Share Your Holiday Stories!
With holidays coming up, a lot of you guys might be going travelling, so this is a new thread where you can share any funny, crazy, interesting, and sweet stories you might have.
And don't hold back from sharing any good stories you might have from past trips!
To get the ball rolling, I'll start by sharing a story about my recent road trip from Melbourne to Sydney :smileyface:
Unfortunately, I was more than a little tired on the last day of the trip, and so it was a bad idea that I was in charge of navigation. Not realising that I hadn't actually hit enter on the google maps, we drove off and just kept driving. Cut to 4 hours later, and we have accidentally found ourselves in a small country town a cool 150km away from where we should be. While my mates weren't super enthusiastic about this little detour at first, we made the best of the situation having a night picnic in a local nearby park. Best part was definitely when a beautiful kitten decided to come keep us (and our food) company!
@scared01, @Bananatime04 @Tiny_leaf @WheresMySquishy (or anyone else!) do you have any good travel stories you'd like to share?
@WheresMySquishy "tame" emus can be more or less jusy bossy, over-sized feather dusters.. 
I like the less tame ones though, they don't do as much chasing and are very good at sneakily stealing food.
And ah... does your grandma have an official diagnosis of anything? I know that there are aged care workers that do in-home care, but I don't know how expensive they are or how easy it is to find a reliable one...
And well done for saving your kitchen!
I'm the kind of person who could probably burn salad, I can't use much other than the microwave when I'm at home alone, and even then there are occasional explosions...
And it's good that your sister's finally gotten into a hospital! Hopefully she'll start improving with actual medical care...
And was the aquarium good? I kinda want to go but I'm not sure..
Though they have lungfish there!!! Lungfish are very cool.
I may as well join this thread!
I went to the beautiful islands (Lifou, Noumea, and Port Vila in Vanuatu), on a cruise two years ago. I had never been on a boat for the time of 7 and a half days before, so I didn't know if I would get seasick or not.
I went on the Pacific Dawn, if you've ever been on a P+O cruise.
I absolutely loved it, but that's all I can share today.
I'll be back with more later today.:)
@xXLexi_Lou122Xx I have visited Noumea and Vanuatu too! I really like Mystery Island! I have seen Noumea three times and it hasn't really impressed me. Once we arrived and all the shops were closed. The best part about my trips there was the aquarium because they had large turtles and a nautilus! 
Speaking of cruises, my family and I went on a cruise down the Nile with their colleagues when I was five. I decided to find a hiding spot behind the curtains and play with my mum's makeup while she went to the bathroom. When she got out, she couldn't find me. I didn't want anyone knowing what I was doing so I stayed hidden. My parents thought I had fallen overboard and everyone searched the ship looking for me, while I was still behind a curtain in our cabin, oblivious to what was going on! Eventually, one of their friends found me. We all have a good laugh about it to this day. 
@Tiny_leaf The GP has recommended an aged care assessment for my grandma, which I want to organise. I don't think she's been 'officially' diagnosed with anything yet. I have to ask my other family members for help explaining the assessment to her in a way she can understand first. I was discussing it with them and we are thinking of getting her a carer during the day. We've had some respite care before but she needs someone there all the time now. I think the best solution would be for her to go to a nursing home but she refuses to go, unfortunately.
@WheresMySquishy you got to see a live nautilus!?
And your poor parents!
And that sounds good, plus knowing what's going on could help you and your family find resources and supports.
I'd suggest "shopping around" if you eventually do the nursing home thing.. some are really understaffed...
@Tiny_leaf I sure did!
Once I also got to pat a seal while I was on holiday. The seal felt kind of slippery, wet and slimy. They are really playful and energetic!
I'm happy that the GP can understand that my grandmother needs care. It has been hard for my grandmother and another family member to accept so it's good that we can have the opinion of other professionals to back the rest of us up.
I know what you mean about some nursing homes! Many years ago, we made the decision to put my great grandmother in one. The staff treated her badly and she hated it. She had brought her own food and drink in with her and one staff member said that she had to pay them to drink from her own can of coke, even when she told them it was hers. 
My great grandmother ended up having a heart attack and being transferred to a hospital, where she later died. Her death was peaceful but it makes me angry how she was treated in her last months.
