Laura & Andrew's travel log

Sunday, 30 September 2007

Location: san francisco, USA

today is our last day in the states. we can't believe that it has been over a month already!
we did alcatraz the other day and yesterday we went dome to market street to watch the love fest parade. it was... different.
i guess the bigger you are the less you wear over here during these events.
During the love fest they actually allow you to jump onto the floats and dance around and just join in anyway you want so it made it all pretty crazy especially soe of the floats we saw!
we walked up and down with a couple of drinks in the beautiful sun and ended up our day with some shopping.
we're both not loking forward to gong home now, we are loving the life of no bills and no plans, just doing as you please seems to work really well with us!
all in all andrew and i are so happy with everything that we've seen and done, some of the things we will always remember and alot of them are things we will want to come back in 5 or so years and see if things have changed.
happy that we have got away with our lives and clothes. (note: not both our passports) and now onto home to bombard everyone with our, 100+ photos of a big hole, also known as the grand canyon, loads more of things that could never be really explained due to us not really understanding or remembering and tons more of us being silly.
ughhh off to work we go...

Friday, 28 September 2007

Location: Alcatraz island, USA

OK so today is one of the reasons we came here!!! Up at a nice hour of 7am and on the bus to the pier. After a brief stroll which led us to the hard rock cafe, we wandered back to the pier and qued up for the ferry ride out to the famous prison. A 15 minute ride and we were on The Rock, but no sign of Shaun Connery or Nicholas Cage!!
We wandered up the ramps and started our audio tour (a pair of headphones, radio and some ex con leading you around the prison cells, top idea) and i hate to say it but it was
educational!!! Im on holidays dammit!
Alot of history on this island and it was interesting hearing about its military days from which it was a fort then military prison before becoming a federal prison..
i (loz now) acutally really enjoyed it, realising it was a big rock or 200+ yrs and that they acutally had a school for the guards children was pretty amazing, the audio was unbelievable, it acutally walks you thru so much and tells you soo many things that you acutally look at and and wonder what it is... it was well worth the 24$$ even if it was soo cold that it has been the first time i've worn jeans and a jumper DURING the day all summer!!
jumped off the rock and onto hard rock cafe for lunch and had a bit of a stroll down the pier to one of the oldest amuement parks which andrew loves yets hates at the same time (when he looses his money... sounds like vegas!!), it had turned into a nice day but decided on not going to the bridge today after we went yesterday and all we saw was fog. and maybe a hint of reddish orange...heading to the love fest tomorrow so we'll keep you posted.
happy travels

Wednesday, 26 September 2007

Location: san francisco, USA

hey!
so we spent the last few days in l.a being pretty quite, did the walk of fame again for a bit but just hung and finally got the chance to do some washing. (since las vegas. smelly.)
anyhoo we checked our flight 50 times and finally got to the airport after getting up at some unreasonable hour just to be told my lovely travel agent has booked me on a 8pm flight and andrew was on an 10 am flight. fantastic.
because she also put down the wrong info on my flights i have to go thru a screening process. not one damm american in the line either... so after some reasonable anger we finally make it on the plane and arrive in sunny san fran. The best part about LA was the taxi driver who i happily left my BB gun to...it was his daughters bday!!!
we are staying in the heart of chinatown and it is quite cosy, although i cant find any fireworks...yet.
So far we have been to the gay district and i wasnt the only gay in the village!! Seen some amazing hills and houses it really is quite beautiful.
Off to alcatraz in a couple of days and will fill in the rest of our time at the "love fest" march on saturday...should be interesting, kind of a mardi gras but not too sure what to expect, just lots of people and dancing in the street!!!
Fingers crossed we cross off the main attractions (golden gate bridge, crookedest street and russian hill) and still come home with money/clothes!!
Looking forward to a double bday celebration tomorrow should be fun even without our tequila bar!!!

Sunday, 23 September 2007

Location: hollywood, USA

so today is our second day in los angeles. so far so good. we havenyt been killed, had our bags stolen of been robbed. things are looking up!
on our first day we walked over to ralphs (the supermarket) and ther is this guy standing outside with a massive knife tapped to a pole. he may as well had a welcome to L.A sign stuck to him as well. needless to say andrew and i hurried inside and hung out for a bit in the drinks section befor braving it outside again...
we took a stroll down hollywood blvd today and saw all the sights, not that interesting really. i did need to go to the toilet once (this isnt what you think trust me) so i go into this fastfood place and someone is in there, fine i think, so i wait... and wait... and wait by this stage i really think i am about to wet my pants, because i always wait to the last min to go and andrew wasnt helping by poking me! FINALLY i hear the toilet flush and a guy comes out!!! he had not only stunk out the WHOLE place (as in a actually had to hold my breath) and washed his hair in the basin, but, had also used all the paper and blocked the toilet! fan tas tic!! this was my hollywood experience!!!
on the other hand andrew finally got the shirt he always wanted. the govenator!! if you dont get it look at the photos.
tomorrow is our last day in hollywood and we jetset up to san francisco!! woooo so fingers crossed we dont get mugged on the way to the airport...

