New York – Day 2

Well we covered a lot of ground today so this is gonna be a big one…

After experiencing life without aircon the previous night the first thing we did in the morning after breakfast was go to the store and buy the biggest fan they had, it scanned incorrectly and we got it for $11USD, YAY! After Setting it up in the room we went for a walk to central park, it was only a few blocks away from where we were staying. We passed some elephant water park on our way which was pretty cool. When we got there we were really impressed with how nice it was, a huge park on the middle of the city, we walked to one end where there was a lake and then back along the other side through some gardens. It was just weird walking through a big park with a river and you just turn your head to the side and see huge buildings right next to it.

We found a cinema on my gps and walked there to catch the Simpsons movie and kill some time before we go to Time Square The Simpsons Movie was good, I guess as good as it could be considering it shouldn’t have been made. Australian popcorn tastes better than American popcorn. After the movie we got some Hungry jacks. Their drinks are massive, the large that came with my meal was a decent size bigger than a HJ’s large, pictured next to Marina’s head for scale. There was one more gigantic one which was huge cinema drink size with which you keep the cup. We walked for a while and stopped at a Starbucks for coffee, everyone loves them and there are hundresds of them everywhere in NY. When we stepped out of Starbuck’s we cracked up at the gay city news.

We kept walking towards Time Square, which is on 42nd and Broadway. We had started on 101st st, and had already walked about 40 blocks down 8th Ave. The blocks are a lot smaller here though, but we still had a long way to go. Nothing overly memorable happened until we got to 42nd & 8th Ave. First we passed Grand Central Station and decided to take a photo. Then we stumbled onto a cool park area with a cafe and bar. We just sat to relax and checkout the stage, which we found out screens old movies on Monday nights when a weirdo with fluro hair and a dog walked by and was charging people $1 for photos. Marina couldn’t resist, as you will see, afterwards she cleaned her hands with antibacterial hand wash which she luckily had with her. We then pushed onto Time Square, where there was much more to be seen.

We were in a hurry to get to time square and book a tour bus for the next day, when we encountered a guy selling tickets on the street just like the citybus guy the day before, but less scammy. We bought tickets which were valid for the next two days, a bus passes time square every 10 mins which we could hop on and off for. We wondered time square while waitingg for the night tour to begin. While taking photos this black guy said hey wait, I’m America and jumped in our photo, he then took a photo of us and proceeded to give us some story about the charity he is with, we gave him a couple of dollars and were on our way. We went for a stroll in the M&M’s store, and there were some cool things but everything was so overpriced, all we bought were some raspberry m&m’s and almond ones, they were both good.

Well after our wandering we cought the last night tour bus and were on our way. It covered a good portion of Manhattan and Brooklyn, we passed a couple of bridges and there were some great views, as you will see in the photo’s it was really really hot and humid, even in the open top bus. After the tour we happened to pass the CBS theater during our stroll, we took note of where it is and the time that the audience applications open up. It was then time for a cab back to our stinking hot hotel room, which was much more bearable thanks to the fan.

 

New York – Day 1

Well after the 5ish hour plane trip to new york we finally got there in the evening. We were thinking of catching a shuttlebus (a mini bus that drops you off at your door, like a taxi) but Some guy who looked all official told us we should catch that bus which will drop us off at grand central station and we can catch a cab there because no shuttles will drop us off in Manhattan. He assured us it would be cheaper than cabbing it from the airport and it would take longer for the shuttle bus to come and get us if we used that. We bought tickets and waited for the bus, then he started yelling citybus,citybus,citybus which kept us entertained while we proceeded to wait what seemed like forever. When it finally arrived it looked like some old bomb that was ready to fall apart, but by that time we were just glad we were on our way. The bus driver was a maniac, i kept thinking to myself *TAKUMI*. I wish i had an initialD sticker i would have stuck it on the back when i got off The buses suspension was stuffed, it must have been years of taking this punishment. Anyway all these people on the bus were told by the citybus guy that it would stop at heaps of diff places, but it just went straight to near grand central station, and we all had to cab again from there! people were pissed, we were also pissed when we later found out that the flatrate for a taxi to our door would have been $45, which is what we paid to get stuffed around, but we got there anyway so…

