We flew to LA today arriving about 9pm LA time. (LA is 3 hours ahead 0f Hawaii, so 19 hours behind NZ time. Easiest way is to add 5 hours and lose a day so Friday 5pm in NZ is 10pm Thursday here.)
We are staying at a cheap Holiday Inn near LAX and will pick up another car early tomorrow morning before heading off to sight see Venice beach, Hollywood, Beverly hills etc.
Then about lunchtime we are doing Universal studios before heading down to Anaheim in the evening. Hopefully if we're all not too exhausted then we'll attempt to go to Disneyland as well, so it's a huge day for us all.
One thing that is obvious is that we have bought way too many clothes with us. We have 4 very big suitcases and 2 that are only just small enough to get away with as carry ons.
Checking in at Honolulu was a bit of a shock when we found out that any suitcase over 50lbs carried a $50 fine. By the time we had re-packed we had 4 suitcases weighing 49 lbs each and hand luggage we could hardly carry so when the girls head home they'll be carrying some of our excess stuff with them.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Last day in Hawaii - BOO hoo
Well that's the Hawaii part of the trip done. This morning we are getting all packed up and are ready to hop off to California! I hope the weather is just as gorgeous as we have had here, however a couple of degree's cooler when we go to the theme parks would be kinda good!
We found out (by reading the guest book) that the back room in our hotel is apparently haunted - we didn't tell the girls (for obvious reasons) as they were sleeping in that room. But I am pretty sure i have not seen nor heard any ghosts on this trip only the midnight sounds of Erika's coughing!
Thankfully we are all getting over that nasty cold we bought here from Chch so should be healthy as oxes when we get to Disney........the happiest place on EARTH! Very exciting.
Well Ciao for now!
Rach xxx
We found out (by reading the guest book) that the back room in our hotel is apparently haunted - we didn't tell the girls (for obvious reasons) as they were sleeping in that room. But I am pretty sure i have not seen nor heard any ghosts on this trip only the midnight sounds of Erika's coughing!
Thankfully we are all getting over that nasty cold we bought here from Chch so should be healthy as oxes when we get to Disney........the happiest place on EARTH! Very exciting.
Well Ciao for now!
Rach xxx
It's my turn!
Kevin has been doing all the posting so far on this holiday so today is my turn.
Firstly though here is a picture of my man with his new best friend! If you can guess why Kevin loves his new friend so much then post your answer in the comments.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Surfin USA
After all of our travelling around we decided just to hang out locally yesterday. One of the cool spots we found last time was the Moana Surfrider hotel which has a bar , the Banyon bar, right on the beach.
It's a pretty flash place so the key is to pretend you are staying there and order food etc straight away. You tip generously and the staff keep an eye on your bags while you hop in and out of the pool or sea or whatever.
Our guy yesterday, Rean, decided that i looked like someone who preferred alcohol to water and just kept bringing cocktails. I have told many people a story about Hawaii over the years about a waiter called Jeff who looked after us while we swam na d stayed on after his shift finished just to make sure our bags were ok. That was in this bar!
Anyway it was a HOT day and we decided to snorkle right on the beach out the front of the hotel and it turned out to be better that the much hyped Hanaumu from a couple of days ago.
Rachel also decided to fulfil a life long dream of surfing and hired a board for 2 hours for $10.
So she paddled away only to return absolutely knackered 2 hours later having paddled like mad without actually catching a wave.
A couple of hours later the pain began and she was in complete agony in her arms, neck and chest. She is in the same kind of pain that I was in a few weeks ago after my first big session at the gym. (I am really missing the gym btw!)
It's morning now and she's a bit better thanks to Nurofen!
Yesterday was going to known as "Long Island Iced Tea Day", but is now known as that "one and only time Rachel tried surfing"!
It's a pretty flash place so the key is to pretend you are staying there and order food etc straight away. You tip generously and the staff keep an eye on your bags while you hop in and out of the pool or sea or whatever.
Our guy yesterday, Rean, decided that i looked like someone who preferred alcohol to water and just kept bringing cocktails. I have told many people a story about Hawaii over the years about a waiter called Jeff who looked after us while we swam na d stayed on after his shift finished just to make sure our bags were ok. That was in this bar!
Anyway it was a HOT day and we decided to snorkle right on the beach out the front of the hotel and it turned out to be better that the much hyped Hanaumu from a couple of days ago.
Rachel also decided to fulfil a life long dream of surfing and hired a board for 2 hours for $10.
So she paddled away only to return absolutely knackered 2 hours later having paddled like mad without actually catching a wave.
A couple of hours later the pain began and she was in complete agony in her arms, neck and chest. She is in the same kind of pain that I was in a few weeks ago after my first big session at the gym. (I am really missing the gym btw!)
It's morning now and she's a bit better thanks to Nurofen!
Yesterday was going to known as "Long Island Iced Tea Day", but is now known as that "one and only time Rachel tried surfing"!
Chi Chi.
One of our favourite things about Hawaii are the cocktails and the places you get to drink them.
