Archive - My life is so exciting!!

From Hollywood to Hawaii

by Gruba ^Pro @ Sunday, 21. Sep, 2008 – 05:55:59 am

Aloha from Hawaii! Sorry I haven't updated my blog for a while - been extremely busy seeing all the sights.... I think I got up to Tuesday 9th so anyway.... Wednesday in San Francisco we decided to do the cycle ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and OMG it was bloomin hard work - we were shattered by the end of it. We cycled from Fisherman's Wharf to Sausalito which is on the other side of the bay and coz we were so worn out we took the option of getting a ferry back! Hee hee

Thursday we left San Francisco (highlights here!) and got a shuttle coach down to L.A. for half the price of what it would have cost going by car. Unfortunately there was no a/c on the frickin bus and for 7 odd hours we were sweating buckets - not very enjoyable I must say. I think in hindsight renting a car would have been much nicer and more scenic too but there you go. We finally arrived in downtown L.A. about 8pm and found a bus going straight to San Pedro - the bus driver didn't know where we were going so she kinda dropped us in the middle of nowhere but we went into this little Mexican taco place and met a nice couple who work in the navy and they drove us to our hostel - we arrived there about 11pm that night - one very long day! We spent another day in San Pedro right by the sea but there wasn't much to do.

Saturday we waited like 2 hours for a bus to get us back into downtown L.A. but we got there....eventually! Then we managed to find our way to the hostel on Hollywood Boulevard. We chilled that afternoon and watched a film in the evening. Sunday we headed over to the Beverly Center to get our LA cards which we had already paid for and got a bus back to the Chinese Theater (Gauman's a.k.a. Mann's) and we put our LA card to the test and took a tour of the Kodak Theatre (home of the Oscars) and walked all around that, followed by a one hour city tour of Hollywood. After that we went into the Hollywood Museum and then walked up and down the Walk of Fame - over 2000 stars! All of the above was free, remember!

Monday we went to Universal Studios for the day and had an excellent time going on all the rides like The Mummy Returns (45mph rollercoster in the dark), Jurassic Park (water ride), T:2 (simulation) and The Simpsons (the best ever simulator!). Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go on the studio tour. We finished off the studios with a delicious sugar and lemon crepe! yum yum!

Tuesday (16th) we went on a studio tour of Paramount Pictures and saw one of the benches used in Forrest Gump, Tom Cruise's old penthouse (b4 he got dropped by the company) and some of the stages used by The Godfather, I Love Lucy Brad Pitt's film which will be released in the winter. That afternoon we made our way to the Warner Bros studios for a tour and saw part of the Ghost Whisperer set, ER, the building used as the Daily Planet in the New Adventures of Superman tv series. We also took some a couple of sneaky photos of the batbike (used in the latest film) and the original costumes used in The Dark Knight, Superman Returns (which I sneakily touched) and The Last Samurai. We had a fantastic time. That evening we made our way back to Mann's theater where we found out they were having a premiere of Shia LeBouf's new film 'Eagle Eye' and saw him walking up the red carpet.

Wednesday we went back to Universal Studios and befriended some woman from Paris (not intentionally) and we couldn't get rid of her! But we managed to do the studio tour where we saw the Bates Motel, the plane crash from War of the Worlds and also we drove up Wisteria Lane - home of the Desperate Housewives! Everything besides the food and transport was all included in the L card - an excellent purchase me thinks! We then did a tour of the Movie Star homes afterwards but we had to pay for that one.

As we decided that 6 nights in Hollywood was more than enough time - it's crazy there! We changed our itinerary slightly and took an early flight to Hawaii. For a 5 hour 40 minute flight all we were given were drinks - we had to pay for our food which we couldn't believe. We arrived there late morning (time change) and took a bus to the hostel which is one block from Waikiki Beach. So that afternoon we just had some lunch and sat on the beach for a couple of hours watching people surf and bodyboard.

Yesterday (Friday) I hired a surfboard and attempted to surf - I tell you what ... it's bloody hard work! I decided not to go for a lesson coz it's pretty expensive here so I'm gonna wait til Oz me thinks. Ria took a bodyboard and we had some fun. We've met a couple here and she's from Luton and her boyfriend is from Sweden so we went together. Unfortunately it clouded over in the afternoon so we came back for some lunch, had a shower and walked around getting some souveniers - yep another t-shirt! We then watched the sunset on the ocean - very pretty.

Today we hired a car with the other couple and coz I was over 25 and have an international drivers licence I drove us around. We were aiming for Turtle Bay hoping to catch sight of some big, big turtles but no luck. We stayed for a while and then drove along the coastal road with the ocean on one side and luscious green mountains on the other - apparently they were in Jurassic Park. Took some pretty photos etc and then drove back to Wakiki right through the mountains - a big tunnel. Tonight we're having lots of veg for dinner coz we passed a Safeways of all places!

And tomorrow we are going on a free trip to Arizona Memorial which is also part of Pearl Harbor. We've seen some of the big navy ships already - from the sky and seen how Pearl Harbor now looks so we're both really looking forward to that. Then Monday we might just laze about on the beach again and get a little more burnt or maybe even hire a moped for a few dollars! It's so hot here - it's probably around 35C.

Then on Tuesday we will be flying onto Fiji.... err I think we better at least book the first nights accommodation! So on that note.... we're having a blast and getting a tan. Next update soon xxx

San Francisco!

by Gruba ^Pro @ Wednesday, 10. Sep, 2008 – 06:50:27 pm

Well it's been a busy few days here - arrived on Saturday afternoon after a pleasant flight where we could watch countless movies. Got to our hostel ok which is in downtown SF - not bad as we're sharing with just one other girl and we have an ensuite, plus breakfast!

