"Coming" to America!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:53 am

G'day all!

This evening I'm off from the land of Oz again, this time to the US - my first "really big" overseas trip to a far away country. Should be interesting, especially since I'm stone broke! Just waiting for some pay to come through

Things I'll be doing:

- From what I know of our itinery (not sorted by me), cities visited Las Vegas and San Fransisco
- Grand Canyon flight
- Disneyland
- Alkatraz (spelling?)
- Visit:
- Walmart
- Outdoor store
- "Typical" American diner

Gone for two weeks... Will be looking for a stationary XT6

I'll have some pics when I get back I'm sure! I'll have to upload some deni pics too... My sister will be getting the second installment of a big surprise - mum and sis are over there already and dad left yesterday, he should be arriving when we're leaving here. Sis has no idea that dad bros and I are headed her way so it should be a good kodak moment

Take care, hope to check the net over there at some stage, if not, see you in two weeks!

Cheers

Bennie

T'subaru · Post by **T'subaru** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:55 pm

El_Freddo wrote:G'day all!

This evening I'm off from the land of Oz again, this time to the US - my first "really big" overseas trip to a far away country. Should be interesting, especially since I'm stone broke! Just waiting for some pay to come through

Things I'll be doing:

- From what I know of our itinery (not sorted by me), cities visited Las Vegas and San Fransisco
- Grand Canyon flight
- Disneyland
- Alkatraz (spelling?)
- Visit:
- Walmart
- Outdoor store
- "Typical" American diner

Gone for two weeks... Will be looking for a stationary XT6

I'll have some pics when I get back I'm sure! I'll have to upload some deni pics too... My sister will be getting the second installment of a big surprise - mum and sis are over there already and dad left yesterday, he should be arriving when we're leaving here. Sis has no idea that dad bros and I are headed her way so it should be a good kodak moment

Take care, hope to check the net over there at some stage, if not, see you in two weeks!

Cheers

Bennie

Enjoy your trip Bennie. San Francisco is a great city, spent a year there on the bay doing a waterfront building. Must do is fishermans terminal, telegraph hill and the coit tower and if its a "guys night out"....well I've got a place that will knock your socks off:twisted:

Thalass · Post by **Thalass** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Walmart-shmallmart. You should go to Costco! haha. You shouldn't get lost in Walmart - I found some of the older ones are laid out exactly like an older BigW store, only larger with a food section and a gun section.

Have fun, and watch out for homeland security! If you find "SSSS" on the bottom of your boarding pass on the way back, you're in for a fun time in the short line. :P

dfoyl · Post by **dfoyl** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 7:32 pm

If you get time, do the drive from SFO to LAX (on a par with the Great Ocean Road drive) and stop in at Hearst Castle for one of the tours.

Good luck on finding an XT6 in a yard, I found a few MY's and L's in Oregon and northern CAL when I was looking for SPFI bits. You could probably pick up a few L Turbo rear disc sets to resell but I think your luggage weight might be exceeded...

Dean.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 7:55 pm

awesome mate.. sounds great.. its a long trip but its worth the flight. Mate have a good time and looking forward to pictures.
Cheers
AP

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:16 pm

Well Bennie, don't you watch our border patrol telly programs? "Got no money and you wanna enter a country?" If they don't send you back on the next flight have a great time, and report back on petrol (gas) prices and propane too please. Stock up on tools while you are there like diagnostic spark plug tester, light and cheap. The dollar is lokin favourable to you too at the moment - good timng!!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:32 am

G'day all!

I'm currently sitting in the Las vegas airport waiting to leave for San F... I'm glad to be leaving this "city" - I don't think its the best place to go for your first impression of America, but we did meet some interesting people while playing some cards. The problem with is was that I didn't have enough money that I didn't care about...

Alcatraz is on the cards for the next day or two

I missed any out door store here but did shoot up an Osama target with a fully auto machine gun. It was fun til I ran outta rounds

On the way over I was pulled up for every possible random bag search, then once in LA we headed straight to the domestic terminal, checked in then got pulled up for the rum in my carry on from the internation flight. SO CUT! I had to throw it out - hope one of the fellas kept it for later...

I'm a little over all the extra charges over here - tax in Vegas is not shown in the price like our GST is, this tax is added at the till. I'm sure its not just a vegas thing either. The $25 bag check in wasn't expected either.

And just quickly, the Grand Canyon is simply Bloody HUGE! It was crazy.

Gotta go.

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:09 am

You got in ? Without getting a hair cut? You are a marked man, they're gonna wanna search you everywhere, anywhere now!! Watch out for Bennie on Border Security USA

If you can stomach Mickey D's maybe compare their burgers with ours?

Thalass · Post by **Thalass** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:05 pm

They do that in Canada, too. The price on the shelf is before tax, so you have to ad 13% (PST + GST) at the checkout. I assume it's similar in the USA. Pain in the arse, it is. :P

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:22 pm

Here's some pic's:

Me at the Grand Canyon - we managed to find an outcrop that wasn't fenced off, there's a sheer drop half a step behind me, the place is bloody HUGE!

My shadow in a vertical panoramic:

And a Hooter's hummer golf cart - I was hatching a plan to borrow it for the evening...

There are loads of pics to sift through, most have to be downsized before I can post them on here... It'll probabily be done a week or two after I get home.

Subaru tally so far:
1 early WRX
1 early Impreza
2 Outbacks
2 baja's (outback utes)
2 liberty's, one really rough
2 L series
and one legacy (I think)

Loads of Chevy SUV's and V8's getting around... Even our shuttle buses and vans have had thumping V8's powering them, bloody quick!

Cheers

Bennie

Thalass · Post by **Thalass** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:53 am

Bajas rock! haha.

Yeah the 'trucks' over there are huge and everywhere. Its crazy.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 2:10 pm

Ok, now I've seen 3 L series... Countless legacy's, outbacks and foz's... Today we rode the cable cars, ate in china town and bummed around a bit. Yesterday we did an urban sufari tour and a tour of alcatraz. Both were awesome! Alcatraz needs some restoration as its looking a little worse for wear since its been sitting there for so long! We didn't really have enough time here which was disappointing.

I'm going to try and organise a hire car tomorrow to head out to Yosmite before we head off to LA on sunday. I'm really hoping to see one of the great national parks of the US before I head off - this'll probabily be a major factor in coming back again later on...

That's all for now.

Cheers

Bennie

Loyale 2.7 Turbo · Post by **Loyale 2.7 Turbo** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:31 am

Let me Know if you come here to Central America Too!

Kind Regards!

JG12gauge · Post by **JG12gauge** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:49 am

Glad to here you had fun. Maybe next time you can go check out Idaho.