep. By the time you have passed the 5th hour of wheat fields you have pretty much seen it all. The female train manager uses her intercom system to alert passengers of any highlights or good sights to view along the trip. At the beginning of our journey the baggage department or rather the baggage man REFUSED to touch our luggage claiming it was over 20 kilos. He was correct! But, he was grumpy and unwilling to help or offer advice and he would not look at us. He finally mumbled we needed to see the conductor. He was very, apparently, over worked and under paid. There are no luggage trolleys at Victoria station. The only way you get a little transport machine is if you are elderly or handicapped, unable to walk. We had HEAPS of suitcases between us and we had to laugh because there was nothing else for us to do~! Tinto left me with the luggage and he scampered off to find our train platform and the conductor. Brief chat - all worked out. It took 3 trips for Tinto to get the baggage where it needed to be placed. We landed some premium economy tickets because of our late booking and no other seats were available. Premium meant meals included, soft drinks, coffee and tea - not much else. The women who were hostesses and the train manager wore Australian Akubra hats and had warm, welcoming, hearty Australian smiles. A 1950's version of a foot rest was offered at most seats. It was bizarre looking, but it did work. No Wi-Fi. Now, before you go criticizing...I do love to immerse myself in a situation and drink in the atmosphere and the scenery, but the landscape was the same and very (sadly) dry. A bit of Wi-Fi would have been good. The train wobbles and squeaks (a lot) so some passengers had a bit of trouble reading. A car went faster than the train. That fact alone went deep into my husband's psyche! Before departure a hostess asks you for your meal choices and then somewhere along the way you are asked to select a beverage. Alcohol has to be purchased in the café car. You are served a meal, but each tray has to be walked out individually by one person. No trolleys are used for meals or beverages; rolling trolleys are only used for late afternoon desserts which we found mind-boggling. Once you consume your meal on a very wobbly seat tray table...you are forced to place it in the aisle next to your seat because no one is around to collect it. Then when passengers get up to go to the loo and the train is rocking from side to side - it is as if a disaster is waiting to happen! The comments from the people in front and behind us were:
Fun to see!
Posted by Blanco of The Roaming Stevens
As Tinto says, 'Happy as a bean.'
Hmmmmmmmmm.
Women my vintage always joke about how great it would be to have a 'wife', but I do not do all things for my husband...many things, that's for certain, but not all. He does an enormous amount for me and I treasure that. Tinto, however, was not with me, nor was I with him when we were packing (more like moving) back to this great land of Australia. Packing large quantities and moving them is extremely stressful. You've seen the picture before at the airport: People frantically tossing personal items out of their suitcases or trying to cram them into something else to avoid outrageous fees and this is happening when they are already later than they wanted to be! Angry words are spoken, frustration fills the air, and you don't really want to be a witness. Well, I tried hard to avoid that. I diligently read the airline's luggage rules and for the FIRST time (love those first times!) I dragged my oversized, heavier than Hell luggage UP and I do mean UP my daughter's driveway...at one point I thought it was going to drag me right back down the driveway again...barely managed to get it in the back seat of my car and I drove those suckers to UPS and had the nice UPS woman weigh them. The lovely UPS woman did not want to pick them up and place them on their scales; I did not blame her, so I helped. And...rightio! Each suitcase weighed less than 32 kilos. Yep, that's right. I did it. I did a luggage dance right in the middle of UPS reception while singing 'What a relief!' I kept trying to pick up my grand-daughter whom weighs just a little over 100 pounds, but I couldn't pick her up. So, each time I filled my suitcase with yet another 'thing' and I COULD pick it up...I knew I was close to the maximum weight allowance. AND what do you think that got me? After the reading and research with type written restrictions/instructions so tiny that one needs a magnifying glass I thought I had done my homework properly and no one would be able to question my intentions. Instructions stated 1 large suitcase allowed for international travel and you could purchase second one (up to 32 kilos) for $170.00. That was fine. That dollar amount was far less than shipping and at that point I had decided to leave HEAPS of my life and my Mother's life in Georgia. Those decisions alone are complicated enough, but when you live overseas you need to know that THE most important thing you take with you are the memories. Now I am one person travelling with 2 oversized pieces of luggage, one carry on suitcase, and one