Holiday Summary Part 2

I wrote too much information and the blog coudn't handle this so I had to break it in two.

Washington DC

 

Hilton Garden Inn – 1333 N Court House Road, Arlington VA

 

Again, you will not find this hotel in the travel brochures.  We chose to stay in Arlington as it was cheaper.  We were 3 minutes walk to the Metro (train) station and 7 minutes into the centre of Washington.  They checked us when we arrived, 2 hours before the official check-in time.

 

The hotel was lovely, the rooms a little on the small side but very comfortable and clean.  There is free wireless internet in the room.

 

No breakfast but there is always free hot coffee available in the hotel lobby. 

 

Washington DC Tips

 

·         The Old Town Trolley Tour was brilliant.  Hop on hop off privileges at all the big attractions.  There are three loops, downtown, uptown and Arlington Cemetery.  It can be fairly busy and hard to get on at the main train station stop if you don’t get going early in the morning.

 

·         If you want to go to the top of the Washington Monument, get there by 9am to get a ticket for your return time.  The queue is long and you will more than likely have to come back a few hours later for your time.  The ticket is free.

 

·         Near the hotel is a group of restaurants, all brilliant; a café, Italian and Thai.

 

·         Supershuttle was terrifying and we cancelled our return trip (and got our money back).  He did 20 miles over the speed limit and almost had two accidents.  We took a taxi back to the airport which was cheaper than the shuttle cost.

 

 

 

 

Niagara Falls

 

Four Points by Sheraton Niagara Falls - 114 Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY

 

We chose to stay on the US side because it is cheaper.  The hotel is dreadful to look from the outside but inside was lovely.  We couldn’t check-in until 3pm so we had 3 hours to kill after we arrived. 

 

We had a room on the top floor but overlooking the car park.  The other side of the building looked towards Canada.  The room was lovely, with a floating timber floor.  The bathroom was very small and the exhaust fan never turned off and even when you shut the door, you could still hear it.

 

The hotel offered free cable internet in the room.

 

The area is very run down and a lot of places are deserted.  Just walking to the casino in the daylight was pretty scary.

 

 

Niagara Falls Tips

 

·         You can do the Maid of the Mist tour from either side, US or Canada.  We chose to do The Niagara Falls and Great Gorge Adventure Pass on the Canadian side including Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, White Water Boardwalk (formerly Great Gorge Adventure),   Butterfly Conservatory and on off on the people mover bus.  The tour on the US side had a Cave of the Winds but we really wanted to go behind the falls (and loved it).

 

·         Walking across the bridge between the US and Canada takes less than five minutes and can be faster than driving (because of the border crossing).

 

·         A car is handy as shuttle buses from the airport to the area are reasonably expensive.  Also there isn’t many places to eat in Niagara Falls and it is handy to be able to drive to other areas for food.

 

 

New York

 

Avalon Vincci Hotel - 16 East 32^nd Street, New York, NY

 

Hotel is very conveniently located, just around the corner from the Empire State Building.  Rooms are what you expect for New York, small but surprisingly, the bathroom was the biggest we’ve seen anywhere.  We paid A$328 a night which was expected for New York. However the bed was reported to be a queen size but it was a double bed.  It had a floating timber floor and surprisingly, a refrigerator/mini bar. There is free wireless internet in the foyer but we found by putting the laptop on the window sill in our room, we could access the internet.

 

The staff weren’t very friendly and even being in the most expensive hotel of our trip, they wouldn’t cash a travellers cheque.

 

 

New York Tips

 

·         The Supershuttle was slow and tedious, moving in and around the New York streets.  The shuttle cost us A$40 for the two us but for US$45 (a flat fee to and from the airport) you can get a taxi get there a lot faster.  It took us two hours from the airport to the hotel in the shuttle and 45 minutes in the taxi. 

 

·         The 48 hr All Loops Double Decker Tour bus is a great way to see all of New York.  Each loop takes about three hours and there are three of them so you can see why it is two days.  We bought our tickets online and had to go to the main office to exchange our voucher, which was three blocks over and nine blocks up.  However, on almost every street corner you could pick up tickets for half of what we paid.

 

·         If walking around, avoid 5^th Avenue.  If you take Madison or another street, you’ll find less people and reduce your walking time.

 

 

San Francisco

 

Grant Hotel – 753 Bush Street, San Francisco

 

Hated it.  The place was old and very smelly.  The beds were so old and the pillows, all two of them, were so thin you needed had bothered.  It was very noisy from the street, people next door and people upstairs.  It was close (2 minutes) to the cable car. Free wireless internet in the room.  We were expecting it to be cheapish but this was dreadful so we left after one night.

 

Radisson Hotel Fisherman’s Wharf – 250 Beach Street, San Francisco

 

Loved it.  We booked it on Expedia and made our way down. They checked us in immediately at 11am.  The room was smallish but very comfortable and clean.  Free wireless internet in the room.  It was a bit noisy early in the morning from the street.

 

 

San Francisco Tips

 

·         Supershuttle was dreadful.  The shuttle itself had a broken side mirror and dents all over.  The shuttle driver banged me in the arm with someone elses bag and didn’t say sorry.  He didn’t get a tip.

