Adventurous September

The Staircase down from Mt Bogong in the Victorian Alps, where are the stairs?


Hey ...

Yep, this month have been a bit adventurous in Melbourne and the
surroundings of the big city...



I've been baby sitting the 3 Swedish/Aussie kids in South Yarra, Phillip 2, Joanna 5 and Freya 7 years old. I'm always having such a good time while I'm playing and reading them bedtime stories. Last time I even had the privilege to bath them all, 2 in the bathtub and one in the shower ... funny kids. When I had all 3 kids packed like small sardines in Joanna's bed I had a very content smile on my face and read them all a beautiful story in Swedish/English.

Climbing skills are now improving, after an indoor lead course I took one weekend where I had to fall, I learned that it's good to fall as you climb. Now I'm less scared to fall, which is good. Met some new climbing people who I now go climbing with on Thursday evenings @ the HardRock in the city.

Running 2-3 times a week is something I've been doing now for a while ... so I decided to sign up for the Melbourne Half Marathon in October, which will go on the 10-10-10 :). Exiting to run my 3rd half marathon, will see if I can beat my time from Stockholm last year.

Salsa dancing has been off my list in September, don't know why, just don't have time to go out dancing like I used to before. Went dancing with Sara to Ormond Hall on the 11th of September, which goes once a month. Had a good time and was dancing non-stop for almost 3 hours ... so I still have the rhythm in me and I still prefer Cuban salsa, yep :)



After being in Australia for 7 months I just had to go and see a footy
game, Australian Football League, AFL, so I went and saw St Kilda playing against Western Bulldogs on the big MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) during the final series of AFL. I did my home work so I knew the rules, enjoyed the game and I was cheering for the Saints = St Kilda. They wan after a psychological tough 2 bad quarters and the bulldogs were defeated. The Saints will be meeting the Magpies (Collingwood) in the Grand Final. Go Saints ...!


At the big MCG - Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Saints won!

On the early Sunday morning of the 19th of September I went with MUMC (Melbourne University Mountaineering Club) to Mount Alexander (should be named Hill Alexander since it's only 750m over sea level) and climbed there during the day. Found it difficult, hard climbing but fun at the same time. Didn't do any leading, just top rope climbing.


Sean on the way down!

Adventure came on the last weekend in September when I went with MUMC, a group of 10, to Mount Bogong for a leadership skills weekend. The supposed leader turned up sick by the club rooms on Friday when we took off from Melbourne so there was no leadership training involved ... had a very good time anyway with the devoted hikers on the way up and down the mountain in the Victorian Alps. On Saturday we took the 4km straight up spur track to Mt Bogong via Mitchell's hut where we stopped for a lunch break and than after some discussions left 2 members of the group behind us, since they were too slow and would not make it to the next hut in time. The 8 of us
took off, 4 with snow shoes and 4 without, in the hard wind and 5 meters visibility to go up to Cleve Cole hut. Took us 3 hours to get there and I've never been happier in my life when I did see the hut clearing up in front of me. The hut was worth the hard hike in the wind, it was warm inside with an open fire and nice people greeted
us there. Slept like a princess after dinner on a comfy mattress in my warm
sleeping bag! On the clear blue sky of Sunday morning began the hike down the mountain, with a short adventure to a water fall in the area ... went up to the summit of Mt Bogong where I climbed up to the top top, 1986 meters over sea level - was on the same level as the clouds :). Took the Staircase down, slided in the snow on the way down, had lunch by Biviac hut, dinner with the whole troop at Ovens pub in Oven and was home in Melbourne by midnight! What a weekend!


Waterfall-Ingrid, easy climb down and hard one up to the top.


The whole troup by Cleve Cole hut on Mt Bogong :) From the left: Mitchell, Emma, Yassi, Alistair, Heather, me, Tanya and Jess, two missing on pic, Ellen and Steve who we left behind at Mitchells hut


Me on top of the top of Mount Bogong, 1986m!

