How long will these be clean!

Got myself some new trailrunners, after my old pair were "taken" away from me. I had an old pair of Salomon Comp 2 before and they fit me awesome. But I did take them to hell and back. Eventually the indestructible laces frayed and I went to replace them under warranty.
But to cut a long story short, they threw them away and gave me my money back, alas they don't make them here in oz no more. So I have been racing with normal runners and boy can you feel the difference. Heavy, no grip, harder to clean, and laces come off.

But new story with these new babies!! my Salomon XA Pro 3d. Take a good look at these cause they are brand new now and all clean and colourful.But by this time next week after the race on weekend, don't expect it to be even close to that. I wonder how long they will last before they turn dark and disgusting. Been wearing them in for this weekend and they are so comfy. Forgotten how good these laces were and how i missed them. Last Summer Series run had to stop twice to tie my shoelaces. Not anymore baby.

How to get from Niseko, Japan to Kauai, Hawaii USA in the shortest time, NOT!

Started the day before In Niseko Japan at 8:30am woke up to a nice day. It was snowing lightly, and the place was full of activity as everyone got ready for riding. As for me, I was busy packing and saying my last goodbyes to friends. Next stop was Hawaii, but before that a monster transit. The following is a breakdown of how I got to Kauai.

1) “Start clock now. 10:30am!” Shizenkan, Niseko – Lift to Main Bus Terminal to transfer to Chitose Airport.
2) Catch the 10:40am bus from Niseko to Chitose Airport arriving at 1:00pm (stop off at Mushroom world for 15 minutes) [Elapsed travelling time 2hrs 30 mins]
3) Get on Flight to Osaka at 2:30pm arriving in Osaka at 4:00pm. [Elapsed travelling time 5hrs 30 mins]
4) Caught the bus to Renki Premium Outlet Centre to shop for a few hours and grab some food. Back on the bus at 8:00pm to head back to Airport. Chilled out and walked around a bit more. [Elapsed travelling time 9hrs 30 mins]
5) On the 9:45pm flight back to Sydney Via Brisbane. [Elapsed travelling time 11 hrs 15 mins]
6) Arrive In Brisbane 9:45am Local Time. Sat around in the airport terminal waiting for them to clean, plane delayed for about 30 minutes. Plane ready to leave at 10:30am, and off to Sydney. [Elapsed travelling time 22hrs]
7) Arrive in Sydney at 12:10pm. Grab my snowboard bag which came out very efficiently for Sydney standards, now I had to transition and meet up with Shenton who kindly offered to take my bags home. Had a brief lunch with him and then back to the Airport waiting for Check In to open at 3:00pm. Once Check in Opened and we got the security issues through I was off to the Qantas Lounge (big thanks to Shenton again) to shower and relax for a while. Waited in the lounge area for Luke & Tsalina to arrive so we could get on our plane which was scheduled to take off at 6:00pm. [Elapsed travelling time 29hrs 30 mins]

8) Arrived in Honolulu at 6:50am Local time. We quickly raced off to get our bags and then we had to rush off to get our next flight which was to take us to the island of Kauai arriving at 9:40am. [Elapsed travelling time 40 hrs 10 mins]

So after close to 40 Hours of travelling I have now reached the beautiful island of Kauai and time to relax. YES?? NO its time for action!! WOOHOO!

Just a distant memory now.

I've just returned from a great Powder Junky Tour of Japan and then some thawing out in Hawaii. What an awesome holiday. But it all ways moves so fast. Everything is fading away. Like a distant memory now. But I can still recall some of the great moments.

Had some awesome powder days in Japan, awesome partying, then in Hawaii it was like a huge adventure. From rushing around to catch a plane, to gently hiking the Napali coast, Sleeping in the car to Sleeping in a Mansion, swimming with fishes to swimming with Turtles. It was great time there in Hawaii and Japan.

In both countries it seems everything is totally different yet great experiences. Japan is organised and clean, US is disorganised and slightly dirty. Japan is cold and snowing, US is hot and raining. Both are beautiful and must be experienced again.

So i better get off my ass and update my travel blog of Hawaii. Stay tuned for that.