Finally.. Progress

After weeks and weeks of back and forth emails mainly as a source of entertainment progress was finally made last night. Last thursday night one of our team members flew in from Hong Kong and was quickly found under the influence of every night spot in Sydney and decidedly worse for ware. So the initial plan of a friday afternoon meeting looked like a pipe dream. Gus was attending a dinner and his proxy votes had been given to me I went to the Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay for what I thought would be our initial meeting to nut a few plans. Well after talking garbage and socializing with to many girls and reliving so many memories we soon realised that a visit to the pie shop was the only good bit of planning to come out of the night. That and the resolution the Dr Dre should be our road trip theme CD.

 

High demand for a meeting saw the collaborative brain power of our yet to be named group of 5 push other things aside in order to actually plan something before Will returns to Hong Kong. Wednesday night 7:30 New Orleans Cafe was the venue ironic that the cafe named shared the topic of conversation and the prime agenda for the meeting. I will keep this post brief and go into more details in the coming weeks and months! But a descision was made on all of us putting in $95 each to organise our travel agent into motivating us enough to collaborate 5 guys’ ideas and make sure we are all at least are staying the the same state!

Our accommodation will also hopefully be in the Holiday Inn, French Quarter in New Orleans. That is our first preference and hopefully will be able to book it in tomorrow. Our fall back at this point is the International House in the American sector and is a little more pricey but we don;t want to be too far away as we have been made somewhat aware of the dangers that may present themselves to guys that can barely walk let alone navigate late at night after one too many drinks! Keep an eye out for team member introductions and a vague plan for our road trip and let us know what you think, oh and of course feel free to sponsor us in any way! A free high five to the first person who shouts us $5 *Only valid wherever I am unless flights and accommodation are looked after!

Another week of Distractions..

Well in our quest to get some accommodation booked and sorted for New Orleans we have managed to yet again get distracted. This week it was James who put back our plans with constant email banter regarding a group of us meeting him in Volgograd in South Russia to help him Slay some green tailed dragons. There was a strict set of rules and in the end the distance required to travel put most people off attending.. pretty sure no one left there desk in Sydney except for maybe a cup off vodka flavoured coffee that had been kept warm by dragon’s.

 

Before I get distracted and talk to much about dragons, there has been a little bit of progress. Our travel agent has done some research into some places that are safe for tourists during mardi gras and it looks like the French Quarter is where we are heading. Should be able to lock that in for tomorrow. Last weekend we also bumped into a friend of ours Emma. She told me that her and a couple of her friends will be partying it up with us in New Orleans at the same time! Not being good friends it was a nice and unexpected touch to meet Jackie who will be there as well! They like to party so that would be good to meet up with them and to make sure they are safe.. well that is of course if we can still stand after a thousand drinks!

Anyhoo hope to be able to have some more info in a day or so!

Peace

New Orleans Accommodation Plans

Well it has started. Planning is underway with the most important part of our trip needing to be organised well ahead of time to prevent sleeping on the side of the road with our pants around our ankles left with no money, passports or recollection of how we got there. My research ended right where it began with others taking charge and diving into the unknown world of the french quarter in New Orleans.

Quickly realising that most half decent hostels in town had been booked I was happy to accept accommodation in a somewhat safer establishment of a hotel. My only request was for a hotel with a door and being able to list everyones full name, on the side of the door that I was planning to sleep on. 

 

After about 30 emails back and forth between the group with both James and Will doing the lions share of the digging around about 3 hotels were brought up, numerous costings per person per night and a considerable amount of email fighting over how people calculated the exchange rate the topic quickly shifted to Las Vegas accomodation plans and minds began to wander… Expected really since when can a group of 5 guys organise anything that doesn’t involve a case of beer and a few pies. I took the initiative and email our family travel agent to look into straightening up our plans and pointing us in the right direction. A response is set to come early this week with some options on accommodation plans and lets hope that we can book and finalise something soon.

