A Fond Farewell: In which Mizzle meets Cuba Gooding Jnr, sends his thanks, and says 'seeya soon NZ'

Well I guess this my final blog for the trip, kind of sad really but…… I just met Cuba Gooding Jnr in the Koru club lounge!! Holy Shit! What a great way to end what has been a mind blowing journey.  I’m still shaking, like for real, it’s the most nervous I have ever been when talking to a celebrity of some kind, like different level nervous.  I loved ‘Boyz in the Hood’ when I was in high school, I watched it heaps of times.   I summoned the courage and debated with myself doing anything at all, since it is a gold lounge and stuff, probably shouldn’t disturb him, but then thought ‘stuff it’ you will never get this chance again.  He was sitting with a woman at a reserved table in the corner and as I strolled over he looked up nervously.  I put both hands up in a defensive motion, trying to express ‘I’m not crazy and I will make this quick’.  ‘I’m sorry to disturb you Sir’ I said “But I have been a huge fan ever since you did Boyz in The Hood, and I just wanted to come and say I really enjoy your work”  He was very gracious and asked what my name was. I told him my name was Dan, and he shook my hand and said “Nice to meet you Dan – thank you very much”.  I said cheers and walked away.  I had my phone, but couldn’t even bring myself to ask to take a photo, it just seemed to intrusive, and as I walked away I was literally shaking – I’m not really sure why, guess it was just such a buzz for me.  Maybe this cold refreshing L & P has gone straight to my head ha ha.  So yeah, I’m in the Koru Lounge at LAX.  I have been through customs, after getting a full torso pat down, due to my Greenstone showing up on their naked scanner scenario things.   It’s wonderful here, there is L & P, and real NZ cheese, and I’m really enjoying myself.  I have 4 more hours till take off so the buzz may wear off after a while, but I might have a couple of NZ beers or bubbly in a couple of hours – so I am sure I will be able to get through.   This morning I got up and packed and fluffed about the hotel room until my midday check out, then I went and had some lunch at a crappy little tourist restaurant with a gift shop in the front entrance – I should have known that was a bad sign from the get go.   After lunch I went and sat by the pool for a while, before getting the shuttle out to LAX.  It’s 5pm local time now and my flight leaves at 9.30pm with boarding at 8.45 I think, so I have a few hours to kill.

So a here are a few of my favourite things;

Raindrops on Roses and whiskeys on Kittens – (Insert scratched record sound effect) – Just Joking;

Favourite City: New York, By far this was my favourite place, such a cool city and easy to negotiate, will definitely return at some stage.

Favourite Amusement Ride:  I couldn’t pick just one for this category, so top three in no particular order; a) New York, New York Rollercoaster in Vegas (No rides at the other theme packs twist and turn like that one – it’s a beauty) b) The Tower of Terror at California Disney (Just didn’t know what I was in for so it gave me a good rush and hysterical laughter.) c) The King Kong 3D experience at Universal (I have never seen anything like it)

Best Accomodation: Stay Bridge Suites in New York, Free breakfast, a couple of nights of free snacks and drinks, great room with a view.  Overall it was a nice spot to stay.

Worst Accomodation: 40 Berkley in Boston, this was the pits, no air-con, no TV, plastic mattress – pretty wack.

Best Flight: Boston to Vegas, the company I had from Chicago to Las Vegas leg of the journey was excellent.  Such a funny couple.

Best Experience:  Being one of the Best Men at Steve and Cyan’s wedding. It was great to be in the USA with such a fantastic group of mates for such a special occasion.  I will never forget it as long as I live.

Best Broadway Show: Has to be the ‘Book of Mormon’, all the shows were good in their own way, but the Book of Mormon was next level, I had tears of laughter, I have the T-Shirt and the Soundtrack, which became the soundtrack for my travels for a good part of the journey.

Jammiest piece of Luck: Well…. Redbull hospitality was good at the Boston diving, meeting Cuba Gooding Jnr was pretty awesome, but this is a no-brainer, has to be winning $700 in Vegas and taking a helicopter to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

That’s all the categories I can think of at the moment.  Holy Shit!!! Jason Bateman is in the Koru Club lounge now, this is too awesome!! One eye is concentrating on writing the other eye is checking everyone who walks past. J

Time for some shout outs;

First of all to Rob and Joan for all their help with organising and helping to finance parts of my trip – I totally appreciate it, I am very thankful, and love you guys very much.  You are LEGENDS!!

