Oh my word. It's nearly the end. And as much as I misseveryoneand I don't want to offend you... I don't want to come home! :( waaaaah!
So what I hear you ask have we been up to over the past week... Well if I'm honest a whole load of nothing! It's been GLORIOUS!
We flew into LAX last Sunday and after getting a bus (or three) we got to the house on the beach. It's so adorable. Tiny. Right on the sand. Tiki themed room. It's great.
We have spent most of our days just hanging out at the house/on the beach listening to the waves, reading, playing on the iPad, and just generally lolling about. We have ventured out... We went to the grocery store to but bits for the week (I made a chilli and pasta with sauce, nothing too adventurous. We are on holiday after all!) and we went outfor pizza and burgers. (Of course we did)
We have strolled up and down Venice broad walk, wandered through the canals, watched the sunset on multiple evenings, played a lot of gin rummy and poker. It's been lovely. I love not having an alarm set and waking up when I wake up. (Normally quite late... 11.30am so 7.30pm at home haha)
We have had one day out where we doug out our backpacks again and went to Hollywood. It was a bit rubbish but it's been ticked off my bucket list. Saw the sign and the walk of fame. Didn't see much else because you walk around continually looking down to see if you recognise anybody else's names (generally I didn't) we saw Robin Williams star which was so sad. :(
Then we missioned over (on another bus) to the dodgers stadium to watch a game of baseball... Being British we were 3 hours early... So we bought a foam finger, hotdog and soda and grabbed a seat to wait (un)patiently for the start. So I hate sports but it was really fun being in the crowd. We sadly hadn't got the memo to wear blue and stuck out like the British sore thumbs we were... But I super enjoyed myself and the fireworks at the end. Although the 2 hour bus journey back with a miles walk to the house wasn't sooooo great...
The gays from modern family were there... That was fun...
So anyway... We have one and a half days left on the beach followed by a long journey backf to London on Tuesday (arriving Wednesday) and I just don't want to leave. :(
Although it's going to be awesome to see all of the wonderful faces I've missed over the past two months!
Xxxxxxxxx Jess
Sunday, 24 August 2014
Saturday, 16 August 2014
The city by the bay
I love Vegas. I probably shouldn't, as it goes against my personality traits. But there's something about the place that entices me in. Perhaps I'm a sucker for bright lights. Either way, it is somewhere I recommend everyone should go at least once.
As with my previous two visits, the city is temporarily holding some of my money until I come back to win it back from them... I lost some playing poker (standard) but thoroughly enjoyed the buzz of playing alongside human beings again. The highlight was seeing a petulant early 20s kid throwing his empty can of Red Bull in the air when he lost his remaining tournament chips. Lovely lad I'm sure.
Didn't play much by way of table games. Lost about $30 at Roulette. Jess already mentioned her exploits at video poker. We also also played some video craps, but I still do not really understand the game!
We visited old Vegas, Fremont Street. Definitely a different vibe to the strip, but good fun and cheaper, which is nice for the money-conscious visitor.
Took an internal flight to San Francisco. Only took 90 minutes, which after some of our epic train journeys, was a nice change! The bus from the airport to the hotel took an hour, but for $2, cannot moan! Our hostel isn't great, but better than the cockroach room in Orlando. Thankfully the shower is 3 steps outside the room.
As with a few other places, we have been on some walking tours, using the 'Free tours by foot' company, where you tip at the end based on what you think it was worth and what you can afford. Chinatown tour was very interesting. Went into a Buddhist shrine, passed dozens of tat tourist shops, learnt a lot of history of the Chinese in San Fran (biggest Chinese population outside Asia), saw groups of old men playing cards and generally holding court in a park (I can see me doing the same when I retire) and saw a woman hand-making fortune cookies! Also passed through Little Italy and saw places where the Beat Generation (Jack Kerouac et al.) wrote and performed.
The next day we were guinea pigs on an inaugural Haight-Ashbury tour, which is/was hippy central. Less interesting tbh. Did go in a cool record store.
Our final tour was an all-in-one city tour, of which we only did half as the second part covered Chinatown again. We saw a lot of wedding parties at city hall, the interior of which was stunning.
San Fran has an interesting aboveground public transport system. Every form is either electric or bio-diesel. Some of the buses run on overhead electric wires which the geek in me finds strangely intriguing. The F line is a cable car which is hugely unreliable, but seemingly only in one direction (one couple waited 45 minutes when it is supposed to be every 5-12). By far the coolest is the cable car that goes up and down the hills of the city. The views are awesome plus it is very quaint. It is also the only US national historic landmark that moves...
