Post-holiday Depression

My grandma and I on the Mad Hatter's Teacup Ride.

I have been back from my holiday for over two weeks now but I feel like I only got back yesterday.  I have finally gotten back into the swing of things at work, but so much has changed in one little month! When things become too overwhelming, I like to drift back to my fond memories of my time overseas...

Here is my much delayed account / highlights of my trip!



Read more after the jump!

LA: Not what I expected.  I thought it would be glamorous with celebrities everywhere, holding their little puppies.  Unfortunately, I didn't see one puppy or celebrity (my greatest disappointment was not seeing paparazzi trying to snap Lindsay Lohan or Jennifer Aniston).  However, not all was lost; I managed to shop up a storm at the Grove and Beverley Hills; dine at the Ivy (still no Jen or LiLo); make my dreams come true at Disneyland; go behind the scenes on the Universal set and; get a little herbal down on Venice beach.

LA is great for a holiday but after a week there isn’t much to do.  Unless you want to make it into showbiz, there is nothing that gives me reason to want to live there.  There’s no public transport and everyone drives on traffic filled spaghetti highways.  Prepare to make your own food because your only choices in LA are junk food, junk food or junk food. Prepare to have instant coffee because the only thing worse than instant coffee is the watery filtered shit they love to serve in LA. However, shopping was fairly successful; LA shopping is just as good as New York. 

Vancouver: What I don't understand is how did Vancouver get voted ‘Most Liveable City in the World’ over Melbourne for so many years? What does Vancouver have that Melbourne doesn’t? Yes, Vancouver has an unimaginable beauty about it – you can see the city, the beach, and the mountains, all from one spot! But as a tourist, there isn’t much to do.  Melbourne has a strong food and coffee culture, enjoyed by people who know how to appreciate it; we have narrow alleyways filled with charm and character; beautiful, clear beaches, suburb and rural towns, mountains and city, each boasting of their own beauty, and endless things to see and do. Vancouver was beautiful, but I could count the things to do there on one hand. One clear difference to me between Melbourne and Vancouver was that the latter lacks the soul Melbourne possesses.

Tracy's Crab Shack.

The Cruise / Alaska: in a nutshell; amazing. It was like being on the titanic; a luxury hotel on the sea.  There’s an ice cream bar, a dessert/ cake bar, cocktail bars, pizza and burger bar, cafes, clubs, restaurants, a buffet, spa, pool, sauna, clubs, casino, shops, cinema, magicians, dancers, singers, ventriloquists, comedians, makeup artists, massage, hairdressers, gym…. It is definitely one of the most amazing things I’ve done in my life. The only downside would be the cost but it is completely worth it – you don’t need to worry about paying for anything once on board.  Also, I admit the fact that 90% of the other tourists are retirees is also a downside.


Cruise highlights: 

• The food, ohhhhhmygawd the food
• Oktoberfest night 
• The ventriloquist
• Daiquiris and milkshakes by the spa every day
• Bear/ eagle/ wale/ husky watching

FNO model crossing 5th Avenue

NY: Ok, where to start. First of all, everything is so big and beautiful! Times Square is truly magnificent. I fell so easily in love with the city. For example, one evening I was just walking around Soho and finding really cool cafes and then I realized three male models were sitting outside the cafe waving to me because they could hear my Aussie accent. Yep, I wanna live in New York.

There are just so many things to do. So many locations are made famous because it’s been on TV and being a TV junky, I just soaked it up. My list of things to do in New York looked something like this:

• Take a photo on the large piano from 'BIG'
• Take a photo outside the Plaza hotel where Carrie tells Big, "Your girl is lovely, Hubble"
• Take a photo in front of Tiffany's from 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'
• Take a photo in front of the fountain in Central Park from the opening sequence of 'Friends'

And so on.


Even More NY: Hurricane Irene. Just before we got to NJ and NY, we got some bad news.  Hurricane Irene damaged my Uncle’s basement and put me out of a place to stay. The hurricane also brought rain to the first three days of my time in NJ. By the time I got to Manhattan, it was 5.00pm Wednesday (and we were leaving 12pm Friday).

More NY: FNO. My favourite memory of New York would have to be Fashions Night Out. It was HUGE. I have never seen so many people in my life. I spent my night around 5th and Broadway, trying to snap celebrities, but there were so many eager photographers who had been there way before me.  I managed to get a good look at Rachel Zoe, Sarah Jessica Parker, Erin Wasson, the Victoria Secret Angels, Samantha Ronson, Foster the People and Beth Ditto. My biggest regret was not knowing Darren Criss and Lea Michelle were at Saks (different level from where I was) and Pauly D was going to be at Dash. By the time I got there the crowd surrounded the block! I did get a glimpse but it was impossible to get anywhere near him. I would have given all the other celebrities and bands up just to see those three. 

Me, riding an Amish buggy

Since everyone (including myself) only talks about how amazing New York is, I decided to only list the negatives:

• There was not enough time to do everything and I am still completely devastated I didn’t see a Broadway show, eat at Sardi’s, see the 9/11 memorial site or the rest of NYFW.
• People are so rude, I couldn’t stand it. Everyone is in a rush even when they have nowhere to go. Sales Assistants treat you as credit cards.
• Reading Star magazine and realizing Chuck Bass was in Central Park just the day before you were there. Or Emma Roberts and her boyfriend from Glee were at Disneyland just the day before. That was heartbreaking to an eager star spotter like myself.

But to be completely honest, New York is just as amazing as anyone says. New York feels like I’m living inside a TV show in the world of celebrities and socialites (as opposed to only reading about it in magazines on the other side of the world).  I loved that feeling and I cannot wait to move here!