MA pigletfan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2006
YAY!!!! So happy to read this installment..i hope to go out west one day, it sounds like you had a great time on your first 2 stops 
did you see any "stars" ???
did you see any "stars" ??? 
Two Aussie first-timers in Disney! Lots of photos! NEW- FINAL CHAPTER! - Ch 20, Pg 30
- Thread starter AussieAngel
- Start date
NMAmy
Can speak food in German
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2000
Great installment. I have a PT Cruiser--I love mine. 
It's little and gets pretty good mileage and yet there is tons of room on the inside. I'm impressed about you guys learning to drive on the right side of the road in California of all places!
Can't wait to read more!
It's little and gets pretty good mileage and yet there is tons of room on the inside. I'm impressed about you guys learning to drive on the right side of the road in California of all places! Can't wait to read more!
lennon2004
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2007
I just read your food report today, so I'll be following along here too. I love your writing style, and especially your little Aussie words and phrases.
Disney_Dreaming
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2007
So glad you had a wonderful time in Cali! It's one of my favorite places to vacation. Looking forward to the next installment!
LITTLEKID58
Platinum Castaway
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2001
I am subscribing.. cannot wait for the rest.
txs so much for sharing..
txs so much for sharing..
Ciciwoowoo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2007
Your picture of Yosemite is wonderful! I look forward to reading more!
Aussie Angel, this is wonderful, I have never been to the West Coast of the USA, sounds great. We go in October/November, 1 week CSR, 1 week Gulf Coast, 1 Week GF. Trying to persuade my DH to go for seven weeks next time (so never going to happen). Don't envy you the flights though.
mt mommy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2007
Great to hear about all of your "american" adventures. I LOVE San Francisco, but I agree with the Mark Twain quote too!!! I am always freezing when I go there. BUT.....the food makes up for it! I love the food in San Francisco.
Can't wait to hear more!!!! I'm anxious to hear how you liked Las Vegas. It is one of my least favorite places. We live only 7 hours from LV and I REALLY don't care for it at ALL!!
Can't wait to hear more!!!! I'm anxious to hear how you liked Las Vegas. It is one of my least favorite places. We live only 7 hours from LV and I REALLY don't care for it at ALL!!
AussieAngel
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2006
Doo be dooo! Here I am again!
MA Pigletfan... We didn't see any stars, no! The closest we got when we saw Jerry O'Connell's car parked in his carpark at Universal Studios. Awesome, hey?
We did go on a "Movie Star homes tour" though, and saw lots of big houses which apparently belong to celebrities. Hehehee. But really, it could have been Joe Shmoe's house, and the dude just said, "John Travolta lives here!" But we had fun looking at the pretty houses, anyway!
I was hoping Brad Pitt might have heard I was in town and invited me over for dinner, but alas. Maybe next time!
NMAmy... Wow, you have a Cruiser! What colour is yours!? I loved our little blue car! It was very comfy!! I connected my ipod to the stereo, and for about half the trip, we played The OC themesong - "Califoooornia, Californiaaaaa, here we coooooooome!" Heee!
joiev98... I'd love 8 days in Florida right now!! Lucky you!!!
lennon2004... Thanks for your nice comments! I'm glad you like my Aussie phrases - I was a little worried that I might say something, and people might think, "Huh!? What's she talking about?!" but so far, so good!! We spell things slightly differently sometimes too, like "colour" and "favourite". So don't worry, I'm not really that bad of a speller!!
Disney_Dreaming... I did love California! If I was to move to the US, I think I'd live in California. Oh, hang on. Maybe New York City. Or, maybe Florida. Oh, there's too many good places!!
LITTLEKID58, basas, Ciciwoowoo... Thanks for all your lovely comments! It's nice to know people are enjoying my trip report!!
lisaj... Your trip sounds fantastic! I'm very jealous!
Luv2trav... Our 7 week adventure was awesome, you're right!! I think it's more common for Australians to do a big overseas adventure than it is for Americans, for some reason. Lots of Australians live and work overseas in England for 2 years when they're in their 20's. We didn't want to do that, so we just decided to have a big holiday instead!
It's odd though, because after a few weeks of holidaying, you kind of take it for granted. You forget about "real life" and your job, and cleaning, and all that boring stuff. Instead, you get stressed about silly stuff, like catching the right bus to the beach, or arguing about what to do for that day, or making sure you get to your ADR on time. Funny!
mt mommy... We really enjoyed the food in San Francisco too! We found a great little Italian restaurant just down the road from where we were staying - they had the nicest creamy chicken pasta ever! And I agree with you about Las Vegas... I really didn't like it! But I'll get to that very soon in the next instalment!
Thanks again for all your nice comments!! I get so excited when I see someone else has replied! Hee!
