Miami to Mexico

My 2012 ended in Miami and 2013 began in Mexico!

I've never spent a Christmas in London. In 2012 I escaped last minute, and flew out on Christmas Day (which actually isn't easy, as there is no public transport in London on Christmas Day, not even the Heathrow Express.)

I thought Christmas Day at Heathrow would be quiet, but boarding the London to New York flight was anything but. It turns out, unsurprisingly really, that these cities' large Jewish populations disregard Christmas altogether.

Miami Beach

I landed in Miami on Christmas night and headed straight for my hostel right in the middle of South Beach's Art Deco District. I didn't have a lonely Christmas night, as the Miami Beach International Travellers Hostel is not a quiet place! The place is something of a party base. Between the party  atmosphere and  the warm weather (t-shirt weather despite it being the middle of winter), it was hard to tell it was Christmas.

South Beach

Miami is an interesting place. The main thing that surprised me (which I first found out on my connecting flight from New York to Miami, where I was the only English speaker apart from the American Airlines crew) was that it's mainly a Spanish-speaking city. With it's large Cuban population, Spanish is the main language used by the locals and English seems to be reserved for the tourists.

But I really liked the place - a much more relaxed part of the US than I'd experienced elsewhere, with beach culture and fitness being prevalent.

Florida Keys

After a couple of nights at Miami I headed back to the airport but not to fly. No, I was there to rent a Mustang Convertible.

I drove the red beast down the Florida Keys, across the long bridges of the Overseas Highway which I'd marvelled at on TV since being a teenager.

Hours later, after battling holiday traffic all day and lots of stop to take photos of....errr, Bridges, I made it all the way down to Key West, the southern most part of continental USA.

The problem with arriving at a popular holiday destination at sunset, especially one that's quite a small city, on a day between Christmas and New Years is that there isn't a lot of accommodation. I couldn't find anything.

In the end I ended up driving the whole 300 km back to Miami stopping off at various motels and hotels on the way with no luck whatsoever.

(Tip to proprietors: If your vacancy sign is lit up but there is no vacancy, turn the damn thing off!!)

Even in Miami I had trouble finding a room, despite going from hotel to hotel and in the end ended up at a run down motel near the airport.  Despite looking far from luxurious, I was desperate to get some sleep, so I went to enquire about a room.

I should have known something was up when they queried in broken English, "you want it for the night?"

Yes, of course I want it for the night, it's a hotel room, right?

Oh.

It's THAT sort of hotel room. Maybe I should have asked for the hourly rate. It's not like I got much sleep anyway.

"You can have room number 5, over there."

"OK," I replied. "Do I get a key?"

"No. Just lock the door behind you."

Upon entering the room and duly locking the door behind me, I definitely knew what kind of place I was in. The windows were boarded up so nobody could see inside. There was a TV, already on, showing only one channel - hardcore porn. And I didn't want to let my face touch the pillowcase.

I slept, shivering from the cold (I was too disgusted to get under the covers, and couldn't go to the car to get more clothes because I couldn't lock the door behind me) whilst thinking about whether my red Mustang would still be waiting for me in the morning.

Morning did, eventually, come. And I was out of there as quickly as possible. I left with my head hung low as I didn't want anyone to see me leaving the place, or the owners to ask "you sure you wanted it for the night?"

I drove to the nearest McDonald's and used their bathroom to get changed from the previous day's clothes and brush my teeth. You know you're in a dodgy hotel when you'd rather bathe in a McDonald's toilet.

Fort Lauderdale

I decided to head up North to Fort Lauderdale. The suburbs between Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale were quieter beach-side communities and really pleasant.  Fort Lauderdale itself was touristy, with nice beaches and plenty to do. This time I found a hotel nice and early, and enjoyed staying right on the beach.

Return to Miami Beach

I returned to Miami for 3 more nights culminating in New Years Eve. I stayed at the Miami Hostel on the non-beach side of South Beach. Despite being significantly further from the beach than the previous place I stayed, I would have to say it was one of the nicest, friendliest and most pleasant hostels I've ever stayed at. Guests culminated in the outdoor decked area to socialise and relax and prepare for their nights out.

Holding a baby alligator in the Everglades

I was excited to go on an air boat ride in the Everglades, something remembered seeing as a kid back in the 80s in the movie Police Academy 5 (which I thought was good at the time but click the link to see the awful trailer) to go alligator spotting.

New Years Eve was at the world famous Nikki Beach but it wasn't to be a late one as I had to get up at 5am on New Years Day to head to the airport to catch my flight to Cancun.

NYE at Nikki Beach

Cancun

I arrived at the aiport in good time and got through security quickly. Turns out early morning on new years day is a good time to fly. I managed to catch up on sleep for an hour or two in the lounge.

I arrived at Cancun airport about lunchtime, and started off my 2013 with some Mexican food and a Dos Equis beer, complete with lime, while I waited for my girlfriend to fly in from Canada, where she had spent Christmas.

Our first 3 nights in Mexico were spent on Cancun's hotel zone, in an all-inclusive hotel. The hotel zone is a peninsula some 10km long, which contains just about nothing but hotels and golden beaches. I know, it doesn't sound exotic at all, but after a week staying in backpackers hostels and dodgy motels, an all inclusive, beach-side stay, complete with hot tub on the balcony, is exactly what the doctor ordered.

My girlfriend and I spent the days and evenings lounging, drinking, swimming, drinking, eating, drinking and walking along the beach.

We did venture into town on the bus one evening, and experienced shopping in a real Mexican supermarket, where 1 litre bottles of tequila went for about £4/$6.

Isla Mujeres

For our last three nights we headed out of the hotel zone, and caught a ferry over to Isla Mujeres, an island off the coast. We checked into a hotel there which exceeded my expectations. It was the biggest hotel suite I've ever had, with a massive balcony overlooking the tip of the island, and, you guessed it, another balcony hot tub.

Isla Mujeres, while touristy, was more down to earth than the mainland resort area, and definitely very relaxed. Golf cart was the way to get around the island, which could be done in an hour or two if not stopping off at beaches for swimming and nachos.

My hot girlfriend drives me around the island in a golf cart

Unfortunately after 3 nights on the island it was time to leave the snorkelling trips and beach massages behind, and head back to London to proceed with 2013 in reality. 

Is NY still exciting the 4th time around?

Is New York City still exciting on your 4th visit?

Quite simply, yes.

The first time I went to NY it was awesome. What an atmosphere.
The second time I was in NY it was just as much fun.
The third time I went to NY was when Icelandic volcano ash cloud grounded flights in 1999 and I was stuck in the States while on business. Milling around NYC was starting to lose its exactingness.

Would my fourth visit be boring?

No. I was in town at the end of last month for a conference and although I didn't get out as much as I would have liked to, New York still provided an amazing, unique and unmistakable atmosphere when walking around those one-way city streets.

View from the top of the Rock towards the Empire State Building and Downtown

It was my first visit in Winter and I experienced both how bloody cold it can get, and how unseasonably warm it can be.  I enjoyed jogging in Central Park like a local, visiting the Top of the Rock and of course a lot of shopping!

2012: A year of travel in review

I have not been posting to my travel blog much this year so seeing as it is now December, I thought I'd write a summary for 2012.

• My year started well with waking up on New Years Day in Paris. I had got there just for new years eve (with only about 2 hours to spare) after getting spending the night on a bus stuck on a closed, icy mountain road in the French Alps and having to be rescued by the rescue services (see separate blog post). I would visit Paris two more times in 2012, both in November, with a business trip and a trip to Disneyland Paris in the same week. 

• My business travel year also started well. I travelled to Pennsylvania for business meetings, and combined the trip with a weekend in Atlantic City. I managed to lose both my passports on this trip and only realised on my way to the airport to fly back to London. Luckily I managed to get them back!

