Summer in England, Switzerland, France and Liechtenstein

LIFE IN LONDON

Went to Ascot Racecourse for another race meeting, and saw Belinda Carlisle and Bananarama perform while it poured with rain.

M and I Went to see the Waifs play a gig here in London. As you can imagine, the crowd (mainly consisting of Aussies) was pretty excited when they played London Still.

Also went to a Regurgitator gig. They are one of my favourite Aussie bands, so I was very excited when I found out they were playing London. It was a really small gig, at a university bar, so we got to get right close up to the band. They only had a basic set up, so not much in terms of sound or visual effects like they often have, but the set was great. They played many songs from their best album, Unit (including I like your old stuff better than your new stuff,Modern Life, Black Bugs, Everyday Formula, !, I will lick your asshole and Polyester Girl).

Celebrated my first birthday in London by having a night of cocktails in a bar in Balham. Of course you don’t really need an excuse for this sort of activity in London. There have been many nights out with various people. London: it’s always very social.

TRAVEL

On one of the hottest days of the year, M and I went on a daytrip to Brighton. The amount of people going from London to Brighton that Sunday was ridiculous. Standing room only on the long distance train. Then from the train station in Brighton down the main street to the beach was all a big crowd walking in one direction. The beach was so crowded it was almost tricky to find a space to lay down 2 towels. But the worst of it was that the beach didn’t have sand, but big round pebbles. They weren’t bad to lie on, but the moment you tried walking on them,agony! Nevertheless, it was nice to get down to the beach.

The same weekend, M and I also went, along with a couple of friends, to Chessington World of Adventure in Surrey. It is a theme park, and, although not as good as the big ones on the Gold Coast, was still good fun and had some pretty wicked rides.

TRIP TO SWITZERLAND AND AREA

My first bit of major travel in Europe this time around, apart from the weekend trip to Berlin, happened in late August. I planned the trip with my favourite travel partner, Jen. She is a Canadian girl who I met when I was last living in London, and had travelled with her to Belgium, Germany and France. She is quite a jetsetter, and at the moment is living in a little town in the French countryside, right near the Swiss border, near the city of Geneva. She was nannying for a British/Kiwi family and invited me over to her part of Europe to do some travelling.

I made an early morning trip to Gatwick airport to fly into Geneva, Switzerland. I spent the day looking around the city, which is built on the banks of a bay within a massive lake. It was a warm day so when I was tired from walking around looking at all the old buildings, I went on a boat cruise around the lake, taking in the amazing scenery around the banks, of chalets, green forests, mountains and amazing blue water. Watching the lakeside inspired me to go to one of the beaches afterwards and laze around the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Though I wasn’t brave enough to get right in the water, it was too cold!

Jen’s friend Charlotte came to meet me in the evening and show me a little bit of the city at night. We picked up Jen who had just returned to Geneva from yet another trip, and then headed over the French border to Jen’s little village.

She lived in an old massive house with her family, with a huge garden and even a swimming pool. I hadn’t seen this sort of luxury in a long time, certainly not in London! We all sat around and drank some €2 French wine, a perfect end to a European evening.

The next day Jen and I set off on our Swiss journey. We walked to Switzerland (about a 20 min walk to the border) and caught a train into Geneva.

From there, we weren’t really sure where we wanted to go, so we just boarded a train that headed into the middle of Switzerland and got off in the city of Bern.

We spent 3 hours sightseeing in Bern, a really nice old city set on a sharp bend of a bright blue glacial river. It was seriously picturesque! So much so that I filled a whole Facebook album with just Bern (see album Swiss Adventures Pt 2: Three Hours in Bern)

Bern’s city symbol is a bear, and there are bear flags and logos everywhere, and the city even has its own bear enclosure, where you can throw fruit to the bears. Though my favourite part of the town was probably the rose garden at the top of a cliff overlooking the winding valley with the city in the middle.

