Life in the Pod!

With Vegas in the rear view mirrors and nothing but desert in from of us we made our move to Los Angeles. I will be filling you in on what has happened since Jess signed off with us leaving Vegas.

We left the Luxor nice and early and were on the road by 6:15am, the Mustang had to be returned to Thrifty by 11:30 and we picked up our Jeep Grand Cherokee from Alamo Rentals at 12. We were gassed and ready to cruise. Hollywood here we come!

For the next two nights we were staying at the oh so funky Podshare hostel conveniently located 200yards from the Hollywood Boulevard. Quite simply put, we have a pod to ourselves which contains a queen bed, TV,  room for our luggage and a few nicknacks. Only a total of 12 people can stay at the podshare, so be social and make yourself some new friends while you are here. To sum up our experience here in a few words, "I'll be back!"



We hadn't even unpacked and we were off to Anaheim. Jess and I were both filled with excitement, tonight was to be our very first Ice Hockey game. Calgary Flames, our local team to be were versing the Anaheim Ducks. Why didn't I call them the Mighty Ducks you may ask? Well I am glad you did cause I shall teach you something abou
t them.




In 1992 the Disney Corporation released a movie called The Champions, later to be renamed The Mighty Ducks. The movie was such a success that in 1993 they founded an NHL team called the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and it was owned solely by Disney, some solid advertising there. Two sequels later and 13yrs passed and Walt Disney lost interest selling the club and it's right to be the Mighty Ducks, so the Anaheim Ducks were formed.

Now we have hat out of the way, its game time. Seated no more than 3ms from the Calgary bench next to the players entrance we were stoked! End result of the game had the Flames down 3-2 to the Ducks even though they had 12 more shots on goals than the Ducks but thats the way the cookie crumbles, we won't talk about the disallowed goal the Flames were denied. It was an amazing experience and we can't wait for our next game.

Since Sunday Jess and I have been very much sleep deprived, Sunday to Wednesday we totalled no more than 20 hours sleep so were incredibly excited when we managed 8 hours of uninterrupted blissful sleep, we would need it for today we hit Universal Studios Hollywood...

If you don't act like a V.I.P when on holiday your doing something wrong, so Jess and I would settle for no less then the V.I.P treatment from Universal Studios. Our morning started off with a Continental Breakfast in the V.I.P lounge follwed by a 2 hour behind the scenes studio tour which took us on set of Parenthood, through the costume and props building, into audio dubbing rooms and places the public don't see. This tour was followed by the Waterworld show, its entire cast were actors from various TV shows and movies.

All this sounds like hungry work doesn't it? Picture that restaurant in the movies where the guy takes the girl on a date to impress her. That was where we were today, slight difference however, it was an all you can eat gourmet buffet. And we ate all we could eat forgetting that we would be hitting the rides afterwards.

Now how often do you see a V.I.P waiting in line? You don't because they go to the front each and every time. We rode every attraction, saw every show with reserved seating and saw more of the park than everybody else, it was nothing short of perfect.

Back in Hollwood after an indescribable day we decided to take a stroll along the Walk of Fame, see the Chinese Theatre have a delicious BBQ dinner overlooking a lovely courtyard and then have a drink in a classy bar around the corner from Podshare. As much as we would love to stay, L.A and Vegas have been too heavy on our pocket and we need to run. There is so much to see and do here that two days was never going to be enough. So until next time Hollywood, CUT!!

Sydney to LA to Vegas!

Where to begin? It has been 3 really full on days!

On Monday the 14^th of October (Sydney), Colin and I left Australia at 11am. The plan was stay up late Sunday night and sleep on the flight, even with 3 hours sleep and muscle relaxant, we didn’t really sleep too well. We both got maybe 4-5 hours. But it wasn’t all bad; I think it went quite quick!

We landed in LAX around 6:45 am Monday the 14^th of October. Now, we had heard so many horror stories about America and customs. “It takes 2-3 hours to get through” was the main one. So we were prepared, we booked our car later as we weren’t expecting to be out until 10ish. It took an hour to collect our baggage and go through customs! We ended up sitting around for a while but decided to pay the little extra and collect the car early.

