I need a dollar, dollar... a dollar is what I need.

So hitting the half way mark of our trip, DMM is starting to show signs of not making it.  The alarm is going off right on time in the mornings, but she is not wanting to budge at ALL.   Keeping that in mind, I let her sleep a little longer than anticipated today to save myself some grief over the shoes that were now rubbing her toes and heels raw.  Did it make an iota of difference? Nup.  It is still our main topic of conversation.  All day.

Breakfast was a leisurely affair at Macca’s while we organised a taxi to take us to Walmart and then Michaels ( a mega craft store ).  And DMM hit the ground running at Walmart, taking on the makeup aisle with a basket and a glint in her eye.  Then she remembered she wanted Hersheys spread ( like Nutella – only Hersheys ) so we wandered all over the place, buying candy in quantities we’d never seen before and makeup, and hair stuff and sugar cookies…. Ahhhhh…. Sugar cookies… we don’t have anything… ANYthing  like them at home.   With newly purchased CHEAP AS CHIPS makeup and other wonders ( which boggles the mind, because she got a heap from ‘the afore mentioned goodie bag’ but anyhoo…) we then made our way to Michaels and required a trolly to put all our walmart stuff in so we could do the same again.  I didn’t buy nearly as much stuff as I anticipated I would… even having an hour and a half before our pickup was due to return, I was rushing all over the place and chose larger items that are usually out of my price range at home and was happy with the couple of things I bought. 

Back at the room, we decided to take a couple of hours to rest and relax and then headed over to the park again to catch the shuttle to the Outlet mall.  With a strict budget imposed on DMM ( thanks to transferred money still not appearing in our card balance) we wandered around till nearly 10pm ( the usual closing time) and with shopping bags of designer boots each, sketchers at a fraction of the price, a foray into Hot Topic ( for the hipster in the group) and a few other bits and bobs to round out the spending ‘spree’ . 

It was a fun, if not exhausting day, and its probably a good thing that the transfer had not gone through yet, or there is no doubt we’d have spent a WHOLE lot more in all these designer outlets. 

It was still a very late night once we’d fallen into bed with the plan being to be up and going early to visit Disneyland for the last time this trip.  That was the plan anyway…

 

To all those who come to this happy place... Welcome

It would be no surprise to anyone that knows me that I woke today a little bit excited.  Today we were going to my happy place, and I could not contain my zest for the day.  The only problem is, I am traveling with someone who doesn’t see the need to be organised or for that matter, stick to any kind of time frame, so it was a bit frustrating to be still at Macca’s having breakfast at rope drop.

Oh well, by the time we got there, the crowd had dispersed and our (my) game plan was shot to hell before going through the turnstiles so when the first of the characters trotted out to keep the crowds from bolting through the park turned up,  I kind of went ‘what the hell’ and we lined up to meet a few princesses and Chip and Dale.   From that point on we literally zig-zagged all over the park all day.  Which for a ‘finish each section and move onto the next’ kind of gal, this was new ground. 

The day was grey from the start, with heavy threatening clouds for the duration and they opened up intermittently.  We were almost always fortunate enough to be on a ride when the rain came down, and were so thankful that our waits in outdoor lines were precipitation free.  But the silver lining of a rainy day in Disneyland ( if there is one) is that the crowd numbers are down, in an already ‘off season’ time, so we rarely waited more than 10 minutes to ride anything.  Which given the hours-long lines last time I was here, was a blessing.  The longest we waited was for Peter Pan ( 30 mins) and of course to meet Anna from Frozen.   All the other rides – including Indiana Jones … yes, even that ride – were walk on.  Knowing that the weekend on (our next day in the park) is supposed to be bright and sunny, we hit a lot of the ‘big rides’ and we knocked over a huge amount of rides in the one day, while it was possible to do so. 

Early in the day, we came across the meet n’greet  for the Frozen Princesses and as it was a ‘must do’ on DMM’s list and a ‘limited time’ thing, we reluctantly lined up for the posted 2 + hour wait.  Given the rainy day, this could have been a real disaster as the line is entirely outdoors, but the rain gods were smiling on us and we were through and meeting Anna ( not Elsa, much to DMM’s disappointment) in a record hour and a half.  I’d been watching all the discussions about this wait time online for a month or more before traveling and had not once heard of less than a 2 hour wait, so we were thinking ourselves fortunate as some families in the line had been there for almost 3 hours ( can’t believe anyone would waste their extra morning magic hour entitlements waiting in a line that doesn’t open till 2 hours after they are allowed in the park but many did). 

