Team Raw Welcomes Some New Family Members - My New Toys

As well as being a career and leisure traveller, I am also a budding Raw enthusiast. Combine the two and it gets quite tricky to not let one of them slide. I am always impressed by my fellow raw foodist's abilities to still stay on track when they are indulging themselves in a wonderful holiday savouring the local cuisine, which to me is almost always the reason you chose the destination in the first place.

I just got back from another work trip, this time to London and Jordan (both fabulous!), and as I had at least a week notice prior to departing, I was able to plan my excursion with precision. As I was going to have 3 full days in Londontown I had to plan my time wisely and the main tasks I wanted to check off my checklist (apart from catch up with old friends as I only moved from London at the beginning of this year), was to pick up my tools to assist me on my drive to be healthy and 'mainly' RAW. By the end of my 3rd day, I swear the bellmen must have thought I was an online shopping junkie, with boxes being delivered to my room EVERYDAY!

Here's what I ordered and from whom:

Excalibur 9 Tray Dehydrator with 26 Hour Timer: The best way to preserve the goodness of nutrient dense fruits, vegetables & nuts without subjecting it to the heat of cooking where enzymes, vitamins & minerals packaged straight from nature can be lost

A Saladacco Spairal Slicer: A machine you can make spaghetti like strands out of most vegetables, most notably zucchini. I have been dreaming about this ever since I tried RAW Zucchini Spaghetti with Pesto Sauce at Spa Samui on my detox. The sensation of eating the long thin pieces of zucchini makes it feel like you are eating al dente pasta (albeit cold).

A Tribest Personal Blender: Now I have no excuse not to have smoothies on the road. This little gem is so power packed that it can grind dry ingredients (it has two kinds of blades) as well as ice and wet ingredients, and every day after I bought it, I was blending up all kinds of smoothies in my hotel rooms. Bananas, kiwi, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and spinach made an appearance with a dash of water...YUM! This little beauty is also light enough to pack in your suitcase. I am now searching on Amazon for extra large cups to go along with it and maybe a travel case....Thanks Kristen for recommending it to me over a year ago.

I also made a long awaited trip to London's Wholefoods at Kensington which I was plenty excited about (so many little crazy ingredients that are just NOT available in my part of the world) after hearing about it all the time on some of my favourite blogs. Yeah it was heaven alright. I even came away with 2 logo hessian carry bags to cart my shopping home so I can look uber cool at my own little supermarket back home (and GREEN too) Then another quick stop to Holland & Barrett to top up on some ingredients that were sold out at Wholefoods then I was done. Phew.

So not only am I now flicking fruit & veggie pulp all over my kitchen with my daily use of my Champion Juicer, I can now make raw pasta, and some delicious treats with my new dehydrator whilst my kitchen looks like a garden with all my fresh produce. YUM!

If you are interested in more of the Raw lifestyle, here are a few great places to start:

Kristens Raw - got me on the road to learning more about raw after I devoured the book Skinny Bitch last year. Her blogs contains useful tips and hints, plus she sells the BEST recipe books. She is one cool chick!

Casey's Lifestyle Raw - shows how her choice for going Raw has helped her skin & low immunity. An Awesome Aussie girl!

Bev Goes Raw - an inspiring journey of 'Bev Going Raw' whilst showing some beautiful photos of her adopted home in Germany. Love her stories and beautiful photos too!

We Like it Raw - some inspirational before and after stories as well as interviews and tips to making RAW a part of your life

Raw Epicurean - RAW lifestyle recipes

I Have a Domain! Welcome to girlontour.com

This little computer illiterate nerd has just taken the next step in her education in the cyber world. I now have a domain...that means that you can access my blog now by simply typing in the address

www.girlontour.com

How exciting!

However you will still be able to access my blog by the old address of www.girlontour.blogspot.com but if you link into my blog from your page, might be a good idea to update it.

Thank you to all my readers, and watch this space for more (slowly) transformations.....

Brisbane Storm Season (What a Mess?!!)

Oooh I sometimes wonder at times like these if I am homesick or not. Crazy I know but at times I do miss the heat that drives everyone silly, the kind that ensures you are sleeping on top of your bed sheets, careful not to connect with your equally restless bed mate, unless you are a lucky one who happens to have air con. Funnily enough for my first 10 years of enduring Brisbane's summers, the only weapon I had to combat the sticky wet humidity each night was a squeaky ceiling fan. What I do miss is those powerful rain showers that appeared to come out of nowhere, when the lurking black clouds all of a sudden are upon you, and the rain is not just a light shower, it is a downpour and the usually pacey world has to stop and breathe it all in for a moment. All for 30 minutes, then the blistering sun shines once more and all you see is the steam rising from the roads.

