so its sunday afternoon and i'm sitting at home on a lovely day. i should get outside and work on my tan. it's nice to have the endless summer again. i deserve it after dealing with winter for 2 years straight.

been thru the link section and checking for dead links and to make sure that those we link to link back to us. it's all part of the deal.

since i've been home i've done a bunch of research of oceania. the french polynesia and other island nations should be finished by the end of next week. i don't know how may backpackers actually travel thru the pacific islands as they tend to be quite expensive, yet tahiti is often a stop over for air new zealand.

hopefully when i get the islands done i'll be able to move on to asia, particularly SE Asia - the center of the backpacker universe. have you done any travelling in SE Asia? If so, we could definitely use some reviews!! submit them here...

well thats about it for now. thinking i may take a nap. i'm tired. eggs benedict will do that to me. rough life i lead. even when i was living in nz i was working at a flash restaurant and would have eggs benedict every sunday and steak at least 3x a week. good life meg, good life!

alright. talk to ya later!!

today has been another annoying day. wouldn't you know that i get sick as soon as i get home from travelling. at first i just thought i was a bit hungover today but when i continued to be sick all day long, i realized otherwise.

i was so sick i couldn't even work. i basically slept all day long and have felt like crap. not good for me. i have things to do. i'm a busy lady. i've got people to see!

calling it an early night tonight. hopefully i'll feel beter tomorrow and can get some stuff done.

i've now caught up with all my mates back here in dallas, so i won't be needing to go out and party it up! time to save money and work hard!!

talk to you later.

-meg.

today has not been a good day. i hate the real world sometimes. i really do! not that i haven't been living in the real world, but really i haven't. it's been more of a fantasy and exotic life than anything.

haven't driven my car in over a year so i took it into the shop to get it fixed today. well not fixed, but to see how much it is gonna cost for me to fix all the problems before we go on our great big road trip. $2200. yup that's $2200 i don't have.

it's so much easier to travel and not have a car to worry about!!! this is the last thing i want to hear right after i come home from a year abroad! i'm trying to go away again and now i hear that i need to spend $2200 on my car before i can go. great! guess i won't be going away again!

i hate the real world sometimes.

happy mothers day!

it's been a very interesting day here in the land of the suitcase.

it's mothers day so we - my brother, sister, and i - took mom to ozonas for brunch. the service was crap - it always is - but the food was decent. it's the bloody mary bar that makes it all worth while!!

basically, they bring you a glass of vodka then you take it to the bar and fill it with your choic of about 12 different tomatoe juices, and about 50 different types of condiments. its wicked. i used to go every weekend when i was living in dallas on a full time basis.

the rest of the day was spent working on the links section. it is such a tedious process, no wonder i rarely check them all out! i hate doing links but you have to. its a requirement these days. its just so boring and annoying to have to do.

i went over to a mate's house this afternoon and returned to find that my mum had bought me a new camera! you see, the one i've been using is absolutely wonderful, but i've abused the hell out of it. it's only a year old and it looks like its been around the world 10 million times... this new one is wicked tho! it looks just like my old one but is newer and better. plus it records sound on the video. thats wicked. so excited to use it!

bought the plane ticket for jamie to come to dallas this evening. i feel a lot better now that that is behind me. he is for sure coming to visit now. then its on our roadtrip. it'll be a long drive but it should be fun. gonna stop up in estes park colorado at my dads house for a few days. i've never been and jamie wants to see colorado so it'll be great.

my body is still messed up with all this jetlag. i hate it. i'm so not tired right now. that could be the adrenalin from knowing my boy is coming. dunno.

so check this out right? well, when i left last year to head to nz, there was not a single place in dallas to buy stella. no where. nada. nothing. well, i went out on saturday night with some of my mates and we ended up at the Tipperary Inn in Lakewood and low and behold they had stella. Not only were the mavs killing the rockets, but my favorite beer was being sold. i was in heaven. then to top it off, we went across the street to cosmos and they had it on tap as well. i think i've found my new favorite bars!!!

