backpacks

May 17, 2014

Looking up Lady Liberty, being starstruck at Of Mice and Men and thrift shopping in Brooklyn

Nathan and I took our $7 megabus from Washington, DC to Philadelphia where we were meeting up with Josie and Heidi. We used Air B&B again (because it worked out cheaper than hostels) and stayed with Lisa, an Astrophysicist who studied at Yale (some very clever people use Air B&B!!). Her apartment was in an old mansion which had been converted into this block of flats. It was really nice and even had a friendly cat who was 18years old and acted more like a dog (therefore I liked it).

Our first day in Philly consisted of the historical offerings in the city. This included the Pennsylvania State Hall (now renamed Independence Hall) which was where the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 took place. This document announced that the thirteen American colonies, whom at the time were at war with Great Britain, were to become newly independent states seperate from the British empire and would form the United States of America. To be able to tour the Independence Hall, you have to get an time-allocated ticket. Ours wasn’t until half 4 and so we had a few hours to kill beforehand. We queued up for the Liberty Bell, a bell that used to be placed in the steeple of the Independence Hall and cracked upon its first ring in Philadelphia. It is an iconic symbol of American independence and currently resides opposite its old location in The Liberty Bell Centre. On arrival in the centre our bags were searched and we discovered the odd facts about the bell including how it used to tour around cities in America until it started to deteriorate and people chiseled pieces off of it. We then dodged the hundreds of school kids and headed to Benjamin Franklin’s grave where he was laid to rest in 1790. Next stop was Franklin Park, complete with carousel and mini golf, where another hoard of school children appeared and ruined the peace. It was then nearing half four so we headed back to Independence Hall and waited in the beautiful gardens outside. Our tour guide then greeted us and we were ushered into a room where he introduced us to the importance of the Declaration of Independence. After a tour of the court room and where the Declaration was signed, we headed back to Franklin park to ride the carousel and play the Philly mini golf course. I lost. Badly. Nathan obviously won and Josie came a fairly close second but I was miles away from any such victory. After a long day of tourist and cultural activities, we headed to South street near our accommodation and ate dinner at Johnny Rockets diner where the waiters and waitresses danced to Rockin’ Robin and you could spend a quarter to play a song on the jukebox. Classic America.

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The next day saw us going to Reading Terminal Market. A massive warehouse-style building filled with hundreds of food stalls, baked goods, fresh fish and chocolate covered onions. Yeah, apparently it’s famous for it! We spent a good few hours wandering around trying to decide what to eat out of the insane choice of food. I settled for a sour cream and onion pretzel from an Amish pretzel stall (I didn’t realise they were Amish at the time, just assumed it was their work uniform) and a bagel with bacon and horseradish Philadelphia cream cheese. We also managed to binge on a lot of free chocolate samples and I even tried a maple bacon donut (the bacon bits were sprinkled on top; oddly delicious). We then checked out the other landmarks around Philly including the town hall which featured enormous boardgame artwork outside such as chess pieces, monopoly figures and checkers. Next was the ‘Love’ sign and fountain where a kind stranger offered to take our picture (he then turned out to be begging for money and made you feel guilty by taking an amazing photo), Logan park followed (which reminded me of Trafalgar square) and finally the China town friendship gate which is meant to bring good fortune when you walk underneath it (you’ve just got to make sure you don’t get hit by a car as it’s on a main road). In the evening we headed out to eat. Now, we’ve been travelling for over 7 months and so we’re still pretty tight when it comes to food pricing. We passed by a handful of restaurants that appeared to be expensive but if we weren’t backpacking on a budget, these eateries would be really cheap in comparison to meals out in Britain. So instead we traipsed around dismissing anything over $10 or too greasy and ended up walking pretty much the entirety of Philadelphia (which apparently after 8pm turns into a ghost town) and didn’t find somewhere to eat until after 10. An evening meal turned into an almost midnight snack. Whoops.

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After a pleasant lie-in, we trekked to downtown Philly to catch our $10 bus to New York. We arrived at what looked like an abandoned homeless shelter with grubby toilets not fit for rats and wondered why we didn’t just pay the little bit extra and ride with Megabus. We needn’t have worried though because the bus was fine; comfortable seats and full of travellers heading to the Big Apple for Mother’s Day (yeah it’s at a different time of year here). Two and a half hours later and we arrived to a view of the skyline and the Statue of Liberty. We were in New York!!!!!! We got dropped off in Chinatown (our bus company was an Asian one after all) and found a McDonald’s to abuse their WiFi for directions to our next accommodation. The subway system here offers a week’s pass for $30 which works out a lot cheaper than buying individual trips (they’re $2.50 each way). Initially it was difficult to work out, did we need the local train or the express train or the A or C line… and when you’ve got a 20kg backpack on, the only thing you want to do is wish a teleportation device had been invented to speed up this process. After a couple of hours riding the metro, we arrived at our next Air B&B dwelling and were told via text by Matt (our host who couldn’t be there for check-in) to wait outside until someone called Conrad arrived. Three minutes later a man appeared at the door, held it open for us to come in and then disappeared. He wasn’t Conrad. He was just some Spanish guy who lives in the apartment block. Still, we were one step closer to getting into the flat! But then real Conrad arrived and let us in to our Manhattan apartment for the next 6days. Matt and Annie have put three bunk beds in two of the rooms in their flat making it feel like a hostel within an apartment. It was a good choice!

After some relaxation at our new abode, we headed out to Times Square. Only a few stops on the subway and we were in the heart of the ‘city that never sleeps’ surrounded by bright lights, billboards advertising TV shows and masses of tourists. It was difficult to walk anywhere, there was the constant noise of taxis beeping their horns and even a naked cowboy playing a guitar. We grabbed an authentic New York pizza slice and wandered around this crazy part of the city through gift shops, M&M world and the Hershey’s store. Delicious.

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We awoke painfully early the next day to embark on our trip to Liberty and Ellis Islands. We’d bought our tickets online whilst in Philly and so were guaranteed tickets up to the Statue of Liberty pedestal level (tip: if you know when you’re planning on being in New York and it’s a few months in advance, book your Statue of Liberty tickets as soon as possible because you’ll more than likely be able to go all the way up to the crown and the best part is that it only costs $21 including the return boat journey!). There is also an audio tour included in the price of the ticket. Upon completion in 1886, the Statue of Liberty was the tallest structure in New York City. The statue honors the ideals of freedom and liberty and was a symbolic gift to the United States from France. Mr Eiffel tower himself designed the structure and it sits at an impressive 305ft in height. Just one of her fingernails is the size of your forearm! It is incredibly deceptive how tall she is! After learning of the history of the statue and the island (it represents freedom and yet woman weren’t even allowed on the island for its opening ceremony!), we got on the ferry to Ellis Island and explored what was once the passageway into the USA for thousands of people who immigrated into the country, often from as far as Europe.