• The Spring was packed full of travel! A boys' trip to Las Vegas for a mate's 30th, a long weekend in Tenerife, a business trip and weekend in Ireland, a surprisingly rainy weekend in Gibraltar, and Easter in Australia, where I went just for a week. I surprised my parents as I didn't tell them I was coming home. On my way back from Melbourne I stopped over in Doha to look around. 

• During the summer, my parents were over from Australia. With them, I travelled to Prague and Venice, and also did various sightseeing around the south of England. 

• However, my main trip this summer was to the Benicassim Festival, on the coast of Spain between Barcelona and Valencia  We stayed at a spa resort instead of roughing it camping, spending the nights at the festival and the afternoons recovering on the beach.

• Autumn was spent chasing the last of the summer sun. I saw my parents off to Dubai on their way back to Australia, and had a weekend in Ibiza with my girlfriend.

• Other business trip destinations this year included Brussels, Madrid, Munich, Oslo, Prague, Vienna and Zurich.

• My travel year will finish off with flying to Miami on Christmas Day to get some winter Florida sun!

Overall less flights this year than 2011 but about the same distance flown:

2010 - a year of travel in review

It has been a bit of a slack year, blogwise!  I have to be honest, I have not done a good job at all of keeping this blog up-to-date this year. So as the year draws to an end, I thought I could get away with it all by summarising my year of travel in one single post! So here we go...

Let's start with a scary stat. 

I took 36 flights totalling to about 44,900 miles (about 72,250 km) in 2010. Some of this was for personal holiday travel, and some was for business (not business class though - I wish!)

IT ALL BEGAN IN...

Australia. I visited Australia for Christmas and New Years last year, to get away from the London cold and catch up with those at home. It was great! A trip down to Sorrento with one group of mates and another trip to Warrnambool with another group, ensured that I spent as much time as possible on the beach.

A CHILLY RETURN

Brr! The very next morning after landing, I found myself walking to work in the snow!

But really, you can't let winter stop you! So some friends and I ventured right into the cold. Up north. To Yorkshire. The highlight was staying in the seaside town of Whitby, and you can read all about the trip here.

THE WINTER WAY

Making the most of England despite the winter, my girlfriend and I went down South too, and visited New Forest and Portsmouth. But let's not get carried away with English travel. Europe is at our doorstep! A friend and I headed of to Austria for a few days. We had a good time wandering around Vienna, eating ketchup flavoured chocolate and generally being silly, as well as meeting up with some Austrian friends, and visiting them in the mountains where I lived when I was young. My friend headed back to London, and I stayed on to go skiing at Bad Gastein, near Salzburg.  Austria's a great place to spend a winter week!

Reichenau, Austria

SPRING INTO LIFE


It was a spring full of travel.

• A day road-trip to Belgium on a freezing day with some friends, visiting Antwerp and Gent.
• A visit to Zurich in Switzerland for work
• A trip to Portugal at Easter
• A business trip to America, which took me to Minnesota, Chicago and unexpectedly, New York
• A long weekend in the Peak District
• A break from the winter in tropical Barbados, which was definitely a highlight of the year
• A trip to Brussels just to have lunch with some clients

SUMMER IN EUROPE

This summer I spent a lot of time in England.  I attempted a beach trip to Blackpool, stopping off at Liverpool on the way, but being Northern England, it was cold!  I had a few other trips around the UK for work, including Durham, Newcastle and Birmingham.

The highlight of my summer, however, was my trip to Greece.  I went with a bunch of great friends to explore Athens and sail the Cyclades islands!

SPAIN

I finished summer off with a trip to Spain for the August bank holiday weekend, taking in Alicante, Valencia and Zaragoza.

Alicante

The idea came up by looking at what cheap RyanAir flights were available to warm places. I found one into Alicante, which is half way down the Spanish East coast, and one out of Zaragoza, in the North of Spain. This would be a great excuse to traverse the country by train!

But it didn't all go according to plan. When I landed in Alicante and came through passport control, the first thing I did was get changed into shorts. Which is when I realised I didn't have my wallet!  Surely I couldn't have lost my wallet again? (I had lost my wallet half way through the Greek sailing trip just months earlier!)

I asked at the RyanAir desk and they asked someone to check the plane.  No sign of it. Maybe I dropped it in the airport?  I went to the airport Police station, which was in charge of lost property. They asked me to hang around for a few hours in case it showed up. So the first few hours of my holiday were sitting on the airport floor. And then on the phone to the banks, cancelling all my cards! 

But what would I do for money? When I lost my wallet in Greece, I simply borrowed some money from my friends. But I was in Spain alone! HSBC agreed to send me some emergency money through a Western Union Money Transfer. All I had to do is find a Western Union office and show them my reference number passport (which luckily I still had).

I had €3 in my pocket, and luckily the bus from the airport to the city was €2.40. Although I seriously considered walking, had it not been 35 degrees.  I made it to the city and found the Western Union office. The problem was it was now the early afternoon.... and therefore siesta! I had a few hours to kill before the shop re-opened so I went to the beach. Unfortunately I couldn't find any water taps, and €0.60 wasn't enough to buy a drinks, so after a few hours on the beach in the blistering sun, I was parched.  When I finally picked up the emergency cash, the drinks and ice cream I bought were the most delicious I'd ever tasted!

I explored Alicante a bit, which diddn't take long. It is a small city, surrounded by cliffs and a very touristy beach. It wasn't full of English tourists though, which was nice. That night I caught a train up to Valencia, which is Spain's third largest city. Amazing architecture kept me entertained, and the next day I went to a beach too.  The Valencia beach had a lot more locals than Alicante. On the second night I made my way to Zaragoza, which is a quiet city in North of Spain, inland. After some sightseeing there, I headed back to London, with a few Euros to spare.

Valencia by night

OKTOBERFEST

I decided to celebrate the end of my 20's and beginning of my 30's by going to Oktoberfest in Munich with a few friends.  Just like two years ago, we did a package with Alpenrider, staying in a chalet in beautiful Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria.  For two days in a row, they took us into the centre of Munich for the festivities, and then drove us safely back over the border to Austria to recover. I had a great time and it was a perfect start to the next decade of my life!

Drinking Bavarian style, in Lederhosen

SWEDEN

Soon after coming back to London, I had a business trip for a few days in Sweden.  My colleague and I flew into Copenhagen in Denmark, and the next day caught the train across the Oresund bridge-tunnel to Malmo in Sweden. A small city with a beautiful town centre. We had some business meetings and ate some hamburgers, and caught the train up to Stockholm. For more business meetings. And more hamburgers. And hot dogs.

A Swedish hot dog with mashed potato, in a wrap of course

 Luckily on the Friday night some other colleagues of ours came over from London to join us for the weekend, and saved us from the junk food eating. Unfortunately this was replaced by copious amounts of drinking, which in Stockholm, isn't cheap.  It was a great weekend though, exploring various areas of Stockholm night-life.

KRAKOW AND THE HAGUE

Two of my friends from Australia are in Europe and they spent some of their time visiting family in Poland. What a perfect excuse to make my first visit to that country!  We decided to meet up for a weekend in Krakow.

So I consulted good old Ryanair and booked a cheap flight to Krakow on a Saturday morning. The problem was that the flight was at about 6am, out of Stansted airport - London's equivalent of Melbourne's Avalon. I had to get there by about 4:30, which meant that I had to catch the easyBus from Baker Street at 3:30, which in turn meant that I had to catch the night bus from my house to Baker Street at 2am.  So I had to get up at 1am - probably the earliest I have ever gotten up.  I did think of just pulling an all-nighter, but knew I would only have 1 night with my friends, so I wanted to have the energy and awakedness for that.