Friday, 21 September 2007

Location: San diego...again!, North America

WOW what an awesome day we had today! Went to see the red bull air race and it was so cool and entertaining. They were flying so low above san diego bay and the way they manouvere and turn was just unbelieveable. We only saw the qualifying as race day is tomorrow and we leave for LA...it is also $25 each a ticket and we only paid $10 for qualifying typical tourists!
Only problem today was the camera battery died about 15 mins after it started but i still got some cool photos and a couple of videos but i missed all the f-18s and jets that paraded around afterwards. They really do love the movie Top Gun over here alot of references were made to it!! We even saw the cafe/bar where the sleazy bar scene was filmed!! Tried to upload another couple of photo page but cause the camera is dead, well you can figure the rest out!!
OK that is all for now but will write again real soon, til then take care and rock on.

Thursday, 20 September 2007

Location: back in san diego!!, USA

hey guys!
we're back in san diego, this place is just to beautiful to leave.
we left bakersfield and drove onto san luis obispo, really pretty place, kept nice and clean and the locals are a little slow but thats part of the charm. i went into a store and it took this guy 10mins to scan the price tag! we got lost looking for the beach so we went onto pismo beach a little further south, this place was really cool. it reminds me of the entrance in sydney, (befor it became too popular) and a little like baywatch according to andrew... ? we had a little place the had a pool and a hot tub being litterally the only thing between us and the beach so we have some pretty amazing photos to show everyone. (if andrew ever remembers the cord and i work out how to use there damm computer!)
this is where andrew also lashed out and brought himself a gun. no not a real one, a bb gun. i dont understand this boy obsession with loud shooting things but i will either throw it out when he is not looking or try to understand what it does and how it is fun??
anyhoo up early the next day and onto santa monica.
Spent the afternoon strolling along the santa monica pier and went onto the ferris wheel. the pier is actually pretty amazing and the guys behind the bar make a pretty wicked long island iced tea! A wicked games arcade is also on the pier and it has about 8 pin ball machines the most so far!! An addams family and terminator were the best. (andrew here clearly!) A little while later we left the pier and pretty much hurried back to our room cause once the sun goes down all the weirdos go crazy!!
Dont ask for directions in santa monica they are either tourists or give you the wrong directions! (yes we did walk in the wrong direction....and we got lost!)
Up the earliest since the contiki tour finished this morning and started the long drive to san diego. (about 2 and a bit hours, not that long but we are on holiday!)
In san diego i returned to the dvd store to see if my movie was in and lo and behold it was! The movie is called Trucks and its kinda weird but i like it! Might head back to the tequila bar tonight for a COUPLE not many cause the red bull air race is on tomorrow and im excited about it even if loz isnt! Chicken and vodka should keep her happy!
San diego is such a wonderful place after a week on the road with weird locals, desert plains and bugger all else apart from each other too keep us sane...
By the way people one week til our birthdays so start wiring money people, and that does mean you! Lord knows we are going to need it with lauras floating passport and my drinking habits!
Enough kidding around see you all in the next cafe....

Monday, 17 September 2007

Location: bakersfield, USA

ok so this is just a quick entry to let you know we're in Bakersfield. we were going to stay in Barstow but there was nothing there, as in a broken down pile of cars, children playing chicken with trucks and a kfc that sells wedges insted of fries and for its burgers it is a chicken strip in a baby bun, nothing else just chicken...?? bunch of wierdo's.
so we keept on driving and somehow found Bakersfield.
this place is kinda cool, if you don't go any further east of main street... and you dont let the children latch onto like andrew did in the shop we went into. (hey mariyln you could've had a hespanic baby if we didnt leave when we did!!)
we are heading onto the coast so may not have internet access for a while but will try adding photos somehow...
i thought i should add this in too. a lady at the gas station asked Andrew, once she found out that he was from Australia, if our rivers run towards the equator? ? what? almost as dumb as the girl who said Australia would suck because our queen is drunk all the time!!!
buch of hicks.
ok not to much else to add...
happy travels

Saturday, 15 September 2007

Location: blythe, USA

so on our first day we traveled down to the hoover dam and willow beach (along the colorado river) an on to route 66 through to a little town called flagstaff. nothing to do there but some really cool cars out the front of the 50's themed diner! not up so early again and onto blythe. there are some really really weird towns out here eg : hope brenda, grantiesite, and tons more not even on the map but all looked the same. old and useless, we have no idea how someone could or even want to live out here but it happens, mainly in camper vans. hicks.
we arrived in blythe around 6 o'clock and am looking forward to getting to palm springs tomorrow, somewhere sane and safe!
all in all this has been awesome and were looking forward to seeing the red bull air race in san diego and seeing more things along the way...
till next time...

