Hey all from the wonderful city of San Francisco. The past week has been really really fun and we have seen ALOT!!
From Los Angeles our tour bus took us all the way to Las Vegas (sin city) where we were checked into a lovely hotel by the name of $ Queens Hotel, it was luxury, a big change to the hostels we are used to!! We were taken on a tour of all the hotels!! We found Vegas to be a crazy place as its right in the middle of the Nevada desert and there are the most fantastic hotels surrounding the city. One in particular that we saw was the Venician which was a replica of venice! There were canals with gondola rides inside!! All the ceilings were painted so it looked like you were outside during daytime, it was very disorientating but really clever! We saw a couple more shows and the had a early night as we couldnt drink or gamble due to age restrictions in the entertainment capital!! The following day we were taken to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon ( a very long journey!). It was stunning and just how I imagined!! I could'nt believe the grand scale of canyon it was massive!! Later that day we head back to Vegas (via the hoover dam) and had a huuge $10 buffet in the hotel opposite!! The next couple of days we visited Yosemite National Park which was beautiful! Soo many trees, landforms and waterfalls everywhere it was stunning. A very different side to America I thought I would never see!! The following day we were taken for a tour in San Francisco or the Golden Gate Bridge and other attractions where we finished off and checked into the European Guest hostel!! We spent the weekend with Mike before he headed home. This week we managed to go and visit the island of Alkatraz (the old high security prison, located just offf the bay) It was a really good day out! They provided a very good audio tour and we felt like we learnt quite alot about the prisoners experiences when the prison was up and running.
So whats the plan from here... tomorrow is our l;ast day in San Francisco so were probably going to visit golden gate park. We will be off to New York on Friday!! I really cant wait to get to the big apple!!
I really cant believe we get home in under a week now, it is very strange...
I will see you all soon then.
I guess.
Alex.xxx
Thursday 19 June 2008
Saturday 7 June 2008
Fiji, California and Tijuana
Hey All!!
I know... It's been a while!!!
What have we been up to you may ask?? (if you hadnt seen Chris' blog already)
Well.. Since I last updated the four of us made our way to the lovely Fiji!! We wanted to find somewhere we could completely chill out and do our diving course and we found that!! 2hrs north of the main island to a place called Rakiraki we took a small boat to an island name Nananu-I-RA. There was 6 guests in the hotel (including the 4 of us) most days. It was stunning and peaceful. Just what we needed after an exhausting 3weeks in New Zealand. Mike and I spent most of our days with our dive instructor Paulo who was an absolute legend. We completed our Open Water Dive course which I had always wanted to do and went diving down to the reefs a coupleof times after that. So heres an average day for us in Fiji. Awake about 8am, get picked up and get straight into a wetsuit. Dive some of the most beautiful reefs in fiji for a couple of hours. Go to volivoli (where the dive team were located) eat lunch by the mangroves, head back out for another dive of head back and go kyaking or stay at volivoli, play volleyball for hours with the staff and wait for the kiwi bus to arrive for a bit of a party and a fire on the beach.
This is what we spent most of our days doing, which was such a good time. We could have spent so much longer here, we got to know the dive intructors pretty well so we got really good discounts for diving and had a really good laugh in the meanwhile.
Athough this was all good fun it was time to get back on the road, stu left us to meet Derek and steve as he was staying in Fiji for another 2weeks! So Chris, Mike and I all head off to LA!! We have now been here just over 1 week and we have done soo much!!! On our first day we stayed in Santa Monica which is a beautiful seaside town, we found ourselves being drawn toward the resturant 'fat burger' where chris and I took on a 24oz burger american style! We recieved certificates and our photo on their wall! The following day we moved to Hollywood Bvd, where everything really happens. The movie premieres etcetc. We visited the avenue of stars and the kodak theatre. Also on the boulavard was the massive Virgin megastores, a music shop like no other. I think we spent 3hrs here checking out all the music and dvds they had to offer!! We decided we should go and visit mexico as it was just a couple of hours drive away so the following day we hopped on a bus to Tijuana!! WE walked across the mexican border to find the only entry we needed to do into mexico was through as small turnstyle gate. no passport control nothing!!! It was crazy! We spent most of that evening with mexicans with whistes pourind straight tequila down our throuts, riding mechanical bulls!! It was really good fun to see what this part of central America was all about!
