Time for a change

My last set of travels were a bit 2 years ago and it's time to move on...by moving on I mean getting my flights booked for New Zealand on 4th March 2010. I'm going without any sort of plan, I can work for a year and stay for 2..not sure how long I'll stay for, looking at 6 months to forever, I'm easy.

When recently asked what I wanted out of life and where I lived the answer was simple. Coffee, cake and beach..I'm pretty sure that is all I require at the moment, along with laptop, ipod and sun.

Anyway...

The Rest of it..

To cut a long story short, we basically covered the following.

USA
New Orleans
Austin
The Southwest Deserts and Grand Canyon
Las Vegas
San Diego
L shitty A
The Big Sur
San Fran
Yosemite

MEXICO
The Baja
Mexico City
Cancun
Tullum

CA
Belize
Guatamala
El Salvador
Nicarugaua
Costa Rica

SA
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Paraguay
Argentina
Brazil

Highlights
PADI scuba dive course on Belize
Seeing an active volcano in Costa Rica
Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatamala
The Amazon
Iguazu Falls- greatest place on earth.
Rio

Gravy at Breakfast

THE SOUTH - 2 weeks in Virginia, North Caroline and Tennessee

We hired a car from D.C Central station and headed off on a 2 week adventure. Eventuallywe manged to navigate ourselves out of downtown DC and onto the highway, passing the Pentagon and Arlingto Cemetary which we wold later visit. Our first port of call was to follow the Blue Ridge way (a National Park/Highway) into the Smokey Montains National park which borders North Caroline and Tennessee. We stop at a Wallmart and so begins our love/hate relationship with the place. The place where you can absolutely ANTHING you need, but the place here you lose both hours of your trip and your companions. We stock up on camoing gear that would last us the whole 3 months in the US. Tents, sleeping bags, gas cookers, everything. We also buy a hug holdall to cary it in which would become the bane of our existance. Lugging that around was a nightmare.

Anyway, moving on we hit the Blue Ridge and its getting dark so we pull in somewhere to camp It's late and the office is shut, we set up our tents and discuss our morale dilema. Do we get up early and clear off without paying or do we act like normal people and pay the camoing fees. Needless to sa I enjoyed being $10 better off when we hit the road again. The Blue Rdge was quite nice, see below. But wasn't too diferent to suff I'd seen before both in Australia and Wales!

After another days drive we make it to the Smokey Mountain National Parl and setup camp for the next few days. During our time we saw a Black Bear run across the road right in front of our car, hat was prett special. Whilst on a trek Emma and I were held up for 10 minutes whilst a massive Copperhead snake hissed at us and blocked our path, I actually pooed myself and never want to see one in the wild again.

Hat, Nails and Emma decided to spend the day White Water Rafting (Emma bottled it, yet ended up doing it in Ecuador and loving it, a story for later) on the way there I got pulled over for speeding by Mr Redneck build like a brick shit house Policeman, he let me off for being English and not wanting to sort the paper work. Rafting was great fun, Nails got turfed out the boat on the first set of rapids, his terrified face was amazing.

Our next port of call after the NP was Nashville, we arrived on Country Music Awards week without realising it and the campsite was full of Billy Ray Cyrus' offspring, rednecks and perms EVERYWHERE. Nashville was a nice City, not much going on if you aren't down with line dancing but the museum was cool, we did however go see the minor league baseball team Nashville sounds. It was a good evening, only 5$ tickets and 1$ hot dogs. Hat also got hit in the mouth by a foul ball which wasn't nice/was funny, poor lad. Nashville was also our base for our visit to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchberg. The Town with one stop light, even though there are two. The Distillery was great, the tour was free and it was good to see how the drink of kings was made. Only downfall was that because it is in a dry County they couldn't sell it and we couldn't try it!

After our time in Nasville we drive all day and stay at a motel outside D.C, our last day with the ca was spent seeing the Iwo Jima monument and the Kennedy's graves in Arlington Cemetary. A great place.

NOTES ON THE SOUTH - There is a breakfas chain called Shoney's, it's a breakfast buffet open all day, here they serve such healthy treats as Fried Chicken and Gravy, Fried Ham, Fried Eggs, even the fruit was in syrup.

We did have great food at a rustic restaurant called Cock 'o The Walk. Cat Fish, collared greens and my new fave Hush Puppies. In the South we also rediscovered our love for Denny's that we found on or first visit to the US a few years prior. Ah, foods great.

Hey, you guys are from British

WASHINGTON D.C - May 2007

We arrive fairly late in the afernoon/evening to begin what is an utter shambles. We arrive at the shit hole hostel in Georgetown (which is a massive shit hole) and some hairy dude in a weird shirt tells us that he has given our room to someone else as we didn't tell him what time we were coming. Dick. Also turns out he had given our room to 2 Swedish idiots that we semi met in Philly the night before. They mocked us for going by Greyhound "Isn't the Greyhound full of crack dealers and there isn't aircon right?" and "We are renting a car" brilliant. You don't get any sun during the Winter in Sweden and your all miserable.

