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Big Trip 2017

August - September 2017
A 32-day adventure by DooWhitt tours Read more
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  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 12

    Day 12

    August 16, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Up 5am for final packing. Sydney has been great and we were so lucky with the weather.

    Bus to airport 6ish. No problem with check in and security so now very early. Had fruit & buns & pancakes for breakfast.

    Took off 10.30amish. Had g & t & few glasses of wine. Andy had dahl & brisket sandwich and I had slivers of trout & pork fillet & rice. Lovely. Tried to sleep but no chance because it's still daytime for us. Flight was about 12 hours and we landed 6.30am which was 1.30am tomorrow for us. Weird to go back in time like that. We landed 4 hours before we took off!

    Bungled our way through immigration and customs. Took about an hour which was pretty good. Limo waiting and that took another hour to reach hotel in rush hour. Couldn't believe how incredibly grotty the drive was. Very grubby and run down. Loews Hotel lovely though and we could check in which was great. Room with a view of the Hollywood sign without paying extra!

    Had strong coffee then out for walk along the Walk of Fame. Again, grubby and sleazy. Streets were dirty. Went to look for car hire office via back street. Felt dangerous - settees out on street, dodgy looking people around. Gave up and came back to hotel.

    Went in restaurant and had omelette and bacon & egg. $50 inc tip.

    Asked hotel to ring car hire place to ask them to pick us up tomorrow. All fine.

    Sat by pool for a rest. Still only 12.15! Not comfortable enough to sleep so went across road to 'Tinhorn Flats' pub. Proper diner inside. Had local lager $9 for 2 so had another.

    Back to hotel for 1 hour sleep - necessary!!

    Out again 4ish for walk the other way. Very busy with fascinated people taking photos of the names in stars on the floor.

    Had beers in Jameson Irish bar $9 for 2 so we had another! Watched life on the street. All of life is here - hippies, dropouts, vagrants, misfits but feels Ok tonight. Not aggressive or confrontational at all. Quite high security presence moving the vagrants on but they didn't go far.

    Went to Italian cafe for tea. Lasagna & carbonara & bottle Bud $30. Barman very much into English football so we had to sound knowledgeable and join in.

    Back to 'Flats' for last beer, quick look at street lighting up then home 8.30. Looks a bit more glitzy with the neon lights.

    Lots of beautiful houses up on the hills but the town of Hollywood is really grotty. Glad we've seen it but would't come back.

    Glass wine then bed.    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 13

    Day 13

    August 17, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Woke up 7.30. Good sleep so feel fine.

    Tea & pack then out for early walk. Sunny morning and streets being jet washed.

    Busy but manageable. Saw stars foot & handprints outside Chinese theatre.

    Got blueberry muffin from 7/11 then back for final pack.

    Checked out 9.50 and waited for car hire man. Didn't come so concierge chased. Said he's been and gone. Eventually came and drove us to office.

    Set off in car 11ish and followed signs and sat nav. Traffic not too bad once outside city. Got to Fallbrook 1ish then but of a merry go round to find house. Arrived just as Paul pulling up.

    Had beer & chat & chicken & Vietnamese salad sandwich. V nice.

    Out to look at their latest project house. Huge long house they are totally renovating.

    Back to house and sat outside with beer watching sun go down. Whole place is beautifully finished.

    Had cold meat & cheese followed by huge steak & baked potato. Far too much. Then sort of bread & butter pudding. Lovely.

    Couple of glasses of wine sitting outside by fabulous gas fire pit/table then bed 11.00.    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 14

    Day 14

    August 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Up 8.30 after pretty good sleep once I'd settled. Had tea/fruit/weetabix - all left for us by V. P & V gone to do some work. Wandered around the estate and took pics. Paul then back so we returned car. All seems fine but girl mentioned mark on bumper. She said we're not liable because we had full cover but we certainly didn't do it.

    Paul told us about fires 10 years ago - area had to be evacuated. Has been drought in recent years but much rain last winter so has eased.

    Sat watching humming birds, beautifully coloured butterflies, turtles, coi, avocados, pomegranates, tomatoes - very fertile land.