We got a CityPass again (got one in Chicago). It included free public transport, which was a bonus. We went to the Exploratorium, which was as cool as it sounds. Lots of kids as it was a kid-focused place, but lots of neat interesting interactive exhibits, including some funky hand-eye coordination stuff. We created ice in a vacuum (ok, the machine did it, but we pushed the buttons!).
The California Academy of Science was another excellent museum, mainly for its mock-rainforest section, with its dozens of butterflies and other cool creatures. Jess got some good photos whilst I was busy turning and twisting to follow the butterflies! They had a skull exhibit, which was freaky but engaging at the same time. The size of certain animal skulls is quite surprising.
Finally today we went on a 90 minute cruise around San Francisco bay, taking in views of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz. Seeing the top of the bridge disappear into the clouds was another cool sight, as was the unforgiving surroundings of Alcatraz. No wonder nobody escaped! Last on the city pass was a small aquarium on pier 39 (huge tourist trap) which was a lot better than expected, mainly due to two 25 metre-ish tunnel tanks full of rays, sharks and starfish. I touched a ray and a starfish in a different tank. Slimy!
Tomorrow we head back to the airport and head to our final stop, Los Angeles. Not much in the way of plans. The obligatory wander around Hollywood, plus an LA Dodgers baseball game. Jess wants to get a foam finger, a la mid 90s Gladiators!
Mike
As with my previous two visits, the city is temporarily holding some of my money until I come back to win it back from them... I lost some playing poker (standard) but thoroughly enjoyed the buzz of playing alongside human beings again. The highlight was seeing a petulant early 20s kid throwing his empty can of Red Bull in the air when he lost his remaining tournament chips. Lovely lad I'm sure.
Didn't play much by way of table games. Lost about $30 at Roulette. Jess already mentioned her exploits at video poker. We also also played some video craps, but I still do not really understand the game!
We visited old Vegas, Fremont Street. Definitely a different vibe to the strip, but good fun and cheaper, which is nice for the money-conscious visitor.
Took an internal flight to San Francisco. Only took 90 minutes, which after some of our epic train journeys, was a nice change! The bus from the airport to the hotel took an hour, but for $2, cannot moan! Our hostel isn't great, but better than the cockroach room in Orlando. Thankfully the shower is 3 steps outside the room.
As with a few other places, we have been on some walking tours, using the 'Free tours by foot' company, where you tip at the end based on what you think it was worth and what you can afford. Chinatown tour was very interesting. Went into a Buddhist shrine, passed dozens of tat tourist shops, learnt a lot of history of the Chinese in San Fran (biggest Chinese population outside Asia), saw groups of old men playing cards and generally holding court in a park (I can see me doing the same when I retire) and saw a woman hand-making fortune cookies! Also passed through Little Italy and saw places where the Beat Generation (Jack Kerouac et al.) wrote and performed.
The next day we were guinea pigs on an inaugural Haight-Ashbury tour, which is/was hippy central. Less interesting tbh. Did go in a cool record store.
Our final tour was an all-in-one city tour, of which we only did half as the second part covered Chinatown again. We saw a lot of wedding parties at city hall, the interior of which was stunning.
San Fran has an interesting aboveground public transport system. Every form is either electric or bio-diesel. Some of the buses run on overhead electric wires which the geek in me finds strangely intriguing. The F line is a cable car which is hugely unreliable, but seemingly only in one direction (one couple waited 45 minutes when it is supposed to be every 5-12). By far the coolest is the cable car that goes up and down the hills of the city. The views are awesome plus it is very quaint. It is also the only US national historic landmark that moves...
We got a CityPass again (got one in Chicago). It included free public transport, which was a bonus. We went to the Exploratorium, which was as cool as it sounds. Lots of kids as it was a kid-focused place, but lots of neat interesting interactive exhibits, including some funky hand-eye coordination stuff. We created ice in a vacuum (ok, the machine did it, but we pushed the buttons!).
The California Academy of Science was another excellent museum, mainly for its mock-rainforest section, with its dozens of butterflies and other cool creatures. Jess got some good photos whilst I was busy turning and twisting to follow the butterflies! They had a skull exhibit, which was freaky but engaging at the same time. The size of certain animal skulls is quite surprising.
Finally today we went on a 90 minute cruise around San Francisco bay, taking in views of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz. Seeing the top of the bridge disappear into the clouds was another cool sight, as was the unforgiving surroundings of Alcatraz. No wonder nobody escaped! Last on the city pass was a small aquarium on pier 39 (huge tourist trap) which was a lot better than expected, mainly due to two 25 metre-ish tunnel tanks full of rays, sharks and starfish. I touched a ray and a starfish in a different tank. Slimy!
Tomorrow we head back to the airport and head to our final stop, Los Angeles. Not much in the way of plans. The obligatory wander around Hollywood, plus an LA Dodgers baseball game. Jess wants to get a foam finger, a la mid 90s Gladiators!
