People often ask me what the time difference is between here and Australia. My short answer is, I just don't know. I then give an example of a friend calling me at 4:30 pm when it is 7:30 am the next day by him. Just how many hours is that?
One of the quirks about flying from the United States to Australia is that you jump over the International Date Line. We left on October 30 and landed on November 1. When I bought the tickets, I didn't realize we would be missing Halloween in both countries.
I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween. I really do enjoy seeing people in costumes and all the decorations, but I don't feel creative enough to put together a costume or decorate the house, after all Christmas is just around the corner. When Ashley was little I enjoyed creating costumes for her. When she was in first grade, we went to Disneyland where she went Trick or Treating with the Mad Hatter.
Then there are the years when Halloween did not go as planned.
In 2011, it snowed.
In 2012, Superstorm Sandy squashed Halloween in New Jersey.
Then in 2016, Don had open heart surgery. I think that's what put the final nail in my enjoyment of Halloween.
Much to my amusement, parents' weekend at our daughter's college lands on Halloween weekend. I enjoyed seeing students walking to parties in costumes. The students did not enjoy having their parents around.
Last year Don and I walked the boardwalk instead of facing trick or treaters. This year we beat that avoidance by jumping the International Date Line and completely skipping it!
It was odd landing on November 1st and seeing remnants of Halloween, but not Halloween. In the Rocks section of Sydney they had a ticketed Halloween party, and there were candy stations set up as a scavenger hunt. In random places (hotel lobbies, restaurants) we saw leftover Halloween candy for the taking. But it wasn't Halloween.
Since Halloween didn't happen in my universe, I don't even have any pictures to share.
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