Day 5

Birthdays, Charging Problems & Scooby Doo 🎂🔋🕵️

Today was my birthday and, simply put, it turned into a far more interesting day than expected.

To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I was overseas for my birthday—although now that I’m 53, there’s every chance I’ve simply forgotten!

We didn’t have a huge amount planned for today, partly because some of our original ideas didn’t quite work out. Two places I’d considered visiting were the Desert Botanical Garden and Taliesin West.

The Desert Botanical Garden is one of Arizona’s best-known attractions, featuring thousands of desert plants from across the American Southwest, including giant saguaro cacti and native desert landscapes. Taliesin West, meanwhile, was the winter home and architectural school of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is considered one of Scottsdale’s most important historic sites.

Both sounded really interesting—but so did the prices. Entry to the garden alone was USD$32.95 (about AUD$50), while Taliesin West was USD$44 (roughly AUD$67). By the time we added everything up, it felt like a pretty expensive day before we’d even started, so we decided instead to explore Scottsdale itself.

Thankfully, after several nights of poor sleep, I finally had a decent rest and woke up feeling much more normal. After breakfast, we headed out to explore Old Town Scottsdale.

Old Town Scottsdale has a really good atmosphere, mixing Southwestern-style buildings with galleries, restaurants, souvenir shops, and modern boutiques. It still leans into its Old West image, with wide streets, public artwork, and plenty of outdoor areas. We may have arrived a little too early though, because most of the shops were still closed, but it was still nice to walk around before it became busy.

From there, we headed to Kierland Commons, an open-air shopping and dining area in North Scottsdale. Rather than a traditional shopping centre, it’s designed more like an outdoor village with restaurants, shops, fountains, and walking areas. It definitely felt modern—and expensive.

Unfortunately, most of our morning was dominated by one issue: finding somewhere to charge the EV before returning it tomorrow.

I will definitely leave this trip wiser. When I booked the car, I genuinely thought choosing an electric vehicle was a smart idea given rising petrol prices linked to tensions in the Middle East. In reality, it’s probably created more stress than it’s saved.

When we finally found a charging station, we tried several times to get it working but nothing happened. Then we checked our banking apps and discovered pending charges totalling more than USD$140. After recovering from mild panic, Ted called the bank while I rang the charging company. Thankfully, the lady I spoke to explained it was only a pre-authorisation amount and reassured us that because the charger had never actually worked, the money would disappear again shortly.

The next part of the day felt mostly like wasted time as we drove around trying to find another charging station. One thing we quickly discovered is that Google Maps doesn’t seem particularly good at identifying which chargers are public and which are private, meaning several we found weren’t actually usable.

While driving past a Hyundai dealership, I noticed some EV chargers outside. I went in and asked whether they were for public use and the gentleman working there said yes. We kept that in mind while stopping briefly at Walmart so Ted could look for tennis shoes.

After failing yet again to find another working charger, we returned to the dealership and tried there instead. Naturally, things still weren’t straightforward. The machine wouldn’t accept our cards, so we attempted to download the charging app—only to discover we couldn’t register because we weren’t US residents.

At that point, the same gentleman from earlier came back outside to check how we were going.

He suggested plugging the car in while he tried paying through his own digital wallet. Amazingly, it worked immediately and the charger finally started.

When we asked how we could pay him back, he simply said, “Don’t worry, for you today it’s free.”

After the morning we’d had, we were incredibly grateful. It was just a genuinely kind thing for somebody to do, especially for complete strangers. I’ve always believed there are more good people in the world than bad ones, and today definitely reinforced that.

Since the charging would take about an hour, we walked nearby looking for somewhere to eat and ended up at Craft 64. The restaurant has a relaxed atmosphere and focuses on wood-fired pizzas and fresh ingredients. After the stress of the morning, it was a very welcome break.

Afterwards, we found an Indian grocery store where we bought Cadbury chocolate and peanut brittle as a thank-you gift for the Hyundai employee who had helped us. It felt like the least we could do considering how much stress he’d saved us from.

We definitely left with a valuable lesson though:

No more EV rental cars on holidays!

Back at the hotel, we spent a quiet afternoon recovering from the Great Charging Crisis of 2026 and were honestly too scared to drive anywhere else 😄

That evening, however, things improved dramatically.

We headed out to catch up with our friend Chris, whom we originally met years ago on a cruise through Asia. We first met Chris and his boyfriend Cliff for drinks at Buffalo Wild Wings before heading to Escapology for my birthday activity—an escape room.

We also met two of their friends, Christopher and Douglas, although they arrived slightly late thanks to the Escapology website sending them to the wrong address.

Out of all the available rooms, I chose the Scooby Doo-themed experience—partly because it had good reviews, and partly because I hoped it might make turning 53 feel slightly less confronting.

The room itself was really well done—bright, colourful, animated, and very Scooby Doo. The storyline involved solving clues to uncover a mystery involving the disappearance of members of Mystery Inc. and identifying the villain before time ran out. Even with six of us involved, we worked together surprisingly well and escaped with just over a minute to spare.

We then headed to AZ88 for dinner. Located near Scottsdale’s waterfront area, it has a modern atmosphere and was very lively for a weeknight. We really liked this part of Scottsdale—it felt social and energetic without being overwhelming.

The food was great, but the highlight was definitely when Chris surprised me with a strawberry shortcake dessert for my birthday ❤️

Since everyone except Ted and I had work the next day, it wasn’t a late night—but it ended up being a really enjoyable birthday after a fairly stressful start.

Tomorrow we leave Arizona behind and head back to California, where the next part of our adventure begins—our cruiseRead more