Category: Uncategorized
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Paris Firsts
Originally published on 31 January 2013. Bonjour de Paris! (Hello from Paris!) This is my first time ever in Paris, and my travel mate Bianca and I are drinking in every moment! We flew in from Basel, Switzerland this morning, and we’re already pooped from just one afternoon. Join us on our journey! Starting in Basel,…
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How to Spend Your Last Day in Cairns
I didn’t realize quite how far away the Botanic Gardens were from the Esplanade, but that’s all right. Steve and I both like a good walk! We got there with about 15 minutes to spare before the guided tour began. We got more information about the rain forest and saw many beautiful flowers, including the…
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How to Hold a Koala (and how NOT to eat vegemite)
Steve and I were in for quite a treat today—holding koalas and exploring the rain forest! We took and excursion up to Kuranda, which is a former hippie village in the rainforest, just above Cairns. The bus was a bit late, but everything seemed to be running late that morning, according to the bus drivers…
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How to Enjoy the Great Barrier Reef (when you’re a little afraid of the ocean)
Cairns (pronounced “cans”), here we come! Cairns is in the northern-most part of Australia in the state of Queensland, Australia’s Sunshine State! As soon as we walked off the plane, we felt a wonderfully warm temperature: 26 degrees (79 degrees F)!
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Going to an Opera at the Sydney Opera House
Originally published 12 August 2013. G’Day, mates! Today’s adventures had Steve and me high on life and lookin’ fancy! This was so close to a perfect day, I think I could relive it over and over and never tire of it. First stop, Sydney Tower! Of all the places I’ve been to the top of—Washington…
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How to Spend Your First Day in Sydney
Originally published 10 August 2013. We made it! Our plane found the Australian sunrise just half an hour or so before we landed, and it was every bit as beautiful as Wednesday’s sunset. Breakfast was quite the feast, with two types of eggs, sweet rolls, fruit, yogurt, juice, and coffee. We landed right on time and…
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What Happens When You Cross the International Date Line
Originally published in August 2013. Updated April 2020. Have you ever lost an entire day? Perhaps you slept through it. Perhaps you forgot to tear a day off your calendar. You may have simply wanted to forget a day, or make one speed up. Or perhaps, like Steve and me, you lost it somewhere over the…
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Leapin’ Leprechauns!
Originally published 21 November 2012. Sunday morning, my friend’s friend, Angela, swung by with a cab to pick us up for church. I knew Angela via my friend Andrea, who studied in Dublin last year. It was nice to finally meet in person! Meeting and worshipping with Christians in other countries and seeing their dedication…
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Faeries and Faerytales!
Originally published 23 November 2012. Saturday night’s activity was the very best of the trip, in my humble opinion! We made it to the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin, dating from 1195, just in time to get to our seats and place our orders. Helena, the storyteller, greeted us and was just a…
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First Impressions of Dublin
Originally published 19 November 2012. Our first day in Dublin was definitely a good one! Yesterday’s adventure in Cork was a bit of a bust, but once we got to Dublin, the excitement was on! We decided to do the Hop on-Hop off bus tour and get an overview of everything before deciding what to…
