Destination #6: West Coast Roadtrip: Part I

Monday 10 May 2010 - Wednesday 12 May 2010: Las Vegas vs. Grand Canyon

OK it took us some time to get blogging again but hey, as the Governator would say, we are back (okay he didn’t really say it in those words but you get the drift).

We started our West Coast roadtrip in Las Vegas aka Sin City some 12 days ago. Nobody with a Betfair account should be allowed to stay here longer than 24 hours. Despite our 90 seconds stint at the roulette tables that vaporised 100 dollars, we loved Vegas (special thanks to Hugh for suggesting to put money on 11 while it should have been 22). Gambling losses remained acceptable and we fortunately didn’t end up having to sell the car (the rental company would have been really pissed). We stayed in the funky non-gaming Vdara hotel the first two nights, next to the Bellagio (which has a killer Classic Bellagio Omelet with lobster on its breakfast menu, which fatboy here of course needed to try).

After two days of gambling and visiting numerous shoe shops from blokes called Manolo and Jimmy (no prizes for guessing who dragged us there) we left Vegas, having made the casinos a bit richer and our sabbatical a bit shorter.

Wednesday 12 May 2010: Las Vegas to Flagstaff

Having picked up our own big kick-ass SUV Ford Escape from Dollar-Rent-A-Car (it is all in the name..) we drove a sweet 410 km to Flagstaff, Arizona. On our way, Hoover Dam, which is mainly very big and not very interesting (nevertheless we still couldn’t resist and of course had to have a look around). We did have the pleasure of cruising through the desert on Route 66, one of the original US highways that runs all the way from Chicago on the East coast to LA on the West Coast a distance just short of 4,000 km.

After 5 hours driving we arrived in Flagstaff aka Little America. Apparently Flagstaff’s elevation of 7,000 feet (or 2,000 meter) makes it a “semi-desert” city. Not sure what that means but it sure was bloody cold for a desert city. In Flagstaff we stayed at the 410 Inn B&B. When we walked in, the smell of home-baked zucchini bread welcomed us. If you ever happen to pass through Flagstaff, make sure to stay at the 410 Inn B&B, it is kind of special in a good kind of way.

Thursday 13 May 2010 – Monday 17 May 2010: Grand Canyon

On Thursday we started our biggest adventure so far: a 4-day trek through the Grand Canyon. We got picked up by our 23-year old guide Claire (from Fargo, North Dakota, apparently it was in a movie) who because of her love of shouting every 10 minutes “Super, well done team” or “Are we still all happy campers?” had a distinct notion of “Team America (F#ck yeah)” over her. Claire graduated as an economist but decided that being a guide in the Grand Canyon was much more fun, and hey who can blame her?

Claire picked us up at 06:30 in the morning in her huge SUV (we are talking truck size here, if we would have hit a Mini we would only have noticed it at our next bathroom stop). The five of us (two Canadians called Elaine and Earl joined us for the hike) drove for what the Americans called a small drive (i.e. 3 hours) to the Havasupai Indian Reservation in the Grand Canyon.

The 600 strong Havasupai tribe runs the show in this part of the Grand Canyon and the tribe clearly hasn’t produced any investment banking offspring yet. The only way to get from the entrance of the Grand Canyon (the Hualapai Hilltop) to the Havasupai Waterfalls (and our camping ground for that matter) is a 16 km hike. So the tribe operates a mule service (which, to be fair, took most of our luggage) for just $30 per mule and a helicopter service (which takes all the fatties) for only $80 one-way. A Ryanair-type offer we unfortunately declined. So the next couple of days we spent hiking to waterfalls, sleeping in tents (Claire just slept outside on the picknick table, as you do apparently), being bitten by musquitos and taking zillions of pictures.

Best put-down of the trip was courtesy of one of the older tribe members when he answered the question “It must be amazing to live here in the Grand Canyon?” with “Nah, it is just a bunch of rocks”. Other valuable lesson learned is that when Emma says “Go ahead, you don’t need to wait for me, I can get up the canyon by myself” this actually means “Where the f#ck do you think you are going, stay right here”.

All in all, the hike was a pretty amazing experience, but I have to admit that we were pretty happy to return to the 410 Inn B&B’s jacuzzi after 4 days. So far, so good for our first week in the United States of America!

The First 5

Ok, we are completely new at this so this is our first attempt at "blogging". After having finally decided that we had enough of the working life for a while and we wanted to throw a little bit more life and less work in the balance, we came up with a list of places we wanted to see sooner rather than later. So we came up with a list, our list of 28 places we wanted to go to over the next 12 months. In alphabetical order, here we go:

1. Abu Dhabi (UAE) - Water-skiing with Guy, shoe shopping with Sam

2. Amsterdam (The Netherlands) - See the real Queen

3. Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Eat some big steaks

4. California (US) - Roadtrip from Las Vegas to San Francisco with the Mustang

5. Cape Town (South Africa) - Eating steak with Elda in Barristers

6. Copenhagen (Denmark) - Party with Freddy like it is 1999

7. Devon (England) - Check in for the Ultimate Bootcamp (too much steak..)

8. Dublin (Ireland) - Drink loads of Guinness

9. Edinburgh (Scotland) - Watch Aberdeen FC win (for a change) with Hugh and Lesley

10. Fons (France) - Running up the hill to Ailhon every night with my evil cousin

11. Gleneagles (Scotland) - Beat Hugh at golf (this may take some practice)

12. Havana (Cuba) - Meeting Fidel for tea

13. Jukkasjarvi (Sweden) - Chill out in the Ice Hotel

14. Kathmandu (Nepal) - Trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp

15. Lankawi (Malaysia) - Staying in The Datai just like Andy recommended

16. Machu Picchu (Peru) - Trekking through Peru

17. Malawi - Globalising the orange juice trade with Eelko

18. Mauritius - Chilling out because this sabbatical stuff can wear you out

19. New York (US) - Take Fatboy James out for some wining and dining

20. Petra (Jordan) - Convincing Guy/Sam to join us for a non-shoe shopping adventure

21. Saigon (Vietnam) - Catching up with Ruben and Frederiek

22. Shanghai (China) - Visiting the World Exposition in Shanghai with Vijverberg Sr

23. Strasbourg (France) - Drinking gluhwein at the Christmas market

24. Sydney (Australia) - Seeing Debs + some serious diving in the Great Barrier Reef

25. Tel Aviv (Israel) - Family business

26. Tokyo (Japan) - Eating sushi with Rob

27. Toronto (Canada) - Meeting the Canadian Fockers

28. Turin (Italy) - See the Atomic Ant lead Juventus to victory (for a change...)

Given that we made a flying start to our sabbatical and have now already been to 5 of the 28 destinations, we thought it might be time to start blogging, sooo 2010. So far we can cross off the list: Cape Town, Mauritius, Abu Dhabi, Dublin and 2x Amsterdam (we just are suckers for the Dutch weather and love our Queen).

Destination #1: Cape Town (South Africa)

We started our travels in Cape Town in February. My (Emma's) grandmother lives there so this was a family trip. And when we say family we mean family as we invited my parents to come along. For anyone who has never been to Cape Town: GO...and not for the obvious reason for most of RJ's friends (the World Cup) but because it is such an amazingly beautiful place and the food and wine are great. My friend has also been in Cape Town for the past couple of months so it was great meeting up with her and her boyfriend, catching up over sushi at Beluga.

Also my first experience with driving on the left hand side of the road. Scary at first but made good by the fact that the car rental place had given us a jeep. So driving to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wasn't so bad. Two places to recommend: Hawksmoor House in Stellenbosch and Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek. And the best restaurant? In Cape Town it has to be Buiten Verwachting for its stunning views of the winelands and in Stellenbosch Terroir on the Kleine Zalze Estate.

After Cape Town I made a quick dash to Amsterdam to visit some friends and family and after that on to Ipswich for Charlies baptism. RJ had the honour to be his Godfather. A lovely weekend with lovely friends and staying in a quaint little inn in Bildeston. My second experience driving on the left hand side of the road although a whole lot less pleasurable, driving in a Vauxhall Corsa on Trafalgar Square, not recommended. Our verdict: Cape Town is fantastic, the food and wines are fabulous and of course we love Granny Girl and Elda to bits. Definitely go to Ipswich but never in a Vauxhall Corsa rented at Herz.

Destination #2: Mauritius

In March RJ decided to start his 'sabbatical' officially and we celebrated accordingly by going to Mauritius for 10 days. This was a sit-by-the-pool-and-read-a-book holiday. We literally didn't move besides one day mountain biking because we felt guilty for not doing any sight seeing. That and the fact that we had a disastrous trip round the island one day, getting lost twice in one day (how hard is it to get lost on an island??) and almost being stuck for the night on Ile-aux-Cerfs (note to traveler, never arrange to take the last boat out, it might not leave). Also, never book BA when you know they are going on strike.

Our verdict: Superb chilling out location, you won't be doing much but that is the whole point. We can recommend The Oberoi, in terms of service the best resort we ever stayed in (you want fireworks, they organise fireworks...).

Destination #3: Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Fresh back from Mauritius and on to Abu Dhabi to visit Sam and Guy. What an amazing country, especially for car lovers (Hugh). And what a great week. Just a pity that we couldn't stay on for a couple of days. Although not for lack of trying by Sam's friend who decided to ring Etihad on our behalf to rebook our tickets instantly making a friend at Etihad. 

So, not enough time to see everything and catch up properly so planning another trip to that end of the world. Our verdict: If you don't drive a GT3 you are clearly a sissy, but hey we loved it (excluding all the shoe shopping that is). We will be back for the Formula 1 in November!

Destination #4: Dublin (Ireland)

Then on to Dublin. We almost didn't make it to Dublin because of one famous ash cloud. We were the first Air Lingus flight out of Heathrow. The highlight in Dublin (besides drinking sh#tloads of Guinness and going on a Big Bus tour has to be the 'Bog Bodies' exhibition at the National Museum.

RJ would have preferred to take the Viking Bus which actually goes through the river as well but the main attraction is the fact that you get a Viking hat.

Our verdict: Not worth it if you don't get the Viking hat.

Destination #5: Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

And then our most recent trip, Amsterdam part II. Besides the obvious, visiting our family and friends (and having a lovely baby shower for one of my best friends), who can resist Queen's Day in Amsterdam (30-04), one of Hollands best public holidays, dress up in orange attire (anything from orange shoes to orange hair), drink loads of beer and walk along the canals. Or even better, having a friend with a boat! Off course we had to be back in time for QPR's last match of the season. Luckily they lost so nothing new there.

Our verdict: Nothing can beat the Queen and some decent quantities of Dutch finest Heineken.

And what is next you wonder? We are leaving for Vegas this week and are busy planning our trip to Buenos Aires and Peru in August, another 3 off the list. 8 down, 20 to go. Hope to see you guys along the way. We'll keep you posted.

Love Emma and RJ