And that I did. I managed to do a lot of sightseeing with my first day in Krakow, and then had quite the night out that night, with my friends and some people from the hostel. I thought a 3am finish was a good effort for a 1am start the morning before!

Day 2 in Krakow was cut short by the fact that I needed to be at a conference that Sunday night, in the Hague, the Netherlands. So, after only about 30 hours in Krakow, I left my friends on a walking tour in the early afternoon, and started my marathon journey to the Hague: taxi to Krakow Airport, flight to Prague, another flight to Amsterdam, train to Rotterdam, another train to the Hague, taxi to the hotel! Phew! 

After a few days of fun at the conference I was happy to come back home to London!

WINTER

And that was pretty much it for the Autumn, because soon after that, winter hit!

I had a few more domestic trips around the UK for work, going to Edinburgh, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Bristol and Birmingham, but no more holidays, unfortunately. It was time to save my leave for the the trips coming up in the new year.

I welcomed the new year by the first of those, a ski trip over Christmas and New Years Eve to Chamonix in France - which was great fun.

Happy new year! What have you got planned for travel in 2011? I am off to Australia, Brazil, and Argentina.Can't wait!

Minneapolis, Chicago and New York

I am on an early morning train from London to Leeds. And I forgot my iPhone earphones! On the bright side, this presents an opportunity for me to catch up on my travel blog.

In April I went on a business trip to America.

My company’s head office in a suburb of Minneapolis. And I was due to visit for a week.

I decided to fly with American Airlines. They didn’t have direct flights, but I was up for a stopover in Chicago. I figured that AA, being one of the flagship members of the oneworld alliance, would be a comfortable, full service airline just like Qantas or British Airways.

But I soon found out that AA is quite poor in comparison, and doesn’t even serve free alcohol on transatlantic flights!

I landed in Chicago in the late afternoon, and had a couple of hours to kill before my regional flight to Minneapolis.  Once I got to Minneapolis, it was quite late. I was quite scared about having to get a rental car and drive it on the wrong (right) side of the road whilst jetlagged and tired, but it turned out OK.  Driving on the other side of the road is always tricky but the wide roads of America and the courteous Midwest drivers made it alright.

I spent the next few days in the Minneapolis suburbs, going to work during the day and enjoying the glorious spring sunshine in the afternoons. It was the hottest April they had had in a long time, and a perfect way to thaw out after a long London winter.

On the Friday afternoon I left the office and headed straight to the airport, and flew back to Chicago for the weekend. It was going to be a rushed weekend, arriving in Chicago late Friday night, and having to fly back to London early Sunday morning.

But as luck would have it, the Icelandic ash cloud descended over northern Europe that Friday, so my flight back to London on the Sunday morning was cancelled.

I had a few extra days to enjoy Chicago – thank you ash cloud! Chicago itself was a lot nicer than I had expected. I had been to the States a few times before, and had always wanted to go to Chicago but never made it there as it was a bit out of the way of my travels.

I stayed on the Magnificent Mile, where everything was clean and sparkling, with interesting high rise architecture all around. I enjoyed going to “the Loop” (downtown), where the raised “El” trains rattled above the streets, just like in the movies.

I did a lot of shopping in the various stores, and look forward to sporting my Chicago Cubs jumper this autumn.

By Tuesday, flights back to England had not yet resumed, and the first flight I was able to get booked on was the next Sunday.

But what to do in Chicago all this time?  Ought I go back to Minneapolis so I can at least do some work? My boss had a better idea. “Why don’t you go to New York and visit our office there?” Brilliant!

So on Tuesday I booked myself a flight to New York city.  And my work managed to find me a flight back to London a day early, on Saturday. The only flighty available was premium economy with British Airways, so I saved myself a cattle class, teetotaller route back across the Atlantic with AA.

There’s a reason why people all around the world wear “I love NY” T-Shirts. New York City has a great vibe about it, a really unique atmosphere. Though sadly being my third time to NY, the excitement had worn off a little bit. Nevertheless, I had a great time. I managed to catch up with a friend from uni who was doing an internship. My New York colleagues were really accommodating, and took me out to various lunches near our Times Square location, and I enjoyed perfect April weather for a few days before having to head back to rainy London.

My trip was twice as long as it was meant to be, and it didn’t cost me anything as being on a business trip meant all my food and accommodation was paid for. Thank you ash cloud!

New York in Spring

I have unexpectedly found my way to New York. I will write more about my trip to America soon. I just wanted to post a few brief (for a change) notes now.

The first time I came to New York was in 2006. That was in March. It was freezing! There was no snow but it was still really cold. Spine-chilling wind!

The second time was in 2008, in May. That's two months later than March (albeit a different year) and it was hot. It was so wam and muggy in the city, that I escaped to the beach at Coney Island with some of the girls in my hotel.

Who would have thought a couple of months could make such a difference. Now, continuing my once every 2 year average, I am here in April. And the weather is just about perfect! A few rain showers and a bit of a breeze, but mainly sunny and the temaprature is ideal - T-shirt weather without being too hot.  They do say that this is the best time of year to come.

I could get used to following the seasons around.  I could live in Australia all summer, and as it gets to April and the temperatures in Melbourne start dropping, fly off to North America. Hit the slopes for the end of the ski season, and spend some time in New York. Then, continue around the world in the same direction,  to Europe, in time for the start of summer.  Enjoy London and the continent all summer long, until about September when it starts to cool down again. Stop by Oktoberfest if the liver is feeling good, and head back to Melbourne just in time for the Spring racing carnival, and the leadup to summer.

Now all I need is a job that lets me work from different parts of the world. Some sort of touring contractor or consultant maybe?

New York City /Leaving America

My last day in Atlantic City was so nice and sunny I didn't leave until late – I was enjoying sitting in the sun on the beach too much. But eventually I made my way to the bus terminal. I inquired about a Greyhound ticket to New York City but apparently all the buses were running off schedule. I got a ticket from another bus company and was soon on my way. The trip was slow – it seems the traffic caused by everyone going home from the Memorial Day long weekend caused congestion. The coach was packed too, some people didn't even have seats! Not pleasant for a long distance bus ride.

I arrived in New York City after 9pm and after I figured out the right subway to my East Village “hotel”, got lost in the Lower East Side and eventually found my “hotel” it was quite late, and I was tired, hot and exhausted.

The “hotel” clerk gave me my key and asked me to go up stairs with my baggage, and leave it up there and come pay - if I like it. I thought this was a very unorthodox check-in process but went with it. I soon realised why.

I climbed up the dingy stairway, opened the locked solid heavy door and came into what seemed like a large hot room with lots of old wooden garden shed doors. Each door was to an individual room, but the individual rooms were all one one large hall separated by thin wooden walls that didn't go up all the way to the ceiling. Instead they had lattice ceilings about a foot from the ceiling of the real door. Each room was more like a small cell, with just enough room for a very small single bed and some space right next to it to dump your back pack. The shared showers (2 for the whole floor) were just additional garden-shed-doored subcells, and the toilets were practically out in the open. Anyone booking this place expecting a real “hotel” would have run for the hills. But I knew I was expecting more of a hostel type accommodation of a different kind, thanks to a recommendation from Brenna, a Melburnian I had met in Niagara Falls. She would be staying there at the same time, had stayed there before, and had assured me that the experience was quite good.

She had based this on the location of the neighbourhood. And she was right. The East Village was a cool part of Manhattan, with small, dark atmospheric bars, nice diners and boutique shops.

I spent most of the evenings enjoying the local nightlife with Brenna and her Austrian friend, or shopping in Times Square, a short subway ride away. The nights in the “hotel” weren't super comfortable. You could hear every time someone in the next three rooms turned over, and could hear people peeing in the toilets on the other side of the “hotel”. But overall for $28 a night in the middle of Manhattan it wasn't too bad, when you think about the fact that it is still a step up from a hostel dorm room.

