Gnine

So, now that I'm all settled in, in a house in Karori, a suburb of the city of Wellington, thought it was time to do the first of what I expect to be many New Zealand travel logs. Along with the normal photos, as per Ri-chan's suggestion, I've done a few travel-related chibis, just a couple, quick slapdash ones...we'll see how that goes.

( Warning, picture heavy..So very very heavy! ^_- )
So, that's me, all caught up. For now, anyways...there's sure to be more...LOTS more, to come ^_^

And you can find more pics here:

Seattle to Wellington via LA & Auckland

Also from there you can link over to my G+ account, where I've been posting more frequent, if shorter entries. Good if anyone's interested in more timely updates...'cause I'm so known for those on LJ...ehehehee...OOPS :-p

Been meaning to post about this for a while, but a) have been very busy and b) was wanting to make sure everything was actually going to happen before posting 'bout it has delayed me...Not wanting to jinx it and all that...

But, seeing as it's two weeks away now, should probably let people know...I'm heading to New Zealand in two weeks for a year (well, hopefully. The visa lasts for a year, but if I don't find work, that might get cut short...:-p) SO EXCITED!!!! ^____^

Course, little bit nervous as well, seeing as this is the first time I've set out to another country with neither job/school or a place to live lined up. Well, should be quite an adventure, if nothing else...^_- I'm starting off in Auckland, but we'll see where the job search takes me...

Anyway, part of the reason I'm posting, beyond just...y'know, actually updating what's going on with me...something we all know I'm TERRIBLE about, is that I'm hoping to hook up with fan people when I get there. In both Japan and England I had great luck meeting up with LJ people in person and am hoping to do so again. Not sure if anyone from my flist is actually in NZ currently...but if you are, would love to meet up. And also, if anyone on my flist knows other fan/geeky people in NZ and they might be interested in hanging out, send 'em my way...

And hopefully soon, I'll be back to posting more frequently, doing my travel logs, if nothing else. New Zealand should provide plenty of material for that, if nothing else! ^___^ *bounce bounce*

Last Saturday, during crashtestskater's brief, yet wonderfully fun visit (I haven't seen her seen I left Japan last May!), we accompanied cienna and takadainmate to Hampton Court Palace. The latter's adorable stuffed tentacle monster, Lee and crashtestskater's Volks Dolfie, Matthieu Canada, were also in attendance. Four giddy fangirls plus friends...why yes, we *did* garner some...'interesting'...looks from the other patrons, why do you ask? ^_-

( A pretty palace, some amusing cosplay, a little fangirl glee, and oh yeah, a ton of pics, all below the cut... )

Last week the 'rents came to visit me here in good old England, and together we did quite a bit of sightseeing, including Cambridge, Highgate Cemetery (both of which I might post about later) and, most excitingly, Paris! It was my first time going to France and seeing as French was my first foreign language to study, starting back in 7th grade, this trip's been a long time coming! (Not that I remember practically ANY of my French. It was so pathetic, I kept reaching for it and coming up with Japanese instead, which sooo didn't help. Well, except for the fact that we ran into like a billion Japanese tourist in the two days we were there, so actually, I did make good use of my language skills...just not the French ones :-p. Oops!)

( Our two-day whirlwind tour of Paris and Versailles, accompanied by the usual copious amount of pictures... )

So, I've spent the last few weeks so busy settling in/attending classes(which I'm greatly enjoying so far)/penny pinching until my student loan money arrived, etc. that I haven't had overly much chance for exploring. But, things have settled a bit, and the money came in (w00t...still a poor, poor grad student, but now have at least a bit of solvency \o/...however temporary it might be :-p) so I decided a little exploring was in order. However, a lot of the main touristy sites of London itself I saw back when I visited utopiantrunks in 2005, so for my first short foray, I decided to do a day trip to Windsor Castle.

( Castles and planes and birds, oh my... )

One of these days I'll remember to actually take my camera on the way to class and get some pics of the campus, the area where I'm living and even my dorm itself. Really...really I will. ^_-

So, while I've accepted that however much I might *say* I'm going to keep up on regular updates, I know in my heart of hearts it’s a filthy, filthy lie (oh procrastination, here's looking at you, kid!), I've decided to make a go at posting when I travel. Not only is it one of my favorite things to do (and my biggest money sink, hands down. Stupid air/train/bus fare being the very opposite of cheap! *grumbles* :-p), I also have a tendency to take a ridiculous amount of photos (waaaay more than I ever post, much to everyone's relief, I'm sure ^_-) and it's fun to share 'em.

So, in keeping with my newfound resolution, a brief summary/photo log of me and xparrot's day trip to the town of Naruto, in Shikoku, and the spectacular whirlpools that they have there!



( This way to our day... )

For those interested, a few more pics can be found here.

Really this entry should be titled "the week of some of the most amazing, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, cooked-to-perfection foods I've ever, in my whole life, tasted ZOMG!!" but that got a bit long ^_-.

But before I get to the food, I first want to say I hope everyone's Christmas (for those who celebrate. For those who don't, hope you've been having a fantastic time in general! ^_-) was wonderful and may you all have a very Happy New Year!

Now on to the FOOD Hong Kong trip and today's quick Kobe jaunt... ( (Description as well as pics below the cut) )

...and now I'm hungry. Oops! :-p Well, I'm off to scrounge up some food. Once again, hope everyone has a very happy New Year, catch you in 2009! *big huggles*