Day 16: GO CUBS!!!

Woo!

 

So we saw our first baseball game last night, and I have to say it was quite a strange experience.  Firstly we still donlt know the rules of the game, and secondly it doesnlt seem to matter much cos everyone in the stadium doesn't even seem to pay attention to the game itself, just to the beer, hot dogs and pretzels!  yum!  It was kinda coincidence that we even made it to the game cos during the day I went up the magnificant mile again to look at the massive mals they have here and saw a really awesome club jersey that was like some classic re issue of the chicago cubs.  UNlucky for me was that they only had it in medium, which being in America, comes up like a large.  If there's one thing that gets me going is having something that I half like being sold out, and that just spurred me on to scout around pretty much every sports store in the city looking for a smaller size.  No luck really and so in the official Cubs store I was told they had a game that evening...and another store up north at the stadium.  Hehe, materialism aside we went up there to see the game which was actually a great atmosphere and well still didnlt find thejersey i wanted.  poo.

 

Anyways, in 3 hours we fly to Denver and seeing that we probably wonlt have internet during our drive across the rockies and grand canyon, I thought I'd drop you guys a line before we headed out.

 

Take it easy!

John.

Day 15: Chicago Chicago

Yoo hoo,

 

So we're currentley sitting in a grand public library in Chicago (this library is like a palace with marble and 10 floors!) and so far it's less windy and more of the rainy city, but the architecture here is really nice though and reminds me of all those 1920's gangster flicks.   

 

So update you guys first, we drove out of Niagara towards Chicago and stopped over at Toledo.  I tihnk I finally got the hang of highway driving now.  Basically you have to reserve energy by closing your eyelids halfway down and shutting down the left side of your brain, and it really works a treat!  When we rolled into Toledo we thought we were gonna get shot up or something cos it is quite clsoe to Detroit and we just happened to roll into downtown ghetto land.  hehe, well wild imaginations aside we had to park up and askl for directinos to the nearest place to stay.  And yes, we decided to go for the old "ask the concierge" trick and this time it worked a treat cos we ended up staying at some posh hotel at cut price :D  After we checked into our nice big room we decided to check out the town itself, yup by dricing to the nearest mall down the interstate.  It was a really ncei one in fact call ed the westfield and had some dinner at a really over the top irish pub.  We then rounded off the night by watching the new Disny film Cars which was really awesome. 

 

We then drove the final leg of our East side road trip to chicago, checked into a Hostel and returned the car to the airport :'(  I was more sad than I though cos they little beast has served us so well and well I hate goodbyes, and I am gonna miss that car!  Anyways, first impressions of Chicago.  First night we went out to find food, and headed down the financial district.  We must have passed like 5 blocks and no shop was open!  And when you pass a McDonalds at 8pm which is closed you start to wonder what is going on in this town!!!  Anyways, with hunger clouding our minds we trekked uptown and found some nice bars and afterwards headed out towards the millenium park.  Second, we went shoe shopping yesterday down the Magnificant Mile, which is a glorified bond street.  Haha, sfter our shoes got dessimated in Niagara Falls and both wearing those stupid bright green "i've been to niaraga falls" standard issues flip floips we had enough!  and decided to buy some real shoes.  Oscar said he hates shoe shopping, but after 2 hours in a mall picking sandals I'm not so sure :p

 

The good point about Chicago is the open air events.  Like in Millenium park is amazing cos there was an open air dancing lessons and bands, and a really cool music festival.  Also yesterday we went to navy pier which was a bit like an americanised versino of brighton, and spent the afternoon on the ferris wheels and playing a couple of rounds of mini golf (btw I won :p).  We ended the evening with a visit to a really col Chicago blues bar called Buddy Guys with a live band with some kicking tunes, nice food and pool tables :)

 

Now, we are like half way thorugh our road trip having driven over 1500 miles, passed through 9 states (New York/New Jersey/Rhode Island/Conneticut/Massachusetts/Ohio/Pensylvania/Indiana/Illinois) and had countless number of coffees and pit stops.  I thought I'd share some thoughts so far.