I later found out that I had a super deluxe room due to the fact that the space next to my bed was almost the same size as the bed (the others' had smaller rooms), I had a TV (it didn't work properly) and I had sexy satin sheets.

I'd been to New York before a few years ago and had done the sights, so most of my days this time were spent just hanging around Manhattan. Walking the streets, checking out the buildings, the streets below them, and the busy people walking down those.

It was a great few days to spend outdoors, as it was sunny, hot and humid. On my second last day in New York, Brenna, Claudia and I caught the subway to Coney Island in Brooklyn to hang out on the beach. On my day of departure I checked out of the “hotel,” had breakfast in a typical New York diner, and stopped off at a barber shop. I was flying to London, where everything is expensive, so it was my last chance to get a cheap haircut. I walked all the way up Broadway to Central Park in the sunshine, lay in the park and took in my final few North American rays. Then it was time to head to JFK airport to fly across the Atlantic to Dublin, and then on to London.

It was the end of my two months of backpacking around North America. I'd started Canada in one of the biggest attractions: world class skiing in Whistler. I went coast to coast on the ground and finished at the world's most amazing attraction, Niagara Falls. I'd been to half a dozen Canadian provinces and half a dozen American States. I'd eaten poutine in Montreal, buffalo wings in Buffalo and Philly cheese steaks in Philadelphia. But most importantly I'd met lots of fantastic people along the way, and feel satisfied that I made the most of having two months to spare.

The carefree backpacking lifestyle had come to an end, but I left with confidence that London – and neighbouring continental Europe – would bring further adventures.

Atlantic City

For those who haven't heard of it, Atlantic City is like the Las Vegas of the East coast. Except nicer.

I arrived by train and walked straight down to the boardwalk and along the beach. The boardwalk is lined with casinos, touristy shops, restaurants and bars. Much like the Strip in Las Vegas but with a nice beach on one side and much cleaner. Atlantic City has a more family atmosphere, with plenty of people out with their families on a long weekend. It was a coincidence, but I got here on the Friday afternoon just in time for the Memorial Day long weekend, so it was a busy time for Atlantic City, a city that would but for the tourism be a very small place.

During this trip I had adopted an “anti hotel policy.” I find hotels pretty boring, and prefer to stay at hostels and similar accommodation where I can meet plenty of people. But Atlantic City is a place for local tourism, and there aren't any hostels. But I did manage to find some interesting accommodation. Google told me about an Irish pub with cheap upstairs rooms, and cheap food and drink at the bar. The internet reviews said the bar was a great friendly place, but the hotel wasn't much.

So when I arrived, I was expecting a dump, but was pleasantly surprised. It was an old quaint hotel, full of antiques and Irish themed pictures on the wall. I was impressed with my single room. Not having a TV, air conditioning or an ensuite is no big deal after living in dorm rooms for almost 2 months. The beauty of it was that it was as cheap as a hostel too.

I hung out a bit in the bar, and met a variety of tourists and locals. The locals all told me that this was the best place in all of Atlantic City. $1.75 draft beers and $5 meals (served 24 hours a day) kept me coming back to the pub a number of time through the long weekend.

I played some poker tournaments at the Hilton Casino and checked out various other casino bars, getting drinks for free along the way. As in Vegas, they comp you free drinks, from coffee to cocktails, as long as you are sitting at a poker table or even playing a slot machine. Some locals put me onto a particular bar called Dizzy Dolphin, at which they have video poker machines built into the bar, and as long as you have some credits in the machine while you sit at the bar, you get comped drinks. I stumbled in there at 2am on one night, and after 3 long island iced teas and meeting one of the actors from the Sopranos, somehow managed to get home to the other end of the boardwalk... (mainly thanks to an all night bus service called the Jitney)

But Atlantic City wasn't all drinking and gambling. The shopping was really good too. One of the piers has a massive shopping centre on it, at which I went on a bit of a shopping spree in the Quicksilver shop. In America, you only pay about $20 for a brand name T-shirt, and this shop had half of its stuff discounted 50% off, and New Jersey doesn't charge tax for clothes. I followed that up by shopping at the outlets. Now I fear I'm going to have to buy an extra bag to fit everything in.

The weather was mainly nice ans sunny for the long weekend, so I even spent some time hanging out at the beach. But there was a breeze, and supposedly the water was really cold, so I didn't hang there long. There were crowds on the beach, but for me the beach wasn't as big a deal. As nice as it was, it was still nowhere near as nice as the beaches we get in Melbourne, let alone the rest of Australia. Though it was good to be out in the sun on the sand, before heading to the Big Apple.

Philadelphia

In Philadelphia I was staying in an area of the city called University City. It is an inner suburban area with 3 different universities in it, including the prestigious Penn University.

I was staying in the Loftstel – the same company which I stayed in at DC. In DC I paid $50 per night for the hostel room which is the most I've ever paid for a hostel. But it was nice, and it paid off, because the Loftstel had a transfer policy, by which you could get free accommodation in any other Loftstel in 4 cities within a week of your last paid visit (with various conditions applying). Anyway, the point is I managed to swing it to get 3 nights FREE accommodation in the Philly Loftstel.

University City was a really really nice part of the city, and full of uni students. Upon arrival at the Loftstel I was hoping for an exact blueprint of the DC Loftstel. It was the same sort of townhouse, but I was disappointed upon entering that it was very run down (in fact in comparison to the DC Loftstel it reminded me of the abandoned house from Fight Club) and there were no pretty 20 year old interns around.

But hey, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. That night I hung out with 2 German blokes. We checked out the Penn campus. The next day I slept in and just had enough time to head out the the Old City for a Philly cheese steak.

A Philly cheese steak is a sandwich in a crusty long roll with thin cuts of grilled beef, melted cheese and fried onions. It is traditional Pennsylvanian junk cuisine. The Germans had gone so that night I hung out with a guy from Chile and his Greek friend who lives in London.

My last day in Philly was spent doing some sightseeing. I headed straight for the museum of art to run up the stairs from the Rocky movie. Later in the afternoon, back in the Old City, I walked into a random dingy bar to have another cheese steak and a $1 beer. I started talking to the guy next to me, who was a German accented Spanish tourist. We chatted for a while and I was proud to have made friends with someone other than in my hostel. Then we started discussing where we were staying, and it turns out that he too was staying at the other end of the city in University City, in fact in the Loftstel as well, and in the room right next to mine. Amazing coincidence in a city of eight million people!

On my last night I did what I almost always do on my last night – got drunk. I went out to some cool bars with a girl from Oklahoma.

I got to bed at 5am (after stopping off on the way home in 24 hour diner for a third cheese steak in two days), and had to get up at 10 to check out of the hostel, hung over as usual.

I did that, and made my way to the main train station in the city, to catch the New Jersey transit to Atlantic City.

Living with Interns - Washington DC

I flew from Buffalo, New York, to Baltimore, Maryland, on the original budget airline. SouthWest Airlines were the pioneers in the budget airline market, which JetStar, RyanAir and all those airlines are based on. They do, however, give FREE peanuts, softdrink and coffee, so maybe the abovenentioned airlines could still learn from them.

When I got out at Baltimore airport I was surprised by how warm and humid it was. I knew I was flying south, but I had no diea that it would be noticeable. I caught a local bus for 45 min to the outskirts of Washington DC. From there I connected with the metro to take me to my suburban hostel location.

As I got out of the metro station I was a bit scared. The area was full of black gangster types hanging around. Would I be OK to walk through this area or would I be mugged for the contents of my backpack and my shoes?
As I got into the back streets the look of the area was actually quite nice. Neat suburban townhouses. But the population was seemingly 100% black. Maybe just because it's a black area it doesn't mean its a ghetto.