Once we were exhausted from sightseeing, we bought a Swiss lunch from a supermarket (Swiss cheeses; warm, fresh-from-the-oven baguette and of course Swiss chocolate) to take onto the train and headed further into the centre of the country towards Interlaken.

Interlaken seemed to be Switzerland’s tourist capital. Rightly so, though. In Winter there would be a lot of skiing done on the many mountains surrounding the town. We were there in summer and it had plenty of summer activities to offer, from swimming/boating/kayaking in the lakes (Interlaken, meaning between the lakes, is, as you can imagine between two massive glacial lakes), cycling, Nordic walking in the hills, or going up to the mountain tops to check out the glacier.

We stayed in a small hostel room with some more Canadians, our window overlooking a torrent of bright blue water down the heavily flowing river running past the hostel, with a cliff leading up the mountain on the other bank.

We spent a few days in Interlaken and had a great time. We got around mainly on hired bikes. It was perfect riding around the green countryside during the warm summer days. We went swimming in the lake (water was almost unbearably cold, I thought), and also had a go at kayaking. Being in the middle of a huge bright blue lake surrounded by snowy mountain tops had a real relaxed, tranquil feel about it.

We also ventured up into the mountains, where we walked through the mist of clouds, caught trains and cable cars up and down steep cliffs and ate warm snacks in Chalets to keep warm.

Once we were ready to depart Interlaken, we decided to do so by boat. We went to the port on the Lake facing away from Geneva and caught a ferry to the other side. We ended up in a small country town and jumped on a train, changing a couple of times before we ended up in the city of Luzern.

By this time the night had fallen. We found a hostel, ventured out for food (I had a kebab-in-a-box) and crashed. The next day we explored Luzern, yet another beautiful old riverside city. We spent the day exploring before getting on a train again and heading for the Western border of Switzerland, bound for Liechtenstein – Jen and I wanted to tick another country off the list! No trains went to the small kingdom, so we had to catch a few different trains and a bus to get there, but eventually ended up in Vaduz, the capital. We had a look around bit didn’t find it particularly interesting, and when Jen decided to start destroying the Prince’s property (she broke the fence leading up to the castle trying to jump over it), we decided it was time to leave the country!!

We wanted to stay that night at a Swiss farm, sleeping on the hay in the barn. We called a few farms which Jen found in the listings for this type of accommodation, but when we tried to ring them to get in touch, our German didn’t get us much past “Gutten tag.” So we gave up and caught the train through the mountains in the South of the Country, as we looked in guide books for a hostel that sounded like it could put us up.

At night fall we ended up in a tiny country town in the middle of nowhere called Ilanz. The hostel was in fact some sort of hostel / guesthouse / hotel hybrid, and our room, which was otherwise lovely (with comfy fat feather doonas), was shared with an old man that smelled like an Anticol lozenge and wore nothing but his Y-fronts.

So instead we spent our evening in the restaurant and bar, which was all very nice, and much to Jen’s satisfaction, a unit of uniformed Swiss soldiers.

The next day we headed on, on the train again, through lots and lots of mountain scenery, until we ended up in the mountain resort of Zermatt, near the Italian border.

By winter, Zermatt is clearly a busy ski resort, but even though it was summer, it was still quite full of tourists. We went out on the town and the next day took a train up to the famous Matterhorn mountain. Unfortunately it was surrounded by clouds, so even though we were right next to the snowy peak, we could only see it through glimpses between the thick white fog. Nevertheless, we really felt on top of Europe up so high in the Alps.

After Zermatt, Jen and I headed back through the mountains toward lake Geneva, and back into French speaking territory (most of our trip was spent in German-speaking Switzerland). We ended up going to the small city of Nyon where we went out with Charlotte and her and Jen’s various nanny friends. The next day it was back in the Jen’s town French of Chalex in the back yard around the pool (and a random swim in a flooded quarry) before the imminent return to cloudy London.

