My Bloggable Day

Malibu: part 2

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Bec

Some more photos from day two in The Bu. Do people actually call it that?! I hope so. As you can see the weather was awful:

We had breakfast out on the balcony again because there is just no beating this view.

We then took a walk to Malibu Pier, which was bustling with tourists, fisherman and a trendy brunch crowd.

Steven Seagal hanging out on the pier

Stand up paddle boarding is still all the rage.

There were SUPers everywhere:

Superior balance

Lots of surfers too

Regular camera

Instagram magic

We moseyed back up the Pacific Coast Highway to the condo and after getting slightly battered by waves at the beach we settled by the pool.

Delightful

Visor still going strong

More pina coladas. I actually just listened to the lyrics of that song, funny how neither the man nor the woman are mad that their significant other wrote/responded to a personals ad in the paper! Awkward.

I went for a more low key glass this time

I made icy poles (popsicles?) with the pineapple coconut juice. No rum in these though, just strawberries.

Cheers!

As a special treat I took Andrew and his crustacean allergy out for dinner at Neptune’s Net.

Saucy!

I had fried shrimp and calamari because I waited in a really long line before discovering the steamed crab and lobster counter was on the other side of the restaurant. Ughhh. It was pretty good. Andrew had a chicken burger.

We then took in a very superior sunset across the road at the beach.

The next day was slightly overcast, which made leaving easier. Love when that happens! What a dreamy couple of days. Thanks again to Andrew’s uncle and aunt for letting us borrow their little slice of paradise for the weekend!

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, California, Malibu, Malibu beach, Road Trip, USA | 2 Comments

Malibu: part 1

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Bec

We had such a glorious time being back in LA with Andrew’s aunt and uncle. California really does feel like home now. We got to stand still for almost a week, enjoying great food and company. We saw Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour at the Staples Centre (along with Selina Gomez, Phoebe Buffay from Friends and Justin Timberlake who all made cameos!!!) and spent some amazing time reading on Malibu beach. What have I done to deserve this life?!

On Friday we went to the Getty Villa in Malibu to check out the incredible collection of Greek and Roman antiquities J. Paul Getty amassed over the years. Inspired by the Villa of Papyri, the complex is home to pieces that date back to 6500BC. Crazy. It’s meant to take you back to ancient Rome as you wander around the rooms and lush gardens.

The gardens were my favourite.

Another beautiful fountain is empty due to the drought

Andrew and his uncle Eric

Thank goodness for eccentric old billionaires and what they leave behind. My only wish was that the staff wore togas.

We grabbed delicious sandwiches from John’s Garden in Malibu and spent the rest of the day lapping up the sun in front of Eric and Adrienne’s beach condo. We drove back to the city in the afternoon and had an amazing Italian dinner that night.

The next day Andrew and I returned to Malibu to spend a couple of nights there. We got there just in time for homemade sandwiches on the balcony.

The condo is in the most amazing location, literally on the beach. If that plate fell from the balcony railing it would end up in the water! (as if I would let that happen though)

After lunch we hit the beach with our towels and Kindles.

The surf was really strong and to paddle out past the where the waves were crashing down was kind of hairy. But once you did you got to the nice calmer water.

Stand Up Paddle Boarders were everywhere

Pina Coladas and the beach are really an excellent pairing. We managed to find combined pineapple and coconut juice so all we had to do was blend it with ice and a splash of rum.

I love this glass with the palm trees painted on it

I think I may have missed my calling as a cocktail mixologist

We got salads from the pizza place across the road for dinner and just relaxed. It was a full moon that night and it was incredibly bright:

We fell asleep to the sound of waves crashing.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Beach, California, Los Angeles, Malibu, Malibu beach, Road Trip, Travel, USA | 4 Comments

The truth about quitting your job to travel

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Bec

Andrew and I at Grand Tetons, haven’t scrubbed a toilet yet!

I was really reluctant to write this post, as we’ve only been travelling for 4 months so I don’t quite consider myself an expert (yet!). But there is an article doing the rounds that has really annoyed me.

