[kristin5]

I can't recommend Hojo's enough, they were amazing super clean, very very friendly and helpful and we would stay there again in a heartbeat.......we wish we were there right about now!

Yeah, have heard it is good and our travel agent (who is also a friend) recommends it too. I am waiting to see what price we can get for a premium room (as the standard queens are freeway view rooms and we want Disney views). Otherwise we will say at the Fairfield Inn which is where we stayed last year.

I know what you mean about post holiday blues - to alleviate those with this trip (which isn't even until September!) we have already started planning (loosely) another big trip after this one, hopefully around Christmas/New Year of 2015, which will also be our 10th wedding anniversary. We'd like to go to Disney World at Christmas time and be in NY for New Year's Eve (our anniversary). Does anyone know how long Christmas decorations stay up in the Disney Parks for after Christmas?

And yes, part of the reason we keep returning to the US is the shopping.

Merry Christmas everyone, and a safe and happy New Year to all!

This post has been edited by kristin5: 23/12/2012, 10:31 PM

[hunter4]

minidiamond - I've actually had most sucess with some of the store brands rather than the big name brands. Definitely skip on the Huggies - the Pampers I don't mind, but really if you can find Top Care, or Baby Basics, Baby Luvs(depends where you shop) these are all pretty good. The Target brand have good absorbancy but can be a bit saggy on some babies, Walmart brand I like too. Also make sure you know your babies weight in pounds so you can figure out what size (multiple kg by 2.2). I generally find if you're near the top of the listed range you're better off going for the next size up. Have fun


Merry Christmas everyone.

[~Kee~In~Hawaii~]

I just gave myself a Christmas present, I'm all booked for our flight to Hawaii before the cruise back. I *unfortunately* had to book us to leave on September 18th rather than the 21st as the cost was half - I forgot that school holidays start in NSW next year on the 20th so the flights for the day we were meant to be leaving are already way OTT. I'm willing to suck it up and deal with an extra 3 nights in Waikiki if it means I save $990. Adding on the accommodation only cost me $100 because I've hit the threshold for free nights so it was cheap. Better to have $800 in my pocket than in Jetstar's!

I'll need to be changed to the 18th September on the list, thanks Return date is still the 23rd of October.

The only thing I'm a little grumpy about it that the purpose of the trip has turned into being about scattering Dad's ashes so Mum is paying for my financially irresponsible sister, BIL and nephew to fly over and stay for 2 weeks but when I just spoke to her about booking our one way flights (hers included) she asked what the total is, divided it by 3 people and is coming tomorrow to pay us back HER airfare. She has no intention of paying our way over to Hawaii like she is doing for my sister. I don't want to be sooky but it hardly seems fair that she keeps preaching the whole "Dad would want me to cover the trip costs with his life insurance money - like it's an inheritance" and then she only pays for my sister because she is too lazy to work and therefore cannot afford a trip herself. Why should I be punished because my husband and I work our butts off to have the good things in life? Especially if she is going to keep going on about it being Dad's money and how it should go towards the trip. I'M ON THIS TRIP TOO YOU KNOW?!

Sorry, I'm a bit annoyed by Mum's attitude today. I personally think the money should be in the bank for her to live off in her retirement and if my sister can't save up for the trip then tough titties but I'm outnumbered in that regard. The other logical idea (if the money must be used) would be to pay for all of the trip EVENLY and make it all fair but I'm outnumbered in that too apparently.

Eh, enough ranting. The good point is that I am booked to fly out on the 18th and I can't wait!

[snugglybug]

Merry Christmas travel buddies! Hope everyone has a great day.

[shellbee]

Hi, have decided to start thinking about our first big o/seas family holiday to coincide with a milestone birthday but have no idea where to start..... We want to go MEL - LA for family of four for around three weeks. Virgin are currently having their Boxing Day sales so managed to get tic's for $1077 for same date but 2013 (was doing a hypothetical to get a cost idea).

It's been 12 years since I have been to the US so I have no idea where to begin. Can anyone suggest hotels, itinery etc please. We want to do the usual Disney, Legoland, Universal type stuff. We will have a 7 and 5yo at the time. It is worth breaking up the flight with a Hawaiian stop over?
Thanks in advance.

[*Pebs*]

add me to the list.

