A 6 week celebration in the USA, Cuba & Mexico PTR!

[mindy32]

Hi All,

DH is away on a 6 week course with work and I'm home alone, bored, miles from all my friends and family, so thought what would cheer me up?! That's right, a PTR for our November/December trip!

This trip is a celebration of many things: 1)it's a belated honeymoon (we'll be overseas for our one year anniversarry) but since our best friend, Jacqui, is coming for the first four weeks, the honeymoon comes in the latter part of the trip! 2)We're celebrating Jacqui's 30th birthday a little early, her bday is in Jan. 3) We're celebrating having survived three years here in country NSW, we move home to Vic right after Christmas.

Onto the travellers:
Firstly there's me (surprise, surprise). I'm Belinda, 25 (will be 26 when we head off), work in marketing but am giving my notice tomorrow and will finish up the week before we go away as we'll be moving as soon as we're back. I've been loosely planning this trip the entire three years we've lived here, having no family and few friends around will do that to a girl!

Next is DH, Daniel, 25, also will be 26 when we go. Does a wonderful job humouring all my plans but really just can't wait to get away, doesn't care about the little plans. We're complete opposites, Daniel would happily just go with the flow but I'm clearly more of a planner!

And last but not least is Jacqui, our best friend, 29. We're very lucky in that whilst Jac was 'my friend' first she has become 'our' best friend. She's the only person we could travel with which makes this trip perfect! Jac's a bit in between with the planning, she lets me go for it but has strong opinions on some things!

To finish off this post I'll list our itinerary in brief, and then over the course of this week I'll come back and post info on each of our stops!

We fly out of Melbourne at lunchtime on the 8th of November, arriving in LA at 9:48am.
8-11th November LA
On the 11th we have a hire car booked for the day from LA with drop off in San Diego, so we'll be driving down via the beaches, taking our time to stop where we like.

11-15th November San Diego
Fly to Vegas super early on the 15th

15-20th Las Vegas
We then pick up a hire car in Vegas early on the 20th for our mini road trip.

20-25th Road Trip including Grand Canyon, to New Mexico and back
Drive back to Vegas the night of the 24th and fly out early on the 25th.

25-30th New York
We fly out late on the 30th, arriving in WDW at around 11pm

30th Nov- 6th December WDW
Jacqui then flies home on the 6th Dec and Daniel and I fly to Cancun.

6th December Cancun
One night stopover in Cancun due to flight times, flying out early afternoon to Cuba

7-15th December Cuba
Doing an Intrepid tour

15-18th December Cancun
Back to Cancun for three nights including our 1st wedding anniversarry <3

18th December
One night back in Orlando again due to flights

19th, fly home, arriving back into Melbourne on the 21st December.

I'm bursting with excitement already and yet it's still about 75 sleeps! I'll be back tomorrow with more of the detailed plans.

Belinda

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

What an exciting trip. I can't wait for more details, ESP on the Cuba front

 

[Andona]

Mindy, what a wonderful trip you have planned!!
You're wedding anniversary is going to be so special, something you'll remeber all your lives

I'll be interested to read about the itinerary of your Intrepid tour - have you done one with them before? Our daughter did an Intrepid tour in India in January and it was very well organised.

Looking forward to reading more details....

Andona

 

[Ozdisneydreamin]

Sounds like a great trip

 

[frangipanisam]

Sounds great! Nothing like Disney to make a belated honeymoon worth it!

Are you doing Mickey's very merry Christmas party in WDW? I'm thinking my next trip will centre around doing this

 

[mindy32]

Thanks for your responses!

Never done an Intrepid tour before Andona, glad to hear your daughter enjoyed her India one, we actually don't know anyone who has ever done one. But there's limited choice for well known tour companies in Cuba I found and I didn't want to do it on our own.

I'm not sure about MVMCP in WDW yet Sam, I love Christmas so I think I'd like it but not sure it's worth the money, especially since DH and Jacqui aren't that into Disney or Christmas (go figure hey!!).

