Knights Around the World 2017-18

17 November 2017 Welcome to Knights Around the World, the travel blog I’ll be updating while we’re away. I had meant to be blogging before now, but things have been a bit busy finishing off work and preparing for the big trip. I finished up work yesterday for the rest of the year, and won’t return to work now until 15 January next year! Nicole and I were fortunate to be invited along to State Development’s Christmas Drinks last night. It was a great night and a lot of fun. Eleisha, thanks very much for organising the ‘office trivia’ comp — I really enjoyed it. Along with Richard and Pam, we’ve even got the winner’s trophy to prove it.

21 November 2017 Our lovely housesitters, Bruce and Di, arrived yesterday. Bruce did a fantastic job backing their van in, a task made a lot more complicated by the rubbish skip sitting on the front lawn that the builder replacing our deck has there currently. But all’s well that ends well, and so we had a really nice BBQ dinner last night with Bruce and Di and our good friends from up the street, Brad and Kris.

21 November 2017 Just in the departure lounge ready to leave Rocky. Family catch up tonight then departing Australia tomorrow! ← ← Previous · Contents · Next →

21 November 2017 Quick update — we are now air side at Brisbane International Airport. On the very good advice of Brad and Kris, we have pre-purchased all sorts of alcoholic delights to pick up from customs when we return. I’m giving Wild Turkey American Honey a try, and Nicole is trying out an upmarket brand of Baileys! Plus some good old Bonded Jim Beam. About to board for our short haul flight to Auckland. I hope that long white cloud doesn’t stop us landing. Will post again soon …

21 November 2017 ← ← Previous · Contents · Next →

22 November 2017 Just arrived in Auckland. Wonderful flight with great seats and plenty of movies to choose from. Food was nice too, so A+ for Air NZ so far. The real test is about to come for them though, with a 12 hour long haul to San Francisco. I’m sure they’ll be up to the challenge. ← ← Previous · Contents · Next →

22 November 2017 We have arrived safely in San Francisco in the US of A! The flight from Auckland to San Francisco was very long (approx. 12 hours), but the movies and food were great. I was able to get some sleep as Katelyn generously offered me the window seat for the middle section of the flight, however Nicole and Katelyn didn’t get much sleep unfortunately. We thought immigration in San Francisco would take ages, however we got through in record time. The private shuttle that our travel agent had pre-booked for us wasn’t there when we left immigration, however a quick call and ten minutes wait and we had the shuttle ready to go.

24 November 2017 We are staying in the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco. A very nice hotel — so good in fact that it is not for the exclusive use of humans. Believe it or not, you can have two dogs of up to 70 lbs (approx. 35 kg) each stay with you in your room! I love dogs more than most, but that sounds a little excessive (and weird) to me.

24 November 2017 Today was our first full day in holiday mode. I woke up early and went for a walk around the city centre while Nicole and Katelyn slept in. What became very obvious, very quickly, is that San Francisco is full of crazy people … and homeless people … and crazy homeless people. I’ve never seen so many people sleeping rough anywhere. According to a taxi driver the residency policies for this area encourage homeless people to move here from other areas, as after 12 months here they can apply for housing support. Whatever the policy, it is a very sad indictment on society here — brought into sharper focus given that today is Thanksgiving Day.

25 November 2017 This morning was a visit to The Rock (aka Alcatraz Island) — for the first time for Nicole and Katelyn and a return after just under 25 years for me. I must admit very little, if anything, has changed there in the last 25 years, however it’s still a great place to visit. I’m a huge fan of the Escape From Alcatraz movie starring Clint Eastwood, and a visit to Alcatraz just breathes extra life into the story.

25 November 2017 This one is very closely related to Weird American Thing #1 and was relayed to us via Victor — our moustachioed Mexican tour guide from yesterday. Apparently San Francisco has more dogs than kids (definition of kids not provided). While it is apparently a close count, I think that qualifies as weird. Having watched the first two rebooted Planet of the Apes movies on the flight over, where hyper-intelligent apes rebel and effectively take over San Francisco, I’m having some disturbing thoughts about whether the next time I visit San Francisco it will be the humans wearing the leashes in public areas.

27 November 2017 Today was, in comparison to the first few days of our trip, a bit of a non-event. We all slept in, headed out for breakfast, checked out of the Hilton, and then checked into a hotel only two blocks away — this being the staging area for our tour. We then did some shopping in the afternoon before heading back to the hotel. Here’s a photo from the top of the shopping centre.

28 November 2017 After leaving San Francisco we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge on our long drive to Yosemite National Park. The bus is cozy but comfortable, and Pat our CEO has been playing some great music. We arrived mid-afternoon at Yosemite National Park, which gave us time to see some of the giant Sequoia trees — some of which can be up to 3,000 years old. We only got to see a few, but they are absolutely amazing! You could even go for a walk into the pass of one of the fallen trees — that’s how big they are.

28 November 2017 In America, when you go to buy something, all is not as it seems. When you look at something in a shop, on a menu, or online, you assume that the listed price is what you will be paying. First mistake. As soon as you say you’d like to pay for something, on the sales tax goes. In California it seems to be around 10%. It would be like advertising everything in Australia with prices excluding GST.