I think the most interesting thing to come out of our email plans was the endless need to come up with the ultimate team name and uniform. After Will placed a bet on Jono getting fisted by a 80 year old mumma for trying to steal an apple pie she had placed on the window to cool down his costume was decided.It is yet to be seen how he will try and get out of this. After talk of green & gold suits, racing suits, thongs and rugby shorts no real conclusion was made except for the fact that team RamRod is still a great name. Derived from the cult classic Super Trooper’s it is one that relates to the 5 men from Sydney and really resonates with the quotable culture of anything and everything that we have seen on TV. 

The friday afternoon planning session had come to an end with a great deal of enjoyment had and at least one thing of any real use being achieved (travel agent employed). The final sign off was two pictures of what can only be a reference as to the future that lies ahead for the team without a finalised name or uniform.

 

Itinerary for America Trip.. Version 1

My Friend James had come through with the goods and delivered an email to my inbox on monday morning that is still shining a light in my traveling heart. In it, he outlines an approximate itinerary for our cross country trip to America.

As we are based in Sydney the wise man begins with a flight from Sydney on the 6th of February 2010. First problem getting to the airport with no money! From Sydney Airport we fly to Los Angeles catch a connecting flight to the Big Apple, New York City. This will mean arriving the same day on the 6th of Feb! Party time!

After drinking and eating as much as we can in New York we hope to be able to drive down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras! Leaving on the 8th of Feb and arriving into New Orleans on the 15th. At this stage we have no idea how long this will take and no idea how many random museums we are going to stop at.. I did come across a website filled with useless stops to make on a road trip! I am sure there will be plenty of things to keep 5 resourceful guys entertained on the open road… Can you buy fireworks somewhere along that road!?

After partying down in New Orleans with 100,000 of our new closest friends we are planning on flying to Vegas on the 18th. Vegas will probably be a highlight and after initial talk of visiting the Las Vegas Rugby 7′s it was all to hard and put on the back burner for another time. The next move on this colossal trip is to drive to LA… Now to be perfectly honest with you I couldn’t think of anything worse by this time I anticipate raging hangovers, 10 girls trying to squeeze into our car and a few pit bosses chasing us down the strip. 

So this is where I come to a cross road… get it cross road.. the road between Los Angeles and the airport! So I will be campaigning for a short plane flight into LAX so we can party the night away like the rest of the Hollywood wannabes. The theory is that I don’t like too much driving at the expense of beers.. The beer to gear ratio I call it… 

Sydney will look like a beacon of hope shining in the distance by the time the 25th of Feb rolls around and we depart leaving a trail of nothing but good times and fond memories. With the help of my valued readers this dream will become a reality and of course your comments and criticisms  are welcome and I look forward to taking a few of your suggestions on board.

Out

The Adventure Begins….

Well here I am.. Sitting in Sydney Australia working regular hours monday to friday. The winter seems endless with nothing to look forward to on the Horizon. Except maybe the Wallabies playing the All Blacks but even that has yet to exite me this season. Saturday night at a bar in Surry Hills I overhear a few friends of mine talking about the possibility of going to the US for the Las Vegas Rugby 7′s and the New Orleans Mardi Gras.

My ears prick up and I show an immediate interest. Thinking that this is just another pie in the sky idea that will never come to fruition. I continue on drinking beer after beer after beer throwing suggestions left right and centre all to be forgotten and a distant memory by the time that last beer hits the trough in the mens room.  At 9:39 am on Monday July 27th 2009 I receive an email with the headline “America Trip Details”. My love affair with the US is automatically rekindled and suddenly there is that pot of honey on the horizon to look forward to. 

I hurriedly look at my wallet to find nothing but a few credit card receipts from two Bars, a fast food restaurant and a taxi. None of which I remember but all are time stamped post 3am. After borrowing money for lunch today I draw a blank on funding this trip… the result… this blog of a lifetime.