The trip to Australia was a success on lots of different levels. Here are some of the things learned.
Spend money on upgrading your plane ride, especially if it’s 23 hours one way and 18 hours return. If you’re going to Australia from Vancouver, travel Air New Zealand. Premium economy is well worth the extra money – more leg room, wider seats, better washrooms, great food and wine, quicker entry and exit from the plane and your luggage comes off first. You also get to use their travel lounge on the way back, which was brilliant.
Sleeping pills are another welcome addition to overnight flights. Talk to your doctor about the right one for you, and then try it out before you take your trip. I ended up only needing ½ a pill. It’s lovely to be bright eyed and ready to go when you arrive at your destination.
A reader of the travel blog shared her story of using the tea towel to shine her boots. I used mine as a seat cover on a very cold bench. Next time I’ll take more protein bars and oatmeal packets. Roasted chickpeas are a great light snack – a few go a long way. If you want, check out this earlier post.
Walking up the main hill at the
camp/conference site worked wonders for stretching out my overly tight gluts (I think I might have overdone the Elliptical Trainer). The Amaroo Grind, as some of us affectionately called it, got easier each day - the incline was more like North Vancouver’s Lonsdale hill that runs from the water to 19th street. And yes, training for this trip was well worth the time spent.
Unfortunately, the chilly mornings, different kinds of food and lack of sleep due to very cold nights caught up with me when I arrived home but after a round of antibiotics followed by a wonder product called Florastor - I’m feeling great.
Time to start another program regime. This one I’ll call Winter Maintenance. The goal is to continue working on my Five Pillars of good health:
- Strength - we lose a little each year
- Maintaining good heart health through walking and lots of fresh air
- Using the 80/20 rule for making healthy food choices - and not feel guilty about the 20%
- Finding new avenues of success for the job I both love and created
- Volunteering with The Prem Rawat Foundation - tprf.org
All these things work together to keep me happy and as the sayings go – “Happy wife, happy life” / “When mommy is happy, everyone is happy”.
It was a very good vacation.