Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
It begins....
Arrived in Honolulu and stayed in Waikiki. Did some shopping and ate lots of really healthy deep fried foods like burgers and fries. The servings were massive and everything was laced with sugar and grease. Didn't do too much in Waikiki expect deal with our jet lag and some shopping. Imagine Surfer's Paradise. Very commercial and touristy.
Flew to Maui and stayed a few nights in a quiet little town called Keihi. Our hostel was right across the road from the ocean. Shared a unit with two susso middle-aged men. Luckily we had our own room to hide. We hired a car and went on a crazy drive to the top of the island. The road was one lane and seeing what was around the corner was impossible but the views were worth it. We nearly died a hundred times. Nick is doing very well driving on the opposite side of the road. I'm not game enough to give it a go by myself yet but Nick is encouraging me. Our photos just don’t compare to the real thing. Swam at some awesome locations and just lazed around in the sun.
Flew back to Honolulu and hired a car again to travel to the North Shore. We were truly roughing it at the hostel we stayed at but we both thought it was great! We met up with our friends Liam and Emma and stayed at their place for a night. They were staying at Turtle Bay Resort (the same resort where Forgetting Sarah Marshal was filmed). Their backyard was the ocean, views and rooms just like the movie very spectacular.
Our hostel was seedy but definitely had character, it was full of stoner surfies. The Pipe Line Masters was just a short walk or bike ride from us. Was planning on making sure we got down to see the comp but it was postponed when we were there because they were expecting a bigger swell in the next couple of days. The surfing hype got to us and everyone we met was surprised we didn't surf because we are Australian so we thought it was about time we gave it a go. We had a lesson and really surprised ourselves. Probably one one the most unreal experiences so far. The water was warm, the views amazing and some enormous turtles decided to join us. Beautiful docile creatures. We loved it so much that we hired some boards the next day and did it all over again. Nick had that much confidence that he was willing to give pipe line a go. I convinced him it wasn't such a good idea. Oahu was our favourite place in Hawaii. It had so much character and the town was buzzing because of the competition. Such a beautiful, laid back feeling to it.
And from beautiful hot sunny Hawaii we hit amazingly cold New York. It was a very warm -6 outside when we arrived from LA. Massive shock to my system but Nick could tough it out a little better than I could. We stayed with a family friend of Nick's, Toni on Staten Island. We caught the ferry across to Manhattan pretty much everyday and walked the streets of New York. It was amazing! We visited Time Square, Wall Street, 9-11 site, Rockefeller Center and saw the amazing Christmas tree. Went to Tiffany and Co and saw what we will never be able to afford. Each day we would venture out just a little further into the city. We checked out Central Park and 5th Ave, saw the entire city from the Empire State building, did some vintage shopping and met up a few times with Alex Chung from back home. He's doing really well in his job and feels comfortable in his new home New York. We purchased some cheap stand-up comedy club tickets and had one too many beverages. Nick had decided to change from "Surfer Nick" to "Comedian Nick". After the show and one too many drinks he decided to go and tell one of the comedians (Chris Rock's brother) a crap joke. Nick talks it up that the comedian thought it was hilarious and was laughing really hard but I didn't see any of that. I heard about it though, all the way home.
New York was amazing and we were really lucky to have seen the city just around Christmas time. The whole city is lit up like a Christmas tree and it even snowed while walking through Time Square. Americans like to do everything bigger and brighter than anyone else. Our time in New York had to end but we were very excited to come see Nick's family in Canada and spend Christmas with them.
We planned to leave New York on the 23rd December, which we were lucky to do, as flying stand-by can always be a bit risky especially so close to Christmas. We decided to arrive at the airport early (5 hours early in fact), with the thought that we'd be able to jump on an earlier flight if possible, this wasn't the case and the flight we wanted to catch was on a tiny 37 seater plane - for which 38 tickets had already been sold and there was one other person waiting on stand-by, so we didn't like our chances. But lucky for us we both got on, and there were an additional 6 free seats on the plane, go figure?
We arrived in Toronto and were taken back to Claire and Bernie`s where we would spend the next few days of our trip. The following day (Christmas eve) was pretty lazy but we had to get some last minute shopping out of the way. In evening we had an amazing meal at Tony`s and Craig`s (Nick`s half brothers) dad`s place - seafood galore! Christmas this year was pretty relaxed as we spent at Claire and Bernie`s, Nick`s cousin Karen, her husband Richard and their kids Jack and Lucas visited along with their dog Simon (great dane - was more like a horse). We ate and drank, played pool and darts well into the night.
Following on from all the fun had christmas day, the following day was a little quiet as everyone was feeling the affects of the previous day. Nick`s other cousin David and his family came to visit in the afternoon but that was about it. Since then we have been soaking up suburban Toronto before we move to our home for the next 3 months tomorrow, our own loft apartment in downtown Toronto, so we can`t wait for that!
