Travel Journal

It had been a longtime since I had visited New York so I was excited to head back and show New York to my kids

Saturday

The kids  were good on the direct flight from Auckland and we all managed quite a bit of sleep so on arrival it was straight off to Times Sq. The kids could not believe just how many people there were, bearing in mind this was the Saturday night of the July 4^th weekend.

Sunday

Up bright and early and off to Harlem for a Gospel service, and what a service it was, the whole choir sounded like Aretha Franklin and we had a great “Fire and Brimstone” preacher, let me hear you say  Amen!!

After church we had a walk around Harlem and the creeping gentrification that is making this a much less affordable suburb than it once was.

This evening it was off to the Yankees game and the Subway trip was a good experience for the kids, never have they been on such a busy mode of transportation! The game was a bit of a let down and the Yankees lost 3-0 but that didn’t stop the crowd from enjoying their copious amounts of food and drink, even at $16 USD per can of beer!

Monday

Another early start to get to Brooklyn to start our Cycling tour which was fantastic and included so many highlights such as cycling over the Brooklyn bridge, visiting the Financial District and Wall Street, China Town and Little Italy. Later that afternoon it was off to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone, which was under repair the last time I tried to get on in 1992. At 97 years old it is a  great rickety wooden roller coaster and the kids loved it as well. Coney Island is living on past glories and looking very tired but is a slice of New York life that shouldn’t be missed.

Tuesday

This was the big shopping tour for the girls which they loved, and Suzanne, their personal shopper, was amazing. We went around the Flat Iron district before heading to the East Village which was pretty gritty and reminded me a bit of Tooting in South London. We ended the day with a late night visit to the Empire state building which was quite a contrast to previous day time visits

Wednesday

Today was our food tour which sadly was American portions and at 30c and 85% humidity, we toiled through it but it was hard work, That afternoon we took the girls on a shopping trip down 5^th avenue, visiting the flagship stores of many of the most famous brands in the world.

Thursday

Early flight on Alaskan Airlines to San Diego and Alaskan were great with excellent legroom.  On arrival we taxied to our lovely bohemian apartment in the little Italy part of San Diego and had a bit of a wander around before a much needed early night.

Friday

Off to San Diego Zoo, and the girls had a great day and they highly recommend it.

Saturday

Today was our trip to Seaworld, our favourite attraction was the Orca show and we had fast lane tickets for all the rides and food was included which meant we could eat every 90 minutes so it was an interesting day. There are some pretty hairy rollercoasters at Sea World and I think my retina may well reattach itself in the  not too distant future.

Sunday

We picked up our hire car, not the Rav 4 as requested but an upgrade to a BMW X5 which is bigger than both my existing cars put together and has buttons I have still not worked out nor probably ever will. The drive from San Diego to Huntington Beach was uneventful, except for the occasions when there were 18 lanes of traffic, but luckily there was about 100 different stations on the radio to keep me calm.

Huntington Beach was great and the kids enjoyed a dip in the Ocean before we went into the town centre to check out the surf theme shops and dine alfresco by the Ocean.

Monday

Knotts Berry farm today and the place was I would say 25% full, a bit of a lull after the 4 July weekend and so we were able to go on every ride as many times as we wanted and were pretty much done in about 3 hours as we didn’t queue for anything. The kids loved all the rides here and over time im sure my neck will return to its original length and rigidity.

Tuesday

Disney today and we were staying walking distance from the Park, again it was quiet, we didn’t have the queue jumping tickets but the longest queue for any ride was 25 mins so pretty good. Looking back at this I am so glad we did the Disney Cruise last year here in NZ as it was much easier to get up close to all the Characters on the cruise and have photos etc whereas this just didn’t happen as easily in the park.

Wednesday

After a morning at the outlets stores in Anaheim it was time to head to Hollywood for our 3 night stay

Our accommodation was walking distance from the historic farmers market and we no time in exploring the area and sadly more shops for the kids to visit. I also found some really interesting info as this was where the Hollywood Stars baseball team was formed and played until 1958, with co-owners such as Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, George Raft, Gene Autry (who later became owner of his own major league franchise), George Burns, Bing Crosby and Cecil B. DeMille.

Thursday

Today was Hollywood and Beverley hills and what a contrast between those 2! We are staying at the nice end of Melrose avenue, yes next to Melrose Place for those of you old enough to remember, not far from the Troubadour (think Elton John levitating from his Piano in Rocket Man) Hollywood has fallen on hard times and there is an awful lot of empty retail space, these empty places soon start to look unkept and start to make the whole area look even more tawdry than it normally is. There were the usual collection of nutters in Character costumes but it is quite funny as all the films being advertised were already open in NZ. From here it was to Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills, only about 5kms but a world apart, the kids could see the similarity to 5^th avenue but the Palm tree lined boulevards were quite a sight for them.

Friday 19

Today it was Santa Monica and Venice Beach, hiring bikes to get us to and from the Pier to Venice beach, this was great fun and Venice beach is still as tatty as ever only now I felt high just getting through the promenade due to all the marijuana smoking going on, even the kids  were taken aback by the  number of smokers as of course they see so few in NZ, and that is just Cigarette smokers. Santa Monica was great and the Pier was buzzing as usual.

Saturday

Off to Long Beach, sadly via another outlet mall, I think the kids had somehow programmed this into the cars Sat Nav without my knowledge. That afternoon Petrea took a Whale watching trip and the kids an I hit the beach after having a good walk around the harbour and having a look at the Queen Mary now famously docked in Long Beach. After a couple of hours on the beach it was time to venture back on to the Freeway once more to head to the airport hotel. By this stage I was getting quite blasé about 12 lane highways and our final drive was thankfully uneventful. The car drop off was nice and smooth and suddenly our time in LA had come to an end.