Retropost: June 22, 1998

One of my new favorite authors, Megan McCafferty, used to do this very cool thing on her Web site where she posted old entries from her journal, or things that she wrote when she was growing up. I thought it would be fun if I totally just...stole that idea. Her execution is much better because she just scans things in; but never fear, I've left my awesome misspellings and extraneous exclamation points in for your enjoyment! (Yes, it is safe to assume that any misspellings and/0r grammatical errors in this post are a result of my 13-year-old self.) So here's my first retropost! Mine won't be nearly as frequent as hers are, but I promise they will be much more unintentionally hilarious. Also, Megan McCafferty doesn't insert the witty commentary that I have included in bold, which I felt was necessary to draw your attention to my more amazing thoughts. Mostly this is because Megan McCafferty's 13-year-old self was a much better writer than mine.

Source: My Australian Adventure journal

Monday, June 22, 1998

Dear Journal,

WE'RE HERE!!! After 4 looooooooomg flights, we finnally made it. It is all so beautiful here! But, I suppose I should tell you about the plane ride first...

We boarded the plane at around 2:30 PM Orlando time. After a smooth (are you reading that mom?) [As if I would ever let my mom read my journal.] flight, we have a nice bumpy landing in MIAMI airport at around 3:30. After going through several baggage checks and waiting about an hour, we board the plane that will take us to Los Angelas. [Note to self: Never let your children visit a place that they can't spell.] This flight is REALLY nice because I have two seats all to myself, next to the window, no less.

As we pass over the Rocky Mountain range, I listen to channel 2 (the "Grease" soundtrack) as I sigh and take in the gorgeous scenery. You can see the snow on the top of bright blue and grey mountains, and it's all very breathtaking. [Wow. Way to describe those mountains. You hold nothing back.]

Well, soon you can see the lights of L.A. and the plane has another bumpy landing.
And now...THE BIG ONE!! [L.O.L.] The flight (14 hours!!) across the Pacific from L.A. to Sydney. It turns out to be a very nice, smooth flight, and I get 5 hours of sleep. We land at the Sydney airport at 6:30 AM Austrailian [See: Note to self.] time and board our flight to Cairns at 8:15. Another 2 hours and 45 min. and we are there! No more planes until we leave...

After going through customs, we meet our guide for the next 18 days. When we pull out of the airport, there are these huge tree covered mountains in front of us. It is so beautiful. [Again, my ability to describe the scenery is incredible. I really should send this to National Geographic.]

We get to see more of the spectacular view on our short bus ride over to the Pier marketplace, a small shopping center. I should have bought something there...[I have no idea why I thought this was worth noting. Was I really going to beat myself up 10 years later for not buying something in an Australian strip mall? Answer: YES.]

Anyway, an hour later we meet back on the bus and had an extremly scenic [I don't know how to spell.] and even more bumpy hour long bus ride. During that time each person went up and told about themselves. I am really looking forward to learning more about them.

Like I said before, the bus ride was very scencic, with the Great Barrier Reef on one side and gorgeous mountains on the other. It was very awe inspiring. [My brain is exploding from all the awesome.]

Our guide is pretty cool. This should be a great trip.

When we arrived at the resort, we were assigned our roomates and sent up. The resort is just lovely, with lots of pools and water, and very cozy rooms.

We had 3 hours to goof around before dinner, so I went and explored the grounds with a girl named Lisa. She showed me these beautiful purple flowers that floated on top of lily pads.

After taking in the sights, I took a nice, long, much-needed shower and got ready for dinner. Of course, I was an hour early getting down there [The idea that I would ever say "of course I was early" is so laughable.] so I sat around and talked with a few people.

Then we had dinner. I had this delicous spinich [hehe!] flavored pasta with tomato sauce and vegetables. I hope all Australian food is as good as that.

Dinner is over and we have one more hour before we have to be in our room for the night. But I'm so tired, I think I'll just go to bed now... [This is the fourth time I used the ellipsis in this entry. Even today, I still harbor a love for this form of punctuation, although I have sworn to only use its powers for good.]

T.T.F.N. [Which, of course, is 13-year-old for Ta Ta For Now. I was so cool.]