The time is almost upon us! The time for the expansion of stomachs and the avoiding of weighing scales! As the departure date has drawn steadily closer, the excitement and anticipation has continued to build and is now almost uncontrollable! But before we get on the plane we must get to the story...
We begin in January 2016 and the adults in the NoName household were getting restless. It had been just over two years of baby/toddler induced insomnia, general exhaustion and a holiday regime that consisted of dragging an unimpressed child around various places no further than a few hours away only to come home to the realisation that we hadn’t seen or done a thing. Singapore (x2), Malaysia (x2), Bali and numerous close-by domestic destinations and we had had enough. It was time for us to go back in time 5 years, travel childless, and see and do things the way we used to without a daily schedule dictated by the sleep routine of a toddler.
First Question: Who will play parent for a couple of weeks? Without any hesitation Nanna/Mother NoName put her hand up. Clearly the preceding 30-odd years has dulled her memory of the trials and tribulations of parenting.
Second Question: Where and when to go? MrsNoName wanted Europe, I wanted the US. Since visiting in 2010 I had wanted to return to Yosemite national park and hike Half Dome. For some reason I had become almost obsessed with going back to do this hike and after putting forward a compelling case it was locked in. Now when to go? The window for hiking Half Dome is May to around the end of September (weather dependant) so it had to be in this time. We both love watching the Australian Open tennis each year so a visit to the US Open in August/September sounded like the perfect idea. Depart mid-August, return first weekend September – DONE! With Mrs NoName having no interest in spending days semi-removed from civilisation, we decided that I would do the hiking by myself and she would come meet me later on in the trip. We came up with an itinerary and we were set to book.
NoName: 3 nts Las Vegas, 4 nts Yosemite
Mrs NoName: 2 nts NYC
Both: 3 nts Niagara Falls/Toronto, 4 nts NYC, 1 nt LA
Third Question: How to get there? Many would argue that having traveled almost exclusively with a young child for the previous 2+ years, simply boarding a plane and not having to potentially endure several hours of screaming would be sufficient luxury. Not so. A few years ago I made the decision to join this forum and make an effort to ramp up my point earning capabilities. There was consistent eye-rolling from Mrs NoName and constant questions about why I needed to close and open another credit card, but after booking her in F as a surprise when she was traveling alone back from SIN (“what do you mean you selected 1A for me? What seat am I really in?”) and a family trip in J (“why haven’t we done this before?”) there was no going back. We were doing this trip on points in the highest available cabin. A couple of calls to the QF call center from a WP family member, some searching around myself and we ended up with the following:
NoName:
BNE-MEL QF in J
MEL-LAX-LAS QF in F/AA in Y
SFO-ORD-YYZ AA in F/J
MrsNoName:
BNE-SYD-LAX-JFK QF in J/F/J
LGA-YYZ AA in J
Both:
YYZ-JFK DL in Y+
JFK-LAX QF in Y+
LAX-BNE QF in Y
Sadly QF wouldn’t release any additional J awards for our journey home at the time of booking so unless there is a change of heart prior to departure we will be relegated to the back of the bus for an early dose of reality in preparation for being reunited with a child who will no doubt still be filthy that mummy & daddy went on the aeroplane without him.
Fourth Question: What to do? The question now turned to what to do with our days during this blissful couple of weeks of freedom. With the exception of Niagara Falls/Toronto we have visited each of these destinations before (and in the case of NYC, multiple times) so visiting the usual tourist spots just for the sake of it didn’t seem as appealing as it did the first time around. Sure, we would like to go back to some of them but it wouldn’t be the primary driver. And then it came to me – FOOD! We will go there to eat (and drink)! And so we agreed on this (loose) theme for the trip: instead of visiting attractions and dining in the vicinity we will visit food places and see attractions in the vicinity! Will it turn out exactly like that? Probably not, but we will have a few extra kilos to show as proof that we gave it a try!
And now we are 7 days out (13 for MrsNoName). After several months of planning, several hours on hold with QF, booking, cancelling, re-booking etc etc it is nearly upon us. All the hotels have been sorted, the few planned activities that we have are booked, tennis tickets secured, restaurants that require it have been reserved. Everything is set. Well nearly everything. Although a lot of the food choices have been decided and others will be random places we stumble across, there is still room for more. While I’m sure I will have no trouble keeping our stomachs close to the point of explosion, I need your help! Help me make this report semi-interactive with the forum. I’d love to hear some recommendations for places/things to eat in our locations. Not expensive restaurants as we have some of that stuff covered already, but random or smaller places that you loved. Doesn’t matter if they are well known or not. Post the name of the place and if relevant what I should order there. I will choose one or two places from each location if possible, visit and review.
