New York - finding our way

Orientation of your surroundings is a key part of surviving in a place like The Big Apple. And despite spending the day walking at least 20km, I am still lost at every corner. 

It’s not like you can say “walk up to the Starbucks and head East”. That would mean you would be walking around the same block for the entire day as there is literally a Starbucks on EVERY corner. 

We started off leaving our Hells Kitchen apartment and cooled down on the way to Central Park. There was a local market on which took up the 1st hour of our morning, then we just started heading across town, down town, across town again, up town, mid town, then finally home. 

The buildings are amazing, the amount of people walking the streets is amazing, and the number of drivers ignoring the beeping horns from the car behind them was amazing. 

Deputes if being our first day, we braved the odds and ordered some street food. Which was absolutely delicious. 

I don’t care what food standards are not followed..... I would eat there again and again. 

We mixed in some shopping for the kids, a visit to Times Square and a general look at many of the fascinating buildings. 

When our poor feet could take no more, we headed back and collapsed again (after opening the windows again to let some icy weather cool down the roasting inside heat). 

More exploring tomorrow. More tired feet. 

New York New York

The time had come to get to the Big Smoke. 

We somehow managed to get the hire car dropped off at 6am after finding a local fuel station and driving into the wrong hire company and missing the turnoff and getting stuck behind a slow bus and........

Anyway, I managed to de-stress once we had got our bags checked in and passed through airport security with very minimal fuss. 

We were all actually impressed with the United Air flight and the screen entertainment. The kids classed it as “better than Qantas “. It was admittedly very comfortable and a nice big screen with 100+ movies to choose from. It certainly helped pass the 4 hours flight time. 

Getting off the plane, we were hit with typical winter NY weather. About 1 degree C and light showers. 

We had a shared Airport transfer bus booked so we headed to the waiting area and prepared for the 10 minute wait. 

And waited. 

And waited. 

40 minutes later we were advised that they would be here in 10 minutes, so we prepared for the 10 minute wait. 

And waited. 

And waited. 

40 minutes later and a barrage of complaints fro Tracy and the other people waiting, the bus arrived, completely oblivious to our frustrations and the apparent lateness of his arrival. 

We were now in the middle of peak hour traffic, so our 45 minute trip was set to become a 90 minute trip and get us to our unit in the pitch black. 

Thankfully we did get dropped off at our doorstep, however with the thin streets, too many people, drizzling weather, 4 suitcases and a lockbox with a key code that wasn’t working, our (ok - my) patience was wearing thin. 

Once we eventually got into our sauna, I mean slightly overheated single room unit, and found a resting spot for all our luggage, we all crashed onto the one couch and bed that was to be our accommodation for the next 5 days. 

We had to do our best to turn the heat off, but these stupid old fashioned boiler radiators only seem to be able to be turned down - not off. 

I am guessing we are the only New Yorkers who have two windows wide open when it is -3 degrees outside and 35 degrees inside to try and get it to an ambient temperature closer to 20 degrees.   

We have some huge days ahead with many miles of walking and some very early mornings - all in the name of of a holiday. 

Disney - again

This morning was a hard morning for me. Not only was it to be our last day to visit the Theme Parks, but it was also the day Tracy wanted to drive. It’s not that she is not a good driver or anything, I just didn’t want to pay the excess from the scratches my fingernails were going to make in the door handles or the hospital bill from my racing heart condition. 

Turns out that anxiety of being a passenger is far worse that the reality. Tracy did an awesome job of doing half the speed of everyone else on the road and getting us to the park before closing time. 😎

Once we got there and I had managed to straighten out my knuckles, we went to the more traditional Christmas exhibits that slowly rolled through the amazingly decorated themed. 

This was Tracy’s childhood dreams of Disney and I secretly think we all enjoyed the slower pace. 

The next few hours we relented and revisited all the rides for our adrenaline junkie and finally called it quits at about 3pm. 

An early night was planned for tonight along with some well earned rest this afternoon. 

We have an 8:15 flight in the morning, which on the surface sounds reasonable. 

Except it takes about an hour and a half to drive to the rental car location (for those that know where they are going), another half hour to get from the rental car place on their bus, and the great unknown of getting through LAX security ( which ultimately was quicker than I have experienced anywhere). 

California World

After our “rest day” yesterday, we were up once again before 7am and in the car heading towards the Disney Parks. 

This time we were off to California Park for the day which is essentially the same place but just across the courtyard area. 

