Time to fly.... and eat solids

Ry has progressed well and is now slowly eating solids and can hold things in (at both ends).

We are sitting in TBIT at LAX awaiting to be called for a (hopeful) seat change up to the pointy end of the plane. All good if not as we are thankful to be getting a seat anyway (which is not standby).

On the way to LAX we went the long way to fill in time and had a little walk along the beach at Santa Monica.

Then just outside LAX there is an In’n’Out burger joint, which is renown for its view. That put a smile on my dial! Yep these babies were super close! The burger was pretty good to. Ryan enjoyed the sprite!

Well that is it for another #chapottovacay. There is nothing more awesome than experiencing the world of travel with my partner in crime!

Planning is now underway for the next adventure!

Thanks America and Mexico, you’ve been swell.

Now for the waiting game before we jump aboard ‘St Kilda Beach’.

Waiting game over...

Getting Ryan some sunshine

Well, after the eventful night of bathroom visits, we risked taking a drive (and not being in close proximity of a bathroom).

To put a smile on his dial, and to tick off a bucket list item for Ryan, we headed to Torrance. Means nothing right, yeah I know.

Ok so we visited the high school there. Still nothing, yep me too.

Ok so this high school was the filming location for Beverly Hills 90210 (Beverly Hills High) and was the school that Buffy (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) went to. It was also the location for Not Another Teen Movie. So there you go. It was great to see a smile on his face when we pulled up for a photo or 10.

Yep, it was cold!

Bring your weed to school.... but don’t you dare smoke tobacco!!

To top off the drive we continued on to Redondo Beach and enjoyed a lovely sunset. Nice part of town that we will need to visit again.

Breaky, and dinner.... again and again and again...

Oh dear. Well the fun didn’t end at midnight. Poor Ryan caught a bug (probably some kiddy germs) and came down with an awful tummy bug, with the food intake exiting quickly from both ends. Holy phark, what a way to loose the buffet belly. It went on for over 12 hours, so as you can imagine not much sleep was had. With the homeward flight only hours away we pulled the pin and delayed our journey home for a day.  We are weening him back into solids as we speak. Poor dear!

So to make up for it, I ate for both of us this morning! It was healthy, see there was OJ and blueberries stuffed into the pancakes!

The wonderful world of Disney

Things have been a little busy since we reached dry land.

Right after jumping off the ship (not literally) we picked up the rental car and headed for “the happiest place on earth” Disneyland.

What an awesome day and certainly an escape from any type of reality.

Having the park’s photographers take photos and send them to the Disney app was great, it saved phaffing around with cameras and phones.

They got a little creative with some of the shots, especially when they met Clyde!

During the day we were able to skip the lines on some attractions as we had bought a Fastpass! 

We also took a trip on the Mark VII Monorail. In hindsight Walt was quite a visionary with many aspects of Tomorrowland not being too far from today’s reality.

We were like two big kids for the day, and went to town on the teacups.... spinning them as fast as we could without seeing our breaky again. Let’s chat later about seeing breaky again...

Toward the end of the day we paid a visit to Mickey’s house. We want to live there!

Ryan caught up on some work in the home office while I took a nap.

Out the back of the mouse-house we trotted into his library and low and behold the lil man himself. It really felt like we were meeting the President. Actually MM running this place would be awesome as the other muppet is not too popular here (like duh!)

Ryan, meet Mickey. Mickey, meet Ryan...

And the two Cheshire cats!

The day was almost complete with a pyrotechnic and water show with all of the characters on barges along the Rivers of America.

Finally at midnight we bid Disneyland farewell :(

Back to where it all started...

Good morning Long Beach! 

Here we are back at the Carnival Terminal, time for breaky and then off to the ‘happiest place on earth’, no not the buffet (although some other passengers may have withdrawals for a day or two)... nope we are off to DISNEYLAND!

But first (following an orderly meal) we will join the craziness called disembarkation. Although it is only 0705 here we have an escape slot of around 1000.

It has been fun, not sure if the Carnival thing is for us but it was a nice break from reality and gave us the opportunity to see a dear friend and visit a new city.

Back soon with some Mickey action!

Puerto Vallarta

On Wednesday they hoisted the red and white flag as the Pilot jumped aboard and brought us through the small breakwater. 

We arrived for a 12 hour stop in Puerto Vallarta, another key reason for the cruise. After some tricky manoeuvres we tied up right on time.

Puerto Vallarta is a lot bigger than first thought and a local advised us to take the bus as it is quite a hike from the wharf.

For 15 pesos each we took a ride into “downtown” and also Old Town on a somewhat dodgy bus with blaring music, quite a fun experience on the cobbled roads.

On our way from the ship we stumbled across a tribute to Mr Potato Head. OK we really weren’t too sure what this was but it was photo worthy nonetheless.

There is quite a bit of abstract art around the place, with some really imitating reality...like this one where parents are worried about climbing kids...

... and this, the tribute to the buffet!

Clyde was impressed with how ‘earie’ the place was.

The locals appear to be very creative, who said you need a roof rack to transport a ladder by car?!?

We trotted about town for a few hours before taking the bus back to the port. The town certainly has a lot of character.

When we were hanging out down by the beach we spotted these crazy chaps on a totem pole,  no real fast way to get down if you wanted to.