 

JT on world cup in america

 

So far being on the road we have hardly anytime to catch the games, though with such long distance drives there is one radio station we have been tuning into: "world cup XM1" :D  The commentators are really funny.  And no, not cos they are cracking jokes, but cos they are jokes in themselves.  They just have no clue about what they are commentating on, and provide no "analysis" on the game itself.  Trivial comments like "oh, they should have passed the ball more often" or "oh, they should have scored more goals" or "oh, they should have a better defense".  yeah lovely.  I liken the american commentary on "soccer" games with tarot reading or those horoscopes you get at home- basically a load of bollocks in that they are so ambiguous that they could mean anything.  Either way, it is kinda fun to listen.

 

JT on driving 

The weirdest thing is that watching films with american highways and their weird green traffic signs now does not seem like a distant world.  After like 1500 miles of driving it's just so familiar.  The bad thing is the speed limits are like 65 mph!  Combine this with the fact that they dont use speed cameras, and instead rely on sneakily hidden police cars that hide behind bushes on the interstate, then it is hard to drive much faster.  I mean just down interstate 90 there were like 5 close encounteres of police cars with speed guns.  The good thing I guess is that egveryone drives quite slow out here and gives more time to figure out where youi are going.  This is important for 2 reasons.  First in the state of New York, they charge tolls on everysingle road (well more or less) and with that money there are still loadsa pot holes everywhere and bloody hell hardly any lit up signposts.  This just means that it is really easy to get lost if driving in the dark so you better slow down!  Second, on most of the interstate it is like a 10 lane affair!!!  And also to make things even more intersting, they love spaghetti junctions with exits on both sides of the highway which makes lane changing a really interesting affair with every body just waeving in and out of eachother when approaching an exit.  The worst thing is that there are no exit warning signs like on the I-90 towards Toledo the highway just split off into 2 directions with no warning.  man, keeps you on your toes huh.  The most welcome thing on the drive are malls on the interstates cos they are convenient stops and I like malls; and also the higher speed limits in Pennsylvania (well only to 70).  The funniest sing i have seen on my travels said "correctional facility: beware of hitch hikers..."...lol.

 

Still with all my ranting on driving, it is fun though.  Once the sun is out, and your have the radio blasting with some random american soft rock it's a good feeling!

 

JT on food

FACT: we have put on weight.  The food is super duper portions.  Hehe, the best food so far is still the Skip Jacks in Boston.  As Oscar will ditest, I mention that place like every meal time cos those scallops were oh so sweet!  Basically I have given up on eating healthy cos it is too expensive!  Meat is cheap over here and your get alot for your money.  At the westfield shopping mall in Toledo it was fun cos there was a food court there and basically walking around you get free samples of the cuisine, and there are like 10 different counters in there!  After the second pass we were pretty appetised so plumped for a portion of some big takeout box thing of chicken and rice and we were pretty stuffed for the rest of the day.  This is the general case at every meal.  Last night at the blues bar I ordered yo-boys (or bo-yoy, i forget) and it just filled me up.  I think the large portions of meat here are apparent in the dietary cycles, in that there is alot more poo poo :P  Gonna find a grocery store for more jam sandwiches i think.

 

Anyways, time is running out on this computer terminal.   Tomorrow we fly out to Denver.  Hope everyone is having fun too!

 

Speak soon!

John.

 

Pictures Galore

At last!

Found a hostel with a decent computer! Check my flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johntang/


Enjoy!
John.

Day 11 : Niagara falls

Hey hey everybody!

Wow, so we're in Niagara Falls and I have to say...wow! It is just so beautiful and bloody wet!! First a quick recap of our journey. Our last day in Boston we spent on the wierd Duck Tour which is a bus that can go over water too, I think we have them in London, but fun nether the less. After getting our results we also went over to visit Harvard and MIT which was kinda fitting for the occasion. We also had pushed the boat out and went out for a really niced ,eal and Skip Jacks in town and had ourselves a celebration meal and drink:D Absolutely devlicious fishermans platter, especially the clam chowder and scallops!!! Man, I have been thinking about it every bloody day since...yummy!