Last week, Brisbane suffered a little more than a harmless storm. In fact my hometown has been getting bashed with a deluge of electrical storms, torrential rain and hail and gale force winds, which have ensured that once they were over, emergency services, the army, navy and apparently even some low security prisoners were enlisted to help clean up the mess. And apparently it is not even a little bit over yet. This is only November and December is traditionally cyclone season, but to be honest, Brisbane is not coastal and isn't usually at risk. Does this mean we are starting to really see the effects of Global Warming and Climate Change?

My mum sent me through these photos (after her electricity returned after almost a week and she was not alone).

All my Brissie pals had statuses on their Facebook to the effect of "enjoying a cuppa cooked on my neighbours BBQ" & "with the kids as school is closed"(of course they were using their mobiles to write these!) With stories of neighbours pulling together fixing fences, moping up and pitching in and helping one another really demonstrating the true Australian spirit. Kevid Rudd, our Prime Minister, even made a visit to some of the worst hit zones to inspect the damage.

I know, I know, stuff like this happens all over the world and quite a bit more severe too. Brisbane was very lucky, only one fatality occurred through all the mess. I guess however, when you have your mum sending you text messages like "Thank goodness I goto Boot Camp three time a week as I am now shifting a tree off the house and moving broken roof tiles", it takes me a little while to even comprehend this happening in my home. It also makes me smile too and wonder, where is my dad and why isn't he helping!?

Artist Impression of a Flight Attendant

One of my most treasured mementos and now a wall hanging in my house, is a caricature one of my bored passengers in the front row created of me on a Perth to Melbourne leg circa 2004. I had no idea what he was doing when shortly after take off, as I resumed my duties preparing for our first service of the flight, he started shuffling around in his belongings for his sketchpad and pencil. Approximately 5 hours later, he presented me with this.....

It now takes pride of place on my living room wall in a lovely wooden frame. Very cool.

Flight Attendants Reunion: Singapore

Who else other than those in our profession of Trolly Dolly can say, "oh you wanna meet up for a drink in Singapore this week?" to our friends who reside in London whilst you live in the Sandpit and will be travelling from China.

This is quite often the norm for those of us in the aviation industry in particular, especially those who have worked for a number of carriers and tend to travel to a great deal of destinations, including those ports we used to fly to in our past lives at previous airlines. Don't get me wrong I am not being blasé to world travel, it is just something we take for granted when it becomes part of your daily grind, plus most of us would never be able to afford this amount of travel on the small income we earn, so there has to be some upside.

This week was my first time to put it into practice, and after a quick sweep on Facebook through my status, to alert my world wide pals to my arrival into Singapore, I was able to find that not only one, but three of my previous work colleagues were due to arrive into Singapore the same night as me, two of which were in my initial training group over two years ago when I worked for an Aussie carrier (and it was one of the girl's birthdays too - what a bonus!).

Having only been to this city previously for work with the same said airline a handful of times, the layover was never long enough for me to explore more than the Subway Restaurant which was in walking distance or the poolside. I was excited this time to have my pals show me what nightlife Singapore had to offer, I didn't let it bother me that it was only Monday night.

A couple of Raspberry Mojitos to begin with at New Asia as the crew had to hit the heavy stuff early or else they would flake out following their direct arrival from London (a 12 hour flight through their night) and were still going strong to their credit. The birthday girl then led us to one of the only bars that would stand a chance of having a least some crowd, and of course we knew for sure the majority of patrons would be aircrew (where else do you find body clock deficient people ready to party at any time of the day or week whilst all Monday to Friday'ers are enviably ready to tuck up into bed). The Bar: aptly named Insomnia. Singapore's sister to Lang Kwai Fong's (Hong Kong) bar of the same name. The cover band is almost a duplication; fun & frivalous singing catchy recognisable tunes (there is always a Cranberries number in there!), and the inside/outside bar layout almost makes you think you are back in the Kong version after a couple of Apple Martini's (my new favourite cocktail).