Last day in September I attended a traditional Swedish pea soup dinner with pancakes and punsch at the Swedish Church, felt like being home in Lund again :). Was happy to walk home the barely 100 meters to my bed :)

Well, and on top of all the things I've been doing this month - I've been working too, all good at work, enjoying the speed and learning, will be a SPOC from next week, single point of contact, for all the contractors conversions, nice :).

At the moment I'm without a flight ticket in Australia since I've cancelled and sold my flight ticket to Singapore... the plan was to stay in Aussie for 7 months, changed my mind since I'm the manager of this trip and now I'm staying for one year to the end of my visa :).

Over and out for September!

Busy August

Another month is gone and time is really going so fast down here in Melbourne, don't know why the time is just flying away ... been away from Sweden for more than 7 months now.

Sydney - Harbour Bridge from Neutral Bay

First week of August was exiting, not so much because of work, all good there, but because I flew up to Sydney on Friday the 6th of August, took a day off from work and had a long weekend up in the big city. The most exiting part was the running race "City2Surf" which is the biggest race in the world, counted by the amount of participants - over 80 000 people completed the race on Sunday the 8th of August and I was one of them too :). The run was 14km, not too bad (the most common comment in Australia haha) and I had a fun time running with the big crowd. The famous Heartbreak Hill wasn't that terrible, just a bit, my legs were fine - specially after the free 15 min leg massage on Bondi Beach.

Yep - happy me after the race (girl from Melbourne took the photo, small world :)

In Sydney I stayed at a Russian guy's place, in Neutral Bay, 2 nights of couch surfing (actually sleeping on his spare big mattress on the floor). Alexander was a nice guy, who also did the run on Sunday morning, and his apartment had the most amazing bay view ... look at this view :)

If I could pick and choose a spot like this in world, so close to the water, no cars and no other noises ... I could definitely live here!

On Saturday I did a long walking hike from Neutral Bay to Manly, don't know how long it was, but the weather was gorgeous with clear blue sky and quite warm as well and I couldn't resist the long walk :). Good to see Manly again, got all nostalgic and I went up/climbed up to North Head to my favourite spot by the rocks looking down on Manly and the ocean ... left my heart in Manly ...


Met up with Grant in the evening and we had a delicious dinner in the city, close to the Circular Quay. Good time and good company :-)

On Sunday after the run the most weirdest thing happened to me, a really catch 22 in Sydney :) - the short version; my phone died after the race, the flight was delayed by 2 hours and I had to wait at the airport for almost 4 hours, my iPod died at the airport, had no book to read and on top of all this I lost my ear plugs so I couldn't manage to sleep on the flight back to Melbourne ... what a day ... will never forget this day for sure! Funny story for the future!

The following 3 weeks in Melbourne were full of job, running, baby sitting 3 kids (Freya 7 years, Joanna 5 years and Phillip 2 years) to a Swedish/Aussie married couple in South Yarra, went to see Los Van Van (the famous Cuban salsa band), met some new friends through CouchSurfing at a cool music party in Malvern, saw the penguins on the St Kilda pier, biked home from work one Friday and the police was looking for somebody along the river (felt like being in a movie with a chopper hovering over my head), attended a dance workshop in the city and learned new moves (Zouk, Broadway Jazz and Bollywood Dance) .... will soon sign up for a Zouk class :) and maybe even perform with the class in November.

On the weekend of 20 to 22 August I went up with MUMC (Melbourne University Mountaineering Club) to Mount Feathertop, which is Victoria's second-highest mountain. The hut was up on 1625m, and we (37 of us) did the annual Midnight Ascent which practically meant walking in the dark up to the top of the hut. My walking group did the steep 6.5km to the hut in 4 hours and 20 minutes :), good time considering the other groups of 5 and 6 hours each. It was a cold weekend and wet one too, lots of snow and phenomenal good food on Saturday evening. My most memorable thing from the mountain was the leech (blodigel) I had on my cheek ... take a look at this ... no worries, I did survive but I was a bit scared I must admit :).

