muttler.net

Category: travel

  • Travel In The Age of COVID

    In-N-Out Burgers
    Tastes Like the US!

     

    06/02/2022

    Wow. It has actually happened. We have left Australia.

    I obviously don’t need to bang on about this, but after 2 years of pseudo house arrest, as soon as we had a window of opportunity to escape, we took it. We were strategic… we thought what would be as safe a holiday as we could do that was still a little adventurous and felt like an escape. So we landed on flights to LA, then grabbing a car and visiting a bunch of National Parks.

    Then Omicron came and we thought, “ugh… what do we do”. Well, we have decided to brave it. We are triple vaxxed, taking every precaution… and here we are!

     

     

    I have to say, the travel was actually quite smooth, easy, and felt safe. We had our PCR tests on the morning of our flight (the most nerve wracking bit), kept masked the whole time, and were on a 80% full, but smaller, QANTAS flight to LAX. The flight was smooth, but the most joyous part came at LAX. Used to immigration and baggage often taking 2 hours, we were through in under 20 minutes. Yep. Literal 5 minutes for immigration, and then just the wait for the bags to arrive. LAX International was a fair ghost town, but I tell you… this whole travel made us definitely think we had done the right thing. I can’t imagine having this luxury in LAX again anytime soon!

     

     

     

     

    We arrived in in the evening, so really only had time to get the car, drive to our hotel (the Magic Castle Hotel in Hollywood) and have a late dinner before trying to rest. I took the opportunity to enjoy the nearby In-N-Out for their tasty double cheeseburger. I really do LOVE these burgers. Plus, it reminded me that after 2+ years, we weren’t stuck in our house anymore.

  • 8 Year Old Me Loses His Mind (So Does 40-Something Me)

    Tuesday (5/11/2019):

    I didn’t really say that this trip really came about because of my work trip landing me in the US, and that Kate had not had a chance for a holiday all year. After all the work with our renovations, Kate deserved a trip to her happy place so a few days at Disneyland were in order!

    It also worked out well, as what new addition was there to Disneyland? Galaxy’s Edge (i.e Star Wars Land)! I was SO excited for this. I had probably done a little too much reading about it, but that was OK… I had to be prepared. And what were the main orders of the day? Well, a trip on to the Millennium Falcon ride “Smugglers Run”, enjoying some Blue Milk, dropping in to Oga’s Cantina (full of scum and villainy), and… BUILDING A FREAKIN’ LIGHTSABER!! Indeed.

    I’m not go into all the details for the Disney adventures. I have written about the parks a bunch. So it will be mostly photos (plus that gets me doing these entries quicker!). I will also go a little light on the build a lightsaber experience as I think the less you know the better the experience for that one. Needless to say I was a grinning idiot the whole time 🙂

    We also did ride on some of our favourites, especially Haunted Mansion. But today was about taking it easy and exploring the new land.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Mid Century Modern

    And now the holidays begin! I had flown back from Pittsburgh to LA and spent the night there ready to begin more adventures…

     

    Saturday (2/11/2019):

    Kate arrived on her overnight flight from Melbourne tired. But that was OK… I had fairly much adjusted to the time zone and was doing OK. So I met her at LAX, and we went and grabbed a car ready for a few days of driving into the California Desert. First destination was Palm Springs! We had always wanted to go and finally we were going to make it.

    After some stops to freshen up and eat and outlet shop, we made it to Cabazon, just out of Palm Springs. It is home to a fairly dodgy looking Dinosaur tourist park. We didn’t go in, but stopped to see the dinosaurs out front like everyone else.

    Mid arvo we arrived in Palm Springs and checked in to our hotel, the suitably 50’s Orbit-In. It was great. The owner was a fantastic guy who made us feel very much at home. The hotel was a time capsule to 50s vibe and was a blast. We even had “Orbitini Hour” at 5pm… drinks on the house by the pool. Ah, this is the life.

    We didn’t know before we booked but it was actually Pride Weekend in Palm Springs! It meant the main street was going crazy with all kinds of pride events and festivities. It was great fun seeing everyone out for a good time.