Lunch was corn dogs ( as you do) and then it was back into the rides and dodging the rain showers.  My Dad used to say ‘lovely weather for ducks’ any time it was raining when we didn’t want it to be, and we found ourselves reciting this often today  - every time we almost tripped over the multitude of ducks waddling all over the park.  I’ve never seen so many wandering the paths and fossicking in the flower beds and begging for a snack if you sat down. 

The weather really started to set in by mid-afternoon, so we decided to wander the shops a bit in an attempt to stay dry.  Much selfy-ing later, after many a weird and wonderful hat had been tried on, we moved on to another under cover attraction at Innoventions.  This is often a ‘only if you have time’ kind of place, but it was dry and we discovered also had the most impressive array of Iron Man suits on display so we happily indulged our love of all things Iron Man for a little while.   We were also lucky to catch the last meet n’ greet of the day for Thor – a new attraction in this much maligned dome of tomorrow.  It was a hoot, and he was quite the ham, very ‘in character’ and we loved getting our photos taken with the protector from Asgarde.   Another fortuitous  stumble-across moment. 

By this point, DMM had moved from happy place to ‘feet of agony’ and was convinced that her legs would simply not hold her upright a second longer, so despite it being sacrilege to leave the park an hour before closing, I acquiesced and a quick fly through Macca’s ( being the fastest food we could think of) and the short walk back to the hotel saw liberal application of Ice Gel on the aching limbs and feet and it was off to bed for the whiny one. 

Now in the peace and quiet, I’m enjoying today’s little sugary treat of a cake pop while I check out what my camera did today. 

Night all xxx

Disneyland getting gussied up for Valentines Day

Olaf, offering warm hugs from the roof of the Frozen meet n' greet

New Orleans getting ready for the Bayou Bash in March

DMM and Thor... somehow her feet were ok at this point.

Iron Man-y goodness

And its goodnight from Walt and his little friend. 

 

Hooray for Hollywood

We were feeling extremely lucky that the day had decided to be lovely and sunny… because we would be spending a great deal of it on the top open deck of a double decker tour bus.  What we hadn’t factored in was the wind chill. 

So our private ( read earth shatteringly exy) transfer arrived as we walked out to the parking lot and off we went to start the day at Santa Monica Pier.  Trouble was, nothing opens until 10am which is when we were scheduled to catch the first tour bus of the day.  So we wandered down to the beach and took a few photos then took the steep climb back up to road level to find the bus stop. 

Before we knew it we were sitting on the top deck with the wind in our hair ( and teeth chattering) we set off through Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and other swanky suburbs with the tour monologue prattling on in our ears about which house someone or other died in, or which house someone or other was born in, or which street someone notable was murdered in.  And lets not forget which church held their funeral and then of course, which cemetery they are buried in.  Yep… that was the topic of the whole diatribe until we reached La Brea where we disembarked and were assaulted by the tar smell of the pits just up the road. 

This was one of DMM’s MUST DO’S so we made our way to the entry of the Page museum and Tar Pits to discover some cultural stuff about LA.   The displays of all the animals that have been dug up on this one city block were just amazing.  Apparently, the animals ( back in the day) thought that the bubbling tar pits were waterholes and just stepped in and never stepped out.  And judging by the ‘tester’ thingy in the museum, it would have been a BIG ask to drag yourself back out of it.  The displays ranged from mammoths, to sabre tooth big cats, to Dire Wolves, to vultures to tiny sea shells.  I can’t imagine how they figure out which bone belongs to which animal because they all come out jumbled up.  Totally cool exhibits though.  Worth the trip for sure.   Outside on the grounds of the museum you can actually walk around and check out fenced off bubbling and oozing tar coming out of lawns, out of bubbling pits and out of pretty much random places.   There are also current dig sites you can peer down into and volunteers to ask those silly questions. 

The smell is something else.  Asphalt on a hot day and then some… or tar shampoo with a double dose of tar. 

One little grumble about the Hop on/Hop off buses… they don’t connect well and you are often left waiting long periods of time to catch the next one.  And they don’t always slow down at the stops so then you have to wait for the NEXT  one – which happened to us – they sailed on past and we were pretty grumpy to be left waiting again. 

Anyhoo… we finally got to Hollywood BLVD and were so freakin hungry that we made a b-line for Macca’s and their free wifi.  I think I practically inhaled my lunch ( at 3pm ) as we’d missed out on breakfast already, thanks to the weird connections of the buses. 