Berlin

When I told my mum I was planning on going to Berlin, she said "Why?!?"

As a person stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain for the majority of her life, she had visited East Germany a few times and didn't find it to be a particularly nice place.

I am happy to report, however, that since the fall of Communism and the reunification of East and West Germany, Berlin is a brilliant, lively place, with a stack of fascinating history behind it.

I have been to Germany three times before on short trips (Munich, Dresden and the Rhine Valley). Each time I really loved it, and I have always heard many good things about Berlin, so I wanted to check it out. I found a package 3-day trip out of London which included a flight, transfers, hotel and tour, from a tour company I'd used before and enjoyed so I decided to give it a go. My Aussie friend M, who has also moved to London recently, agreed to come along for the ride.

The holiday was interesting from the start. It started at 5am on a Friday morning, when M and I caught a taxi to Stansted airport. Stansted is one of London's five airports, and is one of the most remote ones, and services the budget airlines around Europe. We pulled into the airport twenty minutes early from the designated meeting time with the rest of the group; and as I we were about to get out of the taxi, I decided to make some conversation:

"So, got your passport?" I asked.

"Uh..." she slowly answered, "no!"

"What do you MEAN, no?"

"I don't have it. It's at home!"

And so started the frantic emergency effort to somehow get the passport in time for check-in.

I'd often seen people do this on the TV show Airport, but never thought we'd be in the same situation. Luckily, M's an organised personal assistant, and before I even realised what was going on, she had another taxi driver on her way to the airport with her passport after picking it up from her housemate at home.

We made check in and even had some time to eat Croissants at the airport lounge!

The flight with Air Berlin was great. They are a budget airline but with all the service you'd expect from a full service domestic carrier.

Upon landing in Berlin I was disappointed to find it raining, after seeing that the weather had been sunny and in the 30's in the days leading up to our arrival. I was looking forward for some decent summer weather, given that London is just too mild.

A coach picked us up at the airport and took us on a coach tour around Berlin. We had an American tour guide who has been a Berlin local for many years, and he gave us a great run down of the history of the region, from the time it was a swamp settled by Gypsies, to the Prussian Empire, The World Wars, and the rise and fall of Soviet communism and beyond.

By the time the coach had gotten us to our hotel in the afternoon, Em and I were feeling absolutely exhausted. We knew we wanted a big night out in Berlin, so we retired for an afternoon nap.

Upon awaking, it was time for dinner, and finding a decent meal was surprisingly difficult in the hotel area. It was a part of Berlin-Mitte (central Berlin) which had a high proportion of Turkish residents, and the only thing on offer were Doner Kebab shops, which I just wasn't in the mood for. Eventually, we found an Italian restaurant in a big shopping centre near the hotel, which was interesting in itself. The German take on Italian food is quite different to what I'm used to.

That night we met up with some English guys in the tour group, and decided to all hit the town together. We caught a taxi to a lively area of the city and went out to a bar recommended by one of the hotel workers. One of the English guys had done some research as to some of the clubs he wanted to visit, so we made our way to one of them, only to not be let in. In the end we decided to put our fate in the hands of our cab driver, who recommended a club for us to go to, in which we partied the night away with local Berliners and cheap drinks.

Berlin was a surprisingly cheap city, given that it's such a big place (about 4 million people). But maybe it just seems cheap because I am used to living in London and paying in Pounds.

On Saturday morning we reconvened with our camp American tour guide (he had spent most of his pre-Berlin life living in San Francisco) and headed off on a massive walking tour of the city, taking in the sights and the history. By this time the rain had stopped, and it was a glorious 26 degree day, perfect for trekking the streets.

