Saturday 23 May 2015

My Top 3 Air Travel Accessories


What can I fit in my carry-on bag?

I'm one of those people who has a few little obsessions, such as, pretty stationery, high quality kitchen utensils and, of course, travel accessories. I love organising myself; I like accessories which make me appear organised; I like items designed for convenience. Because of my obsession for items of convenience, I do actually have a small collection of such items, including travel accessories. I love accessories that have a particularly useful purpose for the many trips that I'm lucky enough to be able to go on with my fiancé, The Photographer. I think it's because the travel accessories make me feel like the holiday is even more exciting – it adds to the excitement. Well, that's my excuse anyway! Below, I have compiled a list of my three favourite air travel accessories (because ground travel accessories are a whole other arena!) and why they're my top picks.

Koala ears headrests

1. Neck pillow

This is not just my favourite air travel accessory – I take this almost everywhere as a passenger. No matter how hard I try, when I'm a passenger, I almost always fall asleep on planes, in cars, on trains, on buses – basically on any journey more than about an hour long, to be perfectly honest. Regardless of how uncomfortable the ride may be, I am almost guaranteed to fall asleep. It probably helps that I have quite a small frame (I'm only five feet nothing (152cm)) so it's probably a fair bit easier for me to sit semi-comfortably on aeroplanes, unlike The Photographer, who is over six feet tall.

Let's face it, when you're flying, in transit/connecting, and waiting for hours, we all know it can be exhausting. As the saying goes, 'The worst part about travelling, is travelling,' right? Well, my solution to make the 'travelling' part of travelling easier for myself, is sleep. And, what better way to assist in getting a good sleep than having an awesome pillow!
Using a neck pillow means you don't have to rely on those koala ears headrests on the plane (the ones that fold out, away from the seat, and wrap around the sides of your head). You know how, when you rest your head on the koala ears, your neck and shoulders fall under the koala ears, thereby putting you in an extremely uncomfortable position with a kink in your neck – not ideal. Actually, as I write this, I am realising that, as I'm not a normal-sized person, this is a fairly unique problem for me. I'm guessing normal-sized people probably don't have this problem because they're tall enough so that the koala ears are at the right height for them and, therefore, support their whole head and part of their neck. For me, however, the koala ears are just a smidge too high and, consequently, they only support the upper third of my head, hence I have a tendency to slide right under them when I try to lean against them for support. With my neck pillow, however, I can sleep sitting up, in pretty much any aeroplane seat or airport chair.

Over the years, I've tried three different neck pillows: (1) inflatable, (2) memory foam, and (3) beads.

The inflatable ones are great for saving storage space (I used these for YEARS for this reason), however, they're uncomfortable and, if you're a frequent traveller, they're too fiddly to get it in and out of your bag and to inflate and deflate them.

As for memory foam, I have an aversion to that stuff altogether. Yes, it moulds to your body but that's the whole problem – it doesn't provide any support whatsoever; it just squishes under the weight of your body and doesn't push back – there's no resistance, which is what provides any hope of actual neck support. Meh. Not for me.


The perfect neck pillow.  Photo courtesy of DQ & Co.
In my opinion, the beads type is the best. The tiny beads move around inside the pillow's fabric in accordance with your neck/head placement but it doesn't collapse completely like the memory foam does – it actually supports your head and neck. Unlike the inflatable one, you don't have to fiddle around with inflating or deflating it. In conclusion, the beads type provides you with good support for your neck and head and allows you to have dreamy dreams as you fly away high above the clouds!

I bought my neck pillow at Auckland International Airport and it's made by a company called DQ & Co. It has a little stretchy tab at the top with a strong button, allowing you to attach it around a strap on your luggage when you're not using it – very handy. You can buy bead-filled neck pillows at most airports (mainly in western countries).

 
Travel bottle set.

2. Travel bottles for cabin luggage

Plastics companies have probably made a killing since the rules for the volume of liquids in your carry-on luggage was restricted to not more than 100 millilitres. In a way, I love it too – travel sized stuff is just so awesome!
It took me years to find the perfect travel bottles (sadly, this is true). After buying and testing loads of different travel bottles, I realised that, until a few years ago, none of them seemed to possess all of the qualities that I wanted in my travel bottles. I learned that I wanted bottles that are: (1) squeezable, (2) non-leaking, and (3) holds more than a measly 30mL.

