Day #12-14  - LA and then home...

The final day of of the tour were spent enjoying the sights, sounds, and eateries of LA.

During the trip we have visited many amazing places and today was no exception. First up... one of the best (and even though it was mostly closed due to Independence Day, it was still amazing).... University Southern California.

We were greet by a member of the swim team, an impressive 19yr old man from Philadelphia, Jake. He took us on an extensive tour of the campus, going through the spots areas, inc an amazing gym facility. Unfortunately the book store was closed, so we were unable to buy any gear from the Campus. Overall a sight to see. What a beautiful campus. To top it all off, we went back to the Pool and had a Q&A session with the Head Swimming Coach, Dave Salo. He's an impressive guess and gave the boys some wonderful knowledge on the NCAA and college life.

After nearly 2 hrs on campus, we beg our thanks to both our hosts, and we went off to explore the Tourist 'traps' of LA. Please have a look on the Flickr page. Places like the Walk of Fame, Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Hills, and the Observatory are the usual tourist traps, but certainly again work a visit (once). So many people....visitors from all around the world (like us) all in one place...

We walked down to Santa Monica. What an interesting walk that was. All sorts of sights, smells and people. The boys got walk the Pier and see how America traditionally in California spend their Independence day at the Beach (it was packed). Followed by a last dash for the boys to the shops for last minute items.

Finally, after a day of bus riding, looking at the attractions of a warm LA, we headed off to LAX and battled the 4th July Traffic, looking forward to our early flight home later that evening. 13 hrs home on QANTAS, seem to go fast... mainly because most of us will sleep the entire way.

Finally, as this is my last blog, I want to thank a few people.

To the staff, Mark Wilkins and Kerrie Dickson... a big thanks for sharing this wonderful experience with me. Many many stories, and wonderful experiences... thankyou.

Finally to all the boys.. you were awesome!!! Ive been on many overseas, and local tours with TSS boys, but never have I toured/traveled with a group of such wonderful representative of our wonderful School. Great ambassadors for TSS and just great guys to hang out with for two weeks.

All the best, I hope you have enjoyed the photos and blog. They will remain up for at least the next few months. If you have trouble downloading the photos you want, please just email me at TSS.

Best regards, and signing off..

Ian.

Day #11 - San Diego

Today was not what we all expected... San Diego is a wonderful place to visit

The morning started with an early rise and a lovely breakfast here at our new hotel near LAX. Then we all jumped on a bus and headed south towards San Diego.

On the trip south we traveled along the Motorway which takes you down through some of the famous surfing beach like Laguna Beach district and Orange County, heading south down to San Clemente, and then all the way into La Jolla.

La Jolla is a beautiful spot. Panoramic views of the entire Pacific coastline north up to LA. While there we walked around the Headland Parklands and saw large seals frolicking in the water near where swimmers were. They seemed not at all worried about the humans and seemed to enjoy swimming between all the snorkelers. 

This was also where we were to meet our only guest in San Diego, young old boy of TSS, Liam Clifton. Liam spoke really well to our guys talking about their journey since leaving to TSS in 2014. It was great to hear how he had progressed in his new careers, with Liam taking up an exciting option to move to the US and pursue modelling/acting career. He also now works for The Voice here in the US, and gets to mix with may of the stars and producers in LA. He spoke for nearly an hour with many questions from the boys asking about a whole range of topics including Liam's social media presence and his goals for the future.

Once leaving them, we jump back on the bus and headed to downtown San Diego where we visited a number of the local attraction of this beautiful city. First stop was the harbourside area where the aircraft carrier 'Midway' is docked. Decommissioned, it is an enormous ship, and certainly one the boys would have loved to see around in the future visits. Nearby there is a lovely small lunch area for the boys to eat overlooking the Harbour and all that sites.

Our final destination before heading back to LA was to visit Old Town San Diego. This is a reconstructed village, giving all visitors a look at what San Diego's was like pre-1800s,  and when the Spanish moved up into California to colonize the area. Number of the boys bought some authentic Mexican items to bring home including jewelry and clothing.

It was a worthwhile day with many sites to be seen in what is probably now my favourite city that we have seen so far this trip. We returned back to LA only to be greeted by the LA traffic. 8 lanes of cars all travelling at 20kms p/hr.

Next stop was Mr Wilkins favourite and also Mrs Dicksons.... a Premium Outlet centre. The boys went mad getting bargins from the likes of Polo, Tommy H, Nike, Asics, etc etc. With one day to go seeing the sights of LA, the boys how very excited.

Day #10 - San Francisco, Stanford Uni, In-N-Out Burger and then onto LA.