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We then headed to something a little more upsetting. After the terrible terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center back in September 2001, ground zero has recently opened to the public as the 9/11 Memorial. We gave our donation and a sombre feeling took over. We couldn’t help but feel like we shouldn’t be doing this. We would never have been queuing up and getting out bags searched in airport-style scanners had this not have happened thirteen years ago. I felt a mix of emotions as we approached the 9/11 Memorial site. It was incredibly moving. The old sites of the North and South buildings were now square pits of cascading waterfalls with the names of the 3000 victims surrounding the edge. There was a touching tribute of laying a rose on victims’ names on their birthdate. It was a powerful memorial and in an ideal world, one that shouldn’t be a remembrance site but still be the twin towers. The two newest towers around the old site of ground zero have already been built (One WTC and WTC Seven) and the National 9/11 Memorial museum displaying photographs and artifacts from the tragedy is opening on the 21st May. Although we agreed that the memorial was executed in the most beautiful, poignant and respectful way, we still felt extreme sadness when leaving the site and decided to do something a bit more upbeat for the rest of the afternoon; a stroll through Central Park. It was a really hot, sunny day and this made the most famous park in NYC ridiculously busy. It was also Mother’s Day and the park was awash with families basking in the sunshine and celebrating at various festival-style stalls dotted around the humongous park. We decided to lay down on a hill near an American flag pole, a girl dancing into a video camera and a guy being dragged by a leash clasped around his neck. All very normal, sane stuff. Yep. After exploring more of the park and lake areas (including the one featured in the Stuart Little movie), we found ourselves near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Heidi and Josie wanted a picture on the famous steps outside of this grand building (they were used a lot in the TV show Gossip Girl) and after a mini photoshoot on them, we headed back into Central Park to look over the stunning Resevoir Lake which engulfs a huge portion of the park. We grabbed some burritos and headed back to the flat to meet our host Matt. He is an incredibly friendly guy and extremely easy to get along with. We spent a good portion of the night getting to know him (he used to live in the Amish Mennonite community and was even asked to appear on the ‘Breaking Amish’ television show with his friends; Heidi immediately wished he was on there as she used to watch the show) and shared our travelling experiences so far.

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The following day saw us head to 5th Avenue. The long strip of designer, high street and souvenir shops beckoned us and we ended up spending a lot of time and money there. After making sure our wallets were sufficiently empty, we headed to grab some food at Pax; a fresh salad and pasta diner where you choose what type of pasta you want, a sauce, three vegetables, a meat and then watch it cooked fresh in front of you. It was now dark and the beautifully lit Empire State building towered over us. We parted with the $29 fee to get up to the 87th floor observatory deck and began our ascent up the infamous tower. The view was absolutely incredible and made Manhattan look like a lit-up toy city. You could see for miles; North towards Times Square and Central Park, East towards Brooklyn, South towards the Statue of Liberty, which now looked miniscule in comparison to the skyscrapers, and West towards Jersey. It was well worth the money but at the same time it seemed crazy how such a man-made, concrete jungle can look so pretty.

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We headed to the National History Museum the following morning to find out whether the animals really do come to life (damn you Night at the Museum!)… no okay we didn’t solely go for this purpose and revelled in the cultural and educational offerings of the massive museum. There werr Asian mammals, Aztec and the history of Mexican culture, African mammals and even DINOSAURS. I love dinosaurs. I just can’t get my head around the fact that something so big once roamed the Earth and we were treated to a real Tyrannosaurus Rex. What I do find crazy though is how we have this image of what dinosaurs looked like even though scientists have no idea what colour they were or what noise they made. We stopped off en route back to the apartment to pick up some alcohol ready for our night at the theatre. When we lived in Sydney we booked tickets for Of Mice and Men knowing that we’d be in New York for it. The night had finally arrived and we were all dressed up (the best we’ve looked in 8 months!) and ready to experience our first Broadway production. It starred Chris O’Dowd as Lennie, James Franco as George and Leighton Meester as Curly’s wife. The rest of the cast were also amazing and having never read or seen the play before, I absolutely loved it! We even got Chris O’Dowd’s autograph after the play!!

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The next day meant another famous landmark in the city, Grand Central Station. We were all humming a certain Rihanna song, although it probably was the best one to pick (“Mama, I shot a man down.. in Central Station…”) and wandered around the beautiful transport station used in many films. Then we headed to somewhere else iconic. Something used a lot in a little known television programme called Friends. We caught the red line down to Christopher St station and walked around aimlessly, passing quaint streets and avoiding the  hundreds of pink leaves creating a snow-like flurry. After a few blocks we made it. On the corner of Bedford and Grove Street lies the famous exterior of the Friends apartment building used hundreds of times in the credits and scene setting shots. We took a lot of photos and one passer-by, who was American, stopped and asked us what we were doing. I simply answered in two words, ‘Friends building’ to which she seemed content. Nathan, Heidi and I then got alcohol (‘Sweet Bitch’ wine) and readied ourselves for a night out in New York City. Two hours later and after three different subway lines, we arrived in the east village area. It was a Wednesday night and it was proving difficult to find anywhere busy and lively. We tried an Irish pub (came all the way to NY…) and had a bottle of bud. We then found a bar/club a little further down the street which looked busier and had two guys outside commenting how our accents make us sound clever no matter what we say (a girl also got us to say ‘hamburger’ in the supermarket because she liked how we said it). After a few more drinks and scaring off an American girl by singing ‘No Scrubs’ a bit too loudly, we called it a night and began our long journey back to the flat.

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A dry mouth and the feeling like I’d been ill for a week greeted me the following morning. We were still up before Josie somehow and feeling slightly fresh. We headed to Times Square for some lunch at Dallas BBQ (where they gave you a complimentary red velvet cupcake with the bill) and then headed to Brooklyn for the afternoon (well, late afternoon by this point). After experiencing a slightly run down area of Brooklyn, we decided to jump back on the subway and find somewhere a little bit safer. We got off at Bedford Avenue, a quirky, indie area reminiscent of Camden in London. We ended up at the park at the bottom of the road and watched a local softball game. En route back to the subway we spotted a thrift shop. We hadn’t been in one yet and this was our last full day travelling all together so we needed to go in. Cluttered. That’s probably the best word to describe this store, it had a lot of vintage clothing, cameras and artwork. We each bought something from there (I got shorts for $10!) and left Brooklyn in upbeat moods. We were then faced with the mammoth task of packing all of these new purchases from the past week into our already overflowing backpacks. I’ve finally thrown away some of my old, used-to-be-white-but-are-now-yellow t-shirts and walking boots to make space for everything else (it’s still a tight squeeze).

The day we’d all dreaded then arrived. The final day together travelling. It’s been an insane 237days with Heidi, Josie and Nathan and I can’t believe how quickly it has come around already! Feels like only a few weeks ago we waved bye to my parents at Heathrow. Their flight was at 9pm and I’m not flying to Miami until 8am the following morning. We decided to have a last supper together and Matt recommended this local Mexican restaurant. He took us on a walk around the block through a very English looking ‘village’ apartment complex. The touch of rain also added to the authenticity of the place! After our final meal together, we said our goodbyes to Matt, who has been a fantastic host, and headed to the airport. Two hours later and we arrived into John F. Kennedy airport where I’d be spending the next 14hours. I joined them on their final check-in and after one last smelly fart and a group picture, it was time to bid farewell to three of my best friends. It’s been an amazing 8 months (I’m gonna get more soppy and reminisce on my last ever blog in a couple of weeks) and I couldn’t have done it without them! I’m currently writing this whilst camping out in the domestic terminal waiting for my flight to Miami where I’ll be spending the next week. Luckily I’m meeting up with Sam and Tres, who we met in San Diego, and so I won’t be completely on my own for the first three days.