To all the NZ crew that came over for the wedding, was so awesome being able to hang out with such fantastic people while on Holiday.  I think it’s pretty rare to have that many people all in one place so far from home so it should be definitely acknowledged.

Special shout out’s and mad love to Rowan, Jodi and Jussie, It was great travelling around with you three and I missed you a lot when we all parted ways.

Congratulations to Steve and Cyan, it was an honour to be a part of your special day.  It was the reason we all travelled so far – and it has been a life changing experience for me.  I love you both very, very much, and I will always be here for you.  It was an absolute pleasure to meet Cyan’s family and spend time at her home.   I can’t thank you both enough.

Finally, thanks to everyone for reading my stories over the last month.  It started off as a fun thing to do to keep a record of my travels so I remember everything in the future, but it has been such a buzz reading everyone’s comments and hearing that people have been travelling along with me in spirit.  I think that is why I had such a safe, special and incredibly lucky journey.  I love you all very much, and I am looking forward to seeing you all soon. 

For interests sake, here are the stats indicating how many people have logged in to read my blog and where they are logging on from, pretty buzzy. (Not including this last one obviously).  I am going to get all my entries made up into a book when I get home as I found a company online that can do it.

New Zealand               1,193

United States               256

United Kingdom          171

Canada                        69

Chile                            50

Australia                      48

Germany                     22

Italy                             12

France                         11

Malaysia                     5

Peace Out Ya’ll – See ya back in the Mother Land – Aotearoa, here I come!!

Cheers Everyone!!

Almost Time To Go Home - Thanks America, Great Country, Great People.

Well, this is the second to last blog I guess, and I don’t imagine tomorrow’s will be anything to write home about (See what I did there) although I may do a top five in different categories or something, will think about it while I’m waiting at the airport. I am looking forward to seeing everyone back home though.  Anyway woke up early this morning and I was at the gates for Disney by 7.30am for the ‘Magic Mornings’ – turns out there were probably at least 2000 people there waiting as well, but it still worked out well and I managed to get a bunch of rides in early on in the day.  It was a great day actually because I was not rushing around trying to get as much in as I could, lots of just walking around both parks and checking out people and attractions I hadn’t looked at before.  The queues to get on rides are almost a ride in themselves, they wind around and zig and zag sometimes for ages, and you pass things to keep you amused on the way.  Sometimes you wait for 40 minutes to get on a ride that only lasts for about 3 minutes.  One of the things that cracks me up is the amount of obese people in mobility scoters that you see the elderly driving back home.   They clog up the waiting lines and roll slowly along looking awful, then they get up out of these things and squeeze their massive frames into the seats on rides, most times there is nothing wrong with them – I mean they are not disabled or anything they are just incredibly lazy, if they walked around for a while they might lose some weight.  Another funny thing, are parents who yell at their kids to go stand here, look at this, look at me, while they are trying to take photos and all these kids want to do is have some fun and run around being kids, some of the faces these kids pull are hilarious.  Anyway here is the rundown of the rides I went on today, in the order I rode them;

Star Wars, Star Tours: Rode this twice in a row first thing in the morning, this was the third ride I have taken on them and every time it has been different – that’s a pretty awesome touch.

Space Mountain: Third time

Big Thunder: 2^nd Time

Winnie The Pooh: Funny little kids ride, I was the only one on the whole train so the staff were cracking up, but I had a good time.

Splash Mountain: 2^nd time

Mickeys Train around the Park: This was actually pretty cool, there are a bunch of things you wouldn’t see unless on the train.  It was good fun.

Raft To Pirates Lair: This was cool, it takes you to an Island in the middle of the park and you can walk around and explore it – lots of hidden gems all over the place, pretty neat.

Tiki Room Show: This is a fun old school show, mechanical birds, and tikis singing some songs, pretty funny.

Matterhorn Bobsleds: This was awesome, it has been closed the last two days for seasonal repairs and I was told it was due to open on the 2^nd of September, so I’m glad I got a chance to ride it, lucky to cause as soon as I got off they said they were having technical difficulties and closed it again for a couple of hours.