Silicon valley originally originally known as Santa Clara valley was the 10th largest growing area in the United States. It was known for growing prunes apricots and cherries back in the early 1900s. A wealthy New York family Stanford's, decided in the in the late eighteen hundreds to build a university in this fruit growing area of California. Stanford university has now grown to a population of close to 15,000 students with many of them living on campus its self. The first president of the University was an entrepreneur himself, encouraging like-minded people from across the country to setup business in the region. From here the University assisted with providing capital funding to many businesses, inc the likes of Hewlett-Packard and Intel.

Apple founders also were members of the Stanford university (as were the original developers of Facebook), and as it was, it ended up being our first stop of the day, on a trip around silicon valley. We arrived at Stanford university to have a look at their campus. As you can imagine with so many students this is a very large campus, and  right in the middle of the campus in a very Spanish styled setting, is the main chapel of the University.

I've been to many chapels around the world including Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral but this chapel takes the cake. It is simply breathtaking in its appearance and it's decor. TSS has a lovely piano-organ, in it's chapel, but this one would've been 6 to 8 times bigger and more magnificent. The stain glass windows, the wall paintings, the overall chapel appearance was purely magnificent. Certainly if you get a chance to come to this place it is one that you should not miss.

Souvenir shop at Stanford university was also top of the list for the boys to see, with many of them walking out with a new hats, jumper, T-shirt, all emblazoned with Stanford university across the front. The Tour now looks like it had been sponsored by the University itself.

The Silicon Valley area is known for its entrepreneurial ideas and skills, with that, we decided to have lunch at one of the newest and fast growing businesses developing fast food stores around California, In-N-Out Burgers. Taking on the likes of McDonald's and Burger King, In N Out burgers is a much more fresher and more healthier approach. They are also known as the rest of California is, for their sustainability, and giving back to the environment. We noticed when we went in there is no fancy packaging, no plastic wrappers or everything. It is completely recyclable, reusable or environment friendly. And the food itself was delicious. Real potatoes for fries, and deliciously local grown vegetables and mince, for all the limited menu, but still a lovely meal.

Following lunch we jump back on the bus and headed to the San Francisco airport where we proceeded to go through security for another time and waited for our flight to LA. The flight to LAs is only about an hour from San Francisco, and as we touch down, outside we could see the large vast land this city covers. Funny story from the flight.... ask your son about Tom Bass about the turbulence, and where he was at the time.

Upon settling in to the Hotel, dinner together at Dennys Diner not far from our hotel was a great way to spend what has been a fantastic trip so far. Check the video for some great action....

With LA and San Diego our last stops, and only two days till we board our flight home, I'm positive that every boys has thoroughly enjoyed his trip.

Day #9 - San Francisco

San Francisco had Jarrod Hayne, the great Quarterback Joe Montana, and the 49ers, Giants and Golden State Warriors. but this year's The Southport School's Business Study Tour has been in the past one of the best TSS Tours every offered…. The trip itself so far has been busy high paced and we have fitted a lot into the program. It has been a high packed tour so far and looking at my iPhone app that measure walking distance, we have covered over 94 km in seven days. A huge amount of load on the boys and staff, no wonder at nighttime they are exhausted. I might even returned to Australia fit and slim?

After a lovely breakfast, we all pilled onto a bus for a 2.5 hrs drive around some of the wonderful sights here in San Fran. Unfortunately, and I'm sorry ive said that a couple of times over the past week, we struck a 'foggy' day, and this hinded us seeing many of the sights in all their glory.

First stop, we went and looked at the world most picturesque bridge, the Golden Gate. A big photo opportunity for all of the boys as they lined up to get there shot in front of this magnificent structure, from an unique advantage point, from under the bridge, due to the fog. that was all we could see.
It was a busy place and on a foggy day like it was, thankfully we could see some of the red lines of this magnificent bridge.

Following this we went back into downtown San Francisco and looked at one of the  windiest street roads in California Lombard Street which again is a huge tourist attraction for many visitors coming to the city we then proceeded downtown and saw a row of typical South San Francisco Victorian homes called the 'other painted sisters' (located near Haight St). A lovely row of houses in a typical architectural setting with big bay windows overlooking the city skyline. We went to the tiled stairs of San Fran, and climbed them, to then look out over fog once again. Look at the detail on Flickr…San Francisco again was one of those wonderful places to visit and unfortunately, it's a shame we are not staying longer.

A short pitstop for lunch before we visited Alcatraz the US penitentiary prison that closed in the late 60s due to Robert F Kennedy's proclamation that the place was an unfit for human living standards. As you walk around it and feel the history, the hardship that some of these prisoners must've gone through it is a testament to themselves for surviving. The likes of Al Capone and the Birdman of Alcatraz stories were heard by all boys and interest of them greatly, giving them an insight into what life is like on the rock.