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May 8, 2014

Red Rocks, a lifetime on the bus and hanging out with Obama

Denver is known as the “Mile High” city because of its elevation of 5,690ft above sea level. In fact, Colorado as a state has an average height of over 6,000ft above sea level. This can cause a very varied weather pattern, for example during our stay we experienced a lot of wind (no, not that kind of wind!) and temperatures sometimes as low as 7º (for the first time in 8 months we were in a colder climate than Britain!). As our time progressed in the capital of Colorado, the weather started to get a lot warmer between the figures of 25-30º. See what I mean about being varied? Denver can change its weather not only on a daily basis but also hourly. The mile high city also boasts of its ‘300 days of sunshine’, although what they like to miss out in this claim is how even if its sunny for just 10minutes in a day, it’ll count towards their yearly total. Thursday was one of these days where the sun made an appearance and so we took the opportunity to bask in the UV rays and utilise the outside pool our new apartment offers (we used Air B&B again and found this apartment in the uptown area). We’re staying with Mike and Ned, two medical students about to embark on three more years of studying. With unlimited Netflix at our fingertips, we took full advantage of the video streaming website and hung out with our new roommates for the evening.

We booked to go on the Denver Mountain Parks tour on Friday. After a slight panic the night before about whether we were getting our free pick-up from a nearby hotel, we awoke to a sunny Denver and boarded the large coach that greeted us. This bus could easily accommodate around 40 people. Would we struggle to find a seat? Would we have to wait for the next bus? Nope. There were only 7 other people on this trip and they were all, let’s say, slightly older than Nathan and I. We headed out of the mile high city through Lakewood towards the Red Rocks. En route, the bus driver (who also doubled as our tour guide), gave lots of facts and figures on the local area. I tried to jot down a few whilst Nathan was fast asleep next to me; he was successfully fitting in with the demographic of the others on the coach. One fact Mr. Bus Driver told us was how there are approximately 367 mountains with a height of over 13,000ft in the rocky range in Colorado. The Rocky Mountain National Park also holds the record for the highest paved roads in the Northern continent at over 12,000ft. We then arrived at our first stop of the trip, the Red Rocks Park, where winding roads took us 6,400ft above sea level up to the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The amphitheatre is situated in a large rock formation 10 miles west of Denver and opened in 1941. It is a popular concert location for musicians with The Beatles being one of the first rock-and-roll bands to play there in 1964. Mumford and Sons, Jimi Hendrix and U2 have also performed there and Ellie Goulding was going to be stopping there as part of her American tour later that night. This of course meant unsuccessful attempts of trying to spot her and examining any tour buses we saw. Later on that day she did upload a video to Instagram of her jumping up each individual step of the amphitheatre (and those steps are considerably far apart). The amphitheatre was absolutely beautiful; positioned in between two massive boulders, one called Creation rock and the other Ship rock. They accompanied either side of the tiered 9,500 seated capacity whilst behind the stage was the aptly named Stage rock. The view from the top of the amphitheatre was incredible. The space is also used by a lot of people working out and keeping fit due to the sheer size of it. Whilst me and Nathan slowly walked down the steps towards the stage, there were plenty of health-conscious Americans choosing to run horizontal lengths of the theatre or pelt up the steps and back down before I could even begin my ascent back to the top (which was very painful after months of little exercise). It was time to head back to the coach and for our next destination. Due to the upcoming Ellie Goulding gig, certain roads had been closed and blocked off meaning the bus driver had to change the route slightly. It did mean we got to drive past a Bison grazing field and manage to see a handful of bison in the far, far distance. But that’s fine, I can now say I’ve seen a buffalo.

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We had a quick stop off on the freeway to view the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the continental divide in the distance and as a strong group of 9, we left the bus in force equipped with cameras in hand and binoculars around neck. If you were a passer-by who didn’t see the mountain range, we would’ve looked like a bunch of tourists who’d never seen a motorway before. We all raced to get back on the crowded bus (lol jk) and headed toward Lookout Mountain. We were informed that this next stop was going to be at an elevation of 7,500ft. We were treated to beautiful views from Lookout mountain and could see for miles; the local town of Lakewood, the city skyline of Denver and the nearby town of Golden were all visible. I said in my last blog how Denver and the surrounding areas faced a boom in wealth and population in the late 1800s due to the discovery of gold in the area. This was (maybe not so ironically) discovered in Golden, a small town engulfed by mountain ranges and flat plains. Lookout mountain also houses the famous Buffalo Bill Museum and grave. William “Buffalo Bill” Cody was born in 1846 and started working at age 11 after his father died. When gold was discovered in the Colorado territory, Cody went to the gold fields but was propositioned by an agent for the Pony Express, a postal service delivering mail and newspapers. He accepted the offer to work with them and was given a job as a rider. He acquired his nickname “Buffalo Bill” when he had a job supplying buffalo meat to Kansas Pacific Railroad workers after the American Civil war and it is speculated that Cody killed over 4200 American bison in eighteen months. The bus driver then informed us of a buffalo shooting competition William Cody competed in against William Comstock. This was to decide whom would have the exclusive right to use the name “Buffalo Bill”. Conveniently, in terms of going to see this museum and grave, William Cody beat Comstock killing 68 bison to his 48 in just 8 hours. Ultimately, Buffalo Bill became famous for his Wild West shows of which he took on tour across Great Britain and Europe. These tours ran between 1883 and 1906 and were immensely popular across the globe making Cody world famous and an American icon. It is also thought to have helped influence many 20th century portrayals of “the West” in film and literature. The museum was packed full of old artefacts and possessions belonging to Buffalo Bill. They ranged from portrait paintings of him to his clothing, rifles and medals. Once we’d had a wander around the museum, we headed to his grave situated atop Lookout mountain. He died in January 1917 from kidney failure but wasn’t buried until June 1917 due to controversy surrounding where he should be buried (his wife claimed he wanted to be buried on Lookout mountain whilst others thought his grave should be in Cody, Wyoming which is the town he founded) but also due to the extreme weather conditions on Lookout mountain during the first half of the year. His funeral was held in June 1917 once the snow and ice thawed with thousands travelling up to the mountain to pay their respects.

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The next day saw another hot day in Denver meaning relaxing by the pool and heading out to grab some lunch. The city centre was a lot busier today (it was Saturday) with street performers playing the piano or painting as well as a whole road closed off for kid’s slides and a bouncy castle. Instead of having endless hours of fun on the inflatables, Nathan and I partook in a mature spot of drinking beer. The main reason for this was because of the pub we’d seen. When we were in LA one of the guys at the MoonPad (ha, remember that cruddy hostel?!!) suggested we checked out a bar called the ‘Yard House’. We never did because, to be honest, we forgot and so when we saw the establishment within walking distance from where we ate lunch, we thought we’d test my indecisiveness and let me choose from over 125 different beers. Brilliant. I knew that I couldn’t go for one we can get anywhere else (no Bud for me) and decided upon one brewed locally in Denver (unfortunately not Coors which is brewed in the rocky mountains). The beer I opted for in the end was definitely a grower.. I mean I started to like it after maybe the sixth sip.

After a day of laundry, food and relaxing, it neared 6pm which meant we had to go catch our long ass journey from Denver to Washington, DC. This epic voyage would take 1 day, 14 hours and 45 minutes and would ensure we saw pretty much every midwest state as we ventured to the east coast. The route consisted of Colorado to Kansas to Missouri to Illinois to Indiana to Ohio to Pennsylvania to Maryland and finally to Washington, DC. Phew. Our bus pulled up for our 7:10pm departure from Denver. It looked old. Brilliant, we’d be spending 32hours on this bus before our first and only transfer and we’re going to be stuck on an old and dirty coach like the one to San Francisco. I was wrong. This bus had everything you could ever want; plugs, wifi, leather reclining seats, a persistent cougher at the back who sounded like they were dying and a guy snoring so loudly that maximum volume on your headphones still doesn’t drown it out. With all of these features on board, who wouldn’t want to spend a day and a half on it?! This journey was going to be full of fun.