    We had good times of our own planned. As luck would have it, one of our absolute favourite artists, Shag, was having a print launch at his downtown gallery space! YES!!! So after some tasty Mexican food, we went to have cocktails and chat with the great man himself. We even treated ourselves to a couple of prints.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Sunday:

    It was Pride parade day, but sadly we had already planned our day to check a bucket list item off… visiting Joshua Tree National Park. So we disappeared out of town before it got too crazy and made it to the National Park. It was a glorious day, not too hot, so we began our drive from South to North West.

    First we weaved through the Colorado Desert, which is quite barren and mostly very furry cactii. Highlight is the Cactus garden where you can explore amongst hundreds/thousands of medium sized cactus plants.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    From there you go over a ridge and into the Mojave Desert where the landscape instantly changes. We saw lots of rock and boulder formations, and the Joshua Trees start. Skull Rock is a stopping point and I couldn’t help but climb into the eyeball. Getting down was the hard part 🙂

     

     

     

     

    We also went to the top of the main ridge and looked down on Palm Springs. It was quite hazy but still spectacular.

     

     

    But it is the Joshua trees that take the cake. People say they are Seussian in their appearance and they definitely are. They are a sight to behold.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Sunset was very early so around 5pm the colours changed a little and the sun set on what is an absolutely gorgeous place.

    We were given the tip for place to visit for dinner, a place called Pappy and Harriett’s. We had no idea what it was but went anyway! It turned out to be a cowboy bar of sorts in a place called Pioneertown, not far from Joshua Tree. Turns out it was a movie set in the 40s! The place was packed and a buzz. We had some great burgers and drinks and made our way back to Palm Springs.

     

     

    Monday:

    Alas it was time to say goodbye to Palm Springs already. We definitely did not have enough time there and both vowed to go back.

    On the way out of town we visited the Aerial Tramway, to go to the biggest ridge above Palm Springs (not back in Joshua Tree). It is close to 3000m altitude and often has snow on it! We caught the tramway up and looked out over the area.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We also had time for some sneaky “Welcome To Palm Springs” type pics 🙂

     

     

    When we entered Palm Springs a few days earlier, a couple of billboards caught my eye which I revisited. They had the legacy of some early Shepard Fairey (i.e. Obey) pasters on them that I had to stop and get pics of.

     

     

     

    We fought the traffic back toward LA and arrived at our home for the coming days in Anaheim. After dropping the car off, we rested for a little bit and then decided it was time for a drink to wind down. Where did we go? Trader Sams of course!

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We couldn’t resist getting a few tiki mugs and drinks to cap off the day and get ready for some Disney action.

  • Go Steelers!

    Hello from the United States!

    I know plenty of you know I’m away and I haven’t written anything. How rude of me! As it turned out, it has been a fairly busy time so far, and especially the first week when in Pittsburgh.

    I was in Pittsburgh to attend the ASSETS conference, the primary international conference for assistive technologies. I travelled over with my colleagues Leona and Chatai, where we spent three days at the conference, as well as a day visiting the University of Pittsburgh. But luckily for us we did get to spend our Sunday to explore Pittsburgh. I also got up to some extra things 🙂

    Saturday (26/10/2019):

    Leona and I arrived on the Saturday evening after an epic journey from Oz, where during that time we had to run to our transfer in Dallas where we made it but alas our bags did not. Thankfully they did get delivered later that night… at 1:45am. Hhhmmm. At least I got to sample some local speciality cuisine in the form of a pastrami sandwich full of fries 🙂

     

     

     

    Sunday:

    We spent our Sunday exploring a bunch of weird and wonderful things around Pittsburgh. We started the day with waffles! I opted for ones filled with jalapeños! of course I did…

     

     

    Next up was a walk to the base of Mount Washington and a trip up the funicular. Great views over the three rivers and all the main parts of town. While up there we saw the houses getting ready for halloween!