 

·         The taxi driver we had from hotel 1 to hotel 2 explained that the shuttle industry was deregulated a while ago and now these guys are owner drivers.  The company doesn’t have any control over the drivers or their vans.  We cancelled our shuttle back to the airport and got a taxi, again it was less than the shuttle would have cost us.

 

·         We did a Gray Line Deluxe City Tour.  2½ hours and it stopped at various locations like The Palace of Fine Arts, under the Golden Gate Bridge, beside the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge and a guided tour of other areas.  Very interesting but cold.  Take a jumper or sit inside.

 

·         Best meal I had the entire time we were away was at the Blue Mermaid Chowder House & Bar, 471 Jefferson Street at Hyde, just a few minutes from Fisherman’s Wharf.  The crab cakes were to die for.

 

 

Honolulu

 

ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel – 2570 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu

 

Beautiful hotel.  We booked an ocean view room and were not disappointed.  18^th floor, balcony overlooking the beach.  I just sat out there and read my book, looking at the ocean and listening to the live music coming from the bar in the hotel which started at 4pm.  The room was spotless, and beautifully decorated, with a LCD TV.  Bathroom was a bit small.  Cable internet in room for a US$9.99 a day charge.   They had an offer of stay two nights get a third night free so we ended up paying A$252 a night.  Well worth it.

 

We could not check in until 3pm.

 

There is a lagoon area right across the street, which keeps the waves out.  If you want to be in the surf you have to go further up but we liked the lagoon.  The main market place is only 6 minutes walk. 

 

 

Honolulu Tips

 

·         We booked through Viator the hotel transfers.  We made an enquiry of Viator a week before our arrival and they emailed back saying they had cancelled it for us.  We never asked them too.  All attempts to have them reinstate the booking failed.  They even telephoned us and left a message on our home answering machine, totally not caring that we were in the USA.  However, when we arrived at the airport, the company was there to pick us up.  We don’t know what happened.  The transfer was quick and easy as was the return to the airport for our flight home.

 

·         We did the Arizona Memorial/Honolulu City Tour booked by you, Kylee.  It was supposed to be a 4 hour tour.  We choose to book this one as we assumed being on a tour you’d get preference at the memorial, not so!  It was badly organised.  We were picked up at 9.15 moved to a second location to get on a bus.  We arrived at the memorial at 10.30 and our ticket for the tour wasn’t until 12.15, not enough time to do the city tour so we had to sit around.  We didn’t get out of the memorial until 1.30, already over 4 hours and the city tour was going to take another 1.5 hours.  We decided not to continue as it was our last day, and returned back to the hotel in a taxi.

 

 

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

·         If you have the time, book the trip yourself.  www.expedia.com.au gave us the best prices.  90% of our trip was booked through them, with one hotel being booked through www.zuji.com.au We booked park tickets through their direct sites and buying online saved money.  We paid US$35 a ticket for Magic Mountain and the price at the gate was US$.     We had the travel agent, Flight Centre (WE DO NOT RECOMMEND AT NORTH SYDNEY) book most of our airline tickets for us.  We later discovered that had we booked directly with the airline we would have

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  Gotten a cheaper price
  
  
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  Had been able to book our seats straight away and would have avoided having to sit apart a lot of the time
  
  
• 
  
  Not had gotten the high security checks, taking forever.

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    In hindsight we would have avoided New York.  We didn’t have a great time.  Everyone was rude, from the expensive hotel to the service in restaurants.

 

·         Discovery Cove is a must recommend for anyone going to Orlando.

 

·         I’d never recommend Supershuttle and on many occasions, the taxi was faster and cheaper (except for Anaheim). 

 

·         All hotels were what we expected for the price except Grant Hotel in San Francisco.  I would recommend all of the others if it suited their price range and expectations.

The Holiday Summary

This summary is written by Sarah in response to those who wanted to know what we thought

 

 

 

 

Anaheim

 

Best Western Park Place Inn & Mini Suites – 1544 S Harbor Blvd, Anaheim

 

Location – brilliant.  Straight across the street from the driveway to Disneyland.  A 4 minute walk maximum to the gate which makes it very easy to come back to the room during the day. 

 

The hotel is three storeys, with external access to rooms.  Our room was a little dark but it was very clean and comfortable.  The complex has a small pool and spa which isn’t very attractive but still well maintained. 

 

There is free parking for one car only.

 

We were on the ground floor and with people come and going from their cars, it could be a little noisy during our afternoon nap but at night you couldn’t hear the people upstairs or next door.

 

There is free wireless internet and free local calls up to 30 minutes.  There is a computer for internet access in the main lobby for a cost.  There is also a printer you can use but its cable did not fit our laptop.

 

The hotel does not have a restaurant but offers a complimentary breakfast at the restaurant next door.  Don’t get excited though, it was pretty bad food; cold cereals, juice, coffee, sweet pastries, cold toast and boiled eggs.  There is also fresh fruit which consists of apples and oranges.

 

The staff were always very friendly and there was no hesitation in checking us in when we arrived four hours before check-in.

 

There is guest laundry facilities on the premises.

 

Anaheim Tips

 

·         Leave the park for lunch. There are plenty of places just outside the driveway with better variety and for a lesser price.

