We took off from San Luis Obispo today for the rest of the drive to San Francisco. Along the way we say quite a change in the vegetation. This reached from green vines and plantations to mines and oil drilling through to stark arid landscapes. We stopped at Monterey Bay for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We are getting to realise that due to a … Continue reading More driving
We check out of LA today and Ben and I went up to Avis this morning to rent a car. While we were away Bron and the kids went down for a couple of games of bowling. Emily got her stride and was leading till the last frame when Matthew got 3 strikes in a row to just pip her to the post. We are … Continue reading Happy July 4th
For once we didn’t have an early start and everyone slept in. I went to a local shop to get more milk for breakfast and even snuck in a gym session. Ben and I then had a cup of coffee at the hotel foyer while the rest of the family roused. It’s the first time this holiday that Emily and Thomas have had time to … Continue reading Down in the Pits
It was another early start today as we headed out to Universal Studios. There was a severe heat warning as well from the National Weather Service so we packed up on water and sun screen. We had booked the VIP experience as and the day progressed we are very glad that we did. To start the day we got a behind the scenes tour of … Continue reading Universally Enjoyable Day
We had a private tour booked for today and we were collected by our guide at 9 in the morning. The guide was Monty is an actor and comedian and runs tours during his spare time. We started with a visit of celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and Bel Air. There were too many to mention but they included Jeff Bezos, Beyonce, Elvis, Michael Jackson … Continue reading City of Angels
It was a rushed start again today, but mainly because we needed to check out and be at breakfast by 9 am. It’s hard to describe how hot and humid it gets in LA by 9 in the morning and we had to run across from the Disneyland hotel to the Grand Californian Disney Hotel for a special princess breakfast. We got to meet Jasmine, … Continue reading Princesses, Piers and Old Friends
We were out the door even earlier today at 6.45, ready for a day at Disneyland. Things didn’t start well when we got stopped by security for having a selfie stick, which wasn’t allowed in the park. I needed to make a mad dash back to our room and then run back to the park to join the others. I made good time and didn’t … Continue reading Happiest Place on Earth
It was an early start for us as we wanted to be at the California Adventure Park by 7.30 in the morning for early entry. The last time we visited a Disney Park – DisneyWorld in Orlando – Bron had used an app called RideMax which scheduled our day to help ensure we got to visit all the attractions. It was such a success that … Continue reading California Adventure Park
After weeks and months of planning we finally took off from home today for our holiday to the US. It was a day full of final packing, cleaning and getting the house ready to leave. Finally after school we were on the road to Sydney. We are staying at a hotel near the international airport and we arrived just in time for dinner at a … Continue reading And the Journey Begins
A trip 5 years in the making, the Guha Family is off to the West Coast of the US and Canada for 3 weeks. Continue reading 3 weeks of bliss
And just like, after months of preparation and planning, the two odd weeks of holiday have come to an end. The kids had a restless night and we were up a bit later than normal. Bron and Ben have made it back to Sydney and were checked into the hotel by the time we woke. Bron wrote copious amounts of notes about how to transfer … Continue reading Final Day
Given Bron and Ben’s flight had been delayed we got to sleep in a bit more and got up at around 5. However it had been quite a disrupted night as we both kept getting up to make sure we hadn’t overslept. The drive to the airport was quite quick as there was hardly any traffic at 6 in the morning on a Saturday. Once … Continue reading Old Friends and New Experiences
Ben turned 19 today and his younger siblings spent the morning decorating the living room before he woke up. They inflated a whole heap of balloons and put up streamers and signs all around. Matthew even had the great plan of firing a confetti cannon at Ben when he first appeared. Fortunately for all the plan back fired and it took a bit of engineering … Continue reading Happy Birthday Ben
Thomas and Emily accompanied my mum to get kachoris for breakfast this morning. They were more interested in the ride on the e-rickshaw and convinced Dida to get them some jalebis and gulab jamuns as well. After breakfast I headed out to the bank to submit some final KYC paperwork while Ben and Matthew accompanied Dadu to the local cobbler to get their new belts … Continue reading Bikes, Rickshaws and Drives
Everytime we visit we get a formal photo done of the entire Guha clan at a local studio. Today was that day and we realised that we didn’t actually have any nice shirt for Thomas to wear. We headed out to FabIndia near CA Market to have a look at what they had in store. With everyone here, it is a tight squeeze in my … Continue reading In the Spotlight
With it being Bron’s birthday today, the kids were up early and helped Dadu and Dida put up a whole bunch of decorations and inflate numerous balloons. Then they waited in anticipation for Bron to come down for breakfast to shower her with the balloons. It was a loud, lively and enjoyable morning including a special breakfast that my mum had made. We swapped presents, … Continue reading Happy Birthday Mum
I needed to go to the local bank in the morning with my Mum to get some paperwork updated. Ben came along and we spent about an hour at the branch. I even tasked Ben with queuing up for a teller to submit a cheque – which was a bit interesting with the language barrier. On the walk back we listed the top 5 things … Continue reading Food, Friends and … Shopping
With Bron and Ben still recovering from their long trip yesterday, we decided to go for a walk after breakfast to help them acclimatise. I took everyone past the house I used to live in (HA Block) when we first moved to Kolkata in the early 90s. The house doesn’t look maintained at all with overgrowth all around. It used to have an impressive atrium … Continue reading Sweets, Treats and Hitting the Streets
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