Port Douglas, Australia

We spent most of our trip in Port Douglas, which is right by the Great Barrier Reef. It was a cute little town and seriously beautiful. The Ocean was amazing and I loved spending time by it every day. We had pretty good weather while we were there. It is winter over in Australia now so it was a little cooler then usual. Sydney was a lot colder since it is further south but Port Douglas was much warmer. Below is the resort we stayed at while we were there. We didn't spend much time at it since we were always out doing stuff but it was really nice and relaxing. This just wasn't a 'relax by the pool' kind of trip for us! :)

This was the harbor right outside of the main strip of Port Douglas and here are a few pictures of the town area.

We saw a couple getting married at this old church by the beach

They drive on the other side of the road there and you drive on the other side of the car. And the car's are all stick shifts so Guy had to figure out how to do that with his left hand. Don't ask me how he did it, I never could have!! But really by the end of our trip, he had it down and it didn't take quite as much thought. When he first started we would sit and think out loud which way he had to turn cause it just so confusing! And, since Port Douglas was so small they just had a lot of roundabouts instead of stoplights so they were hard to do. We were glad when there was a car in front of us so we could just follow them!

This was our awesome ride that we rented! I could not get used to getting in on the other side of the car. I would always go to the 'driver side' and Guy make fun of me and ask if I was planning on driving this time! And it was hard when we were crossing a street cause we would look both ways the way we do in the U.S. when really the cars were coming the opposite ways.

The ocean my first night there. It was breathtaking! I am definately getting excited to live by an ocean soon. To me there is just nothing more relaxing!

Food was SOOO expensive over there. We were shocked by it and were way too cheap to be spending that much on food. Seriously, just a regular sized candy bar was like $4.00. And for me to get my diet coke fix, it would cost me about the same for just one can.  Outrageous! The cheapest food we could find was at Hungry Jacks, same as Burger King here. I really hate Burger King but endured it for a meal out of hunger! In Port Douglas, there was no fast food chains or anything so we had to spend way more on food then planned.

We went to the grocery store and laughed at all the foods that we had that were just named other things. But really, the grocery store was filled with brands we didn't know of and I decided I could never leave the U.S. because I would miss our food. We decided if we both lived in Australia we would both be really skinny because we wouldn't be able to afford to eat!

We ate pizza a lot because we could share it easily. This is me on my first night there after my long flights. It was funny because since it was winter over there, it would get dark at 6:00 and literally the whole town would shut down except for all the bars. So, that first night we went home and I laid on the bed and literally fell asleep in 5 seconds. I did this every night for the first few nights and Guy who was already used to the 15 hour time change, would just hang out by himself until he got tired. So I would wake up and find like all our seashells cleaned and in rows by the sink and it would make me laugh. But I got used to the time change eventually...it was the coming back to Texas time that almost killed me!

Lots more pictures to come....

Guy's Conference in Australia

I thought I'd start and post a few pictures from Guy's week in Australia without me. I don't have much commentary since I wasn't there, but I just wanted to get the pictures on here so we have them in order and not just on a file on our computer. He went to Port Douglas for a conference with his company and was able to meet a lot of great people from all over the world. It really was an amazing experience for him and we are so grateful that he was chosen to go.

This is the eco-friendly resort they stayed at. It was in the rainforest right by the ocean and it was so beautiful. Guy took me to see it when I got there and I loved it. It was really outdoorsy and natural...you had to walk through the rainforest to get everywhere and the scenery was gorgeous!

Here is where they ate all their meals each day...such a great view!

Everyone stayed in these little cabins all throughout the rainforest

The beach by their resort

They spent a few days doing service projects for the Mossman community, which is a local community right outside of Port Douglas.

Patrick, Dean, Jaime, Nikki, Graham

A local aboriginal tribe came and performed for them one night. This guy is playing the didgeridoo which sounds really cool. We heard people playing them all over Sydney. Michael (Australia), Laura (Spain), Skye (Australia), Patrick (Chicago), Shannon (Australia), Dwight (Italy), Scottie (England), and Hamlet (New York)

Guy had an amazing time and enjoyed every second of his conference there. I was able to meet a few people that he met when I got there too which was fun. So thats a little about his week...now on to the next week when I finally got there after my dreaded flight. I'm gonna have to break it down in a few posts cause we literally took so many pictures but I'll get them up soon :)

My "New" Worst Flight EVER!