 

·         Although Denny’s are everywhere, we found the service and food the best at Denny’s in Anaheim.

 

·         We used Supershuttle to get from the Airport to Anaheim.  Very reasonable and well run.

 

 

San Diego

 

Days Inn SeaWorld/Airport – 3350 Rosencrans Street, San Diego

 

This hotel is not in the greatest area but is close to wherever you may want to go if you have a car.

 

The rooms have external access but the building is built in a square so there is some privacy and protected from the sound of the main road.

 

Our room was very light, bright and beautifully clean.  We have read reviews of other people on Expedia and TripAdvisor who say that they had problems with their room but we didn’t. 

 

There is free wireless internet in the room.

 

The hotel offers free shuttles to the airport, SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo but they are infrequent and don’t always run so it needs to be checked out before you commit to the shuttle.  We drove to the Zoo and parked for free.

 

There is a free continental breakfast.  You get a choice of two items from cold cereals, eggs, pancakes or muffins.  However, we found that you can get two hot items and a bowl of cereal.  There is also fruit, again apples and oranges and there is coffee and juice.  It was an OK breakfast for two days.  On busy times though, get in early as the service is pretty slow.

 

The staff were not very friendly and that seems to be a consistent review on Expedia and TripAdvisor. However, we were checked-in 2 hours before the official check-in time.

 

San Diego Tips

 

·         There is a Mexican restaurant next door to the hotel, Tio Carlos Mexican Restaurant. It is nothing much to look at from the outside but inside is lovely and the food is brilliant as was the service, but bring your appetite.  The portions are huge.

 

·         Make sure you have a map before you go anywhere. Sites like San Diego Zoo are not well marked on street signs.

 

·         Visit Old Town which is only about 5-10 minutes drive from the hotel.  A great place to get Mexican wares without having to visit Tijuana (and having been there before I didn’t feel the need to go there again). We picked up a beautiful Mexican rug for US$20.  Also there are a number of Mexican restaurants to try.

 

 

Las Vegas

 

Flamingo Hotel – 3555 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas

 

Check-in was busy even though we arrived 3 hours before official check-in started, although we were able to check-in early.

 

The room was nice enough but even though we told the lady at check-in we were getting married we did not get a room with a view, other than of the car park.  If someone really wants to stay here, my tip is to ask for a view of the room AND close to the lift.  We were almost as far away from the lift as you can get and it was a four minutes walk from the lift to the room, down two large corridors.

 

The room was fairly clean but our sink drained really really slowly and it was never fixed the 6 nights we were there.

 

Internet is not free but we were happy to pay the US$11.99 a day.

 

The hotel grounds are beautiful including a very large pool, some smaller pools (one with nude bathing) and water slides for the kids.  Unfortunately the pools close at 5pm.  There are many flamingos, ducks and swans on the grounds.

 

The hotel buffet, although expensive by Vegas standards, was brilliant.  We ate there one night and decided to eat there again for our wedding reception (for all five of us).  There was a tremendous amount to choose from including prawns, crab, sushi, salads, roasts, pastas, vegetables.  There were also about 20 different yummy desserts includes crepes as you wait. 

 

There is no guest laundry at this hotel so don’t expect to do any washing.

 

Grand Canyon Tour

 

We did a Viator Grand Canyon West Rim Adventure tour run by King Airelines.  Pick up from the hotel, plane to the Grand Canyon, free lunch, Hualapai Indian Tour Guide, helicopter to the bottom of the Canyon, 20 minute boat ride on the Colorado River, helicopter back to the top, plane back to Las Vegas and return to the hotel.  The total cost, including all fuel charges was A$380 per person.

 

It was supposed to be a 7½ tour and our pick up time was scheduled for 10.30am.  We were actually picked up at 9.15am and sat around their terminal until after 10.30am.  We left the airfield around 11.15am in a small six seater plane and took a 45 minute scenic flight to the Canyon.  When we arrived we were standing around waiting until 12.20pm when our pilot gave us our helicopter time of 1pm.  We needed to board a bus to get our lunch but by the time we got on the bus and travelled the 5 or so miles to get to the lunch spot, it was already 12.45pm and we had to get back for our helicopter flight.  We were back in just enough time but they kept us waiting again until 1.20pm before we took our flight to the bottom.  The boat ride was nice except we had Japanese people with us and a Japanese driver and spent more time talking to them in Japanese than he did speaking to us in English.  By the time we returned to the top of the Canyon, we didn’t have enough time to get on the bus and eat before our plane left at 3pm.  We complained to our pilot at 2.45 when we saw him and he rustled up some food for us.  We NEVER got to see the Canyon from the rim.  We were back at our hotel by 4.10pm.   This was certainly NOT a 7½ hour tour, very badly run and, in my opinion, not worth the money.

 

My advice to anyone DON’T DO THIS TOUR.  In fact my advice to anyone is NEVER BOOK ANYTHING THROUGH VIATOR.  I’ll explain later under Honolulu. 

 

Las Vegas Tips

 

·         Vegas is so spread out that you really need a car to get around and all hotels offers free parking.  My suggestion is hire a car, stay in accommodation off the strip and save a bit of money.  There is a monorail which runs mainly at the back of strip hotels but it is about $4 a trip and not worth it. 

