It’s been a while since we’ve gone on a decent vacation. Between work, kids school, family events and other activities, we’ve found it impossible to get away for more than a weekend trip getaway here and there. We finally bit the bullet and decided to head out to Disney World this fourth of July Holiday.

We headed out on Saturday and our primary concern was the heavy rainstorms predicted for our four day stay at Disney World.  We flew out in the morning and arrived around noon at Orlando International Airport.   I was extremely pleased with Disney’s luggage pickup and delivery service.   Disney essentially grabs your luggage for you and delivers it to your room.  No need to wait at baggage claim!

We didn’t rent a car for this trip since we knew we could get free transfers to and from the airport through Disney.  We checked in rather quickly and were on our way within minutes!   The bus ride from the airport to our hotel took approximately 30 minutes.   The only complaint we had is that the bus makes a stop or two before getting you to your hotel.  Our bus stopped first at the Polynesian Hotel then took us to our hotel, the Grand Floridian.

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We weren’t sure how much money we were going to end up paying for this trip.  Since we booked at the last minute, we simply booked an Expedia package that included Air & Hotel at the Floridian.  The cost for the trip so far had been $3500 but when we checked in, we realized the price tag would be much higher.   First, the hotel asked if we wanted to leave a credit card for “incidentals.”  Disney offers a credit card like card which serves as your room key, park entrance, and “charge” card.  We agreed to a revolving line and the clerk quickly authorized $1500!

We didn’t think anything of it but by the end of the trip, we’d use a little over $1500 in Disney charges during our stay.

After getting settled, we decided to head out to our first park, Epcot Center.   The kids were excited about riding the monorail so we headed upstairs to board the magnetic train.

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I had visited Disney World as a kid about 20 years ago and at the time, there were only two parks: Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center.  Back then, Epcot had cheesy animatronics talking about the “world of tomorrow”  and it hasn’t really changed much in those twenty years.

There were some new rides which were fun, Mission to Mars was Bart’s favorite as we rode that twice and wanted to go back for more but  we had to meet up with Marge & Lisa who were enjoying some of the kiddie activities.

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The new entertainment attractions basically centered around popular movies like Nemo (see pictures below) and perhaps that’s my primary complaint with Epcot and Disney, the “creativity” factor has gone away and has been replaced with “consumerism popularity” and “merchandising” far too much.

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The rides that did have some creativity were all booked solid.  We desperately wanted to get on Soarin but there was a 90 minute wait time.  Epcot (and the other parks) have “Fast Pass” access which allow you to get a ticket for faster entry but this ride wasn’t issuing any more Fast Passes so we were bummed.

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We ate our first meal in “Canada” at Epcot center.  We were so tired and hungry from our travel and first park visit that we simply decided to stop at the closest restaurant which happened to be a Canada themed restaurant.   I had New York Strip steak and Marge had some pork chops, the food was quite good but as soon as we got the tab, we realized the $1500 authorization would be “eaten” up rather quickly.  Our tab for dinner for two was $80!  We had spent another $10 buying chicken nuggets for the kids at a kiosk a few minutes earlier so the entire cost of the food for a half day was almost $100!

After a few hours, we decided to head back to get some rest.

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This past weekend we made our first foray into Las Vegas as part of our anniversary celebration. We stayed at Venetian Hotel and I can only summarize our visit in the context of “The Good”, “The Bad”, and “The Ugly” but I will say that Las Vegas is definitely the most overhyped city in the world…

“The Good”

There is plenty of entertainment in Las Vegas. Any kind of activity from scenic mountain trips to concerts, plays, and other shows are available at various times throughout the day. You can pretty much find any kind of gambling gaming activity nearly anywhere. Lastly, we had a great time celebrating someone special’s birthday up there and eating fine dining and watching the fountain show at Bellagio.

“The Bad”

To start with, service was bad pretty much everywhere. From the beginning of our trip with “Cattle Car Airlines” to the Starbucks at Treasure Island to city infrastructure it was all BAD, BAD, BAD!

Where to begin? First, I can plainly see why the service can be so bad; there are simply car loads/airplane loads/truck loads of people arriving all the time. Why provide excellent service when you can easily make it up in volume!