     

     

     

     

     

    Our main destination for the day was a strange place that Leona had read about. Randyland! What is Randyland? Well, a guy called Randy has decided to collect A LOT of random things, paint them day-glo, and then put them in his yard for people to visit! Ha! It was so great. Pictures can’t do justice for just how weird the place was.

     

     

     

     

     

    We then hot footed it to the Bicycle Museum, again a strange place. What is ostensibly a bike store, the upstairs is an incredible museum of vintage bikes, with the centrepiece being one of the 4 original bikes from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure! So cool.

     

     

     

     

    While we were full of Pittsburghian culture, we decided to do it a little more formally and visit the Pittsburgh Heritage Museum to get some local history. Did you know Heinz originated here? And did you know I ate a chocolate covered pickle? Of course I did 🙂

     

     

     

     

     

     

    It was dinner time by the end of this, so we discovered some Tacos and then back to the apartment.

     

     

    Monday:

    Monday was day one of the conference. I won’t report on that but will fill you in on my evening fun… my first NFL game!!! I was so excited. I don’t really have a team, but I guess I do now. Go Steelers!

    It was Monday Night Football and Heinz Field was close to full for the game against Miami. I had am absolute blast. Everyone was so friendly and seeing it live, I now understand why football is so huge in the States. The atmosphere was something else. After a slow start the Steelers got the business done. What a great night.

     

     

     

     

    Tuesday:

    Day Two of the conference was our presentation and it went well… we got lots of nice compliments and had some great discussion throughout the day.

    But the night was where the fun times were had. The conference reception was at the Andy Warhol museum! We knew this so purposefully didn’t go on Sunday. We got to explore much of the museum with hardly a soul around. The museum was great… it is quite large and actually very spacious. It was nice that we even found some tactile versions of some of the work!

    After the dinner Leona and I went to find some food and ended up at a Pittsburgh burger institution. And yes I chose the burger with peanut butter in it 🙂

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Wednesday:

    This was the last day of the conference. After we wound up, Leona, Chatai and I went for a wander to the “point”… where the 3 rivers meet. I was quite liking Pittsburgh by this time. The people were lovely and there were some nice parks and spots to wander. And the sentiment on the street signs was on point too.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Thursday:

    This was our last day before heading off. Leona had teed up a visit to visit a colleague at the Uni of Pittsburgh which was great. We also did a visit to the “Cathedral of Learning”… a literal cathedral that was used for classes. What was amazing was that there were over 30 class rooms that were all themed to different countries! Apparently the local community of that country get together and raise funds and design a room. It means there were 30+ incredibly ornate and gorgeous rooms of all kinds. You really have to see it to understand.

    After that Leona and I wandered back downtown (through a couple of run down neighbourhoods) to try and find some Halloween action. Unfortunately the weather was so bad most trick or treating was cancelled. But we did find som up top of Mount Washington where we went to an amazing vegan restaurant called Onion Maiden. Yep, a play on Iron Maiden. It was delicious! I had a great Halloween dessert too.

    And with that it was then leaving the next day! As mentioned, I became quite fond of Pittsburgh. A city I never really thought to visit, but can see how locals are quite fond of it. Best do a return visit to the Uni of Pittsburgh one day again 🙂

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Cycling Vietnam and Cambodia! (Summary Post with Links)

     

    Xin Chào and Sou Sdey!

    I have finally got to typing up some quick notes and stories about my recent cycling trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. Mostly I went to visit Angkor, but I had 10 days of great fun on a cycling tour. Below are links to each of the days. Hope you enjoy!

    Day One: *Insert Good Morning Vietnam Cliche Here*

    Day Two: The Cycling Commences

    Day Three: Exploring The Mekong

    Day Four: Pineapple, Pho, Frog and Ice Cream (one of those things is not like the other)

    Day Five: Border Crossing

    Day Six: Monkeys and Muay Thai

    Day Seven: Spiderlicious

    Day Eight: Siem Reap FC

    Day Nine: Sunrise at Angkor

    Day Ten: The Grand Circuit