 

·         Even if not staying there, Circus Circus is a great place to visit with the kids (we had one child wedding guest).  The Adventuredome has rides and games for the kids of all ages and in the hotel itself, there are free circus acts every half hour which are very entertaining.  Also the midway games are fun but don’t win too many stuffed animals if you have limited suitcase space.

 

·         If you want a scary thrill, ride the Manhattan Express rollercoaster at New York New York. 

 

·         Visit the MGM Hotel and check out the lions in the hotel area, which is free (not much in Las Vegas is free).

 

·         The Rainforest Café in the MGM is also a great place to eat.  They have animatronic animals which move on a regular basis, including lightning and rain (not on you) that happens ever 20 minutes or so. 

 

·         We found taking a taxi to the airport cheaper than getting the shuttle.

 

 

Orlando

 

Comfort Suites Maingate East – 2775 Florida Plaza Blvd, Kissimmee

 

This hotel we didn’t find in any travel brochures but was the best find on the internet.  We paid A$105 a night plus there was a A$2.50 per person per night service fee which covers local calls and in-room safes, payable on check-in.

 

This place is off the main road in Kissimmee and super quiet.  The hotel is beautiful inside and out.  The room was extremely clean, the beds the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in with the softest down pillows.  I didn’t want to get up every morning.

 

We arrived at 7am not thinking they would check us in but they did immediately. 

 

The hotel offers free internet (cable) in your room.  There is a free continental breakfast every morning which was excellent; cold cereals, mini muffins, pastries, toast, fresh fruit (oranges, apples, bananas), yogurts, coffee, juices and a changing selection of hot food daily so you also got variety.  Some included French toast, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon etc.  But the best thing about breakfast was freshly made waffles, plain or chocolate chip. You could also get it in a Mickey Mouse face. 

 

The pool is heated an open 24 hours.  We met some of the nicest people in the pool at 11pm.

 

The hotel offers free Disney shuttles but they are very limited (a couple in the morning between 8.30 and 10am and a couple more in the late afternoon between 6 and 9pm).  It wasn’t very convenient so we chose to take the car to the park every day.  US$10 to park but if you changed parks, or leave and return, you didn’t have to pay again.  We found it convenient. 

 

The only downside with the hotel is that the lifts are dreadfully slow.

 

Across the street from the hotel is Kissimmee's Old Town and is popular for its weekend car shows. The Friday Nite Cruise features 1973–1987 model cars, and the Saturday Nite Cruise highlights 1972 models and older. Hundreds of cars are on display each weekend, and admission is free.  Also there is Fun Town USA which has a variety of rides and games.

 

Things To Do

 

You have all your regular parks to do in Orlando and we did them all. Our views broken down by event are below:

 

NASA - we did the NASA Up Close & Personal Tour (minus the lunch with an astronaut).  I was looking forward to NASA but we had flown overnight from Las Vegas and lost three hours and were very tired.  It was a 1½ drive from the hotel.  The tour was great and the guide very informative. There were plenty of other things to do at NASA but I had hurt my foot and could barely walk and we were both very tired.  Our ticket did entitle us to go back another day but we just didn’t have the time.

 

Discovery Cove – This would be my favourite place on the entire trip.  The day is totally exclusive except for the dolphin photos.  We paid A$380 each which also included entry to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.  (This was US$14 on top of the Discovery Cove cost, a saving of about US$100).  You arrive around 8am and are greeted by very friendly staff.  You get your photo taken and are provided with a photo ID (which was also the ticket for the other two parks) which details your dolphin swim time.

 

There is an orientation and then you help yourself to a large spread for breakfast.  From there you go and get your wetsuit or swim vest, your towel, your snorkel and mask (you get to keep the snorkel) and sunscreen.  You also get your locker.  As I said, all this is included. You are then free to explore until your dolphin swim.  We snorkelled around the coral reef and then went into the stingray lagoon. All the barbs are removed from the stingrays.

 

At the dolphin swim you are broken up in groups of 8 and go out with a trainer.  It is very structured which is fine.  People forget they are still unpredictable animals. You get to rub, hug, kiss, watch the dolphins and listen to the keeper.  You also get a dolphin ride too where you are out in deeper water and the dolphin pulls you back in.

 

After that we were at lunch and I’ve never seen so much food in my life.  We then went back to snorkelling and then we went into the large pool which is heated and very warm.  Leading off the pool is a flowing river.  It takes about 20 minutes before you return back to the pool.  There are floating devices you can use as you float around, under waterfalls and the like. 

 

There is also a bird aviary you can walk around.

 

As the day is totally inclusive, you can go and get food and drink any time you like, including alcohol.

 

A definite must thing to do when in Orlando.  It is located right near SeaWorld.

 

Epcot – Not the most exciting place in the world.  A few rides, very Expo like.

 

Disneyworld – Not dissimilar to Disneyland except it is missing some of the good rides of Disneyland like Indiana Jones.  The FastPass ticket is handy if a ride is busy and you want to come back at an allotted time and jump the queue.