Anyways, after the super long 8 hour drive to Niagara Falls I was totally shattered. Luckily we had actually made a reservatino at a hostel beforehand and drove right up to it and parked up. Man, things are just getting cheaper and cheaper as we go along! Food wise New York is quite expensive like $10 a head; Boston is more reasonable probably at $8; and well Niagara we ate at Pizza Hut for 3 people $23! Drink wise New York is like $6 + tip; Boston is $4; and Niagara is only $3 :D Hostels are getting cheaper too cos New york started at $35 and now at Niagara it;s only $20 a night! But the killer is parking cos in New York it was $35 a day; Boston was $16; and here it is FREE!!! Now thats what i like to hear.

Anways, we arrived here 2 ngihts ago and yesterday we did the whole touristy thing and visited the falls themselves and got totally drenched!! They have 2 attractions called the "Maid of the Mist" where you stick on a poncho (you need it!) and mount an old boat that goes right up close to the Horseshow falls and believe me you can;t bloody see a thing cos water just sprays in your face constantly; the seconds one is called "the hurricane deck" which again you need to put on a poncho and bascailyl walk up some wodden scaffolding towards the base of the American falls to get totally soaked. haha, it was way fun!!! IN the evening we drove up to the northern most point of niagara and watched the sunset and then drove back down to the American falls to see the glorious American Falls lit up in the dark. Literally they have spotlights on the falls from the canadian side over the the falls. We then went for a drink and a game of pool with the locals. Hmm, no fouls in American rules?? I think we were conned, hehe never mind it was fun.

The funny thing about the town of Niagara is that it is quiet. Not like Boston quiet though, cos in Boston there are loads of people walking around but they choose to be quiet. No Niagara is like those wierd shanty towns you see in the movie with yee old wood houses. The locals are friendly thugh, and we are staying in a really nice hostel with the classicaly super friendly, loud, and laughing chinese hostess you;d expect to find in some american sitcom. It's highly recommended and called the Hostell Interntational niagara falls hostel with a hostess (she is actually looking over my shoulder now with a shotgun). She's really nice though:) BUt yeah, then when you walk a few blocks down the road you are at Niagara falls state park! So strange. But I think we figured why it is so quiet in the town. yeah, there is a massive casino right near the falls. Haha, and we are talking mahoosive and brand spanking new. It just looks totoaly out of place and from space! When we went in there were literlly thousands of locals being brainwashed and fritxing their money away. The america dream i guess.

Talking of brainwashing, after the NBC tour in NYC, i can;t stop watching NBC!!! I swear in the promotinoal videos during the tour they put some strange subliminal messages in it or something! But either way there is something fishy about the american dream. IN some ways it is turning into a communist dictatorship. Like censoring non patriotic films like "United 93" the film about 9-11 attacks. Though I guess it makes sense not to show it on flights into USA cos that'd be freaky, but not showing the public within the states is wrong i feel. Okay, fine I just want to watch it and am ranting on. In other ways giant monopolising companies are going to end up ruling the world!! Like microsoft, what happens once they gain control of all market share of software? They will control tje world, mwahaha! yeah, word domination has been on my mind lately.

Anyways, apart from all that we are having fun. today we set off towards chicago. It; is a good 12 hour drive so will probably stop off at Cleveland first. The american woman that whipped our asses with her no-foul rule pool told us that. She says it is a really nice city. Well I guess this is the only way to know if she wasn't conning us with her pool rules.

Wish you were here!
John.

Day 9: Results Day!!

Woooooo!!!

 

Yay, yay, yay.  We got up like at 7am over here after a night out to get our results and we both got 1st's :D  Cheers LJ for keeping us up to date with that, and congrats to everyone!! :)  Didn;t expect to update this thing quite so soon but after all the nightmar eof having our car towed away this is just super duper news.  We also found a really cheap place to park for $36 for 2 days.  Considering that our original place was gonan cost $150, i think we have saved money by having it towed in a contrived round about way.

 

Yesterday we went to the Science Museum and I have to say it is pretty cool.  We then picked up our car from the bloody towing garage which was like 5 miles away.  Bloody mission.  Luckily every one is so friendly that they told us to hop on a bus to get there.  IN the evening we decided to check out this Salsa bar down the road from us.  Haha, no salsa though, just "Monday Sports night".  Yeah plus the Red Sox stadium is literally round the corner from us (we could see the pitch and hear the cheers from our room), and so loadsa red sox fans celebrating in the bar.  It;s really cool though, cos they literally build sports bars here like they build a sports centre back home.  Literally 3 floors of bars, each with different entertainment like massive plasma tv's showing all sports, american pool tables, bowling, ping pong.  Hehe, it is outrageous.