After returning to shore, we walked down to Fisherman’s wharf followed by an experienced that many of the boys enjoy which is catching the cable car from downtown all the way over the hills to Market St and experience with some got the opportunity to lead out of the car and get their photos as they climbed up and over many of the hills here in San Francisco.

Then dinner and a little bit of shopping in the Westfield shopping centre in the heart of San Francisco is downtown area


The day ended about 8.30 PM with everyone returning back to the hotel and basically going straight to bed. Tomorrow Am we are off to Stanford, and then catch a plane down to LA for the final few days.

Day #8 - Seattle Boeing Factory, Westfield Shopping Mall, and then onto San Francisco...

This morning before the boys all woke for breakfast, I walk down the road to see the 'future'... the future in retail. Amazon Go is a futuristic store developed by Amazon. It is a new kind of store with no checkout required. Amazon created the world’s most advanced shopping technology so you never have to wait in line. With its 'Just Walk Out' Shopping experience, simply use the Amazon Go app to enter the store, take the products you want, and go! No lines, no checkout. (No, seriously.)

How does Amazon Go work? The checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning. The 'Just Walk Out' Technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When you’re done shopping, you can just leave the store. Shortly after, we’ll send you a receipt and charge your Amazon account. Amazing.... and I just bought a coffee mug.


What an exciting day followed... Boeing's Factory is located about 40mins north of the city. It is home to the 747, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner production lines and is the world's largest building by volume, and driving into the place you can see why.... it just goes and goes for miles. An enormous structure. The tour took us for nearly two hours through the entire building process of their airplanes. Amazing sight.... BUT unfortunately for those looking for phones.... NO CAMERAS allowed. This meant that none of what we saw was 'recorded'. Apparently there are heaps of YouTube videos though on plane building at this factory... :)

Following what seemed like a five minute tour, because it was so interesting, we jumped back onto the bus and headed south towards the airport. With our flight not till 5pm, some lunch and retail therapy was available at an Australian shopping mall, owned by Westfield. The Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which now owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; and Westfield Corporation, which owns and operates the American and European center portfolio. Apparently though, only a few weeks ago, it was all sold for 73 Billion $.... so there you go.

The flight was good to San Fran and we got in and to the hotel at around 830pm. To fill the boys up, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner before hitting the sack at 10pm.

Big day ahead for all tomorrow... with the temp around 19, definitely going to be nice and cool for us as well.

Finally sorry about the lack of pics today.... Boeing and their rules. :) cheers IB

Day #7 - Seattle and its Business Sense....

Before arriving in Seattle I thought of it being another northern American city, close to the border, with many Canadians mixed into the community, and relaxed atmosphere.... and funnily enough my view on Seattle hasn’t change much but what I didn’t know was this is such a hub for American industry. The amount of new technology and development of tourism here is has grown over the last 30 years with the help of a number of very important people within the community. The likes of the the Gates (Bill & Melinda Gates, Founders of Microsoft, and the owner of Amazon Jeff Bezos, have developed and change the business culture and landscape here dramatically. Making it one of the hubs for particularly technology/internet based companies inc Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and then Boeing United airlines, Alaska Airlines   but also in other business areas. The likes of Nirvana to name a few...  with that also the development of s very important Music scene, the grunge music scene is still present within the community, with Nivarna and Jimmy Hendrick's both coming from Seattle, and changing the music landscape forevermore. Music still has its roots here in Seattle amongst the committee today, and this is prevalent even in the city, with many of the local buskers, performing classic Grunge hits.

We started jumping on the bus early and heading out to our first stop at Microsoft. We were to meet with an old boy's company representative but unfortunately only a day ago he sent me an email saying the staff member that was to show us around actually have been poached by rival company and was an able then to show us the Microsoft campus. Never mind we went to the visitor centre and the boys had a fabulous time. They got to see the new technology that was coming out with Microsoft and also enjoy if you were the favourite games including Forza (a car game) and others that I have no idea what they are.

After an hour so at Microsoft we jump back on the bus and went back closer to town to the University of Washington. Founded in 1861 this is one of the older universities in the USA and has a long history within this community. Originally located downtown was moved after 100 years out to the campus to the north of the city. Luckily for them though, they still retain the land of the old campus, within the city, and collect rent from those now developed areas. The 40,000 student university now has some wonderfully old building, and dorms, very traditional and very important to this state of Washington. We walk down the mall looking at all the buildings down to our eventual destination husky stadium.

Husky Stadium, a 70,000 seat stadium amazed the boys and considering that Suncorp Stadium only holds 60,000, and this is 'just' a university. We went next door to the official team shop of the University but unfortunately it was under renovation so were unable to get our university clothing.

From here we jump back on the bus and went back into tIown to the old side of the Seattle expo many years ago in the early 60s (1962). First place to go, the Armoury Food Hall which is a large indoor venue with many varieties of food for the boys to have some lunch.

