tielan: john sheppard kissing teyla; "sudden silence, sudden heat" (SG - JT1)
Wednesday, January 17th, 2024 08:33 am
So, it was Wednesday 14th when I did the architectural tour, and on Thursday 15th I went to see my stepbrother and his family, including his incredibly cute and rather-looking-like-him-as-a-kid son. Pics of that will be under a flock, of course.

But A also took me out to the Christmas Market at the Hague - the Royal Markets. It was...ordinary. I mean, some good food bits but really not all that much to look at. The people watching might have been more interesting if there was anywhere to watch them from and if it wasn't so freaking freezing!

A couldn't tell me anything about the architectural stuff, though.

Den Haag )

My stay in Rotterdam was really great. 2nd floor, lovely apartment, owned by a guy who seemed clean and chill and good-natured, and we had a few short chats. If I go back to Rotterdam, I'll definitely stay with him again, because he was close enough to public transport to make getting there simple, and friendly and clean to boot. Perfect homestay.
tielan: (trek)
Tuesday, January 16th, 2024 09:43 am
Okay, I am absolutely going to post this today with pictures, DAMMIT.

--

In Rotterdam the matter of how history, town planning, and architecture interlock is really visible.

A great deal of Western Europe was destroyed in the war. Bombed, blitzed, burned, pulverised, flattened. During the rebuild of Europe in the 50s and 60s, a large number of cities chose to rebuild in the same style - the 'traditional' style.

Rotterdam did not.

Instead, the city elders/council/planners of the time opted to go what I'm going to term "full modern". As a result, their architecture is extremely eclectic and varied, and very very modern. Oh, there are some old buildings, of course - churches and town halls and the like - but rather than an entire 'old city' zone that looks like it's a holdover from the 1400s, there are older buildings tucked in amidst the far more modern ones.

Rotterdam: eclectic and modern )
tielan: four lemming toys at the grand canyon (travel)
Thursday, January 11th, 2024 08:29 am
Initially, I wasn't sure what to do on my "day off" in London.

My initial thought was to do a 'Monopoly Challenge' - work my way through the properties on London. My sister had tried (or possibly done it) so I thought I would finish off for her. And also, my memories of London are a little sketchy, worn down by time and distance.

London on foot )

I didn't have much remaining in me after the late lunch, so I think I ended up just wandering back to my stay, and packing up ready to return to The Netherlands (Rotterdam) the next day.
tielan: SG1 team at the Stargate in Window of Opportunity (SG1 - team)
Tuesday, January 9th, 2024 03:56 pm
So the reason I scheduled London into my trip was to watch a WSL football game, since there happened to be an Arsenal v Chelsea game on that weekend, and there are a total of four Aussies playing in those two teams.

Then [personal profile] rmc28 and I arranged to meet up and she's an Arsenal fan and so...

off to the game we go! )
tielan: (SGA - john)
Monday, January 1st, 2024 04:14 pm
Right, a bit of catchup here and there while I'm on the train.

Tour of the Red Light District in Amsterdam the night before leaving for the UK:
Mostly UK Mostly UK


the interesting tales you get from travelling )

Next post: the rest of London, including a day with [personal profile] rmc28!
tielan: (Default)
Monday, December 18th, 2023 06:19 pm
I've forgotten where I last posted.

Okay, since then, I have been in London, Rotterdam, Seattle, and now Portland, and I am leaving tomorrow on a train for a couple of days at a friend's house in Sacramento, before hopping on the cruise in San Francisco and heading for Hawaii.

Ooh, Sacramento weather might even be halfway to warm!

Anyway, met up with [personal profile] beatrice_otter today and we had a grand time wandering about Portland!

The place I'm staying in is very nice, but a bit on the chilly side. It's a tiny house, and while there is an HVAC heater, I should really just like another doona or blanket on my bed. The owner - one of those people who owns multiple properties - said she'd try to get her cleaner to deliver and extra cover. Alas, I doubt the cleaner will manage to deliver one this evening - we're out of daylight and I can't see them coming by in the dark.

