Author Archives: Taylor CPT Admin

Santa Cruz to San Francisco

By USA

We woke up to another beautiful sunny day! We met one of Shout it Now’s board members for coffee in Santa Cruz. It was lovely to meet Bill and chat with him. William hasn’t seen him for a while as he hasn’t been to SA since before Covid.

We then drove around Santa Cruz – a lovely seaside town, probably about the size of Hermanus. We stopped to look at a rock which is known as a natural bridge.

Back onto the A1 along the coast, we went, seeing some beautiful scenery.  We stopped at a lighthouse and there, in the US, we had a long drop! It’s a long time since we used a long drop, but the smell hasn’t changed!

We stopped at a few other spots along the way before arriving in San Francisco. My word – the houses are close together here!  It makes Bo Kaap look spacious!

We decided to drive to our hotel and drop off our luggage – we are now up to 3 large suitcases and our backpacks!

So we are navigating our way with the help of Google, which appeared to be on a bit of a go-slow.  Anyhow, we were following the directions when Google told us to take the next left, which William did. Oops, the lane we were in said Taxi only, so he quickly switched lanes. Oops, this one said busses only and the next one said trams only. Then we realized we were the only car in the road!!!! William quickly took the first exit off that road!  The moral of the story is…..you can’t always rely on Google!

We dropped our luggage and headed for the airport.  We are happy to rely on public transport here! (I think it’s a safer option!)

This evening we caught a tram down to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. Unfortunately, most places were closed, but there was a Lefties shop – everything left-handed!  I was in my element! Coffee mugs with pics on the “right side” for us Lefties. Scissors, peelers, can openers, pocket knives! You name it!

We headed back on the tram and got some supper. The tram is so quaint – it rings its bell before stopping and going, and when it turns a corner. Each team has a name that depicts where they came from. Tonight we were in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.  I will take a pic tomorrow to show you.

Our hotel, Hotel Abri, is lovely.  One of the nicest hotels we have stayed in while here in the US.

Tomorrow we start our last full day in the US as we fly out on Friday night.

Another interesting fact about the traffic laws here. In most states, if you are turning right at a traffic light (remember you are driving on the right-hand side of the road), you treat a red light as a yield. If you don’t do this,  you get hooted at! It just feels so wrong!

LA to Santa Cruz

By USA

We left LA this morning driving the A1 highway along the coast. We drove through many seaside villages such as Malibu, Morro Bay, San Simeons and Pismo Beach.

Morro Bay has this huge rock in the bay, believed to be a volcano.

A lot of berries are grown in this part of California.

We heard more Spanish than English, and more towns have Spanish names than English names.

Heading a bit more inland looked so much like Natal – with rambling hills. Beautiful!

We arrived at Santa Cruz well after dark – but the sun sets before 6 here.  We found a hotel to stay, got some supper and fell into bed.

Some interesting road names We saw today:

Locust Street

Telephone Rd

Front Street

NA Street. (It turned out to be North A Street. The next one was North B, etc. By the time we had to turn off we had got to North H Street.)

An interesting sign you see all over California is this…..

When we first saw it we thought that it was a place. Then we started noticing more of them.  Some just said “Xing”. Some say “ Xing Ped” and the odd one says “Xing School”. So……Google to the rescue! The x stands for cross, so it is denoting a crossing!

Los Angeles

By Los Angeles

We started off our day (after doing laundry) by taking a bus to see the Walk of Fame. It is a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard where stars have a tile on the pavement with their name on it.  We were proud to spot our very own Charlize Theron’s star.

We then drove to the viewing spot for the Hollywood sign. We were not going to embark on the 2 hour hike to the sign. Very sorry!

It was a beautiful sunny day. We were really warm for the first time since we left SA! We drove to Griffith Park but unfortunately, the Observatory was closed.

Next was Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. We didn’t do any shopping!!!!

And then, my darling husband drove me up to Summit Drive – pondokkie zone (as my family would call it). We didn’t bump into Harry and Meghan, but these houses make Clifton and Bishopscourt look silly! My word! There were Rolls Royces, Ferraris, etc parked in the street! And then we rounded the corner, and what was parked on the side of the road…..a regte, egte builders bakkie! So good to see!

