New York, New York

We left our Los Angeles hotel very early on Sunday the 4th after having very little sleep because as usual I took forever to pack and headed to the airport for a 9am flight and very quickly found that the airport SUCKS. The Qantas counter wasn’t open when we arrived so we had to wait for quite some time for someone to start checking people in, that was after we had a bit of trouble actually finding it :s For some reason instead of taking your bags at the checkin counter they make people join another line just to hand over their bags to someone else so they can put it on the conveyor belt, it makes ABSOLUTELY no sence at all! However the woman who checked us in put our bags on for us (it still runs along behind the check in counters) so we were sweet.  Flight was a bore as usual and uneventful and we got to the hotel about 8:30pm after being packed into a shuttle (I’m sure of which has an 8-9 person capacity) with 11 people and not enough space for everyones bags.  We stayed at The Gershwin which was a very short walk from the Empire State building and again was very cool in the lobby and corridors but pretty cramped and average in the room.  Oh and Naomi Watts was on our flight btw.

Day one we hit times square and Madam Tussauds wax museum. Lots of dodgy pics were taken at Madam Tussauds so look out for them later. Siobhain will be disappointed to hear that there was only a Nicolas Cage figure in the window and not the main museum – dang. Times square is shiny and busy (random thought). We then attempted to take some sort of cruise but ended up missing it so we got on our hop on hop off bus which took us around the city and we saw all the big ticket items (the apartment Heath Ledger Died in anyone?) except the statue of Liberty which we somehow managed not to see on our whole stay The guide on the second bus we were on was classic, he kept yelling at people from the top of the bus “no jaywalking! stop that! it’s illegal” ah New York. That night we went on a champagne limo tour where we were driven around and served champagne (unsurprisingly). We were in the limo with 4 Swedish tourists who were actually also staying in the same hotel as us (crazy). This was one of the best tours we did, the tour guide Dave was hilarious and after the ride took us to get some Thai food (which is like crack to Kat and I) and then to a bar where we could get some more drinks. Kat and Joanna drew some unwanted attention from a local when they put Nine Inch Nails on the Jukebox but luckily Joanna knew what to say to get rid of him by dropping the boyfriend bomb and he disappeared. I just found it hilarious that he wanted an email address – dang we don’t have email

Day two was Sex and the City tour where we were taken to places featured on the show and got to have one of the best tasting cupcakes I have ever had in my life. The bakery is mental, they actually have a guy on the door letting people in and the line goes down the street to get in. It was actually quite an enjoyable tour despite the fact I don’t think I have ever actually seen a full episode of the TV show. After the tour we went to Tiffany & Co and had a look at the very $$$ jewelery much of which is absolutely hideous. Finished off the day with a bit of a look in central park, we only saw a little bit because it’s so huge and was getting a bit late. That night we went up to the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller plaza and got a look at the city at night, very impressive.

Day three was a Rock and Roll walking tour. We saw where Madonna used to live when she first came to New York and the old site of CBGBs among other things. Lots of rock history in quite a small area. We spent the rest of the day walking around looking at the shops and found the building that was used as the exterior of the apartment building in Friends.

We left the next day for an even earlier flight for London (checked out of the hotel at 4am) after not sleeping at all and were again packed into a shuttle even more cramped than the last if that is even possible.

Things i’m not loving about New York

• Again, no bloody Kristy Kreme – wtf!?
• Had absolutely no appetite the whole time and therefore didn’t try a New York pretzel or Dunkin’ Donut
• Everyone has to take off their shoes before going through security at the airport

Things I liked

• The numbered streets make it really easy to get around
• Snapple is good but I couldn’t drink it
• New York Pizza – very good, HUGE slices
• New York Bagels also good

That’s all I can think of for now, so for now goodbye.