This turned out to be a lot less glitzy than Disneyland and very much “rides” oriented. 

Of course, Dylan couldn’t have been happier, so once again I let my inner child surface and agreed to go on all the rides with him. 

Some of these were the scariest rides I have ever been on. Yet, within a few moments of shitting my pants on what must have been the worlds fastest roller coaster, I was so pumped that I agreed to go on them again. Stupid comment I see now, but I did. 

This park was very much themed with whole sections decked out with the appropriate rides and famous landmarks, and we did our best to visit them all. 

Our weary bodies were getting thankful for the early finish, however our tickets allowed us to head back into Disneyland, which we did to revisit the spectacular night lights and fireworks show. 

We eventually stumbled out around 9:45 and headed off home.... looking forward to some well earned rest and sleep. 

Hollywood

For reasons only known by those that organised it, today was planned to visit Hollywood and walk down Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. 

I say this because it is nearly a 2 hour trip in this horrendous traffic to travel 62 Km

The kids were about as interested as a sleeping dog would be interested in a passing cat, but we mananaged to get them to stay off Snapchat for 30-45 minutes whilst we walked looking at the stars in the pavement and the weirdos that make Hollywood famous. 

We eventually turned the corner and went down Hollywood Boulevard towards the famous Kodak Theatre as named by Tracy. (It was so famous that I had never heard of it by that name.)

This certainly taught the kids that their dad did actually know what he was talking about sometimes. 

We were about halfway down when we can across some characters dressed as Superman and Spider-Man. 

Grabbing the two boys that asked if they wanted some photos. 

Boys: Yeah ok

Me: NO

Boys: Why not?

Superheroes: Yeah - why not?

Me: NO!

Superheroes: C’mon just.......

Me: NO!

Boys: Why not

Me: Fine.... whipping out iPhone, takes two quick blurry photos

Superheroes: well done mate..... $10 each thanks. 

Me: Pi## off. That’s why I said no. 

The next 200 metres and 3 minutes had the superheroes being super dicks and accosting us and even grabbing the boys arms at one stage until I threatened them that I would take off my shirt and become the incredible blob and squash them both if they didn’t leave us alone. 

I think the boys now understand why I told them not to say yes to anyone for anything. 

Turns out I had the last laugh. The pictures weren’t blurry at all. 

The kids were reasonably shaken over the whole ordeal, so we got in the car and went exploring. 

We went to Mulholland drive and found a couple of lookouts where we could see the famous Hollywood sign and overlooking the rest of Hollywood. 

I wanted to see some of the famous million dollar streets, but quickly became lost ( which of course was 100% due to Tracy’s navigating 😎)

We finally managed to find our way to the famous Beverly Hills sign where we took a couple of photos and then decided that we really needed to start making our way home. 

My advice now - NEVER try to leave Hollywood after 4:30 if you need to go to the other side of LA. 

We tried a couple of alternate routes that according to Apple Maps would save us 5 minutes rather than going via the freeway 

This couldn’t have been more wrong. There must have been two million cars trying to pass through the same 200 sets of traffic lights up one way roads that had signals only letting 5 cars through at a time. I will NEVER complain about Adelaide traffic again ( ok I probably will, but this was just insane). 

After about 90 minutes, I managed to get onto a freeway ramp, only to be stopped instantly in line with the other 3 million cars that were trying to go out of LA. After much swearing and frustration and another 60 minutes , I finally reached our exit ramp - and drove straight past it. (Insert multiple expletives here). 

6 lanes of traffic - all of them basically stopped. 

We still had to get something for tea, and with my bladder fuller than the Nile River st the end of Winter, I left Tracy and the kids at the shop while I ran home avoiding a burst kidney by about 5 seconds. 

Universal Studios

Today was different but same. Only this time we had to navigate 2 million cars on these ridiculous freeways for over an hour to get to the other side of LA. 

As well as being a theme park, Universal Studios is all about movie production. I was living in hope this was going to be more than bouncing from ride to ride with Dylan. It nearly was. Nearly. 

Whilst we were waiting for the first ride, we got talking to a loud American employee who just “looooved” Aussies. He talked to us about all the things he and the rest of USA knew about Australia - riding kangaroos to school, eating vegemite by the spoonful, and watching Home and Away. 

He suggested we go through the Walking Dead exhibit. This turned out to be one of the scariest 2 minutes of our lives with zombies jumping out of hidden doorways at us and generally scaring the you know what out of us.  Kayla had made the brave (and ultimately correct ) decision to not go in  and waited outside for us. 