The pelicans are a little crazy (and hungry), they were also enjoying a buffet of sorts, by dive bombing into the water for a fresh catch of fish.

But before leaving we made the most of the local cuisine!

It was an unexpected hot day and we returned to the ship to cool down before bidding farewell to this cool spot and setting sail for Los Angeles, but first - 2 more sea days at the buffet and watching the wildlife.. however this time not buffet related wild life, but rather the whales which are playing not far from the ship.

Hola!

Updated: Ok so we haven’t been able to blog because the ships satellite wifi is a little dodgy.

So we are over halfway through the cruise around the land of the taco. 

The first first sea day was awesome with the ‘Carnival Live’ concerts of Carly Rae Jepsen. Brilliant young performer and made us feel like teenagers singing into our hairbrushes. The evening was helped by our very good oral hygiene!

We weren’t the oldest there not the youngest, and there was a big turnout. Many passengers didn’t make it and were either asleep, smoking their lungs out in the casino or stuck at the buffet (aka Pig Pit).

Ok so explain.. the ship has two buffets. Many of the attendees appear (not by their shear size, but behaviour) to have never eaten during their entire existence on the planet, or are simply getting bang for their buck with how many waffles they can stuff into their mouths during the feeding times. It is best to step aside and let them pass or risk being trodden into the carpet like the food that does not quite make the journey from their oversized plates to their equally sized mouths. I do not need to then explain the experience with the free ice cream machines or the 24 hour pizza joint! Two words - Fucking. Horrific.

Anyway, back to Mexico. We pulled into Cabo for two days, however had to return to the ship overnight and weren’t able to stay ashore... the ship sailed out from it’s anchor point and returned the next morning. Something to do with duty free and being able to open the casino. The Pig Pit food must be tax free I reckon! Clyde enjoyed his time ashore too.

As the crew were setting up for the tendering, we were joined in port by the rather familiar “Roobs”, the Ruby Princess.

She stayed in port throughout the night.

It’s quite an experience getting off the ship which in anchored and jumping on a little tender boat go ashore. They squeeze about 55 people on each boat.

During our Cabo days we met up with an old high school friend. Ash has lived in Cabo for some time now with his lovely wife and two adorable boys. Quite an awesome view from his house.

It was great to spend time with him and to experience the real (non-tourist) Cabo. We tried our hand at the local golf driving range as one of the kids was at golfing lessons. The next day we got a little touristy with Ash organising an ATV tour. Ok so it looked like the 3 amigos were going to rob a bank, but instead we drove around the sandy dunes and cactus filled land, complemented by a tequila tasting afterwards! 

We learned a lot about this drink.. and have a new appreciation for how the really good stuff tastes!

We also got a good dose of the local food, filling our bellies with a lot of Mexican fare before returning to the ship to sail away. 

This is our second time in Cabo and we are very much looking forward to going back to Cabo.

Once they located one dickhead who was almost left behind we set sail for our next destination, Puerto Vallarta.

Later that night, disaster struck (for some)... this is the scene that we stumbled across...

More come when the wifi is a little better as I keep losing my post entries.  

Time to set sail...

Ok so picking up from the last post, and after a solid sleep (which was induced by some magic tablets we found at Costco).... we had an awesome evening with Kellie (Ryan’s cuzzie) and her lovely wife Liz. Yep the gay-fab-gene runs in the family!

Our escorted tour of Costco was eye opening, we are no longer virgins of bulk buying. Picked up a new suitcase due to the shopping and other bits and pieces. We saw Grey Goose 2 litre bottles for $30..... almost worth buying another suitcase for that.

After the Costco experience we found ourselves pigging out at Cheesecake Factory, always a winner food-wise there and a few pounds heavier!

So today is sail-away day on the ship. We first went to Walmart to pick up something to hide vodka in... I think we are on a winner and will see if ithe contraband is still in our checked luggage....as the cruise is not really BYO VODKA!

Before... (note the seals expertly removed)

And after.... and bingo just add lime and you have a ready-made Mojito!!

We are now on board awaiting access to our cabin. 

Not a bad view of this old girl as we wait!

The decor on the Carnival Splendor is rather PINK! Interesting choice! Probably a good calming colour if this bucket sinks (after all it is [was] actually the sister ship to the Costa Concordia). I think we will be ok as we haven’t booked the submarine excursion.

The people watching is ummm yeah well let’s say fascinating to say the least... certainly not feeling too ashamed of one’s body (in comparison).

Clyde is ready to go and is excited about the pop concert tomorrow night, I think Ryan is a bit giddy about seeing Carly Rae Jepsen too. Yawn.... I mean oh my I can’t wait (to do the laundry around the same  time). Yeah yeah #imchooseingmyownpharkingfun.

Well sailors, it is time to find our cabin and read ourselves for the muster station ‘rehearsal’. Clyde is happy with the cabin and the view from the balcony!

Caio for now!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: we’ve decided the paintwork is actually salmon. Pink is just a little pedestrian!

Oh and look what arrived safely to the cabin.... yes, “mouthwash”. Two of these are not like the other.... Ryan is trying to work it out!

Clyde has already started as we do our Muster Station Emergency Briefing.