So shopping  for tacky souvies was then next order of the day and buy them we did.  We detoured into the Disney Ghirardelli store for some chocolatey goodness and then soldiered on to Madame Tussauds where we met up with a few of our more famous mates.  It didn’t take the selfie queen long to be selfie-ing all over the place with the likes of Leo, Johnny Depp, Marilyn Monroe and of course, Thor.  And she even had a little chat with Obama himself.   Sadly, her movie education is lacking, as I had to try and explain who most of the vintage Hollywood stars were.   She didn’t even know Bob Hope, however, I was amazed she knew Charlie Chaplin.  Fred and Ginger didn’t even rate a photos as she’d no idea who they were ( sharp intake of breath by the mother at that point).  Although, she didn’t know what I was talking about when we came around a corner and were met by Patrick Swayze standing on a log and all I said was ‘nobody puts baby in a corner’… she looked at me like I’d gone mad, so perhaps she is lacking in the 80’s classics too.  She did however line up for a shot with Forrest Gump so we had a win there. 

We really enjoyed this, despite being rushed for time and only just making the next bus, this was definitely a highlight of the day.  We thought we were home and hosed being back on the bus in good time.  True to form, the connecting bus insisted on waiting another half hour so that made us late back to our pick up spot for the return private transfer by at least 45 minutes.. we spent a little time on the bus in prayer that this stinky bus hadn’t just cost us a three figure sum in the form of a shiny black car transfer. 

Holding our breath and literally bolting down a very steep road to get back to the pier we rounded the corner to see the lights on in a shiny black car still waiting for us  - that was worth every single cent. 

A long trip home in peak hour but so glad to be back at the hotel and flicking the heater on to FULL BLAST, we dined on leftovers we’d collected in the fridge ( thank god for microwaves) and are flaking it big time because another big day looms in the form of our first official Disney Day. 

Santa Monica Pier

From the top of the bus in Santa Monica

La Brea Tar Pits with some life sized friends

Mammoth skeleton from La Brea Tar Pit

Sabre Toothed Thingamy at La Brea Tar Pit

Lampost Art out the front of LACMA (LA County Museum of Art)

A few of our new friends.....

Selfie Queen

The ‘Makeup-company-who-must-not-be-named’ Day

So today we slept straight through the alarm, but all was fine, and we postponed the further afield shopping expedition planned for this morning, opting for a leisurely breakfast in Denny’s instead.  After all, I had to introduce DMM to ‘too much to eat’ servings early in the trip, didn’t I? 

For anyone that’s experienced Denny’s you will know it’s a feast.  So after that, we came back to the room DETERMINED to access the internet on the two devices still unwilling to play nice and only managed to get one going as the driver to take us to our ‘tour of duty’ arrived half an hour early and set us into a mad panic to get organised and get down to the lobby to catch the transfer

Another lovely cushy Lincoln car, again with a Russian driver ( Alexander this time, and I hope you are reading that with their accent),  again with leather seats, and again with free wifi , drinks and mints at our disposal.  Got to say, I could get used to this.  The hour into Hollywood just whizzed by and we were suddenly standing on Hollywood BLVD out the front of CLOSED Make-up company offices.  On closer inspection, we were to knock on the plastic sheet covered window next door to be admitted. 

Turns out, that the EXACT 3 days we are here, the makeup academy and offices we were supposed to get a tour of as part of the prize were being renovated ‘top to bottom’ and therefore, just the quick makeup was our treat for flying 13 hours for.  Naturally the much touted meeting of the head of the company couldn’t happen either because he would be in attendance of their grand opening and master class NEXT  week -  coincidentally, the week we’d requested and been denied.   Sheesh.

Anyhoo… shrugging it off and just going with the expert application of makeup and false eyelashes ( and I will say, had it not been for the truly awesome, welcoming and friendly makeup instructor who applied our makeup, this day would surely have been a disaster).  We were genuinely blown away what this lovely European lady ( couldn’t for the life of me tell you where her origins were)  who expertly transformed the two of us with makeup and we did feel a bit ‘Hollywood’ after the session. 

The PR person we’d been dealing with then showed up and gave us some genuinely wonderful goody bags with their products in them but was her usual self and announced that they hadn’t arranged a return transfer for us because they assumed we would want to shop and sight see in the street before making our own way back.  I’m not sure what gave her that idea when we have a full day tour booked tomorrow ( which she knew about) but while we were sitting on their white leather 4 seater couch pondering how we were going to find our way back ( and lamenting the $130+ cost of the one way transfer we were looking at having to shell out) the makeup artist went out the back and within 3 minutes, the PR girl popped out to say they could arrange something.  Coincidence?  I’m thinking not, given the look on the makeup lady’s face when we were told. 