A few tipsy dances and some catch ups as to 'where are we now' and how many are left from our initial training group (I think I remember vaguely about 5 out of 20???), then before I would know it, in true FA# style, a couple of my pals have left without even saying goodbye. I realised this probably an hour after they had left! Who knows why we do it, but I guess we seem to live in a time warp by missing whole nights of sleep, where months can seem to pass like days and maybe somewhere in the back of our minds we know we will reconnect in another foreign city on a layover. Thanks for the catch up guys!

#FA - Flight Attendant

Swiss Ball Beijing

It was definitely not to be expected, but when in Rome (or China) why not do as the Swiss ex pats do and goto a Swiss Ball.

One of my work colleagues happened to acquire several invitations to the Annual Swiss Ball, put on for the Swiss-French community in Beijing every fall, on my recent visit. (I have seriously been away from Australia too long if I am now calling autumn fall). Why not, I thought. It is not like I will ever again have the opportunity to say I went to a Swiss Ball in Beijing. And I was in the perfect city to get a dress made in less than 24 hours.

On arrival to the Fire & Ice themed ball, we were directed to our table close to the front of the stage, where we met a Swiss ex pat adventure holiday specialist (his specialty - camping overnight on the Great Wall), Swiss/English newlyweds having only arrived to live in Beijing 6 months earlier, and a few other couples from mixed backgrounds. We had missed the fire twirling and pre dinner champagne and canapes however I think we were both happy to have been tardy for the Great Wall of China visit was earlier that day.

The meals were interspersed with entertainment, ranging from contortionists, to my highlight, Silvan Zingg, Switzerland's answer to Little Richard. He is often dubbed the "Boogie Woogie King of Switzerland" and despite his obvious talent for the piano, he was also very charismatic and of course handsome. He was self taught from the age of 5; impressive! His enthusiasm on stage was engaging even if I had no interest in the music genre beforehand.

Between courses, sorbets were served from a beautiful ice sculpture keeping in with the fire & ice theme, and on departure, dessert carts and an ice cream stand were scattered throughout the foyer for pick up for the taxi ride home. All this and a goodie bag to boot, including (of course) some delicious Lindt chocolates, local vouchers (one was a discount voucher for some cosmetic surgery - oh dear!) and a Victornox passport & document holder.

In the end I didn't end up getting a dress made and just went with a good old faithful I had packed for 'just in case'. The night was a hoot and certainly was a nice change from the ordinary lay over.

Next stop; Singapore.

No 2. Wonder of the Week: Great Wall of China

TRAYTABLE, the author's of one of my favourite regular blogs and a fellow flight attendant, got it in one. My second wonder for last week was the Great Wall of China. You go girl! Wow is really all I can say about the World Marvel, oh and you too Tray :)

After speaking with a colleague who had first seen the wall via Badaling, we had all agreed we wanted to travel further out of Beijing by half an hour to a less populated area to visit the wall, at Mutianyu where we could chair lift it up, and toboggan it back down. Perfect.
On arrival I was greeted by stalls and stalls of souvenirs catered to the many tourists spilling out the mini bus doors on a daily basis, however this day due to the balmy weather, we were not too inundated with other sightseers. I was in heaven immediately as I bought up big on many sun dried fruits and nuts from the stall owners where their produce was a plenty. YUM! My Raw Foodie Friends would have loved it. Except I was put off my dried strawberry when one of the pilots referred to the recent melamine scare.

Once up at the main part of the wall for this region, our guide Mike, would drop tidbits of trivia about either the Wall or China history itself (well worth getting your own personal guide), and although it was a VERY cold day and overcast, we could see the wall winding for miles and the autumn colours in the trees were a perfect back drop. The pilots were determined to walk to the top, only to find that at each 'top' there was further to walk to the next 'top'. Didn't they know that the Great Wall is the only man made structure visible from the moon?

The following day, I managed to make it to the Forbidden City, across the road from Tienanmen Square, for a few hours of wandering through the grounds where you are free to even walk through the to the concubines residences. It was totally out of this world.
As you have probably guessed China was part of my amazing trip and I got more than I bargained for in my down time.

More on the shopping later! (When my credit cards are not hurting so much).

Two Wonders of the World in One Week

How lucky am I? I had no idea I would be seeing two such wonders in under a week without any plan to.

Here is the view from my aircraft window the other day on my way to work. What a fluke it was such a clear day and my camera was able to zoom into it so clearly.

This, my friends, is Mount Everest from my office window. The whole of the flight over the Himalayas was so breathtaking and spectacular I wanted to be dropped down, albeit gently, and forget about the world. Maybe Base Camp is next to go on my list of THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE.

