#2 - Travel

The podcast episode is about travel experiences. The speaker discusses their past travels within Australia, including Queensland, Sydney, and Adelaide, as well as their international trips to America and Vietnam. They also talk about their extensive trip to Europe, visiting various countries such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Croatia. The speaker emphasizes the enjoyment of traveling with friends and family and shares their perspective on budgeting and spending while traveling. They express a love for experiencing new things and recommend traveling to Europe. Hello, we're back for episode two of the Simon Sibling Podcast. Today's going to be all about travel. I think part one will be about where we've traveled to in the past and then part two is going to be about our recent travels which includes Port Douglas, Singapore and Thailand. And probably future aspirations. Yeah, where we'd like to go in the future too. Sounds good. Alright, so Darcy, kick us off with where you've been in the past. Okay, so to summarize, Australia I haven't done too much of. Sort of more humane kind of parts. Been to Queensland a few times, up near Gold Coast, Suntone Coast, Brisbane but never been much, never been too far north which I'd like to see. Sydney I've only been once when I was really young. I'd really like to go there, go to King Street with my mates, you know, check out Bondi and all of that. Check out some of the nice beaches, that'd be really nice because I cannot remember it. Obviously done quite a bit in Victoria, never been to Tasmania. Been to Adelaide a couple of times, actually nicer than what a lot of people think. Guess bad rap Adelaide for some reason but I quite like it. I did a month exchange in Alice Springs which was really cool. And how old were you when you did that? Year 9, 8 or 9. And you went to school up there as well? Yeah for a month, yeah and that was really cool, a completely different style of life up there to what we have down here. Yeah. So I could talk a bit on that. Never been to Perth, never been up to Darwin so that's kind of my Australian history. The first international trip that I guess we all went on, which we can all talk about but that was... Maybe I went to China before that. Yeah, our first international trip as a family. As a family we went to America, more specifically went to Washington DC and New York around Christmas time. That was awesome, we loved that. You can talk about that. Then a few months after that you, Jasmine and I went to Vietnam. Was that the following year? Yeah, so that was March the following year. So we went to... Yeah so I had been to China before. Yeah so we went to America in 2015 Christmas, might have been, it was 2015 Christmas and then we went to Vietnam, Jas and I, 2016 March around Easter time. With school. With school, yeah. Then I did another school trip back to America, it was a basketball trip with my best mate. Was that 2017? 2017 Christmas. Yeah. December there, that was awesome. So been to America a few times and then... I think it's weird to know, it's weird to think that I don't know exactly where I've been but I just did a big trip with Finn, one of my best friends, last year, four months. We went to America for a month and did sort of predominantly the West Coast which is Los Angeles and that sort of side of it, Vegas and all of that. Then we went up to Canada for a month which was beautiful, great scenery. Then down into New York for another 10 days. Then we flew over to Europe and did two months in Europe and plenty of countries over there. We went to, honestly I don't even know how many countries, I'll pull up maps, but we landed in Germany very briefly and we went Brussels into England and then did London, sort of. Didn't do too much in England, we just sort of did London and then we went to Amsterdam, Berlin in Germany, Prague in the Czech Republic, Munich for Oktoberfest, we went to Austria. Then from Austria we went to Switzerland, Switzerland to Venice in Italy and we did Croatia. We actually went into Bosnia for a very, very tiny, about 30 meter stretch, so I can't say I've been in Bosnia. Then did a bit more in Croatia, went over to Rome in Italy and did the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento and that sort of area. Through Rome, Pisa and we did Nice and Monaco in France. Went to Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, which was cool. Back up to Paris and then back to London, then came home and that was a big trip. I had the best time of my life. If I could relive any year of my life, it would be last year. Just loved every part of it. Travelling's awesome, I don't think there's much better in the world than travelling, especially with friends and family. I don't know how, a lot of people do it solo. I saw a lot of solo travellers in hostels and it takes a different cat to sort of do that, I think. You've got to be a very, a very... Young, put together. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, one of my good mates, Ethan O'Neill, just went solo travelling for a couple of months in Europe and it looked awesome. I just really like sharing experiences with people. So I could do it, I think. I think I'm sociable enough to, in a hostel or something, you sit down with someone, you meet someone, you go out for dinner with someone, you know, you can make friends. I've made plenty of friends on my trips. There's like, probably four or five people that stand out when I think of that. But yeah, I prefer to share an experience with someone while I'm travelling. That's just, every single time I talk to Finn, something comes up about our travelling or like some kind of idea or something. It's just nice to sort of be able to talk to someone about what I saw, because he saw the same thing, which is, it's really cool. So that's a very brief history of my travels. I've just been to Thailand, but we'll talk about that in the next episode. So, some questions in regards to your Europe trip. Yeah. How old were you at the time? It was last year, so I was 22. And how much do you reckon you spent? Four months, I don't really know, but I would probably say somewhere around 30 grand. Yeah. All included. I think, I think I, it's kind of hard because I had a lot of annual leave and stuff coming in that I was spending as I was going, so it's not like I took over a fixed bank balance. And we also pre, we didn't pre-book much of the trip at all, but there was some flights. That you've done before? Yeah, some flights, some accommodation. Like, we knew that we were going to be in Munich for Oktoberfest, and so we had to buy accommodation, because it goes up. I think the accommodation that we got was about, just to put it into perspective, I think we could stay in a hostel in Europe for about, anywhere between $30 and $50 a night. Some were cheaper, like we got accommodation for like $15 a night, some were $90 a night in some areas. But on average, probably around $30 to $50. And to put that in perspective to the accommodation that we pre-booked for Oktoberfest, that was about $200 a night. And I remember checking it about two months after, and we booked that about a year in advance. And then I checked it about three months before Oktoberfest, and it was up near like $600, $700, $800 a night for like, really low-class accommodation. Like, Finn and I shared a queen bed, I think. So yeah, so it was absolutely like, something we were very lucky to book in advance. But yeah, I think about $30,000 all up, somewhere around there, give or take a little bit. We, I really like the sort of format of our trip. I've had friends that have gone traveling, and they've been really, fragile might be the right word, with their spendings. And I don't blame them, because they wanted to spend as much time over there as possible, when it was sort of a boyfriend and a girlfriend that went over. And you know, their trip was awesome. It looked so cool, I'm so jealous of what they did. So you can kind of have two trips when you go to Europe, I think. You can sort of have like a Croatian yacht week sort of trip, drinking, spending all your money on drinks, booze, having fun, parties, stuff like that. You can also have the other side of it, where you can spend all your money on, or spend all your time on saving as much money as possible, so that you can do as much as possible, and stay out there for as long as possible. But I think Finn and I did it, at least the way I wanted to do it, I think it would be the way Finn wanted to do it as well, was go out when we want to, which was quite often. We probably went out, yeah, like we went out all the time. Didn't always necessarily spend heaps on alcohol and stuff when we were out, but we went out all the time. We did what we wanted to do. We still spent four months overseas. We were ready to come home. We both came home with nothing. But I guess if we didn't buy as much alcohol, or go out and spend as much on the dinners out with friends that we made, and stuff like that, we probably could have stayed another month, maybe. But I would prefer to spend one less month away, but have like one month of fuelled, like, you know, fire, and like excitement, sort of, every night. Yeah, doing what you actually want to do. Exactly right. You haven't planned on going there for a while. Exactly right. So I can't blame someone for being a little bit more protective of their money, so that they can spend multiple months more. But I do like to go out. I do like to go to bars, clubs, stuff like that. Yeah. So I wouldn't want to go to Europe and not do that, because there's such a big scene of that over there. We might have to get skin on in the future, and go through some funny stories. Yeah, there's plenty. Some learning. There's plenty. Thailand as well, just recently. There's a few funny stories out of that. Yeah, maybe we could get Toby on too. Yeah, I don't know how much we can say on live, we might get censored. But no, Europe was awesome. I definitely recommend it to everyone there. I think it's, I'd probably describe it from like a landscape point of view, is it's pretty similar to Australia. I just think Australia has everything in one country, kind of. They have everything in different countries, I guess. Like, but their stuff is better than Australian. It's just we've got it all in the one spot. So what I mean by that is, Australia has beautiful beaches, you know, up, there's a Whitehaven Beach, isn't there? Yeah, and then out over in Western Australia and that, Esperance, and those sorts of places. It looks amazing. I've never been, but it looks incredible. But overall, Australian beaches are pretty nice, but they don't compare to, like, some of the beaches in Greece, or some of the beaches in, you know, Croatia. I reckon a lot of people would think Australian beaches are nicer. I haven't been to Europe, so I can't compare, but... Yeah, I mean it's... You love what you can't have. Yeah, and their