The Greyhound bus service showcases the weird, bizzare, wacky, strange etc etc. Every journey we’ve undertaken with this company since being in America has had at least two or three oddballs either in the station or on the bus with us. Now I’m not trying to be mean or make myself seem like a better person but it’s just an observation we’ve made since travelling on buses here. The coach trips in New Zealand were overall mostly pleasant, quiet and full of travellers. I know America is a whole lot bigger than the Kiwi islands but the mixture of people who use the service just baffles me everytime. I can’t quite believe the amount of people who have had awful body odour and left a cloud of stink either on the bus or in the queue to get on. A handful of fellow passengers are friendly and interested in getting to know you/telling you their life story. Some look like drug addicts and if the driver has to state “no smoking or illegal drug use in the restroom” every time we begin driving again then surely that says something about the majority of people who use this mode of transportation. One guy kept going to the toilet for over ten minutes at a time and would always take a pen, notepad and plastic bag of other accessories in with him. Suspicious? My favourite couple of people who have boarded this bus though has got to be the short-lived duo who got on at Indianapolis. One girl sat at the back of the bus behind me whilst a man went to sit in front of Nathan. Said girl behind me then exclaimed to said guy, “Come sit back here. I don’t bite.”. He hesitantly sat at the back with her. Within a few minutes I noticed them getting well acquainted with one another. Oh, they must’ve known each other prior to getting this bus. An hour later she kisses him goodbye as she leaves the coach, he moves seats to near the front of the bus and someone else takes their place and asks “have they left?”, the reply he gets is from another guy who happened to be sat next to this frisky couple the whole time (the back row is three-seated) “I hope so. They were all over each other and they’d only just met.”. Yep, I heard that correctly. This lip locking pair had accelerated their fresh relationship at full speed and wasted no time. Does this mean that the Greyhound is also a match-making service? If so, I’m going to pretend I’m already in a relationship.

After the longest bus journey of my life (we saw two sunsets and two sunrises), Nathan and I arrived in Washington, DC on time at 11:55am. We stank (yeah, what I said earlier about smelly people on the bus… that was now us, oops!) and desperately wanted a bed to lay down in. We jumped in a taxi, got to our hostel (which has won awards for being the best and cleanest hostel in America) and were told our beds wouldn’t be ready until 3pm. This didn’t stop us from showering and feeling human again though. We decided to head out and do the tourist activities on offer in the capital city of America. After a 15 minute walk, we arrived at one of the most famous houses in the world; The White House. It was as grand and beautiful as you’d expect it to be and the security was insane. There were loads of police officers cycling around or patrolling in their ‘secret service’ cars (don’t understand what’s so ‘secret’ about it), a lot of areas were fenced off and they even had cameras in the lamp posts! Obama was be inside!! We took the essential pictures avoiding the various protests occurring nearby and headed past the Eisenhower executive office block building toward the rear end of the White House. The Washington monument was our next landmark and it was in its final stages of restoration work following damage from an earthquake in 2011. We then headed toward the World War II memorial, past the reflection pool and arrived at the Lincoln memorial. These three monuments were extremely thought-provoking and really helped to show how these historical markers have helped to shape America and the world today. The newly built Martin Luther King, Jr memorial was next on the agenda and it was incredible. A lot of thought and planning had gone in to this monument. Based on Dr King’s iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, the quote “Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope” is brought to life as the main entrance requires you to pass through the “mountain of despair” (two 30 feet high pieces of granite) and walk toward the “Stone of Hope” where Martin Luther King, Jr stands.

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We awoke the next morning to a soggy Washington. Thunder echoed the streets and rain fell heavily on us as we made our way to one of the 19 free museums in the city. Our first one was the National Museum of Natural History. It had everything: birds of DC, ocean exhibition, mammals, human evolution, mummies, insect displays and an even an imax! Tickets for 3D showings were on offer at $5 each and unfortunately we’d missed the final showing of ‘Titans of the Ice Age’ so we decided to see ‘Island of Lemurs: Madagascar 3D’. It was awesome, informative and made me want to visit Madagascar and hug a lemur (which means ‘wandering spirit’). What made it even better was that it was narrated by none other than Morgan Freeman. We then headed to the  National Air and Space museum and caught the next showing of the Dark Universe in the Einstein planetarium dome. This was incredible and narrated by Neil Degrasse Tyson. I still find it all too difficult to comprehend though… dark matter?! A whole other universe you may never see?! I’ll stick to words I think. We then explored some of the museum in the remaining time we had before it closed and got to see the ‘World’s First Power-Driven Heavier-Than-Air Machine’ (i.e. aeroplane) built and flown by the Wright brothers in 1903! We also saw the actual Red Bull stratosphere capsule Felix Baumgartner used to reach the edge of space and then jump from. We then headed back to the hosr hostel via the White House and managed to see a convoy of the secret service police force and some blacked out vehicles with a very important person inside. Unfortunately it wasn’t the president and the police officers guarding the road couldn’t disclose who it was but still it was exciting to see! I’ve really enjoyed our short time in Washington. It’s a lovely city with a lot of character and history. The architecture is some of the oldest and most beautiful I’ve seen so far in the US and the city as a whole has a nice atmosphere. We meet up with Heidi and Josie tomorrow in Philadelphia to spend the final week and a half of travelling together. Oh and the only dislike to report so far is that America likes to shove heaps of animal faeces on certain patches of grass and you only notice once you’ve walked through a good amount of it. On that note…

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May 1, 2014

Prisoner of Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge gazing and creepy hairdressers

We boarded the Greyhound from Las Vegas to San Francisco at half 3 in the morning. Too early to think and way to early to have rude staff tell you off for queuing to get on the bus (don’t tell us seating is first come first served and how we potentially may not even get on a bus we’ve bought a ticket for and we’ll wait patiently). Luckily, we managed to get seats and were headed for LA 6 hours away for change over. It was weird stopping off at the bus station where Nathan smashed a bottle of beer and we caught our bus to San Diego a couple of weeks ago. It was also weird to see LA again after visiting much nicer places in America, honestly Los Angeles is a completely different to your expectations; more poverty, run down areas and gangs than the painted picture of desirable Hollywood.

