Staying on course

1. I’m too old to being staying at hostels and sleeping in bunk beds. We arrived at the hostel on Friday night and trudged up a ridiculous number of stairs (more on that late) to a room with 5 bunk beds and someone sleeping in one of the beds we had been assigned, which meant trudging back downstairs to get it sorted out. We were given a lock for a locker that didn’t work and the light stayed on until about 3am. Thank goodness for my eye mask, but either way, I was awake very hour or so from 1am to 8am when I finally got up and showered. I’d rather be up and clean than dozing uncomfortably.
2. I have no reason to fear the stairmaster. The hostel had 6 floors. We were staying on the 4^th floor, R was staying on the 6^th floor and the lounge was also on the 6^th floor. We were walking up and down those stairs A LOT. I will say that 6 months ago walking up 6 flights of stairs would have set me off huffing and puffing but I was fine. My calves are just really tight now. I need a lot of stretching but that could also be from the walking.
3. Walking for 9 hours a day in 34 degrees and impossible humidity is a sure fire weight loss program. My feet ache, my calves hurt and while I haven’t weighed myself, I’m sure I lost something. Perhaps 10 litres of water. And a few hundred dollars from shopping (but now I have THE sexiest pair of red patent heels I’ve ever seen) but hey, lighter, is lighter!
4. I need my sleep and an air-conditioner. I really don’t like sleeping in total humidity. Having lived in Melbourne for the past 8 years where the heat is impossible but dry, I forgot how impossible it is to sleep when you’re sticky with sweat. The task over the next couple of weeks: buy a free standing air-conditioner. Hopefully, do this while my parents are visiting so they pay for it out of pity.
5. I’m not surprised that so many people are obese. The portion sizes in NYC were insane – a regular juice at Jamba Juice contains almost 500 calories – that’s almost an entire meal! Everything seems to be huge and I thought Canadian sizes were big. I’m beginning to realize that Australian portion sizes are small in comparison. Ouch. I think people are so used to huge portions that when they get a smaller size, they feel ripped off. We went out for dinner on Saturday night and the portions were really small (or so I thought) and I thought “Wow, this is expensive for so little” but no, I finished my meal and realized that what I’d eaten was a normal portion – so rare to see!

 Enough ranting. I’m off for dinner and drinks for my birthday (it’s today, I’ll take cash instead of gifts thanks!) so no gym tonight. I think my legs need a break from all the walking though!