Like the rest of Germany, the area that Berlin is in, Brandenburg, started off as an independent state. Apparently, it had grown by offering things such as audited taxes and freedom of religion and soon boomed with people from all over Europe. It acquired lands in Poland and other places, and became known as Prussia. But the region had always had its share of conflict and hardship. It eventually became part of Germany, only to struggle with World War 1 and serious depression, eventually leading to the rise of Nazism and Hitler. You know the story from there. Berlin got absolutely flattened, and East Germany got divided into administrative parts, some controlled by the Western allies, and a part, in the East (encompassing Berlin) by the Russians. Berlin was, of course, the capital, so it too was administered in part by the Western allies. This part became West Berlin, the only part in East Germany, away from the oppression of the Soviet Regime. In the sixties the Soviets built the Berlin Wall to make sure citizens of the East couldn't escape as they committed atrocities against the people within.

The East Germans have had it tough, having endured the Hitler and the Brunt of World War II, only to be followed up by the oppression of Soviet Communism. Seeing the efforts people went to try to escape, risking, and most often losing their lives for the attempts made me remember how bad it really was, and how thankful I am that my parents went to the same trouble to get us out of then-Communist Czechoslovakia when I was little.

Present day Berlin, however, is an interesting mix of delightful architecture and sobering memories.

The architecture is fascinating. There wasn't much left after World War II, so a lot of the really old buildings (mainly in West Berlin) have been rebuilt with modern materials but replicating the way the buildings looked previously. In East Germany, restoration wasn't a priority, but since reunification, Germans have been filling empty spaces (and replacing hideous concrete blocks) with cool modern architecture. A great example is the new hauptbahnhof (main train station). Because the city was split into East and West, there were 2 main train stations. Now they have built one massive one, a huge and ingenious glass design that funnels natural light through pipes down to the lower underground platforms.

The new Parliamentary office is another amazing modern design, which actually crosses the river which formed a part of the border between east and West, to symbolise reunification. The old Parliament building, the Reichstag is rebuilt to its original form but with a massive futuristic glass dome on top.

Almost all of the Berlin Wall is now gone. Its path around West Berlin is barked by a line of double brick markers, you can still see where it stood. There are a couple of areas where the wall is still standing, where you can be reminded of how East Berliners lived and how much they wanted to get out. The tallest Eastern block style apartment buildings are next to the wall where the East German government was trying to block the views of West Berlin monuments so that the East Berliners couldn't tell how well the West Berliners were living.

There is very little to remind you of the NAZI regime. The Germans have put a big effort to put all this behind them, and there are only a few historic things around describing what it was like during WW2 and Hitler. But where there are descriptions, it is truly horrendous. Looking at the photos of the pits of dead bodies is depressing and the hordes of German soldiers under huge Swastika banners is quite scary.

By Saturday night I was again tired and another nap was in order. That was followed by dinner and more bars at the lively Oranienburgerstrasse. It was really easy to get around Berlin on the U-Bahn (underground transit) and S-Bahn (surface transit). And best of all, on the weekend, most services run all night!

Sunday was another glorious day, so after checking out, M and I headed out into the sun again. We checked out remains of the wall, and Checkpoint Charlie (a checkpoint where a big dispute between Americans on the West and Soviets on the East in the sixties almost started World War 3). Then, after being all historied-out for the weekend, headed to the Tiergarten park (a park which encompasses Berlin’s Zoo), where there was a great beer garden next to a lake. We got pizza and booze, and took in our final rays in the sun before we knew we'd have to head back to London.

The Germans were very friendly in the most part, often happy to have long conversations in English, and sounding genuinely interested in our stories and telling us about Berlin.

They spoke English very well, but always amused us with some of their word selection. One example is that in German, "bitte" means "please" as well as "you're welcome." It made me smile when I was talking to a German in English and I would say thank you, and they would respond with "please." I did, however, try to speak a bit in German where I could string a few words together, and it worked in the main part. Sometimes they would just answer me in English, which was slightly embarrassing. :)

Despite being very friendly people, the Germans could also be particularly blunt sometimes. As we were walking through the Tiergarten park, M saw some Germans throwing a frisbee. She hadn't thrown a frisbee in a while, and excitedly ran over to them and asked if she could play. In all seriousness, the two German blokes looked at each other and one answered sternly, "Er, no! Not at the moment." A cold rejection; how could they resist the Aussie charm? She also got told off by a random drunk German woman on the S-Bahn for talking too loud in English late on Saturday night.

