Rough Guide to ... Round the World trip
(Plays Big Pig - "Big Hotel", dons shades)
Hawaii - Most excellent. Very hot, though without the humidity that makes Miami sometimes a bit unbearable. Waikiki is pretty good, though very touristy. North Shore is excellent and the rest of Oahu is definitely worth hiring a convertible Mustang for touring around. Pearl Harbour is quite moving.
The Big Island - loved the "wet" side, with Hilo and Volcano. Watching lava pouring into the sea is awesome, as is standing a couple of miles from an erupting volcano. Simply amazing to watch Geology on such a live scale. "Dry" side (Kona etc) is a bit touristy again. Mauna Kea was hugely interesting but the altitude is a bitch. (I was fine but the wife was affected by it.)
New Zealand - Only briefly in North Island. Auckland down near the harbour is dull. Drove to Rotorua. Apparently it is alright to charge a high price to visit some culturally significant naturally occuring phenomenon, if you are the indigenous people and not the invading European settlers. Fuck off, says I.
South Island - Loved it. Milford Sound/Te Anau is breathtaking. Wanted desperately to stay longer in Queenstown (although I suspect I would eventually snap at the surfeit of extreme dudes). Motor Lodges make it cheap to stay ($60-$120, depending) but basics like bread and milk are expensive. Developed addiction to Kool Fruits.
Hong Kong - Effing brilliant. Manic, mind-blowing, crowded, vibrant but somehow it all works. So, so organised. Walking around in 29o heat without sunblock, wondering where the blue sky on the postcards is (it is just haze, human induced one suspects). Ngong Ping 360 cable car is an amazing journey and the monastery at the end of it is spectacular. The journey up the Peak, the Star Ferry, all the little nooks and crannies in Kowloon. The building light show is phenomenal. Expensive to stay, but cheap to eat in. Fell in love with the place.
Other stuff - airport security is a joke at times. How come the easiest immigration and exit was into China? Well, HK - but the US and UK should be bloody ashamed. I didn't even get a hello off the UK immigration people on the way back. Welcome home, indeed.
Chep Lap Kok airport is the best airport experience you could hope for - a full 747-400 of passengers arrive at 6.40am and we're through customs, immigration, baggage reclaim, shuttle bus and a 10 minute walk to the bus area and onto the bus for 7.30am.
T5 is nice and didn't lose our bags. A dire, dire lack of signage mind. It is very easy to see how all the chaos happened.
Air New Zealand are the best airline I've flown with. Ever. Knocks BA and AA into a cocked hat. BA have really gone downhill - our connecting flight was announced as delayed five minutes after we were due to depart and with a gate full of passengers. More than a few mutterings of "No shit, sherlock".
In contrast, the Air NZ flight from HK to Heathrow had been delayed in Auckland, when we checked in the desk had already rebooked us on a new flight and checked the bags through. The flight from LAX to Honolulu was with United and it gave a new meaning to "cattle class". Cramped, noisy, video screen was broken, film didn't work, headphone socket broken.
Would do it all again in a heartbeat.
(Plays Big Pig - "Big Hotel", dons shades)
Hawaii - Most excellent. Very hot, though without the humidity that makes Miami sometimes a bit unbearable. Waikiki is pretty good, though very touristy. North Shore is excellent and the rest of Oahu is definitely worth hiring a convertible Mustang for touring around. Pearl Harbour is quite moving.
The Big Island - loved the "wet" side, with Hilo and Volcano. Watching lava pouring into the sea is awesome, as is standing a couple of miles from an erupting volcano. Simply amazing to watch Geology on such a live scale. "Dry" side (Kona etc) is a bit touristy again. Mauna Kea was hugely interesting but the altitude is a bitch. (I was fine but the wife was affected by it.)
New Zealand - Only briefly in North Island. Auckland down near the harbour is dull. Drove to Rotorua. Apparently it is alright to charge a high price to visit some culturally significant naturally occuring phenomenon, if you are the indigenous people and not the invading European settlers. Fuck off, says I.
South Island - Loved it. Milford Sound/Te Anau is breathtaking. Wanted desperately to stay longer in Queenstown (although I suspect I would eventually snap at the surfeit of extreme dudes). Motor Lodges make it cheap to stay ($60-$120, depending) but basics like bread and milk are expensive. Developed addiction to Kool Fruits.