beaches over there are really crowded. Really crowded. Usually lots of rocks and stones and stuff, but it's different. Even us living on the, like, we live on the more continental... Yeah, we're surrounded by beaches. We're so spoiled. We have beautiful beaches down here. Yeah, beautiful, great, like, snorkeling and fishing and... I love summer on the peninsula. It's kind of the place to be, I think. It is the place to be. We're very lucky to live here. But yeah, I think, like, overall, if you had to pick, you know, Europe's best beach and compare it to Australia's best beach, they might be similar, but I'd take Europe's best beaches. If you had to compare Europe's best mountains to Australia's best mountains, of course you're going to take Europe's best mountains. Yeah. If you had to, you know, like, their cities as well. Like, London's such a beautiful city. Paris is such a beautiful city. Yeah. I think their cities overall, but then they've got, say, like, I don't know, some other cities that are just quite boring. Yeah. I believe. Their architecture is better than ours, obviously, because it's older. I mean, Melbourne has amazing food and we want to do some episodes on, like, the best restaurants in Melbourne we've been to and things, but, I mean, Europe, food. It's incredible. It's incredible. You can go to Europe specifically for the food. Yeah. You could go there on a food tour. I've said it to Finn. We ate really well over there. I was going over thinking I'll be having two-minute noodles every night for dinner, but we ate out pretty much every night with friends and stuff that we made from the hostels. So we ate well, but it would have been even better again to eat at more expensive restaurants that really, that really, sort of, show off European food and culture. Just a weird thing. I've got a bonfire lit up the back and just seeing all the smoke coming from it. Europeans smoke so much. There's not that much of a culture in Australia, I don't think. I mean, maybe it's where we live and the friends that we have and, I guess, the social sort of structure and class that we're in. Maybe. I don't know. But there's not much, there's not much, I don't know many people that smoke young over here. But you go over to Europe, Paris, over there, everyone smokes. In clubs, everyone smokes. They don't have a smokers area on the dance floor that's smoking. I'd feel sick. It's quite cool. It's quite cool to see. That's not cool. It is cool to see. It's their culture. It's like we, Australians have weird culture as well that we might think is cool, but other people might go, no, that's not cool. Like swearing non-stop and stuff like that. That's probably not cool, but it is to an Australian. Going over there and seeing all of these people smoke, it's obviously not good for the health. But it's just cool to see. I don't know how to respond to that. Sari didn't know what to say to that. Sari doesn't agree with me. I love Europe. I can talk about it forever. Favourite place over there? I like the landscape of Europe a lot. Yeah, so what's your favourite place? Switzerland. Okay. Switzerland. I love Croatia as well, the beaches over there, but Switzerland was, I've never seen anything like it. But that's a very brief. Brief summary, not so brief, but I'm sure we'll talk about it more in the future. All right, so Gemma. Wow, I get my first words in after 20 minutes. So we went to America and New York together. I want to talk more about my East Coast trip. I've done a lot of travelling and stuff with basketball. I've been to Tassie three times, New South Wales a couple, Adelaide I've been to. A lot of Victoria through sport, but I rode trips for about a month all the way up to Byron Bay and back down to the peninsula. And I, so I started, we went to Gundagai, which is this really Bogan like. Is that a dog on a tucker box? Bogan like stopover place. And it was 39 degrees and the only, it's about a 50 metre town. Like there's nothing there except for this swimming pool. We spent about 12 hours in this swimming pool until we got kicked out. It was weird but cool just to get out and not have phones because there was no reception either. And then we made it to Sydney. So I think we spent four or five days in Sydney just doing everything literally. So we went all the way up to the Blue Mountains, which was my favourite thing I've done probably in the world so far. Anything more than, more favourite than Thailand? You went there? Yeah, way better. Okay. And then, so yeah, we did the Blue Mountains, the Opera House, we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and then we literally did, we just walked kilometres and kilometres and drove hours just everywhere. We did Bondi, which was amazing. Then we kept going up north. Our flights got cancelled so we were going to actually fly to Coffs Harbour to visit some cousins. But yeah, flights got cancelled so we just kept going up and Coffs Harbour was amazing in terms of beaches and just there's not much there. So everyone surfs and snorkels and it's just really nice weather. But it was very, like, just a different type of heat and sun. Like you get burnt within five minutes. Yep. And it's like... So it's just severe? Wet heat, yeah, very. But the four-wheel driving, we did some four-wheel driving. Did you have a four-wheel drive on the beach? Clive's cousin, yeah. Yeah. And that was cool because in Victoria you can't go, like, you can't drive on sand at the beaches. So it was different. It