So I’m a bit curious about you, the readers! What is your favorite travel souvenir, aside from photos?
I go for jerseys/shirts from local sports teams. It started off as soccer, when I snagged a Deportivo Saprissa shirt down in Costa Rica. Then, I got skunked in Belize … couldn’t find any local soccer shirts there, though they have a league and a national team.
Down in Australia, I switched to rugby since that was their thing. In Canada, I wanted to find a Vancouver Whitecaps shirt, but no luck there … and I will never, ever where a Vancouver Canucks jersey unless it is the only clothing and I’m shivering naked on a glacier.
I’d say my uber-cool Wallabies shirts shown below is my all-time favorite. It says Qantas on it as a bonus, and it even looks cool when being worn while rockin’ out!
Costa Rica
Tell me about it …
A quick run through Costa Rica
I promised everyone some short posts with lots of pictures and a few tips about where to go. Let’s start with our first trip to Central America – Costa Rica!
This is a great country, even if you’re on a budget (which we were). We’re talking about genuinely nice people, beautiful scenery and lots of fun stuff to do. Winter is a perfect time to visit, which is when we were there. It’s warm, but sometimes the night would get chilly. Bring a medium jacket for those occasions, along with a sturdy rain poncho. We never got eaten by bugs, which was really nice.
Even if you don’t speak Spanish, at least master the phrase “pura vida!” It means “pure life,” and is the Costa Rican equivalent of “g’day.” I thought it might be something that those in the tourist industry say to tourists, kind of like tour guides in Arizona saying “howdy, parnder” to Germans. But no … I heard them use it on each other, and even on us when we were far from the touristy bits.
A quick breakdown:
San Jose area – We stayed at a place called Hotel Aranjuez the first night. They have community bathrooms, but it’s still a nice place. And the breakfast … awesome! We also spent a few nights at a bed and breakfast called Villa Escazu. It’s one of the most beautiful houses I’ve ever seen, and the food is fantastic. Very personal service, too. If you want to get out of the city [...]
The Final Australia 2007 Post
Friday, Aug. 31
Seriously, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen an F-111 fly a few hundred feet over your head with its afterburners lit. This was part of a crazy celebration called Riverfire. If you ever visit Australia, do yourself a favor: Be in Brisbane for Riverfire. The video is lengthy, but it gives you a great idea of the fireworks display, and the jets that open and close it. Awesome!
We woke up early and took a stroll around the downtown area. This is a very outdoorsy city, lots of people running and cycling. After some breakfast, we picked a direction and walked. We also noticed that everybody was getting all aflutter about Riverfire. People were already lining the riverbanks to grab primo spots for the evening’s festivities. Sarah and I aren’t much for parades and shindigs, so we largely ignored it. We were pretty happy to be proven wrong later, but more on that toward the end.
Our first stop was the excellent Queensland Museum, which is really strong on science and nature. There was just too much cool stuff to see. We spent a few hours easily cruising around in there before heading out for general walking about. There’s a very neighborly feel to Brisbane, with a lot of non-chain store types of places. This particular section of Brizzy is like a big college town, even though Queensland University is down the river. Speaking of QU, we thought it would be fun to check out the campus.
We hopped on the [...]