Hong Kong - Effing brilliant. Manic, mind-blowing, crowded, vibrant but somehow it all works. So, so organised. Walking around in 29o heat without sunblock, wondering where the blue sky on the postcards is (it is just haze, human induced one suspects). Ngong Ping 360 cable car is an amazing journey and the monastery at the end of it is spectacular. The journey up the Peak, the Star Ferry, all the little nooks and crannies in Kowloon. The building light show is phenomenal. Expensive to stay, but cheap to eat in. Fell in love with the place.
Other stuff - airport security is a joke at times. How come the easiest immigration and exit was into China? Well, HK - but the US and UK should be bloody ashamed. I didn't even get a hello off the UK immigration people on the way back. Welcome home, indeed.
Chep Lap Kok airport is the best airport experience you could hope for - a full 747-400 of passengers arrive at 6.40am and we're through customs, immigration, baggage reclaim, shuttle bus and a 10 minute walk to the bus area and onto the bus for 7.30am.
T5 is nice and didn't lose our bags. A dire, dire lack of signage mind. It is very easy to see how all the chaos happened.
Air New Zealand are the best airline I've flown with. Ever. Knocks BA and AA into a cocked hat. BA have really gone downhill - our connecting flight was announced as delayed five minutes after we were due to depart and with a gate full of passengers. More than a few mutterings of "No shit, sherlock".
In contrast, the Air NZ flight from HK to Heathrow had been delayed in Auckland, when we checked in the desk had already rebooked us on a new flight and checked the bags through. The flight from LAX to Honolulu was with United and it gave a new meaning to "cattle class". Cramped, noisy, video screen was broken, film didn't work, headphone socket broken.
Would do it all again in a heartbeat.
I missed you Plissken.
I hope you have bought lots of photographs, by the way. Once you have uploaded them (any with lines in by the way?) be sure to point us in teh direction of some kind of web album.
Glad you had such a fantastic time
I hope you have bought lots of photographs, by the way. Once you have uploaded them (any with lines in by the way?) be sure to point us in teh direction of some kind of web album.
Glad you had such a fantastic time
I was, honestly, thinking about you only the other day and er, trying to remember where you had gone, and hoping you were coming back. Now I remember!
Hooray! Glad you had an ace time, that really sounds like a fantastic trip. The 'wet side' of The Big Island is new to me, I'll have to look that up, sounds special.
Hooray! Glad you had an ace time, that really sounds like a fantastic trip. The 'wet side' of The Big Island is new to me, I'll have to look that up, sounds special.
Mimi wrote:
I hope you have bought lots of photographs, by the way. Once you have uploaded them (any with lines in by the way?) be sure to point us in teh direction of some kind of web album.
About 30Gb of photos, plus video to go through... Will have some kind of flickr to go along with the daily blog that I kept.
Lines, eh? Should have plenty for that.
It ends at midnight, but if you are having a shuffle through your pictures anyway... 
Ooh, I am a world of jealousy for your holiday fun! The only stuff I know about Hong Kong is gleaned from Hard Boiled. Tell me, were there many pitched street battles between maverick cops and small armies of bad shots, with slow-mo breaking glass and flocks of doves ascending?
Especially would love to visit the Hawaiian volcanoes. I love geology, me.
Especially would love to visit the Hawaiian volcanoes. I love geology, me.
Welcome back! Must remind you to donate £20 please 
Welcome home. You heard about the £2 a month thing yeah?
You can focus all your energies on buying a 360 now.
I did enquire about your whereabouts today in the Bits n Bobs thread - spook!
You can focus all your energies on buying a 360 now.
I did enquire about your whereabouts today in the Bits n Bobs thread - spook!
C'mon man, where are these photographs?!
Goddess Jasmine wrote:
C'mon man, where are these photographs?!
Oh hush.
Some videos at YouTube. The Yellow-Eyed penguin is supposed to be very shy, but this little fella was quite happy to walk past us within touching distance on his way back to his nest. Also: Stewart Falls, in Milford Sound. And feeding the birds at the amazing Byodo-In Temple
The rental car for a couple of days
Erupting volcano
Trip Blog - Just a couple of days of posts to upload.
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