Flew to Maui and stayed a few nights in a quiet little town called Keihi. Our hostel was right across the road from the ocean. Shared a unit with two susso middle-aged men. Luckily we had our own room to hide. We hired a car and went on a crazy drive to the top of the island. The road was one lane and seeing what was around the corner was impossible but the views were worth it. We nearly died a hundred times. Nick is doing very well driving on the opposite side of the road. I'm not game enough to give it a go by myself yet but Nick is encouraging me. Our photos just don’t compare to the real thing. Swam at some awesome locations and just lazed around in the sun.
Flew back to Honolulu and hired a car again to travel to the North Shore. We were truly roughing it at the hostel we stayed at but we both thought it was great! We met up with our friends Liam and Emma and stayed at their place for a night. They were staying at Turtle Bay Resort (the same resort where Forgetting Sarah Marshal was filmed). Their backyard was the ocean, views and rooms just like the movie very spectacular.
Our hostel was seedy but definitely had character, it was full of stoner surfies. The Pipe Line Masters was just a short walk or bike ride from us. Was planning on making sure we got down to see the comp but it was postponed when we were there because they were expecting a bigger swell in the next couple of days. The surfing hype got to us and everyone we met was surprised we didn't surf because we are Australian so we thought it was about time we gave it a go. We had a lesson and really surprised ourselves. Probably one one the most unreal experiences so far. The water was warm, the views amazing and some enormous turtles decided to join us. Beautiful docile creatures. We loved it so much that we hired some boards the next day and did it all over again. Nick had that much confidence that he was willing to give pipe line a go. I convinced him it wasn't such a good idea. Oahu was our favourite place in Hawaii. It had so much character and the town was buzzing because of the competition. Such a beautiful, laid back feeling to it.
And from beautiful hot sunny Hawaii we hit amazingly cold New York. It was a very warm -6 outside when we arrived from LA. Massive shock to my system but Nick could tough it out a little better than I could. We stayed with a family friend of Nick's, Toni on Staten Island. We caught the ferry across to Manhattan pretty much everyday and walked the streets of New York. It was amazing! We visited Time Square, Wall Street, 9-11 site, Rockefeller Center and saw the amazing Christmas tree. Went to Tiffany and Co and saw what we will never be able to afford. Each day we would venture out just a little further into the city. We checked out Central Park and 5th Ave, saw the entire city from the Empire State building, did some vintage shopping and met up a few times with Alex Chung from back home. He's doing really well in his job and feels comfortable in his new home New York. We purchased some cheap stand-up comedy club tickets and had one too many beverages. Nick had decided to change from "Surfer Nick" to "Comedian Nick". After the show and one too many drinks he decided to go and tell one of the comedians (Chris Rock's brother) a crap joke. Nick talks it up that the comedian thought it was hilarious and was laughing really hard but I didn't see any of that. I heard about it though, all the way home.
New York was amazing and we were really lucky to have seen the city just around Christmas time. The whole city is lit up like a Christmas tree and it even snowed while walking through Time Square. Americans like to do everything bigger and brighter than anyone else. Our time in New York had to end but we were very excited to come see Nick's family in Canada and spend Christmas with them.
We planned to leave New York on the 23rd December, which we were lucky to do, as flying stand-by can always be a bit risky especially so close to Christmas. We decided to arrive at the airport early (5 hours early in fact), with the thought that we'd be able to jump on an earlier flight if possible, this wasn't the case and the flight we wanted to catch was on a tiny 37 seater plane - for which 38 tickets had already been sold and there was one other person waiting on stand-by, so we didn't like our chances. But lucky for us we both got on, and there were an additional 6 free seats on the plane, go figure?
We arrived in Toronto and were taken back to Claire and Bernie`s where we would spend the next few days of our trip. The following day (Christmas eve) was pretty lazy but we had to get some last minute shopping out of the way. In evening we had an amazing meal at Tony`s and Craig`s (Nick`s half brothers) dad`s place - seafood galore! Christmas this year was pretty relaxed as we spent at Claire and Bernie`s, Nick`s cousin Karen, her husband Richard and their kids Jack and Lucas visited along with their dog Simon (great dane - was more like a horse). We ate and drank, played pool and darts well into the night.
Following on from all the fun had christmas day, the following day was a little quiet as everyone was feeling the affects of the previous day. Nick`s other cousin David and his family came to visit in the afternoon but that was about it. Since then we have been soaking up suburban Toronto before we move to our home for the next 3 months tomorrow, our own loft apartment in downtown Toronto, so we can`t wait for that!
Hey everyone,
Nick and I have come to the conclusion that writing back to emails and posting photos is something we're not particularly good at so....... we thought we'd give this a go to make life easier and to keep our friends and family updated on where our travels have led us. Will keep you all posted via email or facebook on updates we've made to our blog. Just like our travels we're "winging" this so don't expect anything too crazy. Hope you enjoy.
Nick and Alison xo
Nick and I have come to the conclusion that writing back to emails and posting photos is something we're not particularly good at so....... we thought we'd give this a go to make life easier and to keep our friends and family updated on where our travels have led us. Will keep you all posted via email or facebook on updates we've made to our blog. Just like our travels we're "winging" this so don't expect anything too crazy. Hope you enjoy.
Nick and Alison xo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)