JBs World Tour Web Report Extravaganza
Part 4 - California/Nevada USA
[intro][Singapore][NZ-North][NZ-South][USA]California/Nevada
Saturday 5th part 1, Having spent the day in Christchurch, New Zealand, we got to the airport early evening, and flew up to Auckland, and then got on our 2045 flight to Los Angeles, the flight was a little late, which meant it was actually early on Sunday morning when we crossed the international date line, which put as back one day - back into Saturday 5th part2 ! All very strange, and flight was quite dull, watched '2 weeks notice' and a bit of 'maid in manhatten' which were both painfully predictable. We landed in LA about 1pm, still on Saturday, so after queueing for the arrogant immigration officers, we got the shuttle bus to pickup our rental car, and upgraded to a bigger car to make things a bit more comfortable as we were going to be doing a lot of miles. The car we got was brand new with only 7 miles on the clock when we picked it up !Plan was to see how far out of LA we could drive before we all started falling asleep, so we headed up I5 and cut across onto 101 for a slightly less boring run up through California, past the oilfields around Bakersfield, and saw the oil derricks pumping oil !
We made good distance, and around 7pm got to King City so decided to stop there for the night, ate at the American Embassy (McDonalds) then found a motel and booked in (most of the motel was full of prison wives, here to visit family in the prison about 30 miles away!).
Sunday 6th part 2. Second go at Sunday went better than the first, got on the road and made good time up to San Fransisco, came in on 280, which was always my favourite route in, up through Golden Gate Park and over the fabulous Golden Gate Bridge, the right viewpoint was closed, so instead drove under and up to the left viewpoint, for a superb view of the bridge and San Fransisco.
Quick photo stop, then drove back into San Fransisco, and Ken dropped us off at Paul's flat (my work and housemate from 95/96) which is enormous and really nice, also in a great location right by the tram stop, so had a cup of tea and a chat with Paul, and planned out our afternoon. Paul went off to a Barbecue, and me and Nicola took the tram down towards Union Square, wandered round the shops and I got a very slim Swatch 'skin' watch I had seen back in England and fancied, up through Union Square and across through Chinatown and little Italy, then up Telegraph hill to the bottom of Coit tower for a superb view across the city, then down to the Embarcadero, and wandered along the front, stopping at Pier39 to shop, got loads of presents for people, and saw the sea lions all basking in the sun.
Had fish and chips on the pier, and wandered along Fishermans Wharf, past Ripleys Believe it or not, which I have often walked past, but never been in, so we paid to go round, and had a good laugh, and it was nice to see whats inside. Walked to the end of Fishermans Wharf, and joined the queue to get the Cable Car back up to Powell St, then waited for a tram back to Pauls, but after about 20 minutes we had only seen one tram, going the wrong way, so jumped in a taxi instead, as we were already late !
Evening, went for a Tai meal with Paul, which was really nice, and had a good old natter to boot !
Monday 7th, had a very lazy start, Paul headed off to work about 9, and we faffed about and finally got going around 11, took tram back to Powell St for a wander round shops, and onto Pauls work where we met him for lunch in the park, it was the first Baseball game in the new stadium, so they had fireworks and fighter planes flying overhead, so that was nice, and thanked Paul for looking after us, as it was great to see him !
Headed back to Pauls flat, and just packed bags when Ken arrived to pick us up, so loaded car and drove over the bay bridge to Oakland, and onto Castro Valley to see Sean and Jay, and a lot of cats ! Went for a Japanese meal with them, which was nice, and had some sushi, then off to motel for the night.
Tuesday 8th, reasonably early start to head down to Vegas, driving day with stops for fuel and food, and at a shopping outlet centre where we found cheap Roller Blades which Nicola has wanted to get for ages, so me and her got them, and some wrist pads. We planned to stop somewhere for the night, but as we made good time, we decided to drive right through, and phoned round to see if we could get a cheap room in one of the Casino Hotels, got a great deal from Excalibur, so booked that, and drove into Vegas at night which is an amazing view, did a lap of the strip, and checked into Hotel, which is enormous, with 4200 rooms.
Had a shower then headed out for a quick look round, Ken went off to try his luck on the slots, so me and Nic wandered up the strip, saw the fantastic water show outside the Bellagio (music was Singing in the Rain) and ended up walking right up to Treasure Island, which is miles away, and got knackered walking back, so had a late night !
