Travel – The Haiarts' Adventure

Phoenix, AZ

We had one night in Phoenix to pick up my dad. Simple, right? We got some good deals on Groupon for a hotel near the airport.

We did a big drive from Joshua Tree and finally made it to Phoenix in the afternoon. We checked in and… no Pappy. Odd since his flight was due 2 hours ago.

I checked the flights, all on time. No message from him that he had any problems making his connection. Must be the long line up at the rental car office due to Thanksgiving. I tried calling just to check, no answer. He must be signing the documents as we speak. We checked into our room and waiting.

An hour later, 3 hours after his arrival, a call from Dad. Where was the hotel? Someone had sent him on a wild goose chase looking for an exit on the interstate that didn’t exist. He made it to south and west Phoenix but not to the hotel. A few simple instructions on how to get from 25th to 75th street sorted everything out. If only the GPS he brought from Canada wasn’t filled with European maps from our Italy trip 5 years ago. And if only he splurged on a data package and could use Google Maps. Alas.

We went out for a lovely dinner at a trendy restaurant. It advertised an “anti inflammatory” menu. Regardless, the food was delicious and I think I countered the health kicks with the few beers I drank.

Hanika noticed a weather alert on her phone which said a massive storm was coming and would close down the interstate up to the Grand Canyon (our intended destination)! We’ve not been great at keeping up with the world. We don’t listen to the local radio stations because we have Spotify and we don’t watch TV because we’re masochists.

The more we looked, the more nervous I became. They were calling for 2 feet of snow in the Grand Canyon. What to do? We could stay in Phoenix where it would rain, forgo a night or two in Williams and relax. Or we could haul up the next morning and hold up in Williams (think The Shining). The hotel owner assured me they wouldn’t lose power. A quick google showed that the town had a few basic ammenities and that we were unlikely to starve. One slight issue was our lack of snow gear. The kids had jackets, but no gloves, boots or snow pants!

We waited until the next morning to make our decision. The forecast called for snow only in the afternoon so Hanika made the executive decision to push on. We stopped via Walmart but couldn’t find anything for the kids! The drive up was fine apart from a bit of sleet past 4000ft of elevation. We effortlessly checked into our hotel as the snow fell.

San Francisco, CA

After spending the last two months in the eastern United States, we repacked all our bags, dug out our winter gear, bid farewell to the Chrysler van and set off on a plane (or rather, two) for California. First stop on the west coast was San Francisco and after landing in the evening, we picked up our new Dodge minivan (the cheaper-in-every-way version of the sweet ride we’d had on the east coast) and headed off to our AirBnb and bundled ourselves into bed.

The following day we took the train to the Embarcadero area. We stopped to grab a coffee – Seb was very excited to buy his coffee from a street stall that had a robot that made your coffee. Turns out a coffee machine makes your coffee then a robot arm picks up the cup and hands it to you. Quite entertaining to watch but unfortunately tasted like garbage. Nevertheless we continued to wander around downtown and walked along the waterfront, past the piers to Fisherman’s Wharf. The Wharf was very touristy but entertaining for the kids and we found a carousel for Moose to ride and then went to see the sea lions at pier 39.

The next day we went to Golden Gate Park – we came across an amateur game of baseball then found a playground for the kids to wear themselves out on. On the way home we visited the Golden Gate Bridge for a few photos.

Monday was time to leave and start driving down the coast towards LA, but not before we forgot one of our bags at the AirBnb and had to turn back to retrieve it. Second time lucky and we were back on the road. We took the coastal highway and enjoyed the stunning views through Big Sur and of the pacific on our drive down to San Simeon – the coast and the landscape reminded us a lot of the South Australian coast.

Orlando,FL to San Francisco, CA Travels

We flew Southwest across America and have little to write about!

We were stressed about the check in process. 2 adults, 2 children, 2 car seats, 3 checked bags, 3 carry on bags, 2 prams… A true nightmare! The night before I discovered that Orlando offers curb side check in. Problems solved! We literally pulled up the the curb in the rental car on the departures level, gave our bags to the employee who tagged them and boom, done! I left Hanika with the carry on and prams and returned the rental car without issue.