    Had tuna sandwich Virginia style (delicious) then out 2ish.

    45 min drive to Dana harbour where boat is. Had tea/coffee in harbour cafe then to boat. 41ft cruiser 7.41 twin engine with bedroom/cooker/tv. Took over an hour to get it ready - clean off bird poo etc then 45 min spin in Pacific Ocean then over an hour to wash it down again afterwards Lovely place, lots of seals & seabirds. Huge harbour and beautiful seaside homes. Serious money here!

    Left about 7pm - tea in nearby seaside restaurant Had fish & chips & club sandwich & 2 beers. Quite nice P & V beat us to the bill.

    Home 10ish. Cake & 2 glasses wine. Told them our big news on strict instructions not to it it anywhere near FB!

    Bed 11.30    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 15

    Day 15

    August 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Up 8.30. Another pretty good sleep.

    Tea and fruit for breakfast. Sorted bags, played with dogs and watched garden life. Really beautiful but there is nothing to do here. Everything is so far away! Their house really is fabulous but there is awful lot of their money tied up in it. They both seem to be doing well with their businesses and market conditions and the economy pretty buoyant.

    Had turkey, cheese, avocado, tomato sandwich (V does make some very very nice sandwiches!) then hung around a bit more.

    Left Fallbrook 3ish then hour or so drive to Sam Diego. Parked easily at hotel. Unpacked whilst Andy & V checked in for race and went for coffee.

    Well earned couple of beers 5.30 - local 'craft' beer all $8.

    Had expensive 'pasta party' in hotel. $30 each. Lovely soup then salads, 4 different sorts of pasta (very little meat or fish in any of them) but tasted ok. One beer each.

    Fruit salad with chilli flakes for pudding. New one on me but V says not unusual in this part of the world near Mexico.

    Took some cakes for breakfast.

    Not impressed with hotel. It looks lovely but have to pay $12 per day for wifi, concierge didn't seem to know there is a shop on site when Andy asked about milk and cereal bar for pre race breakfast. Fortunately V been here before so she knew about little shop. Place seems disorganised. Aircon doesn't seem to work and there is a $25 cleaning charge if you store own stuff in fridge. Bought tiny bottle milk & 2 flapjacky things in hotel shop = $12. Ouch.

    Stroll after meal then back to room 9ish. Full of pasta!

    A bit disappointed that have hardly seen anything of town but P & V don't seem to rate it. On the positive side, our legs have had a good rest!    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 16

    Day 16

    August 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Up 4am. Andy out 5am for San Diego 'Finest City' half marathon. V and friends also doing it.

    I met Paul 6.30 and we walked to finish - took about an hour.

    Cloudy but warm.

    V finished just over 2 hours and Andy PW.

    Walked back to hotel - seemed to take forever! Sunny and warm now.

    Hour to regroup then met 11.30. Had a beer & chicken sandwich/burger then out to Coronado island. Very gentile seaside town. Coronado hotel right beside the sea built 1878 - very grand and atmospheric.
    Had icecream/coffee and sat around for a while.

    Drove back across fabulous Coronado bridge - 2 miles long.

    Back for rest and pack 3.30.

    Met 5.30 - P & V took us to La Jolla. Very pleasant seaside town. Dinner at George's. Had calamares/octopus and tacos/grilled chicken. All quite nice but not spectacular. Service v quick. Waiter 'Hope you're having a good day. How can I make it better'. Yuk. V had glass wine and got chopsy - teasing waiters.

    Then walk down to ocean. Hundreds of sea lions playing in the sea and on the beach.

    Back to hotel and couple drinks in the bar. V had another glass of wine and gave us her political views!

    Bed 10.30.    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 17

    Day 17

    August 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Woke up 7ish. Good sleep again. Tea and final pack.

    Checked out 8.15am - we paid for P & V. Total cost about $900. A lot of money but they were so hospitable with us and saved us lots of $.

    Airport 9ish. Higher security than expected - gave Andy thorough check. Sniffer dog in queue.

    Flight 11ish.

