Late start after a late night and we missed breaky. Kerry & I went down to corner of 3rd Avenue & 48th Stretet to get some BLT for breaky but were shocked to find our laundry bag was still in the lobby. It was supposed to be picked up between 6-10am. They had forgotten us ! Now we will have to do laundry on the cruise. We got organised then wandered down to Times Square where Luke got to go to NBA store and get his Miami Heat NBA Finals T-Shirt (will they win the NBA Championship tonight ?). A beautiful sunny day but warming up. Elise got a Cap and a Shirt and I bought a NY licence plate for the Bali Hut display. We then had lunch at a Deli on 5th Avenue and ... read more

Left Washington around 9am and had a bit of DC traffic to negotiate but soon on the freeway. Soon into the state of Maryland where we went passed Baltimore which is quite a big city and has a large harbor which we went under via tunnel. This town made famous by Big Mike in the movie "The Blind Side". Next we crossed into Delaware which is America's first state. We stopped at the visitor centre which was almost as large as a major shopping centre. We asked the tourist guy whether we should take a slight detour off the freeway to see Philadelphia and he gave us some great advice as we drove over the Commodre bridge to Raccon Island. The kids were a bit shocked to hear me singing the Elton John classic "Philadelphia Freedom" ... read more

Well our sleeping patterns were a bit weird but we were up as planned around 7.30am in time for breakfast. Plenty to choose from the buffet included in our room rates and I showed some discipline by having a bowl of cereal with some yoghurt and fruit as well (doubt that will last !). Weather was fine and sunny. Top temps of around 30 degrees Celsius expected. We had two activities planned and headed to the nearest Metro station at Pentagon City to catch a train to Washington DC. Had some trouble with the ticket vending machine which only gave me 2 day passes when I ordered 4 ($9- each) and did not give me change from $40- ! Complained to the local station master who gave me a form to fill in and said someone ... read more

Hello readers as we embark on another journey that I am sure will be enlightening for us all. We have taken Luke and Elise out of school 2 weeks early before normal holidays and I have committed to having a break from golf for the next 4 weeks as well ! Well we had no trouble at all getting up and ready for the 6.30 am pickup from Jan Murphy (five star transport) for the ride to Brisbane Airport for only $160- and we arrived at around 8.00 am and surprised to see no queue at Qantas check in. Dropped the suitcases and got the boarding pass to confirm the good news that I suspected was going to happen. We had been upgradedg to Premium Economy. Yippee ! Flight left on time at 10.35am and we ... read more

Well all things must come to an end and so it is with this holiday. I was up early as I had to see if the Car would start OK whch it did. I then decided to go for a drive to Wal-Mart one last time as I had to pick up a few goodies for a workmate back home. I also picked up a birthday present for Luke to bring home (can't say what it is in case he reads this blog before 6th March !). Got back around 10AM, and got all the bags packed up and I was a bit frustrated that the electronic luggage weighing gadget (I think that's the technical term for it) was not working . We knew we were allowed to have 2 checked pieces each with a combined ... read more