 

Haha, oh yeah after a week of talkiing about saving money on food we also started to eat jam sandwiches last ngiht.  Yummy.  Well for diner and breakfast and lunch today :D  Hehe, tonight though, we are gonna go for a celebration dinner, push the boat out to a whole $20 :D  Can't wait

 

Right, gonna go see the city in some kinda duck boat that goes on land and sea.  Hoepfully wonlt get too wet.

 

Later on!

John.

 

 

Day 8: Hi from bloomy Boston!

Hi from Boston!

The last few days have been so awesome but some bumpy rides! First
things first England are through:D Thanks for keeping us up 2 date!
Second we picked up our shiny car :D Oooh, it is a real beauty! Haha,
we had a bit of trek 2 get it as we had 2 go back to JFK to pick it
up. I have to say the service was awful, well they seemed really
really pissed off. I think that's a general observation of people in
NY- they get pissed off when you ask them to do their job! Hehe,
anyways the original plan was for Oscar to drive the East coast, but
the car was booked under my name and credit card and the agent
wouldn't let us change it without paying extortionate price. But 1
good thing was that they ran out of "compact" cars, so they upgraded
us 2 levels up to a "fullsize" :D I don't know much about US cars (and
i'm sure you don't care) but it's a chevrolet malibu maxx V6 :D Its
got some grunt baby!

So once we checked it out, out first adventure was driving it back 2
NYC and finding parking :S Now in england I'd be fine, but over here
not only do they drive on the right, but we have no clue about highway
code, no idea of the best route, plus I havn't driven an automatic
before and needed to get used to the car itself, and then there is the
problem of crazy New York drivers. Haha, quite a challenge! The real
funny thing are the breaks. They are so strong that just tapping them
will make you lurch forward. But luckily through some good luck and
magic we somehow made it back:) The V6 sounds super under a bit of
gas.

Okay enough about the car. On our last planned day in NYC we finished
the tourist route including going up to the viewing deck of the
Rockerfeller builidng in the evening, which was really nice. We also
went uptown, did the NBC studio tour and went to some comedy club on
the west side that was actually quite good (though the drinks were
like $10 a pop)! That brings us onto Friday, where the real first leg
of the road trip started, with a drive down to the 6 flags theme park
in Jackson, New Jersey. Again I was behind the wheel and Oscar was
navigating, well reading my highlighted route in the road atlas.
Getiing out of NYC was a hassle NY is basically an island and you have
to pay a toll to use any of the bridges or tunnels. But once we were
on the interstate towards NJ driving was pretty comfortable. The
speed limits are lower and not too many maniacs on the highway. BTW,
does anyone know what the difference between a highway and freeway?
Either way I think we make a pretty good team! Also tbh, once we were
on the highway with the sun shining, windows down and wind in your
hair, some soft american american rock on the stereo, it was just such
an awesome feeling! Just wish you guys could be here to experience it
with us!

The theme park itself was really cool. Can't say I am a big
rollercoaster fan but Oscar loves them so we added it to our road
trip. First ride was Scream. Man all I know was that it was kinda
violent with so many twists and turns. Either way it's put me totally
off rollercoasters! :( Oscar on the other hand lapped it up. Hehe,
actually we kinda split up and got lost until nearly closing time at
8pm. But still Oscar went on all the rides and I just soaked up the
weather and other entertainment. When I was waiting for him to come
out of the last ride, I sat in the latin themed area of the park with
the late sun. They were blasting some salsa music out and it just
accentuated the fact that we never went to a salsa club in New York!
So once Oscar was done we decided to go head back to NY that evening
and find a salsa club for the next evening. Well that was the plan at
least:)

We left the park at like 9pm and it was basically dark and we had to
somehow head back to NY! Now driving in the day is scary enough cos
the road signs are not always obvious, but driving in the pithc black
with crap headlights is a real daunting proposition. For example we
went down some small road with speed limit of 45 mph, then without
warning the road just stopped at T junction where we could only turn
left or right. Arrggh, emergency brake!!! Haha, the signs aren't
reflective so I only just made out the chevrons in time:s lucky
escape I think. We kinda ended up in a small town called Allentown
and asked the locals where the nearest motel was. I have to say they
were soooo friendly! It was such a contrast fomr New Yorkers! Even
when we got to the motels which were all booked up, the receptionisits
were so friendly and helpful at giving us directions to motels nearer
to NYC that we weren't too pissed off that there were no rooms.
Anyways we ended up at some nice motel just outiside NYC and crashed
for the night.

