Habba
Tom Haberfield Joined: September 27th 2009
Logged in: November 16th 2009
Logged in: November 16th 2009
Travel Blog Posts
The following day we slept in before heading into town in search of the Willis Tower which is Chicago’s tallest building. Great view and in the lobby they had a great display of history and facts surrounding Chicago and what it is known for. We then headed across town in search of Millennium Park to check out “the bean” which is a massive aluminium bean shaped sculpture. Pretty sick and a great way to get some fish eye shots of the city skyline haha. That night we met up with Jason Shroeder, a mate I met all the way back in my first year at college. We went out for dinner at a posh but reasonably priced restaurant in Millennium Park before heading to the United Centre to see a pre season basketball match between the ... read more
The original plan was to get a bus to Chicago but after some extensive research of flights we decided it would be much more economical to just fly. At this point Kaz was still in hope of somehow obtaining Oprah audience tickets so we agreed to spend a couple of nights in a posh hotel firstly to get a bit of a break from hostels, but also because she heard the concierge of particular hotels can sometimes acquire tickets. It didn’t happen but it was nice to sleep in a private room for the first time this trip. We stayed 2 nights and of course didn’t get much done. Slept in and relaxed for a couple of days which was nice. Regain a bit of energy and just chill out for a bit away from all ... read more
The flight to Cleveland was exciting. I hadn’t seen Kazzy in over 5 months by this point so I was pretty anxious on the plane. I didn’t realise but for whatever reason, the connecting flight from Chicago was actually different to the one I booked online. Don’t know why the airline did this but it meant my transit was longer and poor old Kazzy was stuck waiting at the airport for 2 hours longer that she should have. Sorry Kazzy. It meant I didn’t end up getting in till about 11pm but who cares, I made it. Was great to finally see her!! We stayed for the weekend with Kazzy's aunty who we didn’t see much because she works pretty hard. Most of our time was spent with Karens cousin Teeny and her BF Mike. The ... read more
My final day in San Fran and I decided to get out of the city and see the some of the country side. I went on a tour of local wineries in the Napa Valley which was really fun. Learnt alot about tasting and what I should be looking for in a wine. Up until now I had no clue so that awesome. We went to 3 wineries in all. All of them were private and so you can’t even buy their stuff in stores but the biggest one was owned by the family Jacoozie which is the same family that invented the brand of spa. Pretty cool. They also did olive oil which you could taste too. That night...already pretty full on wine, the hostel had a pub crawl. We visited a heap of local ... read more
I knew today would be another big day. I decided to get a tour of SF to really get in touch with what the city is all about. 10am I was on the mini bus with a local who took us to all the places you just wouldn’t go if you didn’t have a car. This guy Dylan, who was a local, took us to all parts of the city. Neighbourhoods that were decorated in murals, the gay district, Haight-Ashbury (mum/dad you would know this right?), twin peaks which gave us a magnificent view of the city as well as the Mission district and Muir Woods. We got to see where Jimmy Hendrix use to live, the full house houses and learnt a heap of history especially around the area of Haight-Ashbury. Was really cool. Also ... read more
The next day I got up early. Took a trolley (tram) down to fishermen’s wharf to check it out and fill in some time before I took the ferry over to Alcatraz. Was a little cold on the trip over but not too bad? Was an awesome island though. They gave you a listening device which was like a self guided tour through the main cell block. It was good cos you could do it at your own pace and take it all in. Was a little eerie. Made you feel very alone almost, being not only behind bars but also out on a secluded island. A walk that circled the island exposed me to the jaggered coast line, the thrashing and windy San Francisco bay, a beautiful view of the golden gate bridge as well ... read more
A cheap united flight (40 bucks) and an hour or so of my time and I land in San Francisco. The original plan was to drive from LA up the coast to San Fran but time restraints meant I would be rushing and by the sounds of it...the drive is so amazing you don’t want to have to rush. I plan to maybe drive back it on the commute back down to LA for when I fly home. Let’s hope I can. Anyway, a train ride in and a 10 min walk up a vertical hill (20kg on my back = pain/sweat) and I arrive at the HI hostel around 2pm on the Monday. Funnily enough who do I run into in the foyer but Geraint. He told me he was going up to San Fran ... read more
We spent the weekend pretty chilled out which was cool. Good to relax a bit. After a sleep in Ben and I drove down across town to one of the more amazing locations in San Diego - Coronado. If you have heard of this place, it is probably because of the Hotel Del Coronado - a very old, very large and very incredible hotel that sits right on the Coronado beach. Ben and I decided to lap up a bit of this glorious beach (I swam and he fell asleep) before checking out the hotel and grabbing some lunch. The water wasn’t bad. The sand was weird...almost like a dust and so in the shallow water it was very kinda dirty. Other than that though, was so good to get in the water. I miss the ... read more
Day 2 and I geared up again to venture off this time in search for animals we tend to find more under the water, rather than above it. Some might remember sea world from the movie Free Willy although as much as I hoped it was, I don’t think that movie was actually based in San Diego. Not sure where it was but it didn’t matter. They called the whales Shamu. I don’t know where the name came from but that is what the show is called at every SeaWorld. To see those whales up close, performing tricks and interacting with people no different to how you would with your own dog at home was just incredible. Such enormous, beautiful and majestic animals that could kill in a heartbeat and yet they play and interact with ... read more
The bus trip down to San Diego was ok. It took the freeway which is the inland/more direct route so I missed the scenic OC coastline but that was expected. Ben picked me up from the bus depot and quickly whisked me off to a Mexican restaurant where 4 of his new colleagues were having dinner. See Ben has only just started this job himself and so is still getting to know the people he will be working with. The week I was with him he had an orientation and so many of the nights were spent drinking and getting to know each other. After a few shots of tequila (a brand called 1800 cauvous or something....awesome as...smoothest tequila ever!!) and a few burritos we called it a night and headed back to Bens. I made ... read more
