Jenn had a spa day, and I wandered around the resort and relaxed. It’s nice to intersperse exploring days with do-nothing days.
To the restaurant for breakfast:
Balcony view:
Trees and resort:
Hawaiian takeout for lunch:
Back to the restaurant for dinner:
Double rainbow, what does it mean?
Sunset:
We spent our first full day on Maui mostly at the resort, relaxing and exploring.
Breakfast in the resort’s restaurant:
Then we headed to Lahaina for groceries:
Back at the resort, lunch again at their restaurant:
Exploring the resort:
A nice beach:
The Royal Scoop snack bar:
Preparing for a wedding:
Sunset from our lanai:
Wedding photos:
We had a peek and sounds of the nightly luau:
Sunset:
We stayed at Royal Lahaina Resort & Bungalows on Maui.
After landing at the airport, we picked up our rental car; we got to pick out our car, and chose a Nissan Rogue, since we’ve owned one before, and Mom has one, so we’re familiar with them (though this was newer, so a bit different):
We went to Raising Cane’s for a second dinner:
Heading to the resort:
Checking in at Royal Lahaina Resort & Bungalows:
Our room:
Property map:
Resort info:
Our balcony / lanai:
View:
We normally stay in our motorhome when visiting Disneyland, but on this occasion we left our coach in Phoenix, and drove six hours to stay at the Camelot Inn, across the road from Disneyland.
Here’s an interactive map of the driving route from our site in Phoenix to the hotel:
And an interactive map of our walking route from the hotel to dinner and shopping in Downtown Disney, to Disney California Adventure, and back to the hotel:
Camelot Inn:
Our hotel room:
A short walk from the hotel to the crosswalk by the Disneyland entrance:
The Disneyland walk-in entrance:
We walked past Disneyland to Downtown Disney, with a stop in the Pandora jewelry store:
We had a reservation at the Céntrico restaurant for dinner:
LEGO Store:
Jenn bought some LEGO bonsai:
A quick look through the World of DIsney store:
Then we went into Disney California Adventure for dessert:
We happened to see a Lunar New Year parade:
Churro for dessert:
Happy 25th birthday:
Lunar New Year:
Cars Land:
Heading back to the hotel:
We traveled from our last campsite to return the rental van, then got dropped off at a hotel in downtown Christchurch, and did some touring around the central city.
Here’s an interactive map of our route, with the stops marked:
A pile of things to donate to Red Cross:
A pile of our luggage:
McRent Christchurch:
Other campers:
Our van:
No problems dropping off the van (unlike a German family that returned their camper at the same time as us, that had thousands of dollars of damage!). McRent arranged an Uber to our downtown hotel for the night, Distinction:
Hotel room:
We went to the Tramway Cafe for lunch:
We did a city tour tram ride:
Tram route:
A must-do in Christchurch — punting on the Avon:
A brief walk through part of Christchurch Botanic Gardens:
Then more walking around looking at Christchurch buildings:
And back on the tram:
Coffee and a slice:
Christ Church Cathedral reconstruction; it was significantly damaged in several earthquakes:
More buildings and art:
A very nice city.
We did another overnight cruise, this time on Milford Sound, on the Fiordland Jewel.
They have a dedicated parking area:
Milford Sound selfie:
Check in counter:
Our boat arriving; much smaller than the previous cruise:
Waterfall selfie:
Milford Sound:
We splurged on the “governor suite king” cabin, alone on the top deck:
A nice bathroom… apart from the toilet getting stuck and flooding the room, dripping down to the saloon below! The captain did fix it very quickly, though:
View out the window of our cabin… which also had a faulty part, preventing one of the blinds from closing:
Snacks:
Seals:
Front deck:
The boat anchored in a bay, then they offered kayak and boat excursions:
Helipad and hot tub:
Helm station:
Jenn took an icy dip — “it’s cold!”
Dinner:
Hot tub:
Misty morning:
Saloon:
Nice coffee machine; gotta have our flat white:
Breakfast menu:
Docking:
Milford Sound is certainly scenic, but much smaller than Doubtful Sound. The two were very different experiences, but if we had to choose one, we preferred the Doubtful Sound one. Milford Sound would be better experienced as a day trip.
We did an overnight cruise in Doubtful Sound of Fiordland National Park, aboard the Fiordland Navigator.