Following that we went up the Space Needle to look at the view around the city. Once up there they have renovated the walls up there in an open a style where you walk out onto a Veranda with a big large glass window leaning outwards. If you would like to see the photos on Flickr here will give you a much better image of what it was like. Some of the boys really enjoyed leaning up and over the glass but for many sticking me the inside wall was the preferred manner.

After a couple of hours up there enjoying the view of the Pacific ocean we went downstairs to our next destination, MOPOP.

Museum of Pop Culture is one of those attractions here in Seattle that gets little recognition, and with that the boys were very hesitant to go in, but once inside, it was fabulous. The boys had an absolute ball playing in the music studios using all instruments and mixing all the sounds of very interactive display. Then they got the chance to look at some of the history behind grunge music scene including Nivarna, and others. The museum was the highlight of the day as we spent nearly 3 hours just wondering through what is one of the Best Themed museums I’ve been too.

Following this we jump back on the bus and went down to the waterfront for a superb Tour dinner at the waterfront restaurant, the Crab Cookery. I introduced the boys to sourdough bread and clamp chowder. Some of them were brave enough also try a oyster shot as well, which went down 'well'. It was a lovely meal by the waterfront and a lot of the boys have not tried this before were pleased and glad they were able to venture out of the comfort zone and try something new.

After this we left and walked up to Pike‘s Place markets and through the gum wall which the boys got a real laugh of. It’s an alley full of people‘s chewing gum up against the wall and many of the boys contributed to the display that was there. Again look at the photos to see what I’m talking about.

From here the boys wanted to get a little bit of retail therapy late at night so they walked off down our street together and went to the local Niketown store before heading home to the hotel for early night sleep before how big day tomorrow at Boeing.

Seattle was one of those days I really enjoyed seeing a new city but also seeing many things that you hear about but would never have seen before. Bring on Boeing tomorrow....

Day #6 - Washington, 5 Presidents and a long long flight

On our last day in Washington it would be remiss of us to not go and visit a couple of the more memorable and significant sights of this wonderful city. The Lincoln Memorial was our first destination by bus. It is one of those significant places to visit whilst in Washington and is nestled next to the reflective pools, World War II Memorial and the Washington Mall. The pools were made famous by many movies but in particular the Forrest Gump, and is where Martin Luther King made his "I have a Dream" speech. It's a beautiful place and  luckily today not too many people visiting this memorial and looking at this wonderful structure. Right next to it is another lovely tribute to the men and women that died in the Vietnam war. If you look at the photo album you can see the statues that look like the military soldiers coming out of the jungle.

Following this, our wonderfully experienced Brooklyn bus driver suggested we go to the Presidential monuments, so we went to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, then Roosevelt Memorial, and the newly constructed Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. All in all we saw 5 president Memorials Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, and the Trump House + a passed legend of freedom, M L King Jr..

Next stop, Arlington Military Cemetery which is one of the bucket list places that you must go to if ever you come to Washington. The cemetery is filled with tens of thousands of soldiers that were have been killed in action whilst fighting for their beloved country. With just Officers buried here, it is a stark reminder of how many forces the US sent to battle in all of the wars fought since World War I. It is also has the burial places of past presidents including JFK and his brother Robert Kennedy. Is also the final resting place of the tomb of the unknown soldier which is protected by military personnel on watch 24 hours a day. A ceremony occurs during the summer months every 30 minutes, and the changing of the guard. This video can be watched on our photo album. Talking to the boys as we walk around they all felt that this is one of the most significant and memorable places they have visited in Washington so far. It is a somber reminder of war, but quite a sight to see grave sites in rows, in lines all together.  An amazing place to visit.

From here its was a 45min drive to the Smithsonian Institutes Air and Space Hanger near Dulles Airport. An amazing place, and one id never heard of. Its not as famous as its brother on the Mall in Washington, but so much better. With a Stealth Bomber, a Concorde, Discovery Space Shuttle to name a few, sitting on the floor space, this enormous hanger was quite spectacular. With 2.5 hrs to wonder around the boys really enjoyed the Museum., and in particular the Flight simulators available for them to try. It was also quite good to be in the AC for the heat of the day. You see by the photos what a pleasant place the Hanger was...

Washington is very humid, hit and tough to walk around in the sun, so indoors was a great option.

With a departure from the Dulles Airport in Washington we flew a six hour journey to Seattle, or thats what we'd thought.... booked to leave at 525pm, the plane was delayed about 1.5 hrs, and then finally after getting off the captain tells us it will be a bumpy ride over the country. It wasn't too bad, and most of the boys slept anyway, but we didn't get into our Hotel until around 10pm.

The next few days are very exciting, Microsoft, Uni of Washington, Space needles etc all in one day.... bring on Seattle.