When we arrived to our accommodation in Manhattan. It was on a street running parallel to Broadway between 101st and 102nd st. Which was *only* about 60 blocks from time square. When we got there the girl at the counter gave us the key and said we should have a look at the room before we pay for it, hrrrm that cant be good we thought, it looked ok when you first walk in and the pictures on the site looked ok but it was an old building. We caught the elevator the the 6th floor, it was an old style elevator with a swing open door. When we got to the top and walked through the hallway it looked pretty crappy with patches of gap filler smeared on parts of the wall, but there was no renovating happening. We got to our room and started laughing, it was absolutely tiny, it was painted a horrible pink, the tv had no antenna running to it and the worst thing possible considering the temperature and humidity in New York, it had no aircon!!!! We turned off the light for a second and it wouldn’t turn back on, we both started laughing uncontrollably and after flicking it on and off 50 times it finally came back. We decided meh its still in a good area, we will only be sleeping here and we cbf looking for other accommodation.

We opened the two windows in our room and went for a walk to the convenience store and fruit & veg store along Broadway and sat outside for a while drinking our powerades, soaking up the feel of the city while waiting for our room to cool down. We started talking to some french people who sat on the bench next to us, they were friendly and it turned out they were staying at the same place, we all had a laugh at the accomodation situation, they decided to call it a night, we went to the fruit & veg store, got some food and went to sleep.

LA Day 4 – The City Tour

Well after the DL tour we decided that we could cover a lot more sites if we went with the same tour company rather than trying to bus it around everywhere, we still wanted to see Venice Beach and “downtown LA” which is what they call the city centre area. We didn’t actually know what to visit in the city so a guide would save us time. We are glad we decided to do that, we had a crackup of a tour guide i didn’t think of it but i should have recorded him speaking. We Went to the harbor just past LAX which is one of the biggest in the world or America, i don’t remember but its where they shot baywatch hehe. Then we went to Venice Beach which is where White Man Can’t Jump was filmed. It was pretty cool, lots of graffiti everywhere market stalls, the performers weren’t out yet because we were there pretty early but i can see it being pretty busy on weekends and hot days.

Well after Venice we went through Santa Monica, we didn’t stop there but me and renz0r were fine with that since we had already been there, hahaha suckers to the other ppl on the bus! We then passed Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive on our way to Lunch. Rodeo drive looked expensive, we couldn’t take any good photos because the bus was moving. Then we went onto some markets for lunch. We ate at a place called Johnny Rockets, which is an old style diner. Then we had a Coopers Pale at an international beer place next door. The burgers here are huge as you can see in the picture, look at that thing, it was such a challenge downing it. They also love cheese on everything, lots and lots of cheese :/

Well Then it was onto Hollywood again, the guide told us we could get good photos of the Hollywood sign from the Kodak Theater which was good because we didn’t get any last time. Apart from that we didn’t wander far since we had been there already. I also got a photo of my own news stand, I’m catching on in the US my propeganda will devour them! Ohh and when we took this photo of their fake Cold Rock the lady in the shop jumped because she wasn’t expecting it. LOL

Then we went to downtown LA which had some cool big buildings, arts centers, the FBI west coast building and a bunch of other stuff i forgot, no good photos really since we were in a moving vehicle. We stopped at some Mexican markets after that and had another beer and wonder around before we were heading back home. We were home a lot earlier compared to the other days so we decided to go buy a few beers, a pizza and kickback on our last day. We had a bit too much to drink because we were hungover when leaving the next day. Note to self, don’t drink the day before catching a plane.

LA Day 3 – DisneyLand

Well today is a big one, Disney Land, its about 50 minutes from where we are staying so we got a tour which include transport to and from and ticket prices. We had breakfast, i had some egg, bacon and toast from our hotel, their food was so crappy but mine was bearable. Marina got this gross biscuit and gravy, someone had told her she has to try it and it was the grossest thing ever, its a savory biscuit with this gross white gravy, Marina couldn’t finish it and i don’t blame her.

