So another day over in the big apple. The more time I spend here the more I like it, it's a shame we're leaving tomorrow but oh well. This morning, got on a boat and floated around the harbour and saw ellis island (statue of liberty) and the statue is really nice, but a lot smaller than it looks. Then we went to the former WTC site, which is, a construction site for the horrible "freedom" tower, it was, odd, to be there. Didn't really expect to feel anything, but what I did feel was quite unusual and unexpected.. It should just be a monument, but I guess real estate is just far too expensive to "waste" it on something like that.
We got on the subway and went to the Ed Sullivan theatre to get our (free, they just give them out on the street) tickets to the Late Show, and thankful to Alice's joyous manner, they thought we showed enthusiasm, so they put us in the front row, and on the show was an impressionist and Kirsten Dunst! Because Spider Man 3 comes out this friday here (the world premier was tonight, here in NYC) it was about that. She is ridiciously skinny, kinda gross, but it was a great experience and something I hope to remember forever (like most things this trip!)
We went to dinner and then * hang on, I just remembered, yesterday I had chocolate and peanut butter (sorry my diabetes) ice cream and it was the best icecream I have ever had * anyway, dinner, then walked around and went back to Macy*s. It's large and I got Alice to try on some clothes to my tastes and didn't get anything, and came back home. Fun day.
-Andrew
Highlight of the day today was the Letterman show for me. We saw Kirsten Dunst and some random illusionist guy. Letterman is smaller than you think and not as funny as you would think. Did a cruise around the statue, very impressive.
We'll be sad to leave the big apple, have really liked it here. Onwards and upwards and all that. Scary to think of going to Europe next all on our wee own selves.
-Alice
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
New York New York
Before I start could someone please inform me of who won the world cup???!!!!!!!!!!
Here we are in NYC, love this place. Have walked so far over 200 blocks. Spent some time in Central Park, up the Rockafella center, Times Sq and the 'garment' district. So huge and so many people. Going to be an audience for David Letterman tomorrow and then to see the phantom.
And the big news is...... Andrew bought a tie!! Can you imagine it! I love it
-Alice
Well we dropped off the car and had driven ~2000 miles since Saturday. Including LA I've driven about ~3000 miles on the wrong side of the road now. It now feels normal to drive there, weird..
Now we're in Manhatten, NYC and I love it. You know how when you talk to people about New York and they say "It's not that big", well, it's huge. There are so many people and shops and things to do, and the buildings are large and everyone dresses nicer than me and it has a real unique feeling, I think it's because this city has everything in it and people's entire lives are conducted in a large metropolitan city. It's hard to explain. And I think the bright lights give Vegas a run for their money, not strickly in size, but in taste. And we went to the world's largest department store today, Macy's NY, which was pretty big, as you'd imagine. The view from the Rockefeller centre was amazing, got to look at the Empire State Building and everything else. Tomorrow we're off to visit other places and go in the Audience for the Late Show. Love it here!
-Andrew
Here we are in NYC, love this place. Have walked so far over 200 blocks. Spent some time in Central Park, up the Rockafella center, Times Sq and the 'garment' district. So huge and so many people. Going to be an audience for David Letterman tomorrow and then to see the phantom.
And the big news is...... Andrew bought a tie!! Can you imagine it! I love it
-Alice
Well we dropped off the car and had driven ~2000 miles since Saturday. Including LA I've driven about ~3000 miles on the wrong side of the road now. It now feels normal to drive there, weird..
Now we're in Manhatten, NYC and I love it. You know how when you talk to people about New York and they say "It's not that big", well, it's huge. There are so many people and shops and things to do, and the buildings are large and everyone dresses nicer than me and it has a real unique feeling, I think it's because this city has everything in it and people's entire lives are conducted in a large metropolitan city. It's hard to explain. And I think the bright lights give Vegas a run for their money, not strickly in size, but in taste. And we went to the world's largest department store today, Macy's NY, which was pretty big, as you'd imagine. The view from the Rockefeller centre was amazing, got to look at the Empire State Building and everything else. Tomorrow we're off to visit other places and go in the Audience for the Late Show. Love it here!
-Andrew
Friday, April 27, 2007
End of the Road Trip
Once again you'll get two posts about the same events, redundancy and all.
After we left the Chatanooga library we got on the road. The interstates are pretty good really, real fast and always enough lanes so it moves at the speed limit. We drove until we got to the turn off to go to the JD Distillery, and once we were off the interstate the speed slowed down and we got a real taste of what backcountry redneck America looks like. "kill all gays" inscribed into public toilets says a lot I think, but the people are generally nice, they wave at ya from the street even though they don't know who we are.
The Distillery was amazing. I have a new found respect for JD now, and really respect the Tennessee Whiskey, and it fully contends with Bourbon. I had always thought that the JD Single Barrel was the smoothest whiskey I had tasted, and now seeing how it gets made, well, it was a golden experience. I was impressed with how close you got to everything (standing over the fermentation vats, I could have spit in it if I felt the need) and where they burn the wood to make the charcoal and also a bottling plant. Man they make a lot of whiskey though. It's quite hard to fathom just how much they have in stock considering it has to be aged for at least 5 years, and so you have to have enough barrel houses to hold 5 years of stock at any one time.
We finished that evening by rolling in Nashville, and we went to a mall! How authentic. We looked around the stores and some people tried to sell us a time-share and then we went to the "Rain Forest" cafe which is like a themed restaurant. Nice enough. We toured the main street and it was full of country music funnily enough. We found another rest stop and slept.