Mike
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
Hanging about Houston and living it large in Las Vegas
Last time I blogged I was sat in a cafe in New Orleans... It took so long to write! I thought I'd fit it in this time when I had time to spare. We are currently sat in a small mini bus on our way back to vegas from the Grand Canyon. We went on a sunset tour and it did NOT disappoint! :D
But before we get to that I'll run through a few bits and bobs we have done in the last week.
We left the coffee shop in search of fried chicken and ended up going to a place that the internet had suggested in the French quarter, it was a grimey bar where you don't want to think about the kitchen. It had long benches that you'd share with fellow patrons and it was pretty Grimm.. But the chicken was amazing and came with a side of duck jambalaya which was so good! I couldn't fault it. I think it's called Coles? I dunno it was a while ago!
The next day we walked a mile back to the bus station with our heavy backpacks and queued to get on the bus. After my last experience of the greyhound in America my expectations where not high... But if I'm honest it wasn't that bad! I mean the driver was a hilarious woman with a whole load of sass... The air con broke for the last few hours. But really it was fine (it was only an eight hours journey so only got chucked off the bus once. Which was a nice change)
We got into Houston and mike had googled how to get to the hostel on a bus so we went a few blocks away and the bus came pretty swiftly. It only cost 1.25 to ride(80p)!! It was awesome. It took 10 minutes and we had a short one block walk to the hostel.
We stayed at the Morty rich? It's a Hostel International and it was lush. It's apparently the 2nd best hi in the world. It had a pool and a lush garden, a pool table, breakfast included and was just super chilled out. Apparently it's an ex mayor house so it's a big lovely mansion. We were staying in the old guesthouse out the back and had our own balcony and bathroom. It was so awesome, even so when the air con broke (does anyone sense a theme, either I'm getting more laid back or mike has spiked my food with happy pills haha because I haven't been too bothered by these events)
Now Houston was always going to be a lazy stop where we did hardly anything... And it was exactly that. We even couldn't be bothered to go to the space station... It was like 2hours on a bus and fairly expensive. Instead we slept in late, hung out by the pool and on the balcony reading, watching films and just generally recharging our very exhausted battery's. It was - if I'm honest....BLISS.
We did venture out for a meal or two. One was a complete amazing find. It was the first night and after a whole day on the coach I was in no mood to cook so I looked on Google maps at close restaurants. I couldn't see any BBQ places... Go figure... But I did see a well rated Greek place. After deciding we wouldn't mide some falafel we set out to walk the whole 4 blocks.
Now the night before in new Orleans we had been flicking and diners drive in and dives had come on. It was this little greek place just outside Houston that apparently did the best honey glazed doughnuts. I thought awh that's too far out for us to visit. And kept flicking.
So we walked into this place and the queue is 20 people long, I'm not exaggerating, it was huge! And whose picture is sined and on the wall?! Only Guy Fieri! It was the same place! Spooky. I asked the people behind us in the queue what to get and they all said the pork without hesitation. It was the best pork I have possibly ever tasted. The falafel where good too! But the baklava and honey lemon doughnuts will forever stay in my amazing food memory brain section. PheNOMenal!
So being in Texas I was pretty adamant about getting BBQ. We missioned on 2 buses to get to the place I had read about that was fairly close by. It was amazing. I had brisket and mike had spicy pork. The smokey flavour was killer. So intense. The hot sauce was amazing. It was just so good. I love me some BBQ. The staff were awesome too. They gave USA voucher to use for a free meal if we went back within the month. And we would have to if it hadn't been our last day there. Gutted.
I made mike get a haircut. A TEXAN HAIRCUT. It's the same as a British one but it was done in Texas...
Then we made our way over tithe airport. Again on buses. So reliable and cheap! And hopped on a flight to VEGAS BABY!
So vegas is everything you read about. It's loud, crude, in your face, hot, and Um wow AMAZING.
I have learnt a few things here.
1. I like video poker.
2. So does mike.
3. I am lucky when I play video poker.
4. Mike isn't.
5. I have an addictive personality.
6. I'm really glad mike set a daily gambling limit.
7. Vegas is fun.
8. Mike enjoys poker.
9. Mike doesn't win poker.
10. Mike plays poker for fun.
11. Knees burn regardless of how much sun tan lotion you use.
So mostly we have mooched about gambling on occasion.... I managed to turn 5 dollars ona poker machine into 115... Which was pretty cool. I luckily got 4 aces and a 3 which gives you 400 times what you bet. I'd bet a quarter. Hahaa it was pretty cool. I was in shock for like 30 minutes just kinda like what just happened?!?! Haha I LOVE VEGAS.
We went out to celebrate... Hah. So much fun.
