Sunburnt on xmas day

As I'm sure you've all gathered, I have just spent xmas day like any normal ozzie - drinking and sunbathing on Bondi Beach ! Preceeded by a xmas eve harbour cruise (with free beer) it has been a different but fun xmas so far.

I just want to say a big MERRY XMAS to everyone, including all the people from home and travels who have e-mailed me. It was really nice to get so many different e-mails from people all round the globe. I will try and reply to everyone over the next week, when I should have more time and net access.

Better go and check on my xmas evening meal - Kangeroo Balti :)

Jobless in Sydney

Seems like the banking job is a no - it's been put back up for interview applicants - so apparently no-one go the job who applied.

Given I had amble skills to do the job spec it sort of implies my interview was poor. It would be nice to get more practice there... 'cept I havn't got anymore interviews yet :(

No news is good news ?!

Still not heard back from the interview I took for the investment bank - so much for being told within 48 hours ! Meanwhile, I completed a Java test for another role, this time with a Government department in Sydney. The test was fairly easy, so hopefully I should get an interview from it. As with the banking role, I have been waiting for more news. And waiting.

Done some more labouring and book-sale setting up work. Naff money, but keeps me fit I guess ! Sore throat all gone now, just a cold, which given the occasional blazing sun is very odd indeed. Doesn't feel like 12 days before xmas at all.

Not feeling too confident

Just took the IT interview - has a bit of a cold / sore throat going on, and sounded a bit flat. Also, whilst all my answers were good, I'm not sure I shined too much. Think I ballsed it up, basically - which with no other interviews on the 1-2 month horizon leaves me wondering if I want to continue labouring for peanuts over here for that long...

An honest days work...

Yesterday I finally did some work. 14 hours of non-stop office removal work for about a fiver / hr (before stupidly high tax). All my limbs hurt very much, but it was nice to earn a crust and get soem exercise at the same time.

Looking towards a more promising future in Sydney, I have managed to land an interview for an IT role in another investment bank - scheduled for 11am tomorrow. So I am now down in the library, preparing for all manner of questioning and generally crapping myself - mainly as I need this job to pay off the 250 quid of credit card debt I built up getting the suit + accersories for the interview !

Aussie life (pt 2)

After a few days on Bondi, I realised this was no place for a skint guy to be hanging around on his lonesome, so I headed closer to town into Kings Cross. Staying in quite a nice hostel now, with some good people around. Still no job though - looks like I'm going to have to get some labouring work to pay my rent whilst I wait for sometime good to turn up, possibly post-xmas.

Had some time to look around the internet meanwhile, and thought this was good fun.

Settling into Aussie life (pt 1)

So, two days into Syndey life, how are things going ? Well, I've now got a mobile and an address, so on the off chance people need to post things to me or call me, the details are :

Ben Turner TCP#9796AUS
C/O Travellers Contact Point
Level 7, Dymocks building
428 George Street
SYDNEY
NSW 2000

+61 (0)4 1236 2488

Life on Bondi is beautiful - shame I've been running around like a headless chicken in the center of town ! Once I've got some form of income sorted out, I'll be able to enjoy the beach life a bit more. Except I'll be working then. Damn.

End of the Kiwi Experience

My final few days in NZ took me into the scenic Milford Sound region, through Teanu, Invercargill and Dunedin, and finally into Christchurch. Not a lot of gossip here, other than a nervous but exciting weekend of rugby. At the end of the whole Stray bus tour of NZ I now feel very drained and up for a change of lifestyle and pace - and what better place to do that than Sydney, where I now type things entry !

Very strange to change country again - not really got used to the fact yet ! Met a stray bus friend in the hostel and went down to Bondi beach for lunch and beer - but with the wind and darkness it felt more like Brighton than Bondi. Maybe in the bright sun tomorrow it will feel more like the other side of the globe :)

Time to job hunt and settle back for a bit... anyone know of any IT jobs in Sydney right now ?!

Queenie

After drinking and partying in Wanaka, I moved onto Queenstown - home of bungee ! I signed myself up to the "Thrillogy" package of 3 bungee jumps - the Kawarau bridge, home of the original bungee jump - the Nevis, a 134m bungee jump with 8 seconds freefall - and the ledge, a body harness jump, allowing you to do a runup and jump in your own style ! Pictures have been uploaded - use embedded links to jump straight into each jump.

One more day in Queenstown to go, then just a few more stops before I fly out of Christchurch and onto Oz.

Singing for my supper (well... beer)

Good rugby games from En-ger-lund and the All blacks led to a good nights drinking in Barrytown. So the next day we napped off hangovers on the way down towards Franz-Joseph, where we arrived in good time to sign up for the glacier walking trip, a recommended highlight of the whole NZ experience.

After my hard days trekking, we moved on through the small township of Haast, and carried on the next day past the famous bra fence near Hasst and into Wanaka where I have stopped over to explore the famous puzzleworld (where I got myself a rubix cube to play with) and to take five. As a result, the photos are all up to date and tell a far more interesting story than this post - go look !

Only story worth telling is of my singing vistory last night. Having met up with some old friends I last saw in Auckland, we went out for a drink at "shooters". A karaoke night began shortly after our arrival, which seemed to attract as much interest as paint drying. We were reliably informed that every song sung earns a free smirnoff ice. So I signed up for a couple of songs, and proceeded to "turbo shandy" my drinks all night. Given the minimal interest and business generated by the karaoke, I was suprised enough to get the free booze - I became even more suprised at the end of the night when one of the other singers won $50 bar tab. I was even MORE suprised to discover this was a second place prize, and that I had won the $100 bar tab ! Having already stocked up with larger jugs during happy hour, most of the tab is still untouched, which promises a good nights drinking tonight !

