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
Monday, April 16, 2007
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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