12. I'm getting very old when it comes to partying... Not sure I can handle it.
We went to Zarkana Cirque du Soleil. Uhhhhh amazing. These acrobats end are insane!
We have eaten pretty awesome food too. French food (as we are staying in Paris) which is just butter and a heart attack on a plate. NOM.
We went to hash house a go go. Epic food. Just epic. Thanks bec and dave for the suggestion!
AND TODAY... We went to the Grand Canyon.
Now I wanted to go on a helicopter. Buuuuuuut on closer inspection of reviews and costs I was ultimately put off. It was like 350 dollars each for 45 minutes in the air. Now I know that in vegas people chuck away money on machines but to knowingly throw away that much money on not much..... No.
Instead we posted for a 16 hour round trip with a guide, a glorified mini van, a picnic and a whole load of extra awesome.
For less than one helicopter ride we got picked up, given a maccy ds brekkie, shown Hoover dam, driven down Route 66 and stopped at the place of inspiration for the film Cars, a picnic, entry to the national park, a hike with guide and a whole load of photo opportunities. The guide is awesome and knows so much.
It has been so worth the money and so much more. The best part is that it's only ever 10 guest son the tour. So it was personal and all the questions answered.
We went for sunset, and even though it was cloudy it was majestic and just stunning.
WOW!
We are so lucky to have the chance to do this. Wow.
Until next time xxxxxxx
Jess
But before we get to that I'll run through a few bits and bobs we have done in the last week.
We left the coffee shop in search of fried chicken and ended up going to a place that the internet had suggested in the French quarter, it was a grimey bar where you don't want to think about the kitchen. It had long benches that you'd share with fellow patrons and it was pretty Grimm.. But the chicken was amazing and came with a side of duck jambalaya which was so good! I couldn't fault it. I think it's called Coles? I dunno it was a while ago!
The next day we walked a mile back to the bus station with our heavy backpacks and queued to get on the bus. After my last experience of the greyhound in America my expectations where not high... But if I'm honest it wasn't that bad! I mean the driver was a hilarious woman with a whole load of sass... The air con broke for the last few hours. But really it was fine (it was only an eight hours journey so only got chucked off the bus once. Which was a nice change)
We got into Houston and mike had googled how to get to the hostel on a bus so we went a few blocks away and the bus came pretty swiftly. It only cost 1.25 to ride(80p)!! It was awesome. It took 10 minutes and we had a short one block walk to the hostel.
We stayed at the Morty rich? It's a Hostel International and it was lush. It's apparently the 2nd best hi in the world. It had a pool and a lush garden, a pool table, breakfast included and was just super chilled out. Apparently it's an ex mayor house so it's a big lovely mansion. We were staying in the old guesthouse out the back and had our own balcony and bathroom. It was so awesome, even so when the air con broke (does anyone sense a theme, either I'm getting more laid back or mike has spiked my food with happy pills haha because I haven't been too bothered by these events)
Now Houston was always going to be a lazy stop where we did hardly anything... And it was exactly that. We even couldn't be bothered to go to the space station... It was like 2hours on a bus and fairly expensive. Instead we slept in late, hung out by the pool and on the balcony reading, watching films and just generally recharging our very exhausted battery's. It was - if I'm honest....BLISS.
We did venture out for a meal or two. One was a complete amazing find. It was the first night and after a whole day on the coach I was in no mood to cook so I looked on Google maps at close restaurants. I couldn't see any BBQ places... Go figure... But I did see a well rated Greek place. After deciding we wouldn't mide some falafel we set out to walk the whole 4 blocks.
Now the night before in new Orleans we had been flicking and diners drive in and dives had come on. It was this little greek place just outside Houston that apparently did the best honey glazed doughnuts. I thought awh that's too far out for us to visit. And kept flicking.
So we walked into this place and the queue is 20 people long, I'm not exaggerating, it was huge! And whose picture is sined and on the wall?! Only Guy Fieri! It was the same place! Spooky. I asked the people behind us in the queue what to get and they all said the pork without hesitation. It was the best pork I have possibly ever tasted. The falafel where good too! But the baklava and honey lemon doughnuts will forever stay in my amazing food memory brain section. PheNOMenal!
So being in Texas I was pretty adamant about getting BBQ. We missioned on 2 buses to get to the place I had read about that was fairly close by. It was amazing. I had brisket and mike had spicy pork. The smokey flavour was killer. So intense. The hot sauce was amazing. It was just so good. I love me some BBQ. The staff were awesome too. They gave USA voucher to use for a free meal if we went back within the month. And we would have to if it hadn't been our last day there. Gutted.
I made mike get a haircut. A TEXAN HAIRCUT. It's the same as a British one but it was done in Texas...