Driving on the other side of the road was freaking me out!! It’s so backwards! I am definitely not a fan. Colin drove most of the way to Las Vegas, we had the nicest Ford Mustang Convertible!! There is nothing like driving down Route 66 with the roof down! Because we had problems with our GPS, it took 6 hours to get to Vegas instead of 4-5! But no matter, we got to the Luxor Hotel/Casino safely and we were super stoked to get dressed up and wander!

Our room was amazing! A beautiful and incredibly comfortable king size bed, huge bathroom, internet and view of the pyramid! We decided to cruise down the Vegas Strip with our roof down, I have never seen so many colourful bright lights in one place! We did compare the smell of Vegas to Patong Thailand though – not the nicest. One place we wanted to hit up was Caesar’s Palace. One thing that I loved most about Vegas was the fact that it is truly magical – it’s almost as if you are transported to a fantasy land. My favourite Casino/Hotel was the Bellagio! It was bright and colourful and magical! There were stain glass flowers hanging from the ceiling and an Enchanted Forest in the Lobby. The Bellagio Fountain was also a spectacular sight, dancing to Michael Jackson!

 

 

We hit the pillows at midnight because we had an early morning and jet lag has been really tough for us so far! We were picked up by our shuttle at 5:45am to take us out to Papillon Helicopter tour’s airport. Everyone at Papillion was incredibly friendly! We were checked in nice and easy and were out flying very quickly. Our pilot Nate was awesome! He played us music, was very accommodating to our needs and gave us all the info on the areas as we were passing over. I was worried about flying in a helicopter, but it was amazing fun and am so keen to do it again! The Grand Canyon was just the most spectacular sight. We flew down inside and landed for photos, champagne and a picnic. It was all delicious and beautiful! Colin and I would like to thank my parents Pam and James for this amazing experience as our Christmas presents this year! I couldn’t of asked for something more perfect to start my day! We would also like to thank and recommend Papillon and Nate! They truly made the experience a memorable one! One word to describe it – breathtaking!

Colin and I were back at the Luxor before 10:30am and had the brilliant idea to nap for an hour (sarcasm). Colin and I are notorious for turning off alarms in our sleep - an hour nap turned into 3 hours! I have to admit, we really did need the sleep but I was a little sad that we missed so much time in Vegas! We had a fast lunch, organised our Criss Angel tickets and drove out to Discount Firearms USA (The Machinegun Experience Vegas). We researched a lot of places in Vegas that offer shooting experiences and this particular place was highly recommended – I have to say they lived up highly to their praises! We didn’t have to wait long to go into the range, I got the “shoot for a cure” experience which gave me a pink 0.22 rifle and a pink pistol, a shirt and donated $10 of the sale to breast cancer. Colin ordered “off menu” and got the 0.44 Magnum, an M4 Assault Rifle and M249 Machinegun! We had an amazing Range Supervisor, Cameron! He was funny, friendly and safe! He made sure we were in a safe environment and we were shooting the guns properly. He also let Colin and I share the machine gun so I got to experience a massive ass heavy weapon of destruction! IT WAS AWESOME! I also may have had a Dirty Harry moment and shot the Magnum (was worried about the kick back – but I kicked ass!) Turns out I am a damn good shot (might have to take it up as a hobby) and would be pretty awesome in the inevitable zombie apocalypse! I now have a souvenir target shirt that I shot the shiz out of with my rifle! We highly recommend going here, its affordable and amazing! We also recommend Cameron - he’s funny and hansom ladies – who doesn’t like a man in uniform with a gun? To all my girls, don't wear anything that shows cleavage! I had a bullet shell flick up at me and land square in the boobs! I now have a nice burn haha!