Our final place to visit here is Santa Monica Pier. It reminded us of the Durban beachfront when we were children (it has probably changed a lot now).

Fun and festive! We had some supper and decided to Uber back. We had gone by bus, but it took over an hour, and we were concerned about changing busses in the dark in unknown areas.

Good-bye Vegas and Hello LA

By Las Vegas

We were not sad to leave Vegas. We are pleased that we went, but one can only deal with neon lights, blaring music and people everywhere for so long!

We ubered to the airport to collect our rental car and set off for Route 66 heading to LA.  Unfortunately, our trip down Route 66 came to a grinding halt when we came to a notice “Road Closed”. We had to backtrack and Google took us on a long route, with not much to see.  The vegetation varied from Karoo bossies to not much at all!  We did manage to stop at Peggy Sue’s Diner, which is a 50’s diner on Route 66 – quaint with heaps of memorabilia on show. 

We eventually rejoined the Inter-State and were sailing along merrily when Google told us that there was an accident ahead and we needed to take a detour. We drove through quite some areas! Let nobody tell you that the US do not have informal settlements and poverty!  On that note, every city we have visited has had people living on the street. Every city has had beggars.

We eventually arrived in Los Angeles as the sun was setting. (About 5.45). The traffic was worse than CT peak hour – and remember it was Sunday!

We had not booked accommodation in LA but had a few places earmarked. Well, we got to the first one and kept driving! We got to the second one…..and kept driving. And we did the same for the 3rd one too!

We decided to try a different area, but that was no better! So we increased our budget and found a better area – Santa Monica Pier.  The only issue was that parking our rental car was going to cost a bomb! So a couple of calls confirmed that a lot of places charged a lot for parking. By now it was pitch dark and we were tired! I called a Motel in Hollywood Downtown and they could accommodate us, and parking was free! Bonus! We drove across to Hollywood, through heavy traffic again (this was well after 8 by now) and checked in at Dixie Motel. Quite basic, but clean! We found some supper close by, and fell into bed!

Vegas Day 3 Grand Canyon

By Las Vegas

We had booked a tour to the west rim of the Grand Canyon today.  We were collected at 6.25 so we had an early start!

It was about 3 hours on the bus to get there.  We stopped at a garage just after crossing from Nevada to Arizona and these slops were for sale. Not sure if it’s because Arizona is in the desert and they don’t see grass often?

There are 2 viewing areas at the West Rim. Eagles point and Guano point. All we can say is wow, wow and wow! The pics below do not do it justice. The Grand Canyon is majestic, magnificent and beautiful.  Today was a clear, sunny and quite chilly day. But a stunning day for viewing. We went on the Skywalk, which is a pathway built out over the Canyon. It has glass floors, so you can look straight down the Canyon below you. (Dylan, I did it! But on the sides of the walkway, the glass was frosted, so it was easier than I thought it would be). Unfortunately, you can’t take pics on the Skywalk as they want you to purchase the pics they take of you. However, we took pics after we had been on it to show you. As it is on glass you have to put covers on your shoes so that you don’t scratch the glass bottom.

The views were amazing as we walked around Eagle and Guano points. Unspoilt and beautiful! The river in the pics is the Colorado River. It makes us realize yet again what a beautiful creation God has given us. The West Rim is the smallest compared to the South and North rims. The south rim is currently closed due to snow. I am not sure if you can make out the eagle in the pic below – this is where the point gets its name.

These trees are called Joshua trees. They were apparently originally planted by the Morman people and were named Joshua trees as they look like Joshua’s arms raised to the heavens.

On the way back we stopped at the Hoover Dam. It was built in the 1930s. It supplies water to Nevada, Arizona, Utah and a large part of California.  The last time it was full was 2001. It is currently at 25% capacity.  A huge construction.  And half is in Arizona and half is in Nevada.  The interesting point is that Nevada and Arizona are in different time zones, so we changed zones about 4 times in 15 min!

We are really pleased that we went to the Grand Canyon.