Leech was killed with lots of salt and buried in the cold snow!











On the last Sunday of the month I went out to Werribee to see my "Swedish family" and to say hi to them all. I was happy to see them and the kids, Savanha and Oden, 6 and 4 years old. We went for a bike tour down the Werribee river and the kids got tired of biking after 2 hours and I ended up caring two bikes and walking with two tired kids along the bike track :), that was tough, fun and I must have look quite funny too :) On the way home I got the best comment in my life, from Oden: "You're pretty Ingrid" ... I smiled and asked what he had said but he got all embarrassed about it and didn't want to say it again, boys haha :) ... kids are the honest small persons in the world and it feels so good to have the privilege to be around them and be in the present time with them and not analyse life to much. Thank you S, O, Sue, Rudolf and Ida for a lovely Sunday!

Oden with his bike

Savanha with her flowers on top of her head

July in and outside of Melbourne

It´s wintertime down under, not that this is winter for me, the cold in Sweden can't be compared at all with the Australian winter. The Aussies are freezing and putting on gloves and hats (and their UGG-boots) when it´s 10 Celsius degrees, funny but very true, and entertaining for me to see :).

During the first weekend in July I went to the IceHouse down in the Docklands, here in Melbourne with Sean, kinda cool place, expensive and full of Saturday free people. In my head it was supposed to be cold inside so I was prepared with clothes ... but I was wrong, the heating was on (not on the ice but in the air), strange to see people in almost no clothes ...


Went up to Lake Mountain with some of MUMC's members on Sunday the 4th of July ... didn't do any cross country skiing, too expensive and I can borrow the skis from the club next time ... so next time :). Took a long walk in the snow while the guys were skiing ... very weird to go in snow in July ... but so fun!


No, it wasn't that cold, maybe 0 degrees.


Up on the summit, 1433 meters!

The second weekend in July I did a long hike in Wilsons Promotory National Park with Sean, in the south-east of Victoria, 300km from Melbourne. What a hike, pretty amazing, what ocean views and all the kangaroos and wallabies along the hike. I didn't know that I could walk so much during one day. First day = 20km and on Sunday I guess 30km along the coast and back to the car by Tidal River.

Well, the hike is not over yet ... still a couple of km to go to Roaring Meg and later on the South Point!


A scared wallaby along the walking track... I kept going with a smile on my face!


Close to the South Point of the mainland of Australia, cool place!

Besides the hiking I've been working as a waitress at Java Grill on Bourke Street and been to a couple of interviews at Manpower after work. It took me 3 interviews, one at Manpower and 2 at IBM for finally getting the work I wanted to have :). Thanks God I don't give up so easily! Had to quit my waitressing job on the 21th of July, my Greek boss Maria wasn't happy but she understood me. I'll always remember her words; - You can move on Ingrid, I envy you, I'll stay here! She is completely right, I can move on easily, this year is the move year for me...

The first running race for me in Australia was the "RunMelbourne" on the 18th of July, 10km around the city and the Botanical Gardens. Had to go up early on Sunday (apparently all big running races in Australia are starting early Sunday morning, just accept it, yep). Good race and an OK time, 52 minutes I think.

Yep, me in the running outfit :) a very focusing Ingrid

One more hike took place in July, this time to Cape Otway by Great Ocean Road, was walking along the Great Ocean Walk with Sean on the 24 and 25th of July. Had great time there, some wet and cold surprises during one night when it was raining heavily and the tent was put in a slope witch made the sleeping bags and mats all wet ... I was freezing so much that I practically longed to get up early in the morning :). The sunrise was so gorgeous by Blanket Beach ... look below!


