I landed in Honolulu late on Tuesday night and I had one day to see the place. I decided that I wanted to learn to surf, and what better place than in Honolulu to learn? I headed to the beach early on Wednesday morning and I booked my self into a surfing lesson at 1000.
After breaky I went back and meet up with my instructor, she ran us through the basics and we hit the water. I managed to catch the first wave that I went for and I even stood up on the board. Now admittedly we where using long boards but I was still fairly happy with myself. I stayed on the water for about an hour and by that time I was well and truly stuffed. I managed to catch a number of other waves, now I don't think that I am going to be winning the Ripcurl Masters or anything but I am happy with the progress that I made in only a couple of hours.
Later that night the hostel was having a pub crawl, so I decided to tag along. We went to a lot of bars, but I did get the feeling that it was a bit of a cash for guests thing. We went to a few bars and they where quite, not really the pumping bars that I was hoping for. But as always after a few drinks I didn't really care.
I headed back to the hostel at about 2330 as I did have a plane to catch the next day and I didn't want to be to tired for the long trip back to Perth.
Sunday, 30 July 2006
Los Angeles
After a nightmare bus trip back to LA I decided that I was going to get a cab to the Hostel. After I checked in I went for a bit of a walk and managed to find and internet cafe that had Skype.
I spent the next day just walking around, much the same as I did on my first day in LA. I had to get a plane that evening so I didn't go to far. However I managed to finally chat to Gwen. I hadn't spoken to her in about 3 - 4 weeks and it was so good to hear her voice again.
Later that day I headed for the airport and left the mainland US.
I spent the next day just walking around, much the same as I did on my first day in LA. I had to get a plane that evening so I didn't go to far. However I managed to finally chat to Gwen. I hadn't spoken to her in about 3 - 4 weeks and it was so good to hear her voice again.
Later that day I headed for the airport and left the mainland US.
Wednesday, 26 July 2006
Las Vegas
On Friday the 21st July I set off for Vegas.
I went to the bus station a couple of hours early so I didn't miss the bus. However I did manage to go to the wrong bus station so I missed my bus. I got a transfer to the Los Angles bus station and I was set to get on a bus
We where staying in Harrah's, it's quite a nice hotel/casino on the strip. One think that did concern Mustard and I was that they put us in the Mardigra Tower... After checkin we headed over to meet Pete and Mike Coucil.
We meet them at the Paris Hotel, it is an amazing hotel that has a fake Eiffel Tower and an 1/8th size replicular of the Arc de Triumph. Inside the casino the roof made it look like you where out side during the day, it was a great blue with clouds and there was even a breeze blowing in the casino it's self. The drunker we got the more we thought we where outside. We played rapid roulette, and I didn't do to bad, I think I made about US$20 on that game and we played for a couple of hours and we had a few drinks. After that we moved over to another casino <<<<>>>> where I didn't do as well. I think that night I lost about US$100, but I was fairly drunk and if your playing you don't have to pay for your drinks.
My room on the first night had bed bugs so I didn't get much sleep. I went to bed at about 0530 after a huge night of gambling and got up again at 0930 to find that I had been bitten. I went for a walk, got some breaky and then went back to bed by 1130. When we got up at about 1530 the bites where worse and there was a lot more of them.
Mustard and I went down to the lobby to speak to the manager and she was very quick to get us into another room, but that was about it. We had to wait about 40 min for security to come down (but they did give us a $50 voucher to make up for that) and take a report we where told that we would be contacted in 3 working days by their risk management people. They weren't going to do anything about it then. It wasn't until we started to get annoyed and angry that they did something. If you know anything about bed bugs you will know that if you just move rooms with out cleaning your clothes then you will just take the bugs with you. We complained and said that we didn't want to pay for the room and that we wanted the hotel to clean our clothes. After a bit of talk they agreed to this and we still haven't heard from their risk management people (now Wednesday), so I am glad that we didn't leave it up to them. It is frustrating that while we where understanding and patient with them they weren't going to help us out, we had to get annoyed and almost yell at them before they would help us.
They moved us into another tower, this one called the Carnival tower and the room had a much better view (of the pool and the strip in the background) it had a larger bathroom and more floor room in the room it's self. We sent our stuff off to be cleaned by the hotel but it wasn't going to be back until Sunday night.
Earlier that morning Pete and his brother headed off so it was just Mustard and I left to run a muck in town. We had specific instructions from Pete that we had to got to a strip show in Vegas, and I'm sorry to say Pete, we never got there. But we did do one other thing that I knew you wanted to do but you'll hear more about that later.
On Saturday after we had sorted out all the crap with our rooms we decided that we would live it up a bit. We planned to go and play a bit of $5 blackjack at O'Shires and then move on to the Bilago for a but off dinner and to check out their casino. We went to O'Shays but they only had one $5 Blackjack table and there was no chance of us getting onto it so we played a bit of roulette before heading over to the Bilagio. We had dinner there and then made our way onto the gaming floor. I couldn't believe the amount of money people where betting on cards on the main floor. The kind of bets they where placing I thought belonged in the High Steaks room, there where tables there win a min bet of US$500 and US$1000 for blackjack, a game that moves quite fast.
