Australia, Hold onto your sox. Spoiled Rotten is coming down under to rock your world.

Oct 31
Halloween...Well life is never dull here at Spoiled Rotten B&B. “We're”  off on another adventure to tour the land down under and tell  everyone why their next adventure should be to come to Ottawa in 2017 to help us celebrate our 150th anniversary.   Ottawa is going all out for all 12 months of action packed fun. And of course when they come to the capital, they will need a place to stay that's cozy and crazy. Oh if only I knew a place to recommend. So hard, racking my brain? Oh ya, that new place that opened just over 2 years ago and already, her rooms are as busy through the week as they are the weekends. Already I have my first interested guest from Vancouver. She took the picture of the postcard but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a business card somehow makes its way to her bag. Surprise!!!

So I'm off to Sydney Australia to tour the coast, the B&Bs for an exchange and “steal” some of their best ideas, the hostels to get the ever travelling working visa students and the local travellers and to wipe #1 off my bucket list again...scuba diving the great Barrier Reef. After, it's off to New Zealand for just a week to do more of the same then return to Canada just in time to gear up for a busy Christmas season.

I know it's going to be busier than last year because the majority of the reservations are from MY website and less from Airbnb (which kept me afloat for the first two years), BBCANADA, TripAdvisor, Ottawa Tourism, and about 14 other free places that I advertise this boutique 5 star (yes I'm very proud of that distinction) Ottawa accommodation.  I'm not typically a destination but more and more families, especially  in Orleans are looking to rent a whole house and all stay together. It doesn't hurt that they receive a huge breakfast that probably acts as lunch and they are spoiled to death...Ok maybe not death...Maybe just Spoiled Rotten.

I cannot believe how busy this summer was. I feel sorry for the last few guests...I tried to give my best but I was beyond pooped. I can't wait for some blessedly quiet days so the renovations can begin.
The shower that I had removed in the master bedroom to replace with the most romantic two person deep soaker tub bubble bath just isn't cutting it with the shower gangs that come thru my doors.
The friends who travel together love the crazy twin bed decor but aren't too happy to not have a bathroom. That is my goal this “slow” season coming up.

And so the trip begins.The trip there is great. Ottawa to Vancouver started with me violating the “be at the airport 3 hours early”. Actually travel day always has me getting there hours and hours too early which makes the day so very long. I watched somewhat anxiously as the 3 fire trucks waited near my plane before takeoff.  For the second longer lap, they simply just cancelled the flight. Sigh! Luckily it was only a one hour delay even with them reassigning all the seats. I was two seats over from a personable chatty monk but the guy in the middle was a grumpy large snoring buzz kill who hated to not have all the attention. He even had the audacity  too so very really loudly and put his travel pillow over his ears to let us know we were bothering him. 

The flight was packed but imagine my delight when I went for a walk to the back and realized it was nearly empty. People closer to the front were 10 sardines across but people in the back had 5 seats each to sleep. Once I relocated to a rear bulkhead empty row which I later found out was empty was because the arm rests are permanently up.

I have a drill Sargeant of a daughter who calculates when I can nap and ì follow it to a tea,  even when the flight gets delayed. When I had to stay awake everyone was sleeping but sleep time eluded me. The plane is alive at 4:40 am and the skies surprisingly light. INSERT PIC. Here we have The Simpsons shot in reverse. Saw some turquoise  green land masses that tell me scuba diving is going to be spectacular. Or maybe it's just a pretty oil spill.

Nov 2

Arrived safely to find my traditional experience of my daughter at the airport sitting there holding up a sign saying Mum. So good to see her after a year even if she is 3 people now instead of one. Twins!  She's a wonderful human navigator and we made our way through the busy Sydney rails Metro and buses to get to see Thomas in the Glebe. He is an Airbnb host who has quite the racket going on. He's commandeered his parents lovely home taking the main floor with 2 bedrooms and rented them out and his mother is a glorified maid. Great job if you can get it- for him that is. She does the work, and he gets the money.  We stayed there for 2 days. Did a walking tours that we bailed on- he was too chatty about history. Did a lot of walking and stairs the first couple of days. I think that was the last exercise we did. I'm really liking this new exercise regime where we do nothing but drive, eat and walk the beaches for a little bit. I'm a saint. It's what my daughter can do so I have to slow down my pace unlike my usual daily routine of 3 hours of hard exercise as you know is my custom. Lol.

Nov 3
I checked out the fish market today and the Darling Point Bridge. Checked out the famous Opera House,  Sydney Harbour and the underside of the bridge so we didn't have to pay to be strapped in. Saw Luna Park but didn't go in and we went to Bondi Beach. Gawd its dead or the summer is steamy hot here.The beaches here are so gorgeous and all sand! Of course it's sand.  What else would it be? Sand is everybody’s dream but not mine. What was I thinking?! www.spoiledrottenbnb.ca