Indeed when I got to my hostel I found out that it is a reasonably safe area. Upon further reading about DC, apparently a vast majority of the original population is African American.

The hostel was one of the nicest places I've stayed. Upon ringing the doorbell I was greeted by a girl in PJ's welcoming me to Loftstel. It was a 3 or 4 level townhouse which retained it's house feel. It was nothing like a hostel apart from the fact you were sharing bedrooms in bunks with strangers. The feel of the place was like just one big share house. I really liked it. Especially because most of the residents were American students from other parts of the country who were in DC to do internships at various organisations. It was a welcome change living with American students instead of Aussie backpackers. Actually meeting some Americans whilst in America. And I was the only Australian living there, that was a first!

I spent my days sightseeing and my evenings hanging out with the interns at the house.

DC itself was really nice in the central area. I had great weather so I spent a lot of time just walking around in the sunshine checking out the monuments.

Seeing Washington DC made me realise where Australia got its idea for Canberra, the Australian capital. There are lots of similarities. Not only is it a city set up specially to be a capital, but there are many design similarities. The main legislature is on “Capitol Hill” in both cities, and is joined in a triangle with other important buildings. I think Burley Griffin must have been to DC before drawing the plans for Canberra.

After 3 nights in DC it was time to move on. I packed my backpack, and caught a Greyhound bus through Delaware to nearby Philadelphia.

Last days in Cananda

Ziggy, my travel companion through Quebec, and I caught the train back to the south of the Quebec province to Montreal. I wanted to spend 2 more nights in Montreal before heading onto Niagara Falls in the south of Ontario. We parted in Montreal where she headed onto Ottawa, one of only a few major cities I didn't get around to seeing on my Canadian journey.

In Montreal I checked back into the hostel I stayed in the first time around and as it happened even got the same room. My hoody which I'd left there two weeks earlier was still hanging in the room.

But Montreal itself had changed in the two weeks I was gone. It was now much more colourful. The Maples now had fresh spring green leaves, and flowers everywhere were flowering. Many streets were lined with various tulips. It made the city look really pretty.

I spent the night in as it was washing night again. Washing isn't too bad a chore when you can have a beer at the hostel bar while your clothes tumble around the machines next door. At the bar I bumped into Emma, a Swedish girl I had a beer with back in Quebec. The backpacker trail seems to yield a lot of the same paths.

The next day was my last day in Montreal so I wanted to do all the sights I didn't have time for during my first 5 day stay. So in the morning Emma and I checked out the Biodome (a rain forest, North American forest and antarctic habitat all in one building). It was pretty much just an indoor zoo but I enjoyed watching the beavers and otters under the water.

The rest of my day was spent walking around the city, including a hike through the parkland up to Mont Royal for some killer views of the city.

The weather in Montreal was now great. Sunny clear blue skies with 24 degree air. It was starting to feel like summer. Who said Canada was cold?

I finished off Montreal that night but yet another Montreal pub crawl, which ensured that on checkout morning the next day I was feeling very ill.

I didn't want to know about life. I had a few errands to run in the morning so I forced myself to do that, pack, and get on the train to Niagara Falls.

I passed out almost instantly upon boarding the train. I slept most of the way from Montreal to Toronto and then changed trains to Niagara Falls and again slept the entire way. I felt a bit guilty given that the intention of doing Canada by train was to see the scenery.

The train station in Niagara Falls is downtown, a few kilometers away from the touristy area. Seeing as I had slept all day I decided it was time to get some exercise so I lugged my backpack across the city by foot and got some fresh air. And the air was indeed fresh, and drizzly. Shame the Montreal weather didn't follow me.

As I walked through quiet back streets of the city, still far from my destination, I head a noticeable humming noise. It sounded like a factory perhaps. But as I kept walking I could still hear it and getting louder. Could I hear the falls, from over a kilometer away?

I could. As I got to the main drag in the touristy part of town near the falls, I could definitely hear them. I couldn't see a thing though, it was foggy and misty and drizzly. I could barely make out the bright lights of the casinos. I'd have to explore tomorrow instead.

When I found eventually found my hostel in the fog, I walked in to be greeted with “Hi, you must be Daniel.”

“Uhh... yeah. Am I the only person staying here or something?”

It was a small hostel but no, I wasn't the only one staying. The hosts just had a really personal touch. This hostel was unlike any place I've ever stayed. The owners were your friends, and you felt like you were in someone's house as a guest rather than lodging in a backpackers. It was great. I was welcomed immediately by Danish girls offering me some of their beers. I loved this place!

The beers helped cure my day-long hangover and I ended up going out on the town with some British boys.

The next day it was time to go check out the falls. The road to the falls was a ridiculous tourist mecca. The Clifton Hill strip is bright like Las Vegas and full of crappy attractions like Surfers Paradise. There are like seventeen wax museums and other tourist destination specialties like Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Guinness World Records museum. Each of these purported attractions have music blaring along with recorded voice messages telling you why you just have to go in. The whole experience is quite distasteful really.

But the street isn't long and before you hit the end, you see the Niagara Falls. Once at the waterfront of the gorge you can see the American Falls immediately opposite and the grand Horseshoe Falls to the side. The amount of water gushing over those cliffs is amazing. Us Aussies can only dream of seeing so much fresh water.

By night, the waterfalls were flood lit by colourful floodlights, making sure that you always had a good view of the falls. Also by night, many of the restaurants converted into bars. I went out to check out some of the spots with a group from the hostel and the nightlife was good for what is essentially a small place. Although a large proportion of the patrons seemed to be 19 year olds from across the American border who were underage to drink at home.

When I saw the Falls at first I thought, “nice, but I imagined them to be bigger”. Well the next day I experienced them the way they were meant to be experienced. I went on the Maid of the Mist, which is a boat that takes down the gorge right almost underneath the waterfalls. As we approached each of the Falls on the still sunny afternoon, the wind would suddenly pick up. The sheer pressure of all that water pouring down was enough to create a strong wind, blowing mist into my face. When we were under the larger Horseshoe Falls, surrounded by vertical walls of water, I just stood there on the boat letting the water be blown onto me, and it was an amazing feeling. I'd never experienced nature quite like this. The fresh water water smacking me in the face while all I could do was see white was one of the highlights of this trip. I just stood there until my eyes began to sting. As the boat backed off, I realised my head was completely drenched. Lucky they gave out ponchos to cover passengers' clothes.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on one of the many hostel balconies just enjoying the sunshine. That night was Friday night so the Americans from over the border really started to roll in to town, as well as various Canadians coming down for a long weekend. Apparently it was a special weekend because it was the official start of the summer season, where camp grounds and tourist attractions would open their doors. That night, they had their first fireworks over the Falls. Lucky I was there to catch it on the last night. I went out that night with two Melburnians as there were 3 of us in the small hostel, one of them working there.

The next day I had a flight booked from Buffalo airport to Baltimore. Buffalo is a city in upstate New York not too far from Niagara Falls.

So I got up and walked across the Rainbow Bridge to the American side of Niagara Falls, checking out the American views of the falls on the way. The Canadians get the better perspective but at least the Americans haven't got a tourist mecca. Instead, they have a nice park surrounding the falls.

I didn't make it to the American side of town in time to catch the 2 buses I was meant to take to the Buffalo airport so I had to shell out for a $70 taxi. This was by far the most expensive per-mile journey I had made all trip, seeing as that was the same price of my flight that day.

Whilst waiting at Buffalo airport I found a small bar at which I ordered some Buffalo Wings – which was my one aim for Buffalo. The way salloon style eateries work in North America is that you get free softdrink refills...or "pop" as they call it here. So I just sat there drinking multiple refills of iced tea (they have lemon iced tea on tap everywhere) after I finished my wings. Best value airport meal ever -- not every day you spend only $15 at an airport for a meal, 4 iced teas and a coffee.