29 November 2017 On Tuesday we drove from Yosemite National Park (or rather just outside it) to Bakersfield. A long day in the bus with just a few stops for food and comfort. At one of the stops I had a quick chat to a guy who had a huge “pick up truck” which was towing the biggest caravan I’d ever seen. I asked if that was a big caravan by American standards and, you guessed it, it wasn’t. He said that it was just “pretty big” and that you can get caravans with three axles! He said there was a whole separate room at the front of the caravan and then a garage type area at the back. He had a quad bike in the back of his truck and I asked if he had any more in the back of the caravan. Two more back there! Everything is bigger in America.

1 December 2017 On Wednesday we travelled west from Bakersfield towards Las Vegas. On the way however we had to cross the ‘valley of death’ or, as it is known, Death Valley. The scenery was absolutely magical and a lot hillier than I thought it would be. Death Valley is the hottest, the driest and the lowest place in the USA, having reached temperatures of up to 57 degrees Celsius. At our last stop, Badwater Basin (where the photos below were taken) we were 282 feet below sea level.

2 December 2017 While you’re waiting (eagerly I hope) for the Las Vegas blog post, I thought I’d let you know that Elvis is alive and well. While walking down The Strip yesterday, there he was before our very eyes, casually mingling amongst the people. However instead of seeing him gyrating his hips, pointing sideways and singing one of his many hits, he was … let’s say more comfortable. There was Elvis, driving his mobility scooter and drinking a can of Fosters. He also wasn’t terribly coherent at the time from what I picked up as we walked past.

2 December 2017 Well, where do you start. I don’t really know what I was expecting from Las Vegas, but what we got was certainly something I’ve never experienced before — and perhaps won’t again. We arrived at the Gold Coast Hotel late on Wednesday afternoon. Our CEO had arranged a stretched limousine to pick us up at 8:30pm, on to which we could BYO drinks. Our limo was a stretched Hummer — awesome! So off we headed on a drive up The Strip, drinks in hand.

2 December 2017 Today (Friday) we left the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas behind and headed north west. In the space of around an hour or so we spent time in three states — Nevada, Arizona (just going across the north west corner) and then into Utah. Our main activity for the day was a 2 hour hike in Zion National Park in the mid-afternoon. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking once again. The park is really well laid out, with a great visitor centre and gift shop.

4 December 2017 On Saturday we awoke early to meet at the bus at 6:30am (apart from Katelyn who enjoyed a sleep in at the hotel). The early start was to accommodate the opportunity to watch the sun rise over the magnificent Bryce Canyon National Park rock formations. And we weren’t disappointed either! The weather was very cold though, starting out at around -2 degrees. After a quick 15 minute trip back to the hotel for breakfast (and to collect Katelyn!) we returned to Bryce Canyon for a hike into the canyon itself. The hike took around two hours and gave us some absolutely fabulous views of Bryce Canyon. For the second day in a row we were being treated to some of the USA’s (and the world’s) most amazing rock formations.

5 December 2017 Yesterday (Sunday) was a big day, plus one of the best of the trip so far. Horseshoe Bend We started early with a short drive to Horseshoe Bend, where the mighty Colorado River makes an epic U-turn. The viewing area (a 10 minute walk over a sand hill from the car park) is quite amazing. There is literally a sheer rock cliff, with no fences, and people just get as close as they dare to take their photos. A few people asked me to take their photo for them on their phones, and for each one I begged them to be careful near the edge and not to step back at all. Some people were even sitting on the edge, which is just too stupid to put into words.

6 December 2017 On Monday we left Mexican Hat (the town) and headed to the Grand Canyon, safe in the knowledge that Katelyn’s phone was not sitting deep down in a composting toilet. When we arrived, our CEO asked us to trust him with an interesting approach he has for first time visitors. As we started getting near the Grand Canyon, he asked us to close our eyes as he finished parking. As we got out of the bus he then asked us to put bags over our heads, carefully marched us in conga line form to near the edge of the Grand Canyon, then took a mobile phone and photographed us as we all took off our bags together to see the Grand Canyon for the very first time. Absolutely breathtaking!

8 December 2017 On our way from the Grand Canyon to San Diego, we drove part of the historic Route 66. I never realised that it all started with a movie director in Chicago who needed to finish filming a movie before the end of December one year, otherwise his film wouldn’t be released. The weather in Chicago at the time was too cold to allow filming to continue, so in desperation he called a friend in Los Angeles. The friend told him the weather was great and suggested finishing his filming there — which he did, putting in motion the LA movie industry and Route 66.

9 December 2017 We arrived in San Diego late on Wednesday afternoon. After a chance to freshen up we headed out for dinner at the Casa Guadalajara Mexican restaurant. This is by far the best Mexican restaurant I have ever been to, and one of the most fun places to eat I’ve ever been. It is huge, with all sorts of areas to sit. We sat in the area outside which was a bit like a massive beer garden, but much nicer. The beautifully mild climate in San Diego meant we could sit comfortably outside with only a light jacket or no jacket at all.