Sunday we got up pretty early and bought 7 day transport passes for $24 which considering how much transport we are using is actually quite a bargain. Our first means of transport (besides getting to the hostel) was the iconic cable cars (not very cable-like though) and went to Chinatown where they were having the moon festival so basically it was jam packed full of American-Chinese people. Had a look round there and sampled some free juice then left and had some very delicious crepes with lemon and sugar in a cafe and Ria had a massive doorstep tuna sandwich which I helped her eat!

After that we looked around Macy's for some flipflops as mine were starting to hurt and found a nice pair so I'll only be leaving my flipflops in SF and not my heart! We then sat on some steps at Union Square and watched the world go by and listened to some man having a conversation with himself! There seem to be quite a few crazy people around and even more homeless people who keep begging which is quite a put-off. That evening we went to Castro which is the gay/lesbian area of SF and had a bite to eat there - Thai of all things and it reminded me of the noodles I got sick of whilst I was in Japan so needless to say I didn't really enjoy it.

Monday we had a bit of palava with Ria's bank as they refused to let her transfer some money so she basically spent a while and lots of credit on her phone sorting that out. Luckily it's all been sorted now. We then did the Alcatraz tour and we both really enjoyed that and found it a little eerie. After we did the audio tour where mine stopped 2/3 of the way through it made me want to watch Escape from Alcatraz so maybe when we're back it's something I can do. Afterwards we walked down to Pier 39 on Fisherman's Wharf and walked around and saw the sealions which smelt rather fishy and had jumbo shrimp cocktail and some mini donuts (7 instead of 6) .... just coz we could!

Yesterday (Tuesday) we took ourselves off to Japantown and had sushi for lunch - it was little boats on water going round with dishes on - so cute. So Ria had her first ever sushi which she enjoyed although we played it safely by having prawns, tofu and imitation crab(crabsticks!). After that we took a bus to Pacific Heights and tried to find Mrs Doubtfire's house - we failed! The houses are lovely though - typical American style. After that we went back into Castro for a hot drink and then took a bus up to 'Twin Peaks' which is a look-out point over the city. Unfortunately the bus only took us so far and we had to climb quite a few steps to reach the top - the worst thing was the wind - so felt a little blown away after that! Got some excellent pictures though. We then came back to the hostel and had some dinner - microwaved lasagne for me and soup for Ria.

Today we are planning to cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge (ahhhh) and get a ferry back and also visit North Beach which is their version of little Italy. Plsu we're going to stop by the 'crookedest street in the world' so a busy day ahead for us.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to SF and take a shuttle bus to LA and we're staying in San Pedro right on the beach so we can relax before we spend a week in LA/Hollywood doing all the studios etc. Apparently the weather will improve too as SF has it's own weather system where it's quite chilly here but go half hour inland and it's gorgeous so tan's here we come!

Anyway, time is running out here and we got some more sightseeing .... and walking to do. Adios

3 days to go :-o

by Gruba ^Pro @ Wednesday, 03. Sep, 2008 – 11:35:27 am

Where has the time gone? I know I've been naughty and not updated my blog lately - apparently 44 days says the website! I can only make the excuse that I've been extremely busy both working and booking things. This time round for me (the travel) it's completely independent - no hotels, no groups etc.

We're both on a budget for these 4 months away and knowing what we want to do we will go over that which is why I'm appealing for money! LOL But honestly, we will be paying some of this trip off when we get back which will be quite depressing but that's life I spose. The main decisions we've had to make are where we want car hire, for how long and also do we go see Uluru (Ayers Rock). The latter has been a pain in the butt to say the least - we've definitely decided to go see it but it's so expensive getting there so we're basically gonna fly from Cairns into Alice Springs, hire a car for 2 days, see Uluru at sunset and sunrise and go back to Alice Springs and fly to Melbourne.

The majority of things are booked - not spontaneous I know but because it's spring going into summer by the time we get down-under everything is booking up very quickly. We only just managed to hire a campervan in Oz coz the one we did originally want had already gone so sometimes it is better to think ahead. The only spontaneity that we will have is all of the campsites we'll need for NZ and Oz.

So the itinerary is this.... San Francisco to LA for nearly 2 weeks, onto Hawaii for a long weekend, Fiji for about 8 days, Auckland - campervan to Christchurch which we have 19 days to do, fly to Sydney, drive to Cairns, over to Uluru, down to Melbourne and back to Sydney which we have 8 weeks to do. Then... fly to Singapore for a few days, onto Kuala Lumpur for a few more, spend christmas on a beach in phuket, onto Bangkok for a week and spend New Year there and then final stop to Hong Kong. Of course the Asia parts I've already done but I enjoyed those places so I'm happy to go back and show Ria the sights and sounds. I think if we both had had more money then I would have recommended we go for longer and maybe experience other places like Peru and Brazil ...... one day though!

So in total we're away for 4 months and 2 days and will miss xmas and new year here but hey, these opportunities don't come along every day.

As for packing etc we're just in the process of washing all of our stuff to take with us and putting all of our affairs in order. I think we're pretty much sorted though - phew, as I wipe a drip of sweat from my brow! lol

So, I guess that is probably it from me - I've more or less given you my itinerary - except the exact dates coz I don't want to turn up and find you there! And for postcards I will do my very best so send some but I certainly won't promise to!

But anyway, take care everyone and we'll see you all in the New Year - keep reading tho