Today marked the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime, the chance to experience something possible nowhere else. The adventure began with a muster at the Canberra airport, parents and children alike scrambling for information and reassurances of the trip to come. Through the chaos we were able to assemble briefly to take a couple pictures before heading off to the bag drop and praying … Continue reading Day Zero – There’s a world to see!
We had one last food tour organised for Vancouver which was going to be focussed on the Asian food in the city. It wasn’t an early start so the kids had an opportunity to do their journals after breakfast. As part of the tour we went to 4 different restaurants and sampled different Asian foods. We started at a Chinese “fine dining” restaurant and sampled … Continue reading Final Food Tour
We had a lazy start this morning and didn’t need to be out the door till 10.30. We have a tour booked called the “North Shore Discovery Tour” which takes us out of the city of Vancouver and up to the north shore. We started the day at a Salmon Hatchery where we learnt about the life and migratory habits of the Pacific Salmon. A … Continue reading Vancouver Tour
Given we didn’t end up in our hotel rooms till well after midnight it was a lazy start for everyone. I went by across the street and got some milk for breakfast and slowly everyone dragged themselves out of bed. We had 2 rooms with 2 bedrooms each, so there is ample space, however the rooms are on different floors which makes communications a bit … Continue reading Food, food and more food
We spent 2 days on the Rocky Mountaineer travelling from Banff to Vancouver via Kamloops. We arrived at the “station” by 8 and were greeted on board by the crew. I use the term “station” very loosely as it appears most of the stations we went through don’t actually have platforms. Our bus brought us right next to the carriage and we boarded from ground … Continue reading Rocky Mountaineer
I woke up early today because I wanted to take some photos of the sunrise from our hotel window and I wasn’t disappointed. Over the course of the hour the sky blossomed and the mountain ranges changed shades. We started the day with a Gondola ride up Sulphur. It was a 10 minute ride up the top and we had a pretty spectacular view of … Continue reading Picturesque Banff
Today we had two tours booked that I have been looking forward to the most on this trip. In the morning we visited the Boeing Factory for a tour. Unfortunately they didn’t allow any cameras on the tour so we don’t have any photos of the actual workshop. The factory/assembly line floor is the largest single building in the world. Once inside you can see … Continue reading High Above and Down Below
We had organised a private walking tour of Seattle and met our guide at 9 in the morning. Right next to our hotel is the first train station built in Seattle and it was reminiscent of an old colonial library or bank. Seattle has a complex history which includes a gold rush in the 19th century, native american settlements, Spanish and British influence as well … Continue reading Walking around Seattle
We try and do a walking food tour in most places and had one booked to cover Chinatown and Little Italy. We took a couple of Waymos to get us to our destination, mainly because we wanted to experience a driverless car. Matthew, Thomas and I took one Waymo which dropped us off directly where we wanted to go. The other car, with Bron, Ben … Continue reading Food Tour
I had bought tickets for a half day San Francisco group tour which departed from Fishermans Wharf, quite close to our hotel. The tour took us to some of the notable landmarks, however it was incredibly foggy today which limited our views. We started with a visit to the Palace of Fine Arts which was only built a 100 years ago but made to look … Continue reading San Francisco tour
We all had a bit of a sleep in today as we didn’t need to leave till 9.30. It was a short 20 minute walk to Pier 33 where we were to board a ferry to Alcatraz. There was a queue to get the tickets and then a queue to board the ferry and then another queue to disembark. By the end of these holidays … Continue reading The Rock
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
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
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
For our final night we stayed at probably the “kitschist” and pinkest hotel in Japan. It is a popular wedding destination and had pink lights and decorations all around. They even had a princess theme with Cinderella’s chariot and glass slipper on display. The breakfast restaurant had a sea of bright flowers with a white piano set in the middle. For a final day, I … Continue reading Day 7 – Final tour
It’s our last full day in Japan – and the week seems to have flown. We had another 8 am start and we checked out of our hotel in Kyoto and headed to Nara. Nara is the sister city to Canberra, however it appears it’s not that big of a deal here. Nara is best known for its deer population and we walked through the … Continue reading Day 6 – Deers, Castles and Shopping
Our luck with the weather finally ran out today. As we awoke and looked out the winter the heavens had opened and it was pouring down. For most of the morning (till about midday) there was a steady stream of rain – enough that we needed umbrellas – which made trekking around the different locations difficult. Our first stop was at the Kiyomizu Temple which … Continue reading Day 5 – Day in Kyoto
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