#trip notes

Attempting to make a mid term escape before the soccer season starts, Ari (14), Ari's friend Sjkina (15) and Olivia (6) and I pile into the jeep with the Canoe strapped to the top.

We drive 60 mins north on the highway and the turn off towards the Cooloola National Park. After about 30 mins of rough dirt roads we arrive at Harry's hut.

The trip up the upper Noosa river, through the Noosa Everglades, is broken up by 9 remote bush camps between 20 mins and 1 hour apart. 

There were actually less Latin American tour groups in June. We really started seeing them around the beginning of July. Not sure if the World Cup had anything to do with it but they were particularly visible during the 4th of July and following days. Not all of them were from Brazil however. Rachael noted that she heard more tour groups speaking Spanish, as opposed to Portuguese, then we previously had.

Seeing the fireworks at EPCOT on 4th of July was much more pleasant than seeing them at Magic Kingdom on July 3rd. We waited nearly 3 hours in our spot at MK and ended up having people constantly walk over us even during the fireworks. Please don't ever do this. Find a spot and stay there. The only reason you should really be moving in fireworks viewing areas are if you are leaving or if you have an emergency.

We really enjoyed our backstage tour of EPCOT. We plan to do more tours soon as the CM discounts for a lot of them are very good. We probably couldn't afford to do to many of them at regular price but most, we feel, are worth the cost. You get a unique experience and lots of amazing information. We heard things that even we had never heard about for all our Disney-nerdness. We'll have a full review of our tour up soon.

Just a reminder if you are a big group meeting a fur character, like Mickey, please give him all the autograph books at once. This was becoming a fairly big problem and caused a lot of backup with character lines. People wanted to each have their children come up individually with their books. For two kids that's okay, but for five kids it's really not. Remember a face character can talk as they sign but a fur character can't. You can help maximize your picture time with the character, if you want individual pictures, by getting all the books signed then put out of the way. So don't be afraid to give Mickey all the books. Don't worry he can handle it. He's a very talented mouse.

We noticed a lot more people with cameras or phones a stick that they would then hold as high as they possibly could during shows. While that might be a great idea when walking around the park, it's not during a show. For anyone with cameras, tablets, ipads, cameras on a stick, please try to keep them at your height level during a show. I guarantee there are adults and children shorter than you standing behind hoping to see as well. Don't ruin the view for video that probably won't come out as half as well as the videos from the professionals on youtube. (ie. Inside the magic, Jeff Lang/Mouse Steps/MartinsVids)

Also be mindful when holding kids up to see shows as well. If you are standing towards the back then it might be okay to put your kids on your shoulders but if you are standing really close in front of the stage it's completely ridiculous to do so. If are that close hold your child on your hip or again at your height level. Please try to be mindful that there are other people there hoping to see the same thing you are seeing. Treat them the same way you would want to treated if you were standing in the back.

Yeah, that’s pretty common. There’s a thing called state-dependant memory, where the way that memories are encoded means that you can get drunk and forget where you’ve put something and not be able to remember until you get drunk again. Also ego loss takes away the thing that is responsible for repressing memories that you want to suppress. But it’s still pretty normal to remember mundane things that you would have normally forgot when your brain is in a different state.

I've totally experienced the state dependant memory thing before! quite a few times I've gotten high and remembered things from the night before that I didn't recall otherwise.

not in like a "I got so blazed and drunk that I lost my memory", because I don't really do that. more just little jokes or situations that happened in passing that would generally only be short term memories anyway, yknow? but then I'll get high or I'll drink and suddenly be like oh wow, we had this hilarious conversation last night that I'd totally forgotten about!

the stuff from my childhood was all pretty simple and there were triggers for it, like I ate one of maddie's gerkhins and remembered that I used to have cheese and gerkhin sandwiches for lunch every day as a child, and then that triggered a bunch of other memories.

its been a pretty long/short summer.

long in terms of its actual duration - which is 4 months - marangoni's been generous with its summers; and short in terms of how it felt. it should be a sign of a good time spent, i suppose.

i have  spent a month and a half in italy, which was great, but not quite fruitful. we took our time and travelled around the area for a bit. we visited Bari, Ostuni, Capitolo, Alberobello, Monopoli and maybe something else... i cannot really remember because they all look the same. honestly, no offense! there is a certain beauty in little white houses, narrow streets and old people sitting outside their houses on the chairs they bring out themselves. but its just been too much over a short period of time.

the food was delicious, no complaints here. the one thing i was really happy about is that i could eat buratta as much as i wanted! for your knowledge, puglia is the mother of buratta and all mozzarella cheeses, so you could imagine how exquisite it tasted! i made friends with the admin and the waiters at the restaurant we were regulars at, and they said they would send me packages of buratta, when im back in england! cool, right?

the next trip planned was to seoul, korea. the land of my ancestors.

i was going to go there for the second time in 2 years, whilst my parents havent been there for over 10 years(mother - 16, father - 11). ive been pushing my dad on this trip since last december cuz i really wanted them to see how different the country is now and how much they've stepped forward since the last time they'd visited.

well, at the end, my father liked it so much, that he decided to move there.

of course, the culture is so different that some things were absolutely alien to me.  i will try and name them all - sorry, if i miss out on something. you are free to add points up, if you want to!

1) super short mini shorts but double long-sleeved layer on top

the first thing i dont get is that you are somehow allowed to wear bum opening maxi belts but tank tops are absolute taboo! how did it happen that exposing the shoulder area is sexier than extremely short mini skirts? i just found it weird that you could basically wear panties at the bottom and long-sleeved tops...

2) whitening BB creams

so, i was born in russia. i hate when my skin gets a nice tint of blue, and makes me look like an avatar. we adore bronze skin and every summer we are trying to get injected with tan. in korea, i guess just like in most asian countries, they do everything to keep their skin from darkening. we made it a goal to buy as much cosmetics as possible but we kind of failed to do so because of all their products containing whitening properties. the darkest shade we could find was 2 tones darker than our natural colour. that was a bit frustrating.

3) culture of drinking with your boss after work

so, apparently, you cannot decline the offer to go for a drink, if your boss invited you to. it is considered an insult and will affect your career, if you decide to have a good sleep before starting over a 12-hour working routine. epic fail.

4) going for a coffee some place else, when done with your meal

this may sound no different from what we are used to doing in the west but this one is trickier. before going to a certain place, your whole company of friends should make up your minds on what you're gonna have. restaurants are most likely to specialize on one thing only; so if you decided to have bulgogi, you will have just that, and nothing else. once you've finished, you decide where to go for a coffee, because the previous place doesnt specialize in that. odd. so usually, an evening hang out with friends ends up being one massive dinner.

5) after after clubs

these started few years back. my parents told me that before, about 20 years ago, in the night clubs in korea, there was a habit of men coming in packs and choosing girls from the crowd to accompany them. they would point at the girls they liked and managers would drag them out and bring them over. so, that wasnt happening anymore. instead, they go to "after after clubs". after hanging at a normal club and getting somewhat drunk, those who seek adventures go there to have some fun... those only work from about 3 am, when the night clubs close... yuck.

6) people over their 40 are not allowed inside normal clubs

my dad was so eager to go clubbing whilst in korea, to shake it up like in old times, you know.but his friends stopped him right there and told him that he is too old for that. that the bouncers would not let him in. the funny fact is that women are allowed to enter at any age.

so, for now, thats all i could remember.