We played the machines for a bit before hitting the roulette (it was one of our fav games). Things where going well with our system of the black/red betting before a table had a run of about 15 black numbers. By the end of it I was betting US$150 on each spin, but I got all my money back when it came up red :-)
After that near miss we headed back to the Hotel to get some sleep, it was ealry for Vegas (0130)
On Sunday we started early (1200) and headed out for breakfast before finding a $5 Blackjack table. We sat down there for about 4 hours and tipped the hostess that was bringing us our drinks and so they came faster and stronger. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but I will try to recreate it. After we left there we headed back to our Casino where we saw that they where doing karokee in the piano bar, as you all would know I couldn't walk past that. Mustard and I stopped in there had a had a little sing. The question was what song. We realised that there was only one song that we could sing, Down Under.... So we did and everyone loved us, we where the hits of the night. Infact I think if we had our green cards the hotel might have hired us, well that is what it seemed like at the time. After that we went and had some dinner in the restraunt in the Hotel, thanks to the $50 voucher that we had. I know that we had Calimarie for a started but I can't really remember what we had for the main, it might have been a burger. A few more drinks there and we decided that we where going to a casino that we hadn't been to before, the Hilton. The Hilton is a theamed casino, and it is of coarse..........STAR TREK........ Unfortunately by the time we got there the Star Trek Experience has closed for the day but we still managed to get a lot of good photos around the place.
We headed back to our hotel after that and Mustard called it a night. I wasn't ready for bed so I hit the casino again, this time winning about US$70 before I went to bed. The next morning we had to check out and we found that they had charged us for the laundry, it came to US$180 to wash our clothes. We went down and spoke to them and told them that we weren't paying for it and they removed it from our bill.
My bus trip back to LA wasn't as successfully as my trip to Las Vegas. I got to the bus station at about 1100 for a bus that was going to leave at 1200 and I still managed to miss the bus. The line to pick up the tickets was huge. I managed to get on a but at 1330 however about an hour into the trip as we where crossing the desert came apon a traffic jam. It turned out that a truck had caught on fire and was blocking the road. It took us about 2 hours to get past that and then 30min later we had to stop at another Greyhound bus that had broken down. It turned out that it was the 1200 bus that I was meant to get and they had been sitting out in the desert for about 3 hours, now you have to remember that the temp out there is about 48 Celsius, not to cool. We put most of them on our bus and then headed off again. When we stopped at the lunch break we came across another group of Greyhound customers that had been stranded there so we filled the isles with those people as well. We finally got into LA at about 2330, when I was meant to be there at 1800. I got a cab back to the hostel where I went straight to bed.
I went to the bus station a couple of hours early so I didn't miss the bus. However I did manage to go to the wrong bus station so I missed my bus. I got a transfer to the Los Angles bus station and I was set to get on a bus
We where staying in Harrah's, it's quite a nice hotel/casino on the strip. One think that did concern Mustard and I was that they put us in the Mardigra Tower... After checkin we headed over to meet Pete and Mike Coucil.
We meet them at the Paris Hotel, it is an amazing hotel that has a fake Eiffel Tower and an 1/8th size replicular of the Arc de Triumph. Inside the casino the roof made it look like you where out side during the day, it was a great blue with clouds and there was even a breeze blowing in the casino it's self. The drunker we got the more we thought we where outside. We played rapid roulette, and I didn't do to bad, I think I made about US$20 on that game and we played for a couple of hours and we had a few drinks. After that we moved over to another casino <<<<
My room on the first night had bed bugs so I didn't get much sleep. I went to bed at about 0530 after a huge night of gambling and got up again at 0930 to find that I had been bitten. I went for a walk, got some breaky and then went back to bed by 1130. When we got up at about 1530 the bites where worse and there was a lot more of them.
Mustard and I went down to the lobby to speak to the manager and she was very quick to get us into another room, but that was about it. We had to wait about 40 min for security to come down (but they did give us a $50 voucher to make up for that) and take a report we where told that we would be contacted in 3 working days by their risk management people. They weren't going to do anything about it then. It wasn't until we started to get annoyed and angry that they did something. If you know anything about bed bugs you will know that if you just move rooms with out cleaning your clothes then you will just take the bugs with you. We complained and said that we didn't want to pay for the room and that we wanted the hotel to clean our clothes. After a bit of talk they agreed to this and we still haven't heard from their risk management people (now Wednesday), so I am glad that we didn't leave it up to them. It is frustrating that while we where understanding and patient with them they weren't going to help us out, we had to get annoyed and almost yell at them before they would help us.
They moved us into another tower, this one called the Carnival tower and the room had a much better view (of the pool and the strip in the background) it had a larger bathroom and more floor room in the room it's self. We sent our stuff off to be cleaned by the hotel but it wasn't going to be back until Sunday night.