The changeover consisted of moving from a bus with leather-seats, wifi and plugs for each person to an old, dirty vehicle with broken seats, no wifi and no plugs. And this was the one we’d be on for the next 8 hours, brilliant. On arrival into San Francisco, we saw a lot of people wrapped up in many layers. Yeah, it was cold here. We’d just come from sunny Vegas where we dealt with 35º heat to windy San Fran where it’d be around 14º in the day. We grabbed a taxi and arrived at our hostel which, to Josie’s delight, was situated on a hill. We needed to get some cash out when we were informed of the fee for the next 5 nights and used the ATM in this hostel lobby. American ATMs charge non-US cards a transaction fee and this differs across banks, usually between $2.50 and $3.50. The machine in the hostel said $3.50 but when Josie and I had withdrawn our money, we noticed we’d been charged considerably more than it said (I got charged $8 for withdrawing money and Josie was charged $10!!). After a minor argument with the person on the reception (we just kept going round in circles and he wouldn’t let us talk), we agreed that we’d discuss being overcharged with the manager the following day. Finally checked-in, we headed for our 4-bed dorm to find a freezing room with windows that wouldn’t close or lock. This place is gonna love us with all our complaints. Heidi went to find anyone who could help whilst I kept making eye-contact with a bumper sticker on the locker opposite that simply read, “Are we having fun yet?!”. Funnily enough no we weren’t, we’ve paid an extortionate fee to get our money out and we’ve been given a room with a broken window which anyone could climb through. A handyman soon enough came along to fix the windows with screwdrivers, planks of wood and anything else that he could find and left us in peace with the noisy old radiator which looked like it could blow up any second. We spent the first night wrapped up warm watching television on our phones and abusing the free wifi. I also tried to book us onto the Alcatraz cruise to spend a day on the island. The next available day for this though was Sunday in five days time and also the day Nathan and I leave for out flight to Colorado. Crap. We weren’t going to be able to go to the famous prison island (tip: as soon as you know the dates you’ll be in San Francisco, book your alcatraz cruise straight away!). Our only option was to book the Alcatraz and Angel island combo tour which was double the price at $63. But we had to do it and booked for Friday. We couldn’t miss out on going to Alcatraz!

After a long lie-in, resulting in us missing free pancakes, we set off on our walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. Our favourite parts of the walk were definitely the hills, I mean as soon as we left the hostel we were treated to two steeply-inclined mountains to climb. The trek took us via the coast where we stopped to take pictures and watch a man using rocks to build towers. But not just any skyward building, boulders balancing on top of one another with the most intricate precision in placement, especially when making a pointy rock balance atop a uneven stone beneath. After a while gazing at this patient man building towers, we continued onward to the pier viewpoint where the views of the Golden Gate Bridge to the left and Alcatraz on the right are often enough for some, for example Josie who didn’t fancy the long walk to the bridge. Nathan, Heidi and I continued via a boulevard lined with rich houses, recreational parks and boats in the marina. We finally made it to the Golden Gate park near the bridge and did the touristy thing of having numerous pictures with the iconic landmark in the background. We were lucky with the weather being so clear and sunny because the next two days saw quite a bit of cloud and fog shrouding the majority of the bridge.

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The following day saw us head to Pier 39 via Chinatown. Minus the colder weather, we definitely felt like we were back in Asia with the atmosphere of the street; stalls selling wallets, iPhone covers and chargers that’d break after a week’s use but also shops selling exactly the same clothing and keychains as the store next door or the one across the road. We then arrived at Pier 39, a tourist attraction in the area which boasts a handful of restaurants, gift shops and sea lions. Yes, they have loads of sea lions living on the jettys adjacent to the pier. There were hundreds of them play fighting or just struggling to stay out the water and with the noise they were making and the smell of fish surrounding the area, they were an interesting attraction to see. We ate our lunch in the freezing cold winds at the end of the pier and then seeked warmth in a nearby sweet shop before heading past the left-handed store, the sock shop and the overpriced chocolate store to begin our trek back up hilly San Fran roads. We stopped off at an Asian bakery en route which sold the same delicacies we loved whilst in Thailand and Malaysia. And what was even better about this was the price, they were cheap like in Asia! What we did forget though was how sweet everything tasted. I bought a chicken filled pasty and had to deal with the overly sweet taste of the pastry. The sugar-coated donut I bought to eat later on turned out to be less sweet than any of our savory items… how?!?!

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We awoke bright and early (and actually made it in time for the free pancakes!) and headed out for our day trip to Alcatraz and Angel islands. It was raining and cold and miserable but for once, we didn’t care! All of this added to the Alcatraz mood and definitely made the island appear more sinister as we approached it on the ferry. We arrived to a tour guide informing us of the day’s events and how to do the audio tour of the prison up on the hill. Alcatraz island used to be a haven for rare birds with the name deriving from the Spanish “La Isla de Los Alcatraces” translating to the “Island of the Pelicans”. It was also used as a military base before becoming a federal prison from 1933. The majority of inmates were jailed for bank robberies and murders. During the 29 years it was in operation, the jail housed some of the most notorious criminals in American history such as Al Capone (who was actually prisoned for tax evasion… wtf?!), Robert “Birdman” Stroud and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. The penitentiary claimed that no prisoner successfully escaped but a total of 36 prisoners did make 14 escape attempts. Three criminals are still listed as missing and presumed drowned and have Wanted posters displayed for their arrest after they broke out of their cells using a spoon. Whilst on the audio tour of the prison, we learnt of the Battle of Alcatraz which occurred on May 2nd 1946. Bernie Coy, a prison inmate, had planned to slip through the gun gallery, overwhelm the guard and steal the set of keys to free 5 accomplices and escape to freedom. It backfired though when the keys they needed had already been hidden by a guard and the siren went off alerting the island of a planned escape. The inmates, however, had taken five officers hostage and so when the alarm blared, Coy’s conspirators shot the guards. In response, Marines dropped grenades through the roof killing Coy, two other inmates and two correctional officers. The history of this place is so interesting and to hear about these stories, not only through narrative but also from previous inmates who had lent their voices to the audio tour, was incredible. We also learnt of the ‘hole’ prison cell which was pitch black and used for those who had committed the worst crimes. One former inmate revealed how he’d throw a button and then try and find it, all in the pitch black and on repeat. The audio tour took us through the cell blocks, the library where only prisoners with reading abilities could request a book, the visitor quarters where you could have only one visitor per month and the sunny part of the prison which was known as the most desirable spot to have your cell. We ended the tour in the dining hall, the room that was branded the most dangerous place in the whole prison. Why? Because they would give these criminals knives. The prison was closed in 1963 with the final inmates shipped to nearby jails. The reason for its closure related to increased costs in the upkeep of the place, the deterioration of buildings (including worker’s quarters) and the lack of an advanced sewage system on the island.

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Our second half of the day was spent travelling on a cold ferry in the rain to Angel island. We were leaving Alcatraz in high spirits, exclaiming how much we loved visiting the place, “Alcatraz was so good!!”. A, no doubt, polar opposite reaction to what the inmates would have been thinking when leaving their cells upon the jail’s closure. We arrived on Angel island half an hour later and were greeted with a friendly welcome to San Francisco bay’s biggest island. It was absolutely freezing and the rain had decided to pour down even harder. We joined the queue to board our tram tour of the island and were met with a rude lady telling us that every seat must be taken and how she’s not leaving until it is. This obviously caused a massive stampede of people trying to grab seats together and suddenly made the place feel like a zoo at feeding time. We didn’t make it on the first tram (which got a flat tyre as soon as she went to pull away) and ended up on a tour with a much friendlier gentleman. The island is a former military quarantine base which would accommodate those who fought in the war overseas.  Before returning to mainland, they would come to Angel island to receive medical treatment and be checked for any fatal diseases. The island today is a national park with a tiny population (those who work here and their immediate family) and a lot of nature. The tour guide informed us of each viewpoint to see the bridge and the city skyline (Heidi pointed out how this island seems to just be a good place to be able to see other places) whilst we were also told of the animals we would not see here (such as a rabbit). We were then taken past the old military ground and barracks (which was pretty interesting) and also past the island’s own emergency service buildings. After seeing a deer, we headed back to the café near the ferry port, grabbed a hot chocolate and couldn’t help but feel like we would have enjoyed the tour a great deal more if it was sunnier and the audio track didn’t skip every five seconds.

