The End of the Road

All good things must come to an end and that is certainly true of our travelling adventure.

I couldn't blog about the final couple of days on the road as my parents did not know that we were coming back earlier than planned, so here is an update on what we did on the final couple of days in San Francisco.

We shopped until the credit card melted, went to watch the San Francisco Giants play at the A T and T arena - apparently I saw the best baseball player ever, but I hadn't heard of him. Barry Bonds was his name (and I suppose it still is) and he has hit quite a lot of home runs. He didn't in the match that we watched but it was still a great night out.

On our final night we went out for a great Chinese meal with Lewis. The restaurant was so good that you didn't even need to order any food. The owner came up to us and said "don't worry, I will sort you out" and he came back with 6 of the best Chinese dishes I have ever tasted...and it was very cheap!! Bonus!

Lewis took us to the airport at 5am on Thursday morning and we had a 2 hour flight to Vancouver, stayed in the airport for a couple of hours and then got on the 9 hour flight back to the UK. The flight was pretty good, we got the best seats on the plane, loads of legroom and we only managed to watch one film as we were sleeping the rest of the time (and playing blackjack on the computer) I had a few tears on the plane as we landed into Heathrow as it dawned on me that we have to go back to reality, get a job, earn some money and join the normal people again!!

We have had such a great time travelling. It certainly broadened my mind and I am so glad that we did it. I wouldn't rule out doing something like this again but maybe when we have paid off the debts from this one.

Since the travels have ended, the blog must also end for this trip. I hope that you have enjoyed reading it. I have enjoyed writing it.

Michelle

Oscar

Oscar
Originally uploaded by michellelouise.

We have been staying with Lewis and Nicole for the last week and have been overwhelmed by their hospitality.

I have also changed my opinion about dogs since meeting Oscar - possibly the best dog in the world ever!! Oscar is the friendliest dog I have ever met and is also our own personal alarm clock. At about 7.30am every day he comes padding into the room we have been sleeping in and gets on the bed with us, curls up and falls asleep. He also tries to bite my hair and lick my face.

Look at him!!! He is so cute!!!!

Viva Las Vegas

Just got off the bus from our trip to Vegas. I am never going there by bus again!! 14 hours sat next to a snoring man (not Matt) is not good for your sanity. Plus, Los Angeles bus station was chaos.

Vegas was amazing, tacky, loud, colourful and as over the top as anything I have ever seen in my life. We stayed at New York, New York which was a replica of New York (funny that!) complete with Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and a replica of New York streets inside the casino. I have been to New York though and I can't remember a giant rollercoaster around the perimeter of the city but the casino decided to give their replica one!! Matt didn't manage to ride the Manhattan Express as it was shut due to high winds (and the 36 degree temperature) but we did plenty of gambling in a few casinos and I tried to eat an "all you can eat" pancake breakfast, only managing to eat 2!!!

There were lots of fat people in Las Vegas and lots of people trying to give you calling cards for hookers. Nice!

Back in The Green Tortoise now, waiting for our room to become available, then some much needed sleep!!

Flowers in your hair

San Francisco is a very good place. We have just been on a bar crawl with the hostel (www.greentortoise.com) and finished up in one of the most random clubs ever, playing a mix of hip hop, def leppard and Bob Marley. The DJ must have got a 'best of' CD and couldn't decide which genre he liked the most!!

Matt is really drunk, I am not so bad. We've got to get up early for the England game and we're off to Vegas on Sunday night!!!

Aloha from Hawaii

Tomorrow we leave Hawaii and head out to San Francisco. We have had a great time here, relaxing on the beach and watching the surfers on Waikiki.

After getting over the jet lag on Sunday we headed out to Pearl Harbour on Monday and saw the memorial to the USS Arizona which was sunk during the bombing of Pearl Harbour, there is a very tasteful memorial to the dead that still lay at the bottom of the harbour and we also saw a film beforehand about the politics behind the bombing.

Yesterday we lazed around on Waikiki beach and looked around the multitude of surf shops that line the beach front. Every night at 6.30 there is a free Hula show and torch lighting on the beach so we joined the Japanese tourists and watched the show. We then went out for a few drinks at The Big Kahuna bar, very enjoyable.

Today we took a long bus ride up to the top of the island to see where they film Lost. It is a far cry from the tourist ridden Waikiki and is very quiet and full of forests, pineapple plantations and more beaches! It has been another scorching day!

We head out to San Francisco tomorrow at lunch time. Really excited about getting there!

Fiji

Fiji
Originally uploaded by michellelouise.

A little taster of the Fiji lifestyle....will put more pictures on soon.

We are now in Hawaii and adjusting to the new time difference. We left Fiji on Sunday night and arrived in Hawaii on Sunday morning. A very bad flight from Fiji, mainly due to an inconsiderate and stupid person sitting next to me (no, it wasn't Matt!!!)

Bula!

We're back online after having 6 days and 5 nights on the islands of the Yasawas in Fiji. The islands were amazing, the places we stayed in ranged from brilliant to ropey (with very dubious meals being served to us at the ropey place). Feeling very chilled after the island hopping and are back in Nadi for one more night until we fly to Hawaii to spend 4 more sun-drenched days! Hooray!

On our trip to the Yasawas Matt developed the art of throwing stones up into coconut trees to get a coconut, husking the coconut and then opening it. We won't starve if we get stranded on a desert island although we might get fed up of eating coconuts. I managed to learn the art of falling out of a hammock, weaving a basket and winning the 'stick' dancing competition.

The food on the islands wasn't bad but we did think that we'd eaten dog on one island, there were definitely more dogs in the resort the night before we ate the mystery meat....oh well. We didn't need to look at our watches once when we were out on the islands, all meals were served after the beating of the village drum. It is feeling a bit strange in our hotel in Nadi as we have to get our own food sorted and there aren't any drums to beat.

We are currently in the town centre which is pretty bad really, quite dirty and lots of souvenir shops. Apparently (according to our wig wearing taxi driver) we should avoid buying a sword if offered. I don't think a sword was on my shopping list anyway and I don't see the US Immigration Dept taking too kindly to a sword in my luggage...so I will avoid doing that today.