mike-s north america tour (now with pics!, LOTS of them :) )

[mike-s]

Thats right happy campers, as per this thread it is now less than 62 hours until we (me & the girly) blast off in a plume of burnt Kero and fly yonder to the U.S of A.

I'm a little ambivolent and also nervous about the 14+ hour 12052km flight, as i've never ever done anything like this in my life ever before. So i have no expectations of wtf things are going to be like (for better or worse) once we're there, but im sure they'll go awesomely well. But still, its doing my head in at the moment.

I'm two and a half hours away from finishing my last shift at work until i go overseas and frankly i can't wait to kiss this place goodbye for 26 days.

A quick rundown on what's happening thus far.

We've got the original 6 Nights in LA, we were upgraded in the hotel we were staying at, simply because the other hotel was due to start some serious renovations just before we arrived there.

After that we hire a car one way and drive to Vegas.
We spend 24 hours there before flying to Vancouver Canada, where we get a connecting bus and go to the town of Whistler for 6 days/5 nights of drinking, skiing & snowboarding.

After we do that we take the same bus back to Vancouver and fly over to New York, Where we spend around 6 days doing various touristy things, including going to Niagra falls, which will be interesting, considering they are currently still experiencing snow there.

After that's done with, we fly to San Francisco and we have up to four days to drive down the costal road to L.A. (Getaway did a two parter on this trip, part one here, part two here).

Then we arse about doing whatever for the remaining time before we have to get on a plane and get back to reality.

All in all, FARK!

[mike-s]

At this point to sate any curiosity, i feel i should mention i'll be riding shotgun armed with a digital camera & with 3 gigs of flashcards to burn, No drivey for me :-\. But still, expect a LOT of photos.

oh and with two people, i do beleive that means we can bring back up to 4 litres of alcohol...... *hic*

[Lainie]

Good Luck and have lots of fun

[javaman]

14hrs? I thought it's more like 24 hrs ... plus transit

[mfzx6r]

You'll love it, except the fight, I did enjoy

[mick_dundee]

14hrs? I thought it's more like 24 hrs ... plus transit

yeah was last time I did it, worked out that if I took a direct Qantas flight from Sydaney to LA I could arrive in LA one hour before I departed

[red_dave]

i'm prediciting a "Shotgun wedding"

I hope you guys have a good one, and Mike just so your know, Johnnie Walker is my preferred duty free gift...

[MrStompy]

make sure you do the blackcomb glacier at whistler.
the cat track at the bottom of it is the best in the world i reckon - its like a motocross track with lots of corners and jumps. you gotta do it flat out though otherwise its 10ks of hell
dont worry that will make more sense when you see it.

sounds like an awesome trip. your gonna have a great time.
have fun and play safe

[Stretchy]

Lucky Bastard, i cant wait to go back to the States.

Remember on the drive between San Francisco and LA to stop at Laguna Seca.

[Smitty]

Mike...sounds all cool
BASTARD!
I wanna overseas holiday (well annuver one )

enjoy driving left hookers in the YewESShay
and remember they have some strange rules
over there...like doing RH turns thru red lights
DO NOT speed thru School '25mph' zones
and smile at anyone in a Black and White
why?



they have guns



oh
..and take a good book
15hrs in a tin can can go slowly
stay away from the hosties
they may not wear knickers )


enjoy it mate


cheers

[aardvark]

The bits that suck the most are the stop overs.

On my way to Germany a couple of years ago, I had a 4 hour stop over in Dubai. Once I got sick of looking around the HUUUUGE duty free shopping area, I did like everyone else does and went to sleep on the floor in the aisle.

And a quick tip for you:
Set your watch to the time at your destination before you get on the plane. It will help if you suffer from jet lag.

[Draven]

Have a good time mate, hopefully catch up with you when you get back

[Damon Z1000]

I'm a little ambivolent and also nervous about the 14+ hour 12052km flight

HTFU, Pfffffffff 14hrs thats a short one

[mike-s]

The bits that suck the most are the stop overs.

Which is why we paid the premium to have nothing but direct flights .

And a quick tip for you:
Set your watch to the time at your destination before you get on the plane. It will help if you suffer from jet lag.

interesting...... might subscribe to that theory.

[mike-s]

No photos yet, as they are still sitting in our camera up in our room. But we've managed to survive two days in L.A. without getting shot, mugged, lost or harmed in any way. But to be truthfull, its actually a nice place here without much of the above, providing you forget traffic is on the other side of the roads and can ignore the funny looks and being asked to repeat yourself because someone can't understand you through your "accent".

So far we've gone and wandered through Rodeo Drive, bought some neat bargans (amazingly enough ON rodeo Drive). Had dinner out at an awesome restraunt called "sparks" (if your ever in the area, their babyback ribs are absolutely awesome!), gotten lost in the local westfields, and generally been having an awesome time of ourselves.

Tomorrow is Universal studios, and i think we'll be doing Disneyland on Wednesday or Perhaps Thursday.

Anyway guys, thanks for all the ideas, just a shame we could only incorporate 1/4 of those given.

Updates to follow,

Mike & Shell.