Nelso
Brownlow Medallist
+1 to this.
Go when the gates first open and then head back to your hotel around lunchtime and come back later that afternoon in time for the parade that night.
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Go when the gates first open and then head back to your hotel around lunchtime and come back later that afternoon in time for the parade that night.
Its definitely worth avoiding Disney food though in the US its hard to tell the difference inside and outside the park sometimes
- Sep 3, 2002
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question? Im flying Perth to Sydney-Dallas. via qantas. will i need to pick up my baggage in sydney domestic? Or will it get put through automatically?
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It’ll go straight there but if you’re coming back that same way you’d have to pick it up in Sydney.
- Sep 3, 2002
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many thanks!
- Sep 26, 2004
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OK people. After some advice please.
I am heading to America for a bit over 2 weeks in early January. Flying in and out of LA.
LA - 3 nights
Vegas - 3 nights
San Francisco - 5 nights
6 nights TBC
LA - 1 night
My questions:
1) I haven't been to LA in well over 15 years. Best area to stay?
2) Vegas. When I went I stayed at Caesar's. Happy to fork out to stay there again, but does anyone have any other suggestions?
3) 6 nights TBC. Really not sure where to go, but am wanting to stay away from anywhere too cold. Thinking New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Nashville. I've done Austin so don't want to go there this time around. Looking at splitting the 6 nights in two places.
Any thoughts?
I am heading to America for a bit over 2 weeks in early January. Flying in and out of LA.
LA - 3 nights
Vegas - 3 nights
San Francisco - 5 nights
6 nights TBC
LA - 1 night
My questions:
1) I haven't been to LA in well over 15 years. Best area to stay?
2) Vegas. When I went I stayed at Caesar's. Happy to fork out to stay there again, but does anyone have any other suggestions?
3) 6 nights TBC. Really not sure where to go, but am wanting to stay away from anywhere too cold. Thinking New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Nashville. I've done Austin so don't want to go there this time around. Looking at splitting the 6 nights in two places.
Any thoughts?
1. West Hollywood
2. Harrahs if you want something cheaper but still in a good location, right in the middle of the strip
3. New Orleans and Nashville. Take a day trip to Memphis if you want to see Beale St and Graceland.
- Jan 7, 2018
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1. West Hollywood
3. I'm a big fan of Nashville, Don't care too much for the other places.
Would do 3 days in New Orleans and 3 day in Dallas.
Always depends on what you want to do. Dallas has some great history with JFK and the underrated George W Bush Presidential library. If you are there on the weekend it's worth a trip to Fort Worth to see the Rodeo. Dallas can be freezing cold in Jan though. I was there Jan 2018 and on one evening it was -15c!
New Orleans is more than Bourbon St as well. Do Frenchman St if you are after a more authentic Jazz experience. Bourbon St is mainly cover bands. For me, the food is worth the trip to NO on its own. Enjoy your trip.
Always depends on what you want to do. Dallas has some great history with JFK and the underrated George W Bush Presidential library. If you are there on the weekend it's worth a trip to Fort Worth to see the Rodeo. Dallas can be freezing cold in Jan though. I was there Jan 2018 and on one evening it was -15c!
New Orleans is more than Bourbon St as well. Do Frenchman St if you are after a more authentic Jazz experience. Bourbon St is mainly cover bands. For me, the food is worth the trip to NO on its own. Enjoy your trip.
That catch on that is that it is only select days you get the early entry and late close. So in general they are the busiest days at the park due to people staying at the resorts choosing to go on those days. Although if your there in peak period it will be packed every day.
I was there in August and I showed up when it opened at 10am and there was 5 people in front of me waiting to buy tickets. Well worth the visit.
IIRC, when I went we just walked in (after paying an entry fee, I assume). This was 2003 so no doubt things have changed.
The museum is definitely worth checking out. When I was there it was very much set up with no conspiracy aspect.