-Natalie

Los Angeles Baby

Hey all! So we arrived in Los Angeles at around 9:30am on Thursday the 1st of May after a hellish 13 hour flight. Hellish only because it was so long and not nearly enough sleep was had, not because anything bad actually happened. Although we were late for our connecting flight from Sydney to LA and got attitude from the silly bitch at the gate – when she asked where we’d been and we told her we had come straight from our Adelaide flight as quickly as we could she was all “no, you were on the bus an hour ago”. Well I’m SORRY but that’s how damn long it took to get through all the security and such! Get more people on the desks if you want us to go faster! rant over – not that I’m bitter about it or anything Oh no wait, something bad did happen, a stupid woman opened the overhead compartment and because we’d had turbulence my laptop fell out and landed right on Joanna’s head – I don’t think she even said sorry. Our hotel was very cool but the room was really small, can’t really describe so check out pics.

On our first day in LA after checking into the hotel we hit Denny’s for lunch (they are EVERYWHERE) – mmm pancakes. Then it was time for a tour around LA, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Venice Beach. The beach was really quite lovely, silly me for not realising they had such nice beaches. For the rest of the tour we got to see Rodeo Drive, Melrose ave, we took a walk along the Hollywood walk of fame (I think the lamest star I got a pic of was John Tesh or perhaps Kenny Loggins – Siobhain I know you’d be all up in that . Also got some snaps at Graumans Chinese theatre where we got accosted by people dressed up as characters – get away from me Zorro! We found a nice spot to take a picture of the Hollywood sign which apparently is made from Australian materials. What else, what else… oh of course, we hit Hooters for dinner – a must! The food was terrible but hey it’s Hooters. I got myself a jumper and Kat and Joanna got the same shirts that the girls wear. Finding alcohol in the supermarkets here is strange and it’s really cheap, we found a MASSIVE bottle of vodka that would have been cool to get, never seen one even close to that big before.

Day two was Disneyland day! Somehow we forgot to book a shuttle to get there so an approximately $180 return cab ride later we made it to Disney. What can I say about Disney? Well it’s fun and disturbingly clean and tidy but get rid of all the kids and it would be so much better Let’s also just say that the patrons of Disney show exactly why the US is the fattest country in the world. I got myself some Mickey Ears but sadly didn’t find the mouse himself to be able to take a photo with. Pirates of the Caribbean ride is AWESOME, we went two rounds on that one. Spinning teacups also a fav. Siobhain, you would have loved the two parades we saw (one was the electric parade at night). The costumes, fake smiles, overall Disney sugary cheeseieness – priceless. Jordan, totally filmed the Lion King float for you where Simba (I’m assuming it was simba) was singing – pure money. We we also went over to California Adventure land which is directly opposite and we went on the tower of terror ride – I actually got a bit scared. Ride goes up, drops you down, goes up again, drop, up again, doors open (now we are really high) drops right down again. Butts were off the seats at one point. My only regret is not getting to go on the roller coaster but the other two lameos refused to go on with me. I guess i’ll just have to wait for London to go on more rides

Day three was another tour, this time celebirty homes. We didn’t see any actual celebrities but we saw plenty of houses – Bon Jovi, Ben Affleck, Orlando Bloom, Scarlette Johanson, The Osbornes and many more. Oh Linda, we saw Lauren Conrads house, apparenlty she just moved in that week – jealous? After the tour we hit Melrose Ave for some shopping. We found a really cute Tokyo inspired store where I got a Tofu robot shirt and a Gamma Go jacket (love that site) so I was pleased. To end the day dinner at Panda express, yay, there was one right near the hotel! Happy Panda!

I can’t think of anything else but I’m sure there’s more. I’ll post when I think of stuff. Arrived in New York today so i’ll post again when we are done here.

Things i’m not loving about LA:

• The food is horrible (everything is HUGE and fully fat) it’s making us sick
• The iced tea sucks, you’d think American’s wouldn’t be able to stuff up a sugary drink but somehow they do.
• Everyone working in the shops at Dinsneyland is ugly very unfortunate looking – Kat has a theory that they are all related and interbred.
• Tipping! bloody tipping, silliest thing ever invented, all my money is gone to tip people for moving our bags and stuff.
• Didn’t see one bloody Krispy Kreme!

That’s it for now, miss you all lots.

-Natalie xoxo

PS Some pics are up so have a look but Stay tuned for many more.