Mark Wyatt's Wanderings and Wonderings

Boston to Las Vegas

This is where I have to publicly thank my beautiful wife, Zoe. She has the uncanny ability to find flights that take the most circuitous route between two cities, has the most “ups and downs” ie: stops at most airports, AND costs less than a direct flight. We really were made for each other! As a result, this trip is not Boston to Las Vegas, but Boston – Miami - New Orleans – Dallas - Las Vegas. More planes, more airports, more take off’s, more landings - PERFECT! That puts us at Boston Logan airport on a very cold morning: -6deg C. The flight to Miami was spectacular – down the east coast of America, overflying New York, Virginia Beach, West Palm Beach and Port Canaveral enroute to Miami. The weather gods even chipped in with beautiful sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Life is good!

An hour or so in Miami and we’re winging our way to New Orleans. The flight was uneventful and we arrived in New Orleans a little early. A longer wait was in store for us here and, unknown at the time of arrival, the only black mark on the trip was about to occur. We had a couple of hours to kill, so Zoe decided to get some work done. Her electronics came out and when we went to get back on the plane, she realised her iPad was no longer in her handbag. We reported it immediately to the airline, but unfortunately, it has not been found. Still, as Zoe says “Nobody has lost any arms or legs” so we didn’t let it dampen the mood. On to Dallas, a short stop there, and then the final leg into Las Vegas. Another beautiful flight with the final approach adjacent to the Las Vegas strip (the lights need to be seen to be believed) and we touched down right on time. The weather was still cold here – about 2 below zero and a bitingly cold wind was blowing as we waited for the shuttle to our hotel. “A shuttle?” I hear you say, “After the last episode with a shuttle, you went for that again?”. Well, I did question my judgment initially, but the shuttle did show up this time and fairly quickly (at least before my fingers fell off from the cold) and we were deposited in a warm hotel a few minutes after being picked up.

We have a couple of days here with our friends and then we start the homeward journey, but there’s a few great stops on the way.

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Boston, Washington, New York

Boston is one of our favourite US cities – the history here is incredible and the architecture is beautiful. We arrived late and made our way to Hilton Boston, Back Bay. This is the first time we have stayed here and the room had plenty of space and a nice view of Boston. As always on this trip, we were hoping for snow. The temperature was cold enough but the skies were clear – not great conditions for snow. Out and about in Boston on a cold day is beautiful. Quintessentially winter scenes are everywhere to be seen – trees devoid of foliage, ducks WALKING on the lake, icicles hanging off tree branches. We enjoyed another day of walking around the city and by the time we made our back to the hotel, the sun had set and it became very cold, very quickly. It was definitely nice to finally get back to the warmth of our room. We ate in the hotel restaurant that night because we didn’t want to venture out into the cold again. The next morning, light snow was falling and ice was everywhere.

That afternoon, we made our way to the airport once more and boarded an aircraft for Washington DC, via JFK. Two short flights later we arrived at Baltimore Airport, just outside Washington DC and caught a cab to the Capital Hilton where the greatest surprise of all awaited us. The manager there upgraded us to the Presidential Suite – we were gobsmacked! Dining room with seating for 10 – lounge and desk area, two bathrooms, and huge master suite. It was so big, we almost needed a GPS to find our way from one end to the other.

The room was so beautiful we had to drag ourselves away from it the next day to see the sights – but it was worth it. Washington DC is an imposing city – the buildings all seem to take up vast amounts of space and we commented on the fact that this was probably intentional given the nature of the city and its’ most famous resident. Another very cold day but no snow – just lots of rain. We stopped for a few hours at the Smithsonian Centre for Flight and Space and got back to the hotel around 6pm. A restful evening and then onto another aircraft the next morning, New York being the destination.

