Holidays

[sniegy]

Hello All,:D:D:D
I am about to head off on holidays for a few months overseas.
My wife & my 2 daughters, we will be travelling to the good ol' US of A.
This will be our first trip OS :eek:, so am a little nervous but also very very excited.

I have a good itinary planned using Planes, Trains & yes Automobiles too (Plus a Disney cruise for the kids-not that they know about it yet & My youngest will celebrate her Birthday while aboard;)). We will start on the West coast & travel all the way to Vancouver, then the middle section & a good stay with friends in Texas.
We will then do the East coast & then finally return home in Late October.

I will when i get a chance drop in & say hi ocassionally. I will hopefully visit some LR dealers while touring around, just to see how they do business.

Cheerio all.
Yipppeeeee

[Disco4SE]

Have a great trip Pete...........enjoy
Lucky bastard

[Graeme]

Have a great trip Pete. Its not as though you'll be travelling around Oz but it should be good anyway.

[Tombie]

Enjoy :D

Stay safe, have fun... And lots of photos ;)

[NomadicD3]

Hey Pete, With the aussie dollar being the way it is where else would you go:D. Have a great time mate.I'm sure the whole family will have the trip of a life time. I truly hope your palns include yosemite national park and hearst castle both incredible for differnt reasons.
good luck and stay safe.

[NomadicD3]

Hey Pete, With the aussie dollar being the way it is where else would you go:D. Have a great time mate.I'm sure the whole family will have the trip of a life time. I truly hope your plans include yosemite national park and hearst castle both incredible for differnt reasons.
good luck and stay safe.

[outasight]

You will absolutely love it of course Pete!

Haven't got my car yet, but thanks for your helpful offers of assistance & advice so far. You're quite obviously a well respected top bloke round here!

Will be great to hear all about things when you're back, or along the way when you get a chance.

Regards,

Les.

[~Rich~]

Yeah have a great time, where abouts do you have planned?
My wife and I did this:
Fly into LA - Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood etc.
Drive up the coast to San Fran stopping at Hearst Castle, Santa Barbara, Big Sir, Pebble Beach, Monteray Bay aquarium.
Lombard st in San Fran, Alcatraz is a must. Cable cars Golden Gate bridge.

Experience New York if you can afford it! Visit the Empire State building, go to a baseball game, see a Broadway show. Use the subway! Go to Soho, Wall St and Greenich Village after midnight when it comes alive. See the Museam of Modern Art, spend some time in Central park.
After that you need a holiday in an another national park!
Las Vegas, drive to Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National Parks. Hoover Dam.
Stopped at Hawaii on the way home too.

Have a good one.

[sniegy]

Rich,
Itineray sorta goes like this........
Fly into LA, then a transfer to Anaheim & Walt Disney "Land".
Drive to Las Vegas, 4x4 safari to the grand canyon, helicopter ride to the river, rafting down the Colarado to a BBQ lunch then a helicopter flight back up & around, then drive back.
Drive to Yosemite via Tioga pass, then to San Fran & will do the Alcatraz tour, Golden gate bridge bike ride & a tour around San Fran itself. Won't Ben able to do Hearst Castle, but if time permits we will.
Fly to Seattle & do the Boeing factory tour.
Then train to Vancouver (I love my trains).
Then fly to Denver for a couple of days, then to Texas for a while & staying with friends. Hopefully drop into Frisco Land Rover & have a chat with the Service manager & see how things are there;)
Then to Mississippi & a quick tour around there, we are then off to Orlando Florida, this is where the boyhood dreams come true..we will be staying at Walt Disney "World" for a couple of weeks, then off to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream for a week cruising in the Bahama's, then back to Orlando to head off to Universal studios for a week.
We then fly to Washington DC for a week & do various tours, museums etc(this is where the kids go "I'm bored"), then a train ride yippee to New York for a 2 weeks. Then to Boston for a few days, back to NY & then fly home.
My wife has organized a lot of trips while visiting various places as this has been her dream for the last 15yrs & even before we got married.

So very excited & getting more nervous as time goes by.:D

[smcshack]

Awesome sounding trip. Need anyone to look after the D4 while you're away?? :D:D

Was listening to the ABC radio today and heard about Nigerians selling your house while you're away (hapened twice in WA in the last 2 years) and you don't have any recourse as the new owner bought it in good faith.

Perth scam targets absent property owners (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/perth-scam-targets-absent-property-owners-20110811-1io9l.html)

.... so better have someone look after the house as well!!

I would offer but I'll be belting around the high country in a D4 :eek::eek:

S. McShack
:D:D

[~Rich~]

Yep that sounds fantastic!
Great to get into the Grand Canyon because it's just so BIG! It's hard to get your head around the actual size of it!