We chose Southwest because they’re cheap and they give 2 bags free, plus car seats are free extras. What I realised the day before flying is how they keep their costs down. There is no food on the plane. No worries, I’ll buy some. Nope, they don’t SELL food either! Lucky I did some research so we stocked up on overpriced provisions once we got through security.

Boarding is unique with no allocated seating. We were in the second group to get on (young kids, pulling through) and had no trouble finding a row of 3.

We flew out on time, landed in Nashville to let some people off/on. I can’t remember the last domestic flight I was on that wasn’t direct. It wasn’t the worst, Ollie was able to crawl around the floor and eat left over snacks. The next stop was Denver where we deplaned and had dinner. We boarded our new plane to San Fran without issue.

Finally we made it to SFO. No tears. No bleeding. No vomiting. Winning!

We pulled our embarrassing load of bags off the conveyer belt and I nipped across to get the new rental car (me leaving poor Hanika with the kids is a recurring theme). Well that’s not how it works! I had to get on a train and ride for 10 minutes to get to the car rental office. It was probably 40 minutes by the time I came to rescue Hanika. By that time Ollie had a code brown and was brought to the car pantsless!

We had a quick drive to our AirBnB and unpacked uneventfully. With the time zone change it was well past midnight Florida time before the kids were in bed.

Would I fly Southwest again? Yes. Would I use curb side check in again? EVERY TIME!

Miami Beach, FL

We spent 4 nights in Miami Beach. I learnt a lot there.

I hate sand. Truely. It gets everywhere. As a hairy guy it’s impossible to wash out in the shower without a pressure washer. But Miami Beach offered more than sand.

We stayed in the heart of the Art Deco area filled with bars and hotels that clearly had played host to some epic parties. We were a short childless walk from the beach, or a 30 minute free bus ride.

The first day we took the beaches with our new beach shade in tow. We payed 20$ for some shade in Pensacola and damned if I’ll get ripped off again. Hanika found an excellent pop up shade tent. Looking like travelling hobos we arrived to the beach, a family of fair skinned immigrants with our shade tent (which folded to a 3 foot circle), pram, 2 backpacks and a sweet polyester mat. Ludicrous. We did a have a great day at the beach though. The waves were a bit of a turn off for Moose but both kids were happy to play in the tidal pools. We got take away Cuban sandwiches from one of the aforementioned hotels and ate them on the grass. The day came to a close and it was time to pack up. Well, did that bloody tent fold back up again? The closest I got was 6 feet across and filing for divorce. Hanika was equally successful minus the divorce part. In the end I broke it and put it next to a bin… Not my proudest moment. Lesson 2, pay the beach shack rates and keep your sanity.

The second day we made our way to Little Havana for a bit of culture. For those who don’t know its a suburb filled with Cuban expats fleeing the Castro regime. It’s filled with Cuban cafes, restaurants and history. And chickens. We strolled up and down, watched old men play dominos, drank Margaritas and ate Cuban sandwiches. That afternoon our (my) museum passport pulled through again with an amazing science centre. This one was part aquarium part kids playground.

We also walked down the Lincoln Road Mall. It’s mall in the Australian sense. It’s a pedestrian only road flanked by shops, ranging from high end boutiques to generic tourist traps. I did manage to snag a wicked pair of “Miami” boardies.

We had a day of garbage weather so found an in door playground for the kids to play in . Dear lord. It was a weekend with multiple birthdays going on. I can barely handle 2 kids let alone 200! Never mind, the kids had a great time and wore themselves out.

Now on to the logistics. Do not, under any circumstances, bring a car to Miami Beach. There is NO parking. And by no parking I mean street parking is for a maximum of 9 hours, private lots are $40 for 24 hours. The on street parking has a website to register your car and pay with a credit card (no machine available). I went to the website… interesting it’s in German. No worries, there’s a Union Jack so I’ll click on that. I put in all my information, load up by credit card but can’t find the location. No worries. I’ll call them up and figure it out. “Oh yeah, we printed all the signs wrong. That’s some European company that we don’t deal with. The actual site is …”. Are you shitting me? You fucked up printing street signs for an entire city but figured in for a penny in for a pound? Which asshat bureaucrat signed off on this farce? After going through the registration process again I was lucky enough to pay $20 for 7 hours of parking. That night I drove the car to a public lot 2km away and paid another $20 for the honour.

