Burj Khalifa ...

So our first day into our trip , we start the day by having breakfast witg Leigh as she is staying not too far from us. After breakfast we went up to the pool area and sat by the pool and had a swim until around 3pm in the afternoon.

We walked to the nearest metro station -Al Fahidi and got the metro to the Dubai mall , changing at Burjuman , this only cost us 11dhms , the card is 2dhms which you recharge. We walked through the mall to the 'At the top' desk which took 15 mins of power walking as we were a bit late. We checked in at five and took the tour which took 30 mins then we took many photos inside and out on the balcony. We waited for sunset so we could have day and night pictures. This activity was fab , really great to be so high up and have great pictures from this , we then checked in again to do the lake ride which was wonderful as they situate the boat so u can see the fountains and then allow you to sit on the front and get some great photos with the Burj in the background !!

We then used our Dubai entertainet vouchers to get fish abd chips which then worked out at 3 pounds each and they were really scrummy. We explored parts of the mall and then got the metro home.

This was a wonderful day , full of happy memories.

S&L xxx

Greetings from Dubai

So this is the third time for me writing this , i am having zero luck on here!!

So after only an hour and a half sleep we get to Manchester airport , where we check in fine. We pick up our preordered dirhans from travelex which we got the very best rate for , 5.9 dhms to the pound. Which is great and you can pick them up the next day if you so desire!

The flight was great , with chicken in youghurt curry and rice and sticky toffee pudding and then later we had afternoon tea. All of this was gorgeous but the STP was the best , makes my mouth water just thinking about it !! The flight attendant kept plying us with booze he would give us two when we each asked for a drink so i had 6 GnTs alone !! Safe to say at that altitude i was a bit tipsy !!

When we arrived we got our bags and got straight in a taxi , but be sure you ask them first how much it is as it appeared we were given an exectutive one so we promptly switched to a pink ladies taxi which only cost 52 dhms but make sure you tip around 5 dhms.

When we arrived we couldn't believe how gorgeous the hotel was , with it's doorman opening the taxi boot and grabbing our bags to put them in his golden trolley.
Grand Fortune hotel apartments ;
The big glass doors and scripted name onto these told us we were here. When we walked into the lobby it was the same quality , we checked in and paid straight away. They upgraded us to a one bedroom apartment which is gorgeous , very modern and clean. The door man showed us to our room. If you want 5 star service at two star prices you MUST stay here . With an only 7 minute walk to the nearest supermarket and a 10 minute walk to the metro station it's in a great location. These apartments are great and the gym and pool area on the roof are lovely too. The lifeguards will get you a towel, the po afea is clean and large with shallow rise steps for you to sit on in the sun. The cleaning staff are great too. They replenished any toiletries we had used and even did our washing up !!!


Great start to our trip !!

Love S&L xxxx

Few hours left !!!

So still packing and doing last minute jobs......

Had so much time to be organised yet i'm still last minute Annie !!! Getting picked up at 4.30am and will be flying out 6 hours later !! Gulp ...

Don't think i'll have time for sleep between now and then and don't know if there's much point !!

Thanks for reading, wish us luck !!

Very excited ,

S&L XXX

So much to do ....

So little time ...

Here's a snapshot of my to do list so far , for the actual to do list ; click this link 

Follow the footprints...

So you want to follow our footprints??

Well, I have found out how to add the resources for you to do it !!

If you want to know when we have new posts , just type your email address into the bar on the right under follow by email and you will recieve an email when it's updated !!

Or create an account and follow us :)

Thanks guys

S&L xxx

Useful sites for travellers :)

• http://www.legalnomads.com/wds - absolutley LOVE this site , it's a how to on travelling and a basic guide on everything you need to know , give it a view and see for yourself !!! 
• travbuddy.com - another favourite of mine - the forums are excellent and your question gets answered pretty much straight away , loads of people willing to help !!
• booking.com - all your hotel needs , very easy to book and pay and full of info !!!
• viator.com - great for tours and day trips - easy to use 
• exchangerates.org.uk - current exchange rates , always have this tab open - it's great !!! 
• visitcalifornia.co.uk - great info for all you need to know about Cali 
• sydney.com - great for things to do 
• googlemaps - great to work out directions and ways to travel 
• everythingnewzealand.com - NZ day trips 
• three.com - their sims allow your texts and mins to be used in 16 countries abroad at no extra cost !!! 
• couchsurfing.com - free places to stay with people across the globe 
• gobook.com - NZ adventure deals
• onebag.com - packing
• travelfish - sea
• tezzasthaiinfo.blogspot.com - thai beaches
• dubaicityguide.com
• travel-wise.com
• unusualhostelsoftheworld
• workaway.info
• flightaware - real time info on flights
• duolingo.com - learn a language free
• mosey - day trips
• ihatetaxis.com
• http://www.expatwoman.com/dubai/monthly_discover_dubai_Dubai_Souks_8330.aspx - brilliant for dubai info 

Will be updated regularly....

Activites :)

So now that all of our destinations are booked it's time to book some activities ....

I have previously mentioned some activities so forgive me if i repeat myself !!!