There are loads of cute little travel bottle sets that come with their own see-through toiletry bag. However, the main problem with those is, the bottles are not squeezable. It's bad enough trying to get the last 100mL of your shampoo or moisturiser out of a regular sized bottle, let alone a teeny tiny little travel bottle that only holds significantly less than 100mL! In theory, the travel bottle sets are great – very convenient and space saving. However, the bottles in those sets are always made with a hard plastic, thereby rendering them non-squeezable. This is completely useless when you need to be able to squeeze your moisturiser or shampoo or conditioner out of them, right? Well, I certainly think so. So, yes, squeezable travel bottles are essential!

Now, how many times have I arrived at my destination, slightly jetlagged, and I open my toiletry bag (to freshen up after a long journey), only to find that a bottle full of sudsy or moisturising liquid has leaked all through my toiletry bag or, worse, if it's loose inside my check-in luggage, it has leaked all through my bag and all over my clothes! Ugh, so annoying! And, nobody wants to spend the first part of their trip cleaning their bag and clothes! I like to think I've learned a few lessons after all the trips I've been on and, consequently, now I keep any loose toiletry bottles wrapped up in plastic bags for my check-in luggage. For my carry-on luggage, I make sure I only use leak-proof travel bottles – this saves a lot of time trying to clean up a mess of liquids in your bag!

Another problem I've come across with many travel bottles is that they hardly hold anything. Many travel bottles only hold about 30mL. Personally, I don't see the point in only holding 30mL when your limit is 100mL. Okay, if you're only going away for a long weekend, then 30mL is fine. However, if I'm going somewhere for more than three weeks, I'm going to need more than 30mL! There are quite a few which hold about 50mL but I prefer the 88mL bottles, especially for long trips.


GoToob travel bottles: squeezable, leak-proof, large capacity.
As mentioned in a previous blog, I've managed to find the perfect travel bottles by GoToob. Again, these are available at most international western airports.



So many carry-on luggage options!

3. Soft carry-on bag with wheels

Yes, a soft carry-on wheelie bag. Not a hard shell carry-on wheelie bag but a soft fabric carry-on wheelie bag. I used to always use hard shell carry-on wheelie bags. However, I discovered that I preferred the fabric carry-on wheelie bag because, (1) they're easier to squish into the small overhead storage if it's already jam packed by the time you get to your seat, or it's a small aeroplane with small overhead storage lockers, (2) you can rest your head on them comfortably if you want to lie down to take a kip in the airport, and (3) their carry handles are more versatile. As for having wheels, they're essential if you're planning on doing any duty free shopping!

In my experience, it's not uncommon to have ended up sitting on the aeroplane near the people who have somehow managed to get 50 carry-on sized bags with them and, consequently, they've left you with almost no room for your single carry-on bag. If you have a soft shell carry-on bag, however, you can easily squeeze your bag in between the bags of the people who've hogged all the overhead storage with their 100 carry-on bags. Now, could you do this with a hard case carry-on bag? Definitely not!

Believe it or not but I've actually tried to use my hard shell carry-on bag as a pillow before (I know, how desperate was I! FYI, it's not recommended.) With your soft shell carry-on bag, you can arrange it so that your in-flight jumper, cardigan or jacket is sitting in the top of the bag so that you've got some extra cushioning for your sleepy head when you use your bag as a pillow while in transit. For extra comfort, I also put my neck pillow on top of my carry-on bag.

Unlike most hard case carry-on bags, my carry-on bag comes with three different strap options, (1) a long removable shoulder strap, (2) two side straps that can be strapped/hook and loop fastened (Velcro) together over the top of the bag, and (3) a small handle on the end of the bag, which sits at the top when you're using the wheels/trolley handle. Personally, I've removed the shoulder strap from my bag because the long, wide strap makes the bag swing around too much for my liking – I think that's got something to do with me not being big enough for it to sit properly. The side handles and the end handle, however, I use them all the time. I always pick up my bag with either the side handles or the end handle and often I hook the side handles together over my forearm so that the bag sits in the crook of my elbow, so that I can carry it just like a handbag – perfect!

Because I love the convenience of a trolley-style (on wheels) travel bag, the wheels on my soft case cabin bag are brilliant for when I have to traipse from one end of a massive international airport (think, Heathrow, KLIA, Dubai) to the other end – a good way to help save your energy for when you reach your destination!


