I've Arrived!

Hey-o,

Welcome to my travel blog, Where’s Saldo? (Sid+ Waldo= Saldo)

As many of you know this is my first overseas trip and man it is a big one. I’ve never been the most cautious person and tend to leap before looking.  This makes my life very exciting and very stressful.  I don’t regret my choice to come for such a long time but as I sit here it all seems too surreal. Maybe once I’ve had more sleep, it might sink in.

My flights were good since I got two seats to myself which meant extra pillows. I was even so lucky as to have the best behaved children I’ve met on the flight. The 8 month old didn’t cry once! I wish I had slept more on my second flight but because I was so tired from the morning and all the errands I had to run, I slept most of my flight to LAX. I had zero trouble going through USA security and customs and I am a firm believer that this is because of my USA birth place. I have a Canadian passport but they see my birthplace and they let me go. Knock on wood, I’ve never had a problem entering or exiting the states.

Flying into LA at night was beautiful because it was a sea of lights as far as the eye could see in every direction. I’ve never seen anything quite like that. Flying into Auckland was also great because the country is so green and lush and as we descended there was this mystical fog that surrounded us.

I still have no idea what I’m going to do and where I’m going to go. I’m chatting with this girl who wants to cycle through NZ for charity. It would be the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done but a truly amazing thing. Right now I’m only looking as far ahead as tomorrow where I will be heading to Waiheke Island to wander and kayak. (I’ve never been kayaking)

I would like to thank the following people as I am ever grateful to them for helping me get on that plane in some form. Robyn and Emily for being my unending emotional support system and managing my apartment while I’m away, Jenny for generously offering to store my life for 7 months, Allison for helping me move my life into storage,  An for being my wheels- helping move my things and driving me to the airport, Danny for coming to my tech aid, Jason for letting me stay at his place while I was in between Toronto and Auckland, Lauren for taking me on my first MEC trip and offering her support, Marissa for her “How to Survive Long Flights” advice, Nat S. for being my knight in shining armour when my apartment was engulfing me, the Waldos from Waldo Crawl 2011 for the wonderful send off, and to everyone that has given me any advice or listened to my fears. I am so grateful each and every one of you as I couldn’t do it without you.

It’s only the first day but hopefully it will all sink in very soon that this is my home for the next 7 months. Luckily, I’ve already made a couple of friends and look forward to more.

Cheers,

Sid