So, I guess to start posting about our trip, I need to start from the beginning. And that would mean starting with my flight out there. I know, I am devoting another entire post about flying again but really this flight deserves its own post. It became my new #1 worst flight! I really have the worst luck when it comes to flying and I am apologizing in advance because this post is SO long...

My flight schedule to get to Australia had a lot of stops. Columbus to Dallas, Dallas to L.A., and then L.A. to Brisbane Australia. Not fun but with no kids it was not a big deal, I thought.  So I arrive at the Columbus airport to catch my flight to Dallas and found out that it was delayed an hour. Instead of leaving at 4, it was now taking off at 5 so I would miss my connecting flight at 6:30 in Dallas. But it turned out to not be a big deal. They just switched me to a 7:30 flight leaving from Dallas to L.A. and it still gave me 4 hours at the L.A. airport before my flight took off to Australia.

I landed in Dallas and looked up at the screen to see where my next gate was and saw that the plane I was supposed to be getting on was delayed until 11:55 pm.  I seriously thought I was just seeing things and just sat there staring at the screen. I could not believe it! So I hopped on the train thing again and went to my gate and the line was about 30 people long. Everyone was trying to get on an earlier flight.  They had 2 other flights leaving for L.A., one at 8:30 and another at 9:30 but they were both full.  So I went to the 8:30 desk and told the guy there that I needed to get on this flight because I had a connecting flight to Australia and flights to Australia only leave once a day.  He basically said there was nothing he could do and put me on a standby list.  So I showed up as like number 30 on this standby list, which eventually got up to 80. I have no idea why they even make a standby list that large for an already full flight. It's just dumb.  And the even dumber thing, is that on American Airlines, if you are not a "priority access" member then they basically don't give you the time of day. Anyone that is a frequent flyer/priority access member with American immediately gets bumped to the front of the line. So I watched as my name went from 30 on the standby list to 40 and so on. Not that I had hope at 30 of getting on the plane but still...

So, the 8:30 flight came and left and I was still stuck at the airport. I ran over to the 9:30 desk to hear the same story and I was devastated. So I sat down, and this guy sitting next to me starting talking to me and asking what was going on. So I told him my whole story and he told me that he was from L.A. and he would just give me his seat since he was just heading home.  So I ran up to the desk and told the lady there that he would switch with me and she basically said it could not be done. If he gave up his seat he it would be given to the person who was #1 on the standby list. I told her that made no sense but she would not budge. So, I did what I had been holding back the whole night. I started to cry...and it was not a pretty cry but I did not care. I seriously could not believe this was happening. Somehow she must have felt sorry for me because she told me she would give me the highest access she could and I watched as my name jumped from 45 on the standby list to number 4. So, the guy told me that if I moved to the #1 spot but there was not a seat for me on the plane to have them come get him off the plane and he would still give me his seat. Seriously he was the nicest man ever and I was so grateful for how helpful he was. But luckily, there happened to be a seat for me so I was able to get on the plane! It was a miracle!

So we arrive in L.A. and there is not a gate open for our plane to park so we sit on the plane for 20 minutes. It was torture especially since it was past the time my flight to Brisbane was leaving and the Sydney one was taking off shortly.  I met a lady behind me who was on my same flight so we stuck together getting off the plane. We ran off and there was this little Chinese lady who could hardly speak English, yelling out "Flights to Australia!" So we ran up to her and she said we were going to have to run to catch this flight.  In L.A. you have to run out of the domestic terminal and the International terminal is next door to it.  So we start running but we are faster then her so we keep turning around and yelling to her if we were going the right way. It was chaos. And she was running with this walkie talkie in her hand and I kept asking her if she could call over and tell them we were on our way so they would hold the plane but she kept saying, "No, you just need to run faster." Oh my gosh! So, I realized I am no longer in marathon shape because that run with all my luggage almost did me in but we made it over to the Qantas desk.  The guys there were so rude and told us the Sydney flight was full and we had missed our flight to Brisbane.  There was nothing they could do and we would have to wait until 11:30 the next night to leave for Australia. Awesome!

