I’m high off travelling. Seriously. I just got back last week from one of the most amazing trips I have ever done. Every time my friends ask me how the trip went, three words come out of my mouth along with a facial expression of ultimate satisfaction: “IT WAS AMAZING!” I shook my head and cried at how crazy good everything was. Yes, crazy good. My grammar is on point right? But that’s really how the entire trip went.
I got to revisit my beloved second home, Singapore. I was able to show my friend Nikka around. It was her first time being there and travelling in general. It was cool to watch her appreciate the beauty of Singapore because I got see how I probably wouldve looked like when I was in her position last year. She loved it and I got to relove it. Singapore will always be one of my favourite places. It was as pretty as I remembered it.
We flew to Sydney after 5 days in Singapore. Sydney was surprisingly like Toronto except with the accent. I mean, what did I expect? We landed into a city. But I mean, Tokyo is a city but it was still a lot different than Toronto. Sydney was gorgeous and pretty but had all the elements of what cities usually have so it wasn’t as thrilling to experience their culture. Actually, it was very similar to ours. My friend Gillian asked me if we felt any culture shock coming in and we quickly responded with a no. A girl we met at our hostel described Sydney with these words: “Europe meets San Francisco with a splash of Asia”. Europe because of all those houses by the coast. Like that picture in Greece with the blue houses. We even saw the most gorgeous cemetery by the coast facing the water. It finally hit us that thats what people mean when they say they want to die by the beach. San Francisco because it had the North American element it. And Asia because of all the authentic Asian food on every street corner. I guess its easier for Sydney to capture that authenticity because they are so close to Asia. Unlike North America where even a bowl of ramen is butchered. We petted koalas and fed kangaroos. We took selfies with them. It was such a cool experience!! We were such tourists to visit the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, 7 beaches, etc. We got to watch Aladdin in Sydney on broadway!! It was amazing!! We were in Sydney for a total of 9 days so we milked the heck out of that place. We almost felt like locals when we left because we got to know the place so well.
And then we went to Queenstown. The most amazing, gorgeous, surreal, beautiful, picturesque, I’m running out of adjectives, perfect place. It was so stunning I couldn’t believe my eyes. Nikka and I cried, legitimately out of awe. Sitting and thinking about that place right now is getting me teary eyed. My gosh, Queenstown is a gem. It couldn’t be more perfect. We were surrounded by mountains with snow on top of them and calm waters. There were birds flying around and people walking around town so happy. They sold the best food. You can actually taste how natural and organic the food was. You can even drink out of the tap water in the bathroom. That’s how clean their resources were. We drove 5 hours to Milford Sound and we saw nothing but perfect scenery. 5 hours flew by because we enjoyed the view so much. We even stopped several times on the side of the road to take pictures. On the way back to Queenstown from Milford Sound, it was coincidentally sunset. So there we were, driving on the coast of the mountains, seeing the water, mountains, a sky with the colours of purple, pink, orange and yellow. Plus, the town was starting to turn on the city lights. So there it was, when a perfect town couldn’t be more perfect and then it throws you a view like that. You think I’m kidding when I describe this dreamy town but I’m really not. Nikka and I kept telling each other to let us know when this dream is over because its too good to be real. Usually, people say, “my dream turned into a reality”. But being in Queenstown, it was backwards. “This reality is a dream”. Needless to say, we didn’t want to leave. It’s funny because people we met in Australia who knew about our plans of going to New Zealand told us that 5 days is too short! They insisted that we change our return flight and extend our stay. We giggled and told them it was impossible to do. We finally understood why they persisted we stay when we got to Queenstown. It was one of those places you can never get tired of seeing and walking around in. We met this one girl from Montreal who only planned to stay in New Zealand for 3 weeks for vacation but has now been there for almost a year. She decided to stay and work there. She’s not planning to leave anytime soon and is making do with her backpack life. You know the place is amazing when it can make you stay even if you’re alone and only with a backpack. Anyway, that’s enough with my rant about New Zealand. I always heard of it being so pretty but I didn’t think it would make me love it as much as I did. Don’t be surprised if I end up doing a part 2 of that trip.
Now I’m back and travel sick. Like, I don’t want to be home kind of sick. I have to save up and find a big girl job. Hopefully I can travel again soon so I can be feed my travel hunger and keep my sanity. Until next time.
clarisse david 