1. Santa Monica is really nice.
2. Can't go wrong with Caesar's.
3. I've personally heard amazing things about Nashville.
Have nutted out our plan finally:
Venice
San Diego for Christmas
Dallas (Cowboys game)
Chicago (American football gig)
New York
Boston (Bruins game)
San Fran
Hollywood
Also got a period of 3 days that we haven't planned yet. Will lie on the Divisional round of playoffs so hopefully the cowboys get sent to either New Orleans or Seattle.
Venice
San Diego for Christmas
Dallas (Cowboys game)
Chicago (American football gig)
New York
Boston (Bruins game)
San Fran
Hollywood
Also got a period of 3 days that we haven't planned yet. Will lie on the Divisional round of playoffs so hopefully the cowboys get sent to either New Orleans or Seattle.
- Sep 3, 2002
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a tip if I may
add in Philadelphia its a amazing city, and catch the amtrack train
philly-NY- Boston
00Stinger
100 - 7
I was in San Antonio this time last year. Awesome city but it is hard to get a direct flight so if you dont want to do Austin which i would suggest maybe look else where.
Unless you like country and wineries because you could drive from San Antonio to Fredricksburg for a few days. Only place in Tecas that allows you to drink in public. Its only a town of 10k and isnt a messy party town either. Plus there are some cool places close by like Lockenbach & biggest ww2 pacific war museum in the world
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- Oct 2, 2016
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Caught the train from NY up to Boston, got off at Back Bay & stayed in a hotel on Boylston.
Ok area with plenty of places to eat/drink. A nice long walk into central Boston via the Common or catch the underground train from Copley.
One night I walked the other way to Fenway for a Sox game.
Good spot, nothing amazing, but out of the hurly burly and still easy to get around.
What makes new york special and worth seeing?
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Beyond my list? (I've been back a couple of times since).
Overall it's impossible to see everything in one visit and there are what seem like endless options for all stages of life (young/old,single/relationship, kids/no kids). The options are also world-class, most cities seem to only do a few things really well, NYC, in my opinion, does everything really well.
What are you looking for?
- Sep 21, 2004
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Is a road trip not possible? LA > Joshua Tree > Vegas > (Grand Canyon chopper) > Death Valley > Sequoia NP > Yosemite NP > San Fran > Highway 1 > LA. Chance of snow around Yosemite, but I would think there must be a way to navigate around it.
If you want to stick with your plan, New Orleans would be my choice from your list. Nashville has a bit going for it, but the others are generic cities and you'd be better off just going back to Austin (if you know what's what in Austin ... I lived there for 7 years).
I've seen almost everything worth seeing in the US, and the best way to do it is road tripping through coastlines, national parks, mountain ranges, small towns, with maybe a few bigger cities along the way. Different strokes, I suppose.
We recently spent 10 weeks in Canada/USA - Carted the Family around (wife, 3 kids 8,5,2).
Flew Cathay Perth-HKG-Vancouver
Vancouver was great, went to a wedding near a place called Harrison Hot springs which was beautiful. Smoked weed. Petrol around $3 CAD from memory
Car was a Taurus, pretty roomy, but needed more space.
Amtrak'd from Vancouver to Seattle, which was a great option also.
We did all the touristy things in Seattle (Space needle, museum of pop, pike place etc) was pretty good, stayed in the uni district, public transport was pretty good there also. Smoked weed - like maybe $2.50 USD for huge blunts.
Bought an esky - handy to have when roadtripping.
One thing about Washington State is that they really don't use the chip readers for credit cards, and paypass is basically non existent, so make sure your magnetic stripes are in good nick.
Hired a car (Jeep Compass? i think) and drove to Portland via Aberdeen (Kurt Cobain birthplace) - went to the bridge in that song "something in the way".
Drove then on to Portland, which is fantastic, drank a heap of good beer - hair of the dog was the best brewery imo. Smoked a heap of weed. Went to a bunch of Waterfalls. Portland is a cool city.