Our tour group reconvened back in our hotel on Sunday afternoon, and headed to the airport. Upon getting out of the Air Berlin 737 back at Stansted Airport in my shorts I was suddenly hit by cool wind and rain. Ah, back in good old London.

One Month in London

I have now been in London for a month and I am still really enjoying being back, especially as summer (my second one this year) gets under way.

WORK

(comments about job at a law firm - excluded from this public blog)

FUN

There has been plenty to do in London since I have got here, and I have not gone traveling around Europe just yet. I have been concentrating on work, with some play in my spare time. Here are some of the things I have gotten up to of late:

SEEING THE QUEEN AT ROYAL ASCOT

A few weeks ago I joined some friends who were going on a package tour to the races at Royal Ascot. As you know, we Melburnians love going to the races, something that we grow up with, thanks to the Melbourne Cup spring racing carnival.

The races were good fun. The Royal Enclosure requires you to wear a morning suit - top hat and a coat with tails, but we were in the (less formal) commoners’ Silver Ring enclosure, which, as it turns out, was mainly full of Aussies. Ascot allows BYO alcohol, as long as it is a moderate amount… whatever that means.

The Queen and other members of the Royal Family attend every day of Royal Ascot, and the Queen opens each day. She arrives down the straight in an open horse-drawn carriage. Our group lined the front of the fence, and as she came past (with a marching brass band playing God Save the Queen right behind us), I finally felt like I had a real British experience, seeing Her Majesty. I swear she looked at me!

The Queen is really into her horseracing. She even owns horses that compete. In fact, she won the first race of the day, and I laughed as the big screen flashed to a shot of her as the winning horse crossed the finish line. She did an almost Lleyton-Hewitt-like fist pump and she cheered on her winner, showing that even she gets excited like every other human being.

HIGH TEA IN MARYLEBONE

My housemate J got a new job, so Amanda, J and I celebrated by having a Sunday afternoon tea in at the Landmark, one of London’s five star hotels. We dressed up in our best Sunday attire, and headed off to the lovely Marylebone area.

Tea consisted of:
- little sandwiches with the crusts cut off (4 varieties: smoked salmon, cucumber, egg and chicken);
- a variety of little French cakes;
- scones with jam and cream;
- champagne; and
- of course a selection of tea.
- And one big price tag for the service!
It was a good experience though, which made me feel more British. I think I will have to have tea again some time. The Dorchester or the Ritz, I’m thinking.

BARS AND BEER GARDENS

I have continued on campaign to catch up with friends from my previous stay, as well as meeting plenty of new people. I’ve had many nights out in bars I’d been to before, and ones I’ve just discovered. The temperature lately has been consistently in the high teens or low twenties, and mostly sunny, so there have been some perfect afternoons for sitting in beer gardens having a few ciders. I guess that’s close enough to a BBQ, when you don’t have a back yard.

Yesterday it was a high of 28 degrees, and they said that it was probably the hottest day of summer. 28 is as hot as it gets??? Admittedly, 28 here feels a lot hotter than 28 in Australia.

LONDON SIGHTSEEING

I never seem to do much sightseeing in London as I do anywhere else in the world. I guess that’s a part of the whole thing of London feeling like a home to me.

But a couple of weeks ago I got sudden notice of a friend from Australia being in London for a few days on a last minute business trip, so it gave me the excuse to meet up with him in the afternoon and do some sightseeing. We spent a lot of time walking the streets and along river banks, and visited the underground rooms used for Winston Churchill and his Cabinet during World War II.