We spent the evening walking around the strip for the last time.

Vegas day 2

By Las Vegas

We started off by phoning our boys, who are both at our place now. Mommy’s heart was happy!. Brad got a puppy last week, so he and Leo have come to our place, as Dylan will be returning to Stellenbosch next week to start the 4th year.

Leo, who is an Italian greyhound has met Abby. They are getting on well, despite the massive size difference.

Our day was a lot of fun. We caught the bus to do some curio shopping. Then we went to the Hunger Games Exhibition. I need not tell you I had no clue what Hunger Games was, and the Exhibition was not great, but what we didn’t know was that the highlight of the Exhibition is shooting a bow and arrow at moving targets. Well, the poor guy who had to assist me is probably still laughing at this dumb, left-handed, badly co-ordinated woman. I must mention that I did hit one target. We will not mention how many I missed!

After that, we went to New York New York, another themed hotel and casino, and went on their roller coaster which takes you high into the sky.

We visited the Coke shop where you can buy Coke paraphernalia as we have never seen before. Outside the shop is a huge Coke bottle. You can do Coke tasting at the shop, as there are so many flavours here.

Our next stop was the Hi Roller, which is a massive big wheel. It was interesting to see Vegas from it. After the Hi Roller, we went zip lining. William was keen to zip line. I decided…..you only live once! And so, with much fear and trepidation – in fact, I was petrified! – we were saddled up, and off we went. You are in a seated position. 4 people go at a time. If you lie back, put your feet in front of you, you will go faster. Well, William and the other 2 ladies did all that and went zooming along. I sat upright, kept my feet down and chugged along, but that was enough for me.  And I believe I got my money’s worth! I do have to admit that I enjoyed it.

Madame Tussauds was our next port of call. We were really disappointed. It wasn’t very big, and due to covid, you can’t stand with the exhibit. We visited the Venetian hotel and casino where you can travel around on a gondola in the water channels. We also visited Circus Circus – a Hotel and casino themed like a Circus and looks like a Circus tent from outside. They do have a circus show as well.  As we walked through the casino we heard ching, ching, ching. You still have to insert coins into some of their machines and when you win, it spits out coins. A sound from many years ago!

We found a place called In n Out Burgers for supper. The nicest burgers we have had here. Interestingly, in most places in the US, if you want lettuce and tomato on your burger you have to order a deluxe burger. A standard burger gives you a bun and a patty. Chips means Crisps, and French fries are cooked potato chips. There have been a few occasions when we thought we were getting cooked chips and were handed a packet of crisps!

We walked to the Bellagio Hotel to see the water show – beautiful fountains with white lights. Then we walked to The Mirage Hotel, where there is a volcano that erupts – a fire show. Very interesting.  And the blasts of fire were warm, which was welcoming as there has been an icy wind blowing.

Vegas is a different place, to put it mildly. Everyone walks along the streets drinking from mid-morning until who knows when! You can buy alcohol more easily than cooldrink. There are scantily clad girls everywhere offering to have your pic taken with them. (Obviously for a donation). It is unbelievable! In these temperatures, they must be freezing!  The sad part to us is these are someone’s daughters.  Shops that sell drugs have security outside them, so you see them from a mile off.

Vegas Day 1

By Las Vegas

We landed in Las Vegas last night at about 21.10 local time. Our Uber driver from the airport was such a nice guy. Pointed out landmarks as we drove up The Strip to our hotel. No movie, no blog, no nothing can prepare you for Vegas.

We walked into our hotel – well should I say we walked into a casino! There we were dragging our massive cases through the slots machines, tables etc until we found the Hotel Reception Desk – in the middle of the casino! We checked in, and off we went through another part of the casino looking for the entrance to the rooms. The one wheel on William’s case has broken, so he is literally dragging his case!

After unpacking we went downstairs looking for a late supper. We then took a quick walk outside, but at about zero degrees with no jackets on, that didn’t last too long!

This morning we started off by visiting the Bellagio Hotel. We wanted to see their conservatory/botanical garden. It was much smaller than we had understood it to be, but amazing creations from flowers.

