Back to Britain one-year-and-a-week after we left. Las Vegas was an incomparable heady cocktail of chinking slot machines and outlandish casino hotels that was a fantastic way of rounding off the year. We flew out for four days on the Las Vegas airline and were told our stewardesses were named Sherri, Cherri and Gerri… it’s that kind of place. We discovered, however, that gambling was shit when we wasted twenty quid by feeding the pokies for a couple of hours but the cheap accommodation and...
[Not enough time to do Las Vegas so I’ll concentrate on the last week in LA]: Had a whirlwind week of theme parks, TV shows and culture. Started with our debut appearance on US TV in the audience of the Late Late Show hosted by some unfunny, nobody comedian. Um, our backs were clearly in view… It was quite an eye-opener, as well as a hand-killer, as we were encouraged to whoop, holler and clap our hands until they bled. Next was Universal Studios at which was the new Mummy Returns...
Despite United Airlines cocking up our seat reservations on the flight from Honolulu, we’ve made it okay to LA. We’re staying in West Hollywood at the Orbit Hotel which is more backpackery than swanky but close enough to the action. Bit of a mad place, lots of nutters, smog and cars but not as intimidating as I’d expected. Disneyland and Universal Studios are booked this week and then we’ve got a four-day jaunt to Las Vegas next week. And then home!
If anyone was in any doubt how seriously they’re taking the terrorist threat over here, you only need to visit some of the major tourist attractions. Sue and I caught the one-hour bus to Pearl Harbour yesterday with Sue carrying a little bag, cameras and not much more. Big mistake: signs and guards everywhere warned against taking anything in with you. Despite offering to either leave the bag outside the gates with the guards or even for them to thoroughly empty and examine its contents, we...
Now, I know it’s been a whole month since I last posted here but we’ve just come from Fiji where Internet facilities are completely non-existent. We spent two nights by the airport in Nadi at a great little beach-side resort. Lots of young backpackers who spend a night there before heading off to an island or to the coral coast. We moved on to the latter and stayed at a disappointing place called Vakaviti. You know it’s a bad idea when you see a For Sale sign outside and find the bar and...
The horrific terrorist crisis in New York’s kind of put a big dampener on things and you feel guilty trying to have fun after all the deaths and tragedy there. It’s also quite worrying when we’ve got seven flights ahead of us soon, four of which are in America. Let’s hope the terrorists are captured, airport security tightened and that everything’s settled. It’s just horrifying and disturbing what some will do in the name of religion.
We’re now in Melbourne after a couple of days in dull,...
The sun’s finally made it out from the rainclouds just as Sue and I set off on the Coogee to Bondi Beach walk. It’s basically full of beautiful people walking dogs. Sydney’s growing on us, especially Coogee where we’re staying at the moment.
I think our stumbling on the All Blacks’ line-out training session did them no favours; they lost in the last minutes of the Tri-Nations decider against Australia, cocking up the huge majority of their line-outs. We watched at a Coogee pub with a...
Finally made it to Sydney (hence the Australian flag). It’s a big shock to the system after the slow-paced, tranquil, sedate cities of New Zealand! We’re staying in the Glebe YHA until the weekend, a little out of the centre of the city, and will spend a few days in Coogee, just along the coast. We were couped up inside yesterday as the heavens poured all day long but we made it out this morning, walking across the city to view the obvious sites: the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. ...
After the progress we made on our first ever day of skiing, our second day was a lot less encouraging. After learning the basics of stopping and turning on a gentle slope, we realised that we weren’t as good as we thought we were when skiing down a steeper slope. We were itching to try the much steeper chairlift slopes but were still not good enough. Impatient and disenchanted, we could no longer be arsed and went home. In a huff.
Quick disclaimer: we’ve been in New Zealand where everything...