When you arrive at DL you are dropped off in a car park and a disney tram takes you to the main entrance, the first thing you see is a huge gift shop designed to catch people on their way out. We had a look at some of the merchandise, the prices were huge. We weren’t really sure about disney land, but we had to go, we can’t go to LA and not the place we wanted to go as kids. The first thing we did was get food as soon as possible.

There were some really fun rides, even the pooh bear ride was fun. The haunted mansion was cool it had an elevator in it where the roof expands at the same time and it feels weird, then there were ghost holograms dancing around everywhere, it was a cool effect. The star wars ride was great, when your flying around you get thrown around and really feel like the g’s are pushing you back in your seat. There was a “4D” movie called honey i shrunk the audience with the characters from honey i shrunk the kids. It was just a 3d movie but there are air vents near your feet so they can use air for effects, in one scene rats escape into the audience and you can feel them running around your legs, was funny, all the kids screamed because they thought it was real, haha. All in all it was a long day and we slept well that night.

Well here are some pics, they have titles when you click on them you will see.

Although we had fun Disney Land is a parents worst nightmare, everything is so expensive a burger fries and drink was like $10 US, bottles of water are $2.70 US. Thats not the worst part though. They should really call it line-up land. most rides took at least 30 minutes, the long rides are more like 50 minutes. Everything was really kiddy but we still had fun, we were pretty dissapointed by the end though. After waiting 45 minutes for the Indiana Jones ride it broke down, we had to get to the bus pickup point by 10.30 but we figured hey it wont take longer than 1.5 hours. We waited in line for about 60 minutes, then we found out that after the lineup you can see there is a second line up inside, and it just wasnt gonne happen, If only we payed the extra money for the fast pass we would have made it for sure. We were so pissed we had to leave, we also missed the live night show which is meant to be awesome, because we were lining up, there were so many people there trying to leave and watching the show at the same time. We nearly didnt get there on time because everytime fireworks went off people infront of us stopped moving, and parents think that having a stroller gives them right of way, they wont let you infront but they keep stopping all the time. Anyhow by the end of it i was so dissapointed and angry ERRRGGGHH DAMN YOU WALT! I’ll punch him in his frozen face disney!

LA Day 2 – Hollywood & Santa Monica

SOMEONE WAS KILLED!

Is what we thought on day 2 when we woke up to see the caution tape, but it was just the pool cleaners. We gathered the courage to walk to radio shack to get a power converter. It wasn’t too bad. On the way back we got a great photo of a poster.

Once we got back to the hotel we found out which bus to catch to Hollywood and were on our way. About 1 hour later we were finally there. it was hot and we were starving. We walked down Hollywood Blvd. and stopped at the maccas for lunch. Their burgers are ok, the patties tasted less soggy/steamed, they have blue powerade on their drink dispensers, which was a lifesaver on this hot day. The most surprising thing though is they didn’t even have aircon in their maccas!!!! wtf it was so hot and humid. Hollywood Blvd was ok. I expected it to be classy and glamorous but it was far from it, really trashey, lots of shops that sell trashey ho clothes. We went into ripley’s believe it or not, it was ok at first but got boring fast, just a bunch of silly stuff and stories.

Once we had enough of Hollywood we spoke to some locals and found out which bus to catch to Santa Monica. Another long bus drive later (about another hour) and we were there. Once we got there we realised what the guy at the airport said by Santa Monica would be a better place for us to stay. It’s really nice and clean, there is a jetty with rides and shops on it. I knew that it was the place to be when someone offered to take a photo of the two of us and i didnt worry about whether they might try to run away with my camera, heh. After dinner we had a wonder up Santa Monica Blvd and stumbled onto a really nice shopping/dining area. There were some cool dinosaur fountains and all the trees had light in them, it felt like christmas but not. We walked around there, had a drink and called it a night. The cab fare was $50 back so we decided not to venture out as far in the future :/

LA – The Arrival

Ahh well after a delightful 13.5 hour plane flight with only a few hours of sleep and no sleep at all the night before i was feeling great, naaaht. My stomach was stuffed, my muscles sore and i could barely keep my eyes open, i had grand visions of getting the the hotel, sleeping for an hour or two and heading off to the beach for a cocktail on a warm LA day, things didnt exactly go that way.