Earlier that morning Pete and his brother headed off so it was just Mustard and I left to run a muck in town. We had specific instructions from Pete that we had to got to a strip show in Vegas, and I'm sorry to say Pete, we never got there. But we did do one other thing that I knew you wanted to do but you'll hear more about that later.
On Saturday after we had sorted out all the crap with our rooms we decided that we would live it up a bit. We planned to go and play a bit of $5 blackjack at O'Shires and then move on to the Bilago for a but off dinner and to check out their casino. We went to O'Shays but they only had one $5 Blackjack table and there was no chance of us getting onto it so we played a bit of roulette before heading over to the Bilagio. We had dinner there and then made our way onto the gaming floor. I couldn't believe the amount of money people where betting on cards on the main floor. The kind of bets they where placing I thought belonged in the High Steaks room, there where tables there win a min bet of US$500 and US$1000 for blackjack, a game that moves quite fast.
We played the machines for a bit before hitting the roulette (it was one of our fav games). Things where going well with our system of the black/red betting before a table had a run of about 15 black numbers. By the end of it I was betting US$150 on each spin, but I got all my money back when it came up red :-)
After that near miss we headed back to the Hotel to get some sleep, it was ealry for Vegas (0130)
On Sunday we started early (1200) and headed out for breakfast before finding a $5 Blackjack table. We sat down there for about 4 hours and tipped the hostess that was bringing us our drinks and so they came faster and stronger. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but I will try to recreate it. After we left there we headed back to our Casino where we saw that they where doing karokee in the piano bar, as you all would know I couldn't walk past that. Mustard and I stopped in there had a had a little sing. The question was what song. We realised that there was only one song that we could sing, Down Under.... So we did and everyone loved us, we where the hits of the night. Infact I think if we had our green cards the hotel might have hired us, well that is what it seemed like at the time. After that we went and had some dinner in the restraunt in the Hotel, thanks to the $50 voucher that we had. I know that we had Calimarie for a started but I can't really remember what we had for the main, it might have been a burger. A few more drinks there and we decided that we where going to a casino that we hadn't been to before, the Hilton. The Hilton is a theamed casino, and it is of coarse..........STAR TREK........ Unfortunately by the time we got there the Star Trek Experience has closed for the day but we still managed to get a lot of good photos around the place.
We headed back to our hotel after that and Mustard called it a night. I wasn't ready for bed so I hit the casino again, this time winning about US$70 before I went to bed. The next morning we had to check out and we found that they had charged us for the laundry, it came to US$180 to wash our clothes. We went down and spoke to them and told them that we weren't paying for it and they removed it from our bill.
My bus trip back to LA wasn't as successfully as my trip to Las Vegas. I got to the bus station at about 1100 for a bus that was going to leave at 1200 and I still managed to miss the bus. The line to pick up the tickets was huge. I managed to get on a but at 1330 however about an hour into the trip as we where crossing the desert came apon a traffic jam. It turned out that a truck had caught on fire and was blocking the road. It took us about 2 hours to get past that and then 30min later we had to stop at another Greyhound bus that had broken down. It turned out that it was the 1200 bus that I was meant to get and they had been sitting out in the desert for about 3 hours, now you have to remember that the temp out there is about 48 Celsius, not to cool. We put most of them on our bus and then headed off again. When we stopped at the lunch break we came across another group of Greyhound customers that had been stranded there so we filled the isles with those people as well. We finally got into LA at about 2330, when I was meant to be there at 1800. I got a cab back to the hostel where I went straight to bed.
Los Angeles
After I landed in LA I knew that I had to get most into the one day as I left on a bus the next morning to go to Las Vegas. I got the shuttle to the Hostel that happened to be across the road from the walk of fame and also the location that they hold the Oscars.
I went for a walk down the walk of fame where there where guy's all dressed up in costumes, there where budding musicians wanting you to listen to their music, break dancers on the street and there was on that caught my eye, he was giving away tickets to live filming of shows. I grabbed one for amazon.com’s fishbowl. It was interesering to see the filming of a live show, and something that I didn't know before was that they have a paid audience as they can not always guarantee that they are going to have enough people to fill the seats.
That evening I went to see a movie, as you do in Hollywood. I went to the El Capitan Theatre and saw Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. It was great; they had an organ player when everyone walked in. After that there was a bit of a light show and there was also a display set up behind the screen and with lighting they put on a bit of a show.
The next morning I headed to Las Vegas.
I went for a walk down the walk of fame where there where guy's all dressed up in costumes, there where budding musicians wanting you to listen to their music, break dancers on the street and there was on that caught my eye, he was giving away tickets to live filming of shows. I grabbed one for amazon.com’s fishbowl. It was interesering to see the filming of a live show, and something that I didn't know before was that they have a paid audience as they can not always guarantee that they are going to have enough people to fill the seats.