Then we made our way over tithe airport. Again on buses. So reliable and cheap! And hopped on a flight to VEGAS BABY!
So vegas is everything you read about. It's loud, crude, in your face, hot, and Um wow AMAZING.
I have learnt a few things here.
1. I like video poker.
2. So does mike.
3. I am lucky when I play video poker.
4. Mike isn't.
5. I have an addictive personality.
6. I'm really glad mike set a daily gambling limit.
7. Vegas is fun.
8. Mike enjoys poker.
9. Mike doesn't win poker.
10. Mike plays poker for fun.
11. Knees burn regardless of how much sun tan lotion you use.
So mostly we have mooched about gambling on occasion.... I managed to turn 5 dollars ona poker machine into 115... Which was pretty cool. I luckily got 4 aces and a 3 which gives you 400 times what you bet. I'd bet a quarter. Hahaa it was pretty cool. I was in shock for like 30 minutes just kinda like what just happened?!?! Haha I LOVE VEGAS.
We went out to celebrate... Hah. So much fun.
12. I'm getting very old when it comes to partying... Not sure I can handle it.
We went to Zarkana Cirque du Soleil. Uhhhhh amazing. These acrobats end are insane!
We have eaten pretty awesome food too. French food (as we are staying in Paris) which is just butter and a heart attack on a plate. NOM.
We went to hash house a go go. Epic food. Just epic. Thanks bec and dave for the suggestion!
AND TODAY... We went to the Grand Canyon.
Now I wanted to go on a helicopter. Buuuuuuut on closer inspection of reviews and costs I was ultimately put off. It was like 350 dollars each for 45 minutes in the air. Now I know that in vegas people chuck away money on machines but to knowingly throw away that much money on not much..... No.
Instead we posted for a 16 hour round trip with a guide, a glorified mini van, a picnic and a whole load of extra awesome.
For less than one helicopter ride we got picked up, given a maccy ds brekkie, shown Hoover dam, driven down Route 66 and stopped at the place of inspiration for the film Cars, a picnic, entry to the national park, a hike with guide and a whole load of photo opportunities. The guide is awesome and knows so much.
It has been so worth the money and so much more. The best part is that it's only ever 10 guest son the tour. So it was personal and all the questions answered.
We went for sunset, and even though it was cloudy it was majestic and just stunning.
WOW!
We are so lucky to have the chance to do this. Wow.
Until next time xxxxxxx
Jess
Location:Houston and Vegas
Saturday, 2 August 2014
Harry Potter and the really awful journey to the most awesome city on the planet (I know best title ever)
Right. I've been getting a bit behind when it comes to blogging. So are you ready for a monster blog?!
Fine. You asked for it....
So mike finished with us getting to Orlando I think... Now for some reason we have been following bad weather down the east coast. I think we just miss home and the rain ;)
So we arrived in the amtrak station in Orlando. I'd had an email from out hotel telling us it was just a short bus ride to them. So me being me was like well that will cost is nothing!! Let's do that. Firstly locating the bus stop was a bit of a nightmare. It was a singular sign post, facing the road, and on some grass. Not even with pavement slabs or anything... Also it just said the number not the bus name etc so yeah... Secondly the grass was covered in ants.gross. We ha been told by a savvy taxi man trying to get out custom a huge lie. He said there were no buses on the weekends. What a joker!! Although this started to make me worry there wasn't one coming. It was also the middle of the afternoon an the "bus stop" had no shelter. A storm was looming but at that point it was muggy and really sunny. We waited for 25 minutes before I have in and called the phone number on the internet to find out if a bus was due. I was told they are hourly and one was due in 10-15 minutes. Once the bus did arrive I felt as if we were the only tourists to ever have embarke on a bus journey in Orlando. The locals stared at us like we were crazy people. Maybe next time we will just get a taxi.... All thought we did save 24 dollars by getting the bus. It took about an hour, half an hour in the heavens opened and it peed the place down.... All I kept doing was hoping it would stop by our stop!! Luckily it did. Hooray. Only to start again as we walked the couple of blocks to our hotel.
I don't think I want to call it a hotel. It was more like a grosstel. If you have ever expirienced a days inn you may understand our circumstances. It was a motel complex and cost us about 35 dollars a night (including breakfast) so I wasn't expecting much and I was right to not. It was basic and still quite dirty in the bathroom. It was mouldy and yeah a bit gross. Now as we weren't planning on spending much time here I wasn't too bothered BUT.... On the second night after returning back from the parks I found cockroaches in the bathroom.... BESMKDJDBDKSKSHDNSSI so so so gross. Mike killed so many but a few got away. The worst part was I really needed a shower. :( I did have one only to see another cockroach on the wall, I freaked out and jumped out straightaway. I didn't condition my hair that night. Ergh. At least we never have to stay there again....
