Cousin Phil's Retirement

So last week on FB, Phil posted that he is leaving News Limited. From some of his replies to comments, it sounds like it may have not entirely been his decision, but that's just my interpretation. Below is a picture he posted from his days as a young journalist.

Good on ya Phil! I remember reading your articles in the Brisbane News weekly magazine back when I used to live in Brisbane from 2007-2008. I enjoyed his take on various happenings in the city, and reviews of film, books and art. I have also always enjoyed Phil's books, as mentioned in another post about him, so I was pleased to hear that he intends to write more, now that he is not working fulltime. The last one - The Hong Kong Kid - even had me in it. I look forward to seeing where he goes with his writings next.

The Annual Struggle

 Yep, it's happened again. I start off the year well - killing it in terms of blog post goals in Jan and Feb, only to fall in a heap in Mar when the pressure hits with budgets etc. And hit it farking has in a big way. Not as much due to budgets - DH is helping a lot with easing that process this year - it's more due to the new NSW part of the business causing me a WHOLE lot of stress, due to people not doing what they should be, and just not having enough of the buggers to begin with. Plus, as I have mentioned before, my job up north feels like another bloody job. When I am here in the old lands, I have enough to do to keep me busy. Going up there feels like I have to catch up on lost time each visit, and then things down here get neglected. When the boss first mentioned this purchase, it was all about a GM up there. That soon changed and now I have two full states to manage, with very few in my team who can handle a senior management position at this point, regardless of their skills and experience in quarrying.

So I am struggling a bit right now.

Ok, you could say that the ability to churn out blog posts when you're a GM and a fulltime dad and hubby is a real first-world problem. And you'd be right. But this project is one of my key life goals - to leave behind my story so that my children have it when I am no longer around. So it is important for me to keep going with it, to overcome the shitty reasons that I find it hard to write when others are around, and to regain some momentum on my associated projects, mainly being my all-time Top 40 songs and properly cataloguing my photos.

Anyway, so this is a small post, one to get runs on the April board, and two, to try and gather my thoughts enough to regain the initiative. Let's do it this month - Four for April and two to catch-up on March to get back on track. One down....

Next Holiday Planning

So we recently finished the family trip to Tassie (when I say recently, I mean December 2022, when I first started a draft of this post). Overall, I'd call it a success - we enjoyed many aspects of it, had some quality time as a family, some great experiences for the kids, and got a taste of what Tasmania has to offer. However, there were equally as many aspects that gave us the shits. #1 being the bloody ferry. It was poorly managed, took soooooo long to board, soooooo long to get there, and there was soooooo little to do. Never. Again. Frankly, while we enjoyed much of Tassie, there really wasn't enough to really keep us enthused - I should have booked places with pools for a start - and nowhere we went did we think, yep let's come back sometime. I really believe it will be a once only thing for us, both as a family and as individuals. Yes, most might think me a knuckle for having that opinion, but each to their own right? 

So, where does that leave us for the next trip? Well, based on recent experiences, this is my list of criteria;

1. Tropical climate

2. Beachside and/or poolside

3. Good food

4. Not super expensive

Apart from Tassie, other trips we have done in the past few years are family-based (Barooga motels) or very-much food based short escapes to Melbourne. Many of those have had good pools and have been a good experience for all, so this is definitely doable again in future. But a nice, resort-ish, relaxing and fun holiday is what we all crave I think. Yes I'll need to consider where we might be mid-late 2023, as our home base may well change in that time. But for now, let's consider this as a holiday coming out of Moama. The options are;

KL

KL is always close to first choice for me, but to be perfectly honest, for selfish reasons. I see myself getting NL and pork noodle for breakfast, going for banana leaf, dim sum and other hawker food for lunch, and getting mixed rice, roasts, and 100 different other things for dinner. OMG the food! That, inter-mixed with wandering the city streets, checking out malls, and finding cool spots to have an ice-cold Tiger or ten.

The shot above shows a couple of KL's strengths - a great skyline and a vibrant restaurant scene. But how does it go with my four criteria? Climate - check. Beachside/poolside - not so easy, but I am sure I can find an AirBnB with a good pool. Still, it won't be a resort, so just a half point. Good food? Absolutely. Not super expensive? It goes well here too. You're going to be hard to beat, KL my lovely...

Penang

A holiday staple in the Brown family since 1982, Penang is a great spot too. I came here with Mum and Dad at that time, staying in the Golden Sands resort, which is still around, albeit looking a bit dated now. My next visit was in 2009 with Cousin Phil, and that was staying at the new Hard Rock Hotel (pictured). It is a top spot. Next trip was with wifey, early on in our relationship. We also came another time once we had a couple of kids, and Jassie came along for the trip. Love this hotel so much. Hey the food is not the best compared to others (at least then that was the case), but the ambience, facilities, and the Hard Rock vibe that is so cool, makes it hard to beat.

Penang would be just behind KL in terms of food, probably just above in terms of accommodation, but more expensive in terms of travel. It also lacks slightly in terms of convenience, with taxis / hire car / courtesy bus needed to traipse between the hotel and the town. In the late days of our time in KL I saw they opened a Healy Macs on the waterfront in the town. JR had been there and enjoyed it. I would love to spend an afternoon and evening doing the same sometime...

Bali

Bali. Love it or hate it. I have done both in my time. We had a family holiday there in 2019 when I was with Gulf, and had a ball at the Holiday Inn Benoa (pictured). I have also enjoyed the facilities at the Hard Rock there, as well as a few others. There are a lot of ritzy, all-inclusive options, for pool-side, foody and boozy fun. It is significantly closer than other Asian destinations, cheap, and eminently doable.

It is also a popular option with the family. Me, well I know we could have fun here, and have done before. I just have a few more boxes to tick. A couple of interesting points;

1) I remember saying to my family more than once that a holiday does not feel like a holiday until I'm in a pool. Bali is likely the #1 in that regard. And,

2) In KL I no longer have any friends. Well that is not true - Subra is there, Harj not far away, and no doubt others I forget. Plus I could arrange through JR to meet Damian, who I always enjoyed having a beer with. But in terms of my expat friends, they are now all, 100%, gone. That's ok, I always make my own fun. I can still go see Michael at Cathy's, go to HM's, even go check out some old haunts at Damansara. But without my old expat mates as drinking buddies.

So, I would need to make good on the message to the kids, that there is more fun stuff to do in KL, be it shopping, food, playgrounds, and ensure we have a great pool there too. We'll see.

KK

This is a bit of a pie in the sky one, as I would love to go here to visit the place of wifey's birth, and a part of Malaysia I have never been. It looks cool, but doesn't have all the holiday-friendly stuff we prioritise, plus it will be more expensive and time-consuming in travel. At this stage it's a no-go.

Cairns / Darwin

This one is a little out there. It is probably more of an exploratory one to see if maybe we want to live in either place one day, to gain easier and quicker access to SEA. Aussie holidays are expensive, and lack all that SEA has to offer. So it's an interesting option, but not really on the table.

Ultimately, wifey tells me just to go where I want and they will happily follow. I think KL is the choice then, but that depends on costs - If I can still get flights and accommodation to KL for the same price as just flights to Bali, then we are going to KL. That was recent experience, as unlikely as it may sound. Anyway, we'll see, but those are really the only two choices.