Hawaii...

We decided to end our Round The World ticket with a relaxing holiday in the tourist paradise islands of Hawaii.  Amy was very keen to have a beach holiday - and luckily Hawaii was on the way back to NZ!  After flying into Honululu and taking a shuttle to our hotel on Waikiki Beach, we were awe struck by the view from our hotel room! (yes we paid a little extra - but we thought coming from an English winter we deserved it!)

We spent the first couple of days living Amy's dream; grabbing a buffet breakfast (fruit, pastries, cereals, doughnuts, etc - as much as you could fit into your breakfast bag), heading down to the beach, reading a book/football magazine, swimming, dozing, more swimming and nibbling at our breakfast bag!!  Arh - the serenity!

Two days of that was enough for James (& most men) so we got away from the beaches and walked up the islands most famous volcano - The Diamond Head (no - it didn't erupt).  We snorkelled over the reef at Hanauma Bay - chasing some very exotic fish (& eels).  We watched some traditional Hawaiian dancing but didn't have the nerve to join in (although Amy had the moves).  We went on a 2 hour Whale Watching tour and saw the tail of one whale for 3 seconds (it was a nice boat ride). 

But our favourite day was spent at Pearl Habour where we soaked up the history of one of the worlds most important battles.  When the Japanese attacked the US fleet at Pearl Habour (not Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett or Kate Beckinsale) on December 7th 1941, it brought the USA into World War 2 - on the Pacific & European fronts.  Destroying battleships, aircraft, and 2,402 people, the Japanese only took a minor 65 casualties! 

Our visit there included a tour of the US Bowfin Submarine - our favourite part of the day, seeing how cramped and claustrophobic their living conditions were!  We also toured the USS Missouri Battleship, which served in WW2 and famously hosted the signing of the terms on surrender by the Japanese, ending the worlds most costly war (as you can see, this history fascinates James!)

We both found that Hawaii was definitely worth a visit (for different reasons....)

Las Vegas...

Amy describes Las Vegas as a grown up Disneyland!  So much to see and do - but not suitable for kids!  All the action is on one road (The Strip), and we spent much of our time walking in and out of the hotels and lobbies.  It's not ancient architecture, but it is pretty awesome!  Hotels based on some of the worlds most famous sights - Venice, Monte Carlo, New York, Paris, etc, etc!  The famous Ballagio Fountains are brilliant!! Another of our favourites was the Luxor - the hotel in the shape of a pyramid where hotel rooms look out over the inside of the hotel, all the way to the top!  This was also the hotel where we visited The Bodies Exhibition - a museum of real life bodies!  Using dyes & cuts to display the amazing intricacies of the human body - which was both fascinating & also gross! 

We ate out at different hotels, and when monies were running low we headed to McDonalds!  We spent a full day at an out of town discount retail outlet, spending some birthday and Christmas money on new wardrobes.  Clothing is much cheaper than in NZ and much more varied!  The little we did use on the Black Jack tables was money spent on entertainment - as we spent more than we came away with. There were plenty of shows we could have gone to, if we wanted to pay premium prices!  There was also the sleazy side of Vegas, but if you're wise - it's a fun place!

On our final day we headed to another of the wonders of the world, The Grand Canyon! We treated ourselves to a helicopter ride (saving hours on a coach) and for both of us a New experience!  We chose a large company as we presumed they'd have the most experienced pilots - but we ended up with early 20 something Kate!  She actually turned out to an awesome pilot and the views were pretty awesome!  It's hard to actually see the Canyon in all its context, but we flew down into one area, took some photos, had a picnic, then flew back!  Pretty special.

New York...

When we flew out of London, we realised we were leaving one of the world largest cities!  But when we got to New York, we were amazed at how BIG the Big Apple really is!  So many skyscrapers - half the city seems to live & work in the air!  Of course we made the obligatory visit to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building for an amazing look over the city! We paid extra to skip the queue and ride the Skyride (motion simulator) - a tourist trap definitely not worth the extra money! 

Our hotel was not far from Time Square - the razzle and dazzle of the town, where we were accosted on our first day asking if we wanted free Broadway Tickets?  FREE!  Of course we do!  In fact, it was an opportunity to be part of the Live audience of The LateShow with David Letterman.  In a constant state of American fake laughter, we enjoyed our TV opportunity including watched an interview with Teri Hatcher (Lois Lane & Desperate Housewives)! 

On another night we bought last minute tickets (by far the cheapest way) to West Side Story.  This try hard Romeo & Juliet wasn't as good as we'd expected, but the performers were still excellent.  We took a Free Ferry to Staten Island for good views of the Statue of Liberty and visited the sight where the twin towers collapsed - although it's just a building site with nothing to see!  We spent the rest of our time doing more sight seeing - and there's no quicker way than a tourist bus!  New York is cold in January - much colder than we'd experienced in England - so it was quite cute to cuddle on an open top bus seeing famous sights such as Central Park, the Rockefeller Centre, Brooklyn Bridge and the UN Headquarters.