Go on every scary ride you can in Disneyland etc, what ages are the kids?
You must be loaded! ( Soon to be broke) :p

[sniegy]

Rich, Eden is my oldest @ 9, Olivia my youngest is 6 turning 7.

Not loaded mate just years of saving;)

S McShack, my neighbour & father in law will be looking after the house
so hopefully when I get it will still be mine:p

Cheers

[chuck]

Pete

Hope you & the family have a wonderful time.

Regards

Chuck

[But 'n' Ben]

Great itinerary Pete, you and family enjoy!!
Don.

[iannicki]

Ex-D3 owner currently living in the US for last 19 months (plan to be a D4 owner on our return next year). If you not already aware, and depending on how many national parks and monuments you are visiting, look into the annual pass for $80 U.S. National Park Service America the Beautiful (http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm). Clothing is ridiculously cheap over here (especially the outlets at Orlando), so travel light. If you haven't already sorted out money issues, have a look at the '28 degress mastercard'. No annual fees and no 'overseas' transaction fees for purchases or ATM withdrawals (I put ours into positive money and then take money out at ATMs). Also a pretty good exchange rate. Going up the Washington Monument in DC is worthwhile (and free!), but get there at opening time to avoid long queues. We found the restaurants and cafes inside the casinos at Las Vegas to be reasonably cheap and good food, and no need to gamble. The 'Fremont Street experience' in Las Vegas is a must-do. If you like murals and city views, Coit Tower in San Francisco is great.

If you have any questions, fire away.

[njz]

When in San Francisco head over to Lori's Diner for a real burger - you won't be disappointed. It's in Powell St about a block down from Union Square.

Also, jump in one of the tower lifts of the Westin St Francis and take a free sight seeing ride to the top floor and back. They are glass and run up the outside of the hotel with some pretty cool views of SF.

[PCH]

Have a great holiday Pete.

Chris

[go-disco4]

Hi Pete

We have been to many of the places you are going to. I am sure your family and you will enjoy it.

Thanks for all your advice on the forum.

regards and bon voyage

GD-4

[sniegy]

Well all,
I have survived & arrived home safely, albeit jet lagged!
It was a wonderful trip & the family thoroughly enjoyed it.
I have noticed some PM's sitting in my inbox & will deal with them accordingly (read-when i wake up).
Take care all, catch up soon. :)

[outasight]

Welcome home! We turned on a great day weather wise for your return didn't we!;)

Hear from you when you realise what time & day it really is! :p

[sniegy]

Hi All,
For those that are interested in seeing some snapshots of the trip. I have just over 1600 odd photo's to look at.
Here's the link & let me know what you think as this is the first time for me using a photo hoster.

Snapfish:Share:Registration (http://www4.snapfish.com.au/snapfishau/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4535209019/a=6267164019_6267164019/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/)

I am still in the process of adding captions etc etc...

Cheers

[Hymie]

You'll find Washington D.C to be really interesting. All of the museums and Government buildings are free to visit, I recommend getting in early for a tour of The White House. Washington Monument might be closed:-(
While in that Region, a trip around some Civil War Battlefields is good, as is a Trip through Lancaster County Pennsylvania, just to check out the Amish dudes.

[Dahai]

That sounds like a fantastic trip and I can see from your plans, that it must be a dream come true. A lot of thought put into what to see, where to go and how to get there.

All the best and make the most of it.

Best wishes
Bruce

[~Rich~]

Looks Great Pete,

Lots of Photo's you have heaps of work trimming them down, they don't seem to be in order and I'm sure you have plenty more to upload of some of the other destinations you went to. ;)
I've used Snapfish for our last trip to NZ. Created a photo book online and got it printed. One word of advice with them, take your time making your album ( it will!) then save and wait for them to email you special offers. I think we saved 40% on our Album. The result is a great way to save your great journey. :)

Regards Rich

[sniegy]

You'll find Washington D.C to be really interesting. All of the museums and Government buildings are free to visit, I recommend getting in early for a tour of The White House. Washington Monument might be closed:-(
While in that Region, a trip around some Civil War Battlefields is good, as is a Trip through Lancaster County Pennsylvania, just to check out the Amish dudes.
Hymie,
the Museums were awesome, & yes all except the privately owned ones are free & big!
Didnt get a chance to see alot as we were time deprived, Yes Washington Monument & the Reflection pool were closed, but still good to be there.
The White House tour, needs to be booked in Aus via the USA Consulate & then there is a 6 month wait! Didnt get to do that..bummer
But it was an awesome trip. :)