The Big Apple – what an incredible city. You definitely can’t be allergic to crowds, but there is something indefinably beautiful about this city. We stayed at the Millenium Hilton, right opposite the site of the World Trade Centre. Re-building is still going on here but the vision is beginning to take shape. It was evident all around this area that a renaissance is taking place. Cold and windy conditions here – walking the streets was a challenge. We made our way to our favourite “Pizza and Pasta Joint” nearby and enjoyed for lunch what we believe is the best Pizza going. That first evening we enjoyed STOMP at the Orpheum Theatre – I never knew there was so many ways of making noise. An incredible performance and one I would recommend to anyone. The theatre is very small and you get up close and personal with the performers, but that makes it all the more enjoyable.

The second day we did some shopping and more walking before enjoying a leisurely evening in watching New York from the 53^rd floor of the Millenium. The next morning it was back to JFK for the trip back to Boston – flight schedules dictated we went through there again before heading back to Las Vegas to catch up with our friends from Albuquerque who were driving up to meet us for a few days in the Casino capital. There will be more from where it all stays!!

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Cruise Day 6 and 7 - New Orleans again.

The last 2 days of the cruise were magical. Seas were very calm and the sun was out - couldn't ask for better conditions. As I have previously mentioned, before I had ever taken a cruise, I was dubious about "Fun Days at Sea" as described on the brochures, but that's exactly what they are. These ships are the size of small towns and there's always plenty to do and see. Activities and entertainment are not in short supply.

The days passed very quickly and before we knew it, we ere saying goodbye to our new found friends and New Orleans was once again outside our window. We arrived early on the morning and were off the ship by 11am and headed for the airport. We had a few hours to kill before our next flight to Boston so we set ourselves up at the departure gate at New Orleans Airport and settled in to catch up on some work and advise family of our safe return form the cruise.

On board the aircraft and heading for one of our favourite cities in the US - Boston. Full of history and beautiful architecture and hopefully - snow.

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Nassau

After a very gentle night at sea, we woke up to the sounds of Nassau Harbour. This is a beautiful island in the Bahamas and as you will see from the photographs, many cruise ships make this a port of call. The locals are all very friendly and there’s plenty of great shopping to be done here if you’re so inclined. On a day like this one though, there’s plenty of other shoppers out and about.

We decided that the late departure from the ship in Freeport worked well for us, so we did a similar thing here. After breakfast, we headed for the harbour – no taxis here as the harbour is right beside the city centre. The famed Island of Atlantis Resort and Casino are just off the harbour and can be reached via a bridge or boat.

Rather than go straight to the shops with everybody else, we did our usual walk around the area to see what it’s really like. There is some beautiful buildings in Nassau and the walk up the hill gave us some much needed exercise as well as allowing us to see some of them.

There was a lot of activity in the city this particular morning with a many military and police groups walking around in full ceremonial dress – we later found out that it was for a State Funeral for the Speaker of Parliament and saw some of the procession and march.

By 3pm, we’d had enough of the shops and the crowds, so it was back to the ship for an afternoon rest and to watch the harbour activity from the balcony of our stateroom. Originally, we were to leave here at 4pm, but because of the Key West no-go, extra time had been allotted and 10pm was now the sailing time. We had a reservation for the steakhouse on board the ship at 7.30pm so we were able to overlook the harbour of Nassau as we dined on the most scrumptious steak we have ever tasted.

We departed harbour about 15 mins early for 2 days at sea on the way back to New Orleans.

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Freeport, The Bahamas

After missing out on the Key West docking, we slowly steamed towards Freeport, and the wind and seas had abated by the late afternoon. Another leisurely dinner, followed by a couple of shows on the Carnival Conquest and it turned into quite a late night. We were due in Freeport by 8am, but we decided to avoid the mad rush off the ship early and had a late breakfast. At about 10.00am, the crowds had died down and we headed into town for the day. The city of Freeport is about ½ hour from the port so we boarded a taxi (read mini bus that they cram as many people in as they can ) and it coughed and spluttered its’ way into town. It cost $10 per head, but that covered the return trip as well and I was a little relieved when they said it didn’t mean the same taxi.

It was a cold day by Bahamian standards – around 12 degrees. Great – we go to cold places looking for snow and it gets warm and then we head for the Caribbean and it gets cold! None of this detracted from the visits and we could still justify the heavy suitcases with clothes for all seasons. We wandered around the quaint harbour in Freeport, looked at all the jewellery and clothes stores, purchased the obligatory souvenirs and presents, and ate a late lunch at a great little restaurant we found on the harbour. Internet access allowed us to contact the family and after a few red wines, we headed back to the boat around 3.30pm.