Whistler

My last night in Seattle, a Saturday night, was meant to be spent going out and enjoying the vibrant nightlife downtown Seattle has to offer. I met some people to go out with but it wasn't to be, because the 31 year old American had lost his ID (they check everyone for ID), an Aussie girl was being stalked by some local gangs and was too afraid to go out,and there were some 19 year olds, which of course in the USA is underage. So we stayed an partied in the hostel.

The Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle is one of the best places I've ever stayed in. Spotless showers are a luxury when you're hosteling it. Seattle was meant to be a pass-through city for me, but it turns out to be a really interesting place, with heaps to do, so I wish I had arranged to stay longer. But how could I be sad to leave when I was heading on to Whistler Village, British Columbia, to ski North America's premier ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb.

The six or seven hours from Seattle to Whistler went surprisingly quickly, thanks to catching up on sleep, chatting to fellow Aussies from the hostel and a border crossing from the USA. The US customs officials (with guns, of course) were surprisingly full on coming out of the US, asking all sorts of questions of most of the people on the bus. But they mainly picked on the black man. His bag was the only one they searched, asking “do you have any drugs in here?” as they opened it.

The service from Seattle terminated in Vancouver, where I had to change to another bus. A good American bloke which some girls from my hostel and I met on the bus was kind enough to offer us some of the cheap duty free beers he bought on the border which we subtly (ok, maybe not so subtly) drank in the Vancouver train station McDonald's. He was headed to Whistler as well, so gave me some tips on the way up as well as an initial tour on arrival. The trip up itself was great, with amazing views of lakes and snow-capped mountains all the way up!

When I arrived I met up with my friends Amanda and Jayson, who had flown to British Columbia from London to go skiing.

Together we had booked a small townhouse apartment, complete with 2 balconies overlooking snowy mountain ranges, one with a hot tub!

The week was spent skiing the vast terrain of the dual Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. Each mountain feels like its 4 times the size of Mount Hotham (for those Aussie skiers), and there's 2 of them!

One of the highlights was skiing the run which will be the Men's downhill race run for the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics.

The night life in the Village was surprisingly quiet, probably due to the fact it was the end of the season. This time of the year normally brings little snow, but we were lucky as the mountain still had excellent snow cover (2.6 metres). We were usually so exhausted after a day of skiing the vast terrain though, that we were happy to have some drinks in our private hot-tub instead of hitting the town every night.

During my last 2 days on the mountain we got to sample the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in the village, which involved all sorts of festivities including band performances on big stages with the snowy mountains as a backdrop.

Today it was time to depart Whistler. I spent the morning hanging out in the Village, enjoying some really warm weather (sunny T-shirt weather) and checking out the goings-on of the festival. Then caught the greyhound back to Vancouver for the next set of Canadian adventures!

Seattle

Virgin has in the last few months started a domestic airline in the USA, called (predictably enough) Virgin America. They look pretty cool online and are cheap enough, so I decided to give them a go. American authorities recommend getting to the airport 2 hours prior to scheduled departure, so I got to San Francisco Airport exactly 2 hours prior, only to be disappointed to find that my Virgin America flight to Seattle was a few hours delayed due to one of their planes being buggered (not their exact words). In the end it meant I spent over 5 hours in an especially boring airport terminal. One that only had one pizza restaurant and one cafe. The pizza made for a good late breakfast, though. And on the bright side, Virgin America bribed us not to hate them by supplying free alcohol. Their in flight entertainment was also awesome, I was won over. Mainly by the free alcohol.

Upon arriving in Seattle I was pleased to find that the way downtown was by bus, which only cost $1.50 and was due to depart in a few minutes. It was a long few minutes though, as I came to the realisation of how bloody cold Seattle is. There was no snow, but to me it felt like it should have started coming down any moment. Instead, rain started coming down while I was on the bus, and I managed to get drenched upon disembarking, mainly due to the fact I got lost looking for my hostel. I eventually found it at about 9:30pm, but was freezing and dripping wet when I did so. I recovered by having a quiet one.

Today was my only full day in Seattle so I packed a lot in. Got up early and started with a tour to the Boeing plane assembly plant just out of the city. This plant is in the largest building in the world (by volume). The place is huge. When standing inside, “Jumbo” jets look small. The building is so big in fact, that when they first started using it, it created it's own weather. Clouds would form inside it, and sometimes it would rain! They fixed it by installing giant blower fans.

I am a bit of an airline industry geek, so I was interested to see the first ever Boeing 787 Dreamliner (a revolutionary new airliner) in production, and almost finished.

I got the tour driver to drop me off at Seattle most recognisable landmark, the Space Needle. I went up and checked out the views, and then caught the monorail downtown.

I spent the rest of the day exploring the downtown area and doing some shopping. Seattle is the place where the first Starbucks coffee opened. I went to try to have a coffee there, but the line was almost out the door, and I didn't think it was worth the wait. They really love their Starbucks here though! Without exaggeration, there really seems to be one on every block here! There were several points in the city where I noticed there were 2 different Starbucks in direct view. It is quite ridiculous, really.

Last night as I walked around in the rain I came to the unfortunate realisation that my old shoes were no longer waterproof. So seeing as I am heading up to the snow tomorrow (Whistler still has 2.6m of snow as of today) I decided to shop for some new shoes. The sale in Nike Town worked out well for me.

Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, I'm catching a Greyhound bus for 217 miles to Whistler, British Columbia (Canada) via Vancouver.

Sydney to San Francisco

Last time I came to America I flew into LA and hated the place. Then I went up to San Francisco and loved it. So this time around I decided to make my North American entry point San Francisco. There are no direct flights from Melbourne so I had to fly via Sydney.

The night prior to my departure the Bureau of Meteorology released a warning about extreme winds and sure enough, when I woke up in the morning there was weather trouble. I immediately got mental images of my plane crash landing into Melbourne's western suburbs, but was also worried about flight delays, because if my flight up to Sydney was delayed, I'd miss my San Fran connection, and that flight only flies a few times a week.

Luckily, my flight was a morning flight, and at the time of departure, winds were only about 50-60km/h (not yet to 100km/h gale force as predicted for later). My flight was bumpy, but landed in sunny Sydney without a problem. Apparently Melbourne got worse in the afternoon so I was lucky. Sydney, on the other hand was beautiful. 29 degrees and clear blue sky. The views of the harbour from the plane were awesome, I almost wanted to stay in Sydney. But I was off to another great harbour city.

My flying was really quiet. No-one to chat to. From Sydney there was an unfriendly woman only interested in sleeping, and on the big flight I was stuck next to a middle aged Eastern European couple who only seemed to know a few words in English. And much to my disappointment, the American school girl coming home with her school group from their Spring break trip to Australia and New Zealand didn't seem very interested in chatting to me either.

I only managed to catch a few hours sleep on the 14 hours flight so I was pretty tired when I landed. And due to the time difference, it was only about 10 am the same day I departed, so I had a long way to go until nighttime. I kept myself awake by going shopping and walking the steep streets, and at nightfall sinking some cheap beers with hostel randoms.

Last time I was in San Fran I wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. I walked up to it one afternoon but by the time I got there it was late and cold. So this time I dedicated a day to it. I rented a bike at touristy Fishermen's Wharf, and rode along the bay, up and over the bridge, and down to an affluent town across the bay, and caught a ferry back. As with everything in San Francisco (including just walking the streets), it provided for stunning views. When I first started walking around the city on this trip, I thought that it is not as cool as I remembered it. Perhaps last time I only loved San Fran so much thanks to the contrast with LA. But then when walking the streets, I couldn't help myself exhaling audible “wow”s on many street corners, I realised again why the city is so special. The number 1 place for urban views. It had won me back.