On the saturday we drove into NYC via the stupid toll tunnel again,
parked up on some small side street (free parking space is hard to
find!) and found ourselves a hostel downtown. This one was 16 people
shared and was rather grubby but bareable. We then went for lunch and
ended up splitting up for a bit. Oscar relaxed with a beer and I went
off to midtown to buy souvineers and to search for salsa clubs
downtown. It took me like 2 hours to find anything and walked back to
meet oscar. Haha, only problem was he'd already left and I was
buggered cos for the life of me, I couldn't remembr the address of the
hostel. Fun adventure huh! So I walked for an hour to the lower east
side and still couldn't remember the address and gave up. It was like
7pm and so I put my jack bauer hat on and jumped in my SUV and went to
follow some leads to uncover the truth. Well okay fine, the SUV was a
yellow cab; the leads were just backtracking hostels that we visited
earlier which led to where we ended up staying; and the truth was that
I hav a really bad memory! Haha, half an hour later and I found my way
back, and it turned out I was like 2 blocks away before I put my baeur
hat on. So close! Hehe Oscar had actually gotten so worried that he
bought a phonecard to try and call me even though he couldn't remember
my number. Getting lost and randomly walking is fun though, cos you
get to explore the city!

After a shower we headed to the salsa club I hd found on south
Broadway on houston st. It was called Gonzalez y Gonzalez and was
absolutely awesome! The exterior had some epileptic inducing latino
neon lighting affair. Inside was set up for dinner with a band stage
down the end of the hall, but was very nicely decorated. And the bar
staff were really friendly, typical stereotyped barmen, very chatty
and interested in learning about "soccer" and the world cup. He
grabbed random people and barmen cos he was so excited that we were
from London and he even gave us 2 free shots of tequila as a welcome
to NY:D The salsa didn't start til like 11pm when they cleared all
the tables out, got the live band on stage and gave a free quick
lesson, so we decided to have "one" drink to warm up. Haha, yeah
right! 1 frozen margerita, 2 coronas & 2 tequila shots later we were
really ready for some bum wiggling:D As expected New York style was
on the cards and it just topped off a great stay in New York.

So just as we were leaving we started to see the real depths of what
NY had to offer, and just shows off the beaten tourist track there is
so much more to see. Definetely will come back to NY, but we had to
moveonto the 2nd leg of our road trip to Boston:)

So conclusions of New York City and maybe america in general so far?
Well first it is very much in your face The buildings are so much
bigger and taller, the pizza is so much bigger, the streets are so
much wider, the lights are so much brighter and the people are so much
louder. Everything is just on a grand scale! What is annoying is the
added tax. Fine it is not as much as UK but it is not added to the
advertised price, so rolling up to the counter thinking you have just
enough cash for a life saving bottle of water, you realise you are 8
pennies short! New yorkers themselves are a funny bunch. Some are
friendly and helpful, but others are just plain rude. Like we went
into a nice café and the waitress got really pissed off when we asked
about the size of their wine glass. It's almost like people feel
patronised when we ask them a question about their job. Anyways, the
salsa club was last place we went and it serves as a nice memory of
the city.

On Sunday (yesterday) we had well deserved lay in and checked out at
11. Had a quick glance at the route I'd mapped out before and headed
out of town, again via a tolled tunnel. Man so many small hidden
charges! Once we were on interstate 95 it was a breeze, well a 4
hour- 300 mile breeze, and boy was it knackering driving!