extremely large purse - I cheated because I placed my purse inside of a nice BIG BAG to go under the seat in front of me. Impossible for me to get 4 pieces inside of the airport so I went directly to curbside check in. A very old man seemed to grunt at me but after a few moments he looked up over his glasses and said I was allowed 2 large suitcases to go overseas for FREE. WHAAAAAAT? Hells Bells, I did another dance out in the wide open and told him I would dance at his wedding, too. I think he was as happy as I was for the moment. Then...Gheeeeez-Louuuuuuise, Drats, Damn, Darn, he uttered the words, 'But, Ma'am, you're going to have to pay for the excess weight.' WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? I calmly advised him that I had both gigantic pieces weighed and they were under 32 kilos. 32 kilos equal 70.4 pounds. Well, I did not give him the math, but he stated, 'No Ma'am, you're in the red - come look behind at my screen; if you're in the red, you gotta pay.' I took him up on his request. I stepped behind his counter and looked at his screen and sure enough, in red, it stated 68 pounds and 64 pounds. Now, I know I am frustrated but, math is math and no matter who you are...68 pounds and 64 pounds is still LESS THAN 70.4 pounds. He is not budging. He also tells me he cannot assign a seat for my Virgin leg of the flight. Why? I ask. He just can't, he answered. I maintain. I fork over my card feeling like a squashed bug and pay $100.00 a piece for each 'Bend your knees because it's soooo friggin' heavy' piece of luggage. I figured out my ego was damaged. It wasn't the money; still, no matter what if I had sent any extra items any other way it would have cost us far more than that, but it was the fact that I worked really hard and took extra effort every step of the way to ensure nothing would catch me off guard for this flight. I did march inside to the counters where the nice man told me I could probably get my international seat assigned to me, (I already HAD the seat written in the confirmation I was sent), but no one would recognize it. None of this is vastly important but you do have to realize this is why you need to show up early to the airport...IF it can go wrong it probably will. Be a good boy or girl scout and BE PREPARED. Not that it will do you any good...I think, well, I know that having the right attitude serves a passenger better than any other tool he could have in his pocket!
Tinto and I had made plans to meet in Melbourne. Two out of four of Tinto's children live there and he has one incredibly precious almost 3 year old grandson whom we could not wait to see, too. Tinto arrived the night before I flew in. The game changer after flying internationally is to land in a 'soft place' = to settle with family is a beautiful thing. We suffer jetlag in the worst possible way flying to the Southern Hemisphere. It takes us days and sometimes weeks before we get passed the point of feeling like mush and sneaking naps mid afternoon. It is never as bad flying the 'other way'. Not sure why. It IS what it IS.
We are thrilled to tell you that Thornbury, minutes from the central business district of Melbourne, is old, yet new and absolutely groovy, too. People have gone back into Thornbury and rejuvenated the place with quirky cafes, nice restaurants, lots of bars and barbers, hair salons, and the best of all - boutique breweries. We went to one brewery and it was set up for families with a ping pong table, sofas, coffee tables, picnic dining benches...café area up front...and a super Scottish chef! A little bit of everything was on offer including sharing platters with some of the best chicken kebabs and satay sauce we've ever tasted. Many satay sauces look as if someone has melted some peanut butter and a glob is placed on your dish. This sauce was light, fresh, creamy, aromatic and no one said a word while they gobbled the kebabs down except for 'Yummmmmmmy'. Tinto's son in law pointed out a fairly new restaurant whose cuisine was based on New Orleans' style Cajun and Creole; wish we could have tried it, but it was closed. Darn it. Southern Americans refer to this city as: Nawlins!
The best part was even though we were feeling fairly battered and shattered we were surrounded by family in this lovely cocoon. There was no hurry, no rush, everyone fell into this simple routine. We were offered beautiful home cooked meals and fine wine...some of the best wood fired oven pizzas. They were cooked in an outdoor grill and were better than any in a restaurant. Simple pleasures in life remain high on our list. Catching up with family members whom have been out of your life for a long while is a gift.
We did not spend a long time in Thornbury, but it was quality time and we needed to get back to South Australia and face the big chore of putting our lives back together. We struck another dilemma and it involved luggage again. Imagine that! IF we chose a domestic flight from Victoria to South Australia we would have been forced to pay drastic amounts of dollars for our big butt luggage. So...we chose the train. How novel~! The Great Southern Rail - The Overland from Melbourne to Adelaide.