That evening I went to see a movie, as you do in Hollywood. I went to the El Capitan Theatre and saw Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. It was great; they had an organ player when everyone walked in. After that there was a bit of a light show and there was also a display set up behind the screen and with lighting they put on a bit of a show.
The next morning I headed to Las Vegas.
Thursday, 20 July 2006
Vancouver and Pemberton
Most of my time spent on the west side of Cananda I spent on a farm new Pemberton.
Lindsey and Sandy where great in offering me a place to crash and also to let me experience the life of a Potato farmer in Canada. The view from their farm is amazing, there is huge mountains in either side of their farm and some of them are even snow capped. I spent my time there helping around the farm, well not so much helping as watching what they where doing as I had know idea what to do. They farm mainly potatoes, but they also farm a lot of other veg. Their farm is one of the only organic farms in the area and the produce that is grown here tastes awesome.
I went and had a bbq with the wolfers on Tuesday night. It was one of the best steaks I have had since I have been away. Cooked on an open fire in the bush, it was amazing.
On Wednesday I headed back to Vancouver and spent the night in a Hostel that Mustard recommended to me. It wasn't to bad and I had to get up early for my flight down to LA.
Lindsey and Sandy where great in offering me a place to crash and also to let me experience the life of a Potato farmer in Canada. The view from their farm is amazing, there is huge mountains in either side of their farm and some of them are even snow capped. I spent my time there helping around the farm, well not so much helping as watching what they where doing as I had know idea what to do. They farm mainly potatoes, but they also farm a lot of other veg. Their farm is one of the only organic farms in the area and the produce that is grown here tastes awesome.
I went and had a bbq with the wolfers on Tuesday night. It was one of the best steaks I have had since I have been away. Cooked on an open fire in the bush, it was amazing.
On Wednesday I headed back to Vancouver and spent the night in a Hostel that Mustard recommended to me. It wasn't to bad and I had to get up early for my flight down to LA.
Saturday, 15 July 2006
New York
After my late arrival in town I headed straight for bed, there was going to be no going out that night.
On Friday morning I got up early (well early for being on holiday) and then headed out to see some of the town. This place is HUGE and there is so much to see.
I started the day by heading to Time Square, now this isn't much of a square, infact I couldn't find a square at all, just an amazing area of lights and colors and advertisements. Nothing I could say here would do it justice, so you'll have to wait until I get some photo's to add to this post. Let me just say that it was amazing.
From there I planned to head over to Grand Central Station, but as normal I just wondered around and I stumbled on to the Rockefeller Center. I wasn't going to bother seeing that, as I hadn't heard anything about it in the past and there was heaps to see and do in NY, but as I was there I stepped in side. The Rockefeller Center is the home to the NBC, the network that created things such as Friends, Scrubs, Sienfield and heaps more. There store was interesting, of coarse it was all about selling t-shirts and key rings of the shows they produced but it was still ok. Apart from there the Rockerfeller Center just looked like another city center shopping mall, all be it one with expensive shops. I hear that it also has an ice rink in there somewhere but I didn't manage to find it, although I didn't look to hard.
After that I headed over to Grand Central Station to see this amazing roof they talk about. It is fairly impressive, but nothing like some of the roofs and halls that I have seen throughout Europe. An interesting point is that there isn't much national rail traffic through Central Station any more, it is more just local services.
From there I headed over to Central Park. On my way I passed a stage where Train where rehearsing for a show they are doing tomorrow morning. I stopped by had a listen and moved on. They are good live, I wouldn't mind seeing there show tomorrow but there is still heaps to do here :-)
The Lonely Planet book I have says that Central Park is the one thing that is keeping most New Yorkers sane in this huge city. Although it is nice, there is still the city smoginess and the smell, I would they are all being ripped off after seeing Hyde Park in London.
After Central Park I wondered around for a while, I headed back to Time Square had a bit of a walk around and tried to look for an internet cafe. As you can tell I found one, but not before stopping my the hotel and asking them. There doesn't seem to be any in this town, it's crazy.
That night I headed out to the Empire State Building. I had planned on getting there as the sun was setting but due to the lines I was late. There was still light when I got up to the 67th Floor but the sun had set. The city is so amazing from up there. I had an audio tour that kept me oriented and explained all the areas that I was looking at. An amazing fact about the building is that it only took 16 months to complete. Apparently there where so many people looking for work that it didn't take to long at all. I headed back to the hotel after that, blisters and all to get some sleep.
On Saturday morning I spent the time doing some washing. I am back to a climate where I can't wear a set of clothes more that once, the heat makes sure of that.
After that I headed out to Ground Zero. There isn't much to see there at the moment as they are building the new Freedom Tower. It looks like it is going to be something special when it is completed. There where a lot of poems and flowers on walls remembering what happened on 11 September 2001. One thing that did surprise me was the demonstration that was on the path near it commenting on how the government new about it and set the whole thing up.