The taxi ride back was almost as interesting as the one in the morning. The motor was certainly better maintained in this one, however, whilst it had seating for 7, the ingenious (and I use the term lightly) taxi driver had “installed” an eighth seat by putting a milk crate between the two middle seats and padding it with a coat. Seats belts were clearly optional (read couldn’t find any that worked) as are indicators it would seem. Despite all this, we arrived back at the dock in one piece.

It was a beautiful afternoon, although still a little cold, and we sat on the balcony as we sailed out of Freeport Harbour, after first watching Carnival Ecstasy, another ship in port that day, depart. A nice dinner with our newly made friends and dinner companions, Adam and Carolina from Wisconsin, and then a relatively early night as we were due to dock in Nassau at 8am the next morning. The seas were by now very calm, so a good night’s sleep was had by all.

Next stop – Nassau!

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The Cruise (Day 1and 2)

Some thought we were a little crazy leaving on a cruise on New Year's Day, but a 4pm sailing time seemed reasonable enough. We had a leisurely morning and headed for the terminal around 1pm, just a short drive away from the hotel. We have been fortunate enough to have cruised before,(once with 6 kids in tow) and knew what times to avoid trying to board. As a result, we were on board and in our cabin at 2.00pm. Thts was the first cruise we had a balcony cabin, so we were able to move outside and take in the view of New Orleans as we left the dock.

We assumed that we would cruise down the Mississippi for a few hours before heading out into the Gulf of Mexico, but that turned out to be quite an underestimation. We left the dock an hour late at 5pm, and at 11.30pm, finally entered the gulf. It's no wonder it's called the "Mighty Mississippi", because the physical size, as well as the traffic and industry along the river is something to be seen.

The first day was programmed as a day at sea, and for the uniniated, this might sound boring, Once you have cruised, you know that these days are jsut as much fun as the days in port. The frist days are exploratory - finding your way around the ship; meeting your dining partners at dinner and geeting used to the feeling of the ship's movement. On this occasion, the latter was a little more challeging than previous cruises as the wind had picked up ans, as we were informed by the captain the next morning, we were puching thorugh 6-7 ft waves for a good portion of the night. That continued throughout the day and on into the night. Zoe had quite a few Drammamine (sea sicknesss tablets) to settle her stomach (yep - a marine biologist that suffers from sea sickness: no wonder she has given that line of work up!) and walking the hallways and decks was proving quite a challenge at times.

The weather didn't abate that night. although because we changed direction, the wave action was far less severe. Tuesday morning saw us just off Key West in Florida, our first port of call, but the wind had increased to 40-50 knots and the captain made the decison not to risk docking with the wind blowing at that speed. All were disappointed, none more than the bride and groom who were on the ship with a lot of family members travelling to, and waiting in, Key West for them to arrive and be married. Everybody on the ship felt for them.

So it's off to Freeport in the Bahamas after another day at sea!.

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New Orleans

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Wyatt <mark@markandzoe.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 7:09 AM
Subject: New Orleans
To: mark@markandzoe.com

Although we have been to New Orleans a few times before, when we saw that we could leave from here on a Caribbean cruise and it fitted our timetable, as well as allowing us to spend New Years’ Eve here, so it was a no brainer! The flight from Albuquerque was great and again both flights were on time if not a little early (thank you AA). We knew the drill at New Orleans airport, including which carousel to go to and where to get taxis (no shuttle buses here!). Taxis in this city are a fixed price from the airport to the city, which I believe is a great idea. A hour or so after landing, we were at our hotel for the night, Hilton New Orleans Riverside. A beautiful hotel, right by the Mississippi River, and within walking distance of downtown and the French Quarter. A great place to stay if ever you visit this great city. They gave us a fantastic room and left a little gift as they had noted on our reservation it was our honeymoon. All the Hilton hotels we stayed at have treated us wonderfully well and given us fantastic service. We have come to expect that from them, but this trip, the service and the rooms have been superlative. Unfortunately, we can only spend one of the three nights here as availability around NYE is scarce, so we move to the Intercontinental tomorrow for the remainder of our time in New Orleans.