My second and last night in SF was spent on a hostel-organised pub crawl. It was pretty fun, as you might expect. I also had a few too many drinks, as you might expect. This morning I was meant to get up at 9ish to make the 10 am checkout time but awoke from my slumber at about 11. Oops. Ah, must be the jet lag! ;)

Luckily I had enough foresight when booking my trip to make my flight departing SF at 2:30 in the afternoon. So as I write this I am at SF airport, waiting for my flight to Seattle, which, as it happens to be is more than 3 hours delayed anyway. What better way to spend a hangover than 5 hours in an airport terminal. If only there was a McDonald's here to make my stomach feel better....

From New England to Old England

Hello Everyone!

I enjoyed my time in Boston, Massachusetts and even road tripped up to some of the other US States in the "New England" area including New Hampshire and Maine. I got to see the Bush (as in the George Snr. and George W.) family Summertime retreat in a beautiful seaside town called Kennebunkport. The people around there are super friendly.Not only did I get to drive for the first time on the 'right' side of the road, but managed to drive in three states and tackle Boston peak-hour traffic. I loved driving the Buick, thanks Longin! Of course as fate would have it, upon getting used to driving on the right side of the road, time to jet off to the UK where driving on the right side of the road is generally frowned upon.I checked out downtown Boston (thanks for the tour, Dave), packed and headed off to Boson Airport the next morning at 6:00am. Thanks for putting me up in your beautiful home and for looking after me so well, Arijana and Dave - it felt like home.

Six hours later I was at London Heathrow Airport. Rach, Stevo and their friend Emma met up with me at the airport and took me back to Rach and Stevo's house. I enjoyed the weekend, going to a few pubs and generally chilling out, taking in the London atmosphere.

Within the about first 24 hours in England, I even managed to see my first English pub fist fight. Ahh, the home country. England does feel a lot more familiar to me than America did - it really is to some extent the same culture as Australia. I like it. But I did convince Rach and Stevo to take me to a "Walkabout" (a chain of Aussie pubs) so I could have some Aussie beer (VB of course), listen to some Aussie music (in America Jet and The Veronicas were popular but other than that no Aussie music) and see some AFL.

Today I am seeing some recruitment agencies about temp paralegal work to earn some British pounds. The Aussie dollar doesn't go a long way here, especially after its recent slump. What are you guys back at home doing to my dollar? At this stage I have a flight booked for Prague on Friday, but I'm not sure whether I'll take that flight or move it back and stay in London longer.Thank you Melburnians for keeping me up to date on what Melbourne is/was like with the Commonwealth Games on. I managed to catch some of the coverage here in England but there was no coverage of the Games in the USA and I suspect many Americans wouldn't even know there's such a thing as the Commonwealth Games. Incidentally, as a final note and while on the topic of the Commonwealth, I got asked a couple of times by Americans whether we use British Pounds in Australia! No wonder our Aussie dollar is so weak compared to the American dollar, when they haven't even heard of it. Take care and let me know how you are going.

Cheers,

Daniel(in an Internet cafe on Commercial Street, a couple of blocks away from Liverpool Street Station - yes, the one in Monopoly)

NEW YORK NEW YORK

Hi Everyone

I spent my last day at Copper Mountain, Colorado (Thursday) skiing in the sunshine. Can't beat that!

That night I went to a nearby town called Dillon to have dinner with Ben, Mel and Copper Mountain Veteran Bryn. We went to a chain restaurant called "Ruby Tuesday's" which is really cool: good food and cheap drinks. The special was $3.50 Long Island Iced Teas that night, which was great. If I had any more than 2 it could have gotten messy (great drink, order one some time if you are unfamiliar with it. It was the first time I dared to try one and I was impressed).

Ben (my friend from Melbourne) and I then went to another nearby town called Frisco to rent a car. We had booked a small Ford but were upgraded to a brand new (about 200 miles on the clock) Chevrolet that
looked very similar to a PT Cruiser. We then drove this very American car to Denver to catch an overnight flight to New York City, departing at 1:00am Denver Time.

Four hours and little sleep later, we arrived in New York City (JFK Airport) at 7:00am (Friday) New York Time. It was a great day to arrive in New York city as it was St Patrick's Day. New York takes their St Patrick's Day very seriously and we enjoyed the parade for a few hours on the famous 5th Ave (a fashion
part of town).

We then followed up by going to numerous Irish bars (of which there are A LOT in Manhattan) and drinking beers. Unfortunately we were so tired that we went to bed at pathetic St Patrick's day 10:00pm.

We checked in to our Hostel which was conveniently located near the Corner of 55th and 8th, which if you know Manhattan is a really great spot, near Times Square/Broadway, and Central Park.

I woke up the next afternoon at 1:30pm wondering how I managed to sleep in that late, until I eventually figured out by talking to the room-mates in the Hostel that it was in fact 1:30am and that I had plenty more sleeping to do. I have come to realise that I act strangely when I am mega-tired and somewhat drunk (I acted equally stupid in LA after my 14 hour flight from Melbourne followed by a big night out).

That day (Saturday) we explored New York some more, including Central Park, Broadway, Wall Street, Soho, Battery Park and Ground Zero. After seeing Ground Zero, the rest of the New York trip was often spent reflecting on the events of "9/11" and how terrible it must have been that day to all that were in New York City. Walking around the busy city made me appreciate what absolute chaos it must have been that day in 2001.

On a lighter note, that night we went bar hopping in Greenwich Village with some cool French girls from our hostel and had a lot of fun. Overall a rather big night out, which is very easy to do in lively Manhattan.

The Next Day (Sunday) we slept in, did some shopping, and went to the Empire State Building. We followed up with another big night on the town, this time in Upper East Side.

On our last day in N.Y. (Monday) were woken up in our dorm room by tradesmen unexpectedly barging in and literally ripping the windows and window frames from the walls of the dorm and replacing them very loudly with new windows as we tried to sleep in the shivering cold they had just let in from outside (it was very very very cold in New York). Ah, the luxurious life of a backpacker. Later, we took a free ferry to Staten Island right past the Statue of Liberty. After exploring Staten Island briefly we headed back to Manhattan only to catch the subway away to Brooklyn so that we could walk back to Manhattan again along the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a really nice walk [thanks for the tip, Natacha and Carine].

Again we hit a few bars that night (after not managing to get any cheap tickets for Broadway shows for that night as was the plan) and followed in the footsteps of Harold and Kumar to try to find a White Castle hamburger store [we succeeded...those little burgers are nice] before going to bed nice and early (1:30am) as the next day we had to get up really early.

We were up at 5:00am today (Tuesday) and made our way to JFK Airport where Ben returned to Colorado and I flew up to Boston. Boston is my last stop in the USA before I head on to the UK.

I was greeted at the airport by a friend and welcomed in her beautiful home. It is a pleasant rest from the backpackers hostels that have been my home over the last few weeks (although they have been heaps of
fun!). I met up with some friends of my family from when I lived in Austria (1986) and it was great to catch up with them although my memory of them was rather poor (my mind must have been elsewhere when I was 5 years old). One of them took me to Harvard University today and I had fun getting photos taken at the Law School. It was a really nice campus and it had squirrels running around it! How cool! We should get some of those at Deakin Uni in Melbourne.

Boston is very nice and of all the American cities the closest I have come across to reminding me of  Melbourne. The sights along the river remind me of the Yarra at home. Suburban Boston reminds me of what I imaged Salem to look like in the book/movie "The Crucible" in the witch hunting days (but without the witch hunting of course), but downtown appears to be quite contemporary...I'm yet to check it out.

On Friday morning I am flying from Boston to London, and I expect my next email will be from there.

I hope everyone travelling around is having a great time too and everyone at home is going well. In particular, I hope everyone in Melbourne has managed to survive the Commonwealth Games.

IT'S SNOWING!