I had an early night that night to try and give my feet a break. I think it worked cause on Sunday I was feeling a lot better (could have something to do with the 12 hours sleep I got.)
I headed out with the intention of getting on the ferry to go to Liberty Island on Sunday morning. Well I got to the (I should say a) ferry terminal and heard an announcement that it was just about to leave. I asked someone and they said that it was free and that is all I needed to hear. I ran to the ferry and boarded it just before I left. The thought then occurred to me I should have looked before I leapt. I managed to get on The Staten Island Ferry. It wasn't a complete loss thought, it went straight past the Statue of Liberty and gave me a great view of it, not only that the view of Manhattan was fantastic.
After I got the ferry back to New York I went in search for the correct ferry. As you can imagine this one wasn't free, but it didn't break the bank either (US$11.50), the annoying thing was the lines. Unlike Europe where you have to line for something and it can sometimes take longer over there, at least you know where you stand. I had to queue in 3 different lines to get the ferry. Once there it was all worth it. I spent a good hour or two just laying on the grass reading my book. I had a great view of the New York sky line and a nice cool breeze coming off the harbor. I went for a walk around the Statue after that before making my way back to the city.
One thing that I think has been misrepresented about New York is there sub way system. The news, movies and TV shows back home make it out to be a dangerous place, somewhere to be avoided. On my first day here I did just that before realising that I will need to venture down there if I am going to see any of the city outside of Manhattan. It is clean and I always felt safe when I was using it. The ticket prices are reasonable and I am very happy with the service that I received.
I have found New York to be one of the Highlights on my trip home so far. I haven't really got into the night life as I am on my own and I think that if I did then I wouldn't have had the same experience during the day. If you can get over the heat and the concrete jungle then it is just amazing and really has to be seen with your own eyes.
On Friday morning I got up early (well early for being on holiday) and then headed out to see some of the town. This place is HUGE and there is so much to see.
I started the day by heading to Time Square, now this isn't much of a square, infact I couldn't find a square at all, just an amazing area of lights and colors and advertisements. Nothing I could say here would do it justice, so you'll have to wait until I get some photo's to add to this post. Let me just say that it was amazing.From there I planned to head over to Grand Central Station, but as normal I just wondered around and I stumbled on to the Rockefeller Center. I wasn't going to bother seeing that, as I hadn't heard anything about it in the past and there was heaps to see and do in NY, but as I was there I stepped in side. The Rockefeller Center is the home to the NBC, the network that created things such as Friends, Scrubs, Sienfield and heaps more. There store was interesting, of coarse it was all about selling t-shirts and key rings of the shows they produced but it was still ok. Apart from there the Rockerfeller Center just looked like another city center shopping mall, all be it one with expensive shops. I hear that it also has an ice rink in there somewhere but I didn't manage to find it, although I didn't look to hard.
After that I headed over to Grand Central Station to see this amazing roof they talk about. It is fairly impressive, but nothing like some of the roofs and halls that I have seen throughout Europe. An interesting point is that there isn't much national rail traffic through Central Station any more, it is more just local services.
From there I headed over to Central Park. On my way I passed a stage where Train where rehearsing for a show they are doing tomorrow morning. I stopped by had a listen and moved on. They are good live, I wouldn't mind seeing there show tomorrow but there is still heaps to do here :-)
The Lonely Planet book I have says that Central Park is the one thing that is keeping most New Yorkers sane in this huge city. Although it is nice, there is still the city smoginess and the smell, I would they are all being ripped off after seeing Hyde Park in London.
After Central Park I wondered around for a while, I headed back to Time Square had a bit of a walk around and tried to look for an internet cafe. As you can tell I found one, but not before stopping my the hotel and asking them. There doesn't seem to be any in this town, it's crazy.
That night I headed out to the Empire State Building. I had planned on getting there as the sun was setting but due to the lines I was late. There was still light when I got up to the 67th Floor but the sun had set. The city is so amazing from up there. I had an audio tour that kept me oriented and explained all the areas that I was looking at. An amazing fact about the building is that it only took 16 months to complete. Apparently there where so many people looking for work that it didn't take to long at all. I headed back to the hotel after that, blisters and all to get some sleep.
On Saturday morning I spent the time doing some washing. I am back to a climate where I can't wear a set of clothes more that once, the heat makes sure of that.
After that I headed out to Ground Zero. There isn't much to see there at the moment as they are building the new Freedom Tower. It looks like it is going to be something special when it is completed. There where a lot of poems and flowers on walls remembering what happened on 11 September 2001. One thing that did surprise me was the demonstration that was on the path near it commenting on how the government new about it and set the whole thing up.
I had an early night that night to try and give my feet a break. I think it worked cause on Sunday I was feeling a lot better (could have something to do with the 12 hours sleep I got.)