Soft shell, carry-on, wheelie bag.
I bought my soft shell carry-on wheelie bag from Strandbags in New Zealand (also in Australia). Again, most western international airports will have a whole plethora of soft shell carry-on wheelie bags to choose from.


So there you have it – my three essential air travel accessories. Actually, to be honest, I take all three of these items with me on ground travel trips too!


What are your favourite air travel accessories? Leave a comment and let me know what your favourite accessories are and I'll see if I can give them a go too!


The Photographer (T-Rex Photography) in action at Twilight Beach, Esperance, Western Australia.
For some epic astrophotography, and landscape and travel photography, check out The Photographer's masterpieces on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Sunday 17 May 2015

Six Weeks Until Our Australian Road Trip



Camps Australia Wide 8th Edition

Camps Australia Wide 8th Edition (Camps 8)

We just bought the latest edition (Camps 8) Camps Australia Wide book – the ultimate guide for budget and freedom campers in Australia. I am ridiculously excited! So many things to do and amazing places to see!


Camps Australia Wide is not on Twitter

One thing I noticed, however, is that Camps Australia Wide is not on Twitter. To me, this is quite surprising, considering the huge travellers' community on Twitter. Imagine how much potential exposure Camps Australia Wide could get if they had an active and interactive Twitter account?
Squeezable, non-leaking travel bottles, under 100mL

Travel-friendly bottles for liquids

We first saw the Camps Australia Wide book in our local Esperance Camping World & Workwear shop. I love that shop – I have an addiction to travel and camping things, for example, those squeezable travel bottles for liquids. We've done a fair bit of flying around the world (in 2013 alone, I did over 30 flights and The Photographer did over 45!) and I'm obsessed with having the perfect travel bottles for liquids of less than 100 millilitres (for aeroplane carry-on luggage). Do you know how hard it was to find good quality, squeezable bottles that, (a) hold less than 100mL but, (b) hold more than a measly 40mL, and (c) are squeezable (because what's the point of non-squeezable plane-friendly travel bottles? How am I meant to get my moisturiser out if I can't squeeze the bottle to get it out?), and (d) which don't leak? A couple of years ago, I found it very difficult to find good ones until I noticed these squeezable travel bottles in airports, thanks to GoToob – absolutely genius!


Camps 8

So, getting back to camping, rather than flying, Camps 8 is literally the ultimate guide for finding cheap or free camping sites all around Australia. It's perfect for budget-conscious backpackers and people with fully self-contained recreational vehicles (RVs).


Part of the legend in Canps 8
How to read each site listing in Camps 8 
Camps 8 has a brilliantly comprehensive and easy-to-understand key, a few of which are shown in the photo above. We think one of the most useful ones for us will be the 'Fees applicable' and 'Fees above specified limit' and, every few days, 'Showers'! Yes, we are expecting to go every few days without showers – it's just what you do when you're camping around Australia without an RV.

A page from the Western Australia section of Camps 8

'Fees applicable'

This is particularly useful for us because we want to spend as little as possible on accommodation/campsites so that we can have more to spend on activities along the way. As you can see in the picture above of a typical page in Camps 8, it's easy to see which sites have a fee and which ones don't. Not only that but where there's a 'Fees applicable' symbol ($), you can be almost sure that those camping grounds will be $24 or less per person to stay there (because fees are subject to change without notice, you may want to call ahead to check what the current fees are). I think The Photographer and I will be looking mainly for the listings that are free from any 'Fees applicable' symbols in order to get the most out of our camping budget.


'Fees above specified limit'

We will be looking out for this symbol ($+), particularly when we're looking for sites that have showering facilities. We are expecting that, if a site has hot shower facilities, there's likely to be a higher cost attached to it.


'Showers'

This could be a tricky one if you specifically want a hot shower. You may have to call them in advance to check or, if the campsite you're interested in is listed on TripAdvisor, you could find out, either in the description or in the reviews, as to whether their showers are hot or cold.


Australia is massive

There are so many places we want to visit on our trip and we're worried we may not have enough time – Australia is huge. Ideally, we'd be aiming for a whole year driving around Australia but unfortunately for us, that's not currently a realistic expectation, so we're hoping to get up to six months instead.
It's over 450 kilometres from Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock)

It's a similar distance from Manchester to Brighton in the UK
An example of Australia's massiveness is the misconception that Alice Springs is 'close' to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and, therefore, people tend to stay in Alice Springs, thinking it'll just be a hop, skip and jump to visit Uluru. Not quite – Alice Springs is 463 kilometres away from Uluru (on fully sealed roads). In the UK, this is similar to the distance between Brighton and Manchester.
Photo by http://kimberleymedia.com.au/ (found on Google search)
So, you know those photos of Australian road signs showing distances of hundreds of, if not over a thousand, kilometres? Yeah, they're fairly normal around here. Suffice to say, we'll likely be taking an extra fuel can or two with us to ensure that we don't run out of fuel in the middle of the Outback, nowhere near a petrol station.