I'm going to put the next instalment up in the next few hours, so keep an eye out!!
MA Pigletfan... We didn't see any stars, no! The closest we got when we saw Jerry O'Connell's car parked in his carpark at Universal Studios. Awesome, hey?
We did go on a "Movie Star homes tour" though, and saw lots of big houses which apparently belong to celebrities. Hehehee. But really, it could have been Joe Shmoe's house, and the dude just said, "John Travolta lives here!" But we had fun looking at the pretty houses, anyway!
I was hoping Brad Pitt might have heard I was in town and invited me over for dinner, but alas. Maybe next time!
NMAmy... Wow, you have a Cruiser! What colour is yours!? I loved our little blue car! It was very comfy!! I connected my ipod to the stereo, and for about half the trip, we played The OC themesong - "Califoooornia, Californiaaaaa, here we coooooooome!" Heee!
joiev98... I'd love 8 days in Florida right now!! Lucky you!!!
lennon2004... Thanks for your nice comments! I'm glad you like my Aussie phrases - I was a little worried that I might say something, and people might think, "Huh!? What's she talking about?!" but so far, so good!! We spell things slightly differently sometimes too, like "colour" and "favourite". So don't worry, I'm not really that bad of a speller!!
Disney_Dreaming... I did love California! If I was to move to the US, I think I'd live in California. Oh, hang on. Maybe New York City. Or, maybe Florida. Oh, there's too many good places!!
LITTLEKID58, basas, Ciciwoowoo... Thanks for all your lovely comments! It's nice to know people are enjoying my trip report!!
lisaj... Your trip sounds fantastic! I'm very jealous!
Luv2trav... Our 7 week adventure was awesome, you're right!! I think it's more common for Australians to do a big overseas adventure than it is for Americans, for some reason. Lots of Australians live and work overseas in England for 2 years when they're in their 20's. We didn't want to do that, so we just decided to have a big holiday instead!
It's odd though, because after a few weeks of holidaying, you kind of take it for granted. You forget about "real life" and your job, and cleaning, and all that boring stuff. Instead, you get stressed about silly stuff, like catching the right bus to the beach, or arguing about what to do for that day, or making sure you get to your ADR on time. Funny!
mt mommy... We really enjoyed the food in San Francisco too! We found a great little Italian restaurant just down the road from where we were staying - they had the nicest creamy chicken pasta ever! And I agree with you about Las Vegas... I really didn't like it! But I'll get to that very soon in the next instalment!
Thanks again for all your nice comments!! I get so excited when I see someone else has replied! Hee!
I'm going to put the next instalment up in the next few hours, so keep an eye out!!
AussieAngel
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2006
Part 2
San Diego & Las Vegas
Yay, lets keep going with the report! Cause you know what comes after Las Vegas on our trip? Disney World! Yahooooo!
So we drove from Los Angeles to San Diego in our Cruiser, which only took about 3 hours. When we got there we had to drop off our little blue Cruiser to the hire car place, since we wouldnt be using it anymore. I was so sad to say goodbye to our cute little car!
But first we had to fill it up with gas and we couldnt work out how! When we did it last time, we just paid more for the garage attendant to do it. Seriously, its much trickier in America than Australia!! Ha! Anyway, you know what? San Diego has lots of NICE people!!
A guy in his early 20s who was also filling up his car saw us struggling with the gas pump, so he came over and offered to help. Which was nice enough, but then when our Australian credit cards wouldnt work in the machine on the gas pump, he offered to pay for our fuel, too!!! Augh! So nice! We wouldnt let him, of course, but wow! What a nice guy!
And then when we eventually returned our car, we asked the nice lady in the hire car place if we could use her phone to call for a taxi, and she said, Dont do that! Ill just drive you to your hotel! So she did! She closed the hire car place, we all hopped in her car, and she drove us to our hotel! It was only 10 minutes away, but wow!! So many nice people in San Diego!!
We stayed at the DoubleTree in San Diego, which was actually really, really nice. And you know what? After 8 days of non-stop sight-seeing and driving, we were tired. Really tired. Especially after flying for 14 hours and never really resting afterward. So in San Diego, we rested!! We swam in the hotel pool, and slept in late, and drank lots of cocktails! It was really our vacation part of our trip.
Heres me sipping a late-night Grasshopper cocktail by the poolside firepits! Nice!
We did go into the centre of San Diego a couple of times, but really just to shop and eat at restaurants. Looking back, we kinda feel bad that we didnt actually see much of San Diego (not even a beach!), but at the time, we were exhausted and needed to relax and chill for a bit! (And also, when we went shopping one day, a scary man approached me and asked if I had any crack. Ummm. No.)