So far the trip has been really scary for being unplanned but really
exciting for the serendipity of finding and exploring new things.
Like the long drive up interstate 95 from NY to Boston, there were so
many random malls on various exits, and we are talking like lakeside
sized malls here! There is just so much space around they can afford
to build them. Also like rolling into a new town with nowhere to
stay&park and doing it all ad hoc! Just so fun & exciting:D

First impressions of Boston are good, really good! We managed to get
a really nice room in an en suite student dorm (schools out for
summer), just as it was getting dark. Tip of the week! Use the
concierge service at really posh hotels to find cheaper places to
stay:D Haha, well they are paid either way so they enjoy the company
I guess. But yes, the lady serving us was so friendly and helpful,
she even gave us maps and the hotel phone to ring around the hostels.

After we checked into the dorm we tasted some fine pizza at some place
called bertuccis. Again the waitress was very friendly. Also cheaper
than new york so far but just as generous, just the way I like it:D
We also found somewhere the park the car overnight for free...well,
minus the $110 impound fee:D Haha, last night we weren't sure whether
to laugh or to cry, cos it was free parking on Sundays but because of
some really badly signpost saying "random street cleaning every
monday", as the clock turned 12:01am, they towed the car and we were
too late to stop them:( Oh well, "miscellaneous expense", but at
least it is safe so we will pick it up later after we explore the
town. All part of the experience I guess.

Right, it's 12:31pm here, the sun is shining, its blody hot and
sitting in library using wifi. Gonna go see the sights now!:)

Speak soon!
John

Day 2 & 3: Playing Tourist

tan level: arms are slightly brown

weather: sunny

mood: happy

wallet: emptying fast

tummy rumbling level: hamster

 

Hi,

 

SO the last couple of days we've mainly been sightseeing.  Bought tickets for the open top bus tour of the city.  Times square, madison square gardemns, chrysler buiding, macy's.  We also went up the top of the Empire state buildig during the day, and up the rockerfeller centre during the night.  I have to say the city looks like a topy town during the day, with wee little yellow cabs tht you wanna pick up.  Reminds me of GTA.  During the night, it is just as beautiful.  Though the wierd bit is the north view where there is a big black hole in the city that is central park.  Best view in the day is North towards central park.  best view in the evening is South towards the lit up Empire State Building.  Sitting on top of the rockerfeller in the evening was really nice.  the weather is just so perfect and temperate over here.  But the night line did start to make us both homesick.  I guess every city has very simialr sky lines at night.  IN the end of the day it's just all lit up buildings.  Apart from the chrysler and empire state, there aren't really any real distinnguishing features of the cuty at night so it all kinda reminded us of London.

 

Tip1:  Bring a permanent pen to scribble your name on the empire state building

Tip2: bring laptop, cos free wireless everywhere!  (I made the mistake of not buying a new one)

 

 

 Hehe, we also realised that we are spending way to much money!  LIke $400 in 2 nights.  OKay granted that covers accomodation and bus for 4 nights, thats still pretty high.  The city is pretty expensive.  Well it is very similar to london;.  ON the McDonalds scalre London is 3.50 squid, hong kong is 1.50 squid and New York is about 3.50.  but i have to say, the portion of fries were massive!  Beers are bloody more expenisve then home since they are about $6 + a $1 tip!  So we haev been devising ways to save money.  Mainly with our food:(  Breakfast we gonna try out loaves of bread with peanut butter.  Should be cheap.  Lunch, I have been trying to eat healthy so last 2 days have been fruit salsa ($12) and veg salad ($10).  Now thats bloody expensive, how the hell is someone gonna eat healthy if it costs so much??  But anyways, yeah need fruit intake so gonna buy bunches of bananas but might stick to bread and butter.  Dinner, we tried cheaper microwave food lat ngiht, but it was ghastly.  Hehe, but it is only $4 so pretty cheap i guess,  Either way hopefully today we can start to save money.

 

So far we aint been to any salsa clubs as there is so much to see.  Hopefully tonight we might hit a deutsche bank party or a comedy club.

 

 Right, i am gonna find a grocery store,  Also gonna opick up our shiny car today :D  Can';t wait to cruise!

 

Cya later!

John.

 

New York, New York

Wowza!

First let me say, New York is bloody awesome!! :D As we came out of 42nd St. station there it suddenly hit us that we were actually made the big time. Tall skyscrapers, yellow cabs, smell of hotdogs, yum!!