Our next mission was to buy a new suitcase for William. We also bought small bottled water, cooldrink etc and loaded it into the new case (after we had paid for them obviously!) The only problem was that our hotel was a lot further than we thought,  so William pulled his new case a long way. And in Vegas, you don’t just walk along the pavements.  Often you have to go up and along bridges. (And not all have escalators. My dear husband and his suitcase had a good workout!)

After that ordeal, we boarded the Hop On Hop Off bus and headed to Downtown Vegas to visit The Mob Museum which was incredibly interesting and sad, as is a lot of history.

We walked down to Freemont Street where we had some Chinese food for lunch – a lovely change from oily everything!

Our next Hop off was at the Strat, where we went up 109 floors and viewed Vegas and beyond. We are in a desert!

We continued our Hop on hop off tour back to the strip. Lots of hotels and casinos here have taken on a theme of a country. We visited Paris and went up to the Eiffel Tower. It was about 5.30 pm and the sun had just set. Stunning views, but very chilly!

We purchased a 24hour bus ticket, which allows us to use the busses as much as we like for 24 hours. We headed back to downtown Vegas – to Freemont. Freemont is the original Vegas strip. It has the largest screen in the world which is overhead. It spans 419m long and 27m wide. Quite amazing!  And all along the strip are stages with people singing, dancing and acting. Needless to say, there are casinos and bars lining it, with some eating spots.  It was loud, very loud and busy! We are getting old!

We returned to the uptown Las Vegas as it was time for me to work. The time difference of 10 hours means that our late Thursday night was your Friday morning.

The cabin controller welcomed us to Vegas as we landed. She said….as the saying goes….what happens in Vegas, and the whole plane chorused back…. Stays in Vegas. She laughed and said. No, that is yesteryear. It is now……whats happens in Vegas, is on social media tomorrow morning!

Daytona

By Florida

This morning we collected our rental car and headed for Daytona – about 1.5 hours from Orlando.

When we got to Daytona we went to Daytona Beach. The World’s Most Famous Beach! (We are not sure how you get the title of World’s Most Famous Beach, or if it is self-awarded!) It was a lovely beach – reminded us of Durban, but with whiter sand.

Next on our agenda was the part that William has been waiting for……the VIP tour of Daytona Race Track. What an interesting tour – we were taken to the archives of Bill France’s family. He was the guy who started Nascar and designed the original Daytona Race Track. The rest of the tour was around the race track, to the Victory Stand (podium), then to the spectator’s stadium and right to the top of the stadium, where we had a wonderful view of the entire track.  We ended the tour with a walk around the museum and the hall of fame. Cars everywhere! I could see William’s smile through his mask! Dad, Brad and Dylan – William took lots of photos.

After finishing the tour we drove back to Orlando airport to catch our flight to Las Vegas, a 5h 20min flight, but only takes 2 hours on our clocks, as we move to a new time zone -10 hours behind SA.

Cars are so different here. A lot of pickups (bakkies) have double wheels at the back. A small car is a Toyota Corolla. (No puddle jumpers, Mom, like my car). And as for trucks – they all have big bonnets, just like in the movies!

William has become a really good petrol jockey – he doesn’t offer to wash windows, so I don’t tip him! He has also mastered driving on the wrong side of the road and is enjoying the way the US work. After completing the paperwork for your rental car, you walk down to the parkade and are given a row from which to choose your vehicle. So we walk up and down choosing which car he wishes to drive. (They all have 4 wheels, 4 doors and strange looking number plates!) No cars in Florida have front number plates. It will be interesting to see if Nevada and California are the same.

The attendant at the car rental was quite amusing today. He saw that we were from SA, so grabbed his book to check out the requirements for renting a car to us. William then produced his driver’s licence and International Driving Permit. The guy’s eyes just about popped out of his head when he looked at William’s licence – William is travelling with a temporary licence as the one and only machine in SA that prints drivers licences have been broken since November.  He had to go and check that this was acceptable.  He didn’t know what SA’s code was, so William said that it was ZA. After repeating it a few times, and still receiving a blank look, I said “zee a” and all was sorted! Clearly, he doesn’t see many people from SA.

