Some of you may not have met my mother-in-law - Gayle.
I have never met anyone so adventurous!
She lives part-time on the Gold Coast and part-time in the Keri-Keri on the beautiful Bay of Islands in New Zealand.
A few years back, she discovered house-swapping. Sounds terrifying - having people in your home. But, she has never had any troubles with people trashing her home. But, the good thing about house-swapping is that you get to stay in their home. She has stayed in places all over the world - free! How cool?
Anyway, the reason for this post is that in case you arent her friend on Facebook, you wont know where she is at the moment - at the Grand Canyon. She is so adventurous! Here are some pictures she has posted (hope you dont mind Gayle).

WOW!

What a beautiful view!

Typical!

Im sure she wouldnt mind me highlighting that as you can see, she is on the upper limit of the ages of people on this tour group. Gayle is super adventurous!

Did I mention that she was CAMPING on the base of the Grand Canyon?

So, at the outset, I mentioned that Kylie's mum does house swapping. This place is in suburban Las Vegas. This description is taken from her Facebook Post;
"This is just as you walk in the door of my house here in Vegas. It is real but any winnings stay in the house and if you run out of cash you have a key to get the money out."
LOL!

So, one of the things that she is doing is spying out the land for us. As you would know, we are going to Las Vegas later in the year so she is looking out for us for places that we should visit!

And, this morning, Kylie and I were SUPER excited to open our emails to get a voucher from Gayle for a "Romance Package at The Venetian Hotel" - we are very spoilt! Thank-you VERY much Gayle! Have a fantastic trip.

Flights - check!
Accomodation - get back to you on that.....

I downloaded an app for the iPhone and iPad. Its pretty cool. Its called Worldmate. The app description is here.

So far, our Itinerary is
Melbourne | Sydney | Los Angeles | Salt Lake City | Las Vegas | New York  and then Montreal | Vancouver | Salt Lake City | Los Angeles | Home
We are flying between these places. However, between New York and Montreal, we have a few weeks where we will be driving to see the two Upstate Bethel homes, Id like to go to Washington DC to go to the US Holocaust Memorial Museam and Niagara Falls. Every day, Kylie sends me AWESOME places to stay on AirBnB - we have a few sorted out and a few still to sort out.

Me in 2001 visiting Walkill

 One of the reasons our flight over was on the cheaper side was because there is a 12 hour layover in LAX. So, what does one do when they have a 12 hour layover in LA? Go to.......

The Happiest Place on Earth? We'll See!

Disneyland! We fly in early in the morning, so we will get to Disney by about 12 and we fly out at 9:40pm, so I think we can stay until about 6. Im super excited about that! For anyone that has gone - what do you think; Should we go to Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park? Kylie hasnt been to LA Disney and I havent been there since I was 13 (yes, that was a LONG, long, long time ago!).

When in Las Vegas, we have been looking at day tours to go to the Grand Canyon and go on the Skywalk. Have you heard about this? Check it out....

 

I first heard about this in an architecture magazine. Then, I saw a documentary about how it was constructed on the Nat Geo channel. Certainly an AMAZING way to see the Grand Canyon.

Our accomodation is not too far from the Main Strip in Las Vegas. There are numerous shows Id like to see - has anyone seen anything in Las Vegas recently?

When we are in New York, I want to see a show on Broadway. There are MANY I want to see. But the one at the TOP of the list is Spiderman: Turn off the Dark.

One of the features is that Spiderman flies above the audience. There are premium tickets called "Landing Zone"

Has anyone seen the show? I checked prices and hopefully there is a sale box to get them. Back in 2001, there was a TKTS box in Times Square - hopefully that still exists! The score for the show is written by Bono and The Edge, so it will be different to other musicals we have seen.

Anyway, if I write too much today, ill have nothing to write for the next four months....
Thanks for following and thanks for commenting. Makes me feel that others are actually reading this.

Wow! Its been a LONG time since I blogged. A LONG, LONG, LONG time!

Lots has happened since I blogged, but rather than catch you all up on everything that has gone on, Ill catch you up from whats going to happen in the future. And, as of today, the VERY exciting thing that is going to happen is our 2013 North American Odyssey.

Many of you will remember the last North American Odyssey I went on. It was in 2001 and I had this amazing photo taken.

This is a page from my photo album. Unfortunately, 10 days later, those 2 amazing architectural masterpieces were no more and almost 3000 people were killed.

So, the plan was to recreate the 2001 North American Odyssey with Kylie in 2011. But, that didnt happen. Let me take you a step back......

One of the things that have happened over the last four years is that Kylie has gotten involved in 'Stampin' Up' and she has done very well (as is to be expected.) What is Stampin Up? Well, its basically a company that supplies craft products. They supply paper and cardboard, ribbon, stamp sets in a variety of colours etc. Get the idea? Anyway, over the last four years, I have often been tearing my hair out. The picture below explains why....

Anyway, Kylie persevered. And, persevered. And, she is now a Senior Manager at Stampin Up. It used to be just a 'thing on the side' but, she has now quit her job and focuses on this. Her website is here. Check it out. Kylie sells some things on eBay and conducts classes. 

Another thing that happened this week is that Kylie was featured in the Stampin Up demonstrator magazine.

So, because of her perseverance, there was an incentive that was on offer for Stampin Up demonstrators. And, KYLIE ACHIEVED IT! What is the reward, I hear you ask? Well, it is a TRIP to Salt Lake City  FOR HER and ME! And, today, we confirmed dates and flights. So, it is REAL! 

While we are in North America, we are going to visit a few extra places to recreate the 2001 North American Odyssey and add some extra places (Las Vegas, New York City, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Vancouver). Im still without speech that the biggest expense (flights) are covered by the company. Im still expecting the bill ...... but it wont be coming. Without speech I am!

We will no doubt visit some extra places and we have purposely left some space between flights to allow for trips

For example, while we are in Vancouver visiting our great friends Greg and Maureen, we are taking advantage of being over the other side of the world are doing another one of our new favourite pasttimes - Cruising! We are going on a cruise to Alaska. The prices are so much better on that side of the world, particularly at high season. 

Additionally, a few months ago, our friends Travis and Annette went to Europe. They told us about this website that they booked their travel with - Air BnB. Now, I never told them this, but I have to admit that I was worried that they were going to get there and nothing would be confirmed or the accomodation would be terrible. But, their accomodation was at a greatly discounted rate. And, everything was better than expected. I read an article in The Age about AirBnB today, which was REALLY interesting. So, we have found some really nice places at half the price of the hotels in the area.

So, id love to hear about some places you think we should go to in those cities and nearby. Add comments with your suggestions.

So, I might add some blog posts about other stuff weve done recently.