You may have seen in your newsfeed a story entitled ‘Couple Who Quit Their Jobs to Travel Now Scrub Toilets for a Living’. It’s been on Buzzfeed, Elite Daily and many other sites and the story comes from this blog post, wherein a South African couple who quit their jobs to travel spill the beans on how tough their lives are.

In the post they talk about scrubbing toilets, living on a diet of crackers and jam and walking streets with their heavy packs because they can’t afford bus tickets. The response to the articles has been one of pure schadenfreude. People who are understandably sick of reading romanticised articles about people who have left behind the 9 to 5 for travel are lapping it up. Pointing and laughing. Which is weird because at no point do the couple say they regret their choice or ask for sympathy.

While I’m all for being honest and admitting that life isn’t all white sand beaches, cocktails and mirror lakes, if you have to live on crackers and fight daily emotional battles I think you’re kind of doing it wrong. Because here’s the boring truth:

Quitting your job to travel is a major investment.

You don’t wake up one morning, decide to hand in your notice and jump on a plane. It takes months, even years, of saving money and planning. It’s a privileged decision and it’s an investment akin to purchasing a house. Andrew and I could have easily put a deposit on a house instead of travelling indefinitely. But that’s not a priority for us, travel is.

If you choose to quit your job to travel, you don’t have to scrub toilets. We’ve been on the road two months less than the South African couple and easily manage to eat proper food and get around without shovelling manure. Yes we slept in a tent for 50 nights but with showers and wifi that was hardly ‘roughing it’.

I can only imagine that this South African couple, who apparently worked in high flying advertising jobs before they left, saved very little or nothing before they left home. Maybe that’s how they wanted it? Maybe they wanted the added challenge of having to find funds on the way. Or maybe they have been staying in really expensive hotels. I have no idea.

My point is I’m frustrated by this so called ‘cautionary but inspiring tale’. Travel doesn’t have to leave you emotionally and physically spent. You just have to be clever about it. And sure if you want to scrub toilets that’s totally fine too. I imagine we will have completed some mundane farm work by the time our travel is through, but it doesn’t have to be like that.

Rant over. Details of how we budgeted coming soon!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Travel | 6 Comments

A summary: USA road trip part 1

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Bec

On Tuesday we arrived back in Los Angeles after 3 months on the road! Our epic adventure took us up the west coast from LA to Vancouver, then east to Calgary before zigzagging down through Montana,Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Colorado etc.

Our trip took us from dramatic coastline to rugged mountains, rivers and lakes, from cities to college towns to many national parks. I tried to map out our route but because Google Maps is terrible and limits the number of destinations you can input (and I had no luck with other apps) I’ve done two very rough outlines of our trip:

Map 1

Map 2 (obviously we didn’t finish in Palm Springs, please imagine that blue line extends to San Diego and then up to LA)

Quite a messy route!

Here are our vital stats:

Days in America/Canada: 105 (94 and 11 respectively)

Miles covered: 10,672 (that’s 17,075 kilometres!)

Congratulations to our borrowed car Goldie! And thanks for never letting us down.

States/provinces visited: 10 US States (California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada) and 2 Canadian provinces (British Columbia and Alberta)

Utah!

Colorado!

Seattle!

Big Sur!

Montana!

National Parks visited: 12 in America and 3 in Canada;Yosemite, Crater Lake, Mt Rainier, Revelstoke (Canada), Glacier (Canada), Banff (Canada), Glacier (US), Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain, Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon.

Yosemite National Park

Mt Rainier

Glacier National Park (Canada)

Yellowstone National Park

Lake Louise in Banff National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Zion National Park

Arches National Park

Nights camping: 50

Nights at motels/hostels: 31

Nights with family/friends: 24

Our tent Cole, at Dinosaur National Monument

Cole again, at Crater Lake National Park

Burgers/beers/pancakes/ice creams consumed: god only knows!

My first burger of the trip (and still one of the best) at the Karl Strauss Brewery

Another hot contender for Best Burger at the Sandwich League in Eugene, Oregon

One of my favourite beers from the Deschutes Brewery in Oregon

The Fat Head Brewery in Portland, Oregon

Fried chicken and pancakes in Seattle

A diner meal in San Francisco

Ice cream from Tillamook Cheese in Oregon

Ice cream in Virginia City, Montana

Ugh looking at ~~all~~ some the food we’ve consumed is kind of shocking!

