02
Mar

Reflecting on Covid Travel

By: muttler
covid
united states

 

WE DID IT. After months of planning and different anxieties, it’s all over. We travelled during Covid.

When Australia opened the borders we immediately booked an overseas trip. Some people thought we were a bit crazy, but we were legit going stir-crazy being stuck at home (having had previously organised international, interstate, and regional travel cancelled in the last 2 years). So we did it for our own well being and mental health.

I thought I might do a quick brain dump of thoughts about it all.

1. Being Risk Adverse

The reality is we booked a trip we thought had the biggest likelihood of actually happening and not being too compromised. We also booked a trip that we felt would have a fairly low risk attached to it health wise. Sure the US has had its problems, but by booking a road trip in the off-season of the areas we were visiting, we felt it could be as good as it gets.

In hindsight I was REALLY happy with this decision. Once we got out of LA we saw hardly any people. Only Zion was busy of all the National Parks and being outdoors we could steer clear of crowds. Disneyland is the obvious exception, but we knew that going in, and that was where we were over the top in terms of masking, sanitising, etc.

So international travel can be done safely, and with a feeling that you are staying safe, doing something like this.

2. Experiencing Something Different

Here I am actually referring to the fact that next to NO ONE is travelling! What did that mean?

  • No one in airports means you clear customs in literal minutes! We were out of LAX in 15 minutes. Unheard of!
  • Hotels are largely empty
  • Eating out was quite easy and not too daunting
  • EVERYONE is happy you are there

So for some extra paperwork and testing, you actually get a fair benefit.

3. COVID Rigmarole

It wasn’t too hard actually. You just have to keep up with the current status of things. For example, the required paperwork and testing for Australia changed 3 times from booking in late November, to coming home at the end of Feb. Check in took a few minutes longer, but it was fine. Just have all your paperwork done and printed.

The testing is the biggest thing. Organising it not too hard if you go with the airport testing, but it adds a layer of anxiety on… you may only find out hours before your flight that you are not going anywhere! But thankfully that never happened to us.

And with testing, the US is MUCh more expensive than Australia.

So while it may all SEEM hard, it isn’t really. Just accept that there is a bit more mucking around, and to be fair some levels of anxiety, but not much all things considered.

4. Mental Health

This was the best thing I did for my mental health in the last 2 years. Yeah, I took the odd break in the past 2 years, but nothing that really disconnected me from not only work, but also Australia. I was surprised how good it felt to just not be thinking about Australia for a few weeks.

Being in the outdoors really did it for me. I think I will always look back on my hike up Angels Landing at Zion as a really important thing, as I think it is THE time in the past 2 years where I was really disconnected from Covid and I was just carefree. Well, there was a very slight fear of plummeting to my premature end I guess, but you know what I mean 🙂

I might add some more to this as I think of it. But anyone who is reading this, do consider travelling during this time, especially if it is something you really value. I can’t express enough how important this was for me.

Read More Reflecting on Covid Travel
02
Mar

Disney Recap

By: muttler
disneyland
united states

 

25/02/2022 – 27/02/2022

Hi all, a quick Disney recap. I didn’t do posts each day as frankly I have probably posted about Disney enough already, and also we were typically going until late in the night, so there was also no time!

These few days at Disney were always intended to be low key. As everyone knows we have been to Disneyland a bunch of times, and so this was just in some respects a signal that some things were slightly more “normal” after the past couple of years. We just intended to take it easy, ride what we could, and also get to the handful of new things, namely the Rise of the Resistance Star Wars ride, and also the new Avengers Campus part of California Adventure.

I won’t go into a blow by blow detail of the three days, but below are some of the highlights:

1. Rise of the Resistance

This wasn’t open last time we went. This is unlike any ride, whereby the line seamlessly blends into the ride, which is part thrill ride, part theatrical story of being rescued by the resistance from the First Order. I rode this twice, both time at park opening (i.e “rope drop) so as to avoid the typical 3 hour wait. It is pretty great, although I think re-ride factor is quite low.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Smugglers Run

I have banged on about this before. Piloting the Millennium Falcon… what’s not to love? And I got to ride it by myself a bunch too.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Avengers Campus

A new area of the California Adventure park, this is the home of all the Marvel properties. It is not 100% open yet, with only one ride (Spiderman Web Slingers) and some character appearances and things. I will reserve judgement until it is fully open, but it is underwhelming at the moment. Web Slingers is kinda fun (motion tracking you as you fling your arms around to shoot webs at spiderbots) but 2 rides on it was enough for me. I was stuck on the ride for 10 minutes though which is always kinda fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Haunted Mansion

Our favourite.

 

 

 

 

5. Pixar Rides

Probably the best themed rides in any of the parks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Random

 

 

 

 

 

7. Food

Always a mixed bag at Disney, but you can find some gems (always Dole Whip Float for the win)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read More Disney Recap
26
Feb

Winding Down (the Disney Way)

By: muttler
disneyland
united states

 

24/02/2022

We were on the home stretch now. We said a sad farewell to Palm Springs (after I had a nice 2 hours walk through the mid-century modern neighbourhoods) and headed to Anaheim.