Anyway the whole reason for our stop in Orlando was purely to indulge me. Mike hates theme park rides. So um yeah selfishly I still booked us to go to Orlando. I've been wanting to visit disney for forever... But a few years back when they opened Harry Potter in Universal studios my dreams changed. An when they announced that the park now had another part opening for Harry Potter the trip changed to include the extra stop. WAAAAAH I <3 HP!!
So we (I) devised a plan. Having already downloaded the wait times app I had been keeping an eye on the times to see what the best option for the brand new harry potter ride would be. The wait had consistently read 2 hours plus. I decided to do it first. Get it out of the way so that I could then go on loads with less of a wait time. We got up at 6.30 and grabbed breakfast (it was pants so we didn't have it again) an made our way over for the 8am opening. I hadn't mentioned that our hotel had one good thing... It's proximity to the universal resort (like 3 blocks) but it was a fair walk as the parks do to start on the edge of the resort obvs. We headed straight to the ride. It said there was a 2 hour wait.... HOW?! Lol rage. So we bagan to wait. Not if you know met you'll know I'll talk to anyone about anything and knowing that this queue would be a fair wait I decided to start chatting to the family in front of us. I knew we would get along (anyone who heads straight to the harry potter ride first is an easy bet on being the coolest people in the park ;D) and it turns out this family were pretty cool. Which was a good thing as the ride started to break down... We ended up waiting 4 hours!! By which point we had talked a lot!! One of the girls had to leave to catch a flight and the mum drove her, the other girl (Berrit) decided to hang on and keep waiting (it had been like 3+ hours already) and I said we would mind hanging out and keeping her company. As mike was a wuss and didn't want to go on anything exciting it was ace as I got to have a ride buddy!!
Now if you like harry potter you will love the park. The dragon coasters are awesome and the simulated ride are amazingly hi tech and pretty impressive!! You can eat in the leaky cauldron and the three broom sticks, ride the hogwarts express an generally just bask in it's awesomeness. :D loved it. I want to move in. One other glitch of the first day... I got stuck on the ride in the castle for about an hour. It was pretty hilarious as I was a turn away from the end an just stuck without a phone an generally just dangling. Hahaa. We had to be 'rescued' pahaha. It would happen to me right!!??!!
So Berrit had to leave shortly after that and mike and I went on lots of wet rides and got thoroughly soaked which then kept us cool in the crazy heat!! It seems to get warmer mid afternoon about 3pm so odd. We went to the Simpsons bit (mike got fairly animated... Haha) we had Krusty burgers and duff and I had a flaming moe LOL. Lots of fun.
That evening we had tickets (FRONT ROW SPLASH ZONE) to see the blue man group. I have no words to explain what we saw... It was hilarious and amazing. Story line...? No clue. But I laughed so much I snorted.
The next day we did much the same. I started I. The other park and worked around all if the rides we missed the day before. I got turned into a minion, expirienced a duel between Poseidon and an evil dude, saw a twister, helped the transformers and Spider-Man and went to krustyland on the most unsafe coaster in animated history and so much more. We stayed until they kicked us out! I rode the dragons in harry potter again one after the other and felt really dizzy (it had been about 3 minutes inbetween) SO MUCH FUN!!
I want to go back.
We had a lovely surprise from the family after exchanging emails on the first day in Orlando they got in touch and offered to pick us up to go out for food. We went for breakfast with them which was really nice. They are very easily the nicest people we have met so far on the trip. We went to a Denny's!! ;) awesome.
We had a day to fritter away and no park tickets and with the weather looming the mini golf plan went out the window and we instead watched Lucy in the cinema. It was ok...
Wow!!! I haven't even got to talking about New Orleans (I've been writing for an hour)
SO HERE COMES THE AWFUL JOURNEY.
Now yes I booked it and yes I knew I was in for a night on the bus which I wasn't looking forward to. But it was made so much worse as I didn't realised that every like 3 hours they chuck you off the coach to refuel and change drivers. I'm pretty sure that's unique to America. Some rubbish about federal laws. So it's not ok for me to sit on a coach when you fill it up with fuel but is ok to let idiots own guns. Right. Ok.
It seems the same idiots were also in charge of loading and unloading the coaches. The staff are so rude. They shout at you for nothing, one told one person to keep their nose out of other peoples business or they wouldn't be allowed back on the bus. It was awful. All I know is I will never EVER travel over night on a grey hound if I can help it again. (We have a day journey this time fingers crossed these drivers have some manners and don't treat us like cattle)
So having travelled all thought the night we arrived about 8am in New Orleans. Grumpy and tired we walked a mile to our hotel in hope of dumping our bags. They were wonderful and let us check in early!! :D we went to bed and slept until about 3pm! It was glorious. Plus as a bonus the hotel is lovely. A little dates but the furniature is classy not ugly. It's cool!!