So my options are wear extra layers to bed, or pile my coat and other things on top of me and hope they don't slide off in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow will be the overnighter on the Amtrak 'Coast Starlight'. I think I'm on the mountains side rather than the ocean side, which isn't where I want to be, but ohwell.

I was going to go out to a cafe tonight and do some writing, but I'm really tired. The bed here is too soft, and it develops really deep dips which isn't great for my posture, and so today I've been getting twinges along my back and hips. (The bed in Rotterdam was excellently firm, perfect for me to just straight up conk out on. The bed in Seattle was really soft but it worked.)

Early bed, I think. Maybe some writing.
tielan: (Angel)
Thursday, December 14th, 2023 09:43 pm
Where, you might ask, is Nijmegen?

In the middle of The Netherlands!

Managed to acquire and pay for an upgrade between HK and Dubai. All I wanted was the flatbed to be able to get some sleep. And I did get the flatbed. But I missed out on the meals and the actual 'bar space' where you can sit and drink alcohol and eat chocolate.

Got a coffee in Dubai. Asked for it in a keep cup. Got given a takeaway cup and told "you can put it in the keep cup". Now I know this is a 'we're terrified we might give someone too much of something they've paid for and our bosses will rake us over the coals' thing for employees, but I'm just "..." because the point of a keep cup is to reduce the amount of takeaway cups used...

Anyway, when going through Dubai, B2 and I always get B1 a camel, because, IDK, B1 likes camels!

She's not getting this one, though. For starters: shipping to Australia would be awful! Although one could imagine it sitting in the middle of the lawn, just taking up space for the heck of it...

Netherlands Netherlands


I didn't get her the peacocks either. I ended up with a little gold camel with a faceted gem in each side. It matches some pretty knick-knacks that we already have.

Left Dubai around 8am local time. Flight to Amsterdam was economy, but not full. Amsterdam immigration was about 45 minutes, so not dire (the US can take up to 2 hours) but also not fantastic.

That said, it felt like everyone and their neighbour on this flight had a cough. UGH. And no masking. More of that in Europe, although at least in Europe, very few people are going to be an asshole about masking up. America? I'm not so sure. We'll see when we get there.

Amsterdam, Nijmegen )
tielan: (AVG - agents)
Tuesday, December 12th, 2023 08:08 pm
Had the weekend in London, met [personal profile] rmc28, had a great time brunching, watching the footy, and wandering around north London!

Back in the Netherlands, slightly more south. Period is very much due, so tomorrow is 'taking it easy' day. By which I mean, I'll be going on a 2 hour architectural interest walk!

And then Thursday is likely to be Christmas Market day with the stepbro and SSIL.

Man, I'm tired, but waiting for the stepbro to get my luggage over.

ETA: not going to happen tonight. Issues with car hire. In the Netherlands, because everything is so well connected by public transport and cycleways, fewer people own cars, and they just hire a car for when they need it. Unfortunately, it seems that due to new requirements, the stepbro can't easily hire a car anymore. So I'm meeting him at the central station tomorrow morning.

Okay, I've had dinner, done 'dessert'. I shall wash up a few things, including myself, and take an early night. It's a rough time of the month for sleeping.

Finally got Part 2 of the story done. Now Part 3 and Part 4. Theoretically it should be easier. No guarantees, though.
tielan: Yoda, deal with it (SW - Yoda deal)
Monday, December 11th, 2023 07:15 am
It's a week later and I haven't posted about Macau )

I was going to post about the last day in HK, my stopover in Dubai, meeting an old Stargate friend in Nijmegen, and the Red Light District in Amsterdam, but I'm in London for one more day and I'm contemplating doing a Monopoly Board scavenger hunt. Obvs the UK one, not the US one. But it will take a bit of time and I need to fix up a pair of newly-bought 2ndhand trousers so they won't fall off my hips. That would be disastrous anywhere.

--

I managed my YT assignment. It's okay? But I think it warrants a rewrite because there are things that I am Not Satisfied with.