So what next? Well this weekend we are spending a couple of nights in Malibu and then on Monday we begin our next leg of the trip, which involves taking a month to drive from LA to Florida all along the south.

We will stop in Austin, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville and Charleston, just to name a few. I’m so excited!

Farewell West Coast, it’s been awesome.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, Canada, Road Trip, Travel, USA | 4 Comments

Sunset in San Diego

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Bec

We spent three nights in San Diego but I didn’t take a single photo until the final evening. I’ve been to San Diego before and done the zoo, Balboa Park and the old town. This time I came down with a nasty cold, Andrew with a hangover and together we were a bit pathetic.

But on the final day we got our act together and drove a little bit out of the city to Torrey Pines for a beach day. It was strange weather, hot and sunny inland with some sea fog directly over the beach. I still managed to fall asleep on the sand and wake up with one side of my face slightly pink though.

The water was refreshing and perfect for blowing out the cobwebs. At one point we noticed a bunch of people on the sand pointing to the water, we turned around and there was a pod of dolphins not far away. Magic.

We drove slightly south to Ocean Beach for dinner. Ocean Beach turned out to be quintessential California; a slightly grungy palm tree lined main street leading down to the ocean, dudes on skateboards, sushi bars, burger joints , the smell of pachtouchli oil wafting from hippy boutiques…

Ocean Beach

After a day at the beach, I had a hankering for fish and chips and Andrew wanted a burrito. Luckily, we stumbled upon Mike’s Taco Club which offered both.

Have a look at this batter:

Intense.

Seriously delicious stuff. Although I always feel such guilt after fish and chips, all that beige food.

After dinner we took a stroll along the pier to watch sunset.

The surfers will still out in force.

SAMSUNG CSC

So were the fishermen.

The pier

Beautiful.

Catch you on the flip side San Diego.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, California, Road Trip, San Diego, Travel, USA | 1 Comment

Palm Springs

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Bec

I absolutely, 100% fell in love with Palm Springs. With its architecture, palm trees, hotels and pools. I’ve never been anywhere where I so desperately wanted a time machine to whip back to the 50s and 60s to sip cocktails poolside with the Rat Pack.

But even without a time machine, being there feels like you have stepped into the Palm Springs episodes of Mad Men.

Look at the house we booked on AirBnB:

So pink, I love it

We had our own pool, a beautiful room, Netflix and the homeowner didn’t appear until we were leaving. Perfect.

Oh and on our first night there Village Fest was on. Thanks Palm Springs!

Village Fest is a street fair that takes place every Thursday night

After walking around downtown we found a place that did amazing ice cream sandwiches and ate them while listening to a perfect live rendition of Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. Which perfectly described how I was already feeling about Palm Springs.

The next day we went to the visitors centre to pick up a map to the best modernist houses. The visitors centre is housed in the old tramway gas station, which was designed by architect Albert Frey, completed in 1965, and is considered a prime example of modernism in architecture.

The tramway gas station/visitors centre

We picked up a map for $5 and began our driving tour.

First stop was the famous Kaufmann Desert House, designed by architect Richard Neutra in 1946.

Love that cactus

According to the man at the visitors centre, the Kaufmann house is now owned by Leonardo DiCaprio… But I can’t find any evidence to back this up!

One house with confirmed celebrity links is this one:

Honeymoon Hideaway

Elvis and Priscilla Presley lived and spent their honeymoon here in 1967.

Dramatic rooflines are a key characteristic of desert modernism:

Love a statement door

I love all the cactuses and palms.

After our driving tour we stopped in at some of the trendiest hotels for a snoop. Starting with the instagrammer’s delight known as The Ace:

Those sun shades ❤

We stopped here for a poolside beer before checking out The Saguaro:

We then decided to retreat to our own pool for a swim, where it was quieter (and cheaper!).

My view overhead:

We whipped up a few rounds of mojitos and lazed the afternoon away.

Didn’t have to tip the bartender = win

I don’t think I have a single photo from Palm Springs that doesn’t have a palm tree in it. This pleases me.

