Hello Sydney!

Last stop on the tour was Sydney! And it was so fun to be back. Kip and I had one free day to tour around and we took full advantage! We hit Oxford Street, drove over to Watson's Bay and watched the sailing, had fish and chips by the water, did a bit of walking to watch a cruise ship head to open seas through The Gap. In all, it was lovely.

Then, on our last night in Sydney, THE BIG SURPRISE! James, my brother-in-law, and I were consipring for weeks to surprise Jai, my sister-in-law. They flew down from Queensland and came to have dinner with us. And the surprise worked. It was so much fun!




They even brought me a pressie! Kingscliff is the little town that was right near where we used to live and I loved it!



What a wonderful trip! Thanks Jai and James for coming to see us! Kip and I had a great time among all the hours spent in hotel ballrooms around the world!

Kirstin

Hong Kong Rocks!

Let me just say that I LOVE Hong Kong! And that I ran out of time and money in Hong Kong!

Kip and I spent the day on the Central side. We took the escalators up to the mid-levels and then wandered through an amazing little street market. It was really fun to see the domestic side of Hong Kong and explore neighborhoods.





After some shopping advice from my best friend and guru, Jodie, I headed to the Ladies Market with Kip and another Blue Coat friend, Stephanie. I don't have any pictures from the market because it was too crowded to even get my camera out and frankly, I was too busy concentrating on bargain shopping!

I won't go into every detail but let's just say the evening ended in a cramped, second story room, behind a locked gate, full of handbags with me, hot, sweaty, and demanding all of Kip and Stephanie's remaining cash. I think I had a scary look on my face because they immediately handed it over and then dragged me out of there and into a cab back to the hotel. I didn't even get to look at the jewelry!

Everyone in China takes pictures making the peace sign so of course Kip and I had to do it too! Next stop, Sydney and a BIG SURPRISE!

First Coffee in China!

Yes! It's true! I landed in the Hong Kong airport all ready for my total immersion into Asian culture and desperate for some caffeine and the only coffee I could find was a Starbucks. Unreal.

From there I caught the ferry to Macau, where I was going to spend 6 days in a strange parallel universe known as China's version of Las Vegas. It was really weird because it was IDENTICAL to the US Las Vegas. I stayed at the Venetian, which really was just like the one in Las Vegas. If it wasn't for the language and food it would have felt like being in the US.




After 5 days we realized that we hadn't actually gone outside. The Venetian can trick you with that fake blue sky. So on our last day we finished up and made our escape to do a bit of Macau sightseeing with Margie, another contractor who is also working with us. Note the fruit coming all the way from NAPLES, FL!






On to Hong Kong next!

Brussels Fun

Hello again!

Sorry for the lapse in blogs. The working world tour ended up being a bit of a hectic schedule and it interrupted the blog flow. But the Proud House is back in full swing now and there's been lots of activity to report from all corners of the globe.

We'll finish the travel updates first and then give you a Florida update. Hint: The moat is GONE!

Kip and I were working hard and mostly saw the inside of the lovely Sheraton Brussels. But we did get a little bit of time to sneak in some sightseeing. Especially the Brussels highlight Mannequin Pis, which is Dutch for "Little Pee Man". This historical landmark is not to be missed if you are ever in the neighborhood.



Brussels is really beautiful and I'd like to go back in the summer when things are in bloom. There was definitely more to see!




Next stop, China!

Kirstin