We did go to SeaWorld for a day though, which I loved. Im a sucker for SeaWorld!! I love water rides and all the cool animal shows! It was DFs birthday that day, so we booked a table to Dine with Shamu, the killer whale. We had a delicious buffet lunch next to Shamus big tank, and watched her do some tricks. It was actually very cool!
Heres Shamu dining on her buffet lunch Hmmm, delicious!
So after 4 nights in San Diego, we flew to Las Vegas!!
We stayed at the Monte Carlo, one of the big hotels on The Strip. It was fancy from the outside, but not so much on the inside. Which is a good way to describe Vegas in general actually!
Lets just say, I wasnt a huge fan of Las Vegas. Although it didnt help that when we were there, it was the long weekend and it was absolutely PACKED. Plus, to quote Elaine from Seinfeld, The HEAT! My GOD, the HEAT!! Because ooooohhhhhhh, wow. It was hot. It reached about 112 degrees F when we were there, but it felt even hotter. Theres no shade in Vegas. Only a zillion other sweaty, smelly, drunken bodies walking along next to you. And the only escape is into one of the casinos, which Im really not into. Aye, aye, aye!
Or, you could go to my favourite place in Vegas the M&M store!! Now that was cool!
One night in Vegas we went out for a nice meal at a nice restaurant, and DF ate some nice steak, and later that night, DF threw up that nice steak into our nice toilet. All night. Poor guy!! He had some serious food poisoning. So as you can tell, we just didnt have the best run in Vegas!
While there, we went on a day tour to the Grand Canyon via a tiny airplane, which was pretty cool. Although all the lookouts we went to looked pretty much like this
I mean, I know its really just a big hole, but I thought we might see some different scenery. Heee. Oh well. Its nice to say weve been to the Grand Canyon!
You know what else didnt help me enjoy Vegas? Knowing that we were only DAYS away from Disney!! I really just wanted to leave Vegas and fly to Disney World already!!
The night before we left Vegas, DF had a happy surprise He won $240 on the slot machines! Yayyyyyy! So Vegas wasnt so bad after all!!
No, I shouldnt say that. It really wasnt terrible. It was just really hot and really crowded. We had some fun times like lounging around the pool, and playing in the M&M store, and walking around some of the themed casinos
And you know what comes next?!!! Yep! DISNEY WORLD!!!! Yayyyyyy!
Up next AUGH!! I cant believe were actually here!!
Yay, lets keep going with the report! Cause you know what comes after Las Vegas on our trip? Disney World! Yahooooo!
So we drove from Los Angeles to San Diego in our Cruiser, which only took about 3 hours. When we got there we had to drop off our little blue Cruiser to the hire car place, since we wouldnt be using it anymore. I was so sad to say goodbye to our cute little car!
But first we had to fill it up with gas and we couldnt work out how! When we did it last time, we just paid more for the garage attendant to do it. Seriously, its much trickier in America than Australia!! Ha! Anyway, you know what? San Diego has lots of NICE people!!
A guy in his early 20s who was also filling up his car saw us struggling with the gas pump, so he came over and offered to help. Which was nice enough, but then when our Australian credit cards wouldnt work in the machine on the gas pump, he offered to pay for our fuel, too!!! Augh! So nice! We wouldnt let him, of course, but wow! What a nice guy!
And then when we eventually returned our car, we asked the nice lady in the hire car place if we could use her phone to call for a taxi, and she said, Dont do that! Ill just drive you to your hotel! So she did! She closed the hire car place, we all hopped in her car, and she drove us to our hotel! It was only 10 minutes away, but wow!! So many nice people in San Diego!!
We stayed at the DoubleTree in San Diego, which was actually really, really nice. And you know what? After 8 days of non-stop sight-seeing and driving, we were tired. Really tired. Especially after flying for 14 hours and never really resting afterward. So in San Diego, we rested!! We swam in the hotel pool, and slept in late, and drank lots of cocktails! It was really our vacation part of our trip.
Heres me sipping a late-night Grasshopper cocktail by the poolside firepits! Nice!
We did go into the centre of San Diego a couple of times, but really just to shop and eat at restaurants. Looking back, we kinda feel bad that we didnt actually see much of San Diego (not even a beach!), but at the time, we were exhausted and needed to relax and chill for a bit! (And also, when we went shopping one day, a scary man approached me and asked if I had any crack. Ummm. No.)
We did go to SeaWorld for a day though, which I loved. Im a sucker for SeaWorld!! I love water rides and all the cool animal shows! It was DFs birthday that day, so we booked a table to Dine with Shamu, the killer whale. We had a delicious buffet lunch next to Shamus big tank, and watched her do some tricks. It was actually very cool!
Heres Shamu dining on her buffet lunch Hmmm, delicious!
So after 4 nights in San Diego, we flew to Las Vegas!!