Next day we got up and intended to go to these mountain ranges, and on the way got a log cabin. The place was mint, and I loved every second there, and I made pancakes with sugar-free syrup which was enjoyable! If I ever get another chance to upload some photos you'll get a chance to see it!
We got back on the road and drove into Virginia, and the scenery changes again. The scenery around America is really nice, quite different to NZ and quite a lot like you see in TV, saw a few farms with white wooden post fences. The scenery doesn't change as often either, but that's more or less expected.
Stopped somewhere random, close to DC, which we then drove into in the morning. What a mission! The traffic was horrible and the signposting even worse and no parking. We basically played car tourist that day, and didn't even see that much! We did go to the Arlington cemetary, a massive military cemetary (all the little white uniform tombstones) and that was kind of interesting. We drove to Baltimore and stumbled across a baseball game which was cool, Orilose vs Red Sox, we got a hot dog but not peanuts and enjoyed American Sports atmosphere. It felt a lot more civilised that going to a rugby game back at home.
Next day (today) we got up early and tried to get to DC early but it actually took us 2 hours to get 30 miles and park. We walked so much and so a whole bunch of thing. The big Lincoln Memorial with him sitting on a seat is really big in real life, and then you turn around and see the reflecting pool reflecting the Washington (maybe?) monument and it's really impressive. The reflecting pool was in Forrest Gump when he does the unintended speech in his Army Uniform and Jenny runs into the pool to come to him? Remember that? Well, I was there. The Natural History museum was AMAZING and I saw some cool rocks and some dinosaurs and a whole bunch of awesome things which aren't really all that interesting to talk about but were interesting to look at.
Now we're close to Dulles Airport just outside of DC in Virginia, having a night NOT sleeping in the van, about to fly to New York (thanks lastminute.com, you were cheaper to fly than to train, no wonder no one trains) for a few days then to visit the Scott of Jeremy in London.
After we left the Chatanooga library we got on the road. The interstates are pretty good really, real fast and always enough lanes so it moves at the speed limit. We drove until we got to the turn off to go to the JD Distillery, and once we were off the interstate the speed slowed down and we got a real taste of what backcountry redneck America looks like. "kill all gays" inscribed into public toilets says a lot I think, but the people are generally nice, they wave at ya from the street even though they don't know who we are.
The Distillery was amazing. I have a new found respect for JD now, and really respect the Tennessee Whiskey, and it fully contends with Bourbon. I had always thought that the JD Single Barrel was the smoothest whiskey I had tasted, and now seeing how it gets made, well, it was a golden experience. I was impressed with how close you got to everything (standing over the fermentation vats, I could have spit in it if I felt the need) and where they burn the wood to make the charcoal and also a bottling plant. Man they make a lot of whiskey though. It's quite hard to fathom just how much they have in stock considering it has to be aged for at least 5 years, and so you have to have enough barrel houses to hold 5 years of stock at any one time.
We finished that evening by rolling in Nashville, and we went to a mall! How authentic. We looked around the stores and some people tried to sell us a time-share and then we went to the "Rain Forest" cafe which is like a themed restaurant. Nice enough. We toured the main street and it was full of country music funnily enough. We found another rest stop and slept.
Next day we got up and intended to go to these mountain ranges, and on the way got a log cabin. The place was mint, and I loved every second there, and I made pancakes with sugar-free syrup which was enjoyable! If I ever get another chance to upload some photos you'll get a chance to see it!
We got back on the road and drove into Virginia, and the scenery changes again. The scenery around America is really nice, quite different to NZ and quite a lot like you see in TV, saw a few farms with white wooden post fences. The scenery doesn't change as often either, but that's more or less expected.
Stopped somewhere random, close to DC, which we then drove into in the morning. What a mission! The traffic was horrible and the signposting even worse and no parking. We basically played car tourist that day, and didn't even see that much! We did go to the Arlington cemetary, a massive military cemetary (all the little white uniform tombstones) and that was kind of interesting. We drove to Baltimore and stumbled across a baseball game which was cool, Orilose vs Red Sox, we got a hot dog but not peanuts and enjoyed American Sports atmosphere. It felt a lot more civilised that going to a rugby game back at home.
Next day (today) we got up early and tried to get to DC early but it actually took us 2 hours to get 30 miles and park. We walked so much and so a whole bunch of thing. The big Lincoln Memorial with him sitting on a seat is really big in real life, and then you turn around and see the reflecting pool reflecting the Washington (maybe?) monument and it's really impressive. The reflecting pool was in Forrest Gump when he does the unintended speech in his Army Uniform and Jenny runs into the pool to come to him? Remember that? Well, I was there. The Natural History museum was AMAZING and I saw some cool rocks and some dinosaurs and a whole bunch of awesome things which aren't really all that interesting to talk about but were interesting to look at.
Now we're close to Dulles Airport just outside of DC in Virginia, having a night NOT sleeping in the van, about to fly to New York (thanks lastminute.com, you were cheaper to fly than to train, no wonder no one trains) for a few days then to visit the Scott of Jeremy in London.
Tennesse and onwards
Hey everyone
Feels like we are just getting into the real traveling thing now we are about to get rid of the car. My legs are feeling it after a day walking round DC. The road up here was interesting. Stopped at the Jack Daniels distillery (did I already tell you about that?) anyways, great place, sooo interesting. They let you see all the corn mash and the coals they filter the whiskey through.
