Joshua van Aalst’s blog

Well almost back from my tour of the US (Los Angeles, Vegas, Orlando, New York and Boston).

I thought I’d jot down a couple of insights and mini reviews of places we went to and what was cool and what wasn’t.

Firstly though, a couple of general points for people visiting the US:

1) Always bargain. Even if you think you can’t bargain try anyway! And don’t look like you will purchase the item anyway, that would obviously be silly.

A great example, on my first day in Los Aangeles I visited Melrose St and bought a pair of shoes for $90 US without bargaining. Later in a non tourist district (St Marks St) in New York, I saw the same pair for $69 US. Sales staff will laugh at you if you pay full price…. And so will I!

2) Extreme sales people

Due to the extreme capitalist nature of the US (employees working for tips, no public health e.t.c.). People are forced to sell as their lives (literally) depend on it. Be careful. A good sales person will have you walking out of their store in a skirt that is 2 sizes too big and a putrid shade of bile green. You have been warned!

3) Awesome service.

Again due to the dependency on tips service people have to provide the best service to generate the maximum tips. This is pretty cool for an Aussie who’s used to waiters who put a plate in front of you and that’s all you ever see of them.

4) Sales Tax

My personal favourite in the USA! No one seems to be able to explain how this works. According to a camera dealer in Orlando you pay sales tax on TOP of the price of all items other than food. Seems simple right?

In all the clothing vendors in Boston and New York (that I visited) the sales tax was included in the price but in the diners it wasn’t! Opposite to Orlando.

Sales Tax is absolutely random. Always ask if it is included. Prices in America are ridiculously misleading. By the time you’ve added sales tax and a tip onto the beer you just ordered, it’s more than doubled from what you had sat down for.

5) Queues, queues and more queues.

From my travels it appears that American’s love to queue. In Australia if your in Martin place (central business district) at lunch it is a free for all, people shoving to the front to get served. In the US from Disney land to New York’s famed Magnolia bakery. People politely queue and patiently wait.

6) Cigarettes and Liquor everywhere.

In America you can pick up your medicine at the Pharmacist whilst buying a pack of your favourite cigarettes and a bottle of hard liquour. There is also absolutely no health warning on cigarettes and they are much bigger than Australian cigarettes. That being said their’s nothing better than stepping into any restaurant and ordering an alcoholic drink. No need to worry about who’s licensed and not. They all are!

7) Hotels are NOT your friends.

Don’t accept hotels special airport taxis! You are generally offered 1 of 2 options by the hotel. A shuttle bus to the airport. These take hours longer than a direct taxi as they generally stop at multiple hotels and they aren’t much cheaper. The other option hotels like to offer is a ‘special’ taxi. The special Taxi from the Holdiay Inn in midtown New York to JFK airport was $60 US. A normal taxi was only $45!

Also of note baggage storage, according to hotels should cost you $1 to $2 tip per bag checked. This is too much and is what they want you to pay to compensate the fact that they don’t pay their concierges and valets (Yes a Valet at the Hilton in Las Vegas confirmed this), $2 will be fine for 3 bags.

The following places rock! Visit them … (In order of coolness):

O, Cirque Du Solieu (Las Vegas)

This show was utterly amazing. O is Cirque Du Solieu’s water show in the Belagio. The Belagio’s theatre is massive, closer to a stadium than a theatre. About 4 times the size of the biggest theatre we visited in Broadway (New York). The show itself was amazing. 60 performers in perfect unison performing syncronised swimming, trappese, rope, swings, circus tricks, fire tricks and more. The best part of this show was it’s scale. 60 performers really is a very large ensemble. To put it in perspective a big Broadway musical will have around 30 (maximum 40 performers). So it is double that. Also the stage was amazing, transforming from a water stage to a fire stage and even to a diving pool all whilst the performance continued.

Also a bit of Trivia there are 4 different Cirque Du Solieu shows throughout Las Vegas and a show like O above has 2 performances a day! That’s Las Vegas for you!

Melrose St (Los Angeles)

If your looking to buy medium range clothing between $50 to $200 US. Then this is your place. Easily the best male clothes shopping that I have ever experienced (and some great girls clothes too). The shopping area of Melrose St extends for approximately 10 blocks and is filled with local designers and boutiques with amazing and awe inspiring clothing (at decent prices). The clothes really were amazing often with large custom prints and designs covered in studs, patches and other decorations. Lots of attention to detail, these are the clothes that General Pants, Urban Outfitters and Supre homogenize to make accessible for the general public. One sentence…. SHOP THERE!