Though to be hoinest the day started off as a disaster! First we had to pay 60 quid (damn american keyboard) for 2 cabs to get to heathrow cos the picadillay line was being a bitch. We only just made checkin and had run for the baggage clearance. totally randomly I was selected for the new trial body scanning baggage search, where you get to pose in 3 elvis0-style positions. anyways they give you priority toi get thrugh so I made it out before Oscar (1-0). Then we had to really run for the departure gate 22! Again i was random;ly selected for hand luggage search with some really scary guy. Dialogue:

scary man: "Please come with me sir. How are you today?"

me: "fine thanks, how are you?"

scary man: "I'm great...UNTIL SOMEONE PISSES ME OFF!"

Haha, thats what he said. Scary huh. nayawys, he sttarted to talk about surfing after that.

Once we got onto theBA 117 flight it was opkay. Except the entertainment system was busted! Anways, 7 hours later we landed in NY. First we hd to get past visa clearance, which was abit scary but we made it throguh ok. Then we had to somehoeget into manhattan. We took the air train and had to pay on exit, but they had no bloody change for $20 bills, even though our hourney wasw only $10. So we had to load it all up. Stupid thing!

Then we toko the MTR subway to 52nd street. man, the subway is straight out of robocop. 1080's, run down grubby mate! BUt it does the job.

But yeah, once we got into town we were amazed. We checked into our prime locatino hostel in times square and then hit the town. We walked down timse square uin awe of the massive flashing lights, and i could feel my eyes begin to light up. We then hd some pizza. Well we were starving so oscar decided to order a whole one. haha, kinda a mistake cos it is ma-hoo-sive! BUt OMG! Oh-so-nice, yummy!!!!

Later on we walekd to Central Park and just chilled. Thwe city is so beautiful. Such a contrast between architecture in terms of clasic art deco with modern steeel and glass. then ther is the pretty scenery of the central Park.

right that was yesterday! It is now 8:30 (EST) ovr here so gonna head out for some more fun. L.ooking forward to today when we get to see more.

I only have 10 minute sessinos on this stupid internet terminal in th visitor centre so donlt expect may upadtes. But take it easy in the mean time!

really wish you were all hre!
John.

bye for real :)

Okay,

Today is officially the start of my trip. After some big hugs and goodbyes with my family I am finally setting off to Oscar's place. Okay fine, i got hungry at the bus stop okay!? so i am having a last bit of home cooking from my mum. Man, my bag is so heavy as you can see in the pic!

Tonight gonna say farewell to LJ, Markand & co at a Tango Show in Saddlers Well, then we are gonna get the first train to Heathrow in the morning.

Oh yeah, last night I finalised our route across the states. Man interstate 90 is really convenient since it pretty much takes you across the east side of america. Shame it;s a toll road, but hey what can you do. You can check out our estimated day-by-day itinerary of the US here (east) and here (west).


Okay, next time i update this thing i will be in the states somewhere. Take care every one!
Ooh so excited now :D

Missing everyone allready,

John.

Last night at home

Gosh,

It's been a really hectic week sorting things out. First scare was
Oscar's australian visa. Basically it's going to take a week or so to
have it clear as an e-visa, but hopefully it will be ready before we
set off from Fiji. Cheers Grant for sprting that one out!

Also started packing on Wednesday. Well I say packing, what I
actually mean is getting a box and throwing random gadgets in it.
Hehe, I don't think i can't survive without this stuff! First thing
my laptop is still borken, so going to have to make do without it. My
phone is a must, plus it is kinda like a pda with wifi so I will use
it to scout for internet so I can update this thing. I'm also taking
my camera of course to take lots of snappy snaps, ooh and I bought one
of those aqua packs so i can take photos of sharks underwater.
Without a laptop I've decided I needed to buy a portable harddrive to
backup photos up. Also I didn't think I could live without my music
collection. So i ended up buying a second hand iPod video 30Gig in
black. Very good nick for £165. Got a camera adapter thing too so I
can upload photos, so dead chuffed with that. Also taking my DS along
to keep us entertained on those oh-so-long flights. Okay, actually
thats it, travelling light there. Taking CD's along too so we can
play in the car in the US. Soundtrack's of the trip will be Sergio
Mendes, Timeless; and Orson, Bright Idea. Both superb albums.