Friday, 14 September 2007

Location: Vegas, USA

Well in vegas now and this place has so many lights! Cruised the strip (in a bus) and went for dinner in the Excalibur casino...nice. Went to mermaids in freemont street for cheap drinks. this is wher you can buy a massive football sized drink for 10 bucks full of amy drink you want and the re-fills are only $3!! woooo. outside we watched this amazing light show. it WAS MASSIVE andrew thinks it was roughly 200 mt long and 15 mt wide (i am terrible with measurements and wouldve put it twice as big).
from there we went to rumjungle at mandalay bay casino. very expensive drinks here so not many to be had. andrew departed to the playing floor to gamble away, not all bad news, he did buy a jack daniels jumper!!! i find my handbag floating in the river (who puts a river in the clubs?? stupid people!) and my passport is soaked! wooo now i have to possibly get it replaced! ughh. so on home for me in a very drunken state. dont you just love vegas! andrew on the other hand was quite the sober one! (shocking i know!! :) )
not up so early for me but in the afternoon andrew and i made our way down some of the strip again to the mgm to watch the lions not doing much, like doc! but they were really really awesome to look at and once they woke up they were playing around...
that night we all went back down the strip but thought that our female bus driver silvia cracked the shits with cap (our tour mang) because she pulled off into a side street and got off the bus. all in a very pissed off way. 15 mins later we were co-erced into a little white chaple where to our surprise elvis (yes the real king!!) comes out and starts singing then wedding two people form the contiki tour!!! crazy. one was this japanese guy who had no idea what was going on and thought this was all real, which it kinda is because the wedding cert is only legal in vegas.
from there we went out to the bellagio casino to watch the water fountian show, the water jets shoot up about 200 ft! and can seriously hurt if your in the way of one of these!! Andrew wins up big on the black jack tables and i depart to leave the boys to stroll on down the strip some more. Andrew ended his note on a high with a stop to hooters casino, not alot of feedback but i know he had a ball...
the next morning we made a stop off to circus circus where fear and loathing was filmed, however he could not locate the revolving bar. very disapointed. again to hot to do anything but because of Andrews new tat there was no swimming to be done, so we grabbed some drinks and sat in the air con.
our final day in vegas was spent in the gun store. Andrew's oasis!!
on to him to explain because i have no idea...
I (andrew here) got 50 rounds in the UZI 9mm and only 5 in the desert eagle .50 but that was enough or i would have tried to steal a gun!! I will show the art work if i get home through customs!!
so thats enough form us, were on our way to travel some some down route 66!!

Tuesday, 11 September 2007

Location: Grand canyon/vegas, USA

WOW!!! that is the only word i can use to describe the grand canyon. We were led off the bus and made to keep our eyes shut and walk in a massive line (50 people) right up to the edge of the south rim and all at once we opened our eyes. BEST THING EVER.
Not elaborating cause you have to see it to believe.
on our second day we took a hike down the south rim, this was one of the best things we have done so far, you get the best views of the canyon and get to experience something that not everyone gets to do.
so three hours later we made it back to the top for the most amazing sunsets i have ever seen!
i wish the photos could do it justice but they cant.
you see this stuff in the movies and generally it all looks the same but this is sooo different. so massive and we took over 100 photos of rocks but it is just soo good and breath taking to look at!!

so we had a small gathering in one of the cabins which wasnt the best of ideas, we had to be up very early and on the bus the next day!

so we get to vegas and this is just outrageous! way to big to even take it all in!!!
about to hit more of the strip so we'll have to write again soon!

Friday, 07 September 2007

Location: phoenix, USA

so today is the third day of our contiki tour and we are now in phoenix and we're having a ball!! there are soo many people from australia so lots of drinks for all!
Went to a greek restraunt and 2 free bottles of ouzo later we were prepared for the local night club. Nothing to say about it i cant remember.
Up early the next day for the grand canyon and it should be sweet.