Finally booked our dream holiday; it took some sorting out as it is a little more complicated than our normal holiday. I must congratulate Marc from Travel Mood for his patience; he certainly earned his commission.
We set off on 20th November for Hong Kong where we spend our first three nights. We will book a hotel for these three nights ourselves and have a couple of options already. It’s quite expensive in Hong Kong so we don’t want to spend too much right at the start of our holiday so maybe we will end up in a hostel. Claire found a YWCA that she fancied and I’m quite happy to go along with her.
Then we have a week in Bali. This is one I am looking forward to as it seems rather cheap. We have taken the hotel that Geoff offered us as it seemed such a bargain. I was reading a travel book about it and they eat bee lava. I can’t see Claire sampling them but I guess they must have plenty of bees there for it to have become a national dish.
We then fly off to Melbourne to start our first house swap with Arlene and her son. They will be moving in ours a little before we move in theirs but they intend to spend most of their time with their relatives in Stoke on Trent which is only about 80 odd miles away. This should be quite easy for them as we are also swapping cars. I think they only emigrated 2 years ago and did a swap last year to come home. Arlene said that the couple they swapped with wanted to move out to the area as they loved it so much. Our friends Ian and Jane from Ampthill Glass will be going out to Sydney for 6 weeks over the Christmas holidays and beyond and we intend to meet up with them. We will be going to Sydney at some point in our six week stay in Berwick, Melbourne but thought they might like to come with us when we drive “The Great Ocean Road”. We could do this over a few days and make a mini break of it ending up at Adelaide for a night. Claire has arranged to go out for a meal with them next week to discuss it.
We then fly to Brisbane and will book a night or two in a hotel online but haven’t even looked in that area yet. We have 10 days in between our two house swaps so it gives us the perfect chance to do some independent travelling which we both enjoy so much. I have been getting travel DVD’s out from the Library to see where we wanted to go and stay which is partly the reason it has taken so much time to book. There is a bus, quite like the Greyhound, where you buy a ticket for your destination and can hop on and off along the way.
As we are taking our second swap in Townsville with Geoff and Denise who discovered this blog. Along the coast between Brisbane and Townsville is the Great Barrier Reef so lots to explore there and maybe I can make use of my PADI course that I got recently in Turkey. Geoff has recommended Airlie Beach which is pretty and has lots of island offshore where you can take day trips or stop over. Maybe we can do a bit of island hopping.
We then spend the next three weeks at Geoff and Denise’s house where we intend to chill out for a while before exploring north of them maybe to Cairns and Darwin. We didn’t like the looks of Darwin from the travel DVD’s as the majority seemed to be backpackers with dreadlocks. They have their own pool so it will give Claire a chance to catch up with some sunbathing while I catch up with some reading in the shade. Everyone has been warning us about the heat over the summer period but I always try and stay in the shade anyway. We always catch the sun while walking around, we rarely sunbathe these days as we are a little too old for that.
Then comes the trickiest part of our trip, we need to make our way back to Brisbane to catch our flight to Los Angeles. Somehow it didn’t quite work out as part of our world flight so we need to book this flight independently. Maybe will have enjoyed the bus trip so much that we leave a bit earlier and do it all again the other way? I tried so hard to slot a short stay in Fiji at this point but finally decided to cut it out because of the added cost; maybe next time. It wasn't just the price that the flight added it seems a very expensive place to stay, especially as we would not be there to relax but to tour around.
Our last stop is Los Angeles, the city of Angels (and Demons). We have just less than three weeks here before returning home on 10th March 2010 just in time for the beginning of the Grand Prix. We will be having a quick trip around Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I would like to visit San Francisco and Yosemite National Park as I have never done them before. Claire has never been to the West coast so we will be trying to see as much as we can. In fact the last time I was there, except for two nights, was in 1980. So I doubt I will recognise anything anyway.
We will spend at least three nights in Las Vegas so Claire can practice her gambling techniques. Last time I was there, I won a grand total of £21 over two nights. It doesn’t sound much but it’s better than loosing and you get all your drinks free while playing so effectively they paid me £21 to get drunk two nights. Unfortunately, this was short lived as I had my money stolen on the way home by pickpockets and they also stole my traveller’s cheques which meant that we had to spend the next 4 hours in Caesars Palace getting them replaced as that was the American Express office at the time.
We will definitely be having a trip over the Grand Canyon or maybe even walk down and up again if we are up to it. Last time I took the helicopter ride while the others walked down and they were knackered when they finally got back and we were only 25 at the time. It’s a nine mile trek down the winding trail that also descends 1 mile. Not so bad going down it’s the return that’s the killer. I wonder what else we will be seeing?
