So Much Planning!

Hey everyone

SO in my last post I was talking about planning all my post-Disney adventures with Contiki. Unfortunately, I left it too late to book my L.A Explorer 4-day Contiki so it was all sold out :( So that was disappointing, but at least I was able to book my 8-day Western Highlights tour, from LA to Vegas. So I'm happy about that! I booked that today, putting down my deposit. I was only able to book 2 nights at the Kyoto Grand Hotel (where Contiki departs from), which meant I had to find somewhere to spend the other 2 nights that I am in LA.

After scouring various websites, I came across a hostel which is right in the heart of Hollywood, and that actually had really good reviews - USA Hostels Hollywood. Private rooms are $92USD per night, which sounds expensive for a hostel, but considering it's location, and the fact that they offer free wireless internet, and free all-you-can-eat pancakes for breakfast, I figured it was a good deal - especially compared to hotels that are so expensive in Hollywood! So I have booked myself into the hostel for the 7th and 8th of January. The great thing about it is that I don't pay anything until I arrive and check-in which is great, since I have to be super careful with my money at the moment! I just have to make sure I put enough aside to pay for it haha.

Another great thing about this hostel is the tours they offer! Unfortunately, since I am only there for 2 nights, I miss out on most of the good ones they offer, but there is a hike up to the Hollywood sign for sunset which I will definitely be keen for! I've decided I will probably take some Starline Tours around LA to fill my 4 days before I leave on my Contiki. Of course, I'm terrified about being alone in the big city, but I'm hoping I will cope (or I'll find someone else at Disney who wants to join me!)

Well thats it for now.. next time I update, hopefully I'll have received my welcome package!

Time to knuckle down and save like crazy!

xx

Update :)

Hi readers!

So just a little update for you today. I spent a somewhat stressful hour or so in the Flight Centre talking to my travel agent Stephen about changing my flights home and booking my Contiki trips.

I had been tossing up, going back and forth about what I was going to do next January after Disney with my 30 days of travel in the USA. I like to be super organised and have a plan of exactly what I'm going to do.. but I wasn't sure if I should plan out my post-Disney travel or just wing it. But, my organised self won over, and I made the decision to book my Contiki trips and change my flights accordingly. I found the flights online, and thinking it would be a simple change, went into the Flight Centre today.

Turns out changing the return flights was not as simple as I had anticipated. It has to do with seat classes, and having to book flights with the same class in order to avoid fees (I don't know, it doesn't really make sense to me haha!). Anyway, with the flight home that I wanted, the booking class that I originally booked with were unavailable. Which meant I had to upgrade my seats to the most expensive (yet still economy) seats. Which meant paying another $395. So that was very disappointing, as that was money I thought I would be able to put towards my Contikis. So all up, my return flights cost me $3000. Disappointing, and I sort of wish that I had've tried to get cheaper one-way tickets. But that works out to $1500 each way, so really it's not too bad. I'm just glad its sorted now.. and I definitely won't be changing again!

Next was to book my two Contiki tours (that I had mentioned previously). We are waiting on Contiki to confirm, then I will be going in to put down the required $400 deposit. And then I will be officially as broke as!

So my new flight itinerary is:

12th July 2011: Auckland - Los Angeles

12th July 2011: Los Angeles - Orlando

7th January 2012: Orlando - Los Angeles

18th Januar 2012: Los Angeles - Auckland

After I pay my Contiki deposit, I am planning to draw up some sort of budget, just to work out how much I have to put towards the rest of my Contikis, insurance and visa, plus whatever else I have to buy/pay for before I leave. I'm sort of stressed, because now I don't know how much money I will have as spending money before Disney start paying me. Ah.. stress stress!!

=]

Until next time

xx

Universal Studios :D

Wow, if I wasn't excited before (well I was), I'm even MORE excited now!

I just booked our Universal Studios Vacation package, for the three days that we are in Orlando before we have to check-in at Disney.

Keri found the package, and we were all on board straight away. If you remember, the four of us (Keri, Ashley, Jessica and myself) were originally planning on staying at Disney's Pop Century resort. However, Keri managed to find us a great vacation package through Universal which included accommodation for 4 nights, a 3-day ticket to Universal Studios and Islands of

Adventure (where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is), breakfast at the Three Broomsticks (!), free transportation to the parks, early entry into the parks (so we can beat the crowds), and free entry to all the bars at Universal Citywalk - for those of us 21 ;)

And the best part about the package was that it worked out to $199USD each. For everything that I just mentioned. And that was with 1 night free. So that was an amazing deal, considering that a 3-day ticket to Universal is over $100 on its own. The other awesome thing is the early entry, especially because there is a Harry Potter convention on in Orlando during those dates, and the final movie opens up on the 15th. Early entry will be a must to survive the craziness!