The following day we returned back to LA and I head off to watch Flight of the Conchords in downtown LA . (a comedy duo from New Zealand). I saw a couple of celebrities here including Tony Hawk and Weird Al Yankovich. It was a really good evening despite the weirdest journey back to the hostel. There are some really crazy people out here, id never suggest getting the metro alone at night. Los Angeles is amasing for concerts we were lucky enough to catch Newton Faulkner play in West Hollywood which was an amazing gig!! I never though id ever see him in Hollywood! We also managed to get hold of tickets to see a band called the RX Bandits of whom Mike and I are big fans of so we took a 2day trip up to the lovely town of Santa Barbra!!
We are now back in hollywood staying at the Vibe Hostel which is actual really good fun! Chris and I head off on our tour tomorrow!! We're really looking forward to what lies ahead. We will keep you posted about what we get up to and hopefuli we will get some photos up soon!!
lots of love
AJ.xx home soon!!
I know... It's been a while!!!
What have we been up to you may ask?? (if you hadnt seen Chris' blog already)
Well.. Since I last updated the four of us made our way to the lovely Fiji!! We wanted to find somewhere we could completely chill out and do our diving course and we found that!! 2hrs north of the main island to a place called Rakiraki we took a small boat to an island name Nananu-I-RA. There was 6 guests in the hotel (including the 4 of us) most days. It was stunning and peaceful. Just what we needed after an exhausting 3weeks in New Zealand. Mike and I spent most of our days with our dive instructor Paulo who was an absolute legend. We completed our Open Water Dive course which I had always wanted to do and went diving down to the reefs a coupleof times after that. So heres an average day for us in Fiji. Awake about 8am, get picked up and get straight into a wetsuit. Dive some of the most beautiful reefs in fiji for a couple of hours. Go to volivoli (where the dive team were located) eat lunch by the mangroves, head back out for another dive of head back and go kyaking or stay at volivoli, play volleyball for hours with the staff and wait for the kiwi bus to arrive for a bit of a party and a fire on the beach.
This is what we spent most of our days doing, which was such a good time. We could have spent so much longer here, we got to know the dive intructors pretty well so we got really good discounts for diving and had a really good laugh in the meanwhile.
Athough this was all good fun it was time to get back on the road, stu left us to meet Derek and steve as he was staying in Fiji for another 2weeks! So Chris, Mike and I all head off to LA!! We have now been here just over 1 week and we have done soo much!!! On our first day we stayed in Santa Monica which is a beautiful seaside town, we found ourselves being drawn toward the resturant 'fat burger' where chris and I took on a 24oz burger american style! We recieved certificates and our photo on their wall! The following day we moved to Hollywood Bvd, where everything really happens. The movie premieres etcetc. We visited the avenue of stars and the kodak theatre. Also on the boulavard was the massive Virgin megastores, a music shop like no other. I think we spent 3hrs here checking out all the music and dvds they had to offer!! We decided we should go and visit mexico as it was just a couple of hours drive away so the following day we hopped on a bus to Tijuana!! WE walked across the mexican border to find the only entry we needed to do into mexico was through as small turnstyle gate. no passport control nothing!!! It was crazy! We spent most of that evening with mexicans with whistes pourind straight tequila down our throuts, riding mechanical bulls!! It was really good fun to see what this part of central America was all about!
The following day we returned back to LA and I head off to watch Flight of the Conchords in downtown LA . (a comedy duo from New Zealand). I saw a couple of celebrities here including Tony Hawk and Weird Al Yankovich. It was a really good evening despite the weirdest journey back to the hostel. There are some really crazy people out here, id never suggest getting the metro alone at night. Los Angeles is amasing for concerts we were lucky enough to catch Newton Faulkner play in West Hollywood which was an amazing gig!! I never though id ever see him in Hollywood! We also managed to get hold of tickets to see a band called the RX Bandits of whom Mike and I are big fans of so we took a 2day trip up to the lovely town of Santa Barbra!!
We are now back in hollywood staying at the Vibe Hostel which is actual really good fun! Chris and I head off on our tour tomorrow!! We're really looking forward to what lies ahead. We will keep you posted about what we get up to and hopefuli we will get some photos up soon!!
lots of love
AJ.xx home soon!!
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