 

The problem with Disneyworld is that it is on an island and you have to get on a monorail or boat to get there and back and just after we got back, you had to take the boat to get there.

 

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Brilliant.  So well organised.  A lot of it is open plain so you do a safari type truck around and see the animals.  There are also various rides you can partake in.

 

Universal Studios – It was OK.  Had a few good rides and shows we liked.

 

SeaWorld – I was looking forward to SeaWorld (I had to the one in San Diego on a previous trip) and this time had booked a Dine with Shamu.  We were very disappointed that when we went to check in on arrival, the dining wasn’t until 4.15 (and this was at 8.30).  However we were offered a refund which we took.  Enjoyed the shows, and seeing all the marine animals and of course Alan enjoyed the rides.

 

Universal Islands of Adventure – full on rides and pretty extreme ones at that.

 

Disney MGM Studios – We both actually found it pretty boring.  Had a brilliant Indiana Jones Stunt Show but the others we saw were pretty lame.

 

Busch Gardens, Tampa – a mixture of rides and animals.  Interesting combination.  We really enjoyed our day and the drive to and from Tampa, about 70 minutes, was easy.

 

Orlando Tips

 

·         We discovered Olive Garden Restaurant although they are everywhere in the USA.  Inexpensive but brilliant Italian. 

 

·         We enjoyed having the car and found it very convenient.

 

 

Day 43 - Last Full Day Of The Trip

Alan is making we write this tonight even though I'm too sad.  Alan will agree with everything I say in green

 

How can it possibly be time to come home?  We only just got here.  I am feeling really sad about having to leave this beautiful paradise but there are four reasons to come home, our four fluffy girls.  We have missed them so much.

 

We were up at a reasonable hour this morning as we were to be picked up for the Arizona Memorial tour at 9.25am.  We went down to breakfast and instead of taking 6 fruit salads like we did yesterday, we took 22.  We had to.  Tomorrow morning we are being picked up at 5.45am for our flight and breakfast doesn't start until 6.30am.  We needed to get our money's worth.

 

We were looking forward to the Arizona Memorial, that was until we arrived and discovered we had to wait almost two hours.  We would have thought, going through an actual tour organisation, we would have received some priority.  That wasn't the case.  I'm not exactly sure what we paid for considering the Memorial is free.  It was very hot and humid and not much around to do to fill that amount of time. There's a museum and stuff like that which I found very interesting but it still didn't come close to filling all our spare time.  Finally we were let into the theatre to view a 30 minute film and then we were on the shuttle out to the Memorial.  It is actually quite moving although you really can't comprehend what it must have been like that morning on 7 December 1941. The USS Arizona still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbour where it sank, with the viewing platform built over the top of it. A few pieces of the warship just poke out of the waters surface.

 

In all, 21 American warships were damaged or sunk when Japan launched their surprise attack on the Naval base at Pearl Harbour that day. 2390 Americans died, of which 1177 were on the Arizona. Most of the bodies of the Arizona dead are still entombed in the sunken ship.

 

We returned to the hotel and had some of our fruit salad and then hit the lagoon for a swim.  The roads were fairly busy coming back from the Memorial and we thought the beach would be too.  However, it was quieter than it had been the last few days.  When we made mention of this to a security person who was in our lift, he suggested that everyone was watching "the big game".  Hawaii were playing San Jose in some sort of football. It was a college football game.

 

After our last holiday swim we returned to the room and showered.  Before heading out to dinner we were treated to a fireworks display.  It was nice of the people of Hawaii to give us a great send off.  We walked about four blocks to a mexican restaurant.  The food was nice but, as always, there was far too much of it.  We didn't appreciate the waitress giving us a lecture on the art of tipping, including telling us how much to tip her.  On reviewing the bill we discovered she had charged for us a salad which actually came with the meal.  There went her tip. I think it's a bit rude telling customers how much they should tip you.

 

We are now back in our room, looking very sad at each other.  12 hours from now we will be on our way back to Australia and will be home in less than 24 hours. 

 

There will be one more holiday blog, a bit of a summation so to say, so stay tuned. It may not be tomorrow or the next day but definitely it will be posted by Wednesday. Once we get back home, over our jet lag and out of holiday mode.

 

Thanks to everyone for tuning in and sharing our holiday stories, photos and especially our wedding.  We love you all.

 

Trivia for the day: 66 years on and oil still leaks from the engines of the USS Arizona into Pearl Harbour at a rate of about 2 litres per day.

 

 

Here is a video of Alan playing in the water.

 

 

 

 

Day 42 - A lazy day in paradise

Sarah's making Alan write the blog entry today. I'm very tired after such a hard day so it will be short. Her comments will be in orange.

 

We slept in this morning thus missing our 7am pickup time for a free breakfast at Planet Hollywood. It didn't matter though as we also get a free breakfast here at our hotel so we went down and filled our cooler bags to the brim with all kinds of goodies. I'm pretty sure the Planet Hollywood breakfast was just going to be a hard sell on signing up for some tours.  Did I say that yesterday?  I'm tired too so I'm not sure.