We decide to get a bus into Downtown, so we jump on the next bus. We appear to be the only white people and stick out like a sore thumb due to our pasty faces and massive rucksacks. Not daunting at all! Turns out all the people on the bus are super nice, a lovely man comes and asks us where we are going and if he can help. He tells us what stop o get off and we thank him. We have nowhere to stay and it's starting to get late, I get out the Rough Guide/Bible to travelling and find a hotel, we head there. On the way we pass some builders, as we pass they hear us speaking and one of them says "Hey, you guys are British, welcome to the United States of America." Amazing, made my day.

The Hotel is awesome, for us anyway and it wasn't too expensive. Hat takes his position 2 inches from the TV watching baseball with the volume on full, how he isn't deaf and blind is beyond me. We have showers and go get some food. Can't remember what though.

THE MALL - DC really impressed me, everything you see if straight out the films. We have breakfast and go off sightseeing. First up was the White House, real cool, and to think I am only meters from the place where Clinton got a goo gobbing off a Ricki Lake lookalike.

(Jennnnyyyy)

We happen to be in DC on Vetrans day, so there is LOADS of old 'Nam Vets in all their getup and loads and loads of bikers because for some reason ALL Veterans turn into haggard bikers. The Mall is great, loads of free Museums that we didn't visit due to queues, the Lincoln and Washingto monuments are great as are all the other little bits. We spend all day walking around in the heat and head back to get some food and stay in. We pick up the car tomorrow for a 2 week stint in the deep South for some hardcore Country and Western. We do however return to DC for another day of fun, but that comes later!

Yo Adrian

PHILADELPHIA - May 2007

Philly is great, the Greyhound trip was only 2 hours from Central NYC which was good news, driving in we got to see a good view of the skyline and Lincoln Field (would have been great to watch the Eagles but it was off season and we were on a budget). We lugged our bags through downtown Philly and found our hostel which was in the old town.

So we only had one full day in Philadelphia, so we wandered off round the old town taking in th sights. Independence Hall was over run with kids and was also being repaired so that was slightly disapointing, the Liberty Bell was fairly impressive though.

You cannot go to Philadelphia and not have a Philly Cheese Steak...easily the greatest sandwich I've ever had. Cheese Whizz, thin sliced beef and onions, pure heaven. We went out for beers to a couple of hip bars and tucked into our usual $ beers during happy hour.

Emma, Nails and I decided to stay in during the evening and settled down on he worn sofa's in the hostel to watch the jo that is Groundhog Day.

The morning was spent at the Art Museum..aka The Rocky Steps. We ran up and down them like morons and like everyone else. Then headed to another Greyhound station to get a 4 hour bus to Washington DC.

New York / New York

NEW YORK - 20th May? 1 week

New York is simply one of the greatest Cities on the planet. I never had any real desire to visit, well I wasn't in a hurry to visit more like. But as soon as we came out the Lincoln Tunnel I was blown away with the skyline. It was HUGE, way more impressive than Chicagos. We pulled into the station and jumped into a yellow cab and headed to our hostel on Broadway in upper Manhatten.

Our dorm was TINY, 4 of us crammed into a train carriage sized room with 2 bunks, the hostel itself was ok though and was in a great location. I think we had breakfast at Broadway Bagels every day for 7 days, it was cheap, fast and nice.

I think the thing I liked most about New york apart from the architecture was the Villages, East and Greenwich..you could wander around for days just looking in shops. Being on a budget turned us onto Happy Hour, something I wish we had in the UK, it's great finding a nice little bar and drinking dollar bottles in the afternoon. I much prefer the drinking scene in the US, it's more laid back and more focussed on talking with friends, similar to the Australian drinking scene..in fact I think it's only the UK that drinking is focussed on load music and talking desperately to the oposite sex. It's not all like that but you know what I mean.

Anway, we spent a day wakling round lower Manhattan, we caught the free ferry to Statten Island which is grea because you get to see Liberty Island and Ellis Island fairly close without having to pay for a ferry tour. Ground Zero was ok, seems like they've left it like it is for so long purely for affect when a new tower or statue or monument would be a lot more fitting.

Another day was spent in the Villages and Chinatown as mentione before, went to a cool little record store and bought some nice records which I then had to carry round with me for the next 6 months.

A day was spent walking the Brooklyn Bridge to....Brooklyn. Nails needed a pee a quarter of the way across, not realising how bloody long that Bridge is. We finally get across to the other side and the queue to the pizza place under the Bridge (Grimaldi's - check it out, it's awesome) anyway, Nails skipped the queue and ran in to relieve himself. The pizza was good and we jumped on the subwa to Coney Island....What a shithole. Coney Island is nasty, that said we rode the old wooden big dipper that was actually more fun than a lot of modern rides and Hat got to have a Hot Dog at Nathans.

