Hawaiian Airlines were okay, but it isn’t Air NZ is it! The transit in Honolulu was horrendous…many, many people missed their flights! We just made ours, and I mean just!!

The queues in the arrival hall were beyond belief. The snake queued left to right to left and then just when you thought you were at the front, you were going up and down. Our finger prints were checked by a machine and then a human!! Even though our Visa said they were valid for 10yrs, they only gave us 6 months. Clearing our bags through customs was another queue, but at least I could keep my shoes on – Colin had to take his off!

It was a mad dash through the entire airport, as our departure gate was at the opposite end. And to add insult to injury, because it was a domestic flight that we were on, you had to buy your wine and movies, although we did get a seat upgrade to premium economy because we were an international transfer.

So we have spent two days in and around the city. It has been blowing a howling gale, and you spend your whole time taking your sweatshirt on and off, on and off, especially walking up and down all the hills.

We bought a visitor pass (thanks for the tip Keri) and have been on and off the cable car, bus and train. The cable car is fun to ride but it is so busy here that there is usually quite a wait. Today (Friday for us) it was an hour to wait from Fishermans Wharf.

We have walked along the waterfront to Pier 39 where the Sea Lions are (you can smell/hear them before you can see them!) down Lombard Street, which is very cute and in and around Union Square.

Today we went to Alcatraz and Angel Island (more queues), but really loved being out on the harbour, albeit that it was blowing a gale! I found it fascinating that the children of the guards who stayed on the island had a fabulous life on their island paradise, hardly ever seeing or knowing the prisoners hell !! Angel Island was the immigration processing island and had bleak conditions during the Gold Rush.

After our tour we walked from the Pier up to Coit Tower, which is at the top on Telegraph Hill. It was a long way up the hill and mostly stairs, but again there were queues for entry to the tower, so we just walked around the base and caught the bus back down. All along the stairs, were little gates leading to peoples private gardens. I can only imagine that very fit people live on these hills with only stair access … not sure about getting the groceries in.

There is a lot of new architecture around and it really just doesn’t live up to your idea of San Fran! The older houses are amazing, have gorgeous features and are seemingly just stuck to the hill. Love the old stuff …

When walking about in San Fran you can’t help but notice the homeless / beggars on the streets. It is quite confronting! Tonight four fire service trucks turned up when one man went a bit nuts. I am thinking they are fire/paramedics. Full on call out! I don’t spend a lot of time in Auckland City, so I don’t experience this at home. We were told by a local that there are 12,000 people living on the streets, so that explains the volumes were have seen. The other thing that we have noticed is everyone smoking the legal weed here. The smell pervades many transit entry / exit points and is just generally the norm! Spot the mohawk!

Anyways, two days in and so much to see and do.

Ps: did I say it was windy!

So after weeks of packing and cleaning, we are finally at the airport and all checked in.

We packed most of our ‘stuff’ into the Smart Box and have been ‘camping’ in the house for the past week. If nothing else, we have chucked out the rubbish, stuff that you just put in a cupboard or a drawer. Nothing of any importance or value, just stuff. We are left with these two bags!

We have said our farewells to family and friends, had lovely dinners and lunches, but it is time to get this trip underway. You are always connected in this digital world, so I am sure that the weeks and months will pass in a blur. If we find ourselves in a Italian Villa or French castle, that has many rooms, we will let you know and you can pack your things and join us.

Our first 10 days are in San Francisco, so we will make sure we do a post while we are there. Then it’s off to Las Vegas where will be living like a local, looking after Katie’s cats. We have made this connection and already feel like we have a friend for life. Katie has been amazing sending us links of what to see and do, and we can’t wait to hang out there.

By the time you read this post we will be transiting in Hawaii, hopefully having had plenty of sleep!!

May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind always be at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and the rains fall soft upon your lives,

And until we meet again, may this travel blog keep you close!

Ok, so there was a bit of artistic license there! Be in touch again soon xxx

Ps: my suitcase was only 24.5kgs!

Finally after a 10 week wait, we had our US Consulate interview this morning.  We were processed as we entered the ‘USA’ and were scanned like at the airport.  All our belongings were removed and our passports checked.

We were advised to proceed to ‘window one’ where we were questioned of our intent.  Then moved along to ‘window two’ for more questions and finger printing.  After this we joined a queue for ‘window three’ and were asked yet more questions about our previous trips to the USA.  We both had our original passports, with our Visa’s from 1985.  The ‘clerk’ was impressed with our attention to detail – Colin fessed up that his wife was the organised one!  He asked how long we had been married, wished us on our way and said our passports will be available by Monday or Tuesday 🙂

We have also had confirmation today that our house has been rented, so everything is coming together and we should be able to book our flights early next week.  It is a bit of a bugger that the USA interview took so long, as the prices of the flights have crept up quite a lot!  Anyway, we are nearly there – San Francisco is first on the list 🙂

Next week we will be packing and then I am going to practice living out of a suitcase for a week or two before we leave!!!  This may or may not be helpful with what I need!

So, we have just had a lovely chat with Katie in Green Valley, Las Vegas and she has accepted us to look after her place and cats for 5 weeks [19th June – 26th July].  I do somehow remember that I wasn’t holidaying in a hot place on our next trip, but it looks like that is just what is going to happen!  Just as well there is a pool and many, many places with air-conditioning.  It might not be a great time to visit Death Valley!!

We are super excited to be able to explore this area for 5 weeks – there is so much to see and do.  From the Hoover Dam, to Canyons [of every name and description], the Las Vegas strip and its endless entertainment or a day trip to Phoenix or an overnight trip to Monticello in Utah.  I just had a quick look at concerts and Gwen Stefani is playing or even Donny & Marie!

So the house is listed and a couple of people have viewed our home. We are renting it for a year and we hope that the family who lives here can make our home, theirs and love it like we do. Fingers crossed it is snapped up quick!

We are off to travel the world, to have new experiences and to find places that will delight us, challenge us and ultimately return us home with a sense of achievement, with new friends and wonderful memories. We will be posting our thoughts, experiences and photos – we hope that you will enjoy following us.

I always loved the Irish quote … “May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back” and as we move towards our departure [albeit delayed by the US Embassy visa requirements] we will post our updates here and let you know where the wind blows us 🙂

Colin and I have been married 30 years in October. We have decided to embark on an epic trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year! We are not the same now, as we were then, but we have remained great friends and lovers, and have two gorgeous boys. We are about to take this journey together to celebrate our commitment to each other, to explore life have new experiences and to find places that will delight us, challenge us and ultimately return us home with a sense of achievement, with new friends and wonderful memories. We will be posting our thoughts, experiences and photos – we hope that you will enjoy following us.

“Work, Travel, Save, Repeat”