 

We spent the morning doing not very much at all, the way it should be in such a beautiful place at the end of a long holiday. I don't think I could ever get sick of sitting and reading whilst looking every so often at the ocean.  I saw some interesting things; a guy fishing in the lagoon area, another guy using a metal detector in the lagoon and the large number of elderly people who stay in the water for hours.  I think Honolulu is becoming the new Florida for retirees.  For lunch we ate 6 fruit salad tubs left over from our breakfast after which we took a wander across the road to the beach where Sarah had a paddle at the waters edge. We then walked slowly down the street looking in all the shops and buying a few bits and pieces before returning to our room for an afternoon just as lazy as the morning.

 

Late in the afternoon we ventured back over to the beach and we both had a dip in the lagoon. We were surprised to see hundreds of little fish swimming around near the shore. The water was pretty cold but we stayed in there for an hour or so.  The water temperature is 27 degrees, hardly cold.  I could have stayed in all day.

 

We had a lovely seafood dinner at the restaurant downstairs and now have retired back to the 18th floor for the evening.

Day 41 - Aloha!

Even though it is Alan's night to blog and he's had a 3.5 hour nap this afternoon, I've been made to do it. Of course, Alan will still have to add his 2 cents worth which we all know gets rounded down to nothing.  So, his nothing comments will be in pink.

 

We woke at 6am today at Alan's direction even though I thought we should have been up earlier for our 9am flight.  The heavy rain overnight had caused havoc on the road but thankfully that havoc was not near the airport.   A very smooth trip by taxi and we arrived at the American Airlines terminal. As usual, I was right in my time management skills. This was one of the tickets that formed part of the Qantas frequent flyer points we received from my parents.  After a few hiccups with their automated check-in, we learned that the flight was full and again we didn't have seats together.  However, we weren't flagged for extra security by airport staff.  We asked the desk attendant at the gate if there was anything he could do and thankfully we was able to do a bit of a shuffle and seat us together.

 

We knew ahead of time that we would need to purchase food and headphones for this flight.  What we didn't know is that they were trialling a new system where no cash would be accepted.  We quickly ran off and bought some ham and cheese rolls for the flight before the door shut.  It's very annoying that so many Qantas frequently flyer points were used to get us on a flight where we don't get a free feed or at least a set of headphones. San Francisco airport had 4 runways operating this morning with planes coming and going and criss crossing each other at a very regular rate. I sure wouldn't want to be an air traffic controller organising all that chaos.

 

After a 5 hour flight, we arrived into a very warm and humid Honolulu just after 11am.  We'd had a problem a few days ago when a simple question asked of the agency through whom we had booked our ground transport had prompted them to cancel it on us.  Many emails were sent telling them not to cancel it, with them responding that they had tried to call us and left an urgent message for us to call but as we hadn't responded, they had cancelled the ground transport.  Of course we hadn't responded ... they had left the message on our home answering machine.  Hadn't occurred to them that although we had taken a trip to the Grand Canyon through them a few weeks ago that we weren't at home. 

 

As we walked off the plane I saw someone with the Diamond Head tours folder and as we walked towards her, she asked if we were Alan and Sarah.  It would appear that they had received information about the cancellation but were expecting us anyway.  Must happen every now and then.

 

We were ushered with others to baggage claim and our bags and us were quickly whisked away to the bus and were on our way to our accommodation.  On the bus were a family from Brisbane.  We've encountered two lots of Brisbanites in two days.

 

The hotel is lovely, just as we had hoped.  We had to wait until 3pm to check in but when we did, we weren't disappointed. Between arriving here and checking in we took a walk over to the beach and down the street looking around the shops. We each had the thickest thickshake I think I've ever had in my life. It took me a good few minutes of sucking before anything started to come up the straw. There was a dude on the street with his 2 pet macaws which we had some photos taken with. Of course he wanted payment afterwards. We are on the 18th floor with a lovely ocean view room.  While Alan slept this afternoon I sat and read, watching the beach.  I then watched the sunset whilst listening to the music and singer coming from the bar area of our hotel. 

 

Alan finally pulled himself out of bed in time for us to go down and get a pizza and some drinks and we returned to the room.  Alan has just had a shower only to find we have no hot water.  We must do something about that tomorrow and definitely before I have to shower.

 

We have two cooler bags in our room for our BOB - Breakfast on the Beach in the morning. The hotel puts on breakfast but instead of you dirtying tables around the pool, they make you take it to the beach.  We will hit the BOB early as the company who picked us up this morning from the airport has free breakfast for us at Planet Hollywood.  I think it is nothing more than a hard sell on tours while you are here but as we are only here for two days, and one tour is booked for one day, they aren't going to get us to do anything other than take a second breakfast.

 

 

 

 

Day 40 - Again No Rain In San Francisco

Sarah's blogging and Alan's commenting in green.

 

We had a lovely night in our new hotel.  Very comfortable bed and nice squishy pillows. It's great to have a king size bed for a change because Sarah doesn't roll all over me. It was a little noisy this morning with trucks on the street so we were up and moving by 9am.  We went down to Pier 39 as we'd seen really nice crepes coming out of a store there yesterday. Thankfully they were open and we each had an extremely large strawberry crepe with whipped cream for breakfast.

