Rio

Cuba. The adventure that keeps giving. Turns out that having visited Cuba any time after 2021 invalidates ones' ability to obtain an ESTA. What does that mean? Well it means I need to apply for an American Tourist Visa, the old fashioned way. In-person at the U.S Consulate, or U.S Embassy. I was completely unaware of this until my ESTA was denied. Which, could be problematic in the future. Regardless, the reason for applying for an ESTA was to get to South America. The furthest place in the world from Asia. Flying time takes approximately 22 hours depending where in South America you want to end up. Typical routes from Asia are through the Americas, the Middle East or round through the Pacific. Given that options one and two were effectively off the table I opted for the route via Santiago and Sydney.

I depart Hong Kong on the CX flight at 9:20 pm on Thursday 26th of March, arrive into Kingsford Smith Airport on Friday, a quick KFC two piece feed and I board the (delayed) flight to Santiago around midday on the 27th. 15 or so hours later I arrive into Santiago having missed my interconnecting flight to Rio due to previous delays. However the staff at LATAM are extremely helpful and put me on the next, albeit indirect flight (via Sao Paolo) to Rio. I eventually arrive into Rio at around 9 pm on the Friday, 27th of March. Some 30 odd hours since I left Hong Kong.

So you might ask, what are you doing in South America? How did Jen allow this? All valid questions. In conjunction with the below photos. This was a final trip before little mate. Some of my friends from LA, NY were doing a wine trip down in Mendoza, first stop Rio De Janiero. Nice long run, some sushi, a bit of sight seeing and an old fashion gay warehouse party. Not sure how I'm going to shake this jetlag.

North Queensland: Annual Family Trip

The five day forecast shows icons of clouds, rain and lightning. The annual trip up to the tropics of North Queensland was already off to a bad start. We touched down in Cairns Airport on the 23rd of December and immediately retrieve our transport from the local car rental. Dad is his gregarious self, with the hire car folk exchanging holiday pleasantries. The KIA Carnival would be our primary mode of transport for the next few days. We loaded up the car and started our journey north up to Port Douglas. The weather forecast was accurate, with temperatures hovering between the 26-30 degrees punctuated by the high humidity and the constant fall of rain.

First stop,Woolworths. We stocked up on groceries, enough food for breakfast and lunch. We would eat breakfast and lunch everyday treating ourselves to the odd meal out in Port Douglas. With the weather so prohibitive, we opted for the following itinerary: Day 1, The Daintree. Day 2, Hike. Day 3, The Great Barrier Reef.

Day 1, went off without a hitch, the roads were fairly quiet, which probably had to do with the fact that it was pouring torrential rain. We drove up north, taking the ferry across the river (we would lose the return ticket), through to the famous Daintree Ice Cream Shop, which led us on the Great Jackfruit Hunt of 2018. Armed with the directions from a 15 year old teenager, we drove 30 minutes at 10 km/hour all peering out the sides of the car looking for the fabled wild jackfruits. We continued up to Cape Tribulation before we conceded that it was probably time to admit defeat head back to Port Douglas. We stopped by a roadside fruit vendor and managed to purchase some jackfruit. Success!

Day 2, Christmas Day. The weather has cleared up a little bit. We started the morning off with a hike around town. Christmas Day would be the best weather of the trip, which was an understatement. With most of the shops closed, we spent our time in the apartment watching the Carols on TV, lazing in the pool and continuously grazing on food.

Day 3, Boxing Day. The Great Barrier Reef. We woke early and triple checked the apartment before our departure. Unfortunately the weather had since taken a u-turn and was quite wet. We decided to do the tour from Cairns and started off early to get to the ferry terminal by 8. Unfortunately, the weather was deemed too rough and all tours were canceled. We had our breakfast and decided to explore Cairns, with our morning at the Aquarium, lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant and the afternoon navigating the Cairns Boxing Day Sales crowd.

"I like your grinder, it's really big" - Dad to the gay barista

SURPRISE!

Your Annual Leave has been approved: 25th December 2015 - 3rd January 2016.

Decisions, decisions. Do I, (A). Go to Phuket with people I hang out with in Hong Kong on a weekly basis, or; (B). Return to Sydney for my first Christmas in Sydney in eight years?

It's a no-brainer. I go to Phuket and stomp out the year with a flurry of Redbull Vodkas and Pad thais! That's what 19 year old Derek would have said. 33 year old Derek on the other hand locks in option B. No need to call a friend. No need to ask the audience.

I depart Hong Kong on Christmas Eve. The airport is not surprisingly busy, people are shuffling through security with purpose and spending a little longer in the the Duty Free outlets. The airport radiates warm fuzzies. I arrive in Sydney, bleary eyed, managed minimal sleep. It doesn't matter! It's Christmas! I'm in Sydney!

My sister, my conspirator, takes me home. "Hello! Merry Christmas!". No answer. Where is everybody? I dump my luggage and walk through to the kitchen. Mom and Dad are lounging in their PJs (actually, they're hiding). "Hey! What are you doing back?" "I was just saying, why does he sound like Derek?". Not exactly the reaction I was going for, but I'll take it. It's good to see them!

I sometimes dread going home, it's not because I don't want to go home. It's more I know that I'll be in the firing line for a certain set of questioning. "What's been happening?", "Where are you working?", "Are you dating somebody now?", "When are you coming home?". There's times I don't feel like I have an adequate enough answer for those meaty questions. Speaking of meaty, I sure did miss home cooked food. Merry Christmas!

"And this christmas will be a very special christmas for me" - This Christmas, Donny Hathway

APAC

27th March 2011

The culture shock here is enormous - I actually feel like an outsider here, especially compared to London. First interaction with the locals and I've already had issues with language barrier. Tried to catch a cab from the Airport Express Station to Caine Road, ended up being driven to King Road. Fear, excitement and anxiety - Cannot wait!