It's going to be a big road trip but it's also going to be the best way to see this vast country – the countryside in between all the towns and major tourist attractions is just as breathtaking.

Where to go?

Our plan is to visit as many places around Australia as possible, plus, visit all the friends and family we have living around Australia. Two places that I'm particularly looking forward are, The Pinnacles in Western Australia and Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory.



Have you taken a camping road trip around Australia before? We're open to suggestions! 



If you would like The Photographer to capture some stunning photos of your Australian town, let us know via Facebook or Twitter:

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Wednesday 13 May 2015

Mother's Day – Going Bush


Beautiful centuries-old salmon gum trees. © T-Rex Photography
Today is Mother's Day (5 March 2015). To celebrate both Mother's Day and the end of Seeding 2015, we've been invited by Our Aussie Family (a lovely family of farmers, located 120 kilometres north-west of Esperance, Western Australia) to drive an hour north of Our Aussie Family 3's farm for a barbecue picnic in the middle of the Australian bush.

We're meant to be meeting Our Aussie Family at 10:00am in a gravel pit (yes, you read that correctly) somewhere near Our Aussie Family 3's farm, for morning tea with Aussie Mum 3, who is heading back to Perth that day (and, therefore, cannot join us for the barbecue), before we head onwards for a barbecue in the bush.

This weekend, The Photographer and I, spent the weekend in the little studio/bedsit flat that we rent in Esperance. It takes me an hour and 20 minutes to drive to the farm in little red Larry the Lancer – that's about 20 minutes longer than everyone else who drives a ute and takes the shorter route via more gravel roads than the route that I take. In order to get to the gravel pit on time, I've worked out that I will have to get up at approximately 7:00am.

Now, I don't know about you but, I'm not a morning person, even at the best of times.

7:10am or thereabouts, The Photographer's alarm goes off. I try to keep sleeping. The Photographer checks is phone then rolls over and kisses me good morning (always checks his social media and football results first). As I've not been able to sleep in, I'm tired, which means I'm grumpy. I think The Photographer is slowly learning that being around me when I've not had enough sleep is not much fun really – I get a little grumpy and short tempered, and a bit snappy.

So anyway, I'm finally up and ready to go at 7:40am and as I'm trying to get going, The Photographer decides he wants to load all his farm groceries into the back of Larry, just because Larry is right outside the house and The Photographer's ute is a 30 second walk away from the house in a communal parking space at the end of the block of flats that we live in – too far for him to carry his groceries apparently. But, because I'm determined not to be late getting to the farm to drop off Larry, before we head off to the barbecue – because it takes me way longer than him to drive to the farm – I tell him No, demand a good-bye kiss, and drive off. Poor Photographer. I am a bit short with him sometimes. I really should work on that.
Endless beauty driving out to the farm.
The drive out to the farm is beautiful. There's a whole lot of nothingness but it's absolutely beautiful. Long roads, miles of vast fields, grazing cattle and sheep, and occasionally there are horses in the fields closest to the highway. If you look carefully, sometimes you can see kangaroos grazing with the livestock – it beats seeing a kangaroo hopping in front of you on the road (poor little Larry wouldn't stand a chance; he'd be a complete write-off). Today is a lovely time of the year because there's lots of greenery around, rather than the dry fields in summer. I love driving out to the farm in the daytime; it is just so picturesque.

About 10 kilometres away from the farm, I see up ahead, a vehicle cross the last intersection (there are only three intersections to the farm once I'm on the South-Coast Highway) before the farm. Turns out it's The Photographer. I don't know when he left the town house but after only seeing less than half a dozen or so other vehicles in those 120 kilometres to the farm, the likelihood of seeing The Photographer at the last intersection before reaching the farm, is bloody slim. Suffice to say, even though I left before him, he still got there before me. I wish I had a ute.
Emus on the farm.
On arrival at the farm, Our Aussie Family 3 is still sorting out Dino for our trip out to the bush. Dino is a big Toyota Land Cruiser, top of the line when it was new – over 30 years ago. These days, however, old Dino is the farm's cruddy old ute that gets used about twice a year. Aussie Dad 1 is vacuuming Dino and trying to make him all spic 'n' span for our trip out to the bush.