I headed out with the intention of getting on the ferry to go to Liberty Island on Sunday morning. Well I got to the (I should say a) ferry terminal and heard an announcement that it was just about to leave. I asked someone and they said that it was free and that is all I needed to hear. I ran to the ferry and boarded it just before I left. The thought then occurred to me I should have looked before I leapt. I managed to get on The Staten Island Ferry. It wasn't a complete loss thought, it went straight past the Statue of Liberty and gave me a great view of it, not only that the view of Manhattan was fantastic.
After I got the ferry back to New York I went in search for the correct ferry. As you can imagine this one wasn't free, but it didn't break the bank either (US$11.50), the annoying thing was the lines. Unlike Europe where you have to line for something and it can sometimes take longer over there, at least you know where you stand. I had to queue in 3 different lines to get the ferry. Once there it was all worth it. I spent a good hour or two just laying on the grass reading my book. I had a great view of the New York sky line and a nice cool breeze coming off the harbor. I went for a walk around the Statue after that before making my way back to the city.
One thing that I think has been misrepresented about New York is there sub way system. The news, movies and TV shows back home make it out to be a dangerous place, somewhere to be avoided. On my first day here I did just that before realising that I will need to venture down there if I am going to see any of the city outside of Manhattan. It is clean and I always felt safe when I was using it. The ticket prices are reasonable and I am very happy with the service that I received.
I have found New York to be one of the Highlights on my trip home so far. I haven't really got into the night life as I am on my own and I think that if I did then I wouldn't have had the same experience during the day. If you can get over the heat and the concrete jungle then it is just amazing and really has to be seen with your own eyes.
The Train
What a train ride I had yesterday....
I boarded the train in Toronto at 0830 in the morning and I didn't arrive get off in New York until 2330 that evening.
It was caused by one hold up after another, the worst being an hour and a half that we spent at the Canadian / US border....
I boarded the train in Toronto at 0830 in the morning and I didn't arrive get off in New York until 2330 that evening.
It was caused by one hold up after another, the worst being an hour and a half that we spent at the Canadian / US border....
Wednesday, 12 July 2006
Toronto and Niagara Falls
On Wednesday morning I woke up to heavy rain. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, I thought that the CN tower was out of the question cause of the low lying cloud so that left Niagara Falls.
They do free pancakes in the morning in the hostel but as it had stopped raining by 930 I went out for a walk before the tour to Niagara Falls left (1115). The tour cost CAN$50 and it doesn't get back until about 1130 in the evening.
I was right to choose Niagara Falls (I think). I just went for a walk and I could only just see the base of the CN tower. The clouds are so low that it would just be a waste of time.
We got picked up from the Hostel at about 11am and we headed out to the Niagara region straight away. We stopped for lunch before we got there as it was going to be a bit cheaper. The first stop was NOTL (Niagara on the Lake). It was described to us as a retirement town and it lived up to that. The town center seemed very quiet (apart from the tourists) and the shops where all geared towards the older generation. I managed to find a Scotish shop that sold Irn Bru, unfortunately a 2L bottle costs CAN$8. Needless to say I left it on the shelf.
Next we headed off to do some wine tasting. It was the same as most other wineries, we had a look around, heard the story of the winery then there was a tasting. They also made a wine there that I wasn't aware of before going there. It is called Ice Wine. They pick the grapes during the winter when they are frozen. Doing this reduces the about of juice you get from each grape and hence the wine is very expensive but it is also very sweet.
Next we headed off to the whirlpool, it isn't the kind of whirlpool you would make in a pool, like in Florence for example, but a culmination of about 70 smaller whirlpools where the Niagara river takes a 90 degree turn and stirs up all the water.
After that we headed off to the Falls. From the top I was wondering what
all the fuzz was about, sure they looked fairly good, but it wasn't until I was down on the Maid of the Mist that the true power of them became apparent. The boat went right into the horse-shoe falls and the sound, the height, the way it rocked the boat and just how wet we got from the spray was amazing.
We had a little free time after that to look around and get a bit of dinner before we went back to the falls for the night show. The town that has sprang up at the falls is one of the most touristey places I have been. It looked more like a carnival than a town. There where adventure rides, theme'ed restraunts, strong man competitions casinos and even haunted houses.
At night they shined coloured light on to the water and it created a great effect.
During the bus ride back to the hostel I managed to get a bit of sleep, you will all know how much trouble I have sleeping :-)
They do free pancakes in the morning in the hostel but as it had stopped raining by 930 I went out for a walk before the tour to Niagara Falls left (1115). The tour cost CAN$50 and it doesn't get back until about 1130 in the evening.
I was right to choose Niagara Falls (I think). I just went for a walk and I could only just see the base of the CN tower. The clouds are so low that it would just be a waste of time.We got picked up from the Hostel at about 11am and we headed out to the Niagara region straight away. We stopped for lunch before we got there as it was going to be a bit cheaper. The first stop was NOTL (Niagara on the Lake). It was described to us as a retirement town and it lived up to that. The town center seemed very quiet (apart from the tourists) and the shops where all geared towards the older generation. I managed to find a Scotish shop that sold Irn Bru, unfortunately a 2L bottle costs CAN$8. Needless to say I left it on the shelf.