And one of our favourite haunts is the Tiki lounge which in a hotel right northern end of Waikiki.
On our last trip here we spent many hours sitting around in the bar savouring a local delight called the Chi Chi. (pronounced "She She") You can get them all over the world of course, but the best are served in the Tiki bar.
The Chi Chi is similar to a Pina Colada, but not as sweet and sickly. Trust me you can drink 5 or 6 of them without tiring of them. You can't stand afterwards, but you'll feel fine!
Any way we had to wander down to the Tiki bar and revisit the Chi Chi.
THE ANTICIPATION!
THE SATISFACTION
THE BRAIN FREEZE
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Hanaumu Bay
Today we journeyed to Hanaumu Bay for the afternoon which was pretty cool actually.
It's not often you go to a beach that costs $5 each and has a mandatory 9 minute induction video before you are allowed access, but it was probably worth it.
It is rated as one of the best 10 beaches in the world, but honestly I think I have been to heaps better. There's 3 or 4 in West Australia alone that are better, but hey this is America after all. Rach and I called into a dive shop and bought some good snorkle gear, but the water was rough and cloudy (Janice, you would have hated it).
Driving in America.
We hired a car over the last couple of days to have a look around. I named it the "Poo car" cos it looked and ran like shit! Anyway it was good practise for driving on the wrong side of the road and reminded me of all the things I have done wrong in the past. Firstly the actual driving on the right is not so hard.
Cornering however is an entirely different thing altogether!
Once in LA on Sunset boulevard I turned into 6 lanes of oncoming traffic and swerved thru all of them changing one lane at a time so nothing on this trip can match that, but I'm sure I'll try.
The success lays in working out exactly where to aim for when you are turning across multi lanes; if you don't then chaos is guaranteed!
There are some cool things about driving over here.
Firstly the stop sign rule. It's simply a matter of first in first served!
So if you come to a four way intersection with stop signs and you are first there, you stop then go.
If someone gets there before you then you wait for them, then you go and so one. This actually works very well and i have been one of 5 or 6 cars all at stop signs at the same time without any major dramas. I remember Tex teaching me this road rule a couple of years ago and him commenting that it would never work in NZ as all the drivers would claim to be there first! There are also some interesting signs.
Secondly the speed limits; they often have have a maximum and minimum limit. Today we were on a road with a max 50mph and a min 40mph which meant for a smooth flow.
One other good thing happened today; vindication of the extra money we have spent on the GPS system for our car in Europe. The first major holiday domestic occurred over directions as my navigator who shall remain namesless and I had differing opinions on the way to go on several occasions.
We have now seen much more of the island than expected and the mature behaviour of me throwing the maps seemed to help. Good news however when we somehow went west towards the airport when I had asked for the way east just as Air NZ finally rang with news of our lost case and we were able to say we were about 1/2 a mile away and went to pick it up straight away.
Cornering however is an entirely different thing altogether!
Once in LA on Sunset boulevard I turned into 6 lanes of oncoming traffic and swerved thru all of them changing one lane at a time so nothing on this trip can match that, but I'm sure I'll try.
The success lays in working out exactly where to aim for when you are turning across multi lanes; if you don't then chaos is guaranteed!
There are some cool things about driving over here.
Firstly the stop sign rule. It's simply a matter of first in first served!
So if you come to a four way intersection with stop signs and you are first there, you stop then go.
If someone gets there before you then you wait for them, then you go and so one. This actually works very well and i have been one of 5 or 6 cars all at stop signs at the same time without any major dramas. I remember Tex teaching me this road rule a couple of years ago and him commenting that it would never work in NZ as all the drivers would claim to be there first! There are also some interesting signs.Secondly the speed limits; they often have have a maximum and minimum limit. Today we were on a road with a max 50mph and a min 40mph which meant for a smooth flow.
One other good thing happened today; vindication of the extra money we have spent on the GPS system for our car in Europe. The first major holiday domestic occurred over directions as my navigator who shall remain namesless and I had differing opinions on the way to go on several occasions.
We have now seen much more of the island than expected and the mature behaviour of me throwing the maps seemed to help. Good news however when we somehow went west towards the airport when I had asked for the way east just as Air NZ finally rang with news of our lost case and we were able to say we were about 1/2 a mile away and went to pick it up straight away.
Flock of seagulls!
ATTENTION: Martin and Craig!
I know you guys are huge fans, so this will come as no shock to you, but "Flock of seagulls" are still performing and touring.
We had an opportunity to see them last night for only US$40 each!
Unfortunately none of the girls had heard of them and no amount of me singing "I ran" helped at all. So we didn't go, but did sit in the restaurant next door and listen.
I can confirm they are still crap!
I know you guys are huge fans, so this will come as no shock to you, but "Flock of seagulls" are still performing and touring.
We had an opportunity to see them last night for only US$40 each!
Unfortunately none of the girls had heard of them and no amount of me singing "I ran" helped at all. So we didn't go, but did sit in the restaurant next door and listen.