All through the pandemic, all Kate wanted to signify a return to “normal” was a visit to her happy place, Disneyland. So we resolved to do so. And today was finally the day.

The drive was fairly uneventful and by lunchtime we were in Anaheim. Too early to check into our final hotel, we dropped our car off and headed to our usual first visit whenever we come… Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar. Who doesn’t want a boozy lunch?

 

 

 

 

 

It had turned into a glorious day, and it was lovely to sit outside, having cocktails. We soaked it up, especially after the last couple of years.

We didn’t intend to be crazy over these last few days, rather just take it slow and enjoy the Disney vibe. For the day we really just wandered around. The parks were unusually busy for a Thursday so we went on the odd ride but rather just wandered around Disneyland and California Adventure.

I likely won’t post each day for the next few. I have posted about Disneyland a bunch, so I might just do one post to encapsulate the few days. The two new things will be the newish Star Wars ride, Rise of the Resistance, and also the new Avengers area in California Adventure. So I will report back on those in due course!

Read More Winding Down (the Disney Way)
24
Feb

Snow on the Joshua Trees

By: muttler
joshua tree
palm springs
united states

 

23/02/2022

Who’d have believed it. When we planned our trip, our biggest worry was that we could hit snowy conditions in Utah and Colorado that would cause us to rejig our trip. The dilemma of the hire car is that you can’t really do snowy conditions. But as you will have seen, we were absolutely lucky with the weather all trip.

Until today. We put a few days of Palm Springs in the plan so that we could unwind for a few days with some warm weather, maybe spend a little time in the pool. But today we woke up to rain and about 5 degrees. What was going on?!

It seemed a cold snap had hit most of California, and our desert oasis had become a bit arctic. We didn’t have much planned but we had been talked about possibly going for another visit to Joshua Tree National Park. We had visited Joshua Tree a few years ago and enjoyed driving through the landscape. A quick check of the weather there suggested that it was not raining at all, but that we could encounter snow! So off we went.

On the way we decided to pop into nearby Pioneertown. We had also visited there in the past but only to the awesome Pappy and Harriets saloon. Alas, Pappy and Harriets was closed today, but we did get to see the town in ints glory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Established for filming westerns, a small number of people live there. There was not much to see outside of a dozen or so old cowboy looking buildings. Fun for a quick visit on our way. Plus always a bonus to meet a gorgeous doggo.

We then headed to Joshua Tree, and it seemed a lot of people were drawn by the very rare snow, as it was quite busy going into the park. But once we were in, it was actually not too bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is one main road that goes through Joshua Tree, with a few offshoots, so we just meandered our way through, stopping to get photos of the snowy Joshua Trees.

We also stopped at the Hidden Valley, my favourite part of the park. It is a great secluded area, surrounded by smallish cliffs where you can wander around, climbing rocks and generally just running amok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otherwise we just enjoyed driving through the park at our leisure. While the snow disappeared fairly quickly, it was a delight to experience the park in a completely different way to last time.

 

 

We got back to Palm Springs late in the afternoon. The weather was a bit better, so we just kicked around. Dinner was another burger from Stout Burgers (mine had prosciutto on it… mmm) before getting ourselves sorted to move on again tomorrow for our last few days.

Read More Snow on the Joshua Trees
23
Feb

Modernism Week

By: muttler
palm springs
united states

 

22/02/2022

Again I was awake as the sun was coming up, so I decided to get out and stretch the legs with a wander around downtown Palm Springs.

Palm Springs is most known for being a bit of a 50’s time capsule, with the town dominated by mid-century modern houses, as well as Spanish-style villas. So I wandered in one of the more traditional areas before getting back to the room for some breakfast.

 

 

 

We didn’t have a set plan for the day and what we didn’t know when we first worked out our trip was that we arrived into Palm Springs bang in the middle of Modernism Week, their annual celebration of the style and architecture of the town. Sadly, most events were either on the other days we were not here, or sold out. But we spoke with some of the friendly staff, and decided to craft our own driving tour of classic houses, with some support of a tourist office map.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many are behind large fences, so it was difficult to see many of the “classics” but it was fun to drive around the different areas. It is quite remarkable how many of the houses have been kept true to their original style. Some included Elvis’s Honeymoon House, as well as those owned by Sinatra among other celebrities.

 

 

The rest of the day we decided to do our traditional shopping outlet run for new, cheap Levi jeans and a visit to our absolute favourite, the Shag Gallery in downtown Palm Springs. Most know that our house is full of artwork by Shag (i.e Josh Agle) and it is always a delight to see more of his work up and chat with the staff.

 

 

The weather had gone quite pear shaped, with the temperature dropping to around 12 degrees and the rain coming, so we stayed warm and dry, before heading out for some absolutely delicious Mexican food for dinner.

Read More Modernism Week