But the first thing that annoyed us was the poor airport infrastructure. I’m told in 1990 there were 300k people living in Las Vegas and today there are 2 million. I don’t think the City Government has expanded the infrastructure in any way. What are they doing with those billions of tax dollars?

Second, the taxi lines are too long! It’s pretty ridiculous when you have to wait 40+ minutes for a cab at the airport and at pretty much any hotel (the ONLY place you can get a cab is at hotels)!

Third, the traffic is horrendous. There are too many cars trying to drive down the same strip of road. Worst yet the traffic lights aren’t syncronized so you may drive for one or two blocks only to be stopped at the next traffic light.

I mentioned to a cab driver why they don’t simply install a train from airport to the strip and he said, “yeah that’d be great for tourists but bad for us.” So there are vested interests in keeping the cash flow going and keeping the tourists unhappy.

Fourth, the casino action was pathetic at most hotels. We stayed at the Venetian and the place reminded me of the movie Night of the Living Dead as the patrons wandered aimlessly throughout the casio, shops, and hotel. The zombies sitting at the tables were quiet and subdued creating an atmosphere as exciting as a public library. The action wasn’t much better at Bellagio where the zombies were a little more animated. There was some hot action at a few key places and I’ll tell you where down below.

“The Ugly”

With too much traffic comes too much pollution and this left the air on street level hardly breathable. Between the thousand cars driving down the strip and the smoke eminating from every other cigarette dangling from the mouths of zombies the oxygen level must have dropped down to 8% of the air!

Speaking of pollution, there were thousands of lewd sex solicilations strewn across every sidewalk as well as being handed out by some pretty desperate people. It’d be nice if the trash were picked up every now and then.

Lastly, it was plain ugly having to wait for taxi cabs or being forced (ala Baatan death march) to walk up and down the strip amongst a bunch of zombies. The best course of action is to plan you hotel stay either for the casino action or for the proximity to the events and activities you want to do.

“The Summary”

Would I return there? Not really except if there were a very special occasion in which someone wanted me to attend.

As for some hot casino action I would recommend:

The Wynn Hotel, Excalibur Hotel and MGM Grand (in this order).

I walked most of the hotels and I found the Wynn with the best combination of hot casino action and luxury accommodation and atmosphere. What do I mean by “hot action?” I mean action where people are excited to win (or even lose); they create an energized atmosphere (much like a sports arena) where you cheer on your fellow patrons. I didn’t see any zombies at the Wynn nor even Excalibur and only a few at MGM so if you want exciting game action go to the Wynn.

A word of caution

The higher end hotels (Bellagio, Venetian, Wynn) offer the best and wider variety of liquor whereas places like Excalibur offer basic liquor choices so there is a trade off: the higher the luxury, the colder the casino action and conversly the cheaper the liquor (Excalibur, MGM) the hotter the action.

The only exception was the Wynn where casino action and liquor selection were top notch too bad we stayed at the Venetian!

Categories: Hotels, Las Vegas
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This past Labor Day Weekend we made a short trip over to Galveston, TX.  Unfortunately, we didn’t take any photos but we did stay at the Moody Gardens and had a great time.  The hotel was decent and the pool was pretty cool.  We had a swim up bar along with a fairly large heated pool/jacuzzi.   We had a decent time at Schlitterbahn but unfortunately, everything was a bit pricey.  We had two margaritas and a coke at one of the swim up bar.  Tab ended up being $18!  We spent our last day there at the beach.  We’re busily working on planning on next vacation trip to somewhere exotic.  Stay tuned!

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I wanted to updated everyone on our Capital One Fiasco. As I posted earlier, we had called Capital One to let them know we were heading to New Zealand for an extended stay and we would be making various large charges. Upon arriving in New Zealand, we had to make numerous phone calls to the “fraud” department to “unlock/unfreeze” our credit card. We ended up spending about $80 in cell phone and calling cards calling back to the US from NZ. We sent Capital One a letter expressing our dissapointment with their fraud department and customer service department. Yesturday, we received a response with an apology and a credit of $80 to our account. I must say that I am happy Capital One did the right thing and covered our expenses for the expenses and inconvenience that their overzealous fraud department caused us during our trip.