The most memorable thing from the Cape Otway hike was ... the koalas in the wild .. all of a sudden there was a koala up in the three above my head and eating eucalyptus leaves. My first encounter with the koala was a good one :) .. and yes, they do look very soft :)


On the 26th of July I started to work @ IBM down at Southbank, in Melbourne city as a Resource Coordinator in a HR department. Fun work and quite challenging the first week since we (4 coordinators started on the same day) had no laptops for a week! Will be working now for 6 months, so no more travelling, not long ones at least to next year February. Saving money now and will travel in Aussie in January and February next year! But the weekend hikes and short travelling will be on, that is for sure :)

June in the country down under - still in Melbourne

New update of June ... this is a picture from St Kilda, one of my favorite places in Melbourne, gorgeous view of the city and the harbor from here. On the pier you can spot, when it´s dark, the smallest penguins you can find in the southern hemisphere, just around 30cm tall, really cute and they make a weird sound too.

I moved in my small apartment at the church on Friday the 4th of June ... I´ve been working as a waitress in the city, attending and helping out at the Swedish Church, fixed an Aussie bank account and card, did a photo shoot for MBC Australia - which is a film producer company - didn´t get me a job but I had fun during my first photo shoot ever :).

During the Queens Birthday weekend (11-14 June), which was a long weekend here in Victoria, I was outdoors climbing with MUMC (Melbourne University Mountaineering Club) by Mount Arapiles, north west of Melbourne, past Horsham and Ballarat, almost 4 hour drive. Had a good time climbing, a bit scary and fun at the same time. The most memorable and best climb was the one with the crack, where I did a lot of asclimbing and the step over from one side to the other at a hight of 75m. Well I made it to the top and look how happy I was and proud as well :)




Jepp, I did see some kangaroos, the second time for me, here at Arapiles, this one was a close encounter and I was thrilled to see kangaroos so close and the one to the right was watching me the whole time, wonder why?

There is no place like home, but since Melbourne is my new home at the moment I had the privilege to host two guests, Rachel and Carl (brother and sister, I met Rachel when I was on Fiji) came to visit me from Sydney for a few days, from 16-20th of June. We had fun together, many good laughs :). We went climbing one day at the HangRock and Rachel and I enjoyed ourselves on the wall, while Carl was less amused I think :). They headed off to Tasmania, or Tassie (as the aussie people say here) early Sunday morning and what I know and seen pictures from Rachel´s blog, they had a wonderful time there.

The last Saturday in June I was off climbing again with MUMC, Sean and Josh, this time to Mount Beckworth, just outside of Ballarat, the weather was bad with sun one minute and rain the other, quite chilly too and I only did one proper climb that day. The coolest picture was this one...



The traditional midsummer activities were celebrated at the Swedish Church, on Sunday with an excellent "Midsommar-dinner" included all the dishes I´m so familiar with from home; herring, eggs, potatoes, Janssons, sav blanc and some snaps of course :)



The joy was big on Tuesday the 29th of June when I came home from work, the biggest package I´ve ever seen, this year so far, arrived from Sweden. My mum sent me some clothes and other surprises ... Thank you Mum!

April and May in Melbourne

Well, it´s been a while ago, about time to update the blog with some pictures. Some of you have asked me what I´ve been up to since I left Sydney.

Basically I´ve been in Melbourne, took the train from Sydney on the 29th of March. The train took about 11 hours and the view was amazing, kangaroos, lots of birds and nature passing my eyes.



Stayed in Werribee (35 km from Melbourne) for 10 days at a Swedish family, friends of my mum, celebrated Easter here with my new "family".


Moved in to the city where I stayed close to St Kilda for 5 weeks in a shared apartment with an Italian guy, Luigi. My job hunting was tough and I almost gave up and was on my way to Tasmania, but I finally found a waitressing job in the city on Bourke Street, through my Swedish friend Lovisa, so I´ve been working there since mid May.