was certainly unique to drive on a beach. Yeah. A huge beach with, like, crystal clear water. But I wasn't used to the stingers up there. The, like, jellyfish and stingers, they get you. Yeah. So they don't have stinger nets at their beaches? No. Like, when I say jellyfish, they were way out. But I'm saying, like, the stingers, like the tiny little bugs. Yeah. Yeah, they get you. Okay. But it's not like a beach. Yeah. And then Clive surprised me on my birthday, and we went to Byron Bay. And that's just honestly, like, a different... Different universe? Yeah, it's not really... It doesn't really remind you of Australia. Like, they're just so hippie. Well, yeah, very Australia, I should say. Did you like it, though? Yeah, I loved it. Very expensive when you get there. But we went to a bar... West East Point of Australia. Yeah, right there. Went to a bar, which is like a pub on the beach, and it had about a four to five metre on tap beer. Right, so, like, 30 different beers you could get on tap. Oh, probably more, yeah. It was amazing. And because it was so hot, you just drank. Yeah. And I'm not a big drinker at all, but, yeah, it was pretty good. Ginger beer. Got me. Yeah, and then we went all the way down, so... Because we went straight to Disney, basically. We did all, like, the Lakes Entrance, Albury, all the way up to Port Macquarie, which was one of my favourite places. I could live in Port Macquarie. So, was Byron... The highest one. Yeah, North Point. Yeah. Yeah. I love Tassie, too. Yeah. What about Thailand? Thailand was really good. I did... So, Darcy... What year did you go? This year. January? Was it? Yeah. Yeah, it feels like longer ago than that. I know, it does. Okay, so 2020. Yeah. So, Darcy just went, but he did... We did more. Darcy was there with friends. I'm there... Like, when I travel, I like to do everything and not stop, as Jaz would know. So, we did, like, lots of elephants, but we did the humane elephants. The ethically. The ethically, yeah. None of them are ethical. I feel, like, real icky about that. Like, if I went, I don't think I'd want to do that. Yeah, but they're there regardless. I know, but you're supporting. I don't think any of them are ethical. I like seeing them. I don't think they're, like... We went to an ethical one. Great reviews and all of that. Yeah. And we drove past plenty that weren't ethical. Yeah. The ethical ones. The unethical ones, make you sad. Yeah, seeing them in chains, that's not good. The ethical ones, they weren't in chains, but I don't... It's not ethical. They can't go and do what they want. Yeah. Like, they've been captured to be put in a sanctuary. Yeah. It's not ethical. Yeah. I don't care what anyone says, so... Well, yeah, it's just not ethical, but it was cool to see. So, one of my highlights with Thailand was PP Islands and Maya Bay. Maya Bay. Maya. Maya. Really good. It was very busy when we went, because it was in January, but the snorkeling at that time of year was unbelievable. I've never seen so many fish like it. An octopus, like, just on the beach, two meters away from... Like, it was crazy. So, we bought a snorkel and just, on our own time, just went snorkeling, which was really cool. What area were you mostly in? So, we... Our accommodation was in Kata Beach, which is a couple of suburbs. It's like one suburb or two suburbs away from Petong, which is the main part. Kata is a lot more... It's, I think, a lot more expensive in terms of resorts and stuff, but it's all relaxing, retired. It was a different type of demographic, a lot cleaner. Petong was very, like, go, go, go, party, party, young type of atmosphere. And that's where you were, Darsie, right? That's where I was, yeah. Yeah, which I went to Petong, like, a couple of days, but I like... When I want to go to sleep and stuff, I want to relax and not hear, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof one I'm going to say I think probably something in New York yeah probably the Christmas shopping in New York to be honest yeah like their department I've now had Christmas sort of in Singapore which do an amazing job at Christmas stuff in New York but the department stores in New York over Christmas just hit different like Macy's and places like that they have a whole level of Christmas and like the decorations it's just yeah incredible so mum gave me the option to go to an NFL game I was 12 at the time so an NFL game but basically cost a fortune to go like New York Giants versus New York Jets I see um I'm like a big game but any or go shopping and cheap a's well I chose the shopping option and we didn't even end up going you were gonna go to you went to the NFL game and I did and that was this option by you but you can say that again no that was good that was the day we so I love the store free people like an American store and I had that on 5th Avenue and it was one of my highlights from New York was the big garden and we went bike riding around it we hired bikes you didn't do that did you no she had a hissy fit it was amazing it was so good and when we went to New York we were expecting it to be freezing cold yeah because it was December and it was Darcy and I were in shorts and a t-shirt it was like it would get cold but like if you're walking around it's actually good but when we went to Washington like a week before it was very freezing I remember one day we were at the Washington Monument is that what it's called the stick the cheap we call it the cheese stick yeah and then the