Next we headed off to do some wine tasting. It was the same as most other wineries, we had a look around, heard the story of the winery then there was a tasting. They also made a wine there that I wasn't aware of before going there. It is called Ice Wine. They pick the grapes during the winter when they are frozen. Doing this reduces the about of juice you get from each grape and hence the wine is very expensive but it is also very sweet.
Next we headed off to the whirlpool, it isn't the kind of whirlpool you would make in a pool, like in Florence for example, but a culmination of about 70 smaller whirlpools where the Niagara river takes a 90 degree turn and stirs up all the water.After that we headed off to the Falls. From the top I was wondering what
all the fuzz was about, sure they looked fairly good, but it wasn't until I was down on the Maid of the Mist that the true power of them became apparent. The boat went right into the horse-shoe falls and the sound, the height, the way it rocked the boat and just how wet we got from the spray was amazing.We had a little free time after that to look around and get a bit of dinner before we went back to the falls for the night show. The town that has sprang up at the falls is one of the most touristey places I have been. It looked more like a carnival than a town. There where adventure rides, theme'ed restraunts, strong man competitions casinos and even haunted houses.
At night they shined coloured light on to the water and it created a great effect.
During the bus ride back to the hostel I managed to get a bit of sleep, you will all know how much trouble I have sleeping :-)
Arrival in Canada
Leaving Amsterdam I had a flybmi.com flight to London and from there I flu to Toronto. The flight was uneventful with almost no turbulence. I think one of the flight attendants took a liking to me as she kept trying to feed me booze the whole trip. It started with two Scotch's and cokes then the wine with dinner and then more after that, everyone else was lucky to get one :-) (there's nothing to worry about Gwen).
Entertainment on the plane was movies and TV shows. I didn't watch much, I mainly slept. The poker chips that I am carrying in my day pack keep setting off the airport security. So far every checkpoint has gone through my day pack after they spotted them in the X-Ray scan.
Toronto is a big new city. After traveling around Europe and the UK for so long it is almost strange to see sky scrapers, not to mention the CN Tower (the tallest free standing tower in the world).
I'm not sure what I am going to be doing tomorrow yet but I will keep you all posted.
Look after you self
Entertainment on the plane was movies and TV shows. I didn't watch much, I mainly slept. The poker chips that I am carrying in my day pack keep setting off the airport security. So far every checkpoint has gone through my day pack after they spotted them in the X-Ray scan.
Toronto is a big new city. After traveling around Europe and the UK for so long it is almost strange to see sky scrapers, not to mention the CN Tower (the tallest free standing tower in the world).
I'm not sure what I am going to be doing tomorrow yet but I will keep you all posted.
Look after you self
Monday, 10 July 2006
The End of Amsterdam
My last few days in Amsterdam have been fairly quiet as the first few where crazy. I am on my own and that isn't as dangerous as it sounds. Believe it or not Fuzz can behave himself even with all this temptation around.
On Sunday night I was in bed by 8pm and slept till 9 the next morning. I did a bit of reading, some internet and kicked around town for most of the day on Monday before heading down to the bar for happy hour and a bite to eat. I had planned on an early night as I had a long Haul flight the next day, but isn't it funny how things like that never work out. I met up with a few of the people that where in my room and we got talking had a few beers then decided to head out. We went for a walk through the red light district then spent the rest of the night in one of the bars there before walking home at about 1am.
That night the room seemed to be warmer than it had been for the other 4 nights that I was there. By 3am I decided that I wasn't going to be able to get any sleep so I got up and went and did a bit of emailing, got some water, had a shower and then tried the sleep thing again. I managed to get a few hours.
When Pat and rest of the guys checked out they stood in line for about an hour before getting to the desk, so I had a plan to get around that. I set my alarm for 7am, got up and went and checked out. I then went back to bed for 3 hours.........
On Sunday night I was in bed by 8pm and slept till 9 the next morning. I did a bit of reading, some internet and kicked around town for most of the day on Monday before heading down to the bar for happy hour and a bite to eat. I had planned on an early night as I had a long Haul flight the next day, but isn't it funny how things like that never work out. I met up with a few of the people that where in my room and we got talking had a few beers then decided to head out. We went for a walk through the red light district then spent the rest of the night in one of the bars there before walking home at about 1am.
That night the room seemed to be warmer than it had been for the other 4 nights that I was there. By 3am I decided that I wasn't going to be able to get any sleep so I got up and went and did a bit of emailing, got some water, had a shower and then tried the sleep thing again. I managed to get a few hours.
When Pat and rest of the guys checked out they stood in line for about an hour before getting to the desk, so I had a plan to get around that. I set my alarm for 7am, got up and went and checked out. I then went back to bed for 3 hours.........