Wednesday 9th, very late start, as we were woken in the night by a noise from the sprinkler at 3am, called maintenance who didn't give a fig, so a very unsettled night ! As a result we didn't really get up and out of the room till about 11, and having sorted out a room change, didn't hit the road much before 12, drove over to Hoover Dam which is amazing, and did the short tour, then started driving over to the South Rim of Grand Canyon, hoping to see the sunset! Sadly we had got our sums/routes wrong, and after driving for nearly 2 hours we realised we were not going to make it in time, so instead turned round and headed back, very annoyed. Got back to Vegas around 7pm, and booked seats at the dinner show 'Tournament of Kings' which is in the basement of Excalibur and has real horse jousting and a medieval meal you eat with your hands, which was really good fun, and booked flights out to Grand Canyon for the following day, landing at the South Rim airport for a coach tour of the viewpoints, as we couldn't face another full day in the car ! Then had a quick whizz round the slot machines, Ken won a bundle, but I was down another $20!
Thursday 10th, early start to get courtesy coach from our hotel to the airport, and flight to Grand Canyon, in a really nice plane with huge windows, and a high wing, so we got great views of Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon on the flight in. Coach tour went to 4 viewing points on the rim, so we had a really good chance to see the sights, and get good pictures, before flying back, and seeing the face of George W Bush in the canyon (circled in red), one of the great wonders of the world no doubt!
Got back to Vegas around 4pm, so planned out on the map the things we wanted to do to reduce walking, so took a cab up to the Mirage, saw the Dolphins and White Tigers, then walked across to treasure Island in time for the big show they have two old wooden ships which have a cannonball fight, and one sinks, which is really brilliant. Then walked across to the Venetian, and took a comedy Gondala ride, the Gondola's look normal but have an electric motor to make it easier to row, also the Gondoliers sing to you, which was funny. Wandered back to MGM Grand, and went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, as Nicola fancied it and had a really nice meal, and a huge ice cream dessert called 'The Volcano', we shared it between the three of us, but it could easily have fed 6 I reckon !!! So waddled back via a few more slot machines, me and Nic tried to win a new car (BMW Z4), and she ended up a fair bit up, but I was down another $20 :-(
Friday 11th, checked out of the hotel, then walked over to the Luxor for the breakfast buffet, all you can eat for $8 so we stuffed our faces, then took the tram back to MGM Grand, walkway over to New York New York (we finally got the hang of getting around!), and took the Manhatten Express Roller Coaster ride, not great planning after a big breakfast but we all did OK. Nicola kept her eyes closed throughout the entire ride, which was a bit silly as we only went as she wanted to :-)
Got a great picture of her though ! Then, drove off to head back to LA to Jims house in Altadena. Again, we made good time, and stopped to get a big duffel bag to put the extra stuff we had bought on the trip in to take back on the plane. Got to Jims around 5, and got shown round his house along with his friend Katie who was staying on her way down to San Diego, then we headed out to old town Pasadena, went to a pub to meet up with his Housemate, and then headed off for some food at 'Crocodile' which was really nice, and had a good old chinwag ! Went through some of our digi-pics with Jim, and then crashed for the night in Jims spare room, with the cat, who was very affectionate, but wouldn't leave us alone, until we finally gave in trying to keep her at the bottom of the bed, when she went to sleep between our heads, and was fine for the rest of the night :-)
Saturday 12th, our last day in LA, so helped Jim move a desk from his neighbours, as she had sold the house and was throwing out a load of stuff rather than moving with it. Then followed Jim into LA, and he parked up by the Warner Brothers lot, and gave us a quick guided tour of Hollywood, we stopped at the Chinese Theatre, and walked up Hollywood Boulevard looking at the stars in the pavement, and got up to Vine St to see Judy Garland who is one of Nicola's favourites (The Wizard of Oz being her favourite film). Then dropped Jim off, and fought through the traffic to the airport, dropped the rental car off with about 1800 more miles on it than when we picked it up, and caught our flight back to London !
All in all, it was a fantastic trip, New Zealand was amazing, and it is well worth the long flights to go there, I highly recommend Singapore Airlines, but would try to avoid Air New Zealand in future, but due to the code sharing, it isn't always clear which airline you will actually fly on each leg of the trip until after you book. Singapore was a nice stopover for one day, but I wouldn't spend longer than that there, and San Fransisco and Las Vegas are both places you don't really need a car, so flying out to them would save time and not hinder you getting around either.
Hope you enjoyed the report and pictures !
James.
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