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Nathan and I headed out to get haircuts. I wanted something cheap and cheerful (which would be the Asian hairdressers nearby) whereas Nathan wanted something where he wouldn’t worry about how his hair was to turn out. We took a seat at Elizabeth’s hairdressers; a salon which looked like it used to be a Chinese takeaway complete with waving kitty and chunky television in the corner showing TV programmes no one ever watches. Nathan soon got up and left after we sat down leaving me to explain to the Vietnamese woman (who was meant to cut his hair) that he was ‘just looking’. They believed me though and here I was having my hair cut by a short Vietnamese woman who, instead of moving herself around the chair to cut my hair, would swivel me around to suit her. This was just the beginning of the weird haircut experience. She whispered “are you from England?” in my ear and spoke to me about credit card fraud as if advertising how easy and appealing it is to use people’s cards. To top it all off she applied nearly the whole tub of gel on my hair in the style of a 90s boyband reject and in politeness, I had to keep this new hairdo until out of eyeshot of the salon. For $14 though, it was a really good haircut.

It was time for our final day together as a foursome until we go to the east coast and for mine and Nathan’s final day in San Francisco. We’re splitting up for a week; Heidi and Josie are heading to Hawaii whilst Nathan and I go to Colorado and then across America to Washington, DC. We headed into the centre of San Francisco and ended up at the Cheesecake Factory on the 7th floor of Macys, a restaurant with not only amazing cheesecakes but also delicious food which will fill you up by just by looking at it (honestly, huge portions! Especially if you get a free soup because your meal came out ten minutes later than everyone elses). We were incredibly stuffed and bloated and decided the best thing to do would be to get a tram over to Fisherman’s wharf. One-way on the tram costs $6 so we made sure we picked the longest route possible to get our moneys worth. It was amazing. It was like being on a rollercoaster through the city, cheering whilst picking up speed downhill, screaming whilst speeding round corners and clapping when somebody doesn’t fall out. We arrived at Fisherman’s wharf and looked around the souvenir stalls and restaurants (although we couldn’t face eating anything for a while, I still had half of my sandwich from Cheesecake Factory!) and wandered back toward the hostel via another tourist attraction in the area; a hill, a hill where the road to drive down zig zags due to how steep it is.

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We said our goodbyes to Heidi (who informed me of my polite sleeptalking in the night, “I’ll have that one thank you”) and Josie and caught the bus to the airport ready for our flight to Denver. This was brilliant timing to get diarrhea and sit on a three hour flight in pain. After three trips to the toilet, we collected our bags, headed outside to get our shuttle bus and waited in the torrential rain and freezing cold. Welcome to Denver! After a painful half hour wait, a shuttle bus arrived and took us to our home for the next three nights. We decided to use Air B&B where people rent out their flats or a room in their apartment. Our hosts greeted us and showed us around the place. After a quick skype with the parents, Nathan and I headed for some lunch and to explore the local area. We’re right near the Capitol State building and surrounding parks which are beautiful. Also nearby is a semi circular building which looks like a smaller replica of the White House. Unfortunately it turned out to just be a legal building, pah. We visited the art gallery nearby where the art wasn’t as pretentious as previous galleries we’ve been to, a lot of the pieces related to the history of Colorado and the rocky mountains nearby, somewhere we hope to visit whilst we’re here.

The next day saw us watch a plethora (ey, Jamie got some plethora in my blog for you) of family guy and then head out for lunch. Denver is windy. So so windy in certain parts of the city that you almost get blown over so we seeked shelter in a cinema and watched Captain America 2. The warmth for a couple of hours was necessary (not jealous of Heidi and Josie laying on a hot beach, honest..) and we thought the movie was awesome. I miss going to the cinema (hint hint Empire). We headed back to the flat to get ready for a gig we’d booked tickets for. Situated in The Fillmore Auditorium a couple of blocks away, we were about to see Childish Gambino live!! He is a rapper/hip hop artist who is also an actor in the American show ‘Community’ but that’s not all, he also does stand-up. With all of this being said, we were a little nervous. Why? Because we were in a city we’ve never been to before, going to see an r&b artist who would potentially attract a rough crowd and we weren’t wanting to get mugged again (damn you Sydney!). We grabbed a taxi to the venue and were greeted with a long, long, long queue. Our fears of not making it out the gig in tact were starting to vanish and soon enough we were in the beautiful auditorium complete with chandeliers and luxurious pillars and an expensive bar. The support dj was awesome (and kept making everyone chant Worldwide in a monotonous tone) but got the crowd suitably pumped for Childish Gambino. The Deep Web Tour is currently touring America and stopped off in Denver to a packed auditorium, which is probably a small venue in America but it felt huge in comparison to our equivalent O2 Academies. His show was awesome and his talent was demonstrated in his free styling sections, he also sang a whole lot more than I expected. He is a very angry guy though and I knew this before coming to see him (especially after listening to his lyrics in his first album ‘Camp’) but when he’s on stage performing, he expresses his anger not only through his songs but through a crazy routine. Due to the technological theme of his show, he was surrounded by screens with 3D images portaying his house. These screens were used heavily throughout (especially prior to the show when you could write a message on the screen via an app on your phone) and for a few songs in the middle of his first set. It wasn’t until over halfway in that performed his latest single ‘3005’ and after playing his new album in its entirety, he came back on stage for an encore and told the crowd “it’s time for some old stuff” before breaking into ‘Heartbeat’ then a medley including ‘Firefly’ and ‘All The Shine’. His final song, ‘Bonfire’, was by far the best of the night (but also showcased his angry side the most).

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Today we headed to the Capitol State building once more but this time to go on a tour inside the building. A free tour (yes!) of the state’s government building where all laws and legislations are heard and either passed or rejected. The tour guide informed us how a majority of the materials used inside the building were sourced from Colorado (which we found out is Spanish meaning ‘coloured red’), such as the marble floor coming from Marble town (brilliant) and sandstone from Fort Springs. The guided tour took us to the office of the Govenor, the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Department of the Treasury. Learning about a state government was fascinating, especially in comparison to our governing body covering the whole country. The building itself is incredible in an architectural form and our tour guide even told us how one employee’s job is to clean all of the brass (and there’s a lot of brass) in the building. Surprisingly he loves his job. The dome that tops off the building stands 272 feet above the ground and gleams in the ‘300 days of Denver Sunshine’ because it is made out of gold. The gold represents the history of the state with the discovery of gold in 1858 bringing fortune seekers to the area and creating the mining villages and communities. Since then we’ve moved apartment to another one we found on Air B&B and are currently staying with two medical students in the centre of Denver.

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April 13, 2014

Time travelling, roughing it at the MoonPad and cruising around Beverly Hills

You lucky people. This week, due to the multiple time zones we’ve experienced, you guys get an extra day in this blog! That’s 8 days worth of activities and thoughts in just one week!!

We left New Zealand’s capital Wellington on Sunday morning at 7:30am. We were prepared for our 13hour bus journey all the way back to Auckland via the Naked Bus company. Now the name of this bus service was an appealing one and when we trekked from our hostel to the station half an hour away, we were greeted by a friendly chap who ushered us onto the bus and told us we’d be stopping an hour and a half away to change buses. This is where it started to go sour. We moved our bags onto the next bus, got a seat each at the back and waited to set off north for 9hours until our next bus change. Then the bus driver spoke. He told us the basics (wear your seatbelt, no consumption of hot food and drink etc etc) but also told us that if we feel sick and throw up, we’d have to pay $250 for the cleaning. Our main gripe with him was how he conveyed this information; in a rude, patronising and unprofessional manner. He treated the coach full of adults like a classroom of five-year olds.