I even bought a push-bike, so I don´t have to commute via train to work, it´s a convenient way of getting to and from work along the Yarra River, gorgeous view of the city from Toorak where I´m staying and biking downhill all the way to the city and uphill home to St Georges Road up in Toorak. I´m staying, since May, at the Swedish Church, where I´m renting a small apartment, everything is included in the rent, WiFi, electricity, heating and it´s a save and beautiful place to stay in Melbourne. The house is called "Toorak House", is an old government house which served as a Victorian Government House between 1854-1876 and later on it served as a Women's Australian Air Force hostel. The Swedish Church bought the property in 1956.Will stay here in Toorak a couple more months I think.


While I was on the job-hunt I was dancing salsa 2-3 times a week and meeting interesting people and joined in a few CouchSurfing events in the city. It´s always good to meet new people!




1. Me with Garfield and Charlie, two kittens at a CouchSurfing barbecue in West Brunswick, Melbourne, in April.
2. Lunch-meeting with some new friends in CBD, Vietnamese restaurant.
3. Salsa at the Hilton South Wharf in Melbourne, what a cool place to dance at!

Pictures from Australia :)

On the other side of the harbor in Sydney, behind me the Sydney Opera House

My class in Manly, 3 weeks of studying Advanced English at Kaplan International Language School - had so much fun in school - miss Manly now and the beautiful beaches and actually miss the school too :)

Me, climbing by the Blue Mountains, outside of Sydney ... by Katoomba I think, Flat Rock

Me on Bondi Beach, Sydney, on my very first day in Australia, were not impressed by the beach, maybe because I was on Fiji just before :)

Sum up of Fiji!

Two weeks in the paradise of Fiji – 2010-02-11 to 2010-02-26

After a long flight of almost 12 hours (of which I slept 5 hours) from Los Angeles and minus one day, gone with the wind over the Pacific Ocean, I landed in Nadi on the 11^th of February 2010. Was picked up by Noah, Paul´s cousin, where I stayed for one day, couch surfing for the first time … everything went good and Paul and Diane took good care of me. Noah helped me to book the accommodation on Mana Island since he is working in a travel agency by the airport.

On my first day in Fiji I went in to the big “city” Leuteka by buss with Diane and did some shopping before I took of to Mana Island with the Mana Flyer on the 12^th February.

I stayed on Mana Island, which is about 1 hour by boat from the main island, Viti Levu, my first 10 nights in Mana Lagoon and 3 nights at Ratu Kini on Mana. Both places are for backpacker so I met new people every day and was not alone many hours. Met people from US, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, England, Australia, Japan, Indonesia etc. Meals were included in both places, breakfast, lunch and dinner, all on time, which meant that I had to be there to get food. The food was good and after a few days I got used to the basic food (rice/potatoes/fish/pancakes… The only thing with Mana Lagoon was the showers which didn´t work properly and the same for the bathrooms/restrooms … I found a shower outside, where the local people went for a cold shower, I used it without complaining to Mana Lagoon. Funny comment from a local guy; Where are you going miss? – I´m off to the beach for a shower! J

On Sunday, my first week, I went to the local church, the mass was in Fijian and English, the priest thanked me for coming and gave me a blessing. I loved the singing, so beautiful and the people were so kind to me. They gave me a book so I could sing along in Fijian J

After a few days of doing not much, I got tired off my laziness and went to the local school on Mana with the American/Mexican couple who were volunteer teaching in the Mana Adventist School. I introduced myself to the principal and said that I could help out with the kids. He was pleased and happy that I came, he put me to help in the class of 1, 2 and 3 graders, the kids were between 7-9 years old. I was helping Madame K…., with English and Math. In the beginning I was her assistant and by the end when I was used to the teaching I took more room and taught by the board in front of the kids. I had so much fun teaching and helping the children … they are so behind everything, some kids couldn´t write or read and they were in the 3^rd grade. I got in the routine of going to school in the morning for teaching and was free for a couple of hours in the afternoon, where I went for snorkeling and reading on the beach. So my time on Mana was a short one!