About an hour or so later, after we've packed all our bush gear into the back of Dino – including The Photographer's camera Goodie Bag and tripod – at 10:30 (which, of course, is the time we're meant to be AT the gravel pit), we set off on our journey, with the Seeding 2015 Casual Kiwi guy pointing out to us all that Dino smells like dead mice. Down go the windows.
On arrival at the gravel pit, I notice that it really is a gravel pit – there's gravel in a pit and everyone is parked around the edges of the pit and set up camping chairs (all West Australians have camping chairs – fact) and having coffee in the middle of the pit, where the gravel has pretty much compacted into a fairly stable surface. We are late (obviously). After a quick coffee and the rest of our crew laughing at our old utes (because everyone else has brought their regular good utes), Aussie Mum 3 heads off to Perth and the rest of us head off for our barbecue in the bush.

Turns out, this is the sandiest, bushiest, bumpiest and roughest terrain I will probably ever cross in my life and it's in the back of a 30-year-old Toyota Land Cruiser that smells like dead mice, with the windows down and dust swooshing inside the ute as our 'air conditioning' and an excellent mix between the two-way conversation of our six-ute-strong convoy, an Australian country music CD (I can't remember the name of the singer) and general conversation amongst the passengers bobbling about inside the 30-year-old Land Cruiser, as the entertainment for our one hour off-road drive… to have a barbecue in the middle of nowhere. We've got a great day ahead of us.

After driving around fallen trees and dodging the trees still standing, we get to our chosen destination. My uneducated guess is that we're about a kilometre away from one of the many salt lakes that Australia is known for, which we can see in the distance. The rollercoaster ride seemed to have tightened the belt across the bladder somewhat, so The Boss's Wife and I head off in opposite directions, bog roll in hand, to nature's loo.
The utes all lined up. © T-Rex Photography
Back at the barbecue site, three camp fires have already been lit for the hot plates, the camping chairs are out again and the picnic table is covered in deliciousness to go with the barbecue. No sign of The Photographer.
Chasing the shadow of the tree. © T-Rex Photography
Lunch/afternoon tea/dinner is a delicious rolling feast of barbecued Australian meat with homemade salads and desserts. Unlike last year's end of seeding gathering (cold, raining, bees nest, dropped cake filled with smashed glass plate that it had been sitting on, windy), it was a lovely sunny warm day and, consequently, we all got up periodically and moved our chairs around a nearby tree, following its shadow.
Surrounded by beautiful salmon gum trees. © T-Rex Photography

Our surroundings were beautiful – peaceful, off-road, miles away from anywhere, surrounded by beautiful centuries-old salmon gum trees and the occasional sighting of majestic birds of prey high in the sky or in the trees. Suffice to say, given our surroundings, I noticed several times during the afternoon that The Photographer was missing. I think I must be getting used to his disappearances because I didn't panic and worry so much about him today whenever we disappeared to take photos. I guess, seeing as we were in the middle of nowhere, he wouldn't go far and there's nothing out there to get him… except maybe a few brown snakes! Well, no, I think all the snakes are mostly 'asleep' – as I like to call it – at this time of year. Although, having lived in Western Australia for some time, I have learned that snakes don't actually hibernate like bears. They just sleep a lot and become less active during cold weather – it's called "torpor". This also means that, because it was a sunny autumn day, in my mind, there was a good chance that a snake or two would be out sunning itself, especially in the bush where we were!
Packing up in the fading autumn sun. © T-Rex Photography
As the sun was getting low, The Photographer set off to try and get some more epic photographs. By this stage, however, it was getting late and old Dino doesn't have any headlights. Much to The Photographer's disappointment, this meant that we had to leave during daylight and before sunset, which of course, is when you get awesome colours and lighting for landscape photography.

I felt disappointed for him but I wasn't too worried either because I knew he would've got lots of awesome photographs that day anyway (he always does, regardless of the weather or colour of the sky). Plus, it means we get to go there again another time to watch the sunset together. Well, if I can bear another trip out across the roughest terrain ever to get there!
Nevertheless, The Photographer has confirmed that he intends head out there again so that he can take more beautiful photos to share with the world soon! Watch this space!