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As promised, I’ve written a brief review of the hotels/apartments we stayed in during our New Zealand trip. I’ve included some photos when we took some. As far as prices, they fluctuate greatly during high season or low season so I’ve included a link to the hotels so you can check for the latest prices.

Auckland – Hyatt Regency

Photos: Pictured above is a “Suite” which feature seperate living room and bedroom. Good view of the city from our room.

Location: Excellent! This hotel was right across the street from Albert Park and the University of Auckland. We frequently walked to downtown to dine or shop. The Sky City Tower is about a 10 minute walk. There Hotel is located on the top side of a hill so if you have difficulty walking this may not be the best place to stay.

Staff: The staff were friendly and helpful and some showed enthusiasm for their job (this was rare in New Zealand).

Anemities: This is where Hyatt failed us. Their website promised an indoor heated pool. While there is a pool, it felt ice cold to the kids and us. There is a fairly large jacuzzi but it was closed for maintenance during our initial stay and we only got to use it once on our second stay. Gym, Dry Sauna, Wet Sauna, Spa service were all decent. Internet service was available but expensive. I think it was $10 to $15 NZD for 30 minutes.
Dining: While the food was good and the service was exceptional, you can expect to pay a pretty penny for the food & service. Breakfast for four cost $80 NZD. Dinner cost $150 NZD for four.

Parking: The hotel doesn’t have any parking although they do have a partnership with a garage to provide parking. Self parking is $15 NZD/day and valet parking is $25 NZD/day.

Perks: We got fresh fruit delivered to our room everyday (no charge) and turn down service was available daily.

Rating: We’ll give this hotel B+ because the pool wasn’t heated as advertised and jacuzzi was broken.

Lake Taupo – Wairakei Resort

Photos: Pictured above is the kitchenette of our “Executive Suite.”

Location: Good. This hotel was close to major attractions. The city center was about 5 km away (not really walking distance) but was close to many other sites: The Beehive, The Craters of the Moon, Huka Falls, and Lake Taupo.

Staff: The staff were friendly and helpful. The massuse service was good.
Anemities: We were pleased with this hotel. We had a private bedroom while the kids had the option of sleeping in a sofa bed in the living room or a day bed adjacent to the master bedroom. Our room could theoretically could sleep 6. We had a kitchenette. The spa service was good, gym, and heated pools were available. We had access to two large heated pools and two large jacuzzis. We spent most of our time in the jacuzzi while Marge got massage. I believe there is also a golf course nearby.
Dining: Oddly enough, we did not dine in the restaurants here. With our kitchenette, we cooked some fish that I had caught and we had purchased some breakfast items (eggs, bacon, ham, toast, etc) so we either ate in our room or went out to dinner. Dining facilities did appear lavish on the premises.

Parking: The hotel offers free parking to guests.
Perks: The 30 minute massage only cost $45 NZD. This is significantly cheaper than most other places charged for massages. We also had our own washer/dryer to do our laundry. Great plus!

Rating: We’ll give this hotel A-. The hotel provided great service and good anemities. The room did lack bathrobes which were essential because of the location of the pools and jacuzzi from our rooms during the cold winter evenings.

Wellington – Bolton Hotel

Photos: Pictured above are the bedrooms, bathroom and full kitchen of the “Bolton Suite.” By far, this hotel was the most neo-modern we’ve stayed in. Everything in here was sleek with a lot of stainless steel decor.

Location: Excellent. Although we had a car, we hardly used it. This hotel is right at the center of many, many attractions. We walked the Botanical Gardens, Carter Observatory, the Queens Wharf, Tram, downtown Wellington, shopping, dining, and so much more.
Staff: The staff were professional and robotic. In every other hotel we had stayed in, the staff always offered to help with any type of tourism activities we’d like to see. When WE inquired, we were directed at a kiosk with some brochures and a computer with internet access. The staff here were fairly stoic.

Anemities: We were extremely pleased with this hotel. We had a private master bedroom while the kids had their own room with twin beds. We had a private bath with shower and tub while the kids had their own bathroom with shower. Unfortunately this hotel lacked many anemities. While there was a pool on the third floor, it was ice cold. There was a single jacuzzi on the 3rd floor as well as a dry sauna. The gym was fairly small and had little equipment. The number of anemities available for the volume & capacity of hotel is totally inadequate. High Speed internet service is availble in each room but only one terminal is provided (if you didn’t bring your own) to guests.