During my stay on Mana I was away from the island twice, went to the Cast Away island, where the movie was recorded (or Mouriki Island for the locals), nothing special to see but when we did some snorkeling on the way back to Mana I saw my fist big reef shark – quite close and the shark was about 2 meters long. I always thought that I would get scared of a shark in the water, but I didn´t, looked at the shark and turned away and snorkeled on …

My second encounter with a shark was by Mana island when I was snorkeling with some guys from Ratu Kini, Seth, Danny and Kim, I was the only one who saw the shark, by a large coral full of small yellow fishes, the shark came in front of me, close and was more interested in the fishes than in me haha. I have now learned the shark sign so I can show it under water next time (just put your right or left hand to your fore head with the fingers pointing forwards).

After my days on Mana, 13 nights to be precise, I took the Mana Flyer boat back to Port Denarau, on the main island. Stayed at Diane and Paul place for one night, got a delicious dinner with lots of vegetables and potatoes, drank some bier with Paul and slept for a few hours before I took the flight to Sydney in the morning. I loved Fiji and the people and kids of Fiji, if I have the opportunity to go back I´ll definitely go back to Fiji and Mana Island!

Next adventure - Australia here I come!

Fiji pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ingrideftodi/AroundTheWorld2010Fiji#

Ozzie-pics up on my picasa :)

Yepp, brand new pics are up on my picasa:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ingrideftodi/AroundTheWorld2010Australia#

See and enjoy, hugs

Ingrid

Sum up of California and Arizona!

First week in US and Los Angeles:

Landed in LA on the 19th of January 2010, after a night stop in Chicago, had seafood dinner the first night with Rita and Dorin in Redondo Beach.
Salsa dancing in Redondo Beach, at Club 705, LA-style salsa, the people were so nice, I danced a lot even if I didn´t know anyone there, got some tips of other good salsa places in LA.

Downtown LA and visit at Dorin´s workplace high in the sky. Bought my jeans here, so happy that I can change pants to some more proper one´s.
Visit to Griffith Observatory and watched a show there too, my weight on Pluto was zero, nice :).

Went up to the Getty Museum, up the hill in a small train, good that it rained, less people and it was a beautiful exhibition about Rembrandt, sketches and drawings. This a place I truly recommend to you to visit if you´re in LA. On the same day as Getty Museum, we went to some beaches in LA, Marina del Rey, El Segundo, Venice Beach (with the crazy people and funny stuff happening there all the time).

Hollywood Boulevard and the walk of fame saw that too, not much to see actually, not impressive, too touristic for me.

Drove to Pasadena with Dorin, my father´s cousin, my uncle, and had a wonderful afternoon in the Huntington Park, what a place, the most beautiful garden I´ve seen, even in wintertime is was gorgeous. Took a garden tour a guide who know everything there is to know about the garden, the flowers, the trees etc.

Second week in US and Los Angeles/San Fransisco:

Garden visit number 2 to Descanso Gardens, not that nice as Huntington but very peaceful and quite place.

Malibu beach and my first encounter to Swedish people, didn´t talk to them, just listened and walk past them. Did a long walk with Dorin on the beach, many beautiful houses and we had dinner at Paradise Cove, a large plate of seafood of course.
More salsa dancing, in Santa Monica, at Zanzibar, a cool place, lots of cuban style music, lots and lots of dancing, bachata, salsa, merengue …

Had a rest day in the middle of the week, nice change, took a climb walk with Veronica and Dorin by the rocks of Palos Verde, what a climb! Had a wonderful good sushi with Veronica, Dorin, Andy and Marcella at a sushi place in Downy.

Took off towards SF (San Fransisco) on Wednesday, stopped for sleeping along the PCH (pacific coast highway) in San Lois Obispo and in Monterey before we arrived to SF on Friday the 29th of January. Memorable stops along the road were: Santa Barbara, Monterey and Hearst Castle. SF for 2 nights and 3 days, cable cars, Alcatraz Island, bike tour over the Golden Gate bridge, marrocean dinner in SF downtown – lovely good food and drinks there (instead of Bourbon and Branch, they didn´t let me in since I didn´t have my passport with me, left it in LA), salsa night at Café Cocomo – amazing good dancing to live band – probably more than 500 people there! Before we left SF we went to the Young Museum and walked in the gardens there, danced some swing, watched the view over SF and then drove back to LA on the 405 or 105, don´t remember no more.