We set off on 20th November for Hong Kong where we spend our first three nights. We will book a hotel for these three nights ourselves and have a couple of options already. It’s quite expensive in Hong Kong so we don’t want to spend too much right at the start of our holiday so maybe we will end up in a hostel. Claire found a YWCA that she fancied and I’m quite happy to go along with her.
Then we have a week in Bali. This is one I am looking forward to as it seems rather cheap. We have taken the hotel that Geoff offered us as it seemed such a bargain. I was reading a travel book about it and they eat bee lava. I can’t see Claire sampling them but I guess they must have plenty of bees there for it to have become a national dish.
We then fly off to Melbourne to start our first house swap with Arlene and her son. They will be moving in ours a little before we move in theirs but they intend to spend most of their time with their relatives in Stoke on Trent which is only about 80 odd miles away. This should be quite easy for them as we are also swapping cars. I think they only emigrated 2 years ago and did a swap last year to come home. Arlene said that the couple they swapped with wanted to move out to the area as they loved it so much. Our friends Ian and Jane from Ampthill Glass will be going out to Sydney for 6 weeks over the Christmas holidays and beyond and we intend to meet up with them. We will be going to Sydney at some point in our six week stay in Berwick, Melbourne but thought they might like to come with us when we drive “The Great Ocean Road”. We could do this over a few days and make a mini break of it ending up at Adelaide for a night. Claire has arranged to go out for a meal with them next week to discuss it.
We then fly to Brisbane and will book a night or two in a hotel online but haven’t even looked in that area yet. We have 10 days in between our two house swaps so it gives us the perfect chance to do some independent travelling which we both enjoy so much. I have been getting travel DVD’s out from the Library to see where we wanted to go and stay which is partly the reason it has taken so much time to book. There is a bus, quite like the Greyhound, where you buy a ticket for your destination and can hop on and off along the way.
As we are taking our second swap in Townsville with Geoff and Denise who discovered this blog. Along the coast between Brisbane and Townsville is the Great Barrier Reef so lots to explore there and maybe I can make use of my PADI course that I got recently in Turkey. Geoff has recommended Airlie Beach which is pretty and has lots of island offshore where you can take day trips or stop over. Maybe we can do a bit of island hopping.
We then spend the next three weeks at Geoff and Denise’s house where we intend to chill out for a while before exploring north of them maybe to Cairns and Darwin. We didn’t like the looks of Darwin from the travel DVD’s as the majority seemed to be backpackers with dreadlocks. They have their own pool so it will give Claire a chance to catch up with some sunbathing while I catch up with some reading in the shade. Everyone has been warning us about the heat over the summer period but I always try and stay in the shade anyway. We always catch the sun while walking around, we rarely sunbathe these days as we are a little too old for that.
Then comes the trickiest part of our trip, we need to make our way back to Brisbane to catch our flight to Los Angeles. Somehow it didn’t quite work out as part of our world flight so we need to book this flight independently. Maybe will have enjoyed the bus trip so much that we leave a bit earlier and do it all again the other way? I tried so hard to slot a short stay in Fiji at this point but finally decided to cut it out because of the added cost; maybe next time. It wasn't just the price that the flight added it seems a very expensive place to stay, especially as we would not be there to relax but to tour around.
Our last stop is Los Angeles, the city of Angels (and Demons). We have just less than three weeks here before returning home on 10th March 2010 just in time for the beginning of the Grand Prix. We will be having a quick trip around Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I would like to visit San Francisco and Yosemite National Park as I have never done them before. Claire has never been to the West coast so we will be trying to see as much as we can. In fact the last time I was there, except for two nights, was in 1980. So I doubt I will recognise anything anyway.
We will spend at least three nights in Las Vegas so Claire can practice her gambling techniques. Last time I was there, I won a grand total of £21 over two nights. It doesn’t sound much but it’s better than loosing and you get all your drinks free while playing so effectively they paid me £21 to get drunk two nights. Unfortunately, this was short lived as I had my money stolen on the way home by pickpockets and they also stole my traveller’s cheques which meant that we had to spend the next 4 hours in Caesars Palace getting them replaced as that was the American Express office at the time.
We will definitely be having a trip over the Grand Canyon or maybe even walk down and up again if we are up to it. Last time I took the helicopter ride while the others walked down and they were knackered when they finally got back and we were only 25 at the time. It’s a nine mile trek down the winding trail that also descends 1 mile. Not so bad going down it’s the return that’s the killer. I wonder what else we will be seeing?
1 comment:
Well done guys,
Looks like a great trip.
I just sent an email with a few more suggestions for Cairns etc.
Darwin is a long way from Townsville - You would have to fly.
And Darwin is ridiculously hot in Jan-Feb. It's the humidity more than the temp - 90+% with mid 30's C. Very uncomfortable.
I also think you will want to fly back to Brisbane for Townsville - it's along trip in the bus and quite tiring.
Keep in touch
Geoff Jordan
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