I'm jumping on the treadmill now, got 7kg to loose before we go (fingers crossed), I'll be back later with more trip details!

 

[mindy32]

California Leg

We fly into LA at 9:48am (all going according to schedule!) on the 8th November. We'll head straight out to our hotel, The Chamberlain in West Hollywood when we arrive. We'll check in if by some miracle our room is ready that early, otherwise we'll leave our bags and I'm sure we'll then head straight to find some food! This is for two reasons: 1) DH is always hungry and 2) I'm fructose intolerant so may not be able to eat anything on the plane. Oh plus who doesn't want to start their holiday with some greasy American food, milkshakes and huge desserts?!

Plan for arrival day other than eating is just to wander down to the Walk of Fame, Chinese Theatre, etc. It's my first time to the USA and Daniel's first to LA so we'll just be taking it all in!

The plans for our following two full days in LA can be interchanged but one of the days we'll be going to Universal Studios, we're ordering front of the line passes online before we go. (I think at that time of year we don't need them but Jac and Daniel insist we get them regardless!). On the other day we intend to do a movie star homes tour and perhaps some shopping. If anyone has suggestions of things not to miss in our spare time in LA I'd love to hear!

On the 11th we pick up a hire car in LA in the morning. We'll then head off down the coast to San Diego, detouring to the beaches including Santa Monica, Newport Beach, La Jolla, etc. We have the hire car booked until 11pm that night so we'll head to our hotel (Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa), check in, then probably head out to dinner and drop the car back when we're ready to head back to the hotel.

Our plans for the 12,13 & 14th are fairly loose at this stage. We definitely want to do the San Diego Zoo and possibly SeaWorld though with having just been at Universal and going to WDW later in the trip I'm not sure about another themepark. I think we'll just see how we feel. Our hotel is a bit out of the way, but it's right on the water so the plan is to relax a little bit whilst we're there, hopefully the weather is decent! San Diego was actually an addition to the trip that we weren't planning on so we honestly haven't researched a lot, I'd love to hear suggestions on what you'd do there?!

 

[Andona]

Sounds good so far! I don't think you'll regret the Front Of Line Passes at Universal, we were very glad to have them. My DD and I rode The Mummy 3 times in a row with minimal waiting - and that was on a busy Saturday

Andona

 

[viaggiamo]

Wow, that sounds awesome.

I would looooove to visit Cuba and have told DH I want to go there for my 40th (in 4 years) as the chidlren will be older.

I would love to hear more about that part please.

 

[BecBennett]

Sounds like an awesome trip!

What's wrong with Country NSW?!?! Where abouts are you? I'm in Tamworth

We spent time in Puerto Morelos about an hour away from Cancun and loved it, we'd love to go back, but at a warmer time then when we went in March

Would love to hear how Cuba goes!

 

[Minniemum]

That sounds like a great trip.

We've also stayed just south of Cancun. We loved our time there, particularly our visits to Xcaret and Chichen Itza.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[mindy32]

Thanks all! Glad to hear you both liked Mexico, we're doing Chichen Itza as part of our day tour.

Lol Bec, nothing is wrong with country NSW I swear! DH is in the army so we're not here by choice (Wagga Wagga) that's my only reason for being a sook haha. Most of our friends left last year, our only friends left just had a baby on Friday and we have no family within 5 hours of here. And DH is away at the moment for 6 weeks. So no matter where I was I wouldn't like it haha.

I'll definitely post details of the Cuba part, but it will have to wait, I like to do things in order I'm afraid!

 

[mindy32]

Las Vegas

We arrive into Vegas on the 15th November at 9:50am, and will go straight to our hotel to leave our bags. We're staying at the Bellagio, I cannot wait! I've read same bad reviews but I've always wanted to stay there.

