Sat 25_07_09 – JFK -> Madrid (->Valencia) -> Ibiza

Early morning hike up to W81st to check out the American Gardens Building and the street where Jerry Seinfeld’s show Seinfeld is set. It’s a really nice area up there around the park, and you can tell it is oozing money. We went to a very jovial Irish hole-in-the-wall for breakfast and everyone enjoyed the food and service.

We caught a cab through the park and then went onto JFK airport, where we were quite early for our flight. After not boarding at the scheduled time, we realised something was up. After boarding the pilot told us we’d missed our designated flight slot and therefore had an hour wait – there were planes banked up everywhere. Because we had a “short” connection to our Ibiza flight, we thought there might be trouble.

On landing in Madrid, we had missed our flight. When you miss a connection you can almost guarantee lost baggage.

We were diverted to Valencia and given some credit in the restaurants. We waited and then flew to Valencia. On arrival in Valencia, we had another wait and didn’t arrive into Ibiza until about 10pm Sunday night. Needless to say our bags were nowhere to be found in Ibiza airport…

Fri 24_07_09 – Gordan Ramsay, Shrek The Musical, Pacha NYC

Gordon Ramsay has a restaurant at an upper Midtown ritzy location being The London (W54th St). He has two restaurant, the serious one Gordon Ramsay, and a cheaper more casual one called Maze at The London. We had a lunch booking for Maze (the Gordon Ramsay only opens for dinner) and it was excellent. The menu was very interesting and all the dishes were executed perfectly. I had the Veal Terrine with Sweetbreads, Pan fried Tasmanian ocean trout, orzo and fennel heart cassoulet with peekytoe crab and the farmhouse cheese selection. It really was excellent and much more affordable than I thought.

Some of the other dishes, were Tortellini of beef short rib, escarole, trompette royale and dashi, Smoked rainbow trout, avocado sauce mousseline and fennel crisps, Pan fried sablefish, braised leeks, smoked eel and red wine sauce and Berkshire pork loin with black pudding, romanesco, apple and cider jus.

Maze by Gordon Ramsay at The London

Shrek The Musical was playing at The Broadway Theatre so we decided to see it. The theatre was nice and although the first half was pretty slow, the second half definitely picked things up and it was quite funny. Before the show we had dinner at Mario “Iron Chef” Batali’s tapas restaurant “Food was excellent and it was the first time I got to try razorclams.

Mario Batali’s Casa Mono

That night after the show we had a VIP table reservation for Todd Terry’s debut at the club. It was a process to get in, about 3 security checks and ID checks (photos were taken off our ID because they couldn’t be read by their machine scanner). We got there fairly early and it was quiet but just a little after midnight the club was really getting full. Todd Terry came on and played an awesome set, Clif and Jade went home a little earlier than Kiri and I (oops).

Thur 23_07_09 – Shopping, French Brasserie, Diddy

This morning we went to TV chef Anthony “No Reservations” Bourdain’s resident restaurant Les Halles in East Midtown for breakfast. The menu was French and presented to be authentic. The food was average and the service was unusual. I have heard they do really good steaks here for dinner, so I’d be prepared to give them another go, but wouldn’t ever back for breakfast. The food was ok, it was just very average.

The girls went shopping and bought a few things, Clif and I headed back up Broadway to get tickets for The Late Show. Great success – we were the last two allowed in on stand-by tickets and all of a sudden we were sitting in the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Special guests for the night were Ginuwine & Missy Elliott, Vera Farmiga (from the Orphan movie) and bad-boy-for-life Sean DIDDY Combs.

Wed 22_07_09 – Lower Manhattan, Statue of Liberty, Wall St, Chinatown

Today we started at Chinatown. And boy did we know it the moment we stepped off the subway. The Chinatown station which is near Canal St, I think, is directly under a (strong smelling) fish market. A yum cha place was our breakfast destination (although in NY they call it dim sum). The restaurant was on Chatham Sq. and I can’t remember its exact name, that’s because I don’t think it had one – could’ve been Hop Shing.

After lunch we walked through the Municipal Building’s garden and came out near the Brooklyn Bridge. Jumped on a subway and went to Wall St. Walked down Wall St. to the harbour and around to the ferries. After looking at the Statue of Liberty (and the lineup to get over there), we went back to the WTC subway station and caught the train home. Kiri tried a large slice of New York Pizza for afternoon snack.

That night we went to a huge complex called “Dallas BBQ” on Times Sq. and all stuffed ourselves on massive plates of ribs!!

Tue 21_07_09 – Rain in Manhattan

Today was raining and we were all under the weather from the previous night. And I think jetlag had finally caught up with us as we’d been fighting it the whole trip.

We went to a Chinese restaurant for takeout, we had to walk through the rain to get it and were the only ones without umbrellas.

Mon 20_07_09 – Broadway, Ground Zero, Koreatown

Broadway is a street that traverses Manhattan from North to South and is said to be an old walking track from the original indigenous people of the land.  It does not have a normal N-S or E-W orientation like the majority of streets in the city.  Explore the map I made up below to see what I mean, the blue line roughly follows Broadway. Zoom in and use map/satellite mode to really get a feeling for how big the city is.

