Very expensive instruments Pt 2

Went to a piano store the other day to dream about what i'd like to buy one day.

The guy there was really nice and said we could have a play on any one we wanted.

So of course i went to the most expensive!

$148,000 of beautiful sound.

It was huge, I was playing it in a little showroom at the back of the establishment and it filled the room with every note.

Update...

Hey Guys...

So we haven't written in a little while, we moved from our happy little Free Wi-fi hub in Santa Monica and lost the urge to go chasing it. Quick update as we are in Vegas at the moment and every minute is a minute we could be losing money ( but drinking free whilst doing it) I joke, really we're still being pretty good with cash considering. would you believe based on the budget, were actually saving still! that handy spreadsheet!

Anyway...we moved to downtown LA which was a different experience. I would advise against it to anyone travelling soon. Not much to do & it's alot nicer in Hollywood & by the beach. Anyway all wasn't lost we found some gems! LA's coliseum from the 1932 Olympics was pretty sweet & Lakers v Cavs on Xmas day was intense, but I'll leave that for Benny to rant about.

On boxing day we made the 5 hour bus ride to Vegas, been here ever since, staying at the Wild Wild west casino. Just off the strip, it's close enough to everything & of course has it's own casino ( what doesn't here though) We've probably only made it a quarter of the way down the strip, I am far too easily distracted by shiny lights, but we will make a new venture soon. Lions at the MGM were insane! Having a blast, really looking forward to the mayhem of NYE here as it's nuts enough as it. Hope everyone had a great Xmas & so forth, we had Denny's and the Lakers.

We'll upload pics soon!

Santa Monica & Venice Beach

On Thursday we moved down to Santa Monica Beach. Since we've been here we have spent a majority of our time just chillin at the beaches.

Now I know we have some nice beaches at home, but here they are really different. From when you hit the sand there is a good 500m till you hit the water. And there are soo many activities.

On the Santa Monica Pier of all things, there's a THEME PARK!, wicked ice cream & a Really good busker at the end who we listened to as we watched the sunset. Niiice

Venice beach is obviously world famous & with good reason, it was so much fun. The walk was amazingly entertaining. Stalls, Shops, Basketball, Squash, Volleyball, Bat tennis, Muscle Man Beach (funny!!).

It was beautiful! - here are some pics

Rodeo Drive

A few days ago we went to Rodeo Drive...

So dreamy. Was very very classy. We didn't get to see any celebs, but according to "boogie" ( one of the guys from the hostel) It's more of a wannabe hangout now, more than real celebs (reality stars & whatnot)

Regardless it was beautiful. I know there are LV & Jimmy Choo, Versace,& D&G stores everywhere these days but to see them all together in this one strip of elegance gave me a glimpse at life on the other side.


There were shops that were open by appointment only, there was security everywhere, most stores had 5-10 employees all just waiting for that rich person to wait on. There were Rolls Royce's parked on the strip!

We stopped for a beer & a snack at a classy joint on the corner & sat out on the balcony...I felt so special. It's ridiculous I know, but it was amazing. I don't think Benny got it, but he was happy for me & that made the whole thing even better. Great Afternoon!

Very Expensive Instruments Part 1

So as Mel mentioned.. we went to guitar centre in West Hollywood the other day... they had an amazing selection of guitars. $20k Dobro's, $15k Martin Acoustics to $19k Rickenbackers. They even had some $40k PRS's and $50k Gibsons. Awesome stuff, and the store was set out really well so you'd walk into seperate rooms for different price ranges.

I jammed a little on one of the Martin Acoustics, it played beatifully. Very smooth beneath the fingertips and it created a HUGE vintage sound.

And I also had a bit of a fiddle on one of the classic style 12 string Rickenbacker guitars. Mel had never heard a 12 string played before and she was really surprised at how cool they sound.... And I've gotta admit... it was awesome...

Pink's Hot Dogs

So the other night we went to the worlds famous Pink’s hotdogs…

I’ll give you some history. Open since 1939. Stars frequent the hotdog stand. There are hot dogs named after Ozzy Osborne (mind you not just because….but because that’s what he gets when he goes there. Limo’s & Bentley’s pull up. And Bruce Willis apparently proposed to Demi Moore over Pinks Hotdogs…

For more info visit Pink's.

So there we are. In this massive line, after a massive walk…and order this Massive hotdog!

FYI Chili is kinda like taco meat & seasoning…?

We order a famous chilly dog, a burrito dog (2 hotdogs with 3 rashes of bacon, chili, onion & mushroom wrapped in a burrito) French Fries & a cup of Nacho Cheese….

The walk home was A LOT harder than the walk there, we were stuffed.

Hollywood

Hey, so It begins…

We began our long journey to LA via Auckland. There are a few funny pics from Auckland as some of the first things we saw (and in all honestly were not expecting) were sheep. Before we even landed! Priceless comedy.

Anyway… It was a long flight, but the entertainment was great! We played games, watched movies (I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with Marylin Monroe) and got fairly decent food, all in all good fun. Was just really weird with the time differences, we were eating @ midnight or something equally ridiculous, but thanks to the change were well adjusted on arrival & didn’t need to sleep as soon as we got here.

We were shuttled back to our hostel, Orbit, from where I sit typing this at the moment. (Will be uploaded from our new found favourite Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - Free Wi-fi) It’s cute, we have the normal free breakfast, Pool Table & Such and everyone seems real cool we’re headed out for Mexican tonight $1 Taco night! With the conversion rate as it is, I love the cheap Mexican food. !
Aside from what we’re eating we’ve strolled Hollywood quite a bit, seen the walk of fame of course, and got hounded all the way along by people trying to sell Tours to the Hollywood Celeb homes and so forth. I personally thought I’d be real into that, but haven’t been. The more authentic experiences have been the best bit. We were in a T-Shirt store earlier today & the wall was tagged by Britney talking about “The sexiest man alive my hubby Kevin Federline”, and Shifty from Crazytown too before celeb rehab! Haha. These “Encounters“I’m getting a kick out of as it reminded me that they stroll the same streets we do.