(Me, outside Nathans)

After the "delights" of Coney Island we went for drinks and "thrift store" shopping in Williamsburg. I really liked Williamsburg despite the hipsters, I think they added to the place. It's weird sitting in a bar where a group of 20 somethings are sitting ound a table drinking, all have thei dogs with them in the bar.

Oh, we watched the Champions league final in NYC, Liverpool lost. We along with 2 Milans fans were the only ones watching it in the bar.

What else? Empire State building, that was cool..one of my fave building and much more to it than Sears Tower. Times Square was pretty average, Central Park was great, got to see the Lennon Memorial and took some pics of the Dakota building.

Water, Water everywhere but not a drop to drink.....yet

NIAGARA FALLS - 18th? May 2007

Cleveland is another City, that said you can't really pass judgement on a place that you've only seen from a window. at 3am. on a bus.

Buffalo looked really nice from what I saw and having done some more research there is some great architecture there..although probably nothing else. We change buses again and head off on the short trip to Niagara.

We arrive a little while later and can see the mist of the falls from miles away I have visited Niagara before from the Canadian side whilst visiting relatives when I was younger. The American side really took me by surprise, it was DEAD. All the houses in the town were boarded up and they wasn't the brash casinos and Planet Hollywooods the Canadian side....for once the US had a little more dignity than Canada.

We'd booked in at a small hostel with a crazy Chinese lady who insisted we didn't take a nap straight away despite having a 17 hour bus journey. She was right though, he headed off to the Niagara State park.

The park was really nice and was good that they set land aside that the state looked after. We had over priced bagels and coffee and went exploring. After taking some nice photos we decided on parting with cash to go on the Maid of the Mist boat ride under the falls. It was good fun and we got to wear some flash attire as seen below

Canada side - We crossed the bridge and took some photos of the boundary line. I only really wanted to go across to get a stamp in my passport as I am officially a passport snob! We ate some awful food at Planet Hollywood and Emma had her picture next to Cole Trickles car from bloody Days of Thunder.

Once back on the US side we did some more walking along the trails in the parks and took some nice photos, back to the hostel to listen to the crazy chinese lady tell us how she will drive us back to the falls at night if we want to go again, then SLEPT. HARD. Another 12 hour bus trip tomorrow to Le Pomme Grande. That the Big Apple in French..possibly?

Riding around the US on a giant dog

CHICAGO - 15th May -2007 - Please excuse the mix present and past tense. It adds to the atomosphere of the tales.

We arrive at the airport late night, it's very generic like most airports and I'm more than tired. Customs was a piece of cake, the usual "what's the address you are going to? How long for? Where next?" they didn't seem too bothered about our return ticket being from Rio.


We boarded the Met and headed into Downtown Chicago. Arriving at the Central Station we really weren't too sure on how to get the the hostel so we took a cab and arried 20 minutes later in a fairly leafy area of the city. Hostel seemed ok, usual generic style that we are used to.

AHHHH..to be woken up at the right time.

Emma and I are awoken to the knocking of our door at the time of 6:45. It is Matt, he has forgotten how to tell the difference between the small and large hand on a clock and thinks it's 9:30. Good start! Decent first day in Chicago, we had the greatest breakfast you could wish for. We walked into a small dim lit dinner and it couldn't have been any more "american" if it tried, one of the booths were occupied by 4 cops drinking strong coffee. We take a booth and put in our order. Unlimited coffee, this is where my love affair for cheap, crappy, filter coffee starts. I get quite a few cups down me and tuck into my breakfast. The rest of the day was spend looking at buildings, visting the FREE Zoo (something you just wouldn't get in England) playing mini golf on Navy Pier and having dinner and beer at Sluggers sports bar, the offical bar of the Chicago Cubs just opposite Wrigley field.

(Navy Pier the sometimes delectable Ms Winters and the Skyline below)



Day 2 - Nails arrives. The boy wonder turns up a day late. Not really a long story, he thought he'd booked the same flight but turns out he got the day wrong and had to fly on his own. Gutted! We went up the Sears Tower, it's big alright..but pretty boring. Then it's off to Pizza Uno or somewhere like that to get some famous Pizza Pie. I have to say it was amazing. see below..






We arrive at the Gayhound station. All Greyhound stations are in the shitty end of town, we found this out straight away. We wait for ages and finally board the bus, it is full of poor people and rowdy "gangsters" hollaring at each other and drinking on the bus despite it being forbidden. I thought the 17 hour trip to Niagra would be a NIGHTMARE, but it turned out these "gangsters" were actually harmless and charming.


THOUGHTS ON CHICAGO - We didn't really get too long but it seems like a tough place. Nails nearly got mugged on the Met on the way to meeting us at the Hostel. Coming from Rural Britain it was quite a shock to see how many Afican Americans there are in the US and more importantly, how bad a card they've been dealt (One of my best friends is black, I can't be racist and are used to the company of other ethnic backgrounds, it's just an observation). This was reflected on EVERY City we visited.

Now onto Niagara via Cleveland and Buffalo.