    Flight to Vegas only an hour. Airport very near strip. Checked in fine and went to room. The hotel is enormous.....went through casino - garish carpets and bright lights. On 11th floor of famous Luxor pyramid. Room pretty big but a bit tired. No kettle or fridge!! Bad news for me! It's cheap and the lack of facilities explains why.

    Unpacked then out to strip. Hot but not unbearable. Looked for Bank because ATM in hotel charges $8 to withdraw cash. Didn't find so went for beer in Fatbar. Had bacon/sausage/egg butty and a beer. Very nice and quite cheap.

    Bought mini immersion heater for $16 and milk for €3.75 - much cheaper than buying coffee from Starbucks or similar!

    Went into Tropicana for beer - similar garish carpet.

    Then walked/monorail to famous Las Vegas sign. Queues for photos then Elvis arrived with music pack on his belt. Amusing.

    Home for tea and bit of hand washing 5.30pm.

    As expected, will take a while to adjust to this town!

    Out 7.30ish. Dusk and getting very busy. Went to German bar - quite nice then walked to Belaggio to watch the fountains. A bit disappointed really - they didn't do much and we've seen better. Think we must have missed something or they weren't working properly. Tried Double Barrel bar - closed for private function. Tried Beer Garden - closed for private function. Walked miles again and aimed for steak bar we'd seen this afternoon. On 4th floor and no menu visible so didn't bother. Went back to Irish bar in New York - bought beer and tried to sit away from music but they said diners only. We said we might be dining but they weren't interested so we drank beer and left. Went for pizza slices in New York cafe - about $25 and very nice.

    Bought bottle of wine for $30 and back to room 11ish. Tired legs!    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 18

    Day 18

    August 22, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Hard to settle in yet another bed. Chilly in the night so pulled covers back on.

    Up 9ish. Window cleaner with a head for heights outside - abseiling down the pyramid!

    Out looking for lions - mmmm. Old guide book so didn't realise lions long gone! Already tired legs so fed up.

    Went to check on tix for Rod Stewart - min $112 on desk so went to box office. Lowest price $65 in the gods for 1.5 hour show. Decided against.

    Went to fat burger 12ish. Asked for bacon/sausage butty but they said breakfast finished at 11. They served us yesterday! Had burger & beer watching strip. Lot of people earning living from dressing as show girls or superheroes. Quite sad really.

    Went to Mirage to see dolphins. $22 each to get in but quiet inside. Had beer - very large!! Not much going on with dolphins but also area got lions, tigers, leopards, cheetah. Quite entertaining.

    Then to big wheel (high roller) via Venetian. Quite liked this place - Rialto Bridge, St Marks Sq, Bridge of Sighs & gondolas.

    Wheel $25 for 30 mins. Quite good but can't possibly be high enough to see well.

    Then to bar for happy hour beers near wheel. $5. Watched people again.

    Then to Beerhaus outside New York for Party in Park.
    Beer $5 and fabulous live band. Had ribs/chicken cob salad and few beers. Chatted to couple going to show. They'd started on Margaritas at 2pm. She was smashed and he was not feeling good!

    Enjoyed the music. Got monorail home 10.30. Long day !    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 19

    Day 19

    August 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    Up 7am. Picked up 8.15 for Grand Canyon trip. 6 + pilot per helicopter. Used birthday vouchers from Anne, Peter and Chris to pay for part of trip - special birthday outing.

    40 mins flight across Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Spectacular landscape and enormous, beautiful lake. Pilot Jake told us about points of interest. Landed in the bottom of the canyon and had fizz and cake (champagne picnic - mmmm). Amusing that picnic benches set up in the canyon and cheeky squirrels and chipmunks come looking for crumbs. 30 min stop then back via refuelling station plonked in the desert. Absolutely amazing trip - really enjoyed it. Bit nervous about first trip in helicopter but we were fine and flight very smooth.

    Back to hotel for tea and regroup then out again 1ish.

    Bought 24 hour Deuce bus tix $8 each - need to save our legs a bit! Went to CIrcus Circus. More old fashioned style casino with proper slot machines and coin pushers. Andy pushed a few coins over and won a pile of tickets. Worth 132 points - enough for a little toy for Nell and some sweets. Biggest win we had!