I can confirm they are still crap!
Monday, September 24, 2007
2 really interesting things.
I found out 2 things that really cracked me up yesterday.
Firstly the local gridiron team, The University of Hawaii, which is ranked about 15 in the HFL do a haka before each game. This is not at all popular with the other teams or coaches and it has been banned because it is un-American. However some of the other teams do similar pre match dances etc, based on the American Indian.
Here's the funny part; despite it being banned the team do the haka anyway and so at the start of every game they are penalised 15 yards at kick off.
Yep, they lose 15 yards at the start of every game quite happily without complaining; they feel it gives them a psychological advantage.
I wonder how the AB's and precious NZ public would feel about that?
The second thing is that you can go to the movies here for $1 at night and only 50c during the day. The movies are all about 2-3 months old, but still pretty recent such as the Simpsons movie. Makes $14 Tuesdays seem pretty expensive huh?
Tell you what though, Rachel and I are over cheese on everything already and would kill for a decent coffee.
Firstly the local gridiron team, The University of Hawaii, which is ranked about 15 in the HFL do a haka before each game. This is not at all popular with the other teams or coaches and it has been banned because it is un-American. However some of the other teams do similar pre match dances etc, based on the American Indian.
Here's the funny part; despite it being banned the team do the haka anyway and so at the start of every game they are penalised 15 yards at kick off.
Yep, they lose 15 yards at the start of every game quite happily without complaining; they feel it gives them a psychological advantage.
I wonder how the AB's and precious NZ public would feel about that?
The second thing is that you can go to the movies here for $1 at night and only 50c during the day. The movies are all about 2-3 months old, but still pretty recent such as the Simpsons movie. Makes $14 Tuesdays seem pretty expensive huh?
Tell you what though, Rachel and I are over cheese on everything already and would kill for a decent coffee.
Hawaii day 1
Day one in Hawaii has been hot!
First stop was the greatest restaurant in the world, "The cheesecake factory" for brunch then some shopping to replace Erika's lost stuff. Clothes are ridiculously cheap in Hawaii and if you shop around the shopkeepers are prepared to barter. T-Shirts are $4.99 each in most places, but you can buy 8 for $20. There won't be much laundry done in Hawaii I can promise you that.
First stop was the greatest restaurant in the world, "The cheesecake factory" for brunch then some shopping to replace Erika's lost stuff. Clothes are ridiculously cheap in Hawaii and if you shop around the shopkeepers are prepared to barter. T-Shirts are $4.99 each in most places, but you can buy 8 for $20. There won't be much laundry done in Hawaii I can promise you that.
We have been scammed for the first time on the trip. A guy was walking down the street with a parrot on his hand and we stopped and talked to him. Suddenly the parrot was on our heads and we were encouraged to take photos. Then we were paying money for the privilege.
This guy was good; I didn't see it coming at all.
So after all of that we checked out the beach and had a swim at the Outrigger hotel and I watched the setting of a world record for the most people doing a hula dance. There were 5500 woman doing it at once and they were lined up right along the lenght of the beach which would be 5 or 6 kms long.
Last night was pretty quiet with a visit to the Aloha Tower markets and some dinner on the harbour. We're all well except Erika who is coughing about every 10 seconds so if she doesn't get better soon, we may strangle her.
Apparently we can also post some video footage on here, so I will try later to do that. Aloha!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Aloha
Aloha from Waikiki.
Long day travelling yesterday, but all good with only a small hiccupp when we left one of our small suitcases at the Honolulu airport.
It mostly had Erika's stuff in it and female face paint etc, so I'm not too worried, but as there isn't another air NZ flight until tomorrow there's no air NZ staff at the airport until then.
Erika thinks just getting all new stuff sounds good.
Otherwise all is good; it was 25C at midnight when we arrived last night and will be 28C everyday while we're here. Erika has already decided to move here and Amy is just excited about everything.
We bought a video camera yesterday at the Auckland duty free and Rachel is terrorising the rest of us. We're a day behind here, so it's our 2nd Saturday in a row.
We are 22 hours behind NZ time so just add 2 hours and go back a day to be on Hawaii time.
Off to explore now, I'll post some pics later.
Long day travelling yesterday, but all good with only a small hiccupp when we left one of our small suitcases at the Honolulu airport.
It mostly had Erika's stuff in it and female face paint etc, so I'm not too worried, but as there isn't another air NZ flight until tomorrow there's no air NZ staff at the airport until then.
Erika thinks just getting all new stuff sounds good.
Otherwise all is good; it was 25C at midnight when we arrived last night and will be 28C everyday while we're here. Erika has already decided to move here and Amy is just excited about everything.
We bought a video camera yesterday at the Auckland duty free and Rachel is terrorising the rest of us. We're a day behind here, so it's our 2nd Saturday in a row.
We are 22 hours behind NZ time so just add 2 hours and go back a day to be on Hawaii time.
Off to explore now, I'll post some pics later.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