After moving to the Intercontinental, and being allocated another great room, we set about our usual walking. We find that walking around a city gives you a real feel for the place. Naturally, we do our research beforehand to a) make sure we see as much as we can and don’t miss any of the highlights and b) don’t venture into any areas that might present a danger. Lonely Planet had plenty of downloadable maps and information on almost ANY place on earth you care to mention, as well as booklets for those who have not yet embraced (or care to) the digital age. Needless to say, we have been walking the streets of cities so far with iPad in hand, and it has been an incredible tool for finding information and places we would never have found without it, as well a guiding us around the streets. This was particularly handy in Shanghai, where not a lot of English is spoken outside of the hotel.

Hours of walking later, we’re back at the hotel for evening drinks in the club lounge. We met a interesting couple from Sweden and spent a few hours discussing each others’ countries. Its’ always interesting to learn about other places we might be able to visit. Another great sleep, and then a lazy day preparing for the NYE’s festivities. Zoe caught up on a little work and touched base with family at home. We still managed to fit in some walking, and although it was a very foggy day, we walked up to the French Quarter and had a better look around. Unfortunately, our favourite food establishment, Johnny’s Po-Boys, ( check them out here http://johnnyspoboys.com) was packed with patrons and the line to get in was incredibly long. We figured we weren’t going to make it in before closing time, so we reluctantly moved on. We later found a great hot dog vendor on the riverside walk so all was not lost.

New Orleans on NYE is a VERY busy place, so we headed back to the hotel late afternoon and enjoyed the dinner in the club again. We ventured out into the mayhem around 10.30pm and made our way to Jackson Square, which we had been told was the place to be for all the NYE celebrations and fireworks. It was a great night, but the fireworks were a little disappointing – I guess we get spoiled in Australia with the Sydney Harbour spectacular and things like River Fire in Brisbane. We had also expected a bit of Jazz on the music stage, but that had given way to Hip Hop. Still, it was a lot of fun to be in the thick of it all. We slowly mad our way back to the hotel (let’s face it , with that many people, there was no choice but to go slowly). We had difficulty sleeping not only because the party in the city streets continued on into the early hours of the morning, but because we were excited that the next step of our trip was the cruise.

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Albuquerque

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Wyatt <mark@markandzoe.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 5:24 AM
Subject: Albuquerque
To: mark@markandzoe.com

After surviving the “Shuttle Bus Shuffle” or is that “Shuffle Bus Shuttle”?, we arrived at our hotel, Embassy Suites. A very nice hotel, despite the loss of their shuttle bus, and the room was great. We had a welcome sleep and a great breakfast before meeting our friends, Christine and Matthew. We met them a couple of years ago at an event in New York. We immediately clicked, as if we had known each other for ever and we have subsequently met them at other events in the U.S. but never visited their home town, so we made sure that our itinerary included Albuquerque this time.

As mentioned in my last post, it was a little cold here – minus 6 degrees overnight and the temperature had crawled its’ way to 1 degree by 9.00am. But the day was sunny and clear so the cold was not so bad. (It later warmed to about 12 degrees, so it was a perfect day). Matthew and Christine arrived around 11.00am , along with Christine’s parents. They drove us to Old Town, the very heart of Albuquerque and the town centre when the city was forming during the “Wild West” days. Many of the buildings here are original (complete with very small windows so the bandits couldn’t shoot you through them) and we lunched in an old tavern converted into a restaurant. The food here is distinctly Mexican (not surprising since the state is New Mexico). We had a great meal and the walked for a few hours around the town and visited the many art galleries and gift shops in the area. Look out for the photos of the Christmas decorations made completely of chillies!!!

That magical combination of good times with good friends described our afternoon and then it was time to head to the airport once more. Off to New Orleans via Dallas. A couple of days there including New Years Eve, and then on to a Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas for seven days.