Over to California Disney

Toy Story Midway Games: This was the longest wait I had in line for a ride all day, it was awesome though, you ride around in little cars and wear 3D glasses.  You have a gun with a pulley type trigger and shot different 3D objects, sometimes hoops, sometimes darts, sometimes balls, and have to smash plates or balloons or hoops on characters and stuff, very clever technology.

Golden Zepher: Swing type ride

The Little Mermaid: Super cute (Don’t Judge me J)

Grizzly Rapids: 2^nd time.  This time it got me good, I got well and truly soaked.  It’s the luck of the draw depending on which way the inner tube type thing you are on turns.

Back to Disneyland

Mad Hatters tea Cups: Everyone knows this one – had to be done – it’s a classic.

Then I went and had a walk through Mickey and Minnies house.  Another thing I just figured had to be done really.

Space Mountain: 4^th time, and in the front row again – good score – its way better in the front.

Astro Orbitor: Another one that swings around in a circle – kind of old school.

Star Wars Star Tours: 4^th time, this time it was a mix of a couple of the times I had been on before, but still had some new stuff as well, I have no idea how they do it, they must just juggle the different sections up somehow.

It was about 4pm by now and I had been at the park for 8 hours, was feeling hot and bothered and my shoes were still wet from the bloody Grizzly rapids earlier in the day, so I went back to the hotel to change, have an hours power nap, and went back to the parks at about 6pm.  Once back at the park, I had another ride on the Matterhorn, but took the different queue, as there are a couple of different tracks, then I caught a bit of the parade again and just wandered about for a while.  I then went back over to California Disney and had a beer and some dinner.   Didn’t realise there was a place there that I could have got beers at any time, was all good though as I didn’t feel like drinking today.  I then went and watched the ‘World of Colour’ again.  This time I just took it all in and didn’t worry about taking any pictures or anything.  It was not quite as good as the other night as there was a small breeze so the images didn’t come up quite as well, but it is still incredibly mind blowing and moving – I Love it!   I also stood a little further back, and there was all this stuff going on, that I didn’t even realise the other night as I was quite close, there were bubbles and extra lights and water sprays and stuff, pretty awesome.  On the way home I thought I would check out the Tron 3D show – which was disappointing as it was basically just a trailor for the movie that came out last year, the Tron area outside in the plaza is crazy though – great laser show and dance party type scenario, must be where the teenagers go to get away from their families. Now I’m back in my hotel – surfing the many channels for something decent.  I check out at midday tomorrow, so will spend the morning packing and chilling, then might sit by the pool for a while before heading out to LAX.  My flight leaves at 9pm, but I have gold lounge access, so will go early and chill out there.  I arrive back in Welly at 8am on Friday morning, so this is my last sleep in the US of A.   Seeya’ soon folks.  Miz.

Disneyland

So not a lot to report today folks, still at Disney land, still having a great time.  I had a terrible sleep though, not sure why? Aircon? Processed food? Who knows, but I was up and at em, pretty early, and finished off my blog in the morning then cruised over to the parks at about 10am.   I went straight for California land this time and nailed a bunch of rides and shows.  Here is the basic line up of the day;

Monsters Inc: Fun kids ride.

Tower of Terror: 2^nd time, so good!

Himelichs chew chew train: (A Bugs Life) very little kids ride – hard case

A Bugs Life 4D: This was awesome, it was a 4D show but the effects were insane, had little kids screaming and parents racing to get them out of the theatre – highly recommended.

Mickeys Fun Wheel: This is yr standard Ferris Wheel but you can choose stationary carts or swinging carts and the carts swing hard out, its lots of fun and you get a good view of the park.

Soaring Over California: Booked a fast pass for this one, so had to come back at the designated time, but the fast passes are so worth it, this was my second time on this one.

Muppets 3D: Another on screen theatre one with special effects, very funny.

Aladdin: This is your kind of pantomime type buzz, but in a massive theatre, with Broadway styles production, magic carpet ride swinging through the theatre – pretty amazing, it was about 50 minutes long, and very good.