Drove then to Mt.Hood, visited the Timberline lodge (where the shining was filmed) we weren't expecting to see snow there but there was a shitload, all 5 of us Aussie dickheads in shorts and thongs in the snow. Drove on to Bend, OR - Crazy to watch the mountains and snow give way to desert and farmland. Bend was cool. Beer. On to Crater Lake NP (mountains again) which was a trip, looks fake - is beautiful, underrated imo. Heaps of snow again. Us 5 dickheads loving snowfights and shit.
Drove to a place called Shady Cove, OR for a night. Cool little town on the rogue river.
Drove to Santa Rosa Norcal to go to Russian River and drink Pliny the elder - was ok. Santa Rosa was shite.
Drove to San Fran which was sweet, Bridge is cool, foggy AF in mornings tho. Fisherman's wharf and chowder and shit. Smoked weed. - Gas like $4/gal
Drove from San fran on HWY 1, cool drive, but traffic can be slow - big sur was awesome. Santa Cruz pretty cool. Got as far as a place called San Simeon.
On to Anaheim along hwy 1, via Malibu and Santa Monica Pier (shithole). Disneyland for 4 days, was fairly warm - get the maxpass and app. Food is crazy $$$. LA traffic is shite, Bottle Logic Brewing is not.
Drove from anaheim to Vegas via Barstow (don't bother) - when we got to Vegas I went into that Bass Pro shop, holy shit. Most 'murica store. Ammo by the lb, stuffed animals, aquariums where you can catch fish with reels you are trying out, just crazy stuff. Stayed in Circus Circus which was terrible, especially the Circus Circus "Manor" - got moved to the casino wing which was a bit better, trying to find a park while you check in is chaos. It's ok for kids, have a decent little water park, and small theme park. Frkn hot. used the monorail and saw all the things. Smoked weed.
Drove to South Rim of GCNP via R66 and peach springs, pretty cool. Grand Canyon was cool. 2 year old - was hard work carrying the little shit on my shoulders, we laughed. From there we drove to Phoenix - landscape changes were cool. Loony Toons cacti appearing. Arizona is hot. Gas around $2.80/gal.
We only drove to PHX so we could fly from there to Austin. Gave some young guys staying at the hotel the rest of my blunts (like about 7) and my esky thing - and they were over the moon. Samaritan.
Flew to Austin via SLC. Delta were good. Used Private shuttle from Austin airport to hotel downtown $50usd. Austin is the best place on Earth. Warm (around 37C), spring fed water everywhere, beautiful city. 1st night had a look down Rayney st, next day we got a tesla and explored. Went to awesome places in Dripping Springs and this place called Wimberley Blue holes, went to Salt Lick BBQ and Jester King Brewery which was glorious. Went to a Honky Tonk, ate heaps, saw the bats, went to Zilker park and swam in the spring fed pool (barton springs).Went to Franklin's, terry black's, la bbq, Kids loved it. Beer is fantastic. Went to get milk at a little store around corner from hotel - wtf 12 taps of beer at corner store. Peak humanity. Gas around 2.40/gal
Flew to New Orleans, private shuttle to hotel around $50 - just ask the people at the shuttle booths if they know any private drivers who do cashies. New Orleans is cool, did the beignets, went to garden district, katrina tour, gators, voodoo, drank those stupid frozen drinks. Humid AF, don't bring a hire car in, parking is ridiculous, you can park at Harrah's casino for 24 hours tho if you play for a bit. Food was fantastic, fried oyster po' boys, gumbo et al.
Got a better car this time, a silverado. Drove from NOLA and did some plantation tours, Houmas plantation was the best. Took natchez trace Parkway, was nice. Got pulled over in Mississippi doing 80mi in 65 zone, he let me off, poured the australian on thick.
