Here are some random thoughts about our trip to the US with both sets of parents.

The flight to New Zealand was over fairly quickly, but we had a four hour wait in New Zealand airport before our next flight to LA. I was looking forward to that, thinking that there’d be plenty of shops and a few places to eat, but it turned out to be about a dozen shops at most, and a Burger King. So we sat around for four hours talking and/or sleeping.

Air New Zealand (and presumably the other major airlines) all have monitors in the back of the seats and a remote control built into the armrest so you can watch movies, TV shows and music videos. So instead of being limited to the movie they decide to show you, you get to choose. Surprisingly, I didn’t watch a movie in the entire twelve hours. Towards the end I watched a few episodes of The Simpsons and one of The Mighty Boosh, but in general I slept and listened to music on my MP3 player.

Disneyland was as remarkable as I remember. When we walked over to Downtown Disney (the freely-accessible area with shops and restaurants) the night we arrived, dad asked me what was on the other side of the entry gates that was so amazing. I didn’t bother trying to explain – his reaction the next morning said it all. In fact, dad’s reaction to pretty much every part of Disneyland was the highlight of the Los Angeles leg of our trip. I also scored a souvenir photo of him and me on Space Mountain which made for a great father’s day present.

On the second day of the LA leg we booked a tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Venice Beach. That was fun, but I have to say that Venice Beach is nowhere near as glamorous as it looks on TV. In fact, it’s downright seedy. We had nearly an hour to kill there and I was glad when it was over. I think everybody enjoyed the tour though, if only to learn why we only stayed in LA long enough to do Disneyland.

The coach trip from LA to Las Vegas was really interesting. We crossed the Mojave desert, which sounds boring but provided some really interesting landscape. All in all it took about the same amount of time as it would to get to the airport, check in, fly to Vegas and then catch a shuttle to the hotel, so I think it was worth it.

Vegas was just as we remembered – overwhelming. Big, hot, bright, noisy … fantastic. The parents were simply dumbstruck. The only thing we didn’t like about Vegas (and I don’t remember it being as big a thing last trip) was the smoke. Since Australia banned the smoking of cigarettes in pubs and clubs a year or two ago, it was a different experience for us to walk into a casino and have to breathe in second-hand smoke. I hope the US catches up to us in this regard soon.

I’d forgotten about the people standing on the Las Vegas strip handing out cards featuring scantily-clad women promoting local strip-joints and the like. It really does detract from the experience. For some reason all of these people looked alike. They were short and dark-skinned. Perhaps they were munchkins. Porn munchkins.

While in Vegas we took a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon, and that was incredible. We actually got to land in the canyon itself and have some drinks. It’s an impressive sight from above and from within.

After Vegas we flew to San Francisco, and I think everybody got a bit culture-shocked coming from the tourist-heavy areas to a “real” city. Our hotel, only a few blocks from Union Square on Geary Street, was right in the thick of the dirty, homeless-ridden streets. It wasn’t until we’d slept that night and we were able to take the parents over to Fisherman’s Wharf the next morning that everybody realised why we liked SF so much.

We took the ferry over to Alcatraz the next day, and then partook in some ridiculous chocolate sundaes in Ghirardelli Square. On the following day we did a coach tour to Muir Woods and Sausalito, which was fun for all.

The flight home went reasonably quickly. I slept most of the way, then watched Monsters, Inc. to pass the time before we landed in New Zealand. With only a 90-minute wait this time, we were on the plane to Melbourne before we knew it.

I had just about forgotten how annoying the whole tipping/tax thing is in the States. You never pay the advertised price for anything. We ate at some nice restaurants, but the meals are advertised as, say, $25 (which sounds reasonable) and then you end up getting slapped with a 7.5% tax, then a 3.5% “San Francisco Health Fee” or something, and then an 18% gratuity. Suddenly that $25 steak doesn’t seem such good value. The food over there in general is very good though – on par with Australia in many ways.