Third and last week in US and Los Angeles/San Diego/Tucson:

More salsa dancing at Zanzibar in Santa Monica, live band and lots of good dancers everywhere. Thanks for the many salsa and bachata Miguel!

Drive to San Diego, 2 hours from LA, visited SeaWorld, too much of a hype around this place, did like it and didn´t like it at the same time. Terrible that the animals, fishes and birds are all caged in and can´t enjoy the free world … the coolest was the killer whales show with Shamu the big whale and all the acrobatic things they did with the help of some water. Dinner in downtown San Diego, had Mexican food, fish tacos for me, delicious.

Day off with rest on Friday the 5th of February, thai massage, bike tour to the beach, sport photo exhibition in Century City – saw the current expo of Iooss and Leifer …. grand photos! End of day with a Colombian party in the evening, where we celebrated Dorin´s birthday, congratulations Dorin! More salsa dancing here and lots of laughs and talk to nice Colombian people.

On Sunday 7th of February I took the flight to Tucson in Arizona, for 2 days visiting Miguel, who was there with work – one of the biggest jewelry and gems expo in the world … back in LA on Tuesday 9th of February just at couple of hours before my flight to Fiji, tough day and a very long one too.

Bye America and next adventure is Fiji!

Pics for California & Arizona and Fiji are up!

Goday mates :)

Sorry for not updating the pics, but very difficult to do from Fiji, almost no internet connection on Mana Island where I was for two weeks. Sometimes it´s good to be disconnected to the world :)

A short sum up of California and Arizona will come in a few days with some pictures too.

Pictures for California and Arizona are found here (14 new ones at the bottom): http://picasaweb.google.com/ingrideftodi/AroundTheWorld2010CaliforniaAndArizona#

Fiji pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ingrideftodi/AroundTheWorld2010Fiji#

Enjoy and do tell me if you like the pictures :)
Hugs from down under, Sydney,
Ingrid

New photos are up again!

Hi hi,

I know a photo is telling you all more than my words so I don´t write to much ... have uploaded new pictures on my Picasa instead ....
http://picasaweb.google.com/ingrideftodi/AroundTheWorld2010California#

I have seen so much and done so much, which you will see in the pictures :)

Hugs to you all,
Ingrid

Photos are up :)

Yes, I have now done some homework and I have put up some pictures on picasa;

http://picasaweb.google.com/ingrideftodi/AroundTheWorld2010California#


Hugs to you all,
Ingrid

Hello from America & LA :)

Hejhej,

I´m now in LA after two flights, a 7 hour delay from Kastrup and a night @ Chicago
O´Hare Airport, where I stayed at Hilton. What a grand start for my trip! YEAH!

Started the voyage on Monday morning from Lund, checked in my big back pack at Kastrup and headed out from the airport with mum since my flight was delayed. Took of from Kastrup around 23 and landed in Chicago at 01:00 am Tuesday morning. After a few hours of sleep at Hilton and the big huge good breakfast I took to flight to LA in the afternoon.

Dorin, my father cousin met me and drove me home where I met Tanti Stella, Dorins´s mother who I have not seen since I was a little girl. Yesterday was an easy relaxing day, had dinner with Dorin and Rita (Dorin´s wife) by the beach in Redondo Beach where I ate some crab fish salad and on the way home we checked out a salsa place where we will go back today in the evening, they have salsa there with a live band :) tonight, so wish me luck in a couple of hours!

This is a short sum up of the biggest things so far ... picture will come in a few days so have patience :)

At the moment it´s raining quite heavily in LA, so today we have indoors activities. Hopefully the sun will come in a few days.

Big hugs from LA,
Ingrid

Days to countdown - 11 days now!

The weekly countdown is over and now I count the days to 18th of January.