I then went to get some lunch and had a broccoli and chicken bread bowl soup which was pretty good.  I sat in the sun and ate that, and then had a debate with myself about what to do next.  I ended up deciding that it was way too hot and I was feeling shattered so headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap.  I slept from about 3pm – 5pm and felt way better for it.   When I went back, I went to Disneyland and had another ride on Space Mountain; it was awesome because I scored a front seat on the rollercoaster, which is definitely the place to be.  It’s such a fun ride.   From there I went and jumped on the Monorail, and went for a ride around the park, I got off at Downtown Disney, which is basically a shopping arcade of all sorts of different stuff.  I brought a T-shirt there, and then found a nice outdoor bar, where I had a few beers and Makers Marks, in preparation for the firework display. I met a nice Australian man, who had just arrived with his family a few days before and was having a quick bit of respite and gave him a few tips.  I then met a couple of American guys who were here for a conference, one of them was an ex professional ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders.  I then went back to catch the monorail back through the park so I could catch the fireworks, but the attendant told me the monorail wasn’t working because they had lost a train, I asked him how the hell do you lose a train, but he a) wasn’t sure and b) was not into my humorous questioning about said lost train. So I took a short walk back to the main entrance.  I found a nice spot to watch the fireworks and settled in.  It was another amazing display; they certainly know how to put on a show. At the risk of sounding like a douche bag,  Its all good rocking around by yourself and nailing rides and performances as you please, but Disney in the night time would be so much more special with a loved one of some description, the whole place is very spectacular and romantic, it’s pretty dope.  Afterward I joined the lines of people leaving the park and made my way back to my hotel, where I am sitting now and writing this.  It’s 10.40pm local time.  I am going to get up early tomorrow as I have a ‘Magical Mornings’ pass which means I can get in at 8am, an hour before the park opens to the public, and nail a few of the rides I especially enjoyed.  I have already done all the rides that I wanted to do, so tomorrow is just going to be a bit of relaxed fun, for my last full day in America.   I think I will get in as many rides as I can before midday and then rock back to the hotel for a bit of a sleep, before going to see the ‘world of Colour’ again, as it was such a great experience.  So I am almost home, two more sleeps to go, looking forward to seeing everyone, stay cool people.  Miz X

Here is a couple of minutes from the fireworks display, that went for about 15 miutes all together, SO COOL!!!!

It's a small bibbidy bobbitty, zippidy doo dah World

So this morning I made sure I was all packed up, and then went down to check out and wait for my taxi man ‘Rozzo’.  He turned up early which was good, he had a bottle of Perrier water all chilled and ready for me which was a nice touch.  I arrived at my new hotel opposite Disney World before 9am, so I checked in, and stored my bags until my room would be ready later in the day, I bought a three day park hopper ticket, and went over to let the adventures begin.  The way I had worked it out, I had been able to give myself an extra day at the parks, that I wasn't planning for, so I thought I would use today as a bit of a recon day.  I thought that since it was a Sunday it would be busier than the next two days, and it would be my chance to suss things out and plan what else to see in the future.  Well I pretty much nailed most of the good rides in this one day anyway ha ha, missioning around like a kid in a candy store. 

I will list of the rides I saw in order that I went on them, but won’t go into each one too much, as it will take me forever, will just add comments where needed;

Indiana Jones: - They have a single riders line so you can fast track
Splash Mountain:
Haunted House: Cute, because its old school, and heaps of people know the opening words and recite them
Pirates of the Caribbean: Again cute and old school
Space Mountain: Awesome Ride
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters:
It’s a Small World: Super cute little boat ride – tune kinda gets to ya J
Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin:
Mr Toads wild Ride: For kids – almost a little embarrassed on this one….......Almost
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Accidently got in the disabled persons line and ended up jumping a 45 minute line – nice one
Jungle Cruise:
Captain EO: Bringing back the classic as a Michael Jackson tribute, original 1986 3D film – loved it- beautifully old school.
Innovations:
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage:
The Disney Parade: Awesome street parade featuring All the Disney characters

Break for shower and check into room at the hotel. Head over to California Disney to check that out

Grizzly Rapids:
Soar over California: Stunningly beautiful ride that was breath-taking and I              found it really relaxing, like flying, over stunning Californian scenery.
Twighlight Zone Tower of Terror:  This was AWESOME, I freaked out big time, so well done
California Screaming: Great roller coaster
Star Tours: Awesome 3D space journey, I think there are different versions to the ride so will go back and check that out again
Indiana Jones:  2^nd time on this one for the day.
World of Colour:

The ‘World of Colour’ show is incredible; it goes for about 30 minutes. They have two shows but the one I went to was at 10.15pm.  It is one of the most spectacular, beautiful, romantic, eye popping things I have ever seen.  They project lights and images onto walls of water and it gives you chills and almost brought tears to my eyes.  I filmed the entire thing, but it was too big to upload so have added a ‘teaser’ from the first 5 minutes or so to give you an idea. Even that was too big, so I have now tried to add 2 minutes instead, which will be at the end of this blog. ( If you do get a chance to come over and see the whole thing it's pretty cool - also make sure you click the arrows in the bottom right of the video to make it full screen).  It was worth the price of admission alone.  It makes the Bellagio Fountains in Vegas look like the bucket fountain.  I loved every second of it – even with annoying chatty American woman next to me – who you may hear on the video.
Funniest moment of the day –( although I do feel a little bad about it, but he was being a dick moments before, so I think it’s ok) was this guy, check out this picture I took of this obese guy on the ‘It’s a small world’ boat ride;

(I took this photo for Ziggy).  Well this poor guy had to negotiate a turnstile after this ride that is not built for people of his size.  He got completely stuck and a couple of people had to come and push him through, but due to the way the turnstiles work – or turn – he kind of had to flow with it and get spun around ending up in a mountain of flesh on the sidewalk, like a turtle stuck on its back that cant roll over or get up.  It would have gone viral on YouTube for sure, (but that would be next level) so I stifled my laughter and helped the man to his feet. Anyway, it was a great first day at Disney; I’m not in a hurry to get over there tomorrow and might sleep in a bit if I can.  On Tuesday morning I have a Magical Mornings pass, as part of my ticket, which means I can go over at 7am before the park opens to the public and knock out a few rides, so will do that.  Think I will just wander about and check out a few rides I haven’t tried yet, and if the lines are not too long, do a few of the ones I enjoyed today again.  Two more sleeps and then I am on the big flight home – it’s been a long and wonderful vacation. 

Universal Studios - L.A

Well in the words of Ice Cube –“Today was a good day”.  Universal Studios was so much fun, I love theme parks and had an awesome time.   My pick up from the hotel was on time this morning which was awesome, I got to the Chinese Theatre to pick up my ticket to the park and change buses and beat the crowds so I got on the first shuttle out to Universal for the day – score number 1!   I was also one of the first through the gates, so I missioned down to the bottom lot as I knew that was where the ‘Mummy’ ride and the ‘Jurassic Park’ ride were located and I had heard they were the best, so wanted to beat the queues.  I nailed it as well, I rode the Mummy once, which is a indoor rollercoaster in the dark, it’s pretty freaky but bloody awesome, and was my favourite ride of the day.  I then went and jumped on the Jurassic Park ride, both rides I got on the front seats and had no one next to me so had primo rides.  Jurassic park is like a log flume type ride, with Dinosaurs spitting water at you, and massive T-Rex’s coming down to freak you out, it’s cool as.  

 You end up getting completely soaked with water, especially since I was in the front row.  I then raced back to the Mummy ride, which still had no queues and rode that two more times in a row, both times in the front row again.  So primo, nailed 4 rides in the first hour, so I was totally stoked with myself.  I then went back up to the top lot and joined the queue for the Simpson’s ride, which by now had quite a few people waiting, so it took about half an hour at least.  It was awesome though, it is a virtual rollercoaster in front of this massive screen, very, very well done, and was the first ride that gave me a bit of motion sickness.  Only slightly though.   So that was another one under my belt.  I then went and checked out the Shrek 4D ride, which was a 3D experience on a screen, but also has lighting effects, the seats move and you get water spat at you and stuff, they certainly know how to do 3D, it was the best I have ever seen, very well done, although I experienced even better 3D later in the day, but I will get to that.  

 From there I went and checked out the ‘Waterworld’ show, which is based on the movie Waterworld with Kevin Cosner (At least they got some sort of value out of that flop of a movie).  It was pretty well done, good stunts and stuff. 