Then the rides started and Dylan’s adrenaline climbed quicker than the speed of the lift in the Guardians of the Galaxy. 

After many rides later I finally got time to give my heart a rest and we went into the “Water World” shoe where they have a full on production with explosions, jet skis and other powered boats. With the perfectly timed sound affects and the staged fighting, it was easy to see how movies can be made in a confined space yet appear to be across miles of area. 

It gets dark at about 5pm, and with the park closing at 6, we were still able to be treated with an amazing display of festive season lights and decorations 

Disney day 1

I am not sure who is more excited about today. Tracy or the kids. 

Disney at Christmas is apparently somehow more spectacular than usual. 

However, Dylan’s adrenaline has him bouncing around like a bottle of blow flies. We have to remind him every now and then that today is not all about him and the rides, but I get the feeling it is like talking to a bottle of blow flies.  We got there easily with some expert navigation from Tracy and some expert driving from me (probably didn’t need to write that because it is never any different!)

US$25 later, we were parked and on a shuttle bus to Disney. The car park is about 3km away and is one of about 10, around what appears to be an entire suburb owned by Disney. We learned later that on any given day there is an average of 40,000 people passing through the gates. 

We got through the gates, and the blow flies led us straight to the first ride of many for the day. Turns out I was wrong .... I mean not completely correct. Today was all about Dylan and all about the rides. I really need to somehow take the lid off that bottle. 

I did soon find out though, that my own inner adrenaline rush still exists, and I was very happy to spend the time going on every ride that he dared me to. Sometimes even twice. 

Splash Mountain turned out to be one of the funniest rides to go on, mainly at Tracy’s expense due to her getting soaked on the first ride and starting an Australian wet T-shirt competition - which she won easily. 

It gets dark here at 5pm in winter. This is a good thing because we get to experience the amazing Christmas lights early in the evening. 

Th stories we had heard were correct this place is amazingly beautiful as it lights up the evening. 

We were still exhausted so we chose to not stay late tonight. We have another 2 days on our tickets to savour the sights. 

Must stay awake

We have now been awake for almost 25 hours and it is 8:30am local time. 

The hire car we need to pick up is actually about 10km away and we get picked up from the airport by a bus that takes us to the location of the cars. Upon arrival, there are about 20 people waiting and in true customer service fashion, only 2 people servicing customers. 

Tracy gets in line whilst the boys and Kayla lay on the couch and immediately fall asleep. I pace the floor getting more frustrated by the minute by the stupidity of the business in not having more staff behind the counter. 

We finally get all the paperwork signed (which was in fact already pre-booked on line by Tracy the expert planner prior to arriving ) and get directed out the back door. 

We were greeted by 3 people standing around doing almost nothing (instead of helping out the front where it would have been beneficial), and told to “select any car from the fence over there” with a finger pointing to a line of cars 100m away. If that’s the sort of help we are to get this holiday, there is going to be one angry Aussie. 

We got a Dodge Caravan which is a mid sized SUV that was perfect for our bags and the 5 of us. 

Now comes the fun part. Driving on the wrong side of LA roads with 2 million Californians that don’t ever get out of their cars and don’t seem to move anywhere fast. There are multiple freeways crossing each other more than a bowl of spaghetti with 6 lanes each way that reduce to 2 then back to 6 and sometimes 4. I am sure it is just to confuse the foreigners like us. I am at a loss as to why they have speed signs.... you are either stopped or doing 140km/hr, I did my best to keep up without veering into the next lane, sometimes doing 110km/hr yet most times doing less than 15km/hr (along with everyone else .... not just because I was crapping myself with people swerving through traffic like they were part of the crazy road structure.) 

There is no reason for the slowing down other than there are more cars on the road than there are people in Australia. I got warned it was going to be crazy, but I hadn’t anticipated it to be this bad. 

As we arrived in the early morning with 25 hours of no sleep and our AirBnB isn’t ready till 4pm, we decided to head West to Santa Monica Pier and check out the beach. 

It was a slow day thanks to no sleep, but it was the only chance we were going to get to see this side of California

Finally we reached our limit and headed towards Santa Ana where we were staying. 

We stayed away from the freeways as much as we could and checked out some of the coastal towns and back suburbs. 

We found a supermarket to grab some basic supplies, then went to bed. It was only 7pm, but that was still an hour later than I ever imagined staying awake. 

Tomorrow (somehow) is a full day at Disney