I did the morning tour of Old Havana this morning. Wow. What a difference to the area that the Nacional is in. Centro Havana was nothing too special and a whole lot of hounding of people trying to sell things. But old town is just in a world of its own. So many sights and sounds to take in. Cuba had just been on the Australian Amazing Race so recognised some landmarks from that like Ambos Mundos and other places made famous by Hemingway. It was a nice walk around. After that I returned to the Nacional. I walked to Hotel Victoria to gauge how far it was from the National to see if I needed a taxi. It was only a few minutes. Even with my regrettably over packed backpack it would be easy to ... read more

Had a little bit of a sleep and then tried to see if I could get on an afternoon walking tour of old town but unfortunately the hotel only books the morning tours. I booked a tour tomorrow for a trip to Vinales and then for the walking tour in 2 days from now. I left the hotel, past the old cars lined up out the front, and shouts of 'Miss, Gorgeous, Taxi, Take you anywhere' down the Malecon. I walked that towards old town taking photos along the way but I didn't really know where I was going and gave up about halfway there and went back and hung out by the hotel pool. Tonight I went and saw the Cabaret Parisien. Although it was completely in Spanish I could follow it enough. Your just ... read more

Today I start my next adventure. Cuba bound Via Panama. I choose to fly to Havana with Copa Air. I could have gone a bit cheaper going with Areomexico/Cubana however I wanted to avoid using Cubana. Yes they have a terrible safety record but I actually wanted to avoid them as I read that they are notorious for delaying flights – including delays of 48-72 hours. Apparently if they 'delay' a flight and not cancel it they do not need to organise accommodation etc. As I was doing the tour I didn't want to risk a late arrival. Therefore a took advantage of a chance for a layover in Panama. Copa was a nice airline to fly with. Like reviews said they look after you enough and did 2 food services on a 6 ish hour ... read more

Made our way back to Anaheim to finish the tour. We drove past Hollywood again and had an optional in Hollywood to do the Famous Houses. We jumped on a bus and had a tour of Beverly Hills and Bel Air. It was pretty interesting and cool but I took photos and don't remember who any of the houses I took photos belonged to. When we got back to the hotel we got to do our own thing. Tour officially over. Most of us went into Disney Town for dinner but again not a big night - dinner then bed. We met up with Chris from Canada and he also came to Venice Beach with us a few days later. The next day Cat and I departed Anehim for our Venice Beach accommodation. We figured the ... read more

We had 2 free days in San Francisco to do whatever it was we liked. Before leaving OZ I got tickets to Alcatraz for the 25th. The others did a tour of the baseball field. Cat came with me to Alcatraz. It was great. Freezing but great. Its the one thing you have to do in San Francisco. I did learn something on this trip. San Fran is freezing!! We got the ferry out to the island taking some photos of Alcatraz in the distance. Once the boat docks you walk up to the prison at your own pace and then get head phones for a self guided tour. Its really good and really brings you into the story of what happened on Alcatraz. Pretty interesting. It was better then I expected it to be and ... read more