 Next I went down and joined the lines for the Universal Back lot tour.  I managed to mission past a whole bunch of drifters, (the beauty of being by yourself) and then went up to an attendant;

Mizzle: “Is there a queue for single riders”

Attendant: “No sorry sir, not for this line”

Mizzle: “OK no problem”

Attendant: “Hold on sir, come with me, I happen to have a space on the VIP line, so you won’t have to wait”

Primo – I did it again!! This was a particularly good score as the wait time here was pretty long by this stage.   This tour was awesome, you go around the studio in tram type things and see a whole lot of sets and stuff, the whole journey takes about an hour.  Part of it is the King Kong 3D experience, and it is out of this world!! The tram pulls in and you are completely surrounded by the biggest 3D screen in the world that complete surrounds you 360 Degrees.  It is incredibly and it feels like the dinosaurs are right in your face, and then King Kong comes down and kicks there asses, then the tram falls off a cliff and all these spiders and shit come out – it’s insane.    You also drive through the set of Desperate Housewives, go through a bit where Jaws comes and attacks you, enter a subway that completely collapses in an Earthquake, experience a flash flood, drive though the set to the Dr Suess movie, and the crash scene from the War of the Worlds, when there is that massive aeroplane in the suburbs – all of it is totally mind blowing and I was loving it – movie magic at its best.   Was also a proud Kiwi, when they were talking about Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop.   This tour was also one of the other highlights of the day, but honestly everything was pretty awesome.  Next I went and watched the Animal Actors show, which was pretty funny and very cute, they had some amazingly well trained animals including, house cats, dogs, chickens, pigs, a variety of birds, a little monkey, rats and an Orangutan. 

 It was about 3pm by now, so I took my first break and grabbed some quick lunch, then I went to the Terminator 2, 3D experience which is a mix of live actors and 3D.  Pretty out of it, a little out dated, the 3D was dope though as they have screens on the side as well as the front, so it feels like these things are coming right at and around you.   Then I went and checked out the special effects show, probably the weakest show of the day, but kind of funny.  I then shopped for Kaden as I found some primo things he will like and then it was time to go and get my pick up back to the hotel.  All in all it was a fantastic day.   I went on all the rides, bar one, which was the House of Horrors.  I could have easily fit this in, but it was one of those ones that you walk around in a maze and actors jump out and freak you out, I have done that kind of thing once before when I lived in Melbourne, and I am not a fan at all, I find it makes me aggressive, and I’m not into it J.   I also saw all of the shows.  So I nailed Universal Studios, missioned around with a good plan of attack well executed ha ha.   Pretty good value as well, it cost $102 American dollars, but that included a pick up and drop off between the hotel, and taxis would be at least $40 each way, so it’s sweet.  I got home at 7.30pm so it has been a long action packed day.   On the way back to the hotel, there were a few other drop off’s in neighbour hoods I hadn’t seen yet, so that was interesting too, LA has some really cool spots. 

I was going to mention this in the blog last night but I forgot, but due to the Olympic games being here, they pushed all the homeless out of the main centres and a few blocks out of town.  There are a lot around where I am staying and they are quite full on in their approach for getting change and stuff.   It’s actually kind of sad.  It also made me think of the differences between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’s’, after looking at all the houses and wealth throughout Beverly Hills.

Anyway, Day one of theme parks was a great success, looking forward to hitting Disneyland over the next three days, and since I’m staying out there, being able to check out the night performances and displays as well.   I imagine I will be completely stuffed when the time rocks around to head home.  Cheers for reading my blog, I hope your still enjoying it.  Take care everyone. Dan.

L.A Bus Tour Extravaganza!

Man LA is full on – it is just sooooo BIG.  I think if you are visiting here for a long period of time, it would be beneficial to hire a car to get around because it is just so massive, and with a car you could get around to a few spots and see the things you really want too.   I had the bus tour booked today and was supposed to picked up at 8.30am, at 8.40 I went and enquired where the tour bus was, the woman phoned for me and was told that it would be 5 minutes, I waited another 30 minutes – still no show – so she rang again on my behalf, she was told I would need to get a taxi to the point where the tour leaves from and they would reimburse me.  The woman at the hotel was a lovely Asian woman and very friendly and accommodating and was extremely sorry, even though it wasn’t her fault.   So she hailed a taxi for me, and this really nice taxi driver drove me as quick as he could across town to the Chinese theatre where the tour bus was leaving from.  (It turned out quite good actually as he gave me his card and I have called him this evening to give me a ride over to my next accommodation in Anaheim on Sunday morning, I was having a mission to figure out the best way to get there with all my luggage, so he will take the stress out of all of that for me, which is primo.) Once I got to the Chinese Theatre it was about 9.50pm and the tour bus had already left, so they fixed me up for the taxi (which was about $28) and then drove me up to meet the bus at the first stop, which was the Hollywood bowl.  So it turned out I didn’t miss much.

