babymooning

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Al

I have to admit I am a bit confused by the term babymooning. You see, in anticipation of Junior Pixels, Kitty and I went to Sydney last weekend for one last time. When we told people this, they would say: ‘oh, you’re babymooning‘. I’d look oddly, because excuse me if I seem dumb, but don’t you actually need a baby to go on a babymoon? Isn’t going baby-less on a babymoon like holidaying before your wedding?

I looked in the ‘B’ volume of my 1989 edition Encyclopedia Britannica and couldn’t find any such term, so I fired up the old Wikipedia (yet again):

A babymoon is a period of time that parents spend bonding with a recently-born baby.

More recently the term has come to be used to describe a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. Babymoons usually take place at a resort that offers appropriate services like prenatal massage.

~ Wikipedia (empahasis added by me)

So it seems that what originally was deemed a period of parental bonding, has somehow become a cash-cow for the hospitality/tourism sector. This was confirmed as soon as we began our alleged babymoon.

We were on the plane, and we fly Jetstar (with the remaining Australian bogan population). There’s that awkward bit when you’re taking off you know, and you can’t use anything, not even a myPhone in ‘flight mode’, and being the Gen Y that I am, I got fidgety. Trying to find anything to do except watch the silly safety demonstration for the millionth time (actually, subtly, every plane is the same) I grabbed the JetStar Magazine, July Issue, and fingered it open, landing coincidentally on the page sixty/sixty-one spread.

Ahhh! I couldn’t escape. The article was about how all these resorts were offering special babymoon packages which surely just means they raise the price 50-100% more than non-babymooners. You know, like they do for honeymooners.

Upon check in in Sydney the lovely lady on the check-in counter asked what our business was in Sydney. I told her we were babymooning, and then she gave us a look I couldn’t quiet place. The look either meant “so where is the baby?”, or maybe just “Damn, I wish we had known, we could have charged them extra.”

Subtlely

home sweet home

Posted on May 24, 2009 by Al

I am glad to be home in Brisbane today after a long flight from Los Angeles last night.

I was very relieved to find our plants looking very healthy after much rain over the last week or so.

It is always a great feeling coming home to Australia after being overseas. Not that overseas isn’t awesome, but we are truly lucky to live here. This afternoon in Brisbane was no exception, the sun came through the clouds over Mount Coot-tha and put on a spectacular show.

venice beach, california

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Al

We’ve spent the last few nights at Venice Beach in California. It’s definitely an odd place, like nothing I have experienced before. The great thing here is, amongst the craziness, there are some hidden gems.

Like this place we went for lunch: Mao’s Kitchen, a Southern Californian style Chinese restaurant. The food was amazing and the interior and staff were really cool. Kitty had this amazing ‘Stassen’ brand Ceylon jasmine tea. We ordered too much food but got the rest take-out and had it for dinner.

Another cool thing about Venice is the canals. They’re all small and quaint and the houses on them have really cool gardens. They’ve got paths and bridges and so you can freely walk around and over them.

There are lots of cool succulents about.

I went to the most amazing garden store this afternoon called Big Red Sun Gardens and was completely blown away.

There’s also other general coolness around.

We fly back to Brisbane tomorrow. I sorta can’t wait to be home.

juiced nyc

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Al

We’re currently flying from New York City (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX). Yes, that’s right, I am writing this at 35,000 feet in the sky, thanks to Virgin America’s inflight wifi internet which is unreal.

I thought I would take this opportunity to post photos of some of my favourite parts of NYC. After a week there NYC is immediately is in my all time favourite cities list, it’s just such an amazing place: architecture, food, art, culture, style… everything. We felt very safe the whole time we were there, didn’t feel threatened once, unlike San Francisco.

: Museum of Natural History

: Flatreon Building

: Central Park

: Meatpacking District

: Statue of Liberty

: Central Park

: Statue of Liberty

: Museum of Natural History

: DKNY sign (huge!)

: Museum of Modern Art

: Brooklyn Bridge

: Cupcakes

: Found wally!!!

: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

: Chelsea

: Museum of Natural History

: Museum of American Indian

: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

: Museum of Natural History

: Central Park

: Staten Island Ferry

: Museum of American Indian

: Roosevelt Island Tram

: Museum of Natural History

: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

: E Houston Street

: NYC Subway

: Museum of Natural History

: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

: More tiles for America

: Natural History Subway

: Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

: Museum of Modern Art

: Chelsea Flortist Bonsai

: Central Park

: Cupcakes

: Tiles for America

: Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Not sure if we can visit NYC again in the near future (it’s a loooong way from Australia) but the memories should last a lifetime (oh, that sounds so cheesy).

the high line nyc

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Al

The NYC High Line, an abandoned 2.3km elevated railroad, was across the road from our accommodation in NYC. Since it was abandoned in the 1980′s it has mainly grown weeds, as has attracted graffiti and street art. In 2004 it nearly got demolished, but a group called Friends of the High Line (including actor Edward Norton) managed to save it and it’s currently being transformed into an urban parkland.

The first section opens next month (June 2009), so while we couldn’t explore it (bummer), I managed to climb some stairs and take a few snaps of the progress of the transformation.

Awesomeness.

desmond tutu center, nyc

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Al

We’re staying at the Desmond Tutu Center in New York City which is in Chelsea, an area with lots of nice, old terrace homes where people live with their dogs (they walk them every evening). There is loads of street art here and lots of funky people and cafes everywhere. It’s very much like some parts of Melbourne, except a lot older and with more history.

The actual hotel is really nice, it is new and clean and the staff are friendly. It was only USD$149 a night including a basic breakfast which is very cheap for Manhattan Island, and I think I know why. They can’t advertise to the general public because they don’t have the right permit, but that doesn’t stop us staying here and it being an absolute bargain (Holy hotel! Chelsea seminary checking in guests illegally). We’re stoked with it. Here’s some photos: