West Coast Wandering

For my very first American Thanksgiving, I went on a road trip along the I-5 from Redding to San Diego armed with trail mix, Starbucks and good company.
It has been a dream of mine for ages to wander along the Southern California coastline, so I was in awe with my surroundings when we finally reached the palm-tree plentiful coast. 
During my stay in San Diego, I had an authentic thanksgiving meal with a fun and very charismatic family, and ate myself into food coma. Success. 
I got involved in the Black Friday action and went shopping at Fashion Valley which quickly made it onto my list of favorite shopping destinations. I also saw the beautiful ocean for the first time in 3 months and it felt just like seeing an old friend. While living in the country has it's benefits, I am still a beach baby at heart. You can take me away from the beach but you can't take the beach out of me. 
Then there was roadside cafe dining, boutique store browsing on Coronado island and quality time with friends. Thank you Orange County for showing me a good time and I hope to see you again very shortly. Stay classy San Diego. 

A view from above

After over 30 hours in transit, I arrived in the USA on Friday afternoon. *relief*

After months of planning and anticipating this trip, to actually live it out, was a very surreal moment. I still pinch myself every now and then just to make sure this isn't just a really good dream.

Above are some images that I took out of the plane whilst flying over Canada, Oregon and California. The beauty of this country from above was absolutely breath-taking, especially because I have a weakness for snow-capped mountains and pristine lakes.

I am finally on the mend from a nasty case of jet lag, and now that the nausea and severe exhaustion is starting to ware off, I am starting to settle in quite nicely.

America is different from Africa, my home, in every way possible; from the people, to the landscape, to the food and the cars, it is all very unfamiliar. Everything is foreign to me, and am still trying to find my equilibrium. Although this will be my home for the next year or so, it still feels very much a foreign land, and wherever I go, I must look like a total deer in the headlights as I try and take in all my surroundings.

I am currently living in a town called Redding in Northern California, and although I am an ocean girl, I find it incredibly beautiful here in the countryside at the foot of mountains and in-between trees. It is as hot as hades here, and I can't wait to jump in one of the lakes and get me a Californian suntan. 

The home I am living in is absolutely beautiful. It is nestled at the end of a cul-de-sac in one of those adorable American neighborhoods that you see on movies. I have the loveliest group of room mates, and we are all new to Redding, so are having fun exploring (and getting lost) together. 

A breakdown of a few American things according to me {a South African}:

The people: Friendly, confident, love saying the word "awesome"

The food: Sugary, fatty, pre-packed, ready-to-go, processed

The weather: hot and dry

Walmart: Ghetto

Letters to loved ones...

When it comes to goodbyes, they are never easy. I will be saying goodbye to my family for a whole year soon, and in preparation for my departure, I've made them all these little letters.
Sticking with the 'travel' theme, I used old maps, polaroids and airmail envelopes, and here are some of the pictures below.
Ps: I'm hoping none of them see this blog post before they see their letter in person. 

How to stress yourself out before moving overseas

As much as I would not consider myself a melodramatic, anxious, nail-biting stress ball, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have quite a substantial list of irrational fears that have accumulated over the weeks leading up to this 'big move' to the USA. And here they are, in black and white, 'Ways to stress yourself out before relocating overseas'

• Stare into your well stocked wardrobe and realize there's less than a zero% chance that all your loved ones (clothes) are coming along with you.
• Look down at the size of your suitcase and come to terms with the fact that your whole life needs to now fit inside one medium sized area of rectangular space, remembering that you are no Mary Poppins, just a regular gal. 
• Consider the fact that your overweight luggage will probably cost you about as much as your first month's rent, and not even sobbing at the check-in counter like you did last time will get you out of this one. 
• The horror of having to navigate your way through foreign airports like a lost fart in a perfume factory, whilst lugging around a suitcase that is the same weight as a dead sumo wrestler. 
• Develop an irrational fear of sitting next to either a smelly, overly talkative or just plain creepy individual for 20-something hours in a claustrophobic compartment in the sky that some call an 'air plane.'
• Then there's always the thought of somebody misplacing your entire life (a.k.a massive suitcase), which is a very probable fear considering airlines would lose our heads if they weren't screwed on.
• The crippling fear of being denied access into the USA, that is induced by watching one too many episodes of 'Border Security.'
• Missing flights. Need I elaborate further?
• The fear that I may enjoy American food a bit more than I should, and end up occupying 2 seats on the return flight.
• Developing habits like saying "french fries" instead of "chips", "ketchup" instead of "tomato sauce" and spelling colour without the "u."
• Becoming a coffee drinker due to the close proximity of Starbucks stores. 
• Ponder the fact that your mom's home cooked meals are about to become a missed memory.
• Realize that the only face-to-face time you will have with family and friends for the next year is via a webcam. 
• The sad reality that you wont be able to cuddle your pugs again until the year 2012.
• Knowing that you are going to have to substitute biltong with "beef jerky" and braai's with "BBQ's"
• Realise that you are going from Southern Hemisphere winter to northern hemisphere winter, and by the time your skin sees summer sunshine again, you will be see-through. 