Went to Tupelo, Mi where Elvis was born, nice. Went to Memphis, fairly boring tbh, Nashville was better - Johnny cash museum, honky tonks, Grand Ole Opry, Ryman auditorium.
Drove through rural tennessee which was awesome, just beautiful country. One cool place was called Greenville, Tn. Went to the town fair there, just like the movies.
Drove on thru appalachia, went through blue ridge parkway, just amazing, then parked up at Washington D.C - traffic horrible. Saw Donalds house, and all the rest, Hot. D.C pretty cool though, smoked weed. gave a heap of stuff away to homeless folk before getting on the train. Southseas is man of the people.
Amtrak from D.C to NYC. Not as good as the Cascades train from VAN to SEA but still good, and only 200 for the 5 of us. Left my wallet in the seat (faaaaaaarrrrg) got to NYC but no wallet, went to accom on 37th st, just down from Madison SG. Called Credit Card mobs, put temp hold on. Amtrak called and said someone handed it in, picked up at penn stn (MSG) $400USD still in it, wowee. Ate hotdogs, went up the big'uns in Top of the Roc and ESB. 9/11 memorial was great, heaps of stuff for the kids to do and they seemed to take in part of the enormity. Saw the lady, went to the bronx zoo (free on wednesdays), in the Bronx saw a lady get hit by a car, helped her - she hugged me and kissed me on the lips, was weird. used Subway heaps, its easy. Brooklyn was cool, walked back along the bridge. Other Half brewing sensational.
Flew Cathay Perth-HKG-Vancouver
Vancouver was great, went to a wedding near a place called Harrison Hot springs which was beautiful. Smoked weed. Petrol around $3 CAD from memory
Car was a Taurus, pretty roomy, but needed more space.
Amtrak'd from Vancouver to Seattle, which was a great option also.
We did all the touristy things in Seattle (Space needle, museum of pop, pike place etc) was pretty good, stayed in the uni district, public transport was pretty good there also. Smoked weed - like maybe $2.50 USD for huge blunts.
Bought an esky - handy to have when roadtripping.
One thing about Washington State is that they really don't use the chip readers for credit cards, and paypass is basically non existent, so make sure your magnetic stripes are in good nick.
Hired a car (Jeep Compass? i think) and drove to Portland via Aberdeen (Kurt Cobain birthplace) - went to the bridge in that song "something in the way".
Drove then on to Portland, which is fantastic, drank a heap of good beer - hair of the dog was the best brewery imo. Smoked a heap of weed. Went to a bunch of Waterfalls. Portland is a cool city.
Drove then to Mt.Hood, visited the Timberline lodge (where the shining was filmed) we weren't expecting to see snow there but there was a shitload, all 5 of us Aussie dickheads in shorts and thongs in the snow. Drove on to Bend, OR - Crazy to watch the mountains and snow give way to desert and farmland. Bend was cool. Beer. On to Crater Lake NP (mountains again) which was a trip, looks fake - is beautiful, underrated imo. Heaps of snow again. Us 5 dickheads loving snowfights and shit.
Drove to a place called Shady Cove, OR for a night. Cool little town on the rogue river.
Drove to Santa Rosa Norcal to go to Russian River and drink Pliny the elder - was ok. Santa Rosa was shite.
Drove to San Fran which was sweet, Bridge is cool, foggy AF in mornings tho. Fisherman's wharf and chowder and shit. Smoked weed. - Gas like $4/gal
Drove from San fran on HWY 1, cool drive, but traffic can be slow - big sur was awesome. Santa Cruz pretty cool. Got as far as a place called San Simeon.
On to Anaheim along hwy 1, via Malibu and Santa Monica Pier (shithole). Disneyland for 4 days, was fairly warm - get the maxpass and app. Food is crazy $$$. LA traffic is shite, Bottle Logic Brewing is not.
