Tuesday, 30 July 2013

All good things come to those who wait

I forget when it was that we started planning our West Coast Adventure, but it was probably sometime last summer. In fact, it was probably before we'd even unpacked from our East Coast Adventure.

The planning proper started in November 2012. We decided how long we could go for (3 weeks), what we wanted to see (lots), a route, the direction (clockwise from Los Angeles) and then started booking things.  

The first thing we booked were tickets to see Taylor Swift. Obviously. Then we booked some hotels (Custom, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon). Then we thought it might be sensible to get some flights sorted too, so we booked them (Virgin).

Once the flights were booked we filled in the rest of the plan and spent days discussing and dreaming about what we'd see and do. I think we've both already lived this holiday a dozen times over in our minds: "driving" roads on streetview; studying restaurant menus; researching itineraries. I think that's half the fun really.

Now, 261 days later, the holiday is just 48 hours away. Tomorrow evening we drive down to London and then begin our adventure at 11.30am on August 1st. Just got the pesky business of tying up loose ends at work and trying not to forget anything before we set off for London.

Eeek!

Sunday, 28 July 2013

Four days to go...

We've had a busy day sorting out the last bits and bobs today, we got our dollars and miniature toiletries and prepared our clothes ready for packing. So many clothes. Almost as many as all of our gadgets this year! Can't believe that this time next week we'll have been in America for four days!

Tuesday, 25 June 2013

It's all getting a bit posh!

Tonight we've booked tickets for a bit of classical music at the classic venue and star of the classic movie Some Kind of Wonderful...Tchaikovsky at the Hollywood Bowl! How exciting.

The big map


View West Coast USA in a larger map

Thought you all might like to see where we'll be going on this big ol' road trip of ours and some of the sights we'll be seeing.

The map is also on the itinerary page if you ever want to refer back to it.

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

Studio Tours

We spent last night looking at the different studio tours that are available in Los Angeles. The chance to see TV and movie sets, tour the studios and see props makes a studio tour a definite must-do activity for us.

During the week, shows are being filmed and you might get to see a star, but access to the sets is restricted. At the weekend the studios are generally quieter and because shows aren't being filmed you can see more. We're going to schedule our visits on the Saturday and Sunday so that we can see more of the sets (although I think most shows are on breaks during August anyway).

Paramount and Warner Bros both do behind the scenes tours and both have standard and deluxe varieties.

For Paramount it's $48 for a regular tour and $150 for a 'VIP' tour. We're going to do the regular tour.

For Warner Bros the 'VIP' tour is $49 and the 'Deluxe' tour is an eye-popping $250. You do get a three course meal on the Deluxe tour and it is twice as long, but after careful consideration, we've decided we're going to do the 'VIP' tour.

Saturday, 2 March 2013

152 days to go

Holiday planning is going very well, all of our accommodation is now booked and I've got a good head start on the diner research! We've added a new itinerary for 2013 and seeing it all written down is very exciting, roll on August 1st.

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Some exciting news...

2012 was the year of the Awesome American Adventure. Two weeks of fun exploring Washington DC, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, New York, Philadelphia and all the itty bitty little places in between.

It was sad coming home, but life carried on. Until... we decided to go back! So 2013 will be the year of:

The Awesome American Adventure: West Coast Edition

Hurrah!