In March, I was on a 2 week roadtrip vacation with my father, mother and brother.
We went to the US and visited San Francisco, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and Los Angeles.
We flew from Copenhagen Airport and had an intermediate landing in Amsterdam, which took a few hours. We went into Gassan Schiphol which is an authorized Rolex dealer inside the airport.
My father had contacted Gassan regarding a Rolex Oyster Perpetual, and they have a 19% discount on all watches, which supposedly is because it's tax free, but Denmark and The Netherlands are both in Europe, so there is no import tax between the two countries. Anyways, my father went inside and made a down payment on the watch, so he could complete the payment and pick it up when we returned after out vacation.
Our vacation started in San Francisco, where we stayed for a few days. We got ourselves a taxi and went into the city. We spent so much time on shopping and looking inside highend boutiques, such as Louis Vuitton, Moncler, Saint Laurent Paris, Barney's New York and many more. However, we rather quickly concluded that the prices were way too high, compared to the prices in Denmark. Some stores would even excuse the prices with the argument "You have to keep in mind that there's 8.5% tax" (or whatever the tax rate was.)
The weirdest part is that they add taxes ontop of the price they advertise. In my country, there's a 25% tax already added to the price, so you don't have to do a lot of calculations to understand how much you need to pay. It was a pain in the ass sometimes, since we had to calculate taxes first, and then convert it to Danish Kroner, so we could compare the prices more precisely.
Pretty much during all of our vacation, we tried different fastfood. This was honestly the thing I was most hyped about. A lot of fastfood places were really disappointing though! I really liked In-N-Out, Red Robin, Five Guys and Wendy's.
We had a really nice cab driver who recommended the cheese burgers and animal style fries from In-N-Out. I loved the crunchy bun and the whole composition of the burger, but the animal style fries were a bit much for my taste. I'm not much of an onion guy, and there was just way too much gravy and cheese.
McDonald's was pretty much as bad as in Denmark. They did have some bigger items on the menu, but the prices were relatively the same. We also tried Taco Bell, and it's honestly the worst fastfood I've ever tried. I had a burrito and a taco. It was really boring - just some meat and a little bit of salad. The meat was really disgusting, and that's a nice way of saying it. It was like dog food. Taco Bell was a huge disappointment.
We stayed around San Jose for a few days, and then rented a car so we could get to Las Vegas. We went through Yosemite Valley and it was really beautiful! Here's a picture I had my brother take.
As you can see, my outfit was casual. I didn't want to overdress for a long car ride. ;-)
If you're a sneakerhead, you probably recognize the Yeezys. Some people like them, some people hate them and some people only care about them because Kanye designed them.
I sold this pair for about $430 USD, a few weeks after I got home. I really miss this pair.
We drove towards Las Vegas and slept at some inn. Nothing special. The breakfast was below mediocre. Most inns and hotels do have the same type of breakfast - frosted flakes (cornflakes with a shitload of sugar ontop), some have the real brand and some have a knock off. Most places also have some bananas, bread and boring, pre-made waffles. It was alright. The worst part was that this inn didn't even have enough tables and chairs for everyone.
We finally arrived at Las Vegas. Wait, is this Las Vegas or is this Paris? Weird!
We stayed at a really nice, big hotel, with a nice view. Oh my, Las Vegas was really interesting! So much happening, so many big buildings, so many lights and so many commercials. It's actually kind of funny. Las Vegas is pretty huge and active, and there's only about 600,000 inhabitants. I live in Copenhagen, which has just over 1,000,000 inhabitants, and Las Vegas seems much bigger!
The next day, we went to some highend stores inside 'The Shops at Crystals'. We only visited the Gucci store, and I snapped this picture just outside. It was kinda awkward, but definitely worth it.
On this picture, I'm wearing a pair of Christian Louboutin Junior Spikes, a Hermes reversible belt, some jeans, and a nice leather jacket. The shoes are way too small for me, and are practically killing my little toe, but they look good, and I suppose you must suffer for beauty.
I really liked the Gucci logo detail on the floor, which is the whole point of the picture.
We stayed in Las Vegas for a few days and then went to Grand Canyon. It was really awesome to see, and we even came across some wild animals.
I had seen a picture of a guy sitting on the edge of a cliff, so his sneakers would stick out, and decided to try the same thing while we were there.
I was a bit nervous, but it wasn't that bad. "If I die, I die", I thought.
Visiting Grand Canyon was definitely the nicest part of my vacation. It was so beautiful, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Next stop was Los Angeles, which also was a really long drive. We went to see Beverly Hills and the Hollywood sign, as well as more highend clothing stores on Rodeo Drive. As you might have figured by now, my brother and I kinda have a thing for clothes and sneakers, even though we didn't buy anything (which mainly was because a jacket that would cost $1,650 in Denmark, cost $2,350 in Saint Laurent Paris on Rodeo Drive.)
The jacket is called SLP Teddy. It usually only has leather details at the seperation between the sleeve and neck, but this model is almost made completely of lamb leather. In turn it adds a few hundred bucks on top of the retail price.
Since we were in Hollywood, we of course went to see the Walk of Fame. I thought it was kinda overrated, but still a must see, I guess. We were in Hollywood, after all.
I didn't recognize a lot of the famous people, but I did recognize Neil Armstrong's name.
I bought a pretty great ice cream at an expensive ice cream shop. I think it was around $8 USD, but it was definitely worth every penny! Three different flavours and a very satisfying design. Not bad!
One of our visits was the LA Supreme store, and we sadly didn't find any interesting pieces, so I only ended up buying some Supreme Boxers. If you're thinking about getting some pairs, remember to get them one size smaller than what you normally wear. I'm a size Medium, so I got a Small.
We visited a few other stores, such as Stone Island. I saw some really nice jeans, but I'm kind of a cheapskate when it comes to buying things retail. I buy most of my highend clothes and sneakers second-hand.
Next stop: Flightclub. The infamous second-hand sneaker shop.
All sneakers are really expensive, but you're guaranteed a legit pair and no issues. I hadn't planned on buying anything, but I actually considered selling some of my sneakers through Flightclub, since I couldn't find any buyers. It was a cool experience to see so many rare sneakers in brand new condition.
Fun fact: I've actually owned a pair of every Adidas Yeezy sneaker, except for the 350 Black/Red stripe, 750 Brown, 750 Grey/Gum and 750 OG. - The second row from the middle except for the Grey 750s.
On the way home to Denmark, we had an intermediate landing in Amsterdam-Schiphol once again. My brother went into the Gucci store and ended up buying a pair of Gucci Ace sneakers! We switched shoes on a night out, so I actually have a picture of them
Like I mentioned earlier, it was time for my father to complete his purchase and get his Rolex watch! My personal favourites are the Rolex Submariner and Rolex GMT Master Pepsi, but this is definitely a nice one as well. I do appreciate other watch brands, such as Omega, and my previous watch was actually the Tudor Black Bay Blue.
This is the watch my father bought. It's not my photo however, so credit goes to the source.
Thanks for reading this far! I hope it was fairly enjoyable.
This was an experimental post, so I hope you appreciated the effort. Depending on the feedback, I might or might not try something similar again.
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Now it's your turn to tell your own vacation story! ;-)