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Albuquerque - The Airport

After leaving Las Vegas, it was on to a short flight with American Airlines (our preferred airline in the US) to LAX and then on to Albuquerque. The flight was uneventful and we arrived about 20 mins early at 10.15pm. Down to the carousels to collect our baggage and after 15 mins all the bags have been collected and ours are nowhere to be seen. Hmmm – not in a happy place at all. It was only then that we thought to look at the flight information board at the end of the carousel. Note to self and each other – read the signs. We were waiting at carousel 1 and the bags were on carousel 5. By the time we got there, the bags had been collected by AA staff and were stacked outside the baggage office. We’ll write that little faux pas off to tiredness.

So, bags finally in hand, we trapse outside and I headed for one of the 2 Taxis waiting there. Zoe was just behind and informed me that we didn’t need a Taxi, the hotel had a free shuttle bus – we should wait for that. It was cold – about minus 2^oC, so I wasn’t really keen, but shuttle buses were arriving every minute or or two, so it seemed like a reasonable request. After 20 or more buses had arrived, none of them the one we wanted, we asked one of the drivers if there was in fact a shuttle bus that came from our hotel. “Yes”, he said, “it should be here soon. If not, call from the courtesy phone inside and one will come right away”. So, inside I go looking for the courtesy phone. I found lots of them – but none for the hotel we were staying at. Back out into the cold to inform Zoe of the unsuccessful reconnoitre for the hotel phone. No buses bearing our hotel’s name were anywhere to be seen, so after another 10 mins in the cold, we had a brain wave – let’s call the hotel from a public phone. Back into the terminal we go and after digging the paperwork out and locating the number, we did just that. Yes, the hotel DID have a shuttle bus – but it was past tense. Somebody had T-boned the thing only about 3 months ago and it hadn’t been replaced yet. 3 MONTHS!!! Pity they hadn’t updated that information on their website.

Back outside into the cold we go with a distinct feeling of deja vu . About an hour before, when we originally exited the terminal, there was about 5 shuttle buses, and 2 taxis with no people waiting. Now, there was still plenty of shuttle buses (but now we knew none were destined to pick us up) , NO taxis and about 20 people waiting for them. Great – so we waited about another 15 to 20 mins in the cold until we finally got onto the taxi at 11.40pm. But wait, there’s more. We told the taxi driver which hotel we were staying at and he said, that’s close, we’ll be there in no time. Around a few streets we go and when we get to one street with a few hotels in it , the driver stops, looks about and says – “Hmmm, I thought it was in this street, but it looks like I was wrong”. He apologises and turns OFF the meter, turns ON the GPS and away we go again. About 20 mins later we finally arrive at our hotel. The time is now 12.20 am and bed is looking soooooooo good.

Out and about in Albuquerque tomorrow......

Las Vegas (again)

Onto my favourite plane - the Boeing 777. American Airlines Flight 182 from Shanghai to LAX. Departed on time and it was quite spectacular as we flew over the Japanese islands on the way to the US. A nice meal followed by a movie and then some shut-eye to try and catch up. Of course the body gets a little confused after crossing the international date line, and after a fast 10 hour flight (normally 11hrs 40 mins) we arrived at LAX an hour early (thanks to 200kph tail winds). The best customs experience we've ever had at LAX - less than 20 mins from de-planing to getting through customs. That is a record - have spent up to almost 2 hrs on this exercise before today. A couple of hours in the Admirals Club at LAX and then off to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Hilton here for the last time - the Las Vegas Hilton is becoming LVH (Las Vegas Hotel) - no longer a member of the Hilton chain as of 3rd January 2012. Pictures of sign being dismantled attached. After an initial "nightmare" (the wrong type of room, followed by the right room that looked like something out of "The Hangover") and then the manager upgraded us to a suite. And what a suite - I'll let the pictures do the talking. For a honeymoon - perfect..Slept beautifully and after a lazy day headed for the airport once more. Off to Albuquerque to visit our good friends Christine and Matthew - a new destination for us, so eagerly awaited. So this time - Las Vegas - LAX - Albuquerque.