 

Rain was predicted for today and as the clouds rolled in we thought they might be right.  We decided to embark on a 2.5 hour bus tour of San Francisco anyway which started at 10.45am. We were dressed reasonably warmly so we sat in the open section, but as we rounded the first bend we were immediately hit by a chilly wind.  We very quickly moved inside the trolley bus where it was a bit warmer.  We rode through the very steep streets of San Francisco with the driver pointing out various areas of interest.  Our first stop was the Palace of the Fine Arts. We then moved down to below the Golden Gate Bridge where we had another photo stop.  We went past the smallest cemetery which is right near the Bridge, which was a pet cemetery.

 

We then stopped by the side of the Bridge and we had half an hour to do whatever we wanted.  As you can see from the photos, Alan decided to climb over a display and be in everyone else's photos. I had to be very quick because a bridge security patrol cruised by, followed by a California Highway Patrol going by the opposite way. We learned many facts, most of which will appear in Alan's comments. We went to Union Square, The Presidio, Chinatown, Nob Hill, Grace Cathedral and Washington Square. However I can say that neither would I want to live here or ever be able to afford to live here.  To buy is way out of our price range and we couldn't even make the rent, let alone have a car we can't park. It's a very nice city and the people are extremely friendly, but it's far too cold here for my liking. Very few houses have garages and parking on the street is virtually impossible.

 

After our return to Pier 39, we ventured in to one of the many food places and I had a clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.  I had to have one before I left here and I wasn't disappointed.  Alan just had some boring calamari. Um hello..... Sarah had boring calamari for dinner tonight.

 

We were due to meet Kay and Jim at their hotel at 2pm but before doing so, Alan needed to return to the room to add another jumper to his clothing. I seem to recall that Sarah changed into something warmer as well. We arrived just a little late to find that Kay had taken a tumble down the stairs and had hurt her hand pretty badly.  We returned to their room to ice it and while deciding what we were going to do, there was a knock on the door. The hotel had sent up a free breakfast voucher for the two of them because of the fall.  If Alan had known that earlier, he would have been tripping me up all over the USA. Sarah's clumsy enough that I don't need to trip her up.

 

Jim and Kay had been up to Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world earlier in the day and asked whether we would like to see it.  Alan and I were actually going to suggest it to them.  Kay stayed in the room and I probably should have elected to stay with her.  There were three large hills to climb to get there, each one worse than the previous one.  The third was a killer. It wasn't a bad walk at all. Just a few little hills. I was ready to die when we reached the bottom of Lombard St and elected NOT to climb the large number of stairs to the top with Alan and Jim. 

 

Whilst recovering I heard a lady behind me say "my heart is going to beat out of my chest".  I recognised the Australian accent and came face to face with two sisters with their husbands from Brisbane. 

 

We returned to their hotel room (going down the steep hills was much easier) and sat around and chatted for a while. We returned to the room briefly to do a bit of packing and met them for dinner down by the Pier.  Before saying our goodbyes we ventured back to the chocolate shop.  I think Jim and Alan were trying to outdo each other on who could buy the most.  Alan just now said behind me "I think I bought too much chocolate".  I already knew that.

 

It was then time to bid Kay and Jim farewell.  We love them so much and it's so hard when we live so far away from each other.  It was hard to say goodbye to Christie and Steve too in Las Vegas but I chat with Christie at least once a week on the internet.  Jim has to go out and buy a new computer with a large screen so Kay can email more often.

 

So tonight we pack again for the second last time.  Tomorrow it is hello Honolulu.  I've enjoyed my time in San Francisco.  Still, as I write this, it hasn't rained today.  However we are looking forward to a bit warmer weather.  Today it reached a maximum of 17 with a cold wind coming off the water.  Glad we are leaving now as Friday it will only be a maximum of 13.  The prediction for our three days in Honolulu is partly cloudy and 30.  Sounds good to me. It sounds like it's just started to rain now, after 10pm.

 

 

 

 

Day 39 - A sunny day in San Francisco

It's Alan's turn to blog today. Sarah will put her thoughts in red.

 

After an awful nights sleep of being woken constantly by noise from the busy road outside and the very thin walls, we got up this morning and Sarah immediately began checking the internet for somewhere else to stay. It didn't take long to find a better looking hotel so we packed our bags, checked out and went outside to catch a taxi. They didn't even ask us why we were leaving 2 days early. Maybe they're used to people leaving after only one night because the place is such a dump.  The smell of the place didn't improve even though we had the window open a good portion of last night.  We were freezing.

 

We caught a taxi to the Radisson which is just a block from the waterfront. It's much more expensive but also much nicer. The lady at the counter even let us check in 5 hours early than usual which was a bonus.

 

After that we went out for a walk around the shops and stopped for a visit to the wax museum. There were lots of exhibits in there most of which looked extremely life like. By the time we finished that it was time to meet Jim and Kay around the corner at their hotel. They're the parents of Christie who was at our wedding, and are down here from Washington for the weekend. We all went for a wander over to Fishermans Wharf and stopped with the crowd to watch all the sea lions who've been calling pier 39 home for decades now. Boats are no longer allowed to enter the area any more to ensure the sea lions aren't disturbed. They're loud and a bit stinky but they're also fun to watch.

