Viva Las Vegas

Overnight first class with Hawaiian was comfortable, but not all that conducive to sleeping... However, we both arrived relaxed, happy and surprisingly not all that tired. We caught the shuttle bus to our hotel, or rather, Private Suite Accommodation, called The Signature, which is part of the MGM Grand complex. Fortunately we could check straight in at 8.00am in the morning, despite the 3.00pm check-in policy.




We promptly just left all our belongings in the room and went for a walk right down "the strip". It's quite a walk and a hell of a lot different to what it was 15 years ago, according to Brad. It mostly looked the same to me as I was last here only 2 years ago. It was awfully quiet, but we then reminded ourselves that it was just after 8.00 in the morning. We went past many of the popular and well known venues familiar from many a tv show and movie (including Paris, Bellagio, Wynn and more). We reached Fashion Show Mall (what, a shopping centre? No....!) at the other end of the strip, but it was not yet 10.00am so it hadn't even opened yet! We meandered back through Treasure Island, the Venetian and Harrah's to find the monorail back to MGM Grand.




We then had a restful nap before getting ready for our first of four Cirque du Soleil Shows. Tonight we are seeing Love at the Mirage.... featuring music from The Beatles. Mum, even you would have loved this one! (Ben xx)

Lazy Sunday In Paradise

Embracing the holiday spirit (as opposed to last year), we kept things low key today.

We took a 90 minute sail out from Waikiki Beach on the Na Hoku II. Great views back to

Diamond Head, Waikiki and the distinctive green Koolau Mountain Range. The water was amazing azure blue in colour, we even saw a turtle!

After the sail we futher explored the Waikiki before dinner on the deck at the Waikiki Marriott with another beautiful sunset as a backdrop.

Tonight we bid aloha to Hawaii (for about three weeks) for an overnight flight to Las Vegas (first class of course sweetie!).

Wonderful Waikiki

After a must needed sleep, we awoke to a perfect Hawaiian morning.

Time to hit the beach for a few photos before walking down Kalakaua Avenue towards Ala Moana to rectify the extreme lack of shopping yesterday.



Well, they don't call us label queens for nothing! Before too long we had purchases from Guess, Neiman Marcus (also known as Needless Markup!) and Macy's to name a few.



Our rumbling stomachs had us back to Waikiki to drop off the shopping and head to the Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch. It didn't disappoint with yummy food and awesome cheesecakes (like der!).



After all that food we needed a nap waking in time for a walk along Waikiki Beach to watch the beautiful sunset.



Another great day in paradise.

Here We Go Again!

After seeing many of our friends off on their own overseas adventures in the last few weeks, it was finally time to start ours.

On today's itinerary, Brisbane to Sydney, then Sydney to Honolulu.

The Brisbane to Sydney flight turned out to be on one of Virgin Blue's Embraer 190 jets. It was our first flight on the E190 and we were very impressed. They moved us up to row 3 which were Premium Economy seats with lots of leg room. A fun cabin crew (the 2 Sarah's) showed plenty of "Virgin Flair". Our approach into Sydney took us over the harbour giving great views of the city on a beautiful morning.

After a great start, things turned pear shaped for a bit. We had to wait an hour for check-in to open and then stand in the check in queue for about an hour. Starclass had its own check-in lane but there was only one counter for it and each check-in seemed to take forever. The economy queue moved much faster which was very frustrating. Not happy Jetstar!

We cleared Customs and headed for the Qantas Business Class Lounge (complimentary with Starclass) where we could finally relax, have one or two (or four - Mel would be so proud) glasses of bubbles and some nibbles.

In a much better mood we went to the gate only to have to wait.....again. After an hour's delay (maintenance - inflight entertainment system) we finally got to board the A330-202 (a white one!) for the 9.5 hour flight up to Honolulu. Starclass offers a large leather seat, leg room, all meals, drinks and you own personal digital video player. It was better than expected but apart from the seat, it was essentially what economy used to be.

