The amazing Australiankaren"s Completed TR..

[australiankaren]

 

[australiankaren]

Oh Freedom of the Seas, again how I love you xxx (more than Air NZ Karen because I'm very used to Air NZ and therefore probably take it for granted). I'm disappointed that we didn't have time to try Johnny Rockets - though our two younger daughters went there one night for a Kids Club dinner while we adults were eating at Portofino. I really think I need a two-week cruise on Freedom to feel like I've had enough time on her as 7 nights was too short. Freedom was the fifth cruise ship that I have cruised on (previously done Star Cruises, Carnival, another RC ship and the lovely Oceania) but she is certainly my favourite! It's funny to me that, although I love all things Disney, I have no desire to do a Disney cruise if I can cruise Freedom (or one of her sister ships) instead.

next trip you have to try these things.....its great we always leave with more things to try next time..and I do love freedom..not as much as ANZ..but close

what did you think of portofino....to us it was overpriced, over staffed and the food average...

 

[australiankaren]

If you do fly the awesome ANZ(kissy kissy) Premium Economy on their 777....then always choose seats A,B..they have about 4 inches more leg room than the other seats...they crammed in another row on the other side.....

here to help

 

[australiankaren]

Its big enough to see from space.....

 

[australiankaren]

So, the DH got his scuba PADI license on the boat, and i thought what better way to test our travel insurance than to send him in with 6 sharks, 8 stingrays, many fish and 4 angry turtles.....but because we were flying out within 3 days, he couldn't scuba.....but second best was the aqua tour.....they have tanks but stay on the surface......

he loved it

worth the $$$$$.....which was quite reasonable...

the scuba guys before his group

picture of the fish in case of insurance claim..being attacked by disgruntled fishy's

there's my man

sweetie...

another insurance shot

one of the angry turtles

how cool does this look

and here's a picture of a dolphin

 

[australiankaren]

Best way to travel.......we love staying at BLT...7 min walk, or 10 min boat or monorail trip.......

look 3 floors down from top, in the middle...its our aussie flag!

the building i stayed in in 2006.....good times

I love this view.........

I wanna go back

 

[australiankaren]

So, celebrating the fact he wasnt eaten by angry water creatures, off we go to eat some of them

victory wave

victory drink

seafood resotta thingy

my chicken noodles with bite.......great

yes...... scary....and a tad awkward

and this guy just parked himself right next to us.......

we had the 3 pm booking, so was quiet and a relaxing way to have lunch..

 

[5ofus]

O! M! G!

 

[australiankaren]

Nothing beats drinking @ Epcot, except drinking in Epcot in torrential rain......so we ventured out into the downpour..bought myself an umbrella and off we went.

haven't done this before, so was determined to get it off our to do list

the rain

yes, i seem to now realise, although comfy, this shirt makes me look 6 mths pregnant..ahhhhh, now I understand why people were offering me seats

and the humidity hates my hair....

finally some good wine... Australian of course

 

[australiankaren]

so, we are in china @ Epcot..and saw this Brazilian group getting there kids to do slanty eyes for a photo in china......how rude!

here's proof...we caught it as they finished

shame on you...

although I did leave with my umbrella in the air as a flag pretending to be a brazilian tour group

 

[australiankaren]

some quick food shots.....we stopped at France and had post afternoon tea

and I lost weight

 

[cola]

So, the DH got his scuba PADI license on the boat, and i thought what better way to test our travel insurance than to send him in with 6 sharks, 8 stingrays, many fish and 4 angry turtles.....but because we were flying out within 3 days, he couldn't scuba.....but second best was the aqua tour.....they have tanks but stay on the surface......
he loved it
worth the $$$$$.....which was quite reasonable...

I got my PADI thing a few years ago. As only a very very very occassional user, I've found that most of the time up near the surface you see more things because of the better light anyway. I've encountered more fish/turtles/etc while snorkeling that diving, but no sharks, I did encounter reef sharks on my first ever open water dive while doing the PADI course!

and here's a picture of a dolphin

I think that may be a spotted stingray (coming from someone with their PADI certification )

 

[australiankaren]

Last day at WDW, we checked out....checked in our 4 bags for our flight and hopped over to the poly for a 12 noon lunch.....you may be wondering where the other 2 bags came from....after lunch we hit the outlets for 3 hrs....pretty good to get 2 bags and 46kg in shopping in 3 hrs

anyway back to lunch..another outstanding meal..

oh diet coke....I miss you

my burger

his tacos.....

better shot of the tacos....so yum

my happy boy

and here's our luggage at LAX....

 

[australiankaren]

I got my PADI thing a few years ago. As only a very very very occassional user, I've found that most of the time up near the surface you see more things because of the better light anyway. I've encountered more fish/turtles/etc while snorkeling that diving, but no sharks, I did encounter reef sharks on my first ever open water dive while doing the PADI course!



I think that may be a spotted stingray (coming from someone with their PADI certification )

yep....your right...didnt have my glasses on....

but its a new bread of dolphin

 

[cola]

Wow, this TR started only 26hrs ago and is already up to 11 pages!!!!!!

 

[australiankaren]

we do enjoy a good Denny's feed, and with $4 all you can eat pancakes, how can you go wrong??

always excited to go to denny's

$4 of yummy goodness

DH soft chicken wraps

and with it being a 25 min walk from the hotel....we worked off the carbs...yeah right

 

[australiankaren]

Wow, this TR started only 26hrs ago and is already up to 11 pages!!!!!!

and only one boo boo so far

 

[Travel Mum]

we do enjoy a good Denny's feed, and with $4 all you can eat pancakes, how can you go wrong??

always excited to go to denny's

Haha, that's the Travelodge where we spent our last night in LA and the Denny's where we had our last dinner! Needed to find somewhere that could fit five in a room which that Travelodge could but the hotel was very basic although they did give us a late check up until 6pm which was good. The Denny's was okay but, as I was probably a bit of a sad sack because our holiday was coming to and end, I don't remember being particularly excited about it

 

[australiankaren]

so after getting in the night before, we left our gear at LAX Radisson and flew to LS Vegas for 24 hrs....cheaper keeping the room at LAX than paying baggage...

DH has never been, and i was excited to show him..but I have to admit, it wasn't that great....so wont be back.....

anyway here's some shots..we stayed at luxor and got rolled by the taxi driver..$24 trip that should have been $12..so not a great start to the excursion..and don't get us started on check-in @ Luxor..took 40 min for them to check 5 people in front of us....so strike 2 before we started..

plane was so tiny they had to check all our carry ons

just off the plane

 

[australiankaren]

So after catching the monorail, we jump off at Harrahs and hunt for dinner...its a thursday night but really busy so DH was getting a tad twitchy with the crowds, the noise and the lack of plan. He is so used to my holidays running with military precision that my "lets flow with it" freaked him out...and he says I'm the one with OCD

pre dinner drinks

I forgot to tell him all the rum was at the bottom........

nice pizza, but after waiting 20 mins to sit, then 20 mins to get it...it was cold so he sent it back.....strike 3 vegas

DH did like his dessert