10 December 2017 My previous impressions of Los Angeles, from a visit almost 25 years ago, weren’t great. This trip to LA hasn’t changed my perceptions. In my last post I mentioned that San Diego was the first larger USA city that I have been to that I could consider living in. I would place LA at the other end of that spectrum. Busy, crowded and lots and lots and lots of concrete.

10 December 2017 We’ve been in the USA for over two weeks now and yet I’m still coming to grips with the fairly extreme (and not always consistent) level of automation in public toilets — also referred to as ‘bathrooms’ by the locals. I know that in Australia we have automated taps in most such places, however here it extends to the soap dispensers and paper towel dispensers as well most of the time. So if you would like a bit more soap or three sheets of paper towel to make sure your hands are clean and dry, that requires holding your hand in exactly the right place, on multiple occasions. Even most of the urinals and toilets flush automatically. Maybe they are actually not automated and I have just been heightening the powers I have in using The Force! Who can really tell.

12 December 2017 Just in case we weren’t already aware that it was going to be cold in Minneapolis, as the plane came into land at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport we saw everything covered in snow. It was beautiful to look at. Nicole’s High School friend, Sharon Mitchell, had kindly offered to collect us from the airport, which she did. Our first steps outside into -10 degrees Celsius temperatures were a little breathtaking, but not as bad as we had imagined it might be. Sharon had very kindly brought along extra warm apparel for us, and for Katelyn in particular.

13 December 2017 On Monday afternoon we landed at Washington Dulles International Airport. After leaving the aircraft, we had to catch a shuttle bus from our terminal to the main terminal area. That’s when Katelyn realised she had left her backpack on the shuttle bus — a complete accident and something any of us could easily do. Now, if there is anywhere you DON’T want to leave an unaccompanied bag, Washington Dulles International Airport would be very high on the list.

16 December 2017 Apologies for the delay in blogging. Having just spent five and a half days in New York, I only have time to breathe and write this as I sit on Lufthansa flight 401 from New York to Frankfurt. There is just so much to do in New York, I didn’t want to waste a minute. We did quite a bit, so I’m going to do this in two parts — a diptych of sorts.

20 December 2017 Big. Small. Crowded. Noisy. Cold. Car horns. Sirens. Shopping. Vibrant. Complex. These are just some of the words that come to mind thinking about New York. It’s like no other place I’ve been to and has so much to offer. At one point I thought that one way to describe it could be like Las Vegas, but with soul and character. Brooklyn Bridge & DUMBO On Sunday Nicole and Katelyn felt like a long sleep in and rest, but I didn’t, so I headed off to explore. A key thing on my list was photographing the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn side. For me, the only way to experience New York is to walk, as it rewards you with all sorts of surprises along the way. I chatted to some nice people from Chicago over breakfast, came across some more dog parks, and discovered an ice skating rink and a few Christmas markets.

22 December 2017 My German update will be coming very soon, however in the meantime I wanted to share with you an odd thing for those visiting Germany. On our car drive from Frankfurt to Rothenburg (via Heidelberg) we stopped at a roadside services thing off the highway, primarily to allow me the opportunity to relieve myself. So I stepped into the toiletten and was greeted by a late middle-aged, balding man, wearing a white lab coat, and sitting on a stool in front of a small table. Most importantly, he was positioned strategically between the entrance to the herren (male) and damen (female) toilets, focussing a great deal on a small white saucer which had a one Euro coin sitting in the middle of it. He smiled broadly at me and said “Hallo”. So, I reached into my pocket where I thankfully found a Euro coin and placed it on the dish. Big smile. Danke schön.

23 December 2017 For our flight from New York to Frankfurt, we had the very pleasant surprise of being upgraded to Premium Economy. Thank you Lufthansa — very nice! That made everything much more comfortable and allowed me to at least get a few hours sleep. Unfortunately Nicole and Katelyn weren’t able to sleep though. We arrived at our hotel at around 7:00am, but amazingly were able to check in to our room at that time. Thank you Citadines Frankfurt! We decided to sleep until around 11:00 before setting off to explore.

1 January 2018 On 23 December we flew into London Heathrow Airport. Customs took a while. In Germany we were able to use an automated gate if we had a new Australian passport, however when we got to London this wasn’t an option. Perhaps it is time for Australia to become a Republic, as I wasn’t exactly feeling the British love. For our rental car they gave us a Mitsubishi Triton dual cab ute with a lockable canopy. While it had PLENTY of room for our luggage, it soon became apparent that it would be very impractical. First, it was too long and too wide to fit into the typical UK micro car parking spot. Second, it was harder to get down narrow lanes and roads with cars parked either side. Third, you couldn’t see a thing out of the back. We felt like Gulliver driving his car around at the local Lilliputian village.

4 January 2018 London. What a place. It’s hard to describe London, as it is so energetic, historic, complex and, in many ways, endless. So I delved into Google and found the following quotes which align with my thinking. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. — Samuel Johnson London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, always a part of its present. And for that reason it will always have meaning for the future, because of all it can teach about disaster, survival, and redemption. It is all there in the streets. It is all there in the books. — Anna Quindlen