Upon our arrival after making a break from the airport we had to get the address of the hotel because in all the rush we forgot. While marina was writing down the address from a sign she found on a board at the airport some black guy pulled me to the side and started talking to me, i tried to shoo him off but i was no match in my sleep deprived state. He mentioned he was a volunteer for the police department and asked where i was staying, we told him where and things started to get scarey. He scared the crap out of both of us, telling us to change accomodation to Venice Beach or Santa Monica. He gave us a long winded story about his background and how he would never go to that sort of area, i tried to find out if he was selling something so i asked where and he only suggested areas, not hotels which made me think he was legit. He basically said dont talk to the locals just stick within the hotel catch taxis/tours from the hotel only and dont mingle with the locals because there are heaps of junkies and rap ganster type of people. lol. He turned out to be collecting for children but it was through the police department, we gave him a donation to get him out of our way, we weren’t equiped to deal with him in out dazed and disoriented state.

When we got there we saw what he meant, it looked pretty crappy, the hotel wasn’t great but meh it was a place to sleep, we were so paranoid though that we hid the laptop under the bed, hehe. We went and got some food to force down because we were starving and then slept. When we woke up we felt better and went to the front desk to ask the attendant where we can get power converters, he told us radio shack will have them but that we can’t walk there at night. We asked about food places, if we can catch a taxi to santa monica but he said there was no point, would cost too much and things wouldnt be open much longer as it was already 9pm, im glad we didnt because a taxi back from santa monica cost us $50! So the first day is over and its time to sleep.

The Departure

Well the blog posts are a bit delayed but we ran into some troubles and i wasn’t able to post until now. Lets start at the begining, yeah? In Sydney after getting off the plane and navigating the airport we got to the United Airlines check-in. We didn’t have a pen so i went to find a news agent, while i was at it i bought some aus->us power converters and locks for the bags, duty free, no probs ill just get it when i am boarding right? Upon my casual return me and renz0r start filling in our papers which are needed to check in. We take them to the front desk to be unpleasantly suprised, we were apparently late to check in and the cut off time is one hour prior to take off! The staff made some phone calls and it didnt look good, finally they said ok we will rush you on, you will have to run to gate 56. Then as we are about to checking out luggage we got randomly selected for a bag inspection! We moved at full pace, i nearly slammed my suitcase onto the desk and the security guard checked it. We both ran to gate 56, past the duty free people who had my purchases ready for me because we thought we would miss the plane. We got there and found that it hadnt boarded yet and we could have easily taken our duty free items. Either way we were happy to be on the plane and thats partially the reason i haven’t posted since leaving.
Coming up, stories of our arrival

The Essentials

Well I have most of the essentials I need to be on my way. I got my passport on the last day of the 10 working days, I was stressing a little about that one. The tickets were here a bit earlier and the GPS arrived today. I’ve just gotta get my phone back from Nokia today so I can set it all up. Finalising my tax return, phone set up & clothes shopping are on the list today.

We have done a fair bit of research since the last post into where we are going and the things we are seeing. It’s shaping up to be pretty awesome. One of the things on the must do list is see a baseball game, every time we mention it we both start singing that tune that movies always play in relation to baseball. The one that ends in tadadada dada, you know the one im talking about. Disney Land and Hollywood will be one of the first things we go check out in LA but ill keep you posted from there, our hotel has WiFi anyway so i can post to my hearts content.

Well thats enough info for now, im just getting into this blog posting groove and you will hear from me soon.

The preparation begins

Well my round the world trip commences on 22 July 2007. Thanks to the helpful staff at flightcentre. I am surprised by how many places messed me around and didnt call back when I enquired about prices, maybe they thought I wasn’t serious, well they should do their job anyway and too bad for them now they don’t have my money.

Hrrm I really need to get accommodation organised once i finish this final assignment.

I’ve set up this travel log so that I can share my adventures with a large group of you and generally make it easier to keep in contact with everyone while away.