  Quick fashion update – I have been quite conscious of what T-shirt to wear each day, So as not to offend people or draw too much attention to myself and today I picked the Book of Mormon t-shirt that I have.  Figuring it wouldn’t offend to many people, I think the joke was on me though cause a few people asked if I was a Mormon throughout the day and I had to explain that it is a Broadway show – I certainly got a few funny looks, which amused me, I also had a couple of people who knew what it was and asked if I enjoyed it so overall it was a mixed bag.    Anyway back to the tour, the Hollywood Bowl was amazing, one of the highlights for me.  John Williams (Famous composer) and the LA Philharmonic Orchestra were practicing for a performance later in the evening, so we were able to listen to some of that for a while.  

We went back to the Chinese Theatre and looked at the star walk and the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are held each year.  From here we went to Sunset Strip, which is pretty out of it.   I imagined it to be a lot flashier than it is, it’s kind of grungy, but I imagine it can be popping off at night time.  We went past the Viper Room, and the House of Blues and a bunch of bars and hotels owned by different celebrities.  The tour went on to visit Beverly Hills, and the bling shopping area –Rodeo Drive.  We went to the La Brea Tar Pits – which was where they have found heaps of dinosaur bones, because Dinosaurs fell in there and have been preserved really well in the Tar – that was buzzy. 

 We went down Miracle Mile, stopped at the Farmers Market/Grove for lunch for an hour.  Checked out Melrose Ave, Drove past CBS studios and Paramount Studios then went on to drive past some stops in Downtown LA, including the Staples Center, Walt Disney Hall & Chinatown.  We also stopped at a little place which was where the original streets of LA started and has the oldest house in LA which was the original Mayors house. (A couple of the highlights on this tour for me was seeing Fairfax High and the record shop where Slash worked,  these are places that are talked about in Anthony Kiedis’s Autobiography and also Slash’s autobiography, I read both of these books last year and it was cool to be able to see the places and the neighbourhood that they were describing in the books, this was kind of special for me.)  This took as back to the Chinese Theatre where we changed transports and went on the Stars Homes Tour, as I had booked a combo package.   This tour was good and weird.  I felt like it was really invasive, as these tour buses drive right up to peoples gates and stop outside while people take photos, most of the places you can’t see a thing due to the high gates and security bushes and stuff.  I got involved and took a few photos, but it didn’t make it any less weird.  The cool thing about it though was that it went up into the hills of LA and there were some great views of the city on both sides of the hill. 

  Some of the houses are absolutely amazing, these people must live some out of it lives – it is like another world.  Tour buses are such a trip, because the tour guides are doing their best to be entertaining and funny, which the Americans really enjoy, but I find it becomes really bloody annoying.  To be fair the tour guide of the Hollywood homes was pretty funny at times, but I had this guy from Seattle sitting next to me who had the most annoying laugh I have ever heard, it went; ha ha HA! And was exactly the same every time and went on off every couple of minutes for the entire duration of the tour, I don’t know if it was the heat, or the smog, or the fact I had been on bus tours for about 7 hours by this stage, but my imagine was running wild, thinking about punching him in the face, and how good it would make me feel – ha ha – which if you know me is pretty out of character.  It made me feel a lot better though.  The tour ended at universal Studios, where we were divided into different groups to be transported back to our respective accommodations.   I was last to be dropped off and was back at my hotel at 7pm, so we are talking about 9 and a half hours of driving around looking at stuff and listening to people crapping on – I was pretty tired and felt like a grumpy toddler or something by that stage.  I came back to my room, and have gone out for some food and had a shower, so I feel a lot calmer now and a lot more relaxed, which feels much better.  I have booked myself in to go to Universal Studios tomorrow, I debated with myself for a while about what I should do, and was tossing up Venice beach or one of the other parks, but this one just seemed like the easiest and best option.  The rides look like fun, and it includes a hotel pick up and drop off, which makes life easier than public transport or catching a taxi someplace, so I am happy with my decision (as long as the pick-up comes on time, this time) it also means that I will be out in the open air and walking around, so I think I will be able to negotiate the crowds and have a great time no worries.   I’m still having a great time travelling, it has been the greatest experience of my life,  I think that today just got to me as I was clammed up like a sardine all day.  So quick recap of what’s ahead; Universal Studios tomorrow, Taxi hook up to Anaheim early on Sunday morning, I will be too early to check in so I will leave my bags and get a three day Disney Pass (Which includes access to Disney California world, which they say is good for the ‘Big Kids’).  So Disney Sunday, Monday & Tuesday and then pack up Wednesday and hang by the pool before making my way to the airport for my flight home which leaves about 9pm at night and arrives around 6am on Friday the 2^nd of September back home.   Finishing with a pretty big bang of theme parks – so that is going to be awesome!! It will also make me more than ready to get my ass back home to a bit of much welcome routine and all my mates whom I miss.  Shout outs to my Godson Dizzle (Kaden), who turned five today back home, whose a big boy now eh?? I Hope Starting school goes well and sorry I couldn’t be there, hopefully your Mum or Dad will read this to you, and I will pick you up something nice at Disneyland, get your Poppa to send me a message about whether ‘Cars’ or’ ‘Buzz Lightyear’ is your favourite at the moment. Cheers Everyone – much Love, Dan.  (Hmmm what T-shirt should i wear tomorrow??)