After that we headed up to the smokey mountians for a wee bit of a break along the way. We shouted ourselves to a night in a log cabin in the mountains. We loved it there, our cabin had a loft and a basement, a heart shaped spa bath and a hot tub on the deck overlooking the mountains. Andrew made me a proper dinner with lots of vegges (yum) and pancakes for breakfast in the morning. Very nice experience!! The next day we decided to take life a bit slower and headed onto a road through the woods. We saw wild deer on the side, they were so cute!!
Another night in the van and onto DC. What a freaken mission. I wont go wildly into the details but I would recommend anyone going to DC, dont take a car and please plan your trip. We got stuck in traffic for a couple of hours and when we got to where we wanted it was closed. It turned out ok in the end though. We found ourselves in Baltimore, Maryland and as we got into town saw that there was a baseball game on. We decided to embrace this all American tradition and went along. Primo seats for only $15. We didnt really understand too many of the rules though.
Today we got stuck in traffic again in DC, took us 2 hours to go 20miles (I'm so thankful that Andrew is so much more patient than I am). After a terrible start of not being able to find a park, only finding spanish speaking info people and not having any way to get to NYC the next day the day did get better. We saw the White house, Lincon Memorial, Reflective pool, the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the American Indiain (thanks Marsha for the tip- had lunch there was yummy).
We are flying to NY tomorrow and then onto London to see Jeremy and Sarah!! Can't wait to see you guys!!!
Feels like we are just getting into the real traveling thing now we are about to get rid of the car. My legs are feeling it after a day walking round DC. The road up here was interesting. Stopped at the Jack Daniels distillery (did I already tell you about that?) anyways, great place, sooo interesting. They let you see all the corn mash and the coals they filter the whiskey through.
After that we headed up to the smokey mountians for a wee bit of a break along the way. We shouted ourselves to a night in a log cabin in the mountains. We loved it there, our cabin had a loft and a basement, a heart shaped spa bath and a hot tub on the deck overlooking the mountains. Andrew made me a proper dinner with lots of vegges (yum) and pancakes for breakfast in the morning. Very nice experience!! The next day we decided to take life a bit slower and headed onto a road through the woods. We saw wild deer on the side, they were so cute!!
Another night in the van and onto DC. What a freaken mission. I wont go wildly into the details but I would recommend anyone going to DC, dont take a car and please plan your trip. We got stuck in traffic for a couple of hours and when we got to where we wanted it was closed. It turned out ok in the end though. We found ourselves in Baltimore, Maryland and as we got into town saw that there was a baseball game on. We decided to embrace this all American tradition and went along. Primo seats for only $15. We didnt really understand too many of the rules though.
Today we got stuck in traffic again in DC, took us 2 hours to go 20miles (I'm so thankful that Andrew is so much more patient than I am). After a terrible start of not being able to find a park, only finding spanish speaking info people and not having any way to get to NYC the next day the day did get better. We saw the White house, Lincon Memorial, Reflective pool, the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the American Indiain (thanks Marsha for the tip- had lunch there was yummy).
We are flying to NY tomorrow and then onto London to see Jeremy and Sarah!! Can't wait to see you guys!!!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Road Trippin'
For the first time ever, Alice and I have access to more than one computer so instead of putting two posts in one, we're doing it simultaneously, so expect redundancy!
Anyway, right now we're in Chatanooga, Tennessee, and it's quite nice, although we've only just got here.
We left the ship Saturday morning and we walked into the car park with only an idea of driving up. We hopped on a shuttle and after a while of messing about with going backwards and forward trying to get a good deal we finally got a big Dodge Grand Caravan to drive up north in. We got on the road and out of Miami as quickly as possible. We ended up driving out through the slums and they looked far worse than anything I had seen in LA. We drove up and stopped and got some cheap food and then continued and got to Daytona Beach. We weren't really planning on stopping there but it's a cool place. A massive long beach that you can drive on and it's really like going back to the 50's, so much more so than South Beach in Miami, and we went to a mall and shopped! I really liked Daytona, and we saw the race track, which was HUGE. We got back on the road and found a rest area which is basically designed for people to park up and sleep in, and stayed there.
Sunday we woke up, and drove to St Augustine which is the oldest permanent settlement of the country, and visited the oldest house in the country and looked around the "olde tyme stores" but they were quite commericialised (as you probably expect) and everything costs money to go visit here so we didn't go to too much more. Got on the road again and went to a Wal*Mart which was an experience. Not as nice as target but a bit cheaper and generally big and holy crap it would be cheap to furnish your house (albeit, not necessarily nicely) over here. We got some gas and drove onto Atlanta, Georgia, which is one of the nicest looking cities I have ever seen. Either that city is all fancy and tidy and clean or we somehow drove through the entire city only sticking to the rich parts. Anyway it's so nice and we went to the Movies. We drove onto another rest area and made our beds. We have an airbed in the back of this Mini-Van which cost us $10..
We got on the road today and drove here to Chatanooga, and soon found a library in which to internet on, and now we're going to the Jack Daniels distillery, which ironically is in a dry (no alcohol) county, and then up to Nashville, TN, and then who knows.
Got some great news today that Tim Anderson got engaged, congratulations, and I'm quite priviledged to have been able to meet Christine and give her my approval so that Tim could commence with the engagement activities. CONGRATULATION
Keep in touch everybody!
Anyway, right now we're in Chatanooga, Tennessee, and it's quite nice, although we've only just got here.