@WheresMySquishy I'm sorry to hear about that... hopefully after the royal commission things will begin to improve in nursing homes though..
And you got to pat a seal? I'm so jealous!!
My latest wildlife encounter was slightly less fun and involved being kicked by a kangaroo...
I'm glad he's still a joey, because if he was full grown I would've been injured pretty badly.
As it was though I'm not even bruised, just a bit more sore in one leg.
We'll be figuring out a way to prevent that in the future, so no harm was done other than temporary grumpiness from me
Also I like the nautilus! In my head he's going "bloop bloop bloop" as he swims for some reason. It just seems like the sort of sound he should be making.
@Tiny_leaf I hope so!
Wow! I love kangaroos but they can do a lot of damage, especially the larger fully-grown ones. I'm glad you're okay!
I totally hear the 'bloop bloop bloop!'
How was your long weekend? I spent mine in the hospital with my sister. There were no doctors or physios over the long weekend so we got to relax. Some volunteers gave us books to read and some crafts to do. We also played the Switch and watched TV. This hospital TV is awesome compared the ones at the other hospitals (when it works, that is)! We were even able to watch some movies for free. All the nurses have been great, which is weird because at the previous hospitals my sister has been in, there were only a few competent, nice nurses. One of them even gave my sister a bunch of anime episodes to watch on her laptop. It actually kind of feels almost like a holiday apart from all the rehab she has to do and the fact that we have to do some extra work until the physios can teach the nurses how to safely maneuver her for certain daily tasks
@WheresMySquishy I love them as well. I'm lucky because the two or three ridiculously huge male red kangaroos are actually very respectful. They don't seem to push away the smaller kangaroos, and one of them even "adopted" his younger brother who was orphaned or abandoned. They're tame and confident enough to come up for food, but don't like actual contact and are never aggressive to us (not to say I don't have a healthy caution of them though).
It's just the one joey who ended up being hand reared. His human carer didn't always set proper boundaries, so now he's going to have to get a bit of a crash course in them before he gets big enough to be dangerous.
I'm so glad the nurses are good! It's amazing how much of a difference a good nurse can make to someone - I swear they're magical or something. I'm lucky since most of the nurses I encountered when I was in hospital were really amazing.
It's been pretty good for me, though my poor little cat needed dental surgery today.
It took a while for the drugs to wear off, so I spent a good part of this afternoon checking in on him.
He insisted on trying to launch himself off tables or jump onto them even though he couldn't even coordinate his back legs at that point. He seems to be thinking more clearly now though and is taking it easy, hopefully until all of the effects are gone.
He's been extra snuggly and cute, but also a little stupid..
@Tiny_leaf I'm glad the kangaroos are friendly! We don't see many of them in our area unless you go to a zoo but I have seen a lot of them on holiday. Once I went on holiday and there were wallabies and other animals just outside our door. It was so much fun! I love feeding wallabies and kangaroos. I hope the joey gets trained. To me, there are no bad animals, only dodgy owners/carers.
The nurses at this hospital are so much better than the nurses at the other hospitals. The other nurses didn't check up on her regularly and left us to do most of her care, change her sheets, get ice packs for her, etc. They also never tracked her pain when they should have been recording it. These nurses are more helpful. They come around all the time, even just to ask how she's feeling. If she's feeling bad, then they ask how they can help her. She was also told that if she has a problem with anyone, then to let the higher ups know and they will sort it out. You're so right that the nurses play a huge role in whether your hospital stay is good or poor.
Oh dear! I feel sorry for your poor kitty! Kind of reminds me of how I acted after having laughing gas for surgery (loopy and hyper). I hope he's feeling better today! 
Great thread @Andrea-RO, and I love everyone's responses!
Hmmm... I was in Norway a few weeks ago and although this isn't a funny story, I was so happy because I found a place that had the most delicious vegan dumplings! 🙂
@xXLexi_Lou122Xx that must've been amazing!!
@letitgo I love finding places with good vegan food! Most of the time I just have to get chips or something...
I went to a fairly remote restaurant/ pub once, almost everything had beef, pork or some weird combination of both. I could choose between mashed potato, potato chips, and potato wedges.
@lennycat2017 I wish I could go to Japan! I'd also like to go on a cruise from Spain to Greece and Italy. I really want to see the Caribbean one day too!