Will put pictures up shortly of the other wonder I managed to visit today. It involved a lot of walking and climbing. Any ideas? ;)

Playing with the Boys

Last week, I had the good fortune of being able to play in a tournament. Not just any tournament. A MIXED BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT. Yay! I have loved beach volleyball ever since my old gym back in Brisbane about 7 years ago decided they needed to diversify and get some courts built outside their facility to bring in the bucks. Plus it was at the height of Brissie girls Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook's world beach volleyball reign and everyone in Oz thought it was their birthright to strut and pull some moves on the sand court. Certainly the male participants hoped we would wear as little as Nat and Kerri on the court too.

Since moving to the Middle East, I have thrown myself into some new sports and hobbies like joining a ladies football/soccer team (season starts next week...weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!), but truly all I was waiting for was for a beach volleyball fixture to be organised. Come on we all know the topography in one of the biggest sand pits in the world is just crying out to have a giant beach volleyball match right?

As a trial run, a friend arranged an all day tournament to gauge future interest for other matches or competitions, and I am pleased to say it was definitely a success. It was really great to meet new people as there were young and old, athletic and not so much rallying to take on the other teams.

I must admit though, days like this really teach you so much more about yourself. In new group environments, I can go one of two ways. Usually I either jump headfirst into the action, or else I shy away and hope the ground will open up and swallow me whole. Sport tends to have me at the former. Growing up as a regular tomboy, representing my regions for softball and netball, and being the neighbourhood’s most accomplished rollerskate driveway dancer (seriously), I tend to throw myself straight into my new sport even if I have not read the rules.

I guess the main thing I discovered about myself from this wonderfully amusing day on the beach, was that I tend to be just a tad competitive, however I am not bothered if we win or lose on the day, I just want to see the team work well together throughout the play. Things I like to encourage include communication and strategy. For example, I don’t think there is anything wrong with gently (but loudly) reminding the ‘never played but keen to try something new’ lady on the team that she should ‘CALL THE BALL!!!’ And it doesn’t matter so much really does it, if I make sure I repeat it a few times until my whole team of 6 is ‘calling the ball’ and then committing to it? Directing my team to BLOCK, SET and STRIKE really isn’t too competitive or aggressive is it?

Oh dear, maybe I need to just relax and realise the whole point of the day is to have fun and introduce new players to this wonderful sport. Now come to think of it I think I know why the organiser got me to sub in on EVERY match. His ‘strategy’ was to perhaps tire me out so that everyone could get a break from me.

Despite all my sportiness, honestly I still don’t even know who won the day.... :)

Treat or Trick

I think I have found my new favourite holiday. What other time of year, can adults act like children, get away with it and have just as much if not more fun???

Being a born and bred Aussie, it is not really something we are taught much about until American Halloween Specials come on TV and we beg our parents to do the whole Trick or Treat thing just like our American cousins (well ok and who doesn't like free sweets and dressing up - any excuse right?) I'm not sure about now, but when I was a kid, there was not much trick or treating around our blocks, if there were we would be considered 'pesky' to our neighbours, and our parents were more concerned we would not return home. So therefore it was not really practiced.

This year, with so many Halloween parties for us to choose from, it wasn't until 3 hours before hand, we had decided we were even going (we were also thinking of a Salsa Ball instead!) and then panicked about what costumes we could pull out from our own devices, not having enough time to shop.

We both arrived at the first party, with the strong desire to jump straight back into our cab, as it appeared we were the only ones to have made the effort as we looked across at the queue to get in. How embarrassing. Out comes my phone to call in reinforcement and then we discover, yes, others are on their way. Phew.

In the end I decided on an old flight attendant uniform complete with massive hair, red nails and lips (surprise surprise it still fits, albeit a little snug) and PPP escorted me in a hard hat and wife beater tank....(he was asked if he was 'The Village People" - yes all 5 of them, or Bob the Builder). We didn't really mind who we were, we just wanted to prove we had at least some imagination pulled together with some props from friends and what was laying around.

I can't help thinking though, how unimaginative my costume was as in my mind it would be no different from a policeman coming dressed as a cop for Halloween....IT WAS ALL I HAD :) I guess I could've said I had come straight from work and didn't have time to change. Poor PPP was asked if he was off to nightshift when our cab came to pick us up!

What did you dress up as?