We left the ship Saturday morning and we walked into the car park with only an idea of driving up. We hopped on a shuttle and after a while of messing about with going backwards and forward trying to get a good deal we finally got a big Dodge Grand Caravan to drive up north in. We got on the road and out of Miami as quickly as possible. We ended up driving out through the slums and they looked far worse than anything I had seen in LA. We drove up and stopped and got some cheap food and then continued and got to Daytona Beach. We weren't really planning on stopping there but it's a cool place. A massive long beach that you can drive on and it's really like going back to the 50's, so much more so than South Beach in Miami, and we went to a mall and shopped! I really liked Daytona, and we saw the race track, which was HUGE. We got back on the road and found a rest area which is basically designed for people to park up and sleep in, and stayed there.
Sunday we woke up, and drove to St Augustine which is the oldest permanent settlement of the country, and visited the oldest house in the country and looked around the "olde tyme stores" but they were quite commericialised (as you probably expect) and everything costs money to go visit here so we didn't go to too much more. Got on the road again and went to a Wal*Mart which was an experience. Not as nice as target but a bit cheaper and generally big and holy crap it would be cheap to furnish your house (albeit, not necessarily nicely) over here. We got some gas and drove onto Atlanta, Georgia, which is one of the nicest looking cities I have ever seen. Either that city is all fancy and tidy and clean or we somehow drove through the entire city only sticking to the rich parts. Anyway it's so nice and we went to the Movies. We drove onto another rest area and made our beds. We have an airbed in the back of this Mini-Van which cost us $10..
We got on the road today and drove here to Chatanooga, and soon found a library in which to internet on, and now we're going to the Jack Daniels distillery, which ironically is in a dry (no alcohol) county, and then up to Nashville, TN, and then who knows.
Got some great news today that Tim Anderson got engaged, congratulations, and I'm quite priviledged to have been able to meet Christine and give her my approval so that Tim could commence with the engagement activities. CONGRATULATION
Keep in touch everybody!
Road Trip USA
Feels like ages since we've been in touch here. We're in Catanooga now (choo choo) but heres the storey so far.....
After Jamacia we had one more day onboard and enjoyed a few last meals of fillet steak, quail and escargo before we reverted back to crackers for breakfast. On the last night at dinner all the waiters (about 40 of them) in the dining room lined up and sang us a goodbye version of Leaving on a Jetplane (they sang leaving on a funship). Our waiter was really nice, Lama from Nepal. He told us that he works from 0530 till 1100 with 3 hours break in the middle, 7 days a week for 7 months! They had a huge show in the Rome Lounge with lots of dancing, better than the one we saw in Vegas I think.
Anyways we didnt do much that day, mostly say around a had a few pina coladas. My wasp sting swelled up the whole side of my body though so we had a wee visit to the ship doctor.
The next day we were up early with the idea to hire a car and drive up north. We managed to jump on a courtesy van to the rental car place and hook ourselves up with a Dodge minivan (almost the same as we had in San Fran with Doug and Becky). We've kitted it out with an airbed and pillows (and some extremely indulgent 800thread count pillowcases) and have spent the last two nights sleeping on the side of the freeways. Its actually pretty good to do that here, they have rest stops with bathrooms and one the first night there was security there to keep us safe also. Stupid Georgia law says that you cant actually sleep at a rest stop but we did anyway. So we drove first up to St Augustine, stopping at Daytona and the space center on the way. (Actually the space center was nearly closed so we just went to the gift shop.) St Augustine was recommended to me by Jason at work and its a really lovely old settlement. We took a tour of a house from the 1500s and had a walk around town and the fort. Yesterday we found ourselves in Atlanta, Georgia. Beautiful city! We kept thinking we were in its Fendalton but everywhere we drove was equally as nice. We decided to do something special and went to see Fracture at the movies (I liked it). Kinda a bad idea to see a scary movie when you are lost in a city and about to sleep illegally in your car. To get over the feeling we stopped in at a truckers stop and I had a big bowl of chilli.
Today we are heading up to Linchburg pop316 and the center for the Jack Daniels distillerly. Interestingly it is in a dry county! Tonight we hope to be in Nashville and might even treat ourselves to a cheap hotel.
Miss you all, Thankyou for your messages!! Nana I hear you are getting internet savy- thats great!! Hope you are enjoying it.
After Jamacia we had one more day onboard and enjoyed a few last meals of fillet steak, quail and escargo before we reverted back to crackers for breakfast. On the last night at dinner all the waiters (about 40 of them) in the dining room lined up and sang us a goodbye version of Leaving on a Jetplane (they sang leaving on a funship). Our waiter was really nice, Lama from Nepal. He told us that he works from 0530 till 1100 with 3 hours break in the middle, 7 days a week for 7 months! They had a huge show in the Rome Lounge with lots of dancing, better than the one we saw in Vegas I think.
Anyways we didnt do much that day, mostly say around a had a few pina coladas. My wasp sting swelled up the whole side of my body though so we had a wee visit to the ship doctor.
The next day we were up early with the idea to hire a car and drive up north. We managed to jump on a courtesy van to the rental car place and hook ourselves up with a Dodge minivan (almost the same as we had in San Fran with Doug and Becky). We've kitted it out with an airbed and pillows (and some extremely indulgent 800thread count pillowcases) and have spent the last two nights sleeping on the side of the freeways. Its actually pretty good to do that here, they have rest stops with bathrooms and one the first night there was security there to keep us safe also. Stupid Georgia law says that you cant actually sleep at a rest stop but we did anyway. So we drove first up to St Augustine, stopping at Daytona and the space center on the way. (Actually the space center was nearly closed so we just went to the gift shop.) St Augustine was recommended to me by Jason at work and its a really lovely old settlement. We took a tour of a house from the 1500s and had a walk around town and the fort. Yesterday we found ourselves in Atlanta, Georgia. Beautiful city! We kept thinking we were in its Fendalton but everywhere we drove was equally as nice. We decided to do something special and went to see Fracture at the movies (I liked it). Kinda a bad idea to see a scary movie when you are lost in a city and about to sleep illegally in your car. To get over the feeling we stopped in at a truckers stop and I had a big bowl of chilli.