Monday 4 May 2015

I've Lost My Marbles

Polar Bear (Ragdoll)

Marbles (Ragdoll x Siamese)

So, I haven't actually lost my marbles -- I've just named my blog after my cats, 'Marbles' and 'Polar Bear'.  This is why my fiancé has apparently banned me from naming our dog when we eventually get one.  We'll see about that.


Naming our future anticipated dog (which we've agreed is probably going to be a beagle) is a topic that my fiancé and I completely disagree on.

Personally, I prefer to have pet names for my pets rather than people names for my pets.  Aside from the fact that my cats are called Marbles and Polar Bear, the first time we discovered that we have extremely opposite opinions/preferences on pet names is when he showed me a picture (below) of a Tibetan Mastiff dog...



... and asked me what I would name it.  My immediate answer, without a split second of hesitation, was 'Bumble Bee'.  Yes, Bumble Bee.

Okay, so, maybe I had lost my marbles by that stage.

However, I'd much prefer to name my pets Bumble Bee, Marbles or Polar Bear, as opposed to such names as, Jeff, Barry or Keith (being examples of my fiancé's choices) because, at least, with names like Bumble Bee, Marbles and Polar Bear, you know when you say their names in conversation or calling them, you're definitely referring to pets and not people and thus avoiding any chance of confusion.  Unlike my fiancé's choices as follows:


Keith - I have an Uncle Keith
Jeff - I have a family friend named Jeff
Barry - I have another relative (somehow he's related to me) named Barry

Admittedly, I barely ever see Jeff or Barry.  However, my Uncle Keith (one of my late mother's brothers), has a fairly significant presence in my life, despite the fact that we live in different countries at the moment.  I would honestly be very embarrassed to have to admit to my Uncle Keith that I named a dog after him.  I know, the dog wouldn't be named after him, but it would still bear his name!  Oh, the embarrassment!  But, also, what if we're talking about, for example, how Keith (our dog) shat in the middle of the lawn the other day then rubbed his own nose in it, and my Uncle Keith, or another relative who also knows my Uncle Keith, happens to hear the conversation and thinks we're talking about Uncle Keith?!  Again, the embarrassment to have to explain!


Also, I find using people names for pets is just plain old boring!  Some friends of my called their cat 'Turtle' because she has tortoiseshell colouring.  And, as you can imagine, I totally agree with their choice of name -- it's awesome!


As a child, I used to love stuffed animals, rather than dolls.  All my stuffed animals had a name and none of them were people names.  Even when I was 18 years old, I was going through a major tragedy in my life and, as a sympathy thing, a friend gave me a big blue stuffed dog with purple triangle patches on it.  True to my love of stuff animal friends, I felt compelled to name him immediately.  It only took a few seconds of looking at him and the name 'Trumpet' came to mind.  And, that was that -- I had a new stuffed dog called Trumpet.

Admittedly, when I named my ragdoll cat 'Polar Bear', I wasn't actually the one who gave him that name.  When I went to choose a kitten from the litter at the breeder's house (yes, I'm one of those awful people who paid a breeder instead of rescuing one from a shelter -- so, shoot me), I'd been playing with him for a little while.  Then, as I was leaving, the breeder's young children went to go play with him and started calling him.  I couldn't quite hear what they were calling him so I asked them what they were calling him.  Their reply was, 'Polar Bear'.  For the few weeks between meeting Polar Bear and picking him up when he was ready to leave his mum, I couldn't think of anything better to name him -- it suited him so well!  And, that's exactly the kind of name I'd choose, so, it was perfect!  He really did look like a little polar bear cub with a fluffy tail and pointy ears -- so cute!

There are of course some other fairly common pet names, which don't leave anything to the imagination.  For example, Fluffy, White Socks, Snowy, Tripod, et cetera.  Not my cup of tea, to be honest.

So, back to naming our future pet dog.  How on earth will we be able to agree on a name?  Perhaps, when we finally get to meet our new dog for the first time, my fiancé will ask me that same question, 'What would you call him/her?', see what my loopy mind comes up with on the spot, then we'll take it from there.  This could potentially lead to us having an unnamed dog for a few days or weeks until one of us folds.  However, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it :)


What names do you give your pets?  I'd be curious to know what other people call their pets.  Which do you prefer:  my preferred 'pet' names or my fiancé's preferred 'people' names?