Sunday, 9 July 2006
The Dam - 3rd time lucky
I arrived in Amsterdam at 1300 on Thursday (06 July) and meet Pat at the airport. After 15 months it was fantastic to see him again, unfortunately her wasn't feeling that great after a huge night in Greece the night before.
We made our way to the Hostel (Hans Brinker) which seems to have taken another step closer to being the worst hostel in the world since I last stayed there. But still it was the only place that could take all 8 of us over a weekend. Some places wouldn't let a group of guys stay there others wanted us to change rooms every day and other where just full.
Pete, Mustard and Bush arrived later that day and into the evening. After they checked in we headed out for a bit of dinner and a few beers before calling it a night.
On Friday we hired bikes and just rode the streets of Amsterdam, by far the best way to see the city. We rode through the Redlight District and then across to Vondel Park seeing as much as possible in-between. Later that night we had another few join us (Mike, Justin and Matt) and we headed out for a night in the Redlight district. After a bit of dinner we stopped in at a coffee shop and then hit a few of the pubs. We got back to the hostel at about 3am, the only thing is that Mustard had to catch an early plane, I think he left the hostel at about 5 but I didn't hear a thing.
On Saturday we had a bit of a late start but Pete and I made it to Ann Franks house. It was amazing to be in the same place that these people hid for years on end, only to be caught and killed a few months before the war ended. Truly tragic.
We then made our way over to Vondel park where Pat Pete and I spent a few hours relaxing laying on the grass in the sunshine. That night we thought to ourselves, maybe a quiet one. We went to a Mexican restraunt for dinner then for a walk that strangely enough ended up with us at a few bars in the red light district and back at the Hostel for about 4am.
Today has been spent relying whilst the other guys pack up. I am on my own from here on in all though I do hope to catch up with Pete and Mustard in Vegas.
We made our way to the Hostel (Hans Brinker) which seems to have taken another step closer to being the worst hostel in the world since I last stayed there. But still it was the only place that could take all 8 of us over a weekend. Some places wouldn't let a group of guys stay there others wanted us to change rooms every day and other where just full.
Pete, Mustard and Bush arrived later that day and into the evening. After they checked in we headed out for a bit of dinner and a few beers before calling it a night.
On Friday we hired bikes and just rode the streets of Amsterdam, by far the best way to see the city. We rode through the Redlight District and then across to Vondel Park seeing as much as possible in-between. Later that night we had another few join us (Mike, Justin and Matt) and we headed out for a night in the Redlight district. After a bit of dinner we stopped in at a coffee shop and then hit a few of the pubs. We got back to the hostel at about 3am, the only thing is that Mustard had to catch an early plane, I think he left the hostel at about 5 but I didn't hear a thing.
On Saturday we had a bit of a late start but Pete and I made it to Ann Franks house. It was amazing to be in the same place that these people hid for years on end, only to be caught and killed a few months before the war ended. Truly tragic.
We then made our way over to Vondel park where Pat Pete and I spent a few hours relaxing laying on the grass in the sunshine. That night we thought to ourselves, maybe a quiet one. We went to a Mexican restraunt for dinner then for a walk that strangely enough ended up with us at a few bars in the red light district and back at the Hostel for about 4am.
Today has been spent relying whilst the other guys pack up. I am on my own from here on in all though I do hope to catch up with Pete and Mustard in Vegas.
Tuesday, 4 July 2006
Friday Night
On Friday night we went out for dinner at a Moroccan restraunt then headed over to Jongleurs for a comedy show.
It was my work leaving do, even though I am still working on Monday and Tuesday next week but that was the last time we would all be together as Anthony is on Holidays the next week.
The Moroccan restraunt (http://www.walimarestaurant.co.uk/) served some great food and some even better beer.
Jongleurs (http://www.jongleurs.com/clubs/edi/intro.html) was great as always. They provided us with beers in tubs of 5 although the wait at the bar was quite long the prices weren't as bad as we where expecting. There where three shows and one of them was an aussie. I think he managed to offend every lady in the place and some of the guys, but still I almost fell off my chair laughing and I had tears running down my face. By the end of he 3 acts I had laughed so hard I had a headache but still that did not stop me heading over to mood :-)
We stayed there for an hour or so before I headed home. It was a fantastic night.
It was my work leaving do, even though I am still working on Monday and Tuesday next week but that was the last time we would all be together as Anthony is on Holidays the next week.
The Moroccan restraunt (http://www.walimarestaurant.co.uk/) served some great food and some even better beer.
Jongleurs (http://www.jongleurs.com/clubs/edi/intro.html) was great as always. They provided us with beers in tubs of 5 although the wait at the bar was quite long the prices weren't as bad as we where expecting. There where three shows and one of them was an aussie. I think he managed to offend every lady in the place and some of the guys, but still I almost fell off my chair laughing and I had tears running down my face. By the end of he 3 acts I had laughed so hard I had a headache but still that did not stop me heading over to mood :-)
We stayed there for an hour or so before I headed home. It was a fantastic night.
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