I'm an absolute chocoholic so my first stop will be m & m world, but Daniel and Jac both love to gamble when the ocassion arises and have been dying to get to Vegas! We don't have endless spending money though so there's plenty of other things in Vegas we'll be doing including checking out all the other hotels, possibly a day trip somewhere (maybe ATV's out in the desert), going to Cirque du Soleil 'O' (convenient that it's at the Bellagio), another show or two, and who knows what else! I'd love some suggestions here too, I don't really drink alcohol (I've had two drinks in the past 12 months) and don't like to gamble so I need things to entertain me, we're there for 5 days! So hit me, suggestions please?!

As you can see our plan for Vegas is fairly loose. On the 20th we then check out of the Bellagio and pick up a hire car at about 8am, driving straight to the Grand Canyon for a couple of hours. We'll then drive to Flagstaff at the end of the day and stay the night there. After that we'll have 3 more nights on the road, two of which we intend to spend in Clovis, New Mexico. DH did a course there years ago and has kept in contact with some people so wants to go back for a couple of days. We'll be there over Thanksgiving so hoping to have a traditional meal with his friends! The last night we are possibly going to stay in Albuquerque, haven't 100% decided. Then we have the whole day to drive back to Vegas, checking in late to the MGM Grand for the one night before our early flight to New York.

 

[Andona]

Great plans! The Bellagio should be wonderful

You did mention you expect to check in to the MGM Grand late so I assume you know that from Albuquerque to Vegas is about 9 hours drive? If you're driving along I40 you'll go past Petrified Forest National park - I'd love to see that

Andona

 

[mindy32]

Great plans! The Bellagio should be wonderful

You did mention you expect to check in to the MGM Grand late so I assume you know that from Albuquerque to Vegas is about 9 hours drive? If you're driving along I40 you'll go past Petrified Forest National park - I'd love to see that

Andona

Yeah thank you we figure it'll be an all day drive by the time we stop for lunch etc

Ooh I'll have to google that, I must admit I don't think I've even heard of it!

 

[alicia1506]

wow, sounds like a fabulous trip, cannot wait to hear all about it

 

[mindy32]

Another week down, another week closer to departure day! (Not that I'm counting or anything)

So today time to run through the New York part of our trip.

We fly out of Vegas at 8am on the 25th, arriving into JFK at 4pm. The plan for that night will just be to go straight to the hotel and checkin then go grab dinner and maybe go out for a few drinks if we're feeling like it, nice relaxed night.

Again for NY we don't have our plans set in stone by day just a list of the things we would like to see/do. We'll be getting the NY pass (any opinions?) as it seems like a good deal for us, pretty much covers everywhere we want to go.

So, plans are for the following:
Empire State or Top of the Rock
Ferry to see Statue of Liberty
9/11 Memorial
Museum of Natural History
Madame Tassauds
FAO Schwarz
See Plaza Hotel
Eat at the MOMA restaurant
Jacqui wants to visit batting cages
Yankee Stadium
Food on Foot Tour
Possibly a tour on slavery

I'm sure there's a few more things but they are the main ones I think. If anyone has suggestions on things not to miss please speak now!

 

[mindy32]

WDW!

I'll be honest here, being the disboards you would think this part would be what I'd planned the most but it's honestly not. We want to go with the flow here. We leave NY at 6:50pm (literally just got an email saying Delta had changed our times by an hour & 15 but I was prepared for that thanks to Karen lol), arriving into Orlando about 10pm. We're getting the Magical Express and know we have to get our own bags so we'll do that, and then just go straight to bed when we arrive I think! We'll see how we feel.

Our first day we're doing MK! No dining reservations, the other two don't want me to make them Damn them.

Second day is our HS day from memory (my plans are at home), again no dining res.

Third day may be a non park day (the other two want to see a bit of Orlando) or it could be a half water park day/half Orlando city day.

Fourth day is Epcot, we have a reservation for breakfast at Cape May, our one character brekkie. And then we'll walk over to Epcot.