So the hotel we will be staying at is the Econolodge Inn & Suites Orlando.

Jake, Elissa and Reece have also booked the same package as us, but they will be staying in a different hotel. But we have booked breakfast on the same day, so that makes 7 of us so far in our awesome Universal group! It's crazy to think that in 5 months we will be dining in at the Three Broomsticks, drinking butterbeer :D (Yes, be jealous!)

So, that makes flights and pre-disney all booked and paid for. It's so exciting. This weekend I'm heading to the travel expo. It will be a busy day - I'm hoping to sort out my insurance (if 1cover are there), book my 2 contiki trips for January 2012 after I finish at Disney, talk to flight centre about changing my return flights and about checking in so that me and Ashley will be able to sit together since she will be checking-in at Christchurch and I will be in Auckland, and besides all that, apparently Disney will be there doing presentations about the parks! (According to Jake who got dvds and all sorts of exciting things at the Melbourne travel expo).

I also had a go at making a video blog today.. but the audio and video was like 30 seconds out of sync, which meant most of the time my mouth was moving and no sound was coming out. So that was annoying. I think I should stick to regular blogging.

Still haven't got my welcome email from Disney.. so I will be chasing STB up on that shortly since Keri got hers the other day..

Well, thats it for now,

Until next time

xx

Time to Save!

So the last few days have me planning my post-Disney travel.. I've been going back and forth on a few ideas for a while, but I think I've finally settled on a plan:

My program finishes on the 6th January, so I am planning on doing two Contiki tours. The LA Explorer starting on 8th January, and then the Western Highlights tour which starts immediately after, on January 11th - 18th. I'm so excited about doing these tours because they visit some places that I have been dying to see for ages! Especially Hollywood, Vegas and Route 66. Contiki was also the best option for me since I'll be travelling alone - although hopefully I'll meet people at Disney who are keen to join me!

So now it's just a matter of booking them and paying them off. I think I'm going to wait for about a month, so then I can change my return flights at the same time (January 2012 flights should be out by then!). Ah so now the intense saving has to begin. I want to pay the Contiki tours off before I leave for Orlando in July, so thats just over $2000 I have to be able to save (and hopefully I'll be able to save spending money while I'm out at Disney - I'll have to be veeerrryy wise with my paychecks haha)..

Argh it sounds so daunting - I've never been the best at saving! But I know it will be SO worth it come next January, so I'll just have to keep reminding myself that every time I go to buy food, or shoes or clothes that I really DON'T need!!!

July can't get here fast enough!!

xx

Flights!

So, today it is official! I have my flights booked and paid for in full!

It still seems like July is forever away. But I wanted to book flights early because they just keep going up in price, and the cheaper the better.

So it took us a while to find a flight that we were all happy with, but we finally did. So me and Ashley are flying together from Auckland to LA with Qantas on Tuesday July 12th, departing at 1:05pm and arriving at 6:30am. Then we have a 15hour layover at LAX (ugh), where we will meet up with Keri, who is flying in from Australia.

We then fly out of LAX at 10:35pm, arriving at Orlando at 6:18am on Wednesday 13th July. I think we are going to be staying at Disney's Pop Century resort for the 3 nights before we go check-in at Disney, but we haven't booked our room yet. Thursday and Friday (the 14th and 15th) are going to be spent at Universal Studios and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, meeting up with Karina and Ariesha and whoever else wants to join us!

I'm so excited! It feels a little bit more real now :) I can't wait until I have the flights in my hand and the visa in my passport!

A 15 hour layover at LAX airport is not ideal. But Ashley has an aunt in LA that might be able to take us somewhere. I'm also looking around to see what people suggest for long layover in LAX. Hopefully there might be a hop-on hop-off tour we can jump on. It all depends on what time Keri arrives in LA and what time we have to be back at the Airport for check-in and stuff.

I still haven't heard anything from Disney or STB, but I've flicked them an email just to make sure they aren't waiting on anything from me, so we'll see what they say.

182 days to go :D

Until next time,

xx