Tracey & Neil's EPIC California Adventure 2012 - Pre Trip Report

[tracey1302]

Hello all

My name is Tracey, some of you will know me from the crazy amount of time I spent on the Florida forums but somehow, I realised that the holiday we went on last year was just as epic as your average Disney... if not more hence the only answer was to share with you the amazing time we had in California last summer.

Pre-Trip Report

The Cast:

Me - Tracey - now the grand old age of 26 (although I was 25 at the time of this trip)



DBF - Neil - now the grand old age of 25 (although when we went, he was 24 and didn't he like to rub that in. However, I always liked to take the michael over the fact that we had to get special insurance on the rental car because of him - almost like a child allowance )



So why did we decide to go to California?

At the time, I was in the second year of my PhD and was required to go over to LA to carry out fieldwork. My topic is the ideology of Disney cartoons in the 1930s and 1940s (No, I didn't get into the Disney Archives ) but I carried out some research in the Academy Library in Beverley Hills.



In the UCLA Library



And USC





I was over there for three weeks on my own. I stayed in East Hollywood in Little Armenia. It wasn't a great couple of weeks if I'm honest. Fieldwork is very lonely, particularly given the time difference between there and England. I got some great stuff for my thesis but I'd be logging on to speak to Neil and my family at about 8am my time, wouldn't speak to anyone except the bus driver and the library staff all day and then come home to an empty hotel room. I didn't go out at night. A young girl in my 20s wandering around alone didn't sound like the best of ideas. I bought stuff in from the supermarket (Ralph's) for my tea and took a shed load of DVDs with me and my Kindle. Although, I did have my Mushu plush with me who made for excellent company.

I had two days at Universal Studios, Hollywood on my first weekend (these will be combined photoswise on my TR) and one day at Disney's California Adventure park on my own. Needless to say, these were my best days over there and I thoroughly enjoyed them - even though I missed my family and Neil terribly.

As I was over there already, Neil and I decided that he would fly out to join me for two weeks and we would tour the coast of California and see the amazing sights it had to offer. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip so we tried to do everything we could within a strict budget. It ended up costing us £1500 each and thanks to Neil's parents, we had quite a lot to spend while we were over there as well. I was still a student at the time and Neil's job isn't very well paid but this didn't stop us.

We had an incredible time and I can't wait to share it with you all It may just keep me going until we book our next Florida holiday!


About us

We are a young couple living in West Yorkshire Neil and I have known each other since we were 4 years old. We went to playgroup together, primary school, secondary school, remained friends throughout Uni and after I'd had 2 really bad relationships through University, somehow decided that we should really stop being so silly. We both knew that there was something between us so we just confronted it. Our families figured it out before our friends We've been together for 4 years this year and have been living together for over 2 years.

Neil works in Complaint Handling at Lloyds Banking Group, I'm a final year PhD student and Teaching Assistant at the University of Leeds and self confessed Dibb & Disney addict.

Day -2 (Universal Studios, Hollywood) is here

[pennycrayon]

Wow! Your phd sounds like an amazing topic!

Off to read the first day

[Guest]

Hi Tracey,
Your PHD sounds amazing.
I noticed your post about when you could book for May 2014 and noticed your location was West Yorkshire ans that you are now a CM. I would really appreciate it you could give me some information on how you become a CM?

Many thanks!

[tracey1302]

Originally Posted by princesskari

Hi Tracey,
Your PHD sounds amazing.
I noticed your post about when you could book for May 2014 and noticed your location was West Yorkshire ans that you are now a CM. I would really appreciate it you could give me some information on how you become a CM?

Many thanks!

See more...

Kari, if you want to drop me a PM, I can give you some information

[mr&mrssmith]

Am already piddling my pants with excitement over this TR! and I havent even began! haha. You dont realise how much I love Cali, the most beautiful, pretentious, honest, dangerous place ever! an oxymoron of a place but a place I cannot wait to conquer :0)

[orlandosgr8]

Wow your PhD sounds so interesting, really looking forward to reading about your adventures

[hross42877]

This sounds great, looking forward to reading!

[Guest]

oops, sorry wrong thread but I am following

[kansaskitty]

Hi Tracey, I hope you'll excuse me for just reading the Disney days of your trippie rather than the whole thing! Just wanted to post on here too and say brilliant pre-trippie and what a lovely couple you seem, and well done you for doing a (Disney!) PhD! I hope your final year is going well and that you're enjoying it, what an incredible subject to study!

KK xx