Marks St (Manhattan, New York)

Similar to Melrose St in Los Angeles but with a focus on Goth and Punk clothing. One of the most amazing aspects of Marks St is the atmosphere. You’ll find locals out in force dressed to the teeth in the hottest Goth, Punk and alternative clothes with a somewhat silly amount of accessories. One of my favourites was a really big guy in hot pink stilettos (no not a drag queen either) and a shop assistant who had a massive gun as a belt buckle. The prices are again very reasonable and it’s a great place to see artists designing clothes right there. Defiantly worth a visit, the street is not on the maps so happy hunting (head to lower Manhattan).

Mary Poppins, the Musical (New York)

A stunning example of a Broadway production and the massive spectacle you expect from it. Awesome moving set too. Props to the actors dancing upside down on the roof of the theatre and Mary Poppins soaring through the air!

Blizzard Beach (Disney World, Orlando)

One of Disney Worlds 2 massive water parks, check it out for some of the most amazing water slides in the world. They really are inspiring. Plenty of long rides and even better … to get around the park simply hop in a massive rapid river in a blow up rubber tire and you’ll be taken on a ride around the whole park.

Virgin Music and Toys r Us (Times Square, New York)

These stores are both almost next to each other. Both are amazing 4 leveled beasts. The Toys r Us store has a 4 storey high Ferris wheel in the middle of the store where the wheel’s seats are My Little Pony’s, Bob the builder cars and many other famed kids shows. Virgin Music has an amazing selection of DVDs, the largest i’ve seen, with plenty of DVD’s from TV shows i never knew existed.

Spamalot, the Monty Python Musical (Broadway, New York)

This was the funniest show we saw. Lots of laughs and the story does not follow any of the Monty Python movies exactly (contrary to popular opinion) although it does draw a few scenes from the Holy Grail. The only downside was that the theatre was ridiculously crammed. The seats were so small and close together you felt you would fall over the person in front of you. Also the Gay scene could have been done far better. They needed an actual Mardi Gras coloured flag and a drag queen.

Star Trek, The Experience (Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas)

Hidden away in the Hilton Hotel is Quarks bar and grille and 2 massive Star Trek rides one based on Voyager’s Borg episodes and another based on the Klingon encounters. Not only were the rides great but so were the drinks. I dare you to order a large warp core breech! The drink is made with over 5 full shots and dry ice that creates a smoke effect pouring from the oversized glass! ?

Delta Shuttles

Delta is one of America’s biggest airlines. The Delta shuttles are like a bus service from major city to major city. They are fantastic:

1) You can sit anywhere
2) Planes fly every half an hour so you can get one as soon as you check in. No need to wait around in the air port
3) Planes are extremely roomy. I could open my laptop!
4) Planes are not over crowded. Often you’ll get 2 seats to your self.

Yes and before you question the praise we were flying in peak holiday season and we did fly delta shuttles twice.

New York food!

In general New York food was supurb. Meals were large and absolutely delicious. I heard some people talking: “If a resteraunt is not amazing in New York it dies instantly”. I Could not agree more.

The following places we were told to visit but were a little disappointing (You might still enjoy them though):

Century 21 (New York)

We heard lots of good things about this discount department store but to put it frankly it was ? . Firstly it was totally overcrowded and secondly all the branded clothes (Guess, Marcs, Levis e.t.c.) were 2 years ago’s seasons and were quite obviously the lines that didn’t sell. If you are buying an item purely for the brand name this might suit you but I didn’t like it at all. That being said branded underwear was very cheap and for guys you can’t really go wrong there.

Grays Papies (New York)

Heard a lot of good things about this chain of hot dog vendors. Although hot dogs were good they were tiny and well were just plain hot dogs. They were dirt cheap though which was a plus but given how small the hot dogs were you’d need to have at least 2 for anyone to be full.

Magnolia Bakery

We first passed it in a Taxi and saw the massive queue. Having seen it on Sex and The City, Donna and I decided to make the trek and after walking miles to find this little hotspot I was wondering how awesome a cup cake could possibly be. We each bought a different flavour of cup cake but although each was very nice they were still…. Cup cakes! They were really rich and I ended up throwing most of mine out.

Avenue Q, The Musical (New York)

I had heard rave reviews about this musical. It was a comedy done with puppets. I and Donna found it just not funny and rather boring. Their was absolutely no plot and the jokes were a tad bad taste “We’re all racist” e.t.c. and the very overdone Jewish weddings. If your going to do a Jewish comedy segment. Do it well ala Seinfield. Props to the leading lady in this she was the best thing in it. See Spamalot it was much funnier.

Los Angeles Hotels that are downtown.

I wrote a bit about Los Angeles already. Golden rule: Los Angeles is ridiculously large and busses go in straight lines only (You will often have to catch 2 buses to get anywhere). Make sure you get a hotel that is near the location you are going to visit. Downtown is really in the middle of nowhere that a tourist would want to visit. Be careful of the maps too. They only show about 1 in every 10 streets. They are deceiving.

Apple Store (5th Avenue, New York)

Totally boring and huge mark ups, exactly the same Apple products as every other store with no exception.