museum was really cool as well that's where they filmed night at the museum and then ice skating was also really really special memory I think when someone asked me about ice skating in Melbourne compared to New York New York yeah because we were outside you were on a perfectly manicured indoor ice hockey arena and there was what a thousand people on the ice of course it's gonna be different and also the view from the Rockefeller amazing yeah like the New York City skyline it's just nothing it's the best I've seen in cities I've been to for skyline yeah it's interesting because in Europe and that going there made me realize I don't care about a city so much every city's sort of the same like it doesn't matter if you go to random sort of Ray-Bans say in Melbourne or you go to Ray-Bans in London and they're selling Ray-Bans yeah so it doesn't the shopping and that yes fun to go shopping overseas for some reason because you're more likely to spend and it's just more fun doing it with friends and family but I don't really care too much about the cities there was sort of two cities that stand out to me and that's London and Paris I love those cities but like Barcelona was nice but I didn't love it it's a city you know all of these other cities I didn't really care too much about Berlin or it's just a city what makes it true for me is the landscape and the the natural beauty of places like the hikes you can do the beaches you can see the mountains you can climb sort of stuff like that and but New York that's a city that I love yeah I love it I could go there I could live there I could go there I would never get bored of it there's so much to do there there's so much to see and there's just something about the city it just keeps you energized and I feel like the people of New York get a bear breath like before we went we were expecting I don't know I feel like it's just expecting it to be like the social like no one wants to talk to you but Americans are nice people. We went to that burger shop and this random guy just shouted our whole family like you know he heard like we had an Aussie accent just wanted to chat to us and yeah no Americans are nice people like they're um they're very they're very kind people so New York's really cool it's a it's a great place. Yeah I reckon it's somewhere everyone should go. They should it's a special place I think. The subway was sick too. I'll never forget mum's trip so every single time mum's not very sometimes she just doesn't find her balance. And she can be cranky as well. Very cranky. And so she's been on this huge long flight and she gets bus ride. Oh bus ride sorry. And she gets to New York and literally within 30 seconds. It must be hang on it must be what like midnight at night. Yeah. Like real late at night. We were all tired we're all we've been walking. We're dragging suitcases. We've been dragging our suitcases for because we didn't know how the subway system worked and all that. Probably because our suitcases aren't worth the time. The four wheels it was like. Yeah. Cheap crappy suitcases. So we're probably you know walking for 40 minutes or something. And the gutters there are really big. It's not like Australia's gutters where it's like maybe 20 centimeters drop. This one happened to be really big. Anyway we get to our we get to our room finally. Everyone I don't know I was happy I was I was loving it because we're in New York it was cool it was so exciting. I think we were all loving it. Mum. Was on edge. Mum was on edge. And mum wanted to get to the hotel and go to bed. Or the Airbnb and go to bed. And we're standing in this really nice spot. Mum gets the keys for the place and Jem take over. And we had to cross the street to get to our Airbnb. Anyway and mum just eats gravel. Eats, trips over those gutters and eats it on her suitcase. It would have hurt. It would have hurt so much mum. Mum just face planted into Ashford. And dad serves the pot. Of course whenever someone falls over especially on a holiday what's the one thing you say? How's your trip. How's your trip. Which I didn't know and innate. Dad yells that out and I never heard that before. And mum. Mum was another beast at that moment in time. I've never seen mum get that fiery and feisty and just oh it was funny. It was hilarious. Yeah we'll never forget that one. It's probably a be there moment but just if you know my mum and you know my dad and you just. You can picture it. You can picture it. It was yeah that was hilarious but there's been so many places we've been. So many more places I want to go. Yeah. I feel like this will be evolving. It has to be because I haven't spoken about Europe and that's yeah I don't mean that's pretty much all I talk about now. Yeah. Back in Australia but have you ever made any friends overseas? No because I've never been overseas long enough. You need to go off dials and stuff. There's so many cool people that you can meet like I don't know. But I've met a lot of people through interstate travelling through basketball. Yeah. Yeah. Travelling. You just meet people with similar ideals to you. Not even ideals but similar like. They're there to travel as well. So there's always something you can fall back on about talking to. Yeah. Or talking about. So that's really cool. I have. I don't know. I met so many cool people over there. There's still plenty that I'm talking to. A couple of Americans. Megs and Mia. A couple of Canadians. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.