Looking for ideas for:
Las Vegas
San Francisco (will be there for approx. 12hrs)
Niagara Falls
Toronto
New York City
Los Angeles
Bring on the food suggestions and bring on the trip!
We begin in January 2016 and the adults in the NoName household were getting restless. It had been just over two years of baby/toddler induced insomnia, general exhaustion and a holiday regime that consisted of dragging an unimpressed child around various places no further than a few hours away only to come home to the realisation that we hadn’t seen or done a thing. Singapore (x2), Malaysia (x2), Bali and numerous close-by domestic destinations and we had had enough. It was time for us to go back in time 5 years, travel childless, and see and do things the way we used to without a daily schedule dictated by the sleep routine of a toddler.
First Question: Who will play parent for a couple of weeks? Without any hesitation Nanna/Mother NoName put her hand up. Clearly the preceding 30-odd years has dulled her memory of the trials and tribulations of parenting.
Second Question: Where and when to go? MrsNoName wanted Europe, I wanted the US. Since visiting in 2010 I had wanted to return to Yosemite national park and hike Half Dome. For some reason I had become almost obsessed with going back to do this hike and after putting forward a compelling case it was locked in. Now when to go? The window for hiking Half Dome is May to around the end of September (weather dependant) so it had to be in this time. We both love watching the Australian Open tennis each year so a visit to the US Open in August/September sounded like the perfect idea. Depart mid-August, return first weekend September – DONE! With Mrs NoName having no interest in spending days semi-removed from civilisation, we decided that I would do the hiking by myself and she would come meet me later on in the trip. We came up with an itinerary and we were set to book.
NoName: 3 nts Las Vegas, 4 nts Yosemite
Mrs NoName: 2 nts NYC
Both: 3 nts Niagara Falls/Toronto, 4 nts NYC, 1 nt LA
Third Question: How to get there? Many would argue that having traveled almost exclusively with a young child for the previous 2+ years, simply boarding a plane and not having to potentially endure several hours of screaming would be sufficient luxury. Not so. A few years ago I made the decision to join this forum and make an effort to ramp up my point earning capabilities. There was consistent eye-rolling from Mrs NoName and constant questions about why I needed to close and open another credit card, but after booking her in F as a surprise when she was traveling alone back from SIN (“what do you mean you selected 1A for me? What seat am I really in?”) and a family trip in J (“why haven’t we done this before?”) there was no going back. We were doing this trip on points in the highest available cabin. A couple of calls to the QF call center from a WP family member, some searching around myself and we ended up with the following:
NoName:
BNE-MEL QF in J
MEL-LAX-LAS QF in F/AA in Y
SFO-ORD-YYZ AA in F/J
MrsNoName:
BNE-SYD-LAX-JFK QF in J/F/J
LGA-YYZ AA in J
Both:
YYZ-JFK DL in Y+
JFK-LAX QF in Y+
LAX-BNE QF in Y
Sadly QF wouldn’t release any additional J awards for our journey home at the time of booking so unless there is a change of heart prior to departure we will be relegated to the back of the bus for an early dose of reality in preparation for being reunited with a child who will no doubt still be filthy that mummy & daddy went on the aeroplane without him.
Fourth Question: What to do? The question now turned to what to do with our days during this blissful couple of weeks of freedom. With the exception of Niagara Falls/Toronto we have visited each of these destinations before (and in the case of NYC, multiple times) so visiting the usual tourist spots just for the sake of it didn’t seem as appealing as it did the first time around. Sure, we would like to go back to some of them but it wouldn’t be the primary driver. And then it came to me – FOOD! We will go there to eat (and drink)! And so we agreed on this (loose) theme for the trip: instead of visiting attractions and dining in the vicinity we will visit food places and see attractions in the vicinity! Will it turn out exactly like that? Probably not, but we will have a few extra kilos to show as proof that we gave it a try!
And now we are 7 days out (13 for MrsNoName). After several months of planning, several hours on hold with QF, booking, cancelling, re-booking etc etc it is nearly upon us. All the hotels have been sorted, the few planned activities that we have are booked, tennis tickets secured, restaurants that require it have been reserved. Everything is set. Well nearly everything. Although a lot of the food choices have been decided and others will be random places we stumble across, there is still room for more. While I’m sure I will have no trouble keeping our stomachs close to the point of explosion, I need your help! Help me make this report semi-interactive with the forum. I’d love to hear some recommendations for places/things to eat in our locations. Not expensive restaurants as we have some of that stuff covered already, but random or smaller places that you loved. Doesn’t matter if they are well known or not. Post the name of the place and if relevant what I should order there. I will choose one or two places from each location if possible, visit and review.
Looking for ideas for:
Las Vegas
San Francisco (will be there for approx. 12hrs)
Niagara Falls
Toronto
New York City
Los Angeles
Bring on the food suggestions and bring on the trip!