Nothing exciting has happened since last year :)
The flight tickets are still changing, STA Travel will send me the last ones in a few days so I have the time and ticket number for the flight to Fiji and Sydney.
Air Pacific are slow :)

I have a lot of packing to do now, all my clothes will go down into the basement and I will have to sort out the travel clothes before. Anyone who has some tips in how to pack for a whole year???

Weekly countdown - 4 weeks minus one day to go!

Yes, one more week is gone ....

Biggest news from last week is that I have found someone to rent out my room to and who is okey to live with my brother for 11 months next year. She is a gamelover person who seems nice and reliable. Will move in after I have left Sweden.

The snow is still here in Lund, perhaps it will melt away in a few days ... picture from Vallåsen yesterday :)

Weekly countdown - 5 weeks to go!

From a snowy Lund longing for a hot sun!

On Monday it was countdown time, so now it's one week less my friends and family.

Today I was at Citykliniken and got two shots, one in each arm, one for Polio-fill up basic vaccine and one for Tyfoid vaccine. All good now for the next year's travelling :)I'm ready for mostly everything (I think, not) :) My arms hurt a bit though even now a few hours after.

Happy to go to bed after a fresh walk in the new snow outside,
Ingrid

Less than 6 weeks to go!

Time is running away, so it seems at least...

Yesterday it was countdown to my starting day, the 18th of January 2010. So now I´m 6 weeks minus one day from boarding the plane for US and Los Angeles. It feels actually a bit scarry to think about leaving family, friends, work, my precious training and so on.

The biggest thing to do before I leave is to fix a new apartment mate (flatmate) to my brother so he doesn´t have to pay the whole rent by him self :)

Wish me LUCK on the BLOCKET hunt!

VISA is granted for Australia!

Yes, I may now travel to Australia since I have applied for the Work & Holiday Visa today. It took me about 20 minutes to do the online application with all the requirements, so now I´m happy :) and less richer too :).

Status message from Australian Goverment - Department of Immigration and Citizenshipis:

Applicant approved - you may now travel to Australia. You do not require a label or stamp in your passport before you travel to Australia.

The Australians like numbers and documents to print out, so now I have:

• Permission request ID number
• Client ID
• Transaction Reference Number (TNR)
• Most important number is the VISA grant number ... that is my entry to Australia when I will show the papers and get a visa in my passport.

Big DAY today :)

I have now booked and paid for my grand trip and it´s really exiting and fun that I´m actually on the way towards my dreams and the big continent of Australia and round the world tour of Ingrid :). The price landed on 12 130 SEK for the route (which is OK and I am satisfied with the price, haha:

Copenhagen - Los Angeles - Fiji - Sydney - Singapore

Will leave cold Sweden on the 18th of January and land in Los Angeles on the same day :) after a short 2 hour transfer in Chicago. In LA I will visit relatives and travel around to San Francisco, San Diego and down to Mexico and if time is on my side a big national park in California as well.

I am now looking forward this BIG trip which I will start in 3 months and 5 days from today!

Hope you will read and follow my blog or travel diary here and also on resedagboken.se, (under the name of zuri) I will write short blogs on resedagboken and more long blongs here ... and if I have good internet connection I will put up som pictures ... and YES dad, large pictures with good resolution :).

Have a wonderful Tuesday,
from a sunny and cold Lund,
Ingrid

Bokningsbekräftelsen är kommen!

Yes, nu har jag mer än halva rutten klar ... den är bokad och ska betalas.
Slutligen landade rutten:
Köpenhamn - Los Angeles (via Chigago) - Fiji - Sydney - Singapore

på 11 313 SEK med skatter och avgifter. Mycket okej pris, så jag slår till och köper paketpriset hos STA Travel i Lund. Yes, så imorgon går jag in på resebyrån och betalar min resa fram till Singapore där jag kommer att landa den 20 september 2010 med flyget från Sydney (stort fett plan från Qantas Airways) :)