Dubai
So for here, i was told by my relatives that used to live in Dubai , that The Entertainer book was especially good for those wanting to do a few activities and are travelling in a group of 2+. It's full of 241 vouchers and online is £60, however i have been watching some on www.ebay.co.uk ( a great website for getting nearly anything on the cheap !!!) and managed to purchase one for £40 inc P+P and still with all the vouchers we need. This is a great saving as the Aquaventure park itself is £45 for entry so that alone means we have saved more than it would have cost not to have one!!! I still will have plenty of vouchers left for anyone that is interested , charge a minimal fee !! Email chipp.west@hotmail.co.uk

Then for items that are not included in The Entertainer , like the Burj Khalifa observation deck , i used their own website - www.burjkhalifa.ae - it was cheaper than any attraction ticket site £21 , i checked people's views on - www.tripadvisor.com - a great site for people's honest reviews on anything !!! Anyway, they said it was best to go just before sunset and then you would see Dubai in day and night , it takes 1-2 hours to do the tour. So i researched what time sunset is in Dubai - just via google and decided with queues etc to go at 5pm ready for sunset at 6.30pm , as you can stay up there as long as you like !!! Then we have booked the boat tour at 8pm, this is also from this site and costs £10. It tours the fountains whilst they play which is every hour and half past after 6pm.

NZ
I have mentioned before that we have booked a skydive at Bay of Islands - this was through www.grabone.co.nz - deffo worth a look if your going to NZ. Subscribe to their emails and you'll be the first to know when new vouchers arrive !!!

I couldn't find any deals for Whale Watch Kaikorua so i emailed them, they told me that you can get a 10% off voucher in the airports , in a magazine called Arrivals - so look out for that , they also told me i would still have time to book if i left it until i got the voucher - good to know !!!

USA
Universal studios - now i can't really help with this seen as though we were kindly given our tickets for free by someone who reads my friend's blog. So maybe this is something you should consider, word of mouth is great and making friends is even better !! I made friends whilst travelling last year and will be staying with them for a few days but some great sites to help you make friends before you go or surf couches to cut costs are;

• www.couchsurfing.org - my friend is using this in Fiji and seems a very reputable company 
• www.travelbuddy.com - free for forums etc but have to pay to contact member , the forums are excellent !!!

We are going to a lakers game in Las vegas , we found the tickets on ticketmaster.com - cheap at $19 each and they are at the world famous MGM!!! Have a look on the site to see if any of your fave artists, sports teams etc are playing while your travelling!!

Always remember that it can be more cost effective to purchase tickets from the companies website , you'll save money by cutting all the "guide stuff" that you possible don't need and you know your getting the real deal. I did this with Alcatraz and it saved me £30pp !!! 

Some sites to look at for tickets ;

• attractiontix
• viator
• everythingnewzealand
• STA travel 

California

So from New Zealand we will be flying into LA ....this is probably the most planned country we have which is ironic because for months we didn't really know what to do.

Anyway we will be spending five days in LA with day trips to Malibu and Universal Studios using the monorails, from here we will be travelling via greyhound to San Diego. Greyhound coaches are very cheap and seem to be an ok way to travel. Friends have told me they are good and seem to be just like the megabus in the UK. Well we will soon find out im sure !!!

www.greyhound.com - have a look on their site, they seem to be very reasonable all over the US !!

In San Diego , we plan to go to Old town , have a look around the harbour and the Uni. We are very excited to go here and have been told great things.

From SD we will be getting a greyhound again , which will transfer in San Bernandino but will get us to Las Vegas for 5pm , just in time for us to check in at the Stratosphere and then we plan to go up the tower to get the best views at night , we may eat at the hotel too as we have set days to explore.

From the Strat we will be going to a lesser known hotel but its not too far and allows us a few days to explore. In one of these days we will be doing the Grand Canyon tour which we got a very good deal on from a friend who said she went and it was fabulous!!

www.papillon.com - Grand Canyon Tour

From here we will then stay in the circus circus after going to the LA lakers game at the MGM , we are very excited about this as we really wanted to see a baseball game but we will have missed the season so we are off to see a basketball one but think it will be just as good. We got our tickets from ticketmaster and only paid £19 pp.

After a night at the CC we will then get another greyhound overnight to San Fran, we thought this was the best option as we will be saving a night in accomm. In San Fran we have booked our alcatraz tix which we purchased on their website and it only cost £18pp. We thought this was a really good deal and have booked the early bird hoping that the island will be quieter then and we can spend as long as we want there!!

Then we will be spending halloween with my great friend in San Fran , something i can't wait for !! We will then on our last day have a road trip to Santa Cruz and monteray bay and then get a flight to LA to connect to our flight home !!!

Any ideas to fill in some spare time?

Thanks

S&L

xx

New Zealand

Hey ,

So our plans for New Zealand are renting a little campervan called a spaceship in Christchurch and over the course of two and a half weeks we will make our way up to Auckland and stay with my cousin in Rotorua for a few days.

www.spaceshipsrentals.co.nz

We shall also be doing a skydive in the Bay Of Islands which we are soooo excited about !!! We got a very good deal on these skydives from a website called GrabOne, my cousin forwarded me it and it has some great savings.

www.grabone.co.nz
www.skydivebayofislands.com/

In CHC we shall be staying in a renovated prison for a night and i really can't wait for this as i have a secret love for prison architecture and will be taking lots of photos!!!

http://jail.co.nz/

No real plans apart from this but have dedicated Friday to do NZ in more detail.

Stay Tuned !!!

S&L  x

Sydney :)

So... from Bangkok we fly to Kuala Lumpur and straight onto Sydney.

We will only be in Sydney for just under three days so was wondering if anyone can help with the must sees here , we will be on tight schedules and hoping public transport will easily get us to most places :)

Been told Skytower, and  Padys market, Circular Quay and Opera house. , also take a habour tour from the Quay and go for fish and Chips en route.

Any other advice ?

Thanks

S&L
x