G'day to everyone in Australia and a special hello to my new English friends that I met in California

I have been enjoying the awesome snow here at Copper Mountain, a few hours drive West of Denver, Colorado. For the first 5 or so days I was not enjoying the altitude (about 12,000 feet I think) completely though, because my body was not coping with the lack of oxygen too well. I was finding it hard to ski down a run without feeling out of breath quickly, but hey, that's all a part of the fun.

A special thanks to Mel who has been fantastic in accommodating me here at Copper. I know it hasn't been easy to fit me in her tiny room and to all of a sudden include me in her established social life here at Copper every day and night but I really appreciate it. It has been great fun seeing what life is like living on the Mountain. Ben has also been great, amongst other things lending me all his ski gear and hooking me up with ski hire. I really appreciate the free lift passes from both of you, too! You have saved me a lot of money. Thanks also to Andrew for picking us up at Denver International Airport.

In my last email I forgot to mention the very best part of our stay in Las Vegas. It was when Mel and I took a helicopter flight from Las Vegas into the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam. It was a fantastic experience. The flight was very scenic and exciting, and landing right inside the Grand Canyon and having lunch there felt really special. I would recommend that flight to anyone who happens to visit Las Vegas. I would also recommend the visiting the Stratosphere Tower and doing the thrill rides at the top; 109 storeys above street level. That was so much fun! Though Mel gave me a very hard time for being so obviously scared sh!tless.

It is my last day here at Copper. It is a beatiful sunny day so I am going to spend the middle of the day skiing with Ben, then Ben and I are driving to Denver tonight. We have an overnight flight to New York City tonight, so that should be interesting! We are looking forward to having St Patrick's Day in New York City... I wonder if we will manage to find an Irish pub? :)

I have attached some photos from Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. I have plenty more from San Diego, Tijuana, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and Summit County (where Copper Mountain is) but I have not had a chance to transfer them from my camera yet. Unfortunately my digital camera packed it in yesterday and stopped working, so I will have to figure something out to keep the photos coming. No way I'm going to the top of the Empire State building without a camera!

Adios!

Daniel

CALIFORNIA, COLORADO and MEXICO

Hi Everyone

I hope all is well down under.

I said goodbye to beautiful San Francisco and headed over the bay (well actually technically under the bay in the underground rapid transport system) to a city called Oakland. From there I was to fly down the Californian coast to San Diego on a bargain airfare that I thought I booked a few days prior. But the Southwest Airlines check-in staff couldn't find my reservation. It turns out I booked a flight on the 23rd March instead of the 23rd February. Oops! They were going to sell me a significantly more expensive fare, but luckilly due to "technical difficulties", they had trouble selling me a fare there and then so they just gave me a boarding pass anyway. Lucky!!

San Diego was nice. It was certainly a nice climate there. The place actually reminded me our very own Gold Coast, but with a hispanic influence. I checked out the world famous San Diego Zoo, which was nice but I am pleased to say that our Melbourne zoo is not too far behind.

I took a trip over the border to Tijuana, Mexico, where we (it was a group from the Hostel I was staying at) drank lots of beer and tequila (that seemed to be the main attraction in TJ).

At lunch I had some beautiful chicken fajitas, 2 margaritas, 2 coronas and a tequila shot, and it cost me a mere US $10.70. I'm sure it would have been cheaper in Mexico proper rather than the tourist border town.

Unfortunately I had to leave San Diego 2 days before the Mardi Gras (2nd biggest in the USA after New Orleans apparently) celebration which was to happen right in the Gaslamp Quarter where I was staying. The section was to be blocked off and everyone staying at the Hostel would get free admission to the party. But Vegas was calling.

Luckilly my flight to Vegas was booked correctly, so I arrived without any problems. I gambled a little bit but failed to double my holiday budget as planned. I met up with Mel and we had a great time drinking 75c margaritas, eating buffets, going to shows and checking out all of the ritsy casinos that we couldn't afford.

The other day Mel and I arrived here at Copper Mountain in Colorado, where Mel and Ben are working the US winter season. I think the skiing is great, even though apparently by Copper Mountian standards it is quite poor. By my Australian standards, it is fantastic!

I am staying in Employee housing where Ben and Mel are living. It is a great atmosphere here. I'll be here for a while, and after that I head to NY City with Ben.

CALIFORNIA

Wassup Dawg!

(I am learning to speak American)

I am happy to report that I am having a great time in California.

I ended up seeing some reasonably nice bits of LA in the end, but overall I still wasn't too impressed. I managed to get a little taste of the night life, though, which was fun.

On Sunday I took a bus from LA to San Francisco. We got a bit of snow fall on us just out of LA!

The drive was a grueling 6 or 7 hours but the scenery was quite interesting, as was the company.

Upon arrival in San Francisco, I immediately liked the place much better than LA.

I am staying in a backpackers hostel right in town, and its a very nice place. I am living with two Aussies from Perth and some other guy from elsewhere in the world. I have met heaps of other travellers (but mostly people from the UK) and have had a ball hanging out with them.
It's always interesting staying at a backpackers! The other day I was checking in with a mate and they didn't have enough keys. So they gave him and his room-mate only one key and said that my mate will just have to knock to get in. The problem was, however, that his room-mate was deaf!!

San Francisco is a beautiful city! I am completely in love with it! The people are very friendly and polite, and it is hard to be standing anywhere in the city and not have a great view of the hilly streets, the interesting architecture, the bay or one of the huge bay bridges.

My legs are very sore from walking up and down the hills of San Fran. It is just like in the movies, except I haven't seen anyone jumping their cars over the hills. San Franciscans must be very fit, because walking the streets really takes it out of you. The hills are soooo steep!!

I am starting to get used to the American way of doing things. Buying stuff is complicated, because the quoted price usually doesn't include tax, so even though you are buying something for a round figure like $1, a dollar bill won't do because you have to add on 7c of tax (the amount of which you don't know until you are at the register). And then there's the tipping, which I still haven't totally worked out but I try to do the right thing and tip bar staff and the odd bus driver.
I was originally meant to leave SanFran today and head back to LA for a night before proceeding on to San Diego in the South of the state. However I decided I would extend my stay for one day here and bypass LA. So I went to Alcatraz Island today to check out the jail, and I'm flying to San Diego tomorrow.

I am looking forward to going shopping in Tijuana, just over the Mexican border. After that, it's Vegas baby!! (where I will be doubling my holiday budget of course)

I hope everyone is having a good time back in nice sunny Australia. Take care and please write back some time.

MELBOURNE TO LAX

Hi everyone.

Here in Los Angeles, or Hollywood to be exact.

First, a summary of the flight:

Carrier: Qantas
Length: 14 hrs +
Service: great
Food: delicious
Comfort Level: high
Ratio of passengers to seats: roughly 1 to 3
Sleep: unfortunately despite the comfort levels, still pretty much none
Highlights: Flying over LA. As we approached I could see that haze hanging over the city. It's true - there really is a lot of smog here. The city is HUGE and the freeways are... well.... big.

The weather here reminds me of the Gold Coast in the middle of winter: really nice when its sunny but cold when its not. Except its not quite as sunny.

I checked in at my 6-per-dorm hostel today. Looks like there's only 3 of us staying there though, and I've only met one. I think he's on the run from something. When I asked him where's he from, he said "The States" and upon me trying to make further conversation he stopped me saying "look - I've got a lot on my mind - I don't really want to talk."

OK !! That will be a pleasant stay.

LA is an interesting place. You think there are a lot of weirdos on Swanston Street? Try walking down Hollywood Boulevard!

Why is it that the locals here look so intimidating? The tourists are certainly the most friendly faces. I'm really looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in the coming weeks.

Well I better get back to it, whatever that may be.

Don't worry, I promise I won't send one of these every day.