Now Colin is the shopaholic in this relationship! He really wanted to go to one of the factory outlets. I have to say that America is so much incredibly cheaper than Australia! We went into many shops and spent a fair bit on new winter clothes! I am pretty excited to layer up in my new bright colours. We were hoping to be there for an hour but ended up there for 2-3! We wanted to go to more places so we had to rush a little. Walked through more of the strip, we hit up mnm world for delicious chocolate and walked through the Monte Carlo and got a better view of New York New York. We had a quick dinner and it was time to see Criss Angel! I am a huge fan of his TV show! The performance wasn’t quite what we expected but was still incredible. We were hoping for something much like what he does on TV, of course he couldn’t do that 8 times a week! It was just very staged, I am still so happy we had the chance to see him live – I love love love magic! If you’re in Vegas, I recommend seeing the Blue Man Group! I saw them back in Aus but it was such an incredible experience and it totally blew me away! So if you have the opportunity, I would see them again in a heart beat. One we really wanted to see but missed out on was Zumanity by Cirque Du Solei – my choice for the next time I’m in Vegas!

I think the Luxor was pretty amazing! However, if you’re staying there, watch out for some of their employees. They start off by saying a friendly hello in passing, then they ask you where you’re from, soon they are pulling you to a counter to buy a package deal for next year where you need to put down a cash deposit immediately and it’s hard to get away. We got caught in it once and nearly again another 2 times! We aren’t fans of sales people! Next time, I want to stay at New York New York or the Bellagio! So beautiful!

Finally, Vegas was an incredible experience! I wish we could have stayed longer because 2 nights was definitely not enough time! There was so much more we wanted to do! In total, we gambled around $100 but unfortunately Vegas wasn’t a lucky area for us. We had 4 hours sleep last night and am now heading to LA for part two of our adventure!

Jess and Colin

:)

ONE!!

The 5 piece acrylic on canvas Colin and I made together - way to big to take to Canada!

Has anyone seen that episode of How I Met Your Mother, where Robin has "graduation goggles"?

That's kind of what we have been going through today.

Besides waking up to a hangover from yesterdays 12 hour farewell party, we started seeing everything here at home in a new light with more appreciation. The little things we hate don't seem so bad anymore and some how the sun is shining just that little bit brighter. This whole new outlook of our home town is then juxtaposed with the sadness of leaving. I am not usually this emotional but the realisation that I won't be seeing some of my closest friends or my family for approximately a year is just a tough thought.. especially with everyone crying around us!

Keep in mind, this is the first time I will be over seas for more than a few weeks. Plus starting a new job has got my nerves going.

The worst thing about this experience has been packing, making sure we have everything! I have tried to not be over girly with dresses (knowing its -30 degrees) but there's always that "just in case" thought. We also tried to figure out little nick nacks we will need from home - even harder! I wish I could bring my whole room to Canada! But alas, sacrifices must be made!!

So, here it is! The last night we will spend at home! Trying to stay up as long as possible in hopes of sleeping on the plane for most of the trip. I am definitely going to miss it here!

TWO

Its almost like the end of an era. The total beginning to something new. Its both exciting and incredibly nerve racking! Especially because we know that things won't exactly be the same when we eventually return.

Today we hosted a farewell party at Camden Hotel for the three of us. I don't think I mentioned before that Colin's best friend forever, Scott, is coming with us to Lake Louise as well. So we had a triple farewell. We did it so we wouldn't be out of pocket, so both family and friends could come and so anyone one could come at any part of the day and leave at any time. A simple stop in for a drink, lunch, dinner or dancing. We had an area sectioned off for our party from 11am to 11pm. Yes, a 12 hour shindig!!

It worked out very well, we recommend it to anyone who wants to throw a farewell. We saw all the people we wanted to in the two hours and now we are exhausted!! I have to admit, I cried when I said goodbye to my best friends Anna and Ayla, not having them close by will be the hardest. I know I am going to cry tomorrow when I say goodbye to my soul mate, my kindred spirit, my big (non related) short sister, Kylie.

And yes, we did start drinking 12 hours ago as well! It got a bit difficult around 5 when we had to start slowing down so we wouldn't be kicked out before 7!! Overall, a success..

Its finally hit me that we're leaving..

THREE

Packing for our upcoming adventure...an incredibly difficult assignment! What will we need when we move to another country with limited space? How many clothes should we bring? Do we have room for homely random nick necks?

It's a tough task indeed and we avoided it long enough.. today was time to pack!!

Three days to go...

Our Itinerary!

Colin mentioned that I was writing up our little West Coast of America trip Itinerary. Let's just say, I researched all day and got super excited about next week!! So I am going to write our 12 days in America with what we are doing and who we are doing it through. It might give you an idea who to go through when you plan your own trip - but wait up for next weeks posts to see how it all went!

