Travel buddies

BUY:

GBP12.99 - History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason
GBP12.99 - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

WHY?

What better company on a long, solitary journey than a book or two?

The first was chosen after I read this article which piqued my interest.  Sadly the very pleasurable experience of reading this book only lasted 3 of the 24 hours between London and Sydney. In small, because I tend to devour books but largely because it was a romping good read through early 20^th century aristocratic Amsterdam and I couldn't put it down! It’s the kind of book, and style of writing, that makes me wish I had such a talent. I mean, take the first paragraph:

“The adventures of adolescence had taught Piet Barol that he was extremely attractive to most women and to many men. He was old enough to be pragmatic about this advantage, young enough to be immodest,  and experienced enough to suspect that it might be decisive in this, as in other instances.”

It's up there with the intelligent, witty and sarcastic first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" that I regard as one of the best opening lines. While Mason isn't writing contemporaneously like Austen, he certain transports the reader easily into the period through descriptions and his use of language. Definitely money well spent. 

The second I'm yet to finish but will let you know!

Books: 3 for $10

This is my idea of heaven: five trestle tables piled high with books that previously filled Borders’ shelves with a sign reading 3 for $10. I’m not worried that they aren’t best sellers, this is where many gems of the genres I enjoy reading hide. And an hour of browsing turned up nine lesbian-themed novels and even a Buffy-branded novella (each of which would normally cost me over $30). All found a new home on my bookshelf for a total of $30.

A good buy? This is the introduction that grabbed my attention:

“When Rye Woods, a fairy, meets the beautiful dryad Flora Withe, her libido, as squashed and hidden as her wings, reawakens along with her heart. But Rye is a poor builder's labourer with a teenage sister to raise, while Flora is a wealthy artist-celebrity with a tree-top condominium and a sporty, late-model flying carpet. If those aren’t obstacles enough to the scorching attraction that rapidly develops, Rye lives under the pall of a dark secret that has made her a fugitive in the very land where she sought freedom. […] Can she and Flora find their way to loving one another in the face of their social and cultural differences while struggling with the dark forces that threaten Rye?”

And, despite its somewhat Mills and Boons-esque blurb (although wait for the review on Branded Ann), Broken Wings by L-J Baker easily creates a magical United States multicultural United Forestlands populated by dryads, brownies, gnomes (each with their own physical attributes, religions, cultural practices and even prejudices) which prosecutes and repatriates terrified refugees illegal immigrants who have sought sanctuary from torture or even death in less forgiving regimes, like Iran/Iraq/Saudi Arabia Fairlyand. And this is the world in which our steamy (lesbian) romance takes place.

Some might call it a lesbian romance but it is probably more accurately described as lesbian fairy-porn* and well-worth the $3.33 investment and three hours less sleep it cost me to read!

*If you're after more heterosexual faerie-porn, check out Laurell K Hamilton's Merry Gentry series, which centres on faerie Princess Merry's life with her orgy group of loyal lovers bodyguards. Just don't pick up the sixth book in the series without reading the ones before, like I did. It kinda ruins a romping good story!

Hard at work...

Way back when, in my former life as a lawyer, I had to take work trips. Regularly enough that I was temporarily upgraded to silver frequent flyer status. Aside from a free pass into the Qantas lounge, I wasn't there long enough to work out the difference from bronze! But I digress...work trips...

For the case I was working on at the time, they generally involved domestic flights between Canberra and Brisbane, sometimes Sydney, and on the one occasion a flight to Dubbo to collect a car and drive as far as Warren. For those unfamiliar with Australian geography or who are familiar with Australian geography but wonder what and where the f*ck Warren is, it's a small country town in western New South Wales whose population increased 25% the night my colleague and I stayed there!

The accommodation budget during said work trips depended on your position so you could well end up in a different hotel to a more senior colleague or even the client and you were awarded an allowance for out of pocket expenses, measured on how many hours/days/meals you were away for. To avoid unnecessary cost and time out of the office some work trips meant getting the first flight out of a morning and returning on the last. And your time out of the office was spent working. Every 6 minutes had to be justified and of course, billed back to the client. Some of the more exciting moments I recall on work trips were driving through a locust storm (on the way to Warren!), playing a game of Scrabble with the mother of the barrister we had engaged on a particular matter when we were on a trip near his home town and a highlight was probably the night I snuck my then-girlfriend into my hotel room in Melbourne on the final night of a law conference! Exciting stuff!

As a travel agent, I've already had a couple of 'edjos' as they're known in the biz (short for educationals) - Uluru in May and Rotorua last year, but my recent trip to Fiji was like no work trip I have ever taken.

A reward for making my targets back when I was a newie, I joined 10 colleagues and one of the state managers (for want of a better description) for a 3 day all expenses paid trip to Fiji. And when I say all expenses paid, I mean it! I didn't even change any money into Fijian dollars but somehow managed to enjoy cocktails by in the pool, the most 'heavenly' bed ever*, lovely meals, a beginner scuba dive and enough alcohol to fuel NASA's next rocket launch (apparently I accounted for 19 or the 23 or so vodkas ordered during the final night's festivities... In my defence, others were drinking different spirits in similar numbers...).

I can only but thank Sal (representative of the powers that be) profusely for her generosity over the course of the trip. There was no expense spared and certainly no separation based on rank. In fact, I think Sal got the worst room of the bunch, with little water pressure and she had to make do with a garden view rather than this....

Again, you're probably just think 'fine, Steff's just rubbing it in. Why is this here if she didn't spend any money?' so here are the purchases made in anticipation of the trip (and the couple made while in Fiji!):

BUY:

$9.08 - Travacalm tablets (cos I get seasick!)

$18.17 - Nasal spray (cos flying really dries you out)

$23.22 - book called "Don't look back" by Karin Fossum (for the flight of course)

$149.93 - a pair of cotton slacks to wear on the plane (cos when you're travelling on agent tickets you're not allowed to wear jeans and that's pretty much all I own). Well, it was 2 pairs cos I got the second pair at 50% off and I know they will get worn regularly...

$10 - train ticket from airport to home

$30.39 - bottle of 42 below Vodka duty-free (cos I didn't have enough while I was away!)

FJD$19.95 - pair of thongs (as mentioned in earlier post)

FJD$38.67 - little shell bracelets and pencils as Fijian souvenirs for my work mates

*We stayed at the Westin in Denarau.  The 'Heavenly' bed is a signature feature of Westin resorts around the world and is so popular you can purchase the bed, linen or pillows to take home! Rumour was the bed is made with 14 sheets over the mattress which is why it is so comfy but I'm not sure if this is fact or fiction. What I can say as a fact is that I have never slept in a better bed.