I am typing this as we fly to Vegas. William will wave his magic wand when we get there and insert photos.

Take care until I type again.

Universal Studios and Island Adventure

By Universal Studio

In my last post, I forgot to mention the food…..when you see what Americans eat, it is no wonder a number of them have a weight problem. This is my supper from last night – 2 piece chicken with a side of Mac cheese…..do you see that my chicken is on top of a waffle!

On a cute note, look at the bunny chow William had the other night – obviously not called a Bunny Chow here!

And look at this pretzel – the only strange thing was that it came with a tub of warm cheese sauce – at 10.00 in the morning!

Today we visited 2 of the Universal Parks – the competitors to Disney. However, they are very different to Disney. We are really pleased that we decided to visit Disney and Universal. So different in so many ways. William was in his element with Harry Potter, Fast and Furious, Transformers, King Kong, Jurassic Park, etc all around him. It was lovely to see! Although most mean nothing to me, the wow factor of the rides at Universal was incredible. In our opinion, the 3D and 4D at Universal are miles ahead of Disney. Our Express Passes for Universal worked so well. We rode on so many attractions – even managed some twice! We really are adrenalin junkies! The first ride of the day was a “once in a lifetime experience” for me. I was so scared I couldn’t breathe! It starts off by climbing vertically into the sky and then, I need not tell you….you drop just as quickly and then you are upside down, etc, etc, etc, etc! You can watch a video of your ride afterwards, and to say I looked petrified is an understatement! William looked chilled!

The other rides were great – we enjoyed them all. When moving from Universal Studio to Island Adventure we borded the Hogwarts Express. We purchased a refillable cup for water and cooldrink at Universal – well worth it. Such a pity that Disney has done away with theirs.

We ended off our day with a fantastic water, music and light show at Universal Studios.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Orlando. Tomorrow morning we collect a rental car and set off to Daytona Race Track for the day, before flying to Vegas tomorrow night.

We are still having the time of our lives! We have walked just under 20km per day at Disney, and just over 20km today.

A few days together

By Disney World

Let’s start off by saying our apologies for a few days of no blogs….we have been too tired at night to type!

Well, Miami is exactly the same as the movies. Palm trees and salmon pink paint everywhere! We really wanted to walk onto a beach in Miami, but could not find parking anywhere. We eventually found a spot, and as we were getting out a guy warned us that we would be towed away if we did not pay for the parking on the app. We didn’t have the app, so decided not to take a chance! We did find a public parking area, and paid for our parking – $2 gave us 5 min. We ran to the beach, had a quick look and ran back to the car! The drive to Orlando (on the wrong side of the road) was long and pretty boring!

We dropped our rental car at Orlando airport and got a tax to our hotel at Disney – All-Star Music. It was delightful! All buildings are decorated with something to do with music.

On Sunday we visited Magic Kingdom – the original and most traditional park. It was very busy – it is nothing to queue for a ride for more than an hour. Unfortunately, they have done away with Fast Passes and now have Lightning Lanes, but they don’t work very well at all! Having said that, we thoroughly enjoyed the rides we managed to get on. The detail in the decor, the characters, etc are unbelievable. We have never seen so many strollers (prams) in our lives. Next to every attraction, there are stroller parking lots. And they are like mini car parking lots! We watched the most amazing fireworks display, all focusing on the Magic Castle. It was indeed magical!

We really enjoyed the rides and the scenery. Unfortunately, due to Covid there are no character meet and greet. Everything is at a distance.

Everything is very expensive! 2 x 500ml cooldrinks is about R150. Water is a little cheaper, but not much!

On Monday we visited 2 parks. Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We thoroughly enjoyed both. The rides were great.  The 3D and 4D rides are amazing!  We left Epcot, returned to our hotel, collected our luggage and Ubered to Endless Summer, our hotel at Universal. The lady who checked us in asked where we were from. On hearing SA, she replied. “I have always wanted to go there. To Africa.” Clearly, she doesn’t realize that Africa is a very big continent!