I often forget that they weren’t as lucky as Australia here. Aussies were mostly unaffected by the war (but for those who had to go abroad). Here, people had to crowd in tube stations just to seek shelter from bombings, and the Prime Minister was stuck in accommodation worse than some of my hostels in recent months.

ENGLISH BUREAUCRACY

It’s often a pain to have to organise anything official in this country.

When I was last here I had so much trouble getting a bank account, and the one I eventually did get, was such a basic kiddy account that it didn’t do everything I needed, like allow online banking transfers. Every time I wanted to send money home to Australia, I’d have to take cash out of one bank and deposit it into the bank account of my transfer company. Not good walking around the city with £600 ($1300) cash in your pocket!

So this time I tried opening a bank account with a new and hit the usual British difficulties. To open an account you need proof of address, like a Council Tax or water bill. Which is a bit hard when you just came to the country. You also need to prove your income for the bank’s credit check (despite the fact you’re not asking for a loan of any sort). In the end I managed to convince them to open a proper bank account for me but it took many phone calls and many bank visits, the details of which I won’t bore you with now.

The next step in my English life was to get a National Insurance Number (like a tax file number), which involved its own nightmare visit to the Job Centre (like an even less efficient Centrelink) to be interviewed by a fat grumpy public servant, and various superfluous paperwork. Next I have to register with a local doctor, because you need to be “registered” with a GP to get any sort of medical access, so I figure its better to register just in case.

THE FUTURE

There is plenty of work to be done in my job, so I’ll continue working to get my financial situation back in the black, as I keep my eyes open for a good job.

I’m planning various bits of travel for summer, including a weekend in Berlin this weekend, and another trip somewhere later in summer. So far Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Spain or Portugal (or a combination) are all possibilities

First Week in London

As I waited for my Dublin bound plane at JFK airport I decided to entertain myself by going to the terminal’s Irish bar. How appropriate, an Irish pub in the terminal that connects New York to Ireland. In fact, most of the people at the bar were actually on the Dublin flight.

My flight to Dublin was smooth, but then my flight to London was delayed. It was somewhat concerning when, whilst taxiing to the runway, they said that one of the engines wasn’t working and that we had to head back to the terminal. But I eventually landed in London safely.

From Heathrow I quickly reminded myself of UK public transport and made my way to South London to meet my Aussie friends Amanda and J, who I’d be staying with. No time to rest though, we were off to the West End for dinner and a show. A good first night in London.

The next day, Saturday, was the last day Londoners could legally drink on city transport. Most civilized countries around the world have long disallowed drinking on public transport but the new London mayor had just decided to bring that in; much to the disgust of young Londoners. Said Londoners decided to organise a massive party on the underground ‘circle’ line to protest, so I decided to join in and make history – I attended London’s biggest and last tube party. It was a big hot sweaty drunken mess, where stations were eventually evacuated and supposedly police assaulted, but it was good fun, the British way. I felt pleased to be back in London – where there’s always something to do.

The rest of my first week was spent recovering from backpacking, catching up with friends and getting ready for working life (like buying work clothes and attending job interviews).

I have spent some down time just chilling out watching TV. There are quite a few Australian shows on Sky TV here, including:
- Neigbours (a British favourite)
- Home & Away
- Water Rats
- Secret Life of Us
- Border Security (except they call it "Nothing to Delcare")
and, soon to air
- Summer Heights High

Of course TV isn't the only thing that has lots of Australians. There are a lot of Australians in London generally. My friend from back in Melbourne, M, took me to a regular Wednesday night gathering to eat pizza at a great pub in Islington. Apparently various combinations of friends and friends of friends attend that night from week to week, but when I was there, out of about 8 people, there was only one non-Melburnian! (who was in fact Czech so I had something in common with him too)

The weather here is reasonably warm (no New York heat though yet), the beers and ciders are cheap and plentiful (and, yes, they are cold) and I’ve had a great time with my mates introducing me to all their favourite hangouts.

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.