View Larger Map

This morning we walked to the Ed Sullivan Theatre on Broadway between 53rd and 54th St in search of tickets to The Late Show with David Letterman.  I attended his show a few years ago and it was great, so we thought we’d give it a go. We lined up and they put us in a lottery but we never got called up that day. After (late) breakfast at Europa Cafe we got on the Subway down to the WTC. The World Trade Centre of course was demolished in the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001. The site is still a fairly empty piece of ground, although construction is well and truly underway of the new towers. I think the site was www.wtcprogress.com to check where they’re up to.

The site is absolutely massive and takes up about 4 x 3 blocks (so approx 12 sq. blocks). It was still very busy with people around the area and they are working to restore the numerous other subway stations that service the area but were shut down in the attack’s wake.

After lunch – we’re very lucky to have a top quality Indian restaurant across the road – we explored Koreatown which is the street that takes up W32nd between 5th Ave and Broadway. There are many Korean restaurants, of course, but also a lot of little karaoke boxes. We booked a room and spent a few hours in a room. It’s really hard to describe, but private-booth karaoke is really fun and once you get into it you don’t want to leave…

Sun 19_07_09 – LAX -> JFK

Early morning rise to catch cross-continental flight from Los Angeles to New York. Upon arrival we caught a taxi to Manhattan, which is a fixed fee of $45 to anywhere on the island (plus tolls and tip). We took the tunnel to Manhattan and went to our hotel on W31st: Hotel Wolcott.

View Larger Map

After checking in, we went straight up Broadway to Times Square. On the way, we stopped at a bar under the Empire State Building called Homeland Brewery & Rotisserie. The food was good and we sampled some microbrews (including a chronic summer apricot beer). The Indiana River Light Ale was pretty good though.

Times Square was awash with people and neon lights. It was quite late, maybe 11pm, but it was bustling. Time square is approx on W45st & Broadway, so we’d had a good ten block stroll to get there. We stopped in at a quick corner bar, that was doubling as an amateur comedy club…

Sat 18_07_09 – Mexican/US Border

This morning we had to check out of the Rosarito Beach Hotel.  Los Arcos it was again for breakfast and this time we tried the eggs with cactus for something different.  It was pretty nice, but I don’t think the texture would suit everyone’s taste: imagine Aloe Vera in your omelette.  We arranged a taxi and sped off for Tijuana.  Tijuana was like Denpasar traffic-wise, for anyone who’s been to Indonesia before.  Lucky our driver knew most of the tricks.

We joined a line and crossed the border, relatively pain free.  A hot walk across the freeway and we were relieved to see our car still sitting there in the carpark.  Taking the I-5 up to Dana Point we changed to Highway-1 (or Pacific Coast Highway) and went up to Laguna Beach.  We set off after that to Costa Mesa and Santa Ana for lunch.

For the night, we stayed at Radisson LAX, which is about 5min shuttle from the airport.  Tomorrow we’re on the early flight to NYC…

Thur 16_07_09 – Las Vegas, San Diego, Tijuana

A big breakfast, after big packing, was the first agenda item today.  We had a huge amount of credit in the restaurant, so we ordered everything which was a big mistake because Americans expect possibly two-three times the serving size we are used to.  We had to use up some credit so our host organised some club sandwiches for us  “to go”.

We picked the car up from valet after some very basic LV souvenir shopping.  After a lesson in fueling the car up with “gas” at the service station we were on the I-15 (Interstate 15) heading south and towards SoCal – or Southern California to those who aren’t hip enough to know that.  We got off the I-15 onto the I-215S and somehow ended up back on the I-15 before merging onto the last leg, the I-805.  After a massive sh!*fight avoiding the Mexican border-crossing we eventually got our car into a secure car park.  After parking and restroom stops, we were notified the shuttle to our destination, Playa de Rosarito, was not running today.

Walking across the border we were wondering when we were going to cross passport control.   But before we knew it, Apart from the machine-gun armed immigration officer hiding in a bush, we were already on the streets of Tijuana (roughly pronounced tee-wana) and being harassed.  We got in a cab and travelled at breakneck speed whilst dodging potholes, the 18mi through the hills to the playas – beaches – of northern Baja (ba-ha).

Recepcion over and welcome margaritas down we enjoyed a sunset on the penthouse pool deck.  Getting a shock from the sharp drop in temperature from the Mojave Desert, a room party ensued followed with some after hours shenanigans. . .

Wed 15_7_09 – Circus Circus, Hooters, Crazy Horse

Another early morning start, saw me and Clif traversing the strip northbound with eventual destination Circus Circus with a quick stopover at The Flamingo.  You may know Circus Circus from the film Fear & Loathing, and it is every bit hallucinogenic as it is in the movie.  Circus Circus is connected to a sister casino called Slots-a-fun.  Slots-a-fun is one of the cheapest dives in Vegas and their specialty is 75c beers and hotdogs.  We had a quick stint there.