We stayed at the Monte Carlo, one of the big hotels on The Strip. It was fancy from the outside, but not so much on the inside. Which is a good way to describe Vegas in general actually!
Lets just say, I wasnt a huge fan of Las Vegas. Although it didnt help that when we were there, it was the long weekend and it was absolutely PACKED. Plus, to quote Elaine from Seinfeld, The HEAT! My GOD, the HEAT!! Because ooooohhhhhhh, wow. It was hot. It reached about 112 degrees F when we were there, but it felt even hotter. Theres no shade in Vegas. Only a zillion other sweaty, smelly, drunken bodies walking along next to you. And the only escape is into one of the casinos, which Im really not into. Aye, aye, aye!
Or, you could go to my favourite place in Vegas the M&M store!! Now that was cool!
One night in Vegas we went out for a nice meal at a nice restaurant, and DF ate some nice steak, and later that night, DF threw up that nice steak into our nice toilet. All night. Poor guy!! He had some serious food poisoning. So as you can tell, we just didnt have the best run in Vegas!
While there, we went on a day tour to the Grand Canyon via a tiny airplane, which was pretty cool. Although all the lookouts we went to looked pretty much like this
I mean, I know its really just a big hole, but I thought we might see some different scenery. Heee. Oh well. Its nice to say weve been to the Grand Canyon!
You know what else didnt help me enjoy Vegas? Knowing that we were only DAYS away from Disney!! I really just wanted to leave Vegas and fly to Disney World already!!
The night before we left Vegas, DF had a happy surprise He won $240 on the slot machines! Yayyyyyy! So Vegas wasnt so bad after all!!
No, I shouldnt say that. It really wasnt terrible. It was just really hot and really crowded. We had some fun times like lounging around the pool, and playing in the M&M store, and walking around some of the themed casinos
And you know what comes next?!!! Yep! DISNEY WORLD!!!! Yayyyyyy!
Up next AUGH!! I cant believe were actually here!!
MA pigletfan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2006
Its funny..i have never been to Vegas because of pretty much thinking it was how you described it! I imagine it was an "experience" but you aren't rushing back any time soon..ah well..at least you can say you went.....now on to DISNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wheeee sooo looking forward to this!
sooo looking forward to this!
wee-haggis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2002
Hi
Love your reports so far. You have so much enthusiasm and seem to be having a great time!!!!! Sorry your DF had food poisoning in Vegas, a very unpleasant experience. I lived in New Zealand for five years and Australia for a year before moving back to Toronto. My family and I are Disney fanatics and head down to WDW whenever we can, we never get bored visiting Mickey and the gang. Waiting for the rest of your reports.
Love your reports so far. You have so much enthusiasm and seem to be having a great time!!!!! Sorry your DF had food poisoning in Vegas, a very unpleasant experience. I lived in New Zealand for five years and Australia for a year before moving back to Toronto. My family and I are Disney fanatics and head down to WDW whenever we can, we never get bored visiting Mickey and the gang. Waiting for the rest of your reports.
Awesome reports!! I can't believe all the friendly people in San Diego... I must go and see for myself.... :lol: My DH LOVES Vegas... me not so much. I went there for my bachlorette party and I just didn't get the Vegas vibe at all. I don't like to gamble so that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I would love to go to the Grand Canyon though.
NMAmy
Can speak food in German
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2000
Our Cruiser is light tan. Shows less dirt.
Not something you need to worry about in a rental but when you're as lazy as me, you don't want to wash your car all the time. 
Loved your San Diego story--it seems like it was either feast or famine for you. People were either exceptionally nice or crackheads.
I've never been to Vegas but I think I'd probably feel the same way you do. I don't like to gamble and it just doesn't look like my thing.
Can't wait to read about the Disney portion!
Marion
<font color=blue>Go Blue Jays!!<br><font color=#FF
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2000
Loving the report and all the details about your travels. You broke my heart though by NOT having gone to the San Diego Zoo! What's up with that?? You can rest at home! Sheesh I want so badly to visit that zoo but the hubby seems to think it's 'too far' or something silly like that.
I want so badly to visit that zoo but the hubby seems to think it's 'too far' or something silly like that.
ben's disneymom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 28, 2005
Hi, I am totally enjoying your report! A seven week vacation sounds like heaven to me. I have been to San Fran years ago and loved it, also been to LA loved it also, never been to SanDiego but my DH went to school there (many moons ago)so we're planning on going someday. Just went to Vegas last Oct. and had the exact opposite experience with the weather! It was actually cold!!! I had brought all summer clothes thinking it would be hot, and almost had to buy a whole new wardrobe. Weird huh.
Anyway, can't wait to hear about Disney...
We're going in July for DS's birthday
Weird huh. Anyway, can't wait to hear about Disney...
We're going in July for DS's birthday
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