In no particular order, here are some (mis)adventures, anecdotes, or memories which will be with me for many years, no doubt.
~driving a manual camper van on the left hand side of the road and having the windshield wipers turn on instead of the directionals;
~blow drying my hair in the men's room at one of the campsites---I was wondering where all the women were;
~riding in a helicopter and upon exiting my left leg sank into the glacier up to my hip;
~being teased by Ellen that I should redesign bathrooms, at campsites as well as hotels, I mean, how much do hooks and shelves cost;
~eating emu, crocodile, kangaroo, camel but not vegemite;
~waiting for our fish and chips take out and being told by customers about the Japan earthquake and tsunami;
~seeing a green frog in the toilet;
~walking to the bathroom in the early morning with a miner's lamp on my forehead and a flashlight in my hand trying to avoid snakes and frogs in Australia;
~drinking champagne out of a camper's plastic mug during sunset at Uluru;
~chatting with young folks at hostels and on two of three tours in the Outback;
~snorkeling, for the first time, and that time being the Great Barrier Reef;
~climbing the Franz Josef glacier while wearing crampons;
~seeing a Little Blue Penguin swimming along side as I was kayaking in the Milford Sound;
~seeing so many koalas and having them be so active in the afternoon;
~watching a Water Puppet Show in Ho Chi Minh City and not understanding one word;
~according to our Vietnam guide, Happy, when she asked, "Do you want to sing your song?" she was asking if we needed to use the bathroom;
~listening to two different tour guides in Cambodia telling stories of how their families suffered during the Khmere Rouge;
~taking in the absolutely breathtaking scenery and vistas in New Zealand while driving;
~realizing there were mice in my platform tent in Alice Springs;
~sipping wine at covered terrace by the 9th floor rooftop pool in Bangkok during an electrical storm...what a show;
~getting lost and receiving an escorted walk by an Aborigine couple back to our hostel;
~losing clothes in the dryer--not even socks, but shirts;
~crossing streets in Ho Chi Minh City and wishing to not be killed by motorbikes;
~asking directions in Thailand and inevitably they would say our destination was 10 minutes away--not;
~paying to use the public toilet in Bangkok--I called it a "3 Baht squat";
~praying almost daily to St. Anthony for help in finding lost items;
~falling in to the Mekong Canal, bike and all;
~climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge;
~looking for bottle stores (liquor stores) for our nightly bottle of wine;
~having the hair dryer catch on fire, sparks and all, while I was blowing my hair;
~breaking my sandal in Chiang Mai;
~knocking on the men's room door at a campsite asking for a roll of toilet paper;
~having my contact lens fall out at King's Canyon and having the German girl behind me find it;
~being in an elevator in Bangkok with five young, buff, and shirtless guys from Denmark;
~sweating in places on my body I didn't know could sweat;
~using the phrase, "no worries" in Australia;
~watching the Little Blue Penguins returning to their nests in St. Kilda's, Australia;
~locating the Southern Cross; and
~hoping to remember so many more experiences and adventures, they'll come to me at odd and random moments, I'm sure!
