Guest Bloggers

January 14, 2008

The dream is over. No more plush digs at five star hotels, no more delicious meals, no more amazing tours at world heritage sites. No more vacation - the dream is over and it is back to a tough life of unemployment in a tropical country.
Our Singapore, Malaysian, Australian vacation was awesome and Casey and I will post the details, our thoughts, and some pictures in a few days but we thought we would give the Hilliards first crack. David and Cindy Hilliard enjoying a laugh in Daintree-where the rainforest meets the sea. These are the musings of our guest bloggers:

Ben and Casey are insisting we write a guest blog. So with some trepidation we will forge ahead and do this. Unfortunately, it may not be as pithy, original, witty, or creative as theirs. And it definitely will not be a travelogue as that will bore all to tears. As I write this we are still weaving our way across the globe and are currently ensconced in the JAL lounge at Singapore. The trip actually surpassed all of our expectations in terms of comfort, accommodations, convenience, ease of travel, conversations, and quality time together. I think B and C would concur that we all four travel well together. We gave each other plenty of space, but thoroughly enjoyed our extended times together. Australia was simply awesome. What a magnificent place to spend time. We think we have the 'bug' now and will explore other parts of the world in the future. Ben suggested retirement, but I'm just not ready to do that.

We learned many things but one we didn't expect was that travel outside the USA is so much more pleasant than travel inside. As long as we weren't on a US airline we were fine. Plus all the other airports were just so much nicer, cleaner, convenient, and user friendly. Quite a discovery for us - a friendly flight attendant, good meals, people interested in your comfort, clean planes, free carts for your luggage. Go figure.

Ben purposely left his cane in KL. Though we took all manner of public conveyance (thanks to Casey's unique ability to figure out all public transportation and Ben's definitive opinion on what to do first, second, etc.) we got everywhere with no trouble. In looking back, I think we rode on the following: taxis, cable cars, railroads, monorail, boats, planes, subways, trams, buses, and rental car (his 3 passengers agree that David did an outstanding job of driving on the "wrong" side of the road).

Some highlights of our trip together:

New Year's Eve dinner with B, C, Drew, and Erin in KL

The Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo (you ride a tram and see hundreds of animals!)

Exploring Chinatown in Malacca, Malaysia

Sydney Harbor tour

Petting koalas and kangaroos at the Wildlife Park

Exploring Sydney beaches

Day trip to the Blue Mountains in Australia

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef

Walking in the Rainforest at Daintree National Park

Seeing 3 crocodiles on the Daintree River

Attending a performance at the Sydney Opera House

Flat white coffee anywhere and at anytime (Yum!)

The low lights include:

Any public toilet in Malaysia

Getting a taxi in KL. (Of course Ben may have had something to do with that as he sent several away because he thought they were overcharging us. I am not certain they drove away out of refusal or fear.)

I could almost see Ben getting stronger and building stamina each day. We walked a lot and he just kept going. I must admit that I kind of just beamed as I watched him. Bad things can happen to good people but when they do we have choices. Ben and Casey chose to take action, do the necessary work to get healthy, stand by each other through some very difficult times, and chose to see light at the end of a dark tunnel. As a parent (dad) I can see that joy, happiness, and hope characterize their relationship and life together. To go through something so awful and come out stronger, capable, and assured of success is remarkable. So it truly was our pleasure to spend this time with them.