Australia pays millions of dollars in support of the tourism industry and we have beefed up advertising to entice people from around the planet to visit us. Rightly so. Australia has some of the most gorgeous, picturesque terrain in the world - like no other. If we are going to invite people to come and see us and travel from state to state we are going to have to lift our game when it comes to the older trains. We love a good train. Tinto thought this was the best option for us. It was supposed to be an 8 hour journey; it was more like 11 hours. That was not a particularly bad issue, but we did hear comments in front of us and behind us from fellow travelers. We were not on a time schedule; but, others were. I treated myself as a tourist, wide-eyed with wonder at what I was going to see along the way. I should have known. The landscape in western Victoria is much like South Australia...wheat fields and sheep. By the time you have passed the 5th hour of wheat fields you have pretty much seen it all. The female train manager uses her intercom system to alert passengers of any highlights or good sights to view along the trip. At the beginning of our journey the baggage department or rather the baggage man REFUSED to touch our luggage claiming it was over 20 kilos. He was correct! But, he was grumpy and unwilling to help or offer advice and he would not look at us. He finally mumbled we needed to see the conductor. He was very, apparently, over worked and under paid. There are no luggage trolleys at Victoria station. The only way you get a little transport machine is if you are elderly or handicapped, unable to walk. We had HEAPS of suitcases between us and we had to laugh because there was nothing else for us to do~! Tinto left me with the luggage and he scampered off to find our train platform and the conductor. Brief chat - all worked out. It took 3 trips for Tinto to get the baggage where it needed to be placed. We landed some premium economy tickets because of our late booking and no other seats were available. Premium meant meals included, soft drinks, coffee and tea - not much else. The women who were hostesses and the train manager wore Australian Akubra hats and had warm, welcoming, hearty Australian smiles. A 1950's version of a foot rest was offered at most seats. It was bizarre looking, but it did work. No Wi-Fi. Now, before you go criticizing...I do love to immerse myself in a situation and drink in the atmosphere and the scenery, but the landscape was the same and very (sadly) dry. A bit of Wi-Fi would have been good. The train wobbles and squeaks (a lot) so some passengers had a bit of trouble reading. A car went faster than the train. That fact alone went deep into my husband's psyche! Before departure a hostess asks you for your meal choices and then somewhere along the way you are asked to select a beverage. Alcohol has to be purchased in the café car. You are served a meal, but each tray has to be walked out individually by one person. No trolleys are used for meals or beverages; rolling trolleys are only used for late afternoon desserts which we found mind-boggling. Once you consume your meal on a very wobbly seat tray table...you are forced to place it in the aisle next to your seat because no one is around to collect it. Then when passengers get up to go to the loo and the train is rocking from side to side - it is as if a disaster is waiting to happen! The comments from the people in front and behind us were:
- It's a wreck of a train, but a sweet ride.
- This trip is taking much longer than I expected or we were told.
- The car could use a bit of an update.
- Wish we had an option of Wi-Fi.
- It is much noisier than I expected; the wheels could use a bit of oil!
THE perfect outdoor chair for the harsh Australian sun~!
Shot gun houses sprinkled all through the neighbourhood~! Precious.
No matter where you go...every city/town has its own graffiti artists - more below~!
Quite impressive! Ha!
Look on top of the sign - heaps of cacti planted~!
FAB diner with great truck greeting you at the door.
Fun to see!
Welcome to the artsy-fartsy Melbourne scene and MUSIC, too!
For those people loving LENTILS! We gave it a miss!!!
I suppose every country has their own Alamo, too?????
Aaaaggghhhh...The brewery/super hosts - delicious food, outstanding atmosphere and wonderful personalities. Yes, yes...I'll get the name of the place.
Heaps of really fine beer. Menu is funny. They list all the healthy foods below the 'Unhealthy section' and all the unhealthy foods under the 'Healthy section' - CHEEKY!!!
Mum and son have a sweet moment.
Daddy's boy, too!~
Two sisters and a cherub.
Chillin' in Thornbury.
Jack Daniels: to be found ALL over the world. My birthplace: Tennessee!
Industrial, warehouse...but, lots of laughter - vats of beer to the right! Ping-Pong in the back and you'll receive a warm welcome, too.
Posted by Blanco of The Roaming Stevens
As Tinto says, 'Happy as a bean.'
Hmmmmmmmmm.
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