The cabin crew were very nice, especially the Cabin Manager who was most attentive to our glasses of bubbles. After a tasty dinner we both watched the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". I (Brad) then attempted to get some sleep while Ben soldiered on with the bubbles and another movie "Funny Games". Don't ask Ben how the movie finishes though, he couldn't see through all the bubbles!

I managed around 3 hours sleep, Ben unfortunately got less. See the "things we've learnt" blog below.

Finally the sun came up and the island of Oahu appeared. It didn't seem like a year since we'd been to Hawaii, it was almost like coming home. We caught a cab to the hotel to drop the bags off at the hotel (damn 3.00pm check-ins!) and walked over to the Ala Moana Shopping Centre. First purchase for me, a 16GB iPod Nano (one of the new ones - black). Even with the lower exchange rate it was still $50 cheaper than back home. Ben bought himself a lovely pendant from Tiffany & Co. that was also considerably cheaper than in Oz.

We ate (pork buns & Cinnabon!!), walked around the shopping centre, ate again (beer, chicken strips and fries) to kill some time and keep ourselves awake. At last, 3.00pm rolled around and we could check-in. Time for a nap and shower before heading out for dinner. Big queues at the Cheesecake Factory and a few other places lead us to Moose McGillycuddy's (an old favourite) for dinner. We picked up a couple of bargains at Macy's on the way home before calling it a day. Man that was a long Friday!!

Things We've Learnt

1. Locking yourself out of the apartment the night before leaving the country is really inconvenient (don't ask - thanks Laura for saving us!).

2. Virgin Blue's Embraer 190's are great little planes (it's a geek thing).

3. Jetstar really needs to consider more than one check-in counter for Starclass. An hour in a check-in queue of 18 people isn't a great way to start the holiday.

4. Accepting sparkling wine top ups from the Cabin Manager isn't conducive to a good night's sleep.

5. ATMs are hard to find in the arrivals area at Honolulu Airport.

6. Even the hardiest of shopper can be done in by a lack of sleep, a hangover and a 3.00pm hotel check-in.

Full first day blog coming soon.....

Easter on the Apple Isle

For something different we headed to Hobart for Easter. Ben suprised Brad with Premium Economy seats on the BNE-HBA flight. Brad proceeded to pass out when he found out how much they cost!

Speaking of passing out, there was medical emergency on the flight. Dr Benny saved the day again and the grateful crew thanked him (and me, who did nothing) with a free piccolo of bubbles each.

We picked up our hire car (Peugeot 307) on arrival at the airport and headed into Hobart. After checking into the hotel we went for a wander around the city taking in Salamanca, including the markets and the picturesque waterfront. A minor pub crawl ensued, we discovered we like Cascade Draft, shame they only sell it in Taswegia.

Nighthawks Road Trip

The Mighty Nighthawks hit the road, well sky, and headed for Melbourne for a long weekend.

Mission: Go to as many underground bars as possible. (Brad makes an off the cuff remark and everyone takes him seriously!)










We caught a matinee of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the Musical. Both Ben and I were dragged up on stage to square dance with the cast. A terrifying but fun experience. I danced with a Diva!!

Time for a drink and nibble or three. We checked out the Long Room, a funky (underground) bar on Collins Street. Great atmosphere and yummy tapas.










Later that night we saw Spamalot, the hugely funny stage version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Ben and I had seen it in New York (see below) but we enjoyed the Australian version a lot more. The local touches were especially funny.

Miss Saigon

An excellent production of Miss Saigon toured Oz in 2007. The staging was the more intimate touring version which seemed to heighten the emotion. Awesome performances all round, especially Leo Tavarro Valdez (The Engineer), David Harris (Chris) and most importantly, Laurie Cadevida (Kim).

We were blown away by it and saw it a total of 6 times (7 times for Brad, I snuck one more in!!!) across 3 cities (Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney). As hard as it was we decided not to follow it to Adelaide and Perth.

Each time we hoped for a happy ending but alas it always ended in tears....ours!!