We have found heaps of cool memorabilia kind of stuff too, the front of the Chinese theatre was amazing, to see Marilyn’s footsteps was nuts! As well as her there is a mix of new and old. Fred Astaire, Dick Van Dyke, George Cooney, Jack Nicholson, Will Smith etc. But we also came across a similar Tribute section for musician’s only @ Guitar world (Sunset Blvd). There were The Yardbirds, Iron Maiden, Slash, Jimmy Page, AC/DC. Name them basically. They all had handprints out the front of there a well, it was really really cool for Benny. Inside were Electrics, Acoustics, and Vintage… $40,000 guitars all available to stroll through /Play. I Prob don’t know enough to be typing this bit. Divert and Questions to him =]

We spent yesterday evening on the Sunset Strip too. There’s a lot of history down there. Whiskey a Go Go’s, The Viper Room, The Roxy, The House of Blues. We settled at a little sports bar though called Red Rock, where we watched a game of football, the whole time me asking questions trying to figure it out… to Benny’s sighs of “well…”

Slowly getting used to Crossing roads, catching Busses from the wrong side, and legs getting several grand workouts. Having heaps of fun!

Blog soon xx

New Years Eve In Las Vegas

After a few quiet New Years Eve’s, there’s no doubt this one is set to be epic. Vegas on usual terms is THE party city, so what happens on the New Years?

Fireworks
The fireworks this year have been reinstated. On top of the 7 main buildings on the Strip we are set for a show lighting up from: MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood, Aria, Caesars Palace, Treasure Island (TI), Venetian and the Stratosphere. Set to be absolutely nuts. I love fireworks as does Ben, so this’ll be better than actually going to a show. I’ve always wanted to be in Sydney for the fireworks there, but I think Vegas will quash that need.




The Party
There are two options in Vegas for a NYE party. Pay a fortune to hit a club - or hit the streets. Hanging out in the streets with a few hundred thousand people appeals to me alot more than paying a ridiculous amount to see so called celebrities (paying to see the Kardashians anyone?)The streets are all closed off to vehicles’ and everyone just takes to the streets. I’m REALLY looking forward to it! So think of us when you’re partying on NYE – we’re going to be quite a bit behind (time difference that is - hopefully not in drinks!!) But we will be ringing in the New Year with style. Vegas is renowned for shows & clubs, but we’ll be kickin it old school – Free – In the streets with the mass crowd. Celebrating the New Year – the journey we are just beginning & I think this year my only New Year’s resolution will be to make as many of my days as fun, crazy, and new as New Years Eve 2010.

Las Fallas

Leading up to heading away I thought I would share some of the things that I am most looking forward to on the trip, of course it all will be amazing, but there a few experiences that even the thought of steals my breath, I wanted to share one of these, The Las Fallas Festival, in Valencia.

Las Fallas is said to be something you have to see to believe, also referred to as the "festival of fire" as well as burning up to 700 large wooden structures ceremoniously, they also party it up for 5 days leading up to this with fireworks, music, and loud colourful parades.

Preparing for our trip this was one of the first places we booked accommodation for. We actually opted to stay a little out of the city so we could hit the beach if we wanted (weather permitting), so that we could venture between the crazy party atmosphere and the coast of Spain, oh what a hard life....


Find out more here


Mel xx

Itinerary

At this stage, this is where we will be heading -

13th DECEMBER 2009 - LEAVE

13 Dec - 26 Dec - Los Angeles

26 Dec - 02 Jan - Las Vegas

02 Jan - 08 Jan - Road trip from Vegas to El Paso (via The Grand Canyon)

08 Jan - 09 Jan - El Paso

09 Jan - 12 Jan - San Antonio

12 Jan - 18 Jan - New Orleans

18 Jan - 25 Jan - Memphis

25 Jan - 02 Feb - Nashville

02 Feb - 03 Feb - Atlanta

03 Feb - 04 Feb - Lennox ( little trucker town, Georgia)

04 Feb - 07 Feb - Orlando - DisneyWorld =]

08 Feb - 15 Feb - Miami

15 Feb - 17 Feb - Ft Lauderdale (inc. Day Cruise to The Bahamas)

17 Feb - 21 Feb - Beach Trip

23 Feb - 25 Feb - Washington

25 Feb - 12Mar - New York (start spreading the news)

12Mar - 14Mar - Madrid

15Mar - 19Mar - Valencia (Las Fallas Festival)

20Mar - 04Apr - London

04Apr - 18Apr - Roadtrip around UK

19Apr - 29Apr - France (Paris, Nice)

29Apr - 18May - Italy (Pisa, Assissi, Rome, Pompei, Capri, Sorrento, Florence, Venice)

18May- 28May - Germany (Munich, Berlin)

28May- 14Jun - Amsterdam

14Jun - 18Jun - London

18Jun - 22Jun - Bangkok

22Jun - 28Jun - Phuket

28Jun - 30Jun - Bangkok

30th June 2010 - RETURN HOME

Welcome!

As you may have already figured out, we have created this space to not only keep all of our friends and family informed on where we are and what we are doing on our magical journey, but also to share some of our experiences (or perhaps misfortunes!) in order to help fellow travelers on their own adventures.

At present we are counting down the last 24 days before we leave on our amazing 6 month adventure, excited, nervous, and busy organising & booking a few last bits and pieces before fly out for the US on December 13th

Looking forward to keeping you all up to date on our travels!