Myself and DD (10)

24th August till the 7th September 2013

LA-Anaheim-New York-Los Vegas

That's a lot in a short time, I know! I just can't afford to take anymore time off work or take DD out of school for any longer.

This is DD's first USA trip and will be my second.

We are flying air NZ, with a stop-over in Auckland. I got the flights for a bit less than $2000 (for both of us.. return!).

In LA we are staying at Loews - I got a great rate through hotelclub (at least I think it was). In Anaheim we are staying at HoJos.. I just booked through Disney, I though the prices were quite reasonable anyway. In New York we are staying at The Casablanca and I am still deciding where to stay in Vegas.. so many choices!

[Becca81]

Hi All,

Just thought I would pop in to say Jet star are having their $329 each way flights on at the moment.

The bugger thing is for us that DH has the whole of March off and the cheap days are 27th February or end of the first week of March ( there are other dates but these are my options for our travel dates).. And his boss wont budge on two days earlier for his leave

So I will continue to wait...

But still semi holding off to hear back on a couple of verbal job offers to see if they come through in written form then I may need to postpone until September or something as I don't want to take too much time off work in a new job. And have pacific cruise in April next year for my friends 40th, my current boss is fine with the whole month of March then back at work for a week before disappearing for a 9 day cruise lol...

Ohh And Kee.... I booked our cruise through vacations 2 go

[Becca81]

Ohh and another question too...

Is shopping in Hawaii noticeably more expensive than the main land?

A friend of mine suggested flying over and cruising back as there is no weight limit on the cruises.... but then that will limit the area of travel..

Hmm decisions decisions

[~Kee~In~Hawaii~]

Ohh And Kee.... I booked our cruise through vacations 2 go

Great to hear - if only there was commission in it for me from them! lol

Is shopping in Hawaii noticeably more expensive than the main land?

I've heard islanders say that while I've been there but, having now been to the mainland as well, I didn't notice a difference. All the prices seemed as cheap as ever when compared to Aussie costs and my first US shopping experiences were in Hawaii so I should have really noticed if things were cheaper again once I got to the mainland. It can't have been much over a couple of dollars difference or it would have caught my attention.

The idea of shopping in Hawaii and sailing back without luggage limits is the bonus of our cruise too I just had to make sure I booked extra baggage on the domestic flight home from Sydney when we get back to Oz. Now I am focused on saving all the spending money I will need - which is turning into quite a large amount what with all my make up supplies and now the photography equipment I have found over there for a fraction of the cost of here.

As for me, there's been one last change - sorry! DH and I decided to see what combining the 2014 mainland trip and the Alaska trip together would come in at. It ended up being a fabulous itinerary so we've gone ahead with the decision that it should be one big trip rather than 2 smaller ones. It looks like this:

Sept 11, 2014 - Oct 19, 2014 - Hawaii, Seattle, Cruise Alaska, LA/Disneyland, Miami, Cruise Mexico/Jamaica, NYC, Las Vegas, Hawaii.

We couldn't go past adding a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas to the itinerary while in Florida, even though we are already cruising Alaska. And guess what? The whole trip comes in at only $12,000! I thought it would be a lot more than that. It's knocked a lot of money off of doing them as separate trips, which means more smaller trips in the meantime - and yes, I consider a quick trip to Hawaii a "smaller" trip

So that's the major trip for 2014 done, now I just have to continue watching the price of flights to Hawaii for Christmas and see what they are like as that will be the decider as to whether we just do a Pacific Cruise around Noumea/Fiji etc or go back to Waikiki for Chrissy next year. Waiting for f;ight prices to be released is killing me. Oh well, 88 days until our little Easter cruise and I am looking forward to the break!

[Jo_P]

Hi ladies, I hope everyone had a good chrissy
I will update the list in a minute, sorry for taking so long...slacker!
We are heading down south on a road trip this Thursday to stay near dh's parents in Umina NSW. We're staying in a holiday house right across the road from the beach, I cannot wait! Long drive down but we're taking it slow and stopping two nights each way so we can enjoy it.

Kee, let me know asap when you see sale fares to Hawaii for Christmas 2013, we want to be far far away for our next Christmas!!!
Dh starts holidays on the 21st Dec for two weeks.....not that we're organising early or anything cause that would be so unlike me and my usual last minute planning