An Altogether Unexpected Holiday

With Easter holidays coming up, I've been in the early stages of designing my first Big Travel Adventure since my arrival. As hard as it is to make plans with a group, its even harder when you're on your own – there is nothing baring you in any direction which makes picking only one direction a bit of a challenge. With a solid bit of cash saved up and the only requirement being that I do a CPR/First Aid course somewhere during my 3 week holiday, the options are pretty wide open.

Cairns this time of year sounded great. Rain-forest, reef, beach, first aid courses, travel by train and see the coast. I thought about new places I'd never been and maybe revisiting a few highlights from my tour as a 10 year old. It was all going to be a very fun adventure.

But this blog isn't called Very Fun Adventure, now is it? No, no, darling.

You see, when I got up last Sunday, I expected to stop procrastinating and finally book some tickets for Cairns and get my ducks in a row. However, just when I thought I was going the right way, the ever elusive unexpected option presented itself. By lunch time the same day I had secured tickets which would allow me to have a whole day of meeting and greeting and listening to one of my favorite actors. In a few weeks. In Sydney. By way of Brisbane to do my CPR/First aid course. Sorted.

It really did happen rather quickly (...sound familiar?). I do knowingly admit that I seem to have developed a little bit of a quirky attitude lately, with the overwhelming mental response in these should-I-really-do-this situations being, “In the last minute I have considered this option, affirmed its possibility, seen its potential, and it would be quite lovely. I can hardly unconsider it and should I not go through with it now I will surely kick myself for a long time knowing that I considered it to be lovely and did nothing, so I might as well just do it.” Blame only-childhood or something. I can't recommend it as an approach for every situation, but surely some good must come out of bucking up and just doing what you want now and again.

I'm pretty excited about it. In the last few years though, the craziness of meeting celebrities has sort of calmed down. I am always excited, don't get me wrong, but now I can just chill out and have a chat and respect that they're just as normal as anybody else. Must have happened when I worked at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, girl gotta play it cool if your gonna pick up famous people at the airport.

The wee Watson girls on the other hand, are flipping out. Dragons have been a highlight of our classroom for ages now. I tend to stick with it because anything which gets them writing, creating, listening to stories, and make-believing has to be good. So while they're nowhere near the “Oh Benedict Cumberbatch, I love him, cheekbones, eyes, mmm” they're immediate reaction to hearing my travel plans was more along the lines of “YOU'RE REALLY MEETING SMAUG? WHAT IS HIS FAVORITE COLOR? DOES HE LIKE VEGEMITE? WHAT'S HIS FAVORITE ANIMAL? IS IT FUN BEING A DRAGON? CAN HE FLY? WILL HE SKYPE WITH US?”  I now have the ammunition to make this quite the unforgettable Q&A.

I'll have a few days in Brissy, head down to Sydney for a few, then head back up north and meet up with the Watson's for some camping and a roadtrip back to Carnarvon. I've already been in touch with a few Australian fans who are going and so I'll at least have some people to awkwardly stand in line with and such. For what I'm sure is not the first nor last time in my life, thank you Tumblr.

I'd say this is the last thing I'd expect to be doing, but that means I would have had to have thought of it at all to begin with.

Gotta love it. Altogether, unexpected.

Their marketing department knows exactly who their audience is.