Journals: USA Travel Diary

  I am relocating to California in a matter of days {22 to be precise}, and have been working on a diary that will accompany me on my travels and house all my special memories. 

Last year when I went to Australia I made a travel journal {click here to see images} out of a blank-paged diary that I paid a lot of money for. This time around, I have taken a slightly differnent route. For my USA journal, I have taken an old book that I paid next-to-nothing for, and recovered it to create a personalised diary. It's pages are full of pre-existing text as it is a story book, but I will just stick images etc over the printed  pages.

At this stage of the game, I have only completed the first few pages of the diary, and here are the before and after images as well as the journal-making process.

I will continue to add more pics to my blog as each new page unfolds, and I cannot wait to see the outcome at the end of my journey.

 I found this old book at the SPCA Charity shop in Ballito, and I thought it would make the perfect 'shell' for my travel journal as it has a thick, hard cover and old stained pages which adds a lovely vintage-type effect. And it only cost me 10 bucks - Score!

 Inside the book

 I have decided to keep the pages and their text to provide a nice background for my journal. I will be sticking all sorts of things over the pages, but I like the effect of the text in the background.

(This is what the inner page looked like before I got gluing and sticking)

 End Product - The Cover

 Text on front cover: "The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page." (I thought this pretty little saying rather appropriate.)

 This is the back of the book, and I printed out a map of the USA, and then cut it out to make a puzzle. The border was done by cutting up airmail envelopes.

As you open the diary, there is an real fold-out map of California on the inner cover. I found this map in a travel book at the charity shop, and it may even come in handy if I decide to take a road trip around the Orange County.

 If you look carefully on the map, you will see a little dot called 'Redding.' This will be my home for 9 whole months. I can't wait to live in the beautiful countryside surrounded by mountains, lakes and trees. Aaaah.

For the introductory page, I used my typewriter to print onto a page of tick tracing paper, which I then stuck over a colourful background that can be seen in some of the images to follow.

 

 Good old Underwood 18. You have done me proud.

 This is the background that I made for my introductory page, and then placed the transparent sheet over it.

 The Introductory page reads as follows:

This is a diary. This is my travel diary. A place to document a journey. A journey over the seas. A journey to a foreign land. A journey through ever changing seasons of life, and a journey along the road of dreams fulfilled. 

This diary is not planned. There is not table of contents. It will be left to grow and evolve as the life attached to it grows and evolves. This will become a home to photos, souvenirs, memorabilia, and tales of unforgettable moments shared with new friends in places unexplored.

Dedication: To dreams. To hope. To adventures. To Jesus. To wanderlust. To family and friends being left behind. To a new 'family' and friends that await me. To learning new things. To growing up. To flying the nest. To love. To music. To scissors, glue and craft supplies. To embracing change. To letting go. To bliss, glory, and joy unspeakable. To living by faith. To blossoming and growing. To thoughts, ideas and revelations. To writing. To laughter. To heaven, destiny and God's plans for me. To life, and living it abundantly.

 This is an image I made on Photoshop that is actually going to be the title image for a new page that I am starting on my blog entitled 'California Diaries.' You will be able to click on this page and see all the posts and pictures from my new life in Cali.

 I had loads of fun doing this part of my journal. Basically, I made copies of my passport and visa page, and then made a mini passport that can open and close, and it reveals my visa inside. It reminds me of some of the books I used to read as a kid that had flaps uncovering hidden pictures.

From these photos, my hand-made passport actually looks scarily life like. Mission accomplished.

 I couldn't resist making a 'USA Bucket list,' with all the things I hope to do whilst over there. Some of the things include:

Go to Disneyland. Try authentic Starbucks. Go on a roadtrip. See a famous person. Snowboard. Attend Coachella 2012.

 Yes, I like to mess!

Craft Supplies Used:

Old Story Book

Brown wrapping paper

Tracing Paper

Old atlas

Old travel books

Vintage Postcards

Airmail Envelopes

Wrapping paper scraps

Lisa and Jo stamps

Scrapbooking Paper from 'Imagine That'

Typewrier

Glue

Scissors

Sticky Tape

Journals: Australia Travel Journal

 I took a much needed gap year last year after I finished my final year of school, and headed down under to explore Australia. It was my first overseas trip, so there was great excitement and many unknowns. I made myself a travel journal a few days before I left South Africa, and almost every day of my 3 months in Aus, I journalled my adventures. The pages of this journal now hold the most special of memories from a place close to my heart. It holds stories of times spent with new and old friends, and tales of the discovery of new places and landscapes. It is also home to all kinds of memorabilia, such as bus passes, photographs, clothing tags etc, and I still open my journal {which ended up becoming more of a scrapbook} every now and then and smile as I remember my unforgettable trip.

Ps: I know that this post is about a year too late, but with my California trip coming up, I was looking for inspiration for my USA travel journal, and I figured going through my own personal 'archives' was the best place to start.