An apology, and a blog :)

Hello friends! Let's jump right in...

First, the apology, and let's make this brief-- I knowwww I haven't been blogging. I've heard it from a bunch of you, which makes me feel a little guilty, because I know I promised to blog and I know it means a lot to all of you to know what I'm up to. So, I apologize for not writing any sooner, and will try to do better...

...but GOSH, the world has been keeping me busy! I've been in New Zealand, Australia, and now Holland -- as you'll all realize, countries that are right next to each other on the world map... um... and have only been on the road since May 5th! That's a crazy amount of flying around, folks, and you probably know (or could guess) that I don't even like flying -- the whole being transported to a new place, having no idea of the landscape in between, I find a little unnerving. I also find it amazing, and was in awe when I stepped off of my (second) plane in Frankfurt after having left, a mere 20 hours before, from Sydney... but I don't really like it. I suppose it's a tradeoff -- the whole being able to be on the other side of the planet in 20 hours (and the free socks) in exchange for jetlag and bad airplane food? You decide...

Where was I? Oh, right -- the whole traveling-the-world part of this blog post. I want to make one more excuse, before I get there, and it might not mean a lot to you, so you can skip this part if you want -- I actually HAVE been blogging. See, I've been given this opportunity to blog twice a month for a new travel website dedicated to women traveling, called the Pink Pangea project (http://www.pinkpangea.com/), and so far I've submitted two blog posts to them -- one on traveling alone in New Zealand, and one on the Backpacker's Heirarchy (I mostly made it up) in Australia. I was waiting, patiently, until they posted either of my blogs, because I was going to link you faithful readers to their site... but they're really slow, so neither are posted yet, and I can't wait any longer. So there it is -- I'll probably post those two blogs in the next day or two, for you kids to catch up on.

Anyway... a quick rundown of everything I've been doing is in order. I'm going to make it quick, though, and then later when I have access to my computer I'm going to post PICTURES and make you all really, really jealous/happy. So, until then...

New Zealand was where everything started, and it was the most beautiful, friendly little country ever. I hitchhiked quite a bit to get around, and met some amazingly cool people. I visited Auckland; Lake Taupo; and, a northern island highlight, hiked 20km across the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, known to you Lord of the Rings fans as the landscape where Mordor was filmed, and specifically where Mt Doom (known locally as Mt Narangahou, or something like this) is located. That was an epic day, followed by a trip to Wellington, and a ferry across to the southern island. The southern island, for me, was dominated by the actual act of traveling -- I did a lot of moving around, and little staying in one place. I went from Picton to Christchurch (still devestated by the earthquakes), hitchhiked across the middle of the island through Arthur's Pass to Greymouth on the west coast, and went to visit a glacier in Franz Josef. I then travelled up to Westport, and to a small town called Nelson, which was one of my favorite towns in the entire country. Heading back to Picton, I caught the ferry back to the north island, took an 11 hour long bus ride back to Auckland... and spent my last weekend in town touring around the Hawkes Bay wine region with Pete, my good friend from the US (who's been teaching in Auckland for the semester, lucky chap). Drank a lot of wine, and a lot of cider (poor, poor decision), and a lot of coffee (great, great decision)...

...before getting on a plane and flying to Sydney! A beautiful, cosmopolitan city, Sydney proved to be wonderful for both sightseeing and meeting new people -- I stayed with a couchsurfer, and spent a memorable evening watching the first game in the Rugby Origin series (which apparently is a big deal) with his friends and eating free buffet food at the casino, courtesy again of his friends and their free food vouchers :). I then flew to Melbourne, where I sang "it's a small world after all" (it's relavent, keep reading) while hanging out with my friend Andrew, who is a friend because he and his mate stayed at the hotel in Athens where I worked last winter. Keeping in touch with people rocks -- we explored the city, I saw my first ever game of Aussie Rules Football live, and (way cooler) got to go to Philip Island (where Andrew was born and raised), a small island nearish to Melbourne where I saw wallabees, a koala, and a million tiny penguins in the wild :). It rocked my world. Post Melbourne, I flew to Cairns, with the express purpose of SCUBA diving the Great Barrier Reef... but the world had other ideas, and bestowed upon me a head cold of epic proportions (which I still have, 10 days later)... which, you divers know, relegated me to snorkling only. Which was still awesome -- saw a reef shark, and tons of little nemo fishes, and met some cool Americans whom I later shared a few beers with. Post Cairns, it was back to Sydney (but not without a delayed flight, and 6 hours "sleeping" on the floor of the airport), to meet up with friends that I knew from the time in spent in Dahab, Egypt last year. We spent my final weekend in Australia eating good food, wandering around surfer beaches, and having a generally wonderful time...

...until I left to fly to Europe! 20 hours on two different planes, and I arrived in Frankfurt, where I spent 3 hours waiting for a train which (after another 3 hours) deposited me in Utrecht, Holland. Why Utrecht, you ask? Well, I'm visiting my amazing Dutch friend Rian (whom, you may remember, I met in Malawi and traveled with) for about 6 more days! We are having an amazing time, lots of adventures, and (more coincidences) are meeting up with Rob, an American who was my intern at my job the year after I finished university... tomorrow in Amsterdam! As well as another Dutchie, Joke, who I met in Tanzania and again at my friend Liz's wedding in NYC this past New Year's Eve.

WHEW. So much for a short blog post, right? Did you manage to keep up? If nothing else, this should convince my family that I am (indeed) still alive and well, and remind you all that this blog will (eventually) evolve again into something worth reading. I'm heading somewhere new next Wednesday, and then up to Sweden the following weekend to visit the Swedes whom I traveled with last year in Africa (are you sensing a pattern here? I am.). And then, onward, to new uncharted waters...

I have a few goals for future blog posts. I'm going to provide a mailing address for care packages, in case anyone cares... I'm going to explain how and why this trip differs so much from my past trip... I'm going to post pictures... and I'm going to tell more stories, rather than just trying to catch up. If any of this sounds interesting to you, please do tune back in in a week or less for more from the wide world of Jess Scott.

One more thing, and I know for some of you it's your favorite part of my blog -- the shoutouts! This is where I compose little (often cryptic) messages to those of you whom I know tune in here and whom I've been thinking of recently. So, in no particular order:

MARGE IS ENGAGED!!! Yay for my best friend and her awesome fiance, Matt. Love love love you guys :).
ME and KR: Ditch KQ and come to Malawi. Loves. And rainbows. Get SOME.
Kitchen boy, miss your face. And your phoenix. Keep it real :)
WTK, I wish you were here more than anyone else in the whole world, to enjoy the tiny ice cream bus I just found.
Bud: Stop. Fucking. Moving. And good luck with the dead thing!

Signing off, with love to all,
WTS (That's World Traveler Scott, for you newbies)