So American gave us a hotel and we spent the night there. I was glad to not be stuck in L.A. by myself. The lady who missed the flight too was from Australia and she was really cool so it was fun to hang out with her. But it was different because for her, she was getting an extra day in the states whereas for me, I was now missing a day of my already short vacation. I was bummed.  I really wanted to just stay in the hotel all day and feel sorry for myself but she wanted to shop in America. So we found a mall the next day and I pretty much sat there while she tried on the whole mall and then bought most of it.  It was just a long day and I was so upset to still be in L.A.  I also had no way of getting in touch with Guy. The time change made it tough and his cell phone was not working. I finally called the resort he was staying at and told him the bad news. Luckily, I called him early enough that he was able to book a spot on a boat to go diving that day so it made me happy at least that he had something fun to do.

Sharon and I on the L.A. bus

So this is the part of the story that makes me SO mad. We arrive at the airport later to check in for our flight and the guy at the Qantas desk asks us how we missed our flight. So we tell him the whole story and he says, "Oh, the flight to Brisbane was 30 minutes late leaving last night. They were waiting for somebody." And we were like, "WHAT!" So what happened is that really we could have made our flight. It was waiting for us. But NO ONE told us that. The flight to Brisbane Australia is the only one that leaves out of the domestic terminal instead of international and it turned out that it was only 2 gates away from where we landed. 2 gates! We could have been there in 5 seconds. But the Chinese lady said flights to Australia so we just followed her, right past our gate. And when we got to the international terminal they said nothing to us about our plane still being there. When we looked at the screens, we did not see a flight to Brisbane and we thought it was because it had already left. But really, it was because it was in the other terminal. It turns out our plane took off when we were on the shuttle on our way to the hotel. I honestly wish I had never found this out because it just makes it all worse!

The Qantas plane I rode on that finally got me to Australia

But I got on the flight and seriously the 15 hour flight was not bad at all. I slept for half of it and then they had screens in front of every seat with tons of new movies on them so I just spent the rest of the time watching those. I think I was just grateful to finally be on that flight! Once I landed in Australia I had to catch a short flight up to Cairns and then I was finally reunited with Guy and the vacation could begin!

Cairns Airport in Queensland

So from all this drama and the huge delay I had with my kids on my way to Columbus, I have decided that I am done flying on American Airlines. Never again! I can understand one delayed flight but I just had one too many all in a row. I am filing a huge complaint and I'm hoping I can get something out of it. I deserve something, don't you think??  I mean, I missed 24 hours of my trip that I can never get back.  We'll see what happens...

I promise the next post will really be about Australia and have lots of pictures. I just had to get this complaining post out of the way! :) We took SO many pictures there that it is taking me forever to sort through them all but I'm excited to share them!

Private Now

Well, we made it back from Australia and it was SO amazing! Seriously the coolest place I have ever been! I will post all our pictures once we have recovered and life gets back to normal. Right now Guy and I are seriously walking zombies trying to get used to Texas time again after the 15 hour time change!

So in the mean time, I thought I'd just officially make my blog private real quick.  You can keep your blog readers with my old blog (http://sweetandsimplemoments.blogspot.com) on them because I will update a link on that whenever I post on here. We'll see if that works out ok.  I'll post pictures soon once I feel like a normal person again! :)

The Worst Flight Ever!

I am still planning on making my blog private after my trip so make sure you leave your email if you want to keep reading.... I just wanted to document the absolute worst flight of my life while it is still fresh. And no, I am not talking about the flight to Australia. I really think I might enjoy that one after this....

So Friday night, we have a friend drop us off at the airport and we had it planned out that Guy would leave for his flight to Australia at 7:30 and I would leave with the kids at 8:00 to fly to Ohio.  Well, we show up at the airport and find out that my flight has been delayed until 10:30 PM.  I seriously wanted to cry! We got there around 6:30 so I had 4 hours of entertaining my kids BEFORE I even got on the plane. It was seriously my worst nightmare. 

I took the kids up to the ticket counter to get our boarding passes and as we got in line, Brayden started dry heaving and telling me he had to throw up.  Just awesome. So we ran to a bathroom and as soon as we got in a stall he looked at me and said, "Ok, I feel better now." I just stared at him like, "Are you serious?" So I made him sit there just to make sure, but he really was fine. I was glad he wasn't throwing up but it was annoying that we got out of the long line for no reason. 