 

We continued browsing through all the shops along the pier checking out all the cool touristy type stuff there is to buy. There was a shop with some great Wizard of Oz glass globe things which we liked but I'm sure they would have broken in our luggage before we got home so we didn't buy one.  They were music boxes and absolutely beautiful.

 

We'd barely eaten a thing all day so we headed off for an early seafood dinner which was absolute yumminess. By the time we came out of the restaurant it was snowing outside so we made a quick stop in one of the huge number of chocolate shops around here to buy some late night snacks and then said a quick goodbye to Jim and Kay, until tomorrow at least, before hurriedly returning to our hotel room. Thankfully it was only half a block away instead of having to catch a cable car about 20 blocks back uphill to our crummy hotel of last night.  It wasn't snowing.  It is about 13 degrees and I like the cool.  It has such a fresh feeling.

 

We'll both be sleeping well tonight.

 

Trivia for the day: It's the second time I've been here and Sarah's third time and never before have we experienced a sunny day in San Francisco. I believe tomorrow is going to be wet and icky though.

Day 38 - San Francisco

Sarah's travel day blog.  Alan's usual nonsense is in green

 

We had to be up at 5am this morning to make the flight from New York to San Francisco.  We didn't mind if it meant we finally got to get away from the place.  We didn't find one nice person in New York.  Not on the tour bus, not walking around, not in the restaurants/shops and definitely not in the hotel.

 

We cancelled our shuttle booking and instead took a taxi.  At that time in the morning, it was a quick trip and we really didn't want to have to deal with going from hotel to hotel picking up other people. The trip by taxi between New York airports and Manhattan has a set fee of $45. It's amazing how taxi drivers can actually find the accelerator when the meter isn't ticking! We reached speeds of 75 mph in a 45 zone. The Delta Airlines representative wanted us to try the self check-in, even though we explained to him that it doesn't work for us.  A few minutes later he was convinced and we joined the queue for the service check-in.  Before making it to the counter another Delta Airlines representative was very rude and ordered us back to the self check-in but finally allowed us a service check-in.

 

Again we were selected for the "random" secondary security check.  Yeah, random that it happens to us every time.  The line for the security check was short but it took them forever.  Alan got his check done fairly quickly but I had to wait for the Airport employee to check the person behind me first.  They spoke the same foreign language.  I guess it doesn't matter about first come first served.  Finally my check was completed and we walked away from the gate and Alan asked whether I had our boarding passes.  I didn't so we had to return.  It took about another 10 minutes before we were able to collect them from the very disorganised staff. They called for boarding at 8am, they scanned Alan's boarding pass which allowed him through but mine came up with that I hadn't been security checked.  Great!  She checked with her Supervisor and I was allowed on the plane.  She gave me a friendly shoulder rub on my way through.  I must have looked pretty annoyed.

 

We were supposed to take off at 8.25 but it was after 9.15 before we got underway.  Just after take off it was announced that we would get beverage service on the flight but we would have to pay for the food.  A 5 1/2 hour flight with no food.  Unfortunately we had little to no money as we'd been unable to get a travellers cheque cashed and places in Manhattan charge you to use an ATM.  Do you believe that? Hmmm, supposedly everywhere accepts American Express travellers cheques. Yeah right, not in New York. Also, to watch the movie on the plane we needed to pay $2 for headphones.  We were planning on sleeping but then Alan found a pair of headphones in his seat pocket and we were able to share an ear each, for Evan Almighty. Pretty funny. We did at least manage a couple of hours uncomfortable sleep each.

 

An uneventful flight and we arrived in a reasonably cool San Francisco. Another SuperShuttle trip with an Asian driver who spent the majority of his time driving at 70 miles an hour whilst looking at a street map.  God we hate shuttles. I think they'll just employ anyone for their shuttles regardless of whether or not they actually have any driving ability.

 

The hotel is, well one word, dreadful. It is very reasonably priced for San Francisco and well located and although we weren't expecting much, this is a lot less than we were expecting.  Firstly, it smells.  It is like someone used about 10 bottles of very strong air freshener trying to cover something up which didn't work.  It is a non smoking hotel so that isn't it. It doesn't smell like air freshener to me. It just smells like stinkiness.

 

The room is OK.  There is paint peeling and we have no fridge and there is no ice bucket. Great, we can't have a cold drink. Instead of the sink being in the bathroom it is right near the bed.  I had to go and ask for some more pillows and thankfully we got the last two to spare.

 

We took a short walk and had some lunch of fish and chips at a local cafe and came back to the room.  It is at the end of Fleet Week in San Francisco and we were able to see the Blue Angels perform acrobatic manoeuvers from our room. I'd never been to an airshow before.  We could have got premium seating tickets for US$26 but we felt free from our room was a good price.

 

It is a really beautiful day in San Francisco.  I've been here three times before and it has always rained.  We just know that is what will be on the cards for us the next two days.

 

My friend Christie's parents arrived in town from Tacoma, Washington today.  We were going to catch up with them tonight but after our 5am start we are pretty tired.  We have arranged to meet up tomorrow afternoon.

 

There are no photos today, unless you want to see the ones I took of Alan sleeping on the plane with his mouth open. I could have taken similar photos of Sarah but I would have needed to wake her to get the camera.