V is for Vegas. And vomit.

From the moment we set foot in Vegas, it was clear that the city would live up to its name as an adults' playground. We had made the half day or so drive from Vegas in a fairly relaxed fashion, with a couple of enjoyable stops along the way. Calico, our main stop off, is a 'ghost-town' located out of California, although  it should probably lose it's "ghost town" status given the significant amount of tourist based stalls and buildings that have set up shop there. Regardless, it had some interesting aspects and buildings and, along with our stop off at the 'World's Largest Themometer' in Baker, broke up the six hour or so trip nicely.

Tourist Time in Hollywood

Cliché photographs, huge crowds, famous landmarks, inflated prices; from those who love it, to those who avoid it like the plague, to those like myself, who view it as a guilty indulgence, a chance to take the easy yet cheesy route, playing the role of super tourist divides opinion.

After swerving in and out the masses of crowds along the Walk of Fame, dodging people holding up traffic to get photographs of the Hollywood Sign and driving down Sunset Boulevard pondering if the jet black SUV with jet black tint on its windows was a celebrity in transit, it was clear we had ticked off a lot of the usual Americana to-do list.

California, here we are.

I'd heard LA was quintessential America and from the moment I've stepped off the plane I've felt like I've been dropped onto a movie set. From the cab drivers, to the street artists, to the homeless people that litter Venice Beach, in a way it almost feels like I'm not seeing anything new. Everything is exactly as I pictured it, which is not a bad thing, but it's almost eery.

Our Armenian-come-American cab driver gave us a slight hint of what to expect as we grinded to a halt on one of LA's sprawling freeways. "Welcome to LA", he laughed, before explaining the unusual Sunday afternoon gridlock was for most the part caused by a massive exodus of the Los Angeles populace heading towards Venice Beach, where we were to spend out first few days, to make the most of the picture-perfect weather.

Auckland... and it begins

Ahh, backpacking. If there were any need for me to be reminded that the next few months won't all be smooth sailing, the last 24 or so hours has been that jolt to the system. A few minor ups and downs, but all part of the experience.

The flight over went swimmingly. Despite a slightly delayed appearance by yours truly (thank you Great Eastern Highway roadworks), we were on our way with no concerns. A middle aged lady, as Australian as they come, had slight concerns at being seated next to a young mother and her crying child, as I happened to capture an under the breath remark that started with “Oh...” and ended with an expletive or two. Either that, or she was unhappy at the movie selection available on board.

The Plan

I detailed this a little bit in the 'About' section but it's buried amongst a whole heap of other stuff, and seeing it's probably the main thing people are interested in, and the most common question, I thought it deserved it's own post.

Leg 1 - Auckland, New Zealand 

We leave Perth on Friday and spend about a day and a half in Auckland. We could have had a 12 hour or something stopover, but added another 24 hours, as no-one really wants to be stuck in an airport for 12 hours.

Leg 2 - United States/Canada & Leg 3 - Caribbean Cruise

After we arrive in Los Angeles, the plan is to head to Las Vegas, then south to San Diego and Tijuana, then heading back up the west coast of the US (San Francisco, Portland, Seattle) until we hit Vancouver in Canada.

From there we've booked an RV to drive across Canada, before ducking back over to the States to see Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit. After visting Toronto, and Montreal in Canada, we'll head down the east coast of the States (Boston, New York) until Washington, before heading to Nashville to catch up with Harry's brother Rob. 

From there, New Orleans and Atlanta are on the cards, before ending up in Miami, from which we will set forth on a cruise through the Caribbean, touching down in locations such as Conzumel (Mexico) Belize and the Cayman Islands. 

[Click to enlarge]
Photo credit: Michael Farnell

Leg 4/5/6

Once we arrive back in Miami, we'll fly to Europe and see how things go. We have additional and flexible stop-overs in Dubai and Singapore on the way home, and there's a high likelihood of extensive side-trips off of those stopovers, but that's a long way down the track yet. 


Personally, I hope to visit a lot of Central & Eastern Europe (Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Poland etc), as I didn't get to explore too much of it on my last trip and it's always really interested me, but we will see how things pan out.

Five things I've learnt preparing for this trip.

As departure day looms closer, I thought I'd share some realisations I've made over the last six months or so.

1. It's amazing what you can make out of things in your cupboard when you put your mind to it.
The end result might not taste amazing, but when you have limited resources at your finger tips, you can deal with it. It was almost like I had created my own version of a Mystery Box challenge, trying to utilise all the items in my cupboard before I leave. I didn't push the boundaries too far but a combination of tinned tuna, cheesy packet rice and frozen vegetables is something you probably wouldn't find in any conventional recipe book.