Today we are heading up to Linchburg pop316 and the center for the Jack Daniels distillerly. Interestingly it is in a dry county! Tonight we hope to be in Nashville and might even treat ourselves to a cheap hotel.
Miss you all, Thankyou for your messages!! Nana I hear you are getting internet savy- thats great!! Hope you are enjoying it.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Grand Cayman & Jamaica
Well, we're in Jamaica right now and it is hot, but it's really nice. We got off the boat at 8.30 and started to walk to these famous water falls instead of taking a tour and half way there we stumbled onto some other falls which may or may not have been as nice but they weren't full of tourists and we met some rastas and spent most of the morning with them, they're pretty nice people and we got photos and they showed us some cool stuff and we swam in the ocean and sat under some waterfalls, it's seriously like something out of a catalogue, probably one of the more authentic and unique experiences we're going to have this trip!
-Andrew
I really liked Grand Caymen. Its a small British Island and very pretty. We walked along and found a nice place to snorkel and spend most of the morning doing this. They have stringrays you can swim with. I got a bit freaked out after being stung by a Jellyfish though so it took a bit to get back in the water. We had lunch at a resturant on the beach and they looked after our stuff while we went back out into the ocean. It was heaps deeper here, we swam out a bit and found an old shipwreck. I got scared again when we saw sharks (just little ones) so that was the end of snorkelling for the day.
Jamaica is AWESOME! I love it here, the people are so beautiful. We hung out with our new rasta friends Andrew and Rowan for the morning it was fun. They showed us how to break open and almond and coconut shell. Really nice guys. I got stung again here by a massive Jamacain wasp, its 4 hours later and still stings like crazy but they tell me its ok. Rowan got some special leaves to rub on it and then some garlic a bit later (?). We are back on the boat soon heading back to Miami.
-Alice
-Andrew
I really liked Grand Caymen. Its a small British Island and very pretty. We walked along and found a nice place to snorkel and spend most of the morning doing this. They have stringrays you can swim with. I got a bit freaked out after being stung by a Jellyfish though so it took a bit to get back in the water. We had lunch at a resturant on the beach and they looked after our stuff while we went back out into the ocean. It was heaps deeper here, we swam out a bit and found an old shipwreck. I got scared again when we saw sharks (just little ones) so that was the end of snorkelling for the day.
Jamaica is AWESOME! I love it here, the people are so beautiful. We hung out with our new rasta friends Andrew and Rowan for the morning it was fun. They showed us how to break open and almond and coconut shell. Really nice guys. I got stung again here by a massive Jamacain wasp, its 4 hours later and still stings like crazy but they tell me its ok. Rowan got some special leaves to rub on it and then some garlic a bit later (?). We are back on the boat soon heading back to Miami.
-Alice
Monday, April 16, 2007
Mexico and beyond
Today is the first day we can use email without cashing in our savings. We left San Fran sadly last thursday, our flight was delayed and the hotel pickup took an hour so we didnt get in till about 1am, such a shame too cause the hotel we booked was prob the nicest we´ve stayed in yet. Miami was nice, lots of people and ugly old buildings. I could take or leave south beach myself. Cruise started a couple of days ago and we´re loving it. I love the gentle rocking of the boat, epspecially at night. Our cabin is really nice, they come and make it up twice a day. The best bit is all the free stuff. You can pretty much eat whatever you want whenever you want and its all free. We like the fine dining lunches, you can sit where you want and they serve you really quick. The table we´re assigned to for dinner has all
Isrealies and we cant speak any ´Hebrew. Today we are in Mexico again, Cozumel this time, its much nicer than Tijuana. We have hired a car and have been to some ancient ruins (that they let you walk all over, crazy eh) and had a swim. We{re gonna find a nice place to snorkel after this.
-Alice
The cruise is pretty mint, they have everything on board including a casino, which when I walked into it, reminded me just of Las Vegas. I´m not a fan of the rocking myself, tends to make me a bit sick, but I can deal with it. Cozumel here is quite nice, the water is warm, we´ve already been for an ocean swim and hopefully another soon! Miami was interesting, it just proves that different parts of the US are just so different to other parts. So much dining, the most I´ve personally seen anywhere, and it´s all art deco which imo looks pretty ugly, everything is 80´s pink and blue.. Apparently South Beach is one of the very top party spots in the world, along with Ibiza, but we never really got a chance to check it out, I don´t really feel like we missed out though.
- Andrew
Isrealies and we cant speak any ´Hebrew. Today we are in Mexico again, Cozumel this time, its much nicer than Tijuana. We have hired a car and have been to some ancient ruins (that they let you walk all over, crazy eh) and had a swim. We{re gonna find a nice place to snorkel after this.
-Alice
The cruise is pretty mint, they have everything on board including a casino, which when I walked into it, reminded me just of Las Vegas. I´m not a fan of the rocking myself, tends to make me a bit sick, but I can deal with it. Cozumel here is quite nice, the water is warm, we´ve already been for an ocean swim and hopefully another soon! Miami was interesting, it just proves that different parts of the US are just so different to other parts. So much dining, the most I´ve personally seen anywhere, and it´s all art deco which imo looks pretty ugly, everything is 80´s pink and blue.. Apparently South Beach is one of the very top party spots in the world, along with Ibiza, but we never really got a chance to check it out, I don´t really feel like we missed out though.