    Watched a balancing act then had a beer.

    Started to rain so rushed to Wynn for buffet lunch. Huge array of food and new dishes kept appearing. Had several plates and had good value from the 'endless pour'. Very drunk and since discovered my Ballast Point beer is 7 percent! Andy stayed on Stella at 4.8.

    Got Deuce back and went in casino. Andy went to watch a couple of games of craps and I dozed off at the bar. Security lady came to check on me - shows that they are watching all the time.

    Asleep by 9.30.    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 20

    Day 20

    August 24, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Up 8ish. Tea & biscuits from buffet yesterday.

    Out on Deuce to Fremont Experience - the original Las Vegas. Bus very busy and took ages. Fremont is a dump. Might look better at night when the lights are twinkling but it's decidedly grotty in the day time. Lot of dodgy looking people around.
    Had brunch in Hennessys pub - club sandwich and omelette. Coffee and hottish water & teabag with free refill. €35.

    Back on bus - home at 1pm. Not impressed. We had intended to go last night but the endless pour had other ideas!

    Regroup, checked in for tomorrow, shower and out.

    Got cash, booked for Bronx Wanderers show for 5.30 tonight - $118 for two.

    Had couple of beers - one $10 back street. Ridiculously expensive.
    Went into casino with $30 flutter money gift from Dave & Sue. We only know roulette so went to quiet table. Minimum bet $15 so lost our money in 2 spins. Ouch.

    Then to Geordano's. Looked really expensive but happy hour so only $6ish for two. People next to us had HUGE deep pizza and we were quite envious. It looked delicious. Next news, the guy said they had ordered too much and offered us half the pizza. We said take it with you but they were off to a show. We offered some payment but they wouldn't accept it so we took the pizza and demolished it. The biggest, deepest pizza I've ever seen and it was lovely.

    Off to show 5.30. Vinny Adinolfi is the star. He was a record producer for some big names in his day and now has show with his sons. Was really good - musicians and singing were excellent Only lasted 1.5 hours so done by 7pm.

    Went to New York bar. Singer on there and band after he finished. Both very good. Pleasant evening.

    Home 10.30. Glass of wine and bed.    Read more

  • DooWhitt toursBig Trip 2017
    Day 21

    Day 21

    August 25, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Phone call at 4.30am from Virgin Media. Grrr.
    Up 7.30 and packed. Out for breakfast. Streets reasonably quiet and temperature pleasant.

    Went to FatBar - not the usual menu on the table. Only burgers. Asked what's available for breakfast. Answer - nothing because they are expecting hordes of people for the boxing match tomorrow. Went to Hard Rock - sat upstairs outside. Nice acoustic guitar music. Had scrambled egg/bacon/sausage/home fries & toast. All quite nice.

    Back to check out and taxi to airport. All fine and plenty of time.

    Luxor was ok but very tired. Hated the smell as soon as we opened the bedroom door - trying to keep air clean and smoke free but it was horrible. Didn't notice it in any of the other hotels. So difficult to manoeuvre way from a to b - traffic on the street busy so lots of bridges but too much like hard work. If we ever came back, would stay somewhere more centra - New York, Mirage maybe.

    We've settled into the madness of the city but quite relieved to be leaving it. I don't think I want to go back.

    Flight to Washington 4 hours. Had sandwich $9.99 and one free beer. No option to buy anything else's during the flight but we were fine. Landed early but had to wait for bags then shuttle to hotel. $24 for two people - quite cheap. 3 hours later here so now we were thirsty!

    Checked into Kimpton Rouge at 10ish. Lovely place and great receptionist. She gave us maps, guides and metro tix to save us $2 initial fee. Guided us to Stoney's bar round the corner. Shared a pizza which was nice. Bar was s bit noisy but only to be expected at 11pm on a Friday night. We will be back.

    Temperature very pleasant and lovely to walk down street without dodging people.

    Tried to buy bottle of wine but 11.30 by now so went home to bed. Beautiful room.    Read more

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