Get me out of Vegas - Bring on L.A

Not a lot to report today, but I’m back into the evening blog buzz so might as well knock one out.  Woke up this morning and packed up my luggage and stuff, then I walked around the MGM to try and kill some time, but frankly I was a little over Vegas by this stage, sick of the heat and keen to get the hell out of there.  My flight was at 3.40pm by I had access to the Gold lounge on this leg of my trip so I decided I would go over at midday and just hang out there and use their internet and stuff.  So I checked in nice and early only to discover that the gold lounge had been closed because it was outside the security area and they have not yet built a new one – Bugger.  So I went through security and found a power point and spent a few hours trying to get my photos into some sort of order, which was a lot more difficult than I imagined as they are all over the place, they are slightly better now though.   We then boarded the plane and were waiting to take off when they announced that there was some sort of mechanical problem and they would let us know if they could fix it quickly or if they would need us to change planes.  Fortunately they managed to fix it quickly which was a blessing, and the flight is only about 50 minutes to LA so I was on the ground and had my bags by around 5.30pm.  I found a shuttle service and got a trip to my hotel in town for $16 which was a pretty sweet deal as the trip took close to an hour.  By the time I had checked in and everything it was almost 7pm. I talked to the service desk, well did my best to express myself as the woman did not speak much English, however, I have booked a tour of LA tomorrow and a tour of stars homes.   LA is absolutely huge and I have no idea where I am, so I decided to stay in and have a meal at the Japanese restaurant at the hotel, which was awesome. 

 I am staying at the Miyako Hotel, and the room is really nice, very cosy and has a massive TV, so I figured I would have a bit of a night in tonight, (especially as I am doing the tours tomorrow and it will be a full on day).  I don’t usually like the bus tour kind of buzz,(I prefer missioning around on foot) but LA is so immense I figured it was the way to go to try and fit everything in, since I’m only here for a couple of days.  After dinner I popped downstairs for a cigarette and a woman came over and was having one too, turns out she is Australian and has been here for a week, with her family (another primo stroke of luck).  She did the exact same tours I am booked for tomorrow and said that they were great and gave me some advice about the neighbourhood and where to catch trains and where to avoid and stuff, which was really helpful.  I asked her if she knew of any toy shops, as I have left shopping for my Godson to the last minute, and she asked all about his age and gave me a few tips – she said that at the worst case scenario I will be able to find heaps at Disney land as there is a whole area dedicated to Buzz Lightyear, I told her I am looking for Transformers things and she suggested another store that is not far away – so I should be sweet.   So that was the day today – pretty low key, lots of time in transit, but I’m excited to be in LA and looking forward to a big day tomorrow.  So far I am especially enjoying the temperature as it is more like a NZ summer, which is way more pleasant than walking around like you’re constantly in cased in a sauna.  The other thing is the size of the place – its just houses and buildings as far as the eye can see, it’s pretty amazing, will be good driving around a whole bunch of places.   So one more week to go, I am really looking forward to it, but also getting a little jaded and starting to miss home a little bit.  Chur Chur Whanau. (Oh by the way, the toilet in my hotel room has a console with seat warmer and bidet – a surprisingly good new experience ha ha)