But it’s worth it, right? We went to Miami proper for the indoor playground. Paid parking, no sweat I’ve got it set up. Nope. Different city council, different pay system. I had to repeat the whole system again! At least their signs were printed correctly. What makes things extra frustrating is that America seems to use your credit card billing zip code as a security feature. Prepay for gas at the pump? Put in your zip. Easy, except of course my billing address is in Canada! That means calling the Miami people and setting up the account. And every time I want gas I have to in an prepay. Can’t prepay at the pump, wrong zip code. Can’t be trusted to pump then pay because ‘Murica. Lesson 3, somehow get an American credit card.

We survived, barely and drove to Key Largo for a sandless ocean experience.

Overall Update

We’re still alive!

Logistically things are going well. The van is holding up although is absolutely filthy. We managed to set up the EZ Pass toll for the northeastern states. This was a huge money saver. Hertz will forward you the toll costs, plus charges you $6 USD for every day you use a toll! The pass costs $20 and the actual toll charges are less. We had a bit of trouble setting it up because the car had previously been registered to a different transponder. EZ Pass refused to release the plates and Hertz said there was nothing we could do. Turns out it doesn’t matter which car is registered to the tag as long as it’s still a “passenger vehicle”. Once we got to Florida we bought a different transponder without issue.

We’ve managed to lose a few things along the way. A whole grocery bag with Ollie’s coat, our Nanopresso coffee machine and other stuff went missing in Appalachia. Hanika has been suffering through pots of Folger’s in the morning. Last week we lost my travel adapter that’s come around the world countless times through Africa, Turkey, Europe. 4 weeks with the family is all it took to get rid of it.

We’ve also managed to gain a lot of things! The van doors barely close every time we set off. We’ve got 2 massive bags that are carrying clothes we haven’t used yet. We’ve been blessed with excellent weather the whole way so haven’t needed jackets etc. I’m hoping they’ll come in use when we get to California!

The kids are travelling better than expected. Both seem happy enough to be sleeping in a new place every couple of nights. Ollie’s settled into his portacrib thanks to ACB! We’ve got the right balance of hours on the road when we drive. Late checkins are difficult to deal with but somewhat inevitable. Pensacola had a 5pm check in!

Our latest conundrum is what to do between Vegas and San Fransisco. We need to get over the mountains and I’d love to see Sequoia/Yosemite. Unfortunately it’ll be mid December and road closures are unpredictable. Plus some roads require tire chains which invalidate your rental car insurance. No doubt we’ll take the risk of we need to!

Another challenging trip!

Hanika and I have no luck when we travel! This time we arrived at the airport painfully early to ensure we could drop off the rental car, check in, have breakfast and change a nappy before going through customs. We were extra early when I received a text message at the airport to say the plane to Chicago was delayed an hour.

Normally that wouldn’t have been a big deal except it meant missing our original connection to Buffalo. No one was at the United desk but I was told over the phone we had been rebooked on a later flight that evening. Again, that should have been fine. Except I’m a tight ass and I booked our rental car from an off airport Hertz which closes at 18:00! I can’t remember how much I saved but it better have been more than $20.

We landed in Chicago and saw that our original flight to Buffalo was delayed. I quickly asked at a gate if we could change back to that flight but was told I’d have to take it up with the people at the departing gate. I hadn’t been to O’Hare before so I figured we could make a mad dash and catch them… wrong! It’s a massive airport, the scale of Charles de Gualle. So I dragged my poor family through a busy airport, across 2 terminals only to find that by the time we got the gate the plane had left! We collected ourselves and mopped our brows. We headed back to another terminal to wait for our flight. 45 minutes before check in I looked at the screen to confirm the gate only to find they had moved the plane to another terminal! We walked across and found another 45 minute delay!