- Andrew
Thursday, April 12, 2007
More SF
So we've just spent the last 2 days in San Francisco and are about to leave to fly to the horrible horrible LAX and onto Miami.
I love San Francisco, this city rules, it's not too big that you can't walk across it in 3/4 hour but there is so much, and it's relatively clean and today it was sunny and there are lots of shops! They have a Westfield just like at home only this one is classy. I liked sitting in Union Square, it's a nice square, equal in it's proportions, and I quite like the liberal/tolerance of this city, so many people just doing what they want.
I want to come back here and maybe even move here but it is so expensive to rent or buy!
-Andrew
Today we had our first lazy, nothing on the agenda day. For the most part we sat around in Union Square and watched all the people go by. There was a school band that marched past and I enjoyed it so much I gave them all my pennies. I think travelling helps me put my life into perspective. We found out today that our tenant wants to move- usually this would stress me out but I didnt really care too much, there are heaps of people with much bigger problems than this in life. Anyone need a place to rent???????
Anyways we're off with our packs to the airport. We already have too much stuff.
Miss you all
-Alice
I love San Francisco, this city rules, it's not too big that you can't walk across it in 3/4 hour but there is so much, and it's relatively clean and today it was sunny and there are lots of shops! They have a Westfield just like at home only this one is classy. I liked sitting in Union Square, it's a nice square, equal in it's proportions, and I quite like the liberal/tolerance of this city, so many people just doing what they want.
I want to come back here and maybe even move here but it is so expensive to rent or buy!
-Andrew
Today we had our first lazy, nothing on the agenda day. For the most part we sat around in Union Square and watched all the people go by. There was a school band that marched past and I enjoyed it so much I gave them all my pennies. I think travelling helps me put my life into perspective. We found out today that our tenant wants to move- usually this would stress me out but I didnt really care too much, there are heaps of people with much bigger problems than this in life. Anyone need a place to rent???????
Anyways we're off with our packs to the airport. We already have too much stuff.
Miss you all
-Alice
Monday, April 9, 2007
San Francisco
Yesterday was easter sunday, our first one in LA. We went to this HUGE church with Marsha and had a lovely easter service there. They have a massive organ, one of the biggest in the world. After church we did a wee tiki tour of LA and saw the new catholic catherdral which costs $12 to park!!! It smelt like cinnamon and is made out of mexican marble. Marsha made us an amaing and huge easter meal. Over here is it quite traditional to have a family meal for easter, like we would for christmas. We had our first proper artichokes- yum!
Today we got up really early and found our way back to LAX. We were very glad that we got up early because it took over an hour waiting in line to get checked in. I marvel at how LAX can work properly!! We arrived here in San Fran and were meet by Doug, Becky, Caelia and Amy. We all went into town and had clam chowder in real sourdough bread bowls, very good. After that we went to Muir Woods and had a walk around the redwoods, some of them 1000 years old. We saw a chipmunk that looked a bit sick, poor wee chipmunk. San Fran looks like a great city- we really like it here.
Alice
I know Alice mentioned it, about how stuff is so cheap over here, but she didn't really give it justice. I bought a new pair of DC's for $40 and some were at $20. Levis $30, label t-shirts, $12. It's so cheap to dress nice. Bottle of JD, $17 at the supermarket! And this is us not even shopping for deals, just buying stuff when we see it. Subway is more expensive though, which I guess is to counteract McDonalds being about half the price it is at home. I guess the 99c Double Cheeseburger wins again! And capatilism reigns here. There is nothing you can do that doesn't come with the optional t-shirt. As I'll mention later we went to a forest today, and just to show the world you went, why not buy a t-shirt or cap or grey hoody with "MUIR WOODS" written across the chest. It's great to be able to show your support for trees in the face of the evil global warming corporation.
Anyway, onto more recent things, San Francisco is awesome! It's a pretty city but property is expensive. Actually that doesn't get in the way of me enjoying the city, just my desires of moving here. We went to a redwood forest today, those trees are tall! We're going to do some more tomorrow and then tomorrow night is our first night in a youth hostel which should be simultaniously fun and disgusting!
I'm missing all the keeping in touch with friends stuff :( I'm having a great time but I do miss my friends. You know who you are.
Today we got up really early and found our way back to LAX. We were very glad that we got up early because it took over an hour waiting in line to get checked in. I marvel at how LAX can work properly!! We arrived here in San Fran and were meet by Doug, Becky, Caelia and Amy. We all went into town and had clam chowder in real sourdough bread bowls, very good. After that we went to Muir Woods and had a walk around the redwoods, some of them 1000 years old. We saw a chipmunk that looked a bit sick, poor wee chipmunk. San Fran looks like a great city- we really like it here.
Alice
I know Alice mentioned it, about how stuff is so cheap over here, but she didn't really give it justice. I bought a new pair of DC's for $40 and some were at $20. Levis $30, label t-shirts, $12. It's so cheap to dress nice. Bottle of JD, $17 at the supermarket! And this is us not even shopping for deals, just buying stuff when we see it. Subway is more expensive though, which I guess is to counteract McDonalds being about half the price it is at home. I guess the 99c Double Cheeseburger wins again! And capatilism reigns here. There is nothing you can do that doesn't come with the optional t-shirt. As I'll mention later we went to a forest today, and just to show the world you went, why not buy a t-shirt or cap or grey hoody with "MUIR WOODS" written across the chest. It's great to be able to show your support for trees in the face of the evil global warming corporation.