Southward bound

Finsihed off the snowboarding with a few jumps (no spins yet) and no new injuries. Woohoo. I then headed down to Wellington for Halloween and a big hostel party, and then the next morning onto the ferry to the South Island.

No real newsworthy happenings as of yet - went through Abel-Tasman national park, did a spot more sea kyacking, and am now currently in Barrytown, a village of 15 houses and a hostel with a bar - essential for watching the England and All Black rugby games tonight !

Black and Blue

Finishing off my time in Rotarua with a quick 9 holes of dodgy golf (+27 - nice), I went down to Taupo, a small town next to Lake Taupo in the center of the North Island. The activity of choice here is a tandem skydive, which as you don't need much training (due to the instructor jumping and landing with you) comes in at a resaonable cost. However, due to the assisted landing there was a weight limit for the jump. Lets just say I was a few pies away from it...

So, to occupy my time, I spotted a flyer for mountainboarding - which for the uninitiated is like snowboading down grass slopes on a large skateboard with foot straps. This was to both tune my skills for future snowboarding, and also to try a potential new hobby. After three hours I had fallen hard on my butt twice, which three days later is now a purple and black circle about 6 inches wide - similar to a previous boarding injury for those who were privleged to see that !

So with an aching butt I slept the few hours before embraking on the Tongariro crossing - a 17km walk through Tongariro national park - supposedly one of the best day walks in NZ. This was a lot of endurance and pain, but very scenic and very beautiful. We walked from rocky lands into snow-filled craters and finally back through golden grasslands and lush green forest. Then we got picked up at the end of the trail and taken to the Skotel in Tongariro National Park - our next night stop.

Here, in this lush park of grassland and mountains, I have discovered the cheapest snowboarding I have seen ! As it is Spring and the season is almost over, I have been able to get a Spring season pass for less than a 5-day pass normally is ($200NZ) and equipment hire is around about $50/day. So I think I will stay out the rest of the snow (1-2 weeks) here, unless I get bored of the mountains before then ! Having a real blast doing this - but I did manage to dislocate my thumb today. It popped back in again, but it stings a little now. Ow.

The first warning

Today, I bit the bullet, and checked... my bank account !!!
I have finally dipped under 1000 quid, which is still a goodly chunk of cash, but the first warning that money is not being replensihed by any form of employment, and that I might have to, in the near future... GET A JOB !!! Noooooooooooo

Anyhow, after a spot of white water rafting, I've headed into Rotorua, a town based over a thermal area. What this means is lots of nice mineral spas around, and that air occasionally smells utterly rancid with the sulpher ! Just like the Yellowstone park thermal areas, infact...

Whilst here I've had a go at zorbing, jetboating and "the swoop" - all good fun, especially the zorb, which they add a bucket or two of water inside to make it just like a giant washing machine :)

Note the new photo album - eXtreme activites. Many of the activities over here offer you 30-40 photos on a CD for less than printing pics, so this album holds all these pictures. I have normally pulled out 2 or 3 of the pics for the main album, so treat this album as "further viewing". Mainly worth flicking through to see some of the stupid facial expressions !

Round the Coromandel

The next day I headed into Hahei in the Coromandel region. Here I chilled out for a day, tried some snorkelling (but couldn't see much) and read loads more books. The next morning I got to go sea kyacking and see some of the islands, caves and tunnels around the Hahei bay - this also featured a beach stop where out guide Ross made one of the best lattes I've had in years right on the beach. Top stuff.

The bus then headed onto Maketu - our Mauri cultural stop. Here we had a lunch featuring Mauri style food (cooked underground, similar to the Fijians) and saw Marui cultural dancing. Finally, the boys and girls where split and we each learned a dance - for the girls it was the Poi spinning dance - for the boys it was the Huka. This is, of course, the ritual dance the All Blacks perform before each match - which we then had to perform (shirtless, of course) infront of the girls. Was much more fun and less embarassing than I'd imagined, but alas I didn't get any photos of the event.

Finally - photos are all up to date now ! Links are available in the side panel, as always.

Well, my surfing didn't get much better, so I decided to leave it until warmer climates (Oz) and head onto Waitomo Caves. These are a network of 300+ caves with lots of gloworms and cool adventure options.

I decided to leave the Stray bus behind again to do a full day adventure - in the morning I confronted my fear of heights and did a 100m absail into "the lost world" cave. This was followed by some exploring, including the obligatory gloworm viewing, and then a 30m ladder climb out of the caves. The ladder climb was actually more scary than the absail, every moment feeling your wet hands get weaker and legs more tired as you progress further form the hrad rock floor... Ok, your on a safety harness, but it still shit me up a bit.

In the afternoon I went on to do a more adrenalin packed and much wetter trip. Clad in a figure hugging wetsuit and bright red helmet, I absaild down waterfalls, crawled through water filled passages and squeezed my immense bulk through some stupidly tight passages. After over an hour of this, we then stopped following the water down, and instead follwed it up throgh some harnessed rock climbing, som e more ladders (not so big this time) and generally hoisted our way exhaustedly out of the caverns. This part of the days trip was just amazing, and they have a waterproof camera with them, so I have photos of me in the alluring getup descirbed above !

First stop on my New Zealand tour is Raglan. Here they have a surf school (and a bunch of other outdoors-y stuff to do). I took a