Eventually we landed in Buffalo and made our way to the hotel. The airport charges $5 for luggage carts so I walked outside to the taxi rank and found a discarded one! Despite Ollie being Mr No Sleep we made it out with the van to Niagara Falls in good time.

Made it to Winnipeg

What an eventful start to the trip! Our booking was for 3 seats + Ollie on our lap from Adelaide to Winnipeg via Melbourne and LA on Qantas/Westjet.

We checked in to Adelaide and had our first hicup. Ollie’s Canadian and Australian passports weren’t linked (because that’s a thing) so they had to call customs and sort that out before we got our tickets issued. They said they could check our bags through to Winnipeg but couldn’t give us the boarding passes for the last Westjet flight. No problem right, we’ll sort it in LA.

Our Melbourne connection was tight, 1 hour. We made it through customs and security and walked right onto the plane. Thank god there were no exploding nappies to slow us down!

The transpacific flight was manageable. We had a bulkhead row of 3 seats with a bassinet. The plus side was lots of leg room with space for the kids to play on the floor. The downside was that the arm rests don’t move so we couldn’t lift them and let Moose stretch out to sleep. The bassinet was an utter failure as a bed for Ollie. He’s become a fussy sleeper so we only tried to put him in once. He touched the ends given his length and didn’t have a bar of it. That said, it was a perfect place to store extra pillows, blankets and food. Unfortunately Ollie had a massive chuck on the plane. Thankfully I was up walking at the time so it landed over me and the floor in front of some poor childless people! The staff on Qantas were excellent and snagged me a set of business class PJs to change into. He had one further spew but settled after that. The A380 has the biggest change table we have come across on a plane. That came in handy for no less than 6 nappy changes…

We finally made to LA and with a 2 1/2 hour layover thought it would be a comfortable transit. Wrong! We collected our bags, changed into some fresh clothes and restocked on nappies and made our way to T3 to cross security. Well, Westjet has their check in desk at T3 but their gates are at T2. Thank goodness we were at T3 because it’s there that the real troubles started. We went to the desk to double to check the gate and that’s when we found out that Ollie wasn’t on the tickets! The short story is we booked our flights on points before he was born, then added him on later (as instructed by Qantas). Turns out they only added him to the Qantas flights but not the Westjet section! It took nearly 40 minutes to get that sorted by which time we had missed the check in time significantly. A big shout out to the Westjet staff who held the flight as we frantically ran through the airport to get onto the plane as the last passengers. Unfortunately in the mess of emptying liquids, taking off shoes and removing laptops at security Moose ripped a nail and was bleeding and crying. Needless to say, this was not the time for TLC. Poor kid was whisked up and carried to the gate screaming. But we made it!

Once on the plane it was smooth sailing to Winnipeg with a few hours in Calgary.

We landed in Winnipeg to do the Haiart ritual of hugs on the “Hug Rug” at the bottom of the arrival escalator. We waited 30 minutes for our luggage before someone from Westjet approached us to say he received an email to say 2 of our 3 bags were still in LA! The one bag that did make it was full of our winter clothes! Arrangements were made to have the bags delivered the next day and temporary provisions were sourced from the local Walmart on Qantas’ dime.

We rented a small car to get around town for the month and were surprised with an upgrade to a Ford Escape!

All things considered, a successful trip so far. We’ve got a month in Winnipeg before we fly out to Niagara Falls to start the first road trip.

Pretrip Planning

Seb loves to plan. So much so that 6 months out from the start of the holiday he had planned the entire trip day by day. Everything was budgeted for. Cities and national parks were researched.

The internet was the main source of information. Trip Advisor, blogs like this and Facebook groups were invaluable. Other useful sites included websites run by local cities and tourism boards. For example, Chattanooga has a great Facebook page and the Natchez Trace Parkway posts free maps and lodging information in the mail. We also purchased a few Lonely Planet books as we had both used them when backpacking.

The beginning of trip was centered around big metropolitan cities in Canada and North Eastern USA. This is also were some of Seb’s friends from university live so it made sense to visit. The rest of the trip is based on a few “must see” places and finding interesting routes to get around.