I’m a ‘something’ year old Grandmother living the dream of traveling and teaching, creating and photographing and working darn hard simply because I love it. 

Day 23 of 89 on the road.

Sitting at my desk in the Hilton Los LAX, Los Angeles.

The sun’s going down and I see a number of planes in the sky maybe they’re  landing, maybe they’re taking off, but every move of the plane sends shards of reflected light floating through the air. It’s rather beautiful in the orange glow of sunset.

I’m munching on a rather dry croissant and sipping coke zero. Not the most healthy of meals but never the less it fills a space. The time at home in South Australia is 12.12 pm and its lunch time, so the body says eat.

It takes me a few days  to tell the body that we are on the other side of the world with 16 hours time difference. One thing I’ve learned from many years of travel is to eat when you’re hungry, no matter what the time is and always have food in the hotel room.  I can remember one time when I was so tired, so hungry that I ordered a hamburger at 1.00 am and I enjoyed it immensely and then fell fast asleep. So to heck with what’s right or wrong. Go with the body clock.

For the first few weeks of travel in the USA I  carry my staple food of Australian weetbix, all I need is milk to make a meal. I also have miso soup, vegemite  and my own  metal one cup coffee plunger. I  carry my own lightweight plate and cup knife, fork and spoon. Using them in a hotel room I have a guarantee that I have done my own plate washing !!!

I’ve just completed 21 days on a lecture tour in New Zealand. It was indeed a wonderful time, now I begin another part of my trip. A month in the USA, then on to Germany and Ireland.

I arrived in LA yesterday at 7.00 am and routine tells me to go to bed for at least 3 hours  when I arrive and then try to be ‘normal’ for the rest of the day.

My sheer delight was to have my 5 year old Granddaughter (who lives here) spend a ‘Princess Night’ with Grandma.

Give her a Princess Hotel bed, supper of a small brownie and hot chocolate  before bed and then I admit that I probably fell asleep the same time she did. 10 hours of sleep fixed the exhaustion problem and then today was buying the supplies day before travel to Monterey California tomorrow.

It’s sheer delight spending time with the Grandies who live in the USA.  We do have 24 others at home and most of them live within 10 kms of our house.

So my travel hint for the day is:-  carry a lightweight cup, plate and utensils with you. I use a bright colored melamine plate, a painted aluminum cup from India, great for hot or cold drinks, and the camping spork, (spoon and fork).