So we wandered off to look around for the 30 minute wait and on our return we were told rather gruffly to wait outside for the transfer with a ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ kind of air. 

Have to say, I’m very disappointed by their attitude… we were honestly so thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip and told them so over and over, and we still got shafted.   Reflects very badly on them and everyone I speak to, is being told about it.  So I’m not sure this has been the best PR exercise they ever thought up, and I genuinely believe this comp was to harvest data rather than see anyone have a great experience.

Sigh… ok, that’s over, let the trip truly begin. 

Back at the hotel, we rested and pondered our transfers tomorrow – we’ve had the devils own trouble finding a way to Santa Monica to catch the tour we wanted to do  - and in the end, with DMM almost fainting on the spot when I shelled out for private transfers for the occasion, I closed my eyes and handed over my details so she could do the things she MOST wanted to see.  I thought it only fair, given that she had agreed to Disney days again.  She is so accustomed to me being so frugal that I think I nearly sent her off into another panic attack that we’d run out of money because of her.  Nah… I had a little up my sleeve for something unexpected… this turned out to be it, and I’m happy with the decision.

So once I got her to breathe again we wandered down to the Rainforest Café where I again splurged to her eyepopping horror on a lovely meal with anything she wanted, including the souvenir glass.  I love this café.  It’s always fun to sit in a restaurant that has thunderstorms and rainy patches in the middle of dinner.  Downtown Disney is a totally different place at night, with street performers and twinkling lights everywhere.  It’s a joy to walk down this precinct and soak up the atmosphere… I was forbidden to sing along with the Disney songs we could hear, but she couldn’t stop me from skipping a few steps to be back in my happy place. 

She is now sound asleep, Like I should be at almost midnight, so night all.  xoxo

          

The goodie bag with all its contents

DMM after her make over - selfies all the way

DMM and our cocktail/mocktails in the Rainforest Cafe.

     

OK, yep... thats cold

As I write this, of the last 28 hours, I’ve only slept for a maximum of about 2 of them – and neither of them were together, so the Daze part of the title is apt today.

 

So the transit day started out pretty cruisey by my usual standards – only having to be ready to leave for the airport at 6:30 am is new for me – its generally at silly o’clock in the middle of the night.  The transfer guys ( The Pickup Guys) were here on time and because we were the only passengers at that time, we got a car to ourselves which felt a bit like royalty.

Actually, despite a one hour trip taking two hours thanks to peak hour traffic, everything was going so efficiently, I was bracing myself for the ‘blow’ which must surely come.  On arrival, our check in had just started boarding and we got waived through to a desk just opened and within 10 mins of being at the airport, we were checked in, and basically ready to go through to departures. 

The time just flew and I cannot remember a trip where this part didn’t seem to drag out.  Before we knew it though, the same cheerful chatty check in guy was taking our boarding pass and onto the 747 we meandered.  Our seats were only a row or two from the galley, which we thought would be great but alas, the constant slamming of doors and trays and crushing of little soft drink cans drove us to distraction and made sleeping literally impossible.  Hence the hour of sleep on the plane ( which has never happened to me – I’m the one they have to wake to feed) and subsequent one hour ‘s coma in the room after lunch.

So, not having flown Qantas long haul for over 14 years, it has its pros and cons.  Pros:  great departure time, they continuously feed you, fatter than usual pillows.  Cons:  The older plumper attendants that constantly stick body parts into your face as they bend to attend to another patron, the lack of floor lighting in the pitch dark to find the toilet ( so I improvised by grabbing headrests, and the odd tuft of hair of its occupant to find my sleep-deprived way to the loo) and the fact that there is zero amount of food choices for a 10 year old palette  ( unless of  course, you are a 10 year old and can order it).  Worst airline food I’ve encountered bar none.  But only because it almost without exception had tomato in it ( which I can’t eat) or olives ( and I flat out hate olives).  I’ve never flown and not been able to find an alternative to my liking – but not today.

Another little tip – if you insist on leaving your shoe laces untied for the duration of the flight, make sure that you have ALL of those suckers in the toilet shoebox before you shut the door – because when that latch slides across slamming it shut, your lace WILL get caught in the door, and you WILL have to ‘go’ in whatever yoga pose that leaves you in, because to open the door would be embarrassing – and so is forgetting to flush and rushing back to do so… I promise I only did that once, and lets face it, there’s a lot going on in the one little space- it gets harder to remember everything as you get older.

So I digress….