Parking: The hotel has valet parking. I believe the cost was included in the hotel room.
Perks: Having a full kitchen (oven too!) was a great plus. The hotel offers guest free umbrellas to use while staying there. Those came in handy during the rainy weather! Internet service at kiosk, when available, was always free.
Rating: We’ll give this hotel A-. The hotel provided great room at a decent price but the anemities were lacking greatly. Although professional, the staff were to stoic and robotic.

Christchurch – Holiday Inn on Avon

Photos: Sorry, none available.
Location: Good. The hotel was close to many attractions but unfortunately there is a strange winding road way of getting to this hotel and it was difficult to locate and navigate towards it when driving about.

Staff: The hotel appeared to be understaffed. There was usually one person at the front desk to handle many guests seeking information, check in or check out. The dining staff were pleasant and helpful although one of our orders for pancakes during breakfast got “lost” because of their “new” computer system.
Anemities: No spa services were available and through some poor planning, our room ended up being a simple room with one queen bed and two twin beds. We had booked a “suite” and thought that had included a kitchenette and apartment like room (which were available) but it did not. The hotel did have a “heated” pool but it was mostly luke-warm than actually warm and nowhere near hot.
Parking: The hotel has free guest parking.
Perks: There is laundry facility on the premises but it wasn’t free. Kids eat free at holiday inn so it save some money but beware that breakfast can cost $40 NZD.
Rating: We’ll give this hotel B-. The hotel was the least favorite of all the hotels we stayed in New Zealand. It was functional and basic. The hotel also needs some renovation as many of the facilities (gym, pool, rooms) are a bit dated.

Queenstown – Villa Del Lago

Photos: Villa Del Lago in Queenstown New Zealand. The bedrooms, Kitchen, Living and Dining Room, and View from patios.
Location: Good. Queenstown is a fairly small town. Although this apartment is about 20 minutes walking distance to downtown with a great view walkway, we always drove to our destination. It is right next to the lake so easy access to the lake is readily available.
Staff: I must say that this location provided the absolute best service we’ve ever received from a lodging. Erica provided us with a tour of the apartment along with suggestions and offers to book or inquire about any type of attractions or visits we’d like to make. Erica frequently called on our behalf various tour operators to get information or make reservations.
Anemities: While there is no gym nor spa services we did have daily service to our apartment and you can request a massuse to come to your apartment. What the apartment lacked in anemities they were made up by the excellent service from the staff. We also felt we were at home away from home. We had complete kitchen, laundry, living & dining rooms and seperate bedrooms.
Parking: The apartment has free guest parking. Please note, the location is on a steep incline down on a single car road.
Perks: Great service from staff!
Rating: We’ll give this apartment A+. This was our favorite lodging. The view was absolutely spectacular (Suite 13). The bedrooms downstairs had their own patios with great views and the dining, kitchen, living rooms upstairs also provided a great view of the lake and mountians. Close to many attractions and airport. On the lake!

Categories: Hotels, New Zealand
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We got home safe and sound. Air New Zealand’s flight was 40 minutes late leaving Auckland and we were worried we’d miss our connecting flight in LAX due to having to go through customs but we whizzed right by and the airport was oddly empty. We made it home around 10:40 p.m. and the drive home to another 45 minutes but we’re glad to be home. Hotel Reviews, Commentary and all the pictures should be up by late next week!

Categories: New Zealand
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Well it’s our last day in Auckland. I’m writing this summary from the airport. There is actual working internet terminals here unlike the other airports.

We spent the morning at the Sky City Tower.4800 We had purchased a voucher pack and had tickets left to this attraction and Rainbow’s End. After one last long look at the Auckland sky & sea we headed over to Rainbow’s End.

Upon arriving at Rainbow’s End, I had some trepidations from our previous experience here: half the rides were closed for maintenance. This time though, everything was fully operational. It is odd though because we were one of very few people in the park so we essentially had the park to ourselves. We would ask the attendant (usually one or two per area) to turn on the ride and we rode whatever the kids wanted to ride. In retrospect it was much better than waiting in line endlessly to board a ride. We rode Go-Carts, Electric-Cars, Gold Rush roller coaster, Bumber boats, Dragon Coaster, and saw a couple of features in the new simulated motion rides. The kids also had fun at the CastleLand: moonwalks, and various rides for smaller kids.

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After spending most of the day we headed for dinner a “Catch Restaurant.” The food here was quite good as I wolfed down a New York Strip Steak and Marge had Spinach Chicken.

It’s been a great experience visiting New Zealand. We were however disappointed with the NZ Government by hitting us with a $50 NZD “departure” tax. What a scam. The Air New Zealand Airflight people at the Auckland airport here were rude as well. Especially an older woman named SUE that works the Air New Zealand counter. I would have gotten her full name but she hid her tag under her suit the whole time. We’ll definitely avoid Air New Zealand and fly Qantas or some other airline if we ever return to NZ.

One final note: We’ve seen more rainbows in NZ in the past 18 days than I’ve seen my entire life. This is a remarkable place.

Categories: New Zealand
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As I write this it is Tuesday evening around 5:45 p.m. We fly back home tomorrow night. We flew from Queenstown this morning back to Auckland. The bad weather the previous night delayed many flights and cancelled a few. We arrived in Auckland around 1:00 p.m. and got our car rental. We planned on taking the kids to Rainbows End but as we headed there it started to rain pretty badly. We instead checked into our hotel and then headed to downtown Auckland to eat lunch and do some more shopping. 4874

We’ll try to do Rainbow’s End tomorrow with another visit to the Sky City Tower here tomorrow. Our flight leaves late at night so we’ll try to do some last minute sight seeing before we depart from home.

It’s been a great journey. I have hundred of photos to post along with the review of hotels and some commentary on the culture here in New Zealand. This may be my last post for a few days as I return to the real world and take care of real world issues. Thanks for reading!

Categories: New Zealand
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We got off to a late start. Our Milford Sound trip got cancelled again due to weather. The tour operator offered to fly us there but couldn’t guarantee the cruise would run because of choppy water in the sound. Not wanting to spend $1000 NZD on just a fly around, we opted to take a two hour cruise of Lake Wakatipu. We saw large areas of Lake Wakatipu and the water here is crystal blue.7216

The landscape is truly pristene and majestic. After our cruise we headed for lunch at a Chinese Restaurant called “Lakeview Chinese.” The food was decent and had flavor to it so we were happy. It was a quick lunch because our next stop was a ride on fast moving jetboat across the lake and up one of the rivers. Bart and I took a Shotover jetboat complete with 360 degree extreme turns. The boat travels up to 60 mph and the cold temperature outside made our faces feel like icicles. There are areas of the river where you can see 10ft below in the lake bottom; the water is so amazing clear!

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After our boat cruise and jetboat adventure we headed back to the town centre to load up on shopping. We bought a great deal of stuff and headed back to our hotel to pack. Our flight for Auckland is around noon tomorrow. After Auckland we’ll fly back home.

Categories: New Zealand
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Rained out! We had planned to do our Milford Sound trip but the rain & cold kept us at bay. We spent the day with a trip to the town centre. We did some wine tasting at a place called “Wine Tasting.” This place features wines produced all over the central Otago region. We sampled 13 great wines and ended up buying 3 for the return trip home. We had originally planned on driving to the vineyards but the icy weather made us think twice. Many of the mountain roads don’t have any railing so you can easily and literally fall off a cliff here.

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At the town centre we had the best food we’ve had since we’ve been in New Zealand at a place called Winnie’s Gourmet Pizza. The pizza was the best; it had a “California Pizza Kitchen” feel to it but the food was much better. After lunch, the pouring rain and bitter cold kept us indoors and Bart was dying to see X-Men 3 so we went to the cinema to check it out. The “cinema” is quite an experience here. Aside from it being a place for babysitting pre-teens, the rooms themselves hold only about 60 people max and the screen is rather small. After the movie, the rain kept pouring so we headed back to the apartment to take some much needed rest.

Categories: New Zealand
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