Anyway, onto more recent things, San Francisco is awesome! It's a pretty city but property is expensive. Actually that doesn't get in the way of me enjoying the city, just my desires of moving here. We went to a redwood forest today, those trees are tall! We're going to do some more tomorrow and then tomorrow night is our first night in a youth hostel which should be simultaniously fun and disgusting!
I'm missing all the keeping in touch with friends stuff :( I'm having a great time but I do miss my friends. You know who you are.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Impressions of the USA
Some things I have noticed in my first week here
1. Some stuff is very very cheap ie fast food, clothes and soda
2. Some stuff is very expensive ie healthy food and theme parks (well, no wonder really)
3. People are alot more friendly and tolerant than I had assumed they would be
4. New Zealand doesnt know how lucky it is with it's lack of waiting in lines
5. Personal space is different over here, its quite ok to stand so close to someone that you are actually touching them
6. Noone cares when someone jumps the line, well they might care but not enough to do anything
7. Americans dont usually understand a New Zealand accent- it is very weird not being understood in an english speaking country
8. Life flies by unless you stop to smell the roses
Some things I have reflected on
1. The difference in social welfare systems here, in Mexico and New Zealand and how freakin blessed kiwis are to be born into a world where they are taken care of
2. The difference in levels of personal responsibility that are expected in different places
3. The advent of advertising and its impact on a community
4. How lucky I am to work in a job that is interesting, not repetitive and helpful to people in need rather than in want.
1. Some stuff is very very cheap ie fast food, clothes and soda
2. Some stuff is very expensive ie healthy food and theme parks (well, no wonder really)
3. People are alot more friendly and tolerant than I had assumed they would be
4. New Zealand doesnt know how lucky it is with it's lack of waiting in lines
5. Personal space is different over here, its quite ok to stand so close to someone that you are actually touching them
6. Noone cares when someone jumps the line, well they might care but not enough to do anything
7. Americans dont usually understand a New Zealand accent- it is very weird not being understood in an english speaking country
8. Life flies by unless you stop to smell the roses
Some things I have reflected on
1. The difference in social welfare systems here, in Mexico and New Zealand and how freakin blessed kiwis are to be born into a world where they are taken care of
2. The difference in levels of personal responsibility that are expected in different places
3. The advent of advertising and its impact on a community
4. How lucky I am to work in a job that is interesting, not repetitive and helpful to people in need rather than in want.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Las Vegas & Tijuana
You know how when anybody talks about Las Vegas and they go "oh, it's not that big" well, they're full of crap. It's freakin huge. Including all the buildings..
That's the Luxor. It's large inside and also hollow and lots of gambin' goin' on. We went to all the big casino's, which is a lot of them over a very large amount of land. Everything is bright and flashy..
That there is the "New York New York" casino (The lion is actually the massive gold lion from the MGM Grand which I have to say, is very grand) with a roller coaster and the manhatten skyline turned into a hotel. In "Caesers Palace" there is a mall half as long as Northlands and the entire roof is painted like the sky and it's like it's day time, when outside, it's night! It had me fooled for a short while! We didn't actually gamble all that much at all, and everything we did, we lost. I think I know the secret to the casino's success.. We stayed at Hooters which was very convientently placed and we could walk to the strip in 5 minutes and we also saw a very vegas-style show "Folies Bergere" which was great and very flamboyant..
Earlier today we went to Tijuana, we drove from Las Vegas to San Diego and then walked over but I don't like Tijuana all that much at all, very very dirty and the solicitation was beyond comfortable. That place scares me more than it should, maybe I'm just a wuss or maybe it was because they saw my (relatively) rich white person a mile away and thought $$$ but anyway, not my cup of tea. Maybe other parts (I sure hope so for their sake) of Mexico is nicer..
- Andrew
On our way over to Vegas we took a detour through the desert. I really liked it, it was so hot and in the middle we found an old train station that they had turned into a museum. It was full of Joshua trees that only grow in that region and aren't really trees at all but yukkas
When we got to Vegas Andrew got us lost and I got mad but it turned out pretty easy to find the main strip. There are hundreds of people there, all feeding money into every hole they can find, its amazing. I liked the Lions at the MGM, they reminded me of a huge biscuit. The tamers were playing ball with them and they did the thing that she does with her back legs when she gets a ball.
We're off to Universal Studios tomorrow! Love ya'll
-Alice
That's the Luxor. It's large inside and also hollow and lots of gambin' goin' on. We went to all the big casino's, which is a lot of them over a very large amount of land. Everything is bright and flashy..
That there is the "New York New York" casino (The lion is actually the massive gold lion from the MGM Grand which I have to say, is very grand) with a roller coaster and the manhatten skyline turned into a hotel. In "Caesers Palace" there is a mall half as long as Northlands and the entire roof is painted like the sky and it's like it's day time, when outside, it's night! It had me fooled for a short while! We didn't actually gamble all that much at all, and everything we did, we lost. I think I know the secret to the casino's success.. We stayed at Hooters which was very convientently placed and we could walk to the strip in 5 minutes and we also saw a very vegas-style show "Folies Bergere" which was great and very flamboyant..
Earlier today we went to Tijuana, we drove from Las Vegas to San Diego and then walked over but I don't like Tijuana all that much at all, very very dirty and the solicitation was beyond comfortable. That place scares me more than it should, maybe I'm just a wuss or maybe it was because they saw my (relatively) rich white person a mile away and thought $$$ but anyway, not my cup of tea. Maybe other parts (I sure hope so for their sake) of Mexico is nicer..