The highlight of the first part of the journey was driving through Bulls town again. ‘A town like no udder’ greeted us as we entered and many more puns were spotted on toilets (‘reliev-a-bull’), bins (‘response-a-bull’), a bakery (‘delect-a-bull’) and a school (‘knowledge-a-bull’). Bulls town certainly didn’t disappoint and we were all fairly content… until the bus driver told us to remove our headphones ‘coz we can’t hear him’ (we heard every single word you were saying in that condescending tone) and informed us to get off and change bus. But we didn’t need to and he couldn’t understand this (even after showing him our itinerary) and made us get off the bus to then decide that we were actually on the correct bus and to get back on. Make up your mind!! I wish we did change bus because we wouldn’t have had to endure this rude man for the next 8 hours. He was also incredibly unhelpful when the bus had a flat battery half way through the journey. After an hour delay, we continued onward to Auckland and finally arrived at our hostel for the night, The Fat Camel (where we got a free upgrade to a room with a window! Didn’t even realise we’d initially booked a room without a window).

The next day we checked out, grabbed some bacon baps at an indie café in the city centre and waited for our taxi to the airport. When checking in, we were informed that our flight to Fiji was as planned but our connecting flight to Los Angeles had been delayed by 9hours. Luckily for us though Fiji Airways had sorted out accommodation for the night and a free dinner! We arrived in Fiji at 7:30pm and were welcomed with a Fijian band complete with ukuleles and tropical notes to see us through customs. The Fijians are incredibly friendly; all of the flight attendants were accommodating (and would even offer to replace your beer once you’d finished) and those working on the baggage checkers would lift up our backpacks and help us put them on our backs! We got our free accommodation for the night sorted out (an on-site airport hotel) and managed to bag a room each (first time in 7months that I’ve had my own room!). It was like living a life of luxury compared to the cramped dorm rooms of hostels and we even had a concierge who carried our bags to the rooms! We then headed upstairs for the all-you-can-eat Asian buffet and demolished it. We were eating as if we hadn’t seen food before but hey, you’ve got to make the most of free dinner!

The next morning saw us finally boarding our plane set for Los Angeles. Now, our original time traveling plan (leaving New Zealand on 7th April at 16:30 and arriving in LA on 7th April at 13:30) was ruined due to the delays, but we did still manage to do some time traveling. Due to this stopover in Fiji, we managed to land in LA the previous calendar day to what we’d left and impressively visited three countries on the 7th April. What’s weird is that we’re now 8 hours behind the UK and this is the first time in 7months that we’ve been behind you guys. After three movies, three episodes of Modern Family, two episodes of Big Bang Theory, music and plenty of food, we arrived suitably jet-lagged in a dark Los Angeles. Flying over the city was an amazing sight, seeing the strips of lit up blocks and downtown LA and wondering where the hell we’d be staying for the next few days. It was now midnight and we were meant to have checked-in 7 hours earlier at 5pm. But it was all going to be fine because I had sent them an email before we left NZ to tell them we’d arrive around 1am and whether it was possible to do a late check-in. All would be fine, right?
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We jumped in the first taxi we could find and headed for Boyle Avenue, a half hour drive away from the airport. On arrival we were greeted by four guys sat out the front in seated hammocks and surrounded by tables made out of old doors. This matched the description of the hostel online, “MoonPad hostel: a place for artists and budding astronauts” (neither of which apply to us). One guy, Nick, asked if we were checking in and whether we had a reservation (he needn’t have bothered asking that last question because when we did state our reservation, he had no record of it). After a few minutes of trying to find our booking and not succeeding, he informed us that because we weren’t here by 10pm, our room (well, beds) had been given to people who had walked-in with no reservation. That email I told you I’d sent? They didn’t see it. This was not the start to our LA adventure we wanted. After a frantic half hour of Nick looking for spare beds (he only found one), he offered us ‘The Morroccan room’. Now, this room may sound exotic and was sold to us as ‘a large open space where we can put four mattresses for you to sleep on’ but in reality it was just a large landing at the top of the stairs, outside of everyone’s dorm rooms and next to the communal bathroom (so in a way we got an en suite…). We had no other choice but to accept this space and call it ‘our room’, after all it was now 1:30am and we were exhausted and hungry. We told him we’d stay there for this one night and sort out this mess in the morning. Before bed we had no success searching the surrounding area for places to eat and so decided to meet our new hostelmates (is that a term?!) sitting out the front. Nick, the maintenance guy from New York, Alex, a Frenchman travelling with his girlfriend and Daniel, an ex-marines guy from Indiana, were all suitably drunk and welcoming us to this crazy establishment. Another guy then joined us outside. He was originally from Georgia and moved to LA 13 days ago to live the American dream. In his own words ‘Acting. That’s what’s gonna get me there if my singing and comedy stand-up don’t work out’. Yep, he was a classic American guy moving to the sunshine state to pursue a better career and become famous. He even sang us two songs (yes, two!) and not only did he sing us an R&B number, he also treated us to some country ‘to show us his range by singing two completely different genres’. He was definitely one of the most confident guys I’ve met and didn’t know when to stop talking which did provide much amusement for the night. We hit the hay after that and slept pretty much on the floor (the ‘mattresses’ were made of foam and couldn’t have been more than 3inches thick).

After a long lie-in to rid some of the jet lag, we attempted to sort out our room but were told that the manager was only in from 5-10pm (what kind of manager only visits his hostel for 5hours a day?!). We weren’t gonna let that ruin our first full day in LA and decided to catch the metro into town. What’s brilliant about this metro is that you can buy a $5 all day pass which lets you ride anywhere on any train or bus for the whole day! After a few train changes, we arrived in Hollywood. The land of the rich and famous and home to its world reknowned sign and walk of fame. We were immediately greeted by Adam Sandler’s star and a tour guide trying to sell us a Hollywood tour around the celebrity houses and up to the sign. We were hesistant up until he told us the price, he’d give us the $25 child price instead of the $40 adult price… tempting. But we decided to have a wander round for a bit seeing as we’d only just arrived there. It was interesting. The area we found ourselves in seemed a bit run down and not how I imagined Hollywood to look like. After being hassled by a few more tour guides (the prices started going as low as $20), we went back to the first man and bartered with him to get his tour for $20. Bargain!
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But first we needed food. Good ol’ American food. A greasy burger, greasy fries and a gre..fizzy drink. We found Juicy burger; a fast food joint where you create your own burger and can have unlimited refills on your drink. And you definitely need unlimited refills because the choice is unbelievable. Over 100 options adorned the hi-tech drinks dispenser; Coca Cola with raspberry or orange or cherry or Dr Pepper with vanilla or Sprite with strawberry or grape or Powerade or Sunkist or any other combination you could think of. It was awesome and Josie for one made the most out of this crazy selection, trying every possible drink she could and getting high on E numbers and sugars. So excitable she seemed drunk. Oh yeah and the burger was delicious. Complete with food babies and a cup full of Coca Cola with lime, we boarded our tour bus, well, a converted 8-seater pick-up truck, and met Kenny our friendly guide. He immediately took us to the hotel used in Pretty Woman (I’ve not seen it) and then onwards to the Hollywood sign up in the hills. After some questionable driving, we arrived at the closest point you could get to the sign without trespassing and acquiring a hefty fine. This is where Kenny excelled in his duties and became a professional photographer for ten minutes, ushering us onto a rock in front of the sign and doing several angles (and sound effects, “BAM”) to capture the perfect shot.
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Our tour continued down Hollywood Boulevard passing by a Disney-only movie theatre, the Hard Rock Café and the Dolby Digital theatre where the Oscars are held. Kenny drove us down to Sunset Boulevard and en route we passed The Hills’ reality tv show house, the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ house and the house from ‘Halloween’. We then approached Beverly Hills so cue famous Wheatus song ‘Beverly Hills’ and we were ready to explore the area of the rich and famous. We passed by Ellen Degeneres’ house, Ringo Starr’s, Jennifer Aniston’s, Gene Simmons’, Michael Jackson’s, Christina Aguilera’s, Tony Stark’s and even Hugh Heffner’s Playboy mansion.
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We begrudgingly headed back to our hostel to see the manager. He apologised when he realised we were the ones who had slept on the floor the previous night and we told him how we weren’t paying for last night, explained how it shouldn’t have happened due to us having emailed and said how we wanted a room with four beds like we had booked. He still didn’t have four beds free and so came up with an alternative. Somewhere he thought we would really like. Somewhere which isn’t even located in the hostel but instead, is in the garden. An RV. Yep, he was putting us up in his motor home and we had no other option but to choose it. We paid our reduced rate and got comfortable in our cozy, cramped new living space. Thank goodness it was only for two nights.