Day One - Monday 14th October

• Land around 6:45am
• 2-3 hours to go through customs
• Call Lax Luggage Storage to collect our excess luggage (snowboarding gear)
• Pick up our Mustang Convertible from Hertz at the airport
• Have lunch and head off to Vegas (4 hour drive)
• Stop at Route 66
• Arrive in Vegas around 3-4pm
• Check into the Luxor Hotel
• Be tourists and chillax

Day Two - Tuesday 15th October

• Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopter tours - Pick up at 5:45am 
• Grand Canyon helicopter flight at 7am
• See the volcanic Black Mountains, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and Grapevine Mesa before crossing the Grand Wash Cliffs and into the Grand Canyon
• Descend 4,000 feet to the floor of the Canyon, landing alongside Colorado River for a 30 minute champagne picnic
• Arrive back at the Luxor around midday
• Head to Discount Firearms USA (shooting Range)
• Explore and be tourists
• Criss Angel Believe Performance 7pm 

My parents offered us a trip to the Grand Canyon as our Christmas Presents! I know.. best parents ever! We went with Papillon because we read a lot of great reviews online, I do love researching plenty of different places before deciding on one - hoping I made the right decision. 

Colin was the one who researched Discount Firearms USA. We have both always wanted to shoot a gun at a range and we went with this mob because they have "Shoot for a Cure", where you hire a pink  pistol and assault rifle and $10 will be donated to research for Breast Cancer. I am really excited to do this!

Finally, The Luxor Hotel we chose because, who doesn't want to stay in a pyramid?! Also, they have Criss Angel!! Even better! So we got a deal where we see the Criss Angel Believe Performance with the hotel booking. 

Day Three - Wednesday 16th October

• Check out of the Luxor at 6am
• Drive back to LA (4 hours)
• Return Mustang to airport and pick up Jeep Grand Cherokee
• Pick up bags from Lax Luggage Storage Warehouse
• Check into the Pod Share 
• Sight seeing
• Flames VS Ducks Hockey Game 7pm

We went through a few places and only just went with the Pod Share yesterday as our LA pad! Basically, you have a square with a double bed, tv, power points, etc. Theres a common room, kitchen and one bathroom but only a maximum of 12 people can stay there at a time. I am excited for this place! It looks so groovy and modern and just awesome!

Colin wanted to see the Calgary Flames play, it is actually cheaper for us to see them in LA than it is in their home area! We are both pretty excited to see our first hockey game, got our jerseys ready and all!

Day Four - Thursday 17th October 

• UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!! 
• Sight Seeing!!

Yeah, day four is our chillax and go on heaps of rides day! We had to decide between Disneyland and Universal Studios. There's a few reasons why I want to go to Universal Studios, first, theres only two! There are plenty of locations for Disneyland. Second, both Colin and I LOVE movies, I actually wanted to be a director when I was younger! So Universal Studios wasn't a very hard decision.

Some of the sight seeing we want to do in LA are seeing the Hollywood sign, Venice Beach, Hollywood walk of fame, Hollywood Boulevard, Santa Monica Pier and just seeing the castle of Disneyland.

Day Five - Friday 18th October

• Check out of the groovy Pod Share
• Continue sight seeing around LA
• Drive to San Francisco (6 hours)
• Stop along the way to see the sunset over the horizon
• Check into HI San Francisco 
• Dinner and chill time

Day Six - Saturday 19th October

• Wake up at 6am
• Sunrise at 7:10am
• Go to Pier 39 to see the sea lions
• Walk to Mama's for breakfast
• Sight see

I will have to thank Josh Quittner for his amazing advice - San Francisco: 10 things to do. I definitely recommend reading his article, he has a whole day planned out for you and we wouldn't of known what to do in San Fran if it wasn't for him. Mama's is a little cafe that is highly recommended, both Colin and I LOVE breakfast but it was when I looked on their website when I 100% decided thats where we will go!