We arrived at LAX before it actually opens, so had to wait at the gate until 6;30am by which time a number of other planes arrived.  But, not to be outdone, we disembarked in what surely must be record time and were down in customs before you could blink – and it filled to capacity in the same blink.  Again, we were lucky and got waved through to a newly opened customs officer, who cheerfully and swiftly waved us through without finger printing ( I can only assume because I’ve been printed before and DMM is a minor over here still), and the same with the next guy and our luggage was some of the first to turn up on the carousel.  Amazing.   All in just on an hour.

So through the gates we go and found our driver – a Russian we shall call Boris for the purpose of this exercise - who has a lead foot but a lovely Lincoln with leather seats in a mini limo-style to take us to the hotel.  At the hotel, our luck continued with our room being ready to take at 8:30am – which I’ve also never encountered – and we have an identical room to the one I stayed in 18 months ago, comfy and clean and a heater which is now blasting away keeping the 7 degrees Celsius at bay. 

We spent a few hours wandering through the shops in Downtown Disney which was a few hours short of what I was hoping for, but unfortunately, DMM is unwell, and shopping was proving more than she could muster  the fortitude for– despite it being she who bought  the first couple of bags with Disney and LEGO written on them – a combination of extreme jetlag and a panic attack has floored her.  

Anyhoo, I DID manage a Wetzel dog for lunch ( my absolute fav) and a trip into Marcellines for a red velvet mickey shaped cake pop, and will head back to DTD solo tonight because I am sure that the ‘one hour nap’ that DMM is still having some 3 hours later will continue on until morning at this point.  She’s wrecked and hopefully the sleep will boost her resolve for tomorrows visit to ‘the-makeup-company-that-must-not-be-named’. 

And tonight, I’m going to buy a hoodie… I am not good with the cold. 

The flying and apparently boxing Kangaroo we flew to LA in. 

Millie selfying in the Lego Store with Gandalf

The gorgeous goodies at Marcellines candy store - traditionally, I buy a 'little something' every day

Now that wasn't supposed to happen

So as usual, I spoke too soon...

After a whole day of running around like a headless chook, I am in need of a holiday... oh wait...

So today, I got up at sparrow fart and launched myself into the list to get everything done and dusted before lunch with general plan of relaxing and watch a movie this afternoon and just chill.


LOL... nup... didn't happen.

by lunch time, I had indeed accomplished a great deal of the list requirements and was feeling pretty good about the whole thing and of course that's just when I'm quite sure the universe thinks up the worst possible thing ( in first-world terms) to throw at me to see if I bounce. 

Sheets all washed, dried, back on the beds - check.

Sundry little jobs washed/drawn/ironed or packed - check.

Bag to the neighbours to collect my mail - check.

So it was time to just throw that new colour in to banish the greys - naturally, I'm too young for grey hair but we do what we must.   Out comes the new whizz bang dual tube squirty thing, that requires no mixing.... on it goes onto my greys and the timer goes on.

Half way through the developing time, I took a peek to see how its traveling, and it strikes me as odd that it is kind of baby poo brown.  It should be very very dark by now and I should be worrying about how its going to come off my skin.  But no... it appeared to be lightening rather than darkening my long and now piebald locks and the no-drip formula is in rivulets down my face.  

Rather distressed, I resolve to give it 10 more minutes and then start pondering Plan B.  About this point, DMM arrives in the room - she'd 'lost' her passport and the sky was apparently going to fall.

Yes, she had looked 'everywhere'.  Yes, she'd looked in her carry on.  Yes, she'd upended everything that was only moments before been 'going away tidy'.  Yes, she had SERIOUSLY looked everywhere.  It had apparently just vanished.

So putting my own melt down on hold, mother marches up into DMM's room, unzips the carry on' just to check mind you' - extracts said passport - and without a word, locates said daughter, places said passport in hand and renews ones own melt down over not being 'basilica' brown but rather 'should not have eaten that curry last night' beigy-brown.

Not the look I was chasing.

Now I did go to the shops and buy another darker brown, but weary isn't even a rough approximation of how tired I am, so if I get a second wind, well, I'll be basilica brown, but if not, hair chalks and hats, here I come.  

So  with dinner in the oven, and my bed still strewn with clothes, shoes, underwear, electrical cords and a plethora of other 'travel necessities'  I'm still not ready. 

here's hoping the next 12 hours are fruitful and I get some sleep.  La La Land, here we come. 
 

Breathe.... just breathe....

What a difference 24 hours makes.

Now that most of the nitty gritty is sorted - money changed, airport transfers booked and most importantly, hair coiffed, the stress has largely abated as we are now faced with  nothing more traumatic than packing our bags,  checking off lists and painting toe nails. 

Hallelujah.