So New Orleans is an expirience!! You walk down any street in the french quarter and you'll hear trumpets and drums and just awesomeness! There are balcony a everywhere with people drinking and eating amazing food.
The first day we had food in the Gumbo shop. We tried gumbo, crawfish étouffée and delish desserts!!! Nom nom nom. The second day we wandered around getting a feel for the place and booked an evening dinner cruise down the Mississippi which was really awesome. It was a 40 year old steamboat with 100 year old engine!! Loved it.
We've been on a voodoo tour a swamp tour where we saw a whole host of alligators and we have watched a fair amount of jazz as there's a free jazz fest in the french market!
I really love it here. The city has it's own pace (slow) and I can imagine gettin a summer home here (well a march or April home to avoid some hurricanes!!)
You should visit. It's epic. AND THE BEIGNETS!!!!!!! So flippin good!!
We leave tomorrow and head to Houston for a few (we are planning on pretty lazy time there as we are getting so tired!)
I can't believe how long we have been travelling already!! We are well past halfway and I don't want to come home!! Haha I want to keep going!!
I'll try to stay on top of blogging! Sorry for the essay...
Xxxxxx jess
Fine. You asked for it....
So mike finished with us getting to Orlando I think... Now for some reason we have been following bad weather down the east coast. I think we just miss home and the rain ;)
So we arrived in the amtrak station in Orlando. I'd had an email from out hotel telling us it was just a short bus ride to them. So me being me was like well that will cost is nothing!! Let's do that. Firstly locating the bus stop was a bit of a nightmare. It was a singular sign post, facing the road, and on some grass. Not even with pavement slabs or anything... Also it just said the number not the bus name etc so yeah... Secondly the grass was covered in ants.gross. We ha been told by a savvy taxi man trying to get out custom a huge lie. He said there were no buses on the weekends. What a joker!! Although this started to make me worry there wasn't one coming. It was also the middle of the afternoon an the "bus stop" had no shelter. A storm was looming but at that point it was muggy and really sunny. We waited for 25 minutes before I have in and called the phone number on the internet to find out if a bus was due. I was told they are hourly and one was due in 10-15 minutes. Once the bus did arrive I felt as if we were the only tourists to ever have embarke on a bus journey in Orlando. The locals stared at us like we were crazy people. Maybe next time we will just get a taxi.... All thought we did save 24 dollars by getting the bus. It took about an hour, half an hour in the heavens opened and it peed the place down.... All I kept doing was hoping it would stop by our stop!! Luckily it did. Hooray. Only to start again as we walked the couple of blocks to our hotel.
I don't think I want to call it a hotel. It was more like a grosstel. If you have ever expirienced a days inn you may understand our circumstances. It was a motel complex and cost us about 35 dollars a night (including breakfast) so I wasn't expecting much and I was right to not. It was basic and still quite dirty in the bathroom. It was mouldy and yeah a bit gross. Now as we weren't planning on spending much time here I wasn't too bothered BUT.... On the second night after returning back from the parks I found cockroaches in the bathroom.... BESMKDJDBDKSKSHDNSSI so so so gross. Mike killed so many but a few got away. The worst part was I really needed a shower. :( I did have one only to see another cockroach on the wall, I freaked out and jumped out straightaway. I didn't condition my hair that night. Ergh. At least we never have to stay there again....
Anyway the whole reason for our stop in Orlando was purely to indulge me. Mike hates theme park rides. So um yeah selfishly I still booked us to go to Orlando. I've been wanting to visit disney for forever... But a few years back when they opened Harry Potter in Universal studios my dreams changed. An when they announced that the park now had another part opening for Harry Potter the trip changed to include the extra stop. WAAAAAH I <3 HP!!
So we (I) devised a plan. Having already downloaded the wait times app I had been keeping an eye on the times to see what the best option for the brand new harry potter ride would be. The wait had consistently read 2 hours plus. I decided to do it first. Get it out of the way so that I could then go on loads with less of a wait time. We got up at 6.30 and grabbed breakfast (it was pants so we didn't have it again) an made our way over for the 8am opening. I hadn't mentioned that our hotel had one good thing... It's proximity to the universal resort (like 3 blocks) but it was a fair walk as the parks do to start on the edge of the resort obvs. We headed straight to the ride. It said there was a 2 hour wait.... HOW?! Lol rage. So we bagan to wait. Not if you know met you'll know I'll talk to anyone about anything and knowing that this queue would be a fair wait I decided to start chatting to the family in front of us. I knew we would get along (anyone who heads straight to the harry potter ride first is an easy bet on being the coolest people in the park ;D) and it turns out this family were pretty cool. Which was a good thing as the ride started to break down... We ended up waiting 4 hours!! By which point we had talked a lot!! One of the girls had to leave to catch a flight and the mum drove her, the other girl (Berrit) decided to hang on and keep waiting (it had been like 3+ hours already) and I said we would mind hanging out and keeping her company. As mike was a wuss and didn't want to go on anything exciting it was ace as I got to have a ride buddy!!