- Andrew
On our way over to Vegas we took a detour through the desert. I really liked it, it was so hot and in the middle we found an old train station that they had turned into a museum. It was full of Joshua trees that only grow in that region and aren't really trees at all but yukkas
When we got to Vegas Andrew got us lost and I got mad but it turned out pretty easy to find the main strip. There are hundreds of people there, all feeding money into every hole they can find, its amazing. I liked the Lions at the MGM, they reminded me of a huge biscuit. The tamers were playing ball with them and they did the thing that she does with her back legs when she gets a ball.
We're off to Universal Studios tomorrow! Love ya'll
-Alice
Monday, April 2, 2007
Disneyland
You know how when anybody talks about Disneyland and they go "oh, it's not that big" well, they're full of crap. It's freakin huge. And full of people. Oh my goodness. We had to get up at 5.30am and get on the freeway and we ended up on one massive freeways 8 lanes wide, in one direction but I drove like a pro and we got there at 7.30 and got tickets just in time to get in. We went on some rides and they were so good, really long and the quality is just so good. Space Mountain is an indoor roller coaster with lights. I also enjoyed the psychedelic flavours of the Winnie the Pooh ride which was bright and colourful and was pooh bears "honey" induced dream-state.. Very interesting, I'll leave some other things up to Alice so I don't take everything..
- Andrew
Well Andrew is right he does drive like a pro, but only with me directing him I might add. Disneyland was completely different to how I remember it. You have to have a strategy or else be prepared to stand in queues ALL day. The longest we waited was an hour and a half for space mountain, it was worth it. They had the chilli peppers playing with bright flashing lights and holograms while you ride the rollercoaster. We blitzed Indiania Jones, Pirates and the Haunted mansion early, wow!!! Amazing holograms and spooky flying things galore. I just wish I could get Andrew to smile in a photo........
Oh no, they shrunk me
And then made me HUGE
And at the end of the day we cruised away on the happiest cruise in the world.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
Arrived here yesterday in sunny LA. We picked up our car after a line up at the car rental place!! Andrew drives pretty well and with the help of map quest we found our way to Marsha's. That night we went out for tea to what Marsha calls a 'hole in the wall' restaurant (good food, av atmosphere) and ALL the staff there sang me happy birthday and gave me a flan with a candle. The food was yummy and Andrew got REALLY full. After that we went into Hollywood and had a look at the Chinese Theatre. That was amazing with all the lights. There were heaps of scary dressed up people there though, I held very close to Andrew.
Today we drove to Venice Beach and had a look around. Nice place, some weird people there though. We gave 75 cents to a guy for making up a poem for us, it didn't really have much to do with us so prob the same one he tells everyone.
On the way back we tried to go to Union Station but mapquest.com lead us up the garden path twice so we came home and bought up large at Target instead.
Tomorrow we're off to Disneyland and then Vegas baby on Tues. We miss you all heaps!!!
Alice
You know how when anybody talks about LA and they go "oh, it's not that big" well, they're full of crap. LA is so freaking huge. It takes literally an hour of 70mph driving to get from the Airport to where we are. And the freeways are insane, they drain you quite a bit too because you're forever changing lanes at high speeds in wrong-hand-drive cars but at least I've got a master co-pilot because my directional skills suck so the team effort works pretty well, just a shame the internet directions we printed off don't always......
Venice Beach is pretty cool, it's kinda how you imagine LA beach's to be like but even more so, the culture diversity here is crazy too, not quite 98% white like ole' christchurch... And down hollywood boulevard was kinda crazy, lights and stretch hummers and bling and bang and people dressing up as darth vader for $$ and massive everything... It really is a big bag of neon lights on top of some pretty scummy buildings though, it's so blatantly tourist and dirty... It's also the spot where Borat meets back up with his director, I felt pretty special then..
- Andrew
Me in Breckenridge...
Alice, just turned 25..
Muscle Beach, there were some crazy posers for real..
Just a scene of Venice Beach
Today we drove to Venice Beach and had a look around. Nice place, some weird people there though. We gave 75 cents to a guy for making up a poem for us, it didn't really have much to do with us so prob the same one he tells everyone.
On the way back we tried to go to Union Station but mapquest.com lead us up the garden path twice so we came home and bought up large at Target instead.
Tomorrow we're off to Disneyland and then Vegas baby on Tues. We miss you all heaps!!!
Alice
You know how when anybody talks about LA and they go "oh, it's not that big" well, they're full of crap. LA is so freaking huge. It takes literally an hour of 70mph driving to get from the Airport to where we are. And the freeways are insane, they drain you quite a bit too because you're forever changing lanes at high speeds in wrong-hand-drive cars but at least I've got a master co-pilot because my directional skills suck so the team effort works pretty well, just a shame the internet directions we printed off don't always......
Venice Beach is pretty cool, it's kinda how you imagine LA beach's to be like but even more so, the culture diversity here is crazy too, not quite 98% white like ole' christchurch... And down hollywood boulevard was kinda crazy, lights and stretch hummers and bling and bang and people dressing up as darth vader for $$ and massive everything... It really is a big bag of neon lights on top of some pretty scummy buildings though, it's so blatantly tourist and dirty... It's also the spot where Borat meets back up with his director, I felt pretty special then..
- Andrew
Me in Breckenridge...
Alice, just turned 25..
Muscle Beach, there were some crazy posers for real..
Just a scene of Venice Beach
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