First official step

Hey!  Look at this!!

It is totally official.  I'm going.  They didn't even ask for visa money!  More money I get to save!!  Things are going my way.  Now if only I can start selling my belongings....

Thanks Working Holiday Team!  I'll be seeing you soon!!

Little blessings that make a huge difference

First off I want to thank those individuals who have contributed to my NZ travel fund. Close friends, those I thought I'd never hear from again, coworkers/friends, people who support my dreams year after year, family. I can't thank you all enough. To slowly realize I am almost 1/5th of the way to my first monetary goal for my visa because of those who love me and my hard work of restraining myself from buying things... what an incredible feeling! I can totally make this!

And then there are the blessings that are right in front of your face that you don't realize. A friendly call to my sister to announce my news turned into long(ish) term storage space for my sentimental possessions I cannot take on my journey.

It is a good day and even when I start to hyperventilate a little bit knowing that I am leaving behind friends, family, a city, and a life that I have already created for myself to go live in a country I have never even visited, I can think about how this is the time in my life I can follow my heart.

Mid-June. I'm looking at you. I'm also looking at you email inbox, as I wait for my application for the visa to be approved.

Looking ahead to 2013 in NZ

Happy New Year friends and family! I trust everybody enjoyed their midnight in whatever way they saw fit (for me it was ordering in some Thai food, skyping with Guy, and going to bed at 12:30am).

As this exciting new year of my life starts I would like to put out a plea to my loved ones to help get me to my goal of living over seas in New Zealand. It's no small feat to raise this much money in six months. This is where I need all of your help. Think back on all those times in your life I have helped you move, baby/car/house-sat for you, bought you a drink, took you to or from the airport, talked to you all day or night about inane conversation topics. Maybe we just cried together. If any of those things apply to us, or if you just love to support those you know in achieving their dreams, please consider donating to my moving fund. All the money donated into my PayPal account goes directly to my Schwab savings fund that I will not be touching until the visa is settled, Ness needs her plane fare, and I am crossing the border. All money will be used for good. Consider me your Frodo who needs to get safely back to the Shire to live a happy and healthy life.

Here is a handy PayPal giving app I made!

Thanks in advance for your love and support. Stay tuned to me either giving away my things or selling them for cheap. No matter what, once I am in NZ I will be sending postcards, updating this blog often, and missing you all. My departure date looks to be around mid-June. Holy cow!

Exciting life news!

Well, friends and family, it's official! I have some exciting life news to announce. I am moving to MIDDLE EARTH! That's right New Zealand. Here is some background information.

Last summer when I had my Spain adventure I got a little more than what I bargained for... I met someone on my bus trip. His name was Guy and he was finishing up working abroad in London. For his last hurrah he chose to go on several bus trips around Europe and his last adventure was on the same Spain bus trip as me. We connected pretty earlier on and had a blast together. When it was time for him to fly away from Europe back to NZ I thought I'd never see him again. That made sad. But when I returned to the states myself we found each other on Skype and started talking for HOURS. I'm serious.  I have no idea what we talked about for those endless hours with a ridiculous time difference, but we talked and things grew stronger. He came to visit SF for two weeks around Thanksgiving time. I thought I we would fight and get sick of one another. Nope! We had a great time.  We even went to Yosemite!

So long story short I have made the executive life decision  to move to NZ for a variety of reasons that I won't get into here but it is an exciting time in my life to go experience life in another country. I'll start the process of applying for a working visa, getting my cat the right paperwork in motion for the move (because yes, Ness is coming with me no matter what), and saving every bit of money I have. I have installed a PayPal widget on my blog main page so if you are interested in giving I wouldn't say no. In fact, you'd be getting lots of postcards and special emails.

Thanks for the love and support everyone. It's a big decision that didn't come easily but once I made the decision in my heart everything started falling into place. So I'm sorry if you're not getting any presents this year or if I don't go out for drinks/dinner as often.

Bring it on 2013!

Flying home... Slowly

Have you ever heard of AirEuropa? Me either. Until now. I got to sit on their plane for a bit over 7 hours from Madrid to NYC. I think I'm spoiled with my past flying experiences because this flight was yucky. I always look forward to catching up on movies I never paid to watch in the theaters but this was an old school plane that have the central TVs for everybody to watch together. For some reason the sound was terrible and kept cutting out which meant I saw the beginning 10 minutes of The Hunger Games three times all without sound, then I watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which is one movie I really wanted to see. With all the stops and starts to get the sound back online it took about three hours to watch a little over half of the movie. I still don't know how it ends but I assume there is fishing involved.

Ther was a high amount of loving couples on my plane. Maybe that is just how the Spanish are but many couples slept in each others arms which look uncomfortable but it looks very endearing. When the kid behind me puked halfway through the flight the cute couple in my row gave me some perfume to put under my nose. The smell was pretty bad for awhile. The puke, not the perfume. One very nice thing about thought was that I had no one directly to my left so I could stretch out my stumpy legs mid flight.

