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snowball
on a red hot barbie
--Susan; Jan 31, 2005
We froze in Tokyo. Like 2 big snowballs. Packing
to travel for over a year simply doesn’t allow a person
to pack everything, especially heavy (and bulky) winter gear and
still keep the luggage weight to a reasonable limit. We’re
spending the majority of our travel time in warm places so we
opted to leave that heavy stuff at home and figure it out on the
road. In Tokyo it rained, it snowed, there was sleet and there
were days when it was even too cold to snow. Luckily, my parents
insisted on getting us some cheap and effective winter gear before
we left Taiwan. We wore it all everyday in Japan as you can probably
tell from our japan gallery.
Before heading to Australia, we needed to get
rid of our bulk so when Grace saw a homeless man on the street
with only a light jacket and shorts he urged the man to accept
his jacket, gloves and knit cap. In the airport we met and chatted
with some very nice British people and one of the women agreed
to take my coat, mittens and hat. Surely they’ll be put
to good use in the winter when she gets back home.
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driving up
the coast from Cairns to Cape Tribulation |
On the overnight flight to Australia we were
both freezing (despite the piles of airline blankets) and wondering
if we had made the right decision to give away our gear. We wrapped
up in what we had left – light jackets and wool scarves
– and huddled close to stay warm. When we deplaned at 5:30am
in Cairns, we kept everything on trying hard to defrost. The Australian
immigration officer (wearing shorts and a t-shirt) took one look
at Grace and with a big smile said, “You won’t be
needing that scarf here, mate.” Boy was he right; as soon
as we stepped out of the air-conditioned airport, even though
it was still early in the morning, we were blasted by 80 degree
heat. Our bodies were confused. Our minds were confused. We started
to overheat and drip with sweat. A LOT of sweat. We peeled off
our layers, grabbed our rental car and drove into town. A few
hours later in the midday sun I felt like a flame-broiled burger.
My feet screamed bloody murder in my wool socks and tennis shoes
as we clomped around town shopping for a pair of flip-flops (I
had chucked my old worn out pair in Taiwan). After driving 10
minutes out of town we turned back to trade in our rental car
for one with better air-conditioning. It was ridiculous. We felt
like we were literally melting. We laughed at the irony of having
had our jackets on and the hotel heater on HIGH only 24 hours
earlier, then cranked our A/C to full blast and headed for the
beach.
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