The following morning we were up bright and early for our free breakfast and to visit Auntie Mary, Nathan’s mum’s friend who has lived in LA for the past 30 years. After an hour and a half on metro trains, we were greeted by Mary at Redondo Beach train station. She was immediately welcoming and took us to a New York pizza restaurant where we got the best pizza I’ve ever tasted. A medium was the size of an extra large in England. We napped off the doughy deliciousness on Hamosa beach; a beautiful stretch of golden sand adorned with rude, chavvy 14-year old kids on their Spring Break. All of that aside though, Hamosa beach and the surrounding area was how I pictured LA. Mary then took us to our first American supermarket (where we spent ages drooling over all of the amazing food) and then to her beautiful home where she cooked us good old English bangers and mash. It was a pleasure to spend the day with Mary and her friend Terry, they were some of the friendliest and most accommodating people I’ve met and it was really nice knowing that not only did we appreciate spending time with her, she was blessed to be meeting us as well. After receiving bags full of free shampoos, socks, hair gels and beauty products (the airplane sized ones because Mary used to be an air hostess), we decided to unwillingly head back to our campervan before it got too dark. We had three different trains to catch and one change was at a dodgy area of the city. We were pretty much travelling through the ghetto and had to get off and change lines. This would have been fine if a cleaner at the station didn’t sign off his interaction with us with “keep safe and be careful guys”. Err.. well now we’re worried. Four British adults wandering around the platforms with all of our prized possessions amongst the potential gang members of this district of LA. Heidi later said that if they were clever enough, they would’ve mugged us. All was fine though and we managed to get back to our hos..RV in time to book some new accommodation by the beach and get drunk to forget that we’re sleeping in a second-hand motor home.
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We left the MoonPad before you could say ‘check-out’ and headed on our long journey to Venice beach (still in LA but the transport in this city takes ages due to size of the place). We arrived in a much nicer area than our last hostel and found our motel (classic America). Well, this felt like luxury. We had a bed!! And a TV and an ensuite and a maid and a fridge and a microwave. Okay, it wasn’t the most extravagant place but compared to the hell hole we’d just come from, this was on par with a Hilton! After a much needed lie down on the bed, we ventured to Venice beach. Building walls used as canvasses for street art greeted us as we approached the boardwalk. It was a lot colder today than the previous couple of days which made us question why we decided to head to the beach but this place seems to be vibrant any time of the week. The boardwalk was lined with the odd (voodoo dolls and 3D portraits of aliens), the tacky (generic holiday t shirt stalls and henna tattoo carts) and the wacky (a ‘green doctor’ of whom you could pay to give you a medical marijuana card to enable you to get weed from the pharmacy). There was also a street performance by a talented bunch of breakdancers. Not only did they each perform indiviually, they used members of the public for humorous acts and then scoured the audience for money. They were really good at what they did and if I wasn’t a budget backpacker, I probably would have given them some money. Maybe. A stop for some dinner and then we continued down the strip towards Santa Monica pier. Along the way we played on swings, climbing frames and hanging ropes with the sun setting in the distance. The pier resembled one used in Grand Theft Auto 5 (which btw is very accurate here in terms of the people you meet whilst walking around, a lot of them either talk to themselves or take the opportunity to introduce themselves to you) complete with Ferris wheel and rollercoaster, takeaways and a terrible busker. We headed back to grab a beer and noticed a sign showing that the pier marks the official end of Route 66!
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Before returning to our motel room, we visited Vons the supermarket and spent a ridiculous amount of time (and money) in there on classic American snacks like Jolly Ranchers, Reese’s puffs peanut butter cereal, a Joey Tribianni massive sub sandwich and white chocolate covered pretzels. We were definitely prepared for any eating situation and with that we returned to our motel room to binge whilst watching some US TV.

The next day saw us waking up later than planned (“ooh we can get free coffee until 11am” … “yeah I think it’s only 9am, oh wait.. it’s 11:05”) and head to the Griffith Observatory in the Hollywood hills area. This journey took longer than expected, not only because the buses are very unreliable here but also because you have to change train lines every ten stops! We finally arrived at the closest stop to the observatory and noticed that you could catch a bus up there.. but no, you could only do that on weekends. When a bus did pull up, she said the closest she goes to the observatory is Los Feliz and from there we’d have a 1mile walk.. uphill (“have you all got water?!”). After our long, long walk up to the top of the hill, we were treated to beautiful skyline views of Los Angeles. Seeing it from this high really shows how big and flat the city is. Griffith Observatory is a popular tourist attraction full of science and space displays including telescopes, a Tesla Coil and and a planetarium. We also caught a lecture called “Let’s make a Comet” and even though we were surrounded by a class of 5 year olds on a field trip, the comet they made from water, sand, charcoal and dry ice was pretty impressive. See, travelling is also educational!
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Our final night in LA was spent in bed watching The Hangover and eating. We had to be up at 6:30am to catch our Greyhound bus to San Diego. But before we could do that, I had to scour the entire internet (very slight exaggeration) to find out where we had to get this bus from because handily our tickets nor the website didn’t state the address. We left in the morning with a lot of time to spare in case the public transport was even more unreliable than usual. But we made our bus which came complete with wifi and even a plug (in your face NakedBus) and arrived into a sunny San Diego almost three hours later. One final bus journey and we were at our hostel and this one’s a keeper. They actually had our reservation, were friendly and helpful and we even get free breakfast, the kitchen’s clean and we each have a bed. And what’s crazier is that this one is only $2 more than our first one in LA and is in an even better location in the middle of San Diego. Today has been spent exploring the area, visiting the marina and shopping at a ridiculously cheap grocery store two blocks away from our hostel (yeah, I just said blocks). They have Ben&Jerry’s tubs for $1.99 and Pop Tarts for $1.49. I think I’m going to get very fat in America.
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