We drove out of Palm Springs towards San Diego, taking a slight detour to visit bizarre Salvation Mountain which is an art installation inspired by god and bible passages.

It kind of appears out of nowhere after you drive through a rather run down and depressing town.

Salvation Mountain’s creator Leonard Knight passed away last year and a group of volunteers is trying to protect the site. They regularly receive donations of paint.

Follow the yellow brick road

View from the top:

Inside parts of the sculpture:

It was kind of weird and fanatical, but interesting to see.

We drove on to San Diego, excited to see the California coast again.

Posted in Art, Travel | Tagged America, architecture, Art, California, Palm Springs, Road Trip, Salvation Mountain, Travel, USA | 2 Comments

Viva Las Vegas

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Bec

I have to admit I’m not a Vegas lover. I was kind of underwhelmed when I visited with my friend Kate 5 years ago and not much has changed. I can imagine if you’re on a bachelor’s weekend and out to spend a wad of cash it could be fun.

That said, our last morning in Las Vegas was excellent. I had seen photos of the neon boneyard/Neon Museum online somewhere and was keen to check it out. Basically it’s a collection of decommissioned neon signs from the 1930s onwards from casinos, motels and local businesses. I’m so glad I looked into it a couple of days in advance though because the tours were pretty much all booked out.

We took the 9am tour and it was already sweltering. We started off in the early casino aisle:

The stories behind the signs tell interesting histories of Las Vegas and of sign writing and technology as well.

Part of the Moulin Rouge sign

The motel area:

This was my favourite corner of the museum:

I just love the colours, the cactus and the ‘HI’ letters.

Some of the more recent (60s, 70s etc) signs:

The giant skull is from Treasure Island

Mullet man from a pool hall:

The lamp from Alladin’s and Liberace’s signature in the background:

SAMSUNG CSC

Apparently when space was in vogue you could stand on the roof of the Stardust, drink an ‘atomic cocktail’ and watch nuclear bomb tests going off in the far distance.

I loved this giant ‘B’.

Trying to figure out how to smuggle it out

The tour was short and sweet, probably a good thing as we were all drenched with sweat by the end. I highly recommend checking it out, just make sure you book in advance!

After the Neon Museum we drove to the Wynn Resort for a buffet brunch. The dining room was like something out of Alice in Wonderland crossed with Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

We got there about half an hour between the breakfast/lunch changeover and paid $25 each for two hours of all we could eat.

Plate 1: a weird breakfast/lunch hybrid.

Shrimp grits, smoked salmon hash, pepperoni pizza, smoked salmon pizza, French toast, buckwheat pancake, bacon, waffle, sweet ricotta parcel

Plate 2:

Fried clams, macaroni, 5 cheese ravioli, flank steak, tamale, fried chicken wing, spring roll, dumpling, BBQ pork roll

Plate 3:

Edamame, pineapple and sushi

Dessert:

Candied apple, key lime pie, tapioca, cheesecake

I really wish I could have eaten more. There was so, so, so much more stuff I wanted to try! Including meats and cheeses. Oh well!

After our buffet we rolled on over to some slot machines to try our luck.

I lost $1 here

I moved over to a Sex & The City themed slot machine and DING DING DING! Won $39.83 by landing on Miranda Hobbs’ handbag… or something?!

I was stoked! I immediately cashed out my winnings and left the casino with a spring in my step.

One morning is definitely enough time in Vegas.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, Las Vegas, Road Trip, Travel, USA | 1 Comment

Taking Route 66 to Las Vegas

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Bec

Call me crazy, but until we literally stumbled across it I completely forgot about Route 66. That’s right, someone road tripping around America totally forgot about the existence of the country’s most famous road. America’s Main Street.

So when we saw signs for Route 66 as we took off from the Grand Canyon towards Las Vegas I was like “ohhhh yeahhh”. I have travelled along Route 66 in Arizona before, and have fond memories of stopping in the kitsch towns of Williams and Seligman (I say that like an elderly woman recalling her youth, but it was only 5 years ago…).

Anyway, my delight in all things old fashioned demanded we stop in Williams for a shake.