Now if you like harry potter you will love the park. The dragon coasters are awesome and the simulated ride are amazingly hi tech and pretty impressive!! You can eat in the leaky cauldron and the three broom sticks, ride the hogwarts express an generally just bask in it's awesomeness. :D loved it. I want to move in. One other glitch of the first day... I got stuck on the ride in the castle for about an hour. It was pretty hilarious as I was a turn away from the end an just stuck without a phone an generally just dangling. Hahaa. We had to be 'rescued' pahaha. It would happen to me right!!??!!
So Berrit had to leave shortly after that and mike and I went on lots of wet rides and got thoroughly soaked which then kept us cool in the crazy heat!! It seems to get warmer mid afternoon about 3pm so odd. We went to the Simpsons bit (mike got fairly animated... Haha) we had Krusty burgers and duff and I had a flaming moe LOL. Lots of fun.
That evening we had tickets (FRONT ROW SPLASH ZONE) to see the blue man group. I have no words to explain what we saw... It was hilarious and amazing. Story line...? No clue. But I laughed so much I snorted.
The next day we did much the same. I started I. The other park and worked around all if the rides we missed the day before. I got turned into a minion, expirienced a duel between Poseidon and an evil dude, saw a twister, helped the transformers and Spider-Man and went to krustyland on the most unsafe coaster in animated history and so much more. We stayed until they kicked us out! I rode the dragons in harry potter again one after the other and felt really dizzy (it had been about 3 minutes inbetween) SO MUCH FUN!!
I want to go back.
We had a lovely surprise from the family after exchanging emails on the first day in Orlando they got in touch and offered to pick us up to go out for food. We went for breakfast with them which was really nice. They are very easily the nicest people we have met so far on the trip. We went to a Denny's!! ;) awesome.
We had a day to fritter away and no park tickets and with the weather looming the mini golf plan went out the window and we instead watched Lucy in the cinema. It was ok...
Wow!!! I haven't even got to talking about New Orleans (I've been writing for an hour)
SO HERE COMES THE AWFUL JOURNEY.
Now yes I booked it and yes I knew I was in for a night on the bus which I wasn't looking forward to. But it was made so much worse as I didn't realised that every like 3 hours they chuck you off the coach to refuel and change drivers. I'm pretty sure that's unique to America. Some rubbish about federal laws. So it's not ok for me to sit on a coach when you fill it up with fuel but is ok to let idiots own guns. Right. Ok.
It seems the same idiots were also in charge of loading and unloading the coaches. The staff are so rude. They shout at you for nothing, one told one person to keep their nose out of other peoples business or they wouldn't be allowed back on the bus. It was awful. All I know is I will never EVER travel over night on a grey hound if I can help it again. (We have a day journey this time fingers crossed these drivers have some manners and don't treat us like cattle)
So having travelled all thought the night we arrived about 8am in New Orleans. Grumpy and tired we walked a mile to our hotel in hope of dumping our bags. They were wonderful and let us check in early!! :D we went to bed and slept until about 3pm! It was glorious. Plus as a bonus the hotel is lovely. A little dates but the furniature is classy not ugly. It's cool!!
So New Orleans is an expirience!! You walk down any street in the french quarter and you'll hear trumpets and drums and just awesomeness! There are balcony a everywhere with people drinking and eating amazing food.
The first day we had food in the Gumbo shop. We tried gumbo, crawfish étouffée and delish desserts!!! Nom nom nom. The second day we wandered around getting a feel for the place and booked an evening dinner cruise down the Mississippi which was really awesome. It was a 40 year old steamboat with 100 year old engine!! Loved it.
We've been on a voodoo tour a swamp tour where we saw a whole host of alligators and we have watched a fair amount of jazz as there's a free jazz fest in the french market!
I really love it here. The city has it's own pace (slow) and I can imagine gettin a summer home here (well a march or April home to avoid some hurricanes!!)
You should visit. It's epic. AND THE BEIGNETS!!!!!!! So flippin good!!
We leave tomorrow and head to Houston for a few (we are planning on pretty lazy time there as we are getting so tired!)
I can't believe how long we have been travelling already!! We are well past halfway and I don't want to come home!! Haha I want to keep going!!
I'll try to stay on top of blogging! Sorry for the essay...
Xxxxxx jess
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