Here is my ever important list of everything I consumed on the flight because I find it interesting. Pasta with meat sauce, a strange carrot salad in vinegar, brownie cake, bread, orange Fanta, tea, tea, a hot croissant/pastry thing with queso y jamon, and more tea. At one point the flight attendant said "You like my tea, yes"? I said "Si".

Also I took Dasha's neck pillow that shaped like a U. One of those pillows I always giggled at. Holy Toledo, it is amazing. I'm buying one ASAP. No weird kinks in your neck when you wake up from a shallow nap.

Then I had an 10 - 11 hour layover at JFK. Ate some salad (I needed greens), drank a beer, called my parents (who better be reading this because they promised they would [HI MOM, HI DAD]). Then it was nap time. I actually got a couple of hours in once I figured out how. The towel in the ground is key. Sufjan Stevens in your ear too, very important. If I was into photography I'd love to do a photo series entitled "The Desperate Sleeper." You start sleeping one way, clutching all your valuables close to your body. But as the sleep becomes elusive you lessen your grip and topple into an odd sleep while you become sloppy on the airport ground. I even had a dream! But it was about flying and transfers and getting sleep.

My next, AND LAST, Delta flight was fairly standard with most people sleeping. I got about 10 minutes in. I'm terrible at catching Z's on a plane. Gimme a car any day and I'll pass out, but planes still have an element of excitement for me still. I bought a snack pack. Crackers, cheese, goldfish, salami, dried cranberries, and mini cookies. Dang it hit the spot. So is this eccentric pop playlist I created for myself to listen to via the planes internal small collection of obscure music.

I cannot wait to stumble to my SuperShuttle and stumble into my bed after saying hello to Ness (my cat). She's gonna freak out that I'm back. I love that excitement when she realizes it's me walking in and not a friend of mine.

My last days in a beautiful location

My last city I visited was San Sebastian and boy am I glad I saved the best for last.

I slept for most of the chaos of trying to find parking near our hostel. Eventually we settled into our rooms which was facing a beautiful cathedral which you could find on the local map by searching

for #1. Our first night we explored, mostly in the old part of town near our room. Things may have been on the expensive side but there is a ton of shopping and eating to be done in San Sebastian.

Let's talk pintxos (pronounced PIN-CHOS). You may remember me talking about tapas earlier and pintxos are sort of like northern Spain's version. Sort of. Tapas you get for free and are typically pretty easily put together and understood. Pintxos you pay for and they are exquisite. Imagine walking into a bar and on the bar top are platters full of various creations, typically bite sized. You load your plate up with whatever you fancy in that moment. Pay the bartender. Eat. The food is fancy and well crafted. It is a lot of seafood but I found many jamon and queso and tortilla based options to fill my belly. If you are someone who loves eel, octopus, roe, crab, lobster, cured meats, and cheese then you will be in heaven. Even though a typical pintxo is 2€ - 3€ you can never have just one.

There is a lot of shopping to do in San Sebastian and on my last couple of days I did not reference my bank account, I just kept pulling out euros. I bought shoes, a skirt, a dress, perfume oil... all in one store. Lots of souvenirs for people. Lots of food and tinto verronos, which is basically red wine and lemonade. VERY refreshing on a warm afternoon or evening or night. Anytime really. We three drank a lot of them, but don't worry there is not much alcohol in them so I always kept my wits about me.

The beaches were lovely. For more info please see my post about them. I had a lot to chat about when it came to beaches.

It was a nice end to a trip. Good friends in a beautiful place. I'll be going back someday with Future-Mister-Ann-Pattison.

Here is a picture to show off the beauty of San Sebastian... It is our view out of our window!

Driving Don Benz amid signs I could not read

When I picked up Dasha at the airport I also rented a car. Through Avis I got a small sporty Mercedes-Benz we nicknamed Don Benz. At first I was nervous about driving in a different country but thankfully it was mostly the same to driving in the US besides some minor differences. Like I couldn't read the caution signs. Thank goodness for TomTom, our british sounding GPS guide who dealt with our ups-and-downs when we could not count which 'exit' we were passing on the roundabout or who persistently reminded up key tips like KEEP LEFT or TOLL CHARGE. That's another thing, their tolls are high and frequent. Petrol was pricey too. Bitch-and-moan. I should be quiet, I had a fantastic vacation and have the rest of my life to pay off my credit card bills.

It was also very interesting to drive through many different areas of Spain and to see how things change depending what provence you are in. Some places were cleaner while others had frequent helpful signs, and others had none. The basque countryside was near impossible to read any signs. You went by your gut or TomTom's sometimes confusing directions.