After brunch at Four Season’s Verandah, where we all had excellent breakfast – with morning themed cocktails, Me bloody mary, Clif bloody mary, Kiri bloody mary, Jade bellini.  I had the famous mexican breakfast called huevos rancheros, basically two fried eggs with beans, salsa and tortilla.  Verandah is particularly well know for this breakfast and it was really good.

After brunch the girls did some shopping, while we went to a few more casinos and ended up at Hooters Hotel & Casino.  We had an abrupt departure from there after some blackjack woes.  Onto the Luxor Pool, where it was all happening with daquiris all round (and sunburn, it was 43C).

For dinner, included in our Crazy Horse ticket package, we had modern Italian at Fiammo.  Everything was good and we had a conversation with the sommelier about Australian wines.  We headed over to the Crazy Horse theatre which is located within MGM Grand.  The show was excellent and we had reasonable seats so all was good.  The night ended with a big “comp” at the Luxor, our casino host told us “you guys must’ve been busy” when we asked him to review our reward points.  He organised a full spread for breakfast at their restaurant for the following morning and enquired about us having a complimentary return stay.

After a few more “comps” at the slots, we headed to bed – with a quick stop-off at Nathans for a Philly Cheesesteak. Recommended.

Tue 14_7_09 – Luxor, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon

Clif and I set our alarms and got up to check out the “early morning crew” in the casino. We were expecting to see a lot of seedos, but the place was full of , relatively speaking, normal looking people. I think Clif and I probably stood out the worst. We played a machine called Pompeii and had a bit of a win.

After a fair old morning session, we attended the Luxor Buffet for lunch with Jade. Jade and Clif spent some time at the pool, and Kiri and I slept off some jetlag.

We went to a fairly famous restaurant called L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in the MGM. This is the exhibition kitchen and an offshoot of the main restaurant – the chef who owns the restaurant was rated as “chef of the century”. You sit at the counter and watch the chefs in action. Kiri noted that you can always tell a good place by the calmness of the staff, these guys were cool as. The food was modern French and excellent. Some of the things we had were foie gras stuffed quail with truffled mash, seabass with baby vegetables and fennel foam, hanger steak with confit shallots, egg salad with iberico ham and asparagus, and spaghetti l’atelier. Excellent…

Mon 13_7_09 – The Strip

Started out this morning with a quick cab ride up The Strip to Paris Casino (Jade got rebuked for being too frugal with her tipping by the cabbie). Our main reason for heading to Paris Casino, was for early lunch at Le Buffet. More lining up and we were in the main restaurant area and sampling the food. The food was from all regions of France and was average-good.

We crossed over to The Flamingo.  The Flamingo is regarded by Lonely Planet as “a classic dive”, so we loved it.

After that, straight across the road to Caesars Palace. Caesars is huge and had an even longer check-in queue than at our hotel. We got a cab back down to The Luxor for a bit of a relax.

Dinner was at a restaurant in Mandalay Bay casino named Shanghai Lilly. The girls ordered a-la-carte and Tony and I ordered the shabu-shabu. The food was good and decor excellent. Back in the Luxor we had a big party after we all had a win on some fishing poker machine, we were all reeling in the big ones.

Late night snack at Nathan’s Hotdogs. Not recommended.

Did I mention drinks are free if you are playing a machine…

Sun 12_7_09 – LA to Las Vegas

After picking up the car, we headed out on to the freeway. I’m pretty lucky it was a Sunday morning and not really busy, because it was pretty hectic on the roads anyway, not to mention adjusting to driving on the wrong side.

The terrain is very interesting on the drive from LA to Vegas and I’d recommend doing the drive to anyone, just to check out the desert and hills. We stopped at a small truckstop town named Barstow and went to the renowned greasiest McDonald’s in US and A. It was pretty bad.

The last two hours into Vegas, you hit the Nevada border and the casinos commence. Driving back down the strip to our hotel The Luxor, we started to understand the size of the place. When we got out at Valet to get our bags, the heat hit us 108 deg F (42.2 C). Desert heat is so dry, you have to experience to understand what I’m sayin.

Check-in was a madhouse and we got our first taste of partylife in Vegas. Everyone in the check in line – which was amazingly long – was drinking beer and cocktails (well, not everyone), the machines were clanging away and people were just partying in general. After check-in we (Clif and I) went straight down to the casinos and hit it pretty hard. The girls came down later and we had dinner at T&Ts – Tacos and Tequila – which was awesome, bring on the Dos Equis.

We walked out into the heat and over to Excalibur and NY NY casino, and then crossed over to MGM.  After having a bit of a look around we headed back to the Luxor for a bit of gambling and cocktails.  Ended up at the pizza parlour for a late night snack.

Did I mention booze is free if you are on a machine…

Sun 12_7_09 – Brisbane to LA

12 hour flight across the Pacific. We left at 7am to the airport for an 11am flight. Crossing the International Date Line meant we arrived in LA at 7am the same day we left Australia. The flight was difficult to sleep on and meals were at odd times.

Arriving in LAX we had to clear Immigration, which went without a hitch and collect our suitcases. Kiri picked up the wrong suitcase and luckily made it in time to get the right one and clear customs.

Next stop was the rental car agency where we had to go pick up our ride for the trip, a Dodge Charger from Dollar Rent Car.