Just outside Seligman

Main Street in Williams

❤

Twisters 50s Soda Fountain had an enticing sign out the front so we decided to go there:

“Ok”

The inside had a checkerboard floor, Marilyn Monroe on the wall and red CocaCola paraphernalia everywhere. What else could you want from a Route 66 diner?

My chocolate shake was delicious and too thick to suck up through the straw. I think the menu said something about it containing a pint (or some other alarming unit of measure) of ice cream, but I tried to ignore that.

On a serious sugar high, we continued on, passing increasingly dilapidated towns that lost their source of income when the Route 66 bypass was put in in the 1980s.

Our hostel was located in downtown Las Vegas, between a strip club and a tattoo parlour. Across the road were three quickie wedding chapels. Perfect.

That night we joined our fellow hostel goers for a night out in the Fremont area (old Vegas) at a venue that for a short while served 25c beers. We wrote off the next day, as much due to fatigue from a week of hiking as to being hungover.

We emerged from our hostel at about 6pm, keen to find something to eat. So we wandered down to the Strip in about 42 degrees celsius.

Creepy

We grabbed an unremarkable dinner at the Venetian before checking out the lights.

The Venetian

Caesars Palace

Flamingo

And we caught the end of the fountain show out the front of the Bellagio.

It’s timed to music

Having walked over 10km we I was utterly exhausted and fell into a taxi that returned us to our stinking hot hotel room. The next day would prove to be far superior.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, Las Vegas, Travel Road Trip, USA | 3 Comments

The Grand Canyon

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Bec

Just to continue the merry-go-round of seeing the sun come and go, we arrived at the Grand Canyon just in time for sunset. Sadly, we had decided not to stay in the fabulous Flintstone’s themed campground 30 minutes from the canyon in favour of one much closer. This put us right on the canyon’s south rim, with about 500 other punters, for sunset.

Looking to the east, the fading sun cast a warm glow on the canyon.

Looking west (towards the sun) you could see that typical canyon haze and shadows cast by the bends and curves:

And then the sun dipped low.

Arty

I, of course, wore my visor.

That thing hasn’t left my head

My camera really doesn’t capture the colours.

That night was our 50th and final night camping for the foreseeable future. So collectively, all our equipment felt it was time to give up. A tent pole cracked, a container of water leaked over everything at my feet in the car and our air mattress sustained on almighty puncture. So we woke the next morning lying on the cold hard gravel. We didn’t bother with seeing the sunrise.

That day we decided to hike into the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail.

The thing about hiking into canyons is that the first half is deceptively easy. The second half is sweaty.

Here we are still fresh and heading on down:

We hiked 2.6km down to the mile-and-a-half rest house. The pay off for not much hiking was pretty sweet:

The token ‘looking into the canyon’ shot

And again

We spent a while taking photos, chatting to other hikers and taking photos for them, so by the time we turned around to walk back up it was sweltering. Thankfully we didn’t have far to go.

Back at the top

We stopped off at one more look out before bidding farewell to national parks and camping for a little while.

Staying in a cheap motel that night was utter bliss. There was a bed that required no assembly, a rainfall shower that you could walk to (and use!) barefoot and power outlets everywhere. It’s the simple things.

Next up, Vegas!

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, Grand Canyon, Hiking, Road Trip, Travel, USA | Leave a comment

Bryce Canyon

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Bec

We arrived at Bryce Canyon just in time for sunset.

Well, the sun had mostly gone

It’s one of the strangest places on earth and further evidence, in my scientific opinion, that the universe must have been high when it created southern Utah.

Because we are nuts we got up super early to catch the sunrise there as well:

Pre sunrise

Those spindly spires are called hoodoos, by the way.

I love the colours

Eventually the sun came up.

We had been keen to hike but were rather sore after Angel’s Landing the day before. Because of the climbing component it was more of a full body workout and I may have been aching all over.

So we wandered a short way into the canyon and marvelled at the hoodoos. Then we drove to another lookout point.

You may have noticed I’ve purchased a white visor and it hasn’t yet left my head. While I’m thoroughly enjoying looking like a 70s/80s aerobics instructor/tourist, in truth it is ridiculously comfortable for someone with a head as large as mine. Which makes me feel better about a lifetime of discrimination from ‘one size fits all’ hats and #smallheadprivilege.