My Sedoretu Exchange assignment is still being worked on. They're just not co-operating. GRARGH. (I'll be honest; I might be more enthused about the Sedoretu exchange if I thought that the person I was writing for was real and not a sock.)
tielan: four lemming toys at the grand canyon (travel)
Friday, December 1st, 2023 10:15 pm
Hong Kong: interesting but also tiring

a few photos )

--

Today, I mostly went to the HK Public Library at Central and tried to write. Failed a lot. *sigh*

Also had dinner with my brother and his daughter, ordered a new pair of glasses, and caught the bus back all on my lonesome. (Okay, so Dad and the brother put me on the correct bus, but small steps! SMALL STEPS.)

Tomorrow:
- hunt up a garden and a good coffee (nearby, opens early - not too much food)
- go watch the Matildas' game at an Australian bar (hopefully the local one is open and screening it)
- something with dad in the afternoon. I'm not 100% what. I wanted to do some wetlands and a permaculture garden, but neither are very accessible. I think he wants me to check out the outer reaches of HK Island. But maybe we could do the HK Museum of Art. They have a display or two that I'm interested in.

I'm hoping to get to see Macao, but I think that's a day trip and the best option for that would probably be Monday. Which means if I want to do a high tea, probably best to do it Sunday afternoon, which is also the busiest day of the week and the most expensive.

On the plus side, my tax returns for the '22 and '23 financial years are coming back and I should not be destitute when I return home.
tielan: (Default)
Thursday, November 30th, 2023 05:37 pm
Got to HK fine.

my sleep patterns were never good to start with )

--

ETA: 4pm HK time.

Spent the day roaming about HK. Much to say, no time to say it. Had lunch with S, but going back to G&S's shortly to spend some time with niecelet.

ETA2: Doing dinner with G&S and niecelet tomorrow. Tonight I get a bit of peace. Dad asked if I wanted to grab dinner with him, but I don't. There's only so much time together with him I can manage and I think I've about exhausted it at this point.

--

So, I was given an assignment and have struggled to get anywhere past the second chapter (there's four planned) over the course of the last six weeks.

I took a pinch-hit, and completed it in the last two days.

Guess I should ask for an extension on the assignment...
tielan: four lemming toys at the grand canyon (travel)
Monday, November 20th, 2023 10:56 am
I dreamed I went travelling and then realised I hadn't packed 90% of what I needed. Including underwear.

Still trying to work out what to pack, exactly. Winterwear for Europe and West Coast USA? I'm going to need to rug up something fierce - I don't do well with cold. I know inside spaces will be warm (at least in Europe and UK), but outside spaces will not be. Oh, and warm boots. Eek. That's going to

But then flip side of that is the Hawaii bit of the trip, and the Hong Kong bit of the trip, both of which are going to be "spring temps" by Sydney standards.

travel stuff, mostly HK, which is the big fuzzy area of  )

--

Picked the parentals up this morning from their 'Northern Europe' trip - eight weeks gone, lots of walking and seeing things and eating. Oy. Then on Sunday, stepdad is off to Tamworth to do grandparenting (childcare) for SB2's son, and mum will join him on Wednesday.

--

7 more days of work. Less than two weeks. I'm still feel like there's precious little communication from management. Although I am solving issues right, left, and centre!

Still feeling subtly stressed about finances.
tielan: four lemming toys at the grand canyon (travel)
Saturday, July 22nd, 2023 07:45 am
Travel plans time, mostly for the American portion of the trip.

Portland ~15th December
San Francisco 22nd December

Don't necessarily have to spend time in SF (although I have at least two friends I would like to see), but definitely need to end up there by the 22nd. So maybe arrive in SF on the 21st.

What I'd really like to do is road-trip my way down the West Coast for the week, stopping in small towns and eating in local places. I could maybe drive myself, but I'm not confident driving on the right-hand side of the road, and based off my other experiences travelling solo, I'd like company.

Would also take advice for Western Europe from ~8th-15th, centered around the Netherlands, possibly coming down to Paris (or another major city, I'm not fussed) to fly out to the US.

Anyone got any ideas?