On Thursday it was Isabel's leaving party at bar salsa. Evening
started off a bit quiet but after a few mojito's we were all on the
dance floor for som bum wiggling. Yeah, it turned out to be a fun
night, but sad never the less. CAn't wait to check out those super
cool salsa clubs, New York-style!

Packing ground to a halt on Friday since World Cup season starts :D
Hopefully we will find sports bars a plenty in the US, though games
will probably be really early in the morning! I also got my haricut,
and realised it was amazing how much information you can get from
people you know. He gave some great tips on avoiding speed traps,
places to visit, places to stay, and when to visit etc. Like in Las
Vegas, visiting in the weekend is like triple the price to stay :S
Hehe, hopefully we won't end up gambling our tickets and not being
able to come home. Johnny who I worked with from Deutsche Bank is out
in California at the moment, so been getting some tips off him and
highways, looking forward to hooking up dude! Also, Rob from deutsche
went there last Summer so got some great ideas for places to see.

So, tonight is my last night at home sweet home. Last home cooked
dinner. *Sob sob* Ahem, we had better keep up a regular diet on the
trip tbh. Hehe, i can imagine getting really fat in America, then
probably by the time we get to Tokyop we will be poor and can't afford
to eat. Then we will lose all the fat from America. By the power of
logic, we will hopefully come back home normal. But slightly tanned.

Anyways, hopefully by tomorrow I will have finished packing, and can
head off down to Oscars place before jetting off the next morning.
Also tomorrow going to see the Tango Show at Saddlers Wells organised
by LJ. Last chance to see to see you, and then more goodbyes. Man,
gonna miss this place, but still looking forward our big adventure.

Still a more planning to do, but gonna approach it abit ad hoc. No
doubt we are going to get lost along the way. Maybe GPS added to
gadgets will be handy. For the moment highlighting routes on the US
road atlas will have to do. hehe, we only bought it yesterday. yeah,
we really are gonna get lost. Also taking along some travel guides.
I am finding these things really boring to read though. Yeah, they
are extensive, but the problem is that they need executuve summaries!
We did however find really neat pocket sized city guides. Planned
routes, all usual tourist sights and map. Superb.

It definetely aint gonna be a teddy bears picnic, but gonna be a heck
of a lot of fun.

Right, back to packing, before England mattch starts :)

Speak soon,
John.

Hello hello....bye bye bye!!!

Wow,

The first update in a host of new updates! These last few weeks have been crazy, but so much fun! So Uni officially finished 2 weeks ago, and been out celebrating alot since then. LJ's birthday at Bar Salsa has turned into a weekly affair, and I have to say it has been fun dancing the night away and making new friends. Though tbh there have been random tumb-twiddling days, but to fill in the gaps been cathcing up on 24 season 3 and 4. Man, Jack Bauer is awesome!

IN other news, I'm leaving next Monday 12th on a round the world trip with oscar. haha, gonna be starting work in september so this is the last summer of freedom..EVER! So we're gonna make the most of it. We finally booked the flights this week and we have less than a week to actually finish planning what we are doing. It's gonna be bloody super though!!! OKay, cover your noses, this is our rough itinerary. First we are gonna road trip across America from NY to LA! Then fly over to the sunny beaches of Fiji where we are gonna get our diving licenses. Next we are gonna travel up the east coast of Australia, from Sydney to Cairns, so we can use our newly aquired diving skills. After that we're off to Tokyo to see the greatest show on earth.

I've made a rough sketch of what we're are gonna be enjoying in our first month in the US of A. If anyone can suggests stuff for us to do please let me know! First land in New York and gonna stay for a few nights, then head out to a six flags theme park in New Jersey. Next we drive up to boston, then NIagara Falls, then onto Chicago via Cleveland. Fly over to Denver, and drive through the rockies towards Las Vegas :D Spend a few nights down the strip, and then go visit the Grand Canyon. Next we drive to San Diego and explore California, including long beach, LA, Hollywood, Beverley Hills, OC, Santa Barbara blah blah blah. Hopefully once we actually visit these places, i can fill in the gaps :)

Will keep you guys posted with piccies & blogs etc! So check this space in the coming weeks.

Can't f*cking wait!
John.