The trip to Adelaide was a welcome diversion from the daily routine. Coming home, I feel a little more settled and willing to do the things I’m supposed to do that I’ve been putting off.

A little about the trip… there were two cars travelling, me being in the one where there was Chun Fei, Jerome and Emily, who are my friend’s girlfriend’s younger sister, the same friend’s younger brother and his girlfriend respectively. I’m obviously the odd one out, being the only ancient one as most of my travelling mates have either graduated or are somewhere else. The rest I’m about to say in this post is mainly about the stark difference and contrast in comparison to prior trips I’ve been to.

Firstly, girls planned this trip. lol: This makes a big difference. I’ve never seen so much food brought along on a trip before. There were sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, chips, sweets etc. The whole trip was mainly about eating, we’d be looking for places to eat more than we were looking for places to sightsee. The itinery of our four day trip included visiting the beach in Adelaide, going up one of the scenic mountain tops and the rest was just eat and shop. With guys, the trips I’ve been to involved more walking and exploring outdoor regions, usually going for long walks in non civilised areas and really annoying push-the-car-out-of-some-mess-in-the-middle-of-the-night-routines.

In prior trips, accommodation was usually an afterthought. We’d be scrambling around looking for decent and affordable accommodation. In this trip, with girls behind the planning board, accommodation was booked in advance and was only a matter of hunting the place down. This takes out the thrill of trying to find a place before sunset but brings about the security of not having to worry about a place to cover your head over at night.

I’ve been to Adelaide before, so there wasn’t really much to miss for me as I’ve seen most of the more interesting stuff. The funny bit for me was pointing out the various gas stations I’ve stopped at before on different trips to Adelaide and Central Australia. Everything brought back memories and exact details of when and what, which still surprises me considering the Dory type memory I have with these things.

The last thing I’d probably mention is the trip back and forth. I was sitting in my usual navigator seat beside the driver. Having a slightly better sense of direction these days (I can still get lost in KLCC, don’t ask me why), it took a little map gazing to figure out the key towns we had to pass through to reach Adelaide. And what trip is complete without in-flight music? Heh, the song selection is much different from what I’m used to. I used to provide music CDs for the trip, but this time round, it totally eluded me to even worry about such stuff. Had plenty of tunes to listen to and when we needed something fresh, there was always the radio.

One thing I like about these trips. You bond with the people you spend practically every minute of trip with. You get to know them better, and also talk about the funny things and experiences in life (there is a constant topic that livens up the whole car which I’m not inclined to discuss here). Sharing these moments together, you know a person more closely and appreciate their uniqueness all the better.

Heh, now wondering when my next trip will be, if ever a trip in the foreseable future.