Drove from anaheim to Vegas via Barstow (don't bother) - when we got to Vegas I went into that Bass Pro shop, holy shit. Most 'murica store. Ammo by the lb, stuffed animals, aquariums where you can catch fish with reels you are trying out, just crazy stuff. Stayed in Circus Circus which was terrible, especially the Circus Circus "Manor" - got moved to the casino wing which was a bit better, trying to find a park while you check in is chaos. It's ok for kids, have a decent little water park, and small theme park. Frkn hot. used the monorail and saw all the things. Smoked weed.
Drove to South Rim of GCNP via R66 and peach springs, pretty cool. Grand Canyon was cool. 2 year old - was hard work carrying the little shit on my shoulders, we laughed. From there we drove to Phoenix - landscape changes were cool. Loony Toons cacti appearing. Arizona is hot. Gas around $2.80/gal.
We only drove to PHX so we could fly from there to Austin. Gave some young guys staying at the hotel the rest of my blunts (like about 7) and my esky thing - and they were over the moon. Samaritan.
Flew to Austin via SLC. Delta were good. Used Private shuttle from Austin airport to hotel downtown $50usd. Austin is the best place on Earth. Warm (around 37C), spring fed water everywhere, beautiful city. 1st night had a look down Rayney st, next day we got a tesla and explored. Went to awesome places in Dripping Springs and this place called Wimberley Blue holes, went to Salt Lick BBQ and Jester King Brewery which was glorious. Went to a Honky Tonk, ate heaps, saw the bats, went to Zilker park and swam in the spring fed pool (barton springs).Went to Franklin's, terry black's, la bbq, Kids loved it. Beer is fantastic. Went to get milk at a little store around corner from hotel - wtf 12 taps of beer at corner store. Peak humanity. Gas around 2.40/gal
Flew to New Orleans, private shuttle to hotel around $50 - just ask the people at the shuttle booths if they know any private drivers who do cashies. New Orleans is cool, did the beignets, went to garden district, katrina tour, gators, voodoo, drank those stupid frozen drinks. Humid AF, don't bring a hire car in, parking is ridiculous, you can park at Harrah's casino for 24 hours tho if you play for a bit. Food was fantastic, fried oyster po' boys, gumbo et al.
Got a better car this time, a silverado. Drove from NOLA and did some plantation tours, Houmas plantation was the best. Took natchez trace Parkway, was nice. Got pulled over in Mississippi doing 80mi in 65 zone, he let me off, poured the australian on thick.
Went to Tupelo, Mi where Elvis was born, nice. Went to Memphis, fairly boring tbh, Nashville was better - Johnny cash museum, honky tonks, Grand Ole Opry, Ryman auditorium.
Drove through rural tennessee which was awesome, just beautiful country. One cool place was called Greenville, Tn. Went to the town fair there, just like the movies.
Drove on thru appalachia, went through blue ridge parkway, just amazing, then parked up at Washington D.C - traffic horrible. Saw Donalds house, and all the rest, Hot. D.C pretty cool though, smoked weed. gave a heap of stuff away to homeless folk before getting on the train. Southseas is man of the people.
Amtrak from D.C to NYC. Not as good as the Cascades train from VAN to SEA but still good, and only 200 for the 5 of us. Left my wallet in the seat (faaaaaaarrrrg) got to NYC but no wallet, went to accom on 37th st, just down from Madison SG. Called Credit Card mobs, put temp hold on. Amtrak called and said someone handed it in, picked up at penn stn (MSG) $400USD still in it, wowee. Ate hotdogs, went up the big'uns in Top of the Roc and ESB. 9/11 memorial was great, heaps of stuff for the kids to do and they seemed to take in part of the enormity. Saw the lady, went to the bronx zoo (free on wednesdays), in the Bronx saw a lady get hit by a car, helped her - she hugged me and kissed me on the lips, was weird. used Subway heaps, its easy. Brooklyn was cool, walked back along the bridge. Other Half brewing sensational.
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You should write a book about it.
I already have, this is just an excerpt.
