Destinations

I had my heart set on coming to the Land Down Under from around the age of 11. I finally studied abroad in Brisbane in 2005 and that was all she wrote. I got back here as soon as I could (after graduating university and backpacking in New Zealand) and I'm now a permanent resident.

I fell in love with New Zealand through the Lord of the Rings movies and even more so when I actually visited for the first time in 2005. My dream holiday came true when I spent three months tramping around the South Island in 2008, and I constantly dream up itineraries for my next big visit.

England has always been a very special place for me; my mother is British, my grandparents still live there, and I made my first trip there at 6 months old. I've been lucky to go back 15 times since then, every time visiting the lovely Cleethorpes, most times visiting London, and always finding somewhere interesting in between.

Every time our family went to England, I begged for us to hop across to Ireland. We finally did in 2009, and although I only got to stay for 4 days, I loved the country and can't wait to go back and spend more time there.

Hong Kong is such a packed, frenetic city full of life, food, and of course, shopping! Macau, on the other hand, was an interesting juxtaposition between the old Portuguese way of life and the new, flashy casinos.

From rainforests to beaches to bioluminescent bays, Puerto Rico is everything you could possibly want in an island getaway. It's a great introduction to Latin culture but in a place where nearly everyone speaks English too.

Nearly every time we visited my grandparents in England when I was a kid, we took a side trip to Scotland. I loved that we could visit as many castles as we wanted (and I reckon I've been to at least 50 by now) but I didn't really enjoy the trips that my dad insisted on to the 'very smelly' distilleries!

My dad lived here for two years, which provided a great stopover on my way to England! Aside from those weekends, we had an awesome family Christmas here in 2010, when we pigged out on amazing Singaporean food and found out (at the top of Marina Bay Sands) that my mom is still afraid of heights.

I've only been to Sweden once, but it was a very memorable visit because I went to the Arctic Circle in winter! It was all about dogsledding, lots of snow, and watching for the northern lights...all things that are very different to daily life in Australia!

The good old U-S-of-A, where I spent the first 23 years of my life. There's so many things that I love about the country, but then again, there's so many things that I don't. I miss it though, and more importantly, I miss the people there. Will I go back and live there again? Quite possibly...but maybe not in Houston this time! Do I have a great time when I visit? Absolutely.