Definition of Irony

Yesterday was my birthday and we took Friday off so I could drive my wife up to the ski field to "play with the snow" (she's Canadian and misses it)

Sonia up Mt Hutt on Friday

So what happens last night - it starts to snow down to sea level, 18 hours later and its still snowing and we can't get to work.

Classic Irony huh?

Our driveway Monday morning

What else to do except get my skis on?

Facebook

This is something that I thought was a waste of time and effort – and what would a 45 year old want with this sort of thing??

I have a young person who works for me, she is 22 years old and she is probably one of the nicest “Generation Y” people I know.

Anyway, off the point of the post – she said to me on many occasions that I should try this Facebook thing as it was a heap of fun and she said that she’d be my “friend” – I caved and joined the on-line community. I have not looked back.

I am not one of these people that accepts friend requests from people that I do not actually know just to try and have many “friends” – the “friends” I have on Facebook are actually “my friends” – some I have not seen in a number of years, some live on the other side of the world and some live next door to me. I even have a page for our business with many people “liking” our business.

I have an old flat mate who is now married, with a new baby living in Vancouver. I have a friend who is living and playing music in New York. I have a friend I met while on tour in Norway last year. I have a friend who lives in Wellington who I used to surf with 25 years ago. I have a friend who is lives in Colorado who I used to work with when I lived in Queenstown. I have friends who live on the Gold Coast in Australia and I will be catching up with them next month for a few beers and a good old chin-wag. I have friends who live in the same city and we share an interest in sport. I have more friends with a personal tale to tell, whose company I very much enjoy.

My sister is my friend.

My wife is my friend.

I am indeed blessed with many friends both in real life and on Facebook.
Yes, I am a fan and I enjoy keeping in touch with my friends.

Travel

I love planning trips and wouldn’t you know it, this is what I do for a living. They say – “do something you love and never work another day in your life”

Being in the travel industry, you’re always thinking about your next trip and look at the best options to suit. We all know that time is precious and this goes for our own leisure time as well.

Everyone thinks they want the cheapest price where in reality, they want the best deal based on what they want to achieve out of their own leisure time – this I get and understand completely. I am the same way and assume that so is everyone else.
So earlier this year (if you’ve been following my blog) I took a small group to Rarotonga for the Rarotonga International Triathlon – it was awesome.

The next trip we have planned is a business trip next month to the Gold Coast in Australia (also known as Surfers Paradise) SO as you can imagine, I’ll be banking some quality surf time. I only surf in the summer at home now, the cold water just does a number on me so this is just what I do now BUT that’s not to say that I can’t take a trip overseas in winter and get my fill of waves. The plan on this trip is 2 days of meetings stuck in a conference room and the rest of the time, hopefully a different type of room (a green room, one hopes) we are going across 2 days before and staying for 2 days after the meetings so there’s 8 sessions at least if the conditions permit and I’ll plan to hit it early before the meetings on the Thursday and Friday.

I have had many years of travelling with boards and am quite used to it but on this occasion I’m planning on renting a board. I’ve been checking out rentals etc and have found a great option of a company who will drop off and collect the board to the hotel I am staying at and the price is very reasonable. I’ll post the details etc after this trip if all goes well and give them the kudos but until I experience it, I’ll keep it on the “down low”

I also have another business trip later in the year but you could also call this a bit of a small holiday – we are going on a cruise from Sydney to Melbourne. It’s a 2 night cruise on Princess Cruise Line. I’m taking the wife as this will be a very nice “introduction” to cruising. Our office has received an invitation to attend this on the basis that we are a very good supporter of this product and we have achieved the status of an “Emerald Agency” with Princess Cruises. There will be a few meetings and I would suggest that more than a couple of drinks and functions to attend. Should be a hoot and it’ll be nice to get out of dodge for a few days. We’ve added on a night in Melbourne after the cruise as Melbourne has awesome shopping. With Christchurch basically having no CBD (Central Business District) we have to get the shopping fix somehow?

I’m a firm believer that you have to have something to look forward to and there is no better thing than travel. Travel is fun, it broadens the mind and it can make you either crazier or saner than you are right now – this is a good thing, right?