Travels – Page 4

Fiji

My journey to Fiji was a very long one. I had to travel by bus, plane and boat. I don’t know how many hours it took to get here, cause I crossed the date line so I kind of lost track of time, data, days and hours.

I’m island hopping and the first island I stay on is Barefoot Kuata Island. It’s a beautiful island with a small beach, a lot of palm trees and big rocks. I wanted to fight the jetlag and got very active after my arrival. I went snorkling and saw really colourful fish.

It really is in the middle of nowhere. You can’t get off the island, only by boat which stops twice a day to drop off or pick up people. There’s no store, no nothing. I’m completely dependent and I’m not used to that!

Venice Beach

I traveled to Venice Beach where I would stay for 3 nights. I caught a bus which was one big adventure. The public transport is so different and the service of the drivers as well. Disabled people can easily access the bus and the driver is there to assist in any way. The guy even helped me storing my luggage!

I explored Venice Beach with its beautiful Venice Canals, I did some shopping at Victoria’s Secret in Santa Monica, visited the Santa Monica Pier and walked all the way to Fisherman’s Village.

The weather was great, close to 30 degrees Celsius. So I definitely enjoyed staying ‘on’ the beach these last few days in Los Angeles!

Hollywood

The last day of the tour we finally reached Hollywood after a short stop in ghost town Calico. Los Angeles (LA) is really crowded and I didn’t know that the traffic was that bad. Everyone travels by car which causes traffic jams all day long.

Anyway, the first sights of LA were Rodeo Drive and the Walk of Fame. I have seen these places so many times on tv, in series and movies, that I recognized them instantly.

That night was our last diner together. It was time to say goodbye. The next day everyone continued their travels on their own.

The very first thing I did was visiting a record store. They had a lot of cd’s, dvd’s (boxes), vinyl and accessoires. I wish we would still have that in the Netherlands because I really miss the record stores.

Next thing on my list was the Hollywood & Vine crossing and from there I did a tour to check out the Hollywood sign, the Hollywood Hills (passing some houses of celebrities), Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and the Sunset Strip. I got off the bus at the Walk of Fame to see more stars. Back at the motel I took a taxi to the Griffith Observatory to have a great last view of the city.

Grand Canyon

After partying in Las Vegas, it was time for serious business again. There’s so much nature here, it’s insane. That’s why the Grand Canyon was our next stop.

The tour guide wanted our first view of the Grand Canyon to be the best so he came up with something funny. We had to walk close to the edge with paper bags over our head. On the count of three we were allowed to remove the bag and enjoy the Grand Canyon!

We watched the sunset and I also decided to watch the sunrise. These were moments I will never forget! Continue reading Grand Canyon

Birthday girl in Las Vegas

Tuesday the 9th of February was my birthday. That day we drove through Death Valley to Las Vegas. When we loaded our luggage I noticed that our tour guide had festooned the van for my birthday, including balloons and candy! Before leaving they sang happy birthday to me. That was so sweet!

Death Valley was just stunning and Las Vegas was, well… something different. Lights, signs, billboards, hotels and casino’s everywhere!

After dinner I experienced a limo ride. Before startoing of my tour mates gave me a birthday card and sang happy birthday one more time. I felt so overwhelmed cause I didn’t expect it and I’m hardly the center of attention. The card is a nice memory of this day.

Bit back to the limo…actually it was more of a hummer. There were flashy lights, tv screens, and a pole inside. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough space to show some tricks…

The ride was fun but not what I expected. I would have loved to see Britney Spears perform at Planet Hollywood to celebrate my birthday but she was having a break…