when i left auckland i remember being in the airport bar - surprise surprise - and commenting on how it would be my last stella for a while. what a shame. i was returning to the land of budweiser. which for a stage of my life was the way to go. not anymore. i've learned. i've moved up in life! even if i do drink the wifebeater!

so all in all its been an exciting weekend. i've gotten to catch up with all my friends but one of them. its crazy because we just pick up where we left off as if i've never left. i guess thats the sign of a true friend!

well i'm starting to get tired. not surprising considering it is almost midnight. i've got to find myself a job tomorrow. thats the mission. the goal.

keep travelling and stay safe!

-meg.

I'm so very proud of myself!! I figured out how to log back into the forums. You see I had forgotten the admin password and tried everything i could think of and then boom today, it just came to me. I'm so proud!

so, needless to say, the forums are all cleaned up and have tons of new topics in place. i've spent all morning working on them. there was a lot of unwanted advertising in the forums and i've erased it all as well as added a few new sections such as Business Travel and Travel News... you can check out the forums here...

well that's about it for now. just wanted to share in my excitement!

i hate jet lag!!

my body clock is so far off that i can't tell which end is up and which end is down. it's quite frustrating actually.

being back in texas is quite an adventure in itself. i had onion rings this afternoon for the first time in a year. i love onion rings and oh how i have missed them!!

so the countdown has begun for the next experience abroad. canada will definitely be an experience. i've already caught up with most of my mates here and i'm ready to move on. i'll tell you i was ready to leave paihia but sad to go. if that makes any sense.

i've been out looking for a job to keep me busy whilst i'm home. i haven't had much luck but the major problem is tht i can't tell anyone i'm only home for 3wks. who'd hire me? i'm in my own country where i don't need a work visa and yet i can't find a job. mind you its not like i've been looking that hard. gimme a break, i've only been home just 2 days.

well, it's getting late. i just realized i need to change the clock on my computer as it is a day ahead. i'm gonna try and get some sleep and get rid of this horrible jet lag. i've never experienced it like this. then again my flight was horrible so i'm not surprised i'm still tired.

stay safe in your travels!

well talk about excitement!! after a year of travelling i have finally returned home. it's not for long - i take off about a month from now to head to canada - but at least i'm home for now.

i didn't tell anyone that i was coming. it was a great mother's day present. have any of you ever surprised your fam by coming home early? let me tell you, it's worth it. my mom kept touching me to see if i was real or not. as if it wasn't really me that was home and she was dreaming. it was great. got the siblings to pick me up at the airport and off i was.

it was quite an adventure coming home thats for sure. i was truly unimpressed with qantas this go round. so much so that i'm gonna write a letter to customer service. qantas is usually one of the best airlines around. not this trip my friends not this trip. the stewardesses were all extremely rude and unhelpful, they ran out of food, the lights were broken and couldn't be dimmed the entire flight, not everyone's personal screen worked, the list goes on. quite unhappy.

to top it all off i arrived in lax with plenty of time to make my connection yet i still missed the plane. how you ask? because i stood in a friggin line for an hour and a half waiting to get my boarding pass. my bags were checked all the way thru and arrived on my original flight. not i tho. the people working behind the american airlines desk were complete idiots. not a happy traveller was i!!!

getting thru security wasn't that bad. then again i was returning to my own country so it should have been easy for me. it seemed like most people got thru quickly tho. i wonder if they are still doing the eye scanning thing? i know that they were finger printing everyone. what are your thoughts on this?

well my body clock is totally off and i'm wide awake with it being 3am here and i feel like it is 8. i should try and get some sleep. for the next 3wks look for lots of updates as i'm home and not working much plus i have 24hr internet access which will make it a lot easier to update and bring you guys new stuff.

take care and keep travelling!