So we went back and the line was twice as long but we made it through. We then went on to security and it was a hassle getting us all through by myself.  Taking off all our shoes, folding up the stroller... I needed Guy's help big time!  As I went through the security thing, I started beeping because I accidentally left my cell in my pocket. For whatever reason, the beeping freaked Tyler out and he went CRAZY.  I could not calm him down and I was trying to find a basket thing to put my cell in but couldn't.  So it was drama and I was glad when we made it through!

Once we were in the airport, I took them to the place that I vowed I would never take them back to...the germ-infested airport play area. They got so sick the last time they played but I really had no choice. How do you entertain your kids at an airport for 4 hours??  We stayed there for over an hour and it was nice to have them caged in at least.  Oh, and I had such an embarrassing moment there. Tyler was climbing up on a toy and starting to slip, so I jumped up really fast to go help him and tripped on my flip flops. Literally, I face planted in the play area and the ground is kind of springy so I bounced up really fast. It was SO embarrassing but I just avoided eye contact and pretended to help Ty. Haha, I'm glad Guy didn't witness that because I would have never lived it down!

I decided we better go back to our gate and make sure that they hadn't gotten us on an earlier flight or something. So I hauled the kids back over there only to find that our flight was still leaving at 10:30 but now it was leaving from a different gate. But not just a different gate, a whole different terminal. If you know the DFW airport, it is huge and I had no idea how to get from Terminal C over to Terminal A. We figured out you have to take a train thing over to it so we did that but it was a hassle. BB did not want to walk anymore and Tyler just wanted to get out and walk.  So they were both being difficult and I was at the point where my patience was starting to run out.  Not a good combo!

When we got to our gate I decided we better just hang out nearby so I let the kids run around for the rest of the time.  It got to the point where Brayden was becoming hyper because it was so late and he was just going crazy. And Tyler wanted to keep up and play with him but he was getting so tired that he kept falling and hurting himself. And I just kept chanting in my head, "A week in Australia with NO kids" over and over!

It was such a dilemma cause I usually have my kids in bed by 7:30 or 8 but I didn't want to get Tyler to sleep and then have him wake up once we got on the plane and then want to stay up and play.  I wanted him to sleep the whole plane ride! But of course when we finally boarded the plane, he was so overtired that he would not go to sleep. He refused his bottle and really was just out of control. So the first 30 minutes of our flight he screamed his little head off. And if you know Tyler, his screaming is beyond loud! At one point, I might have just laughed with Tyler screaming and Brayden loudly trying to help by singing him lullabies, but I couldn't because I could feel the death stares all around me. I just avoided all eye contact !  Eventually, Tyler fell asleep and Brayden did too and all was well. Except for the fact that I didn't want to shift Tyler and risk waking him up so I kept him in the same position the whole flight and I literally lost all feeling in the left side of my body. It was wonderful.

But the fun did not end there. We landed in Ohio around 2 AM and both my kids were asleep. I let everyone else get off the plane and then I tried waking Brayden up cause there was no way I could carry both kids off. All he had to do was walk off the plane and get to the stroller.  I got him up and moving but halfway off the plane he just dropped to the floor, spread out in the aisle, and went back to sleep!  Tyler was awake and crying and the left side of my body was finally getting blood back to it so it was tingling like crazy.  The stewardesses finally came over and helped me get him to the stroller which I was grateful for.  When I finally made it out to my parents, I literally threw my kids to them.  I have never been so tired in my life!

To top it all off, when we went to leave the airport the system was down and nobody could get out of the parking garage. All the ticket booths would not process anyones credit cards so there was a huge lineup of people waiting to get out. It was great fun at 2:30 AM, let me tell you! My dad finally had the great idea of using the cash machine lane and we were finally out of there. It was just a fitting ending to a long and awful flight.

So, I am basically dreading flying home with my kids after Australia.  But I figure it really can't get much worst then this flight so maybe we'll be ok.  I guess I should start focusing on my 15+ hour flight that I have ahead of me on Thursday...Isn't that the longest flight in the world! But no kids to entertain...it should be a piece of cake!