Fifth day is Animal Kingdom I think. Our final day in WDW, we have a reservation for dinner at Cali Grill right in time for the fireworks.

Final day we will have brekkie at the hotel, then probably check out, maybe go for a walk over to DTD for a little while as our flights aren't until the afternoon. Daniel and I fly to Mexico at around 3pm and Jacqui starts her trek home to Melbourne at around 5pm so we'll all just be going to the airport together. Daniel and I have arranged to leave our big suitcases at the Hyatt at Orlando Airport (as we'll be staying there one night on our return to the US) and are just taking hand luggage for the last two weeks. This is going to be hard for me, I'm a big packer!!

 

[mindy32]

Mexico & Cuba!

We fly into Cancun airport at around 9pm and have a flight out to Cuba at around 3pm the following day so we've just booked a hotel right near the airport that has a shuttle bus. We'll hang around at the hotel until checkout at 12pm, eat brekkie there etc, and then go to the airport.

I believe our flight arrives into Havana at approximately 6pm that night so we'll taxi it out to the hotel, checkin and just grab some dinner.

Our Intrepid Tour 'Classic Cuba' starts the next day, though this first day is just an arrival day. I've just noticed there's only two spaces left so looks like a full tour (max is still only 12 people anyway though).

Here's the itinerary from the Intrepid website:

Day 1 Havana Get acquainted with Cuba's capital city, Havana, by taking a walk through the crumbling splendour of World Heritage-listed Habana Vieja (Old Havana), or by heading to the Malecon to watch waves crash dramatically against the seawall. Alternatively, find a cafe, kick back with a Cuba Libre and soak up the procession of classic cars, the whiff of fragrant cigars and the constant sound of salsa that effortlessly melds in this captivating and incredibly unique city.
.Days 2-4 Vinales Discover Habana Vieja's best-kept secrets. Stop in Soroa to explore the orchid garden, or hike up a rugged mountain path to admire the sweeping view from the lookout. Continue on to the chilled-out village of Vinales, travelling through limestone 'pincushion' hills. Take long walks overlooking sprawling Cuban tobacco fields and meet locals over a nip of the region's famous ron (rum). For a cultural fix, check out the museum near the central plaza.
.Days 5-6 Maria La Gorda Travel to Cuba's westernmost tip, to beautiful Maria La Gorda, a beachside haven that buzzes with wild pirate legends and rumours of buried treasure. Nearby, the calm, clear waters of the Caribbean beckon. Strut your stuff in an informal salsa lesson then relax on the white sands, scuba dive, hike through the dense forests, or admire the picturesque surrounds in this remote paradise.
.Days 7-8 Havana Spend a couple of days back in the gritty, charming capital. Take time to discover the architecture, uncover Cuba's fascinating history at the Museo de la Revolucion or head to Habana Vieja's bars for a celebratory mojito.

There's 4 nights in hotels and 3 nights in homestays on this trip so that should be interesting! I'm a little bit nervous but DH is the most excited about this part so I hope it lives up to expectations!

The final leg of our trip is 3 nights in an all inclusive resort in Cancun.

Staying at Dreams Resort Cancun for a bit of relaxation before making the trek home. Our final full day there is actually our first wedding anniversary so we have booked a private tour for the day. Our guide will be taking us to Chichen Itza, a cenote, Ek Balam and Vallaoild Plaza. We'll then be getting back to the hotel around 7pm so will have a nice romantic dinner at around 8 or 9.

And that's about it! We have a flight out of Cancun on the afternoon of the 18th of December, arriving into Orlando at midnight. We then check into the Hyatt Orlando Airport for the one night before flying home. Our flight back to Melbourne isn't until 6pm on the 19th so we will probably leave our bags at the hotel and go into town for a few hours, have a nice lunch, last minute shopping and then get to the airport early/mid afternoon ready to come home.