Some other things Quittner recommended was Coit Tower, the Stair of Telegraph Hill, Hot Cookie from Castro St, Golden Gate Park and Alcatraz. I hope the US government opens their parks up soon, I would hate to miss Alcatraz.


Day Seven - Sunday 20th October

• San Francisco to Portland
• DRIVE DAY 10 HOURS +
• Check into Northwest Portland Guesthouse (6pm)
• McMenamins - Old St Francis School

The Old St Francis School is an old theatre that has dinner, shows movies and performances. We thought if we got into Portland early enough, we would go relax there.

Day Eight - Monday 21st October

• Have a sleep in!!
• Head to Voodoo Doughnuts
• Drive to Forest Park for a walk
• If time, head to a brewery
• Drive to Seattle - 3 hours
• Check into Hotel Hotel 

We, unfortunately won't be in Portland long. So we picked two things we really love to do with some possible extras if we have time. We did some research on the area and thanks to Caryn Brooks and her article Portland: 10 Things to do we found Voodoo and Forest Park. Voodoo Doughnuts was an easy decision!! If anyone knows us, they know Colin and I are dessert eaters (not just after dinner). When Voodoo first opened, they made doughnuts glazed in NyQuil and dusted with Pepto-Bismol. Of course, they aren't allowed to do that anymore, but their avant-garde doughnuts are still something we are very keen on trying! I am also the tree hugger of our duo, so seeing Forest Park is something I really want to do!

Day Nine - Tuesday 22nd October

• Get up early
• Head to the Fremont Troll (across from where we are staying)
• Walk to the Gas Works Park
• Have breakfast
• Get car and rive to down town Seattle
• Go to Fran's Chocolates 
• See Seattle Space Needle (go to the top for $20pp)
• Head to Pike Place Market to shop and see the Post Alley Gum Wall
• Dinner and a show at Can Can Cabaret

This isn't exact but gives a rough idea of all the amazing things we want to do in Seattle!! We found these funky things through Laura Ambrey of the Huffington Post - 6 Quirky Things to do in Seattle. I recommend reading her article, it shows a lot of bizarre things Seattle has to offer! I am super excited to see the Fremont Troll, I remember first seeing it in "10 Things I Hate About You" and thinking to myself how I would love to see it in real life!

Day 10 - Wednesday 23rd October

• Get up early
• Drop car at Sea Tac Airport
• Quick shuttle bus pick up from airport at 9:30am
• Arrive in Vancouver, Canada at 2:20pm
• Bus drops us off at Holiday Inn
• Check into Samesun Backpacker
• Dinner and chill time

Sad but our last day of our 10 day America trip will be spent travelling to our new adventure starting in Canada!

Will definitely let you know how everything goes and try to keep you as updated as possible! We can't believe we leave in FIVE days for America!! So incredibly excited!!!!

If you have any advice on our itinerary please do comment and let us know, this is our first time planning a road trip overseas and we want to get it right!

Jess :)

https://365daysofwinter.wordpress.com

Doing The Rounds

Howdy All,
This is my first blog post, not just here but ever so bear with me. As Jess touched on in her post we have just returned from a winter at Ski Rider Hotel down in the Snowy Mountains, and as such we had a lot of catching up to do with not only our friends but the family as well. It was a lot more draining than we originally thought it would be!

It has been a non-stop week for us running around trying to spend as much time as possible with everybody and so far I think we have succeeded! Every day has been spent amongst friends, the weekend alone was a juggling act. Saturday lunch was at my sister's for joint birthday celebrations followed by dinner and ten-pin bowling with the 'group'.







Sunday followed a very similar pattern, it was my Niece's 1st birthday so it was yet again another day spent with the entire family but the weather was perfect all weekend and it was quite refreshing to spend some time in the sun. We bailed early, after all it was NRL Grand Final day. None of our teams made it that far but it was a good reason to make nachos, drink some beers and just hang with friends!




It was with great relief we received our confirmation for our accommodation at Lake Louise, once again a big thanks to Jake Gibbs from the Working Holiday Club for helping fix that up!

The countdown is on, 7 days until we leave! Jess is preparing our detailed itinerary right now and things could not be more exciting! I promise my posts will get better, it surely couldn't can't get any worse. So until next time!

Thats all from Colin and Jess.