Just getting to the sound takes a couple of hours; first a catamaran to cross Lake Manapouri:
Hydro power station:
Model of the power station:
Then a coach crossing:
Waterfall:
Peek of the sound:
Boarding the Fiordland Navigator:
Our room:
Not a bad view out our window:
Heading out:
Windy selfie:
Doubtful Sound:
Fiordland Navigator bell:
Masts:
Birb:
NZ fur seals basking on an island:
Bar’s open:
Kayaks:
Almost glassy water:
Kayak and swimming:
Buffet dinner:
Dessert:
Dusk:
Mooring ball:
Morning:
Breakfast:
Twisty:
Ship layout (we were in cabin 2 on the main deck):
Leaving the Fiordland Navigator:
Then back on the coach and catamaran.
A most memorable trip. So many waterfalls!
After parking our truck in Joe’s Airport Parking next to the Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel, we checked in to the hotel for the night.
We did that to avoid any time crunch between dropping off our coach for storage, and checking in for the flight. Though as it turned out, we didn’t really need to do that. But better safe that sorry; if we had any significant delay with the storage, or horrible LA traffic, we could have been (more) stressed.
The hotel room was fine; mainly paying for the location, near the airport:
The hotel (and car park) offered a free shuttle to the airport:
Once there, we loaded our big pile of luggage onto a cart:
We arrived at the airport at around 11:00 (as we had to check out of the hotel), but it turned out that the Air New Zealand check-in counter didn’t open until 15:05, so we had to wait with all our luggage for four hours:
In retrospect it might have been more comfortable to wait at least part of that time at the hotel (with them storing our luggage for us), but oh well.
Once we finally got checked in and through security (which was a breeze), we had another three hours to wait till boarding. Jenn killed some time by getting a back massage:
Our plane arrived at the gate at 17:18:
Finally boarding the plane at 18:34:
Passing by the fancy Business Class seats:
The view from our seats; we sprung for Premium Economy, which is roughly equivalent to Business Class on a domestic airline:
Seat selfie:
Farewell LA:
Flight info:
Dinner menu:
Drinks menu:
Jenn’s dinner:
My dinner, the same thing (I wanted another option, but all they had left was the fish):
Breakfast menu:
Jenn’s breakfast:
My breakfast:
Flight info:
Landed about 12 hours after taking off at 04:45 NZ time, and easy customs and immigration (since I’m a citizen and Jenn’s a permanent resident), and our luggage was waiting for us in the baggage claim (priority unloading for Premium Economy) at 05:05:
We were out of the arrivals area so quickly, we were out before my brother Neville and his wife Karan had arrived, but my other brother Gavin was there to meet us. We met up with N & K shortly afterwards, and loaded up our bags, then headed back to their place, where we were to stay for a couple of nights.
It was very early, and of course we didn’t sleep super great on the flight, so we spent a couple of hours having a nap. But then we went out with them to explore a bit; stay tuned for tomorrow’s post on our first day in New Zealand.
In preparation for our big trip to New Zealand (blog posts coming up), we booked Paladin in a cattery in Los Angeles called Club Cat.
We took him there the day before we stored the coach, along with his food, cat bed, and carrier:
The Club Cat foyer:
His suite had a view box above the door, and platforms inside:
They also offered a web cam where we could watch him whenever we liked:
Plus they emailed “postcards” about every other day, with a cute message “from” him and a few photos, as shown in this post.
They have a large playroom with a bunch of toys, but he didn’t like that, perhaps because it was too open; he’s used to smaller spaces:
He kept asking to go back to his room:
So after trying the playroom a few times, we switched to fur therapies using a glove:
He really enjoyed that:
They were amused by his happy drool:
He got lots of pats and attention too:
Other than his dislike of the playroom, he seemed to enjoy his stay, and was well taken care of. But he was happy to see us when we picked him up after our trip, and happy to be home again.
We’d be happy to board him there again.
While in the US Virgin Islands, we stayed at an Airbnb in the Point Pleasant Resort on Saint Thomas.
Here’s a map, with a marker for the resort where we stayed:
Jenn’s review of the Airbnb:
This was a fantastic place to stay during our trip to St. Thomas and Alan was a very gracious and responsive host. We wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again. We particularly enjoyed the gorgeous views right on the water and the easy walk to restaurants, which was just perfect after a day of sightseeing. Watching the pelicans dive for fish in the bay and the iguanas sunning themselves was wonderfully entertaining.
The Airbnb condo had a great view, above the water, and a short walk to restaurants, a swimming pool, and beaches:
A small but functional kitchen:
The bathroom:
A wraparound lanai:
Such a great view:
Rainbow:
Two or three iguanas sunned themselves in the tree below the lanai:
And it was fun to watch the pelicans diving for fish:
They sometimes visited the tree to dry off, too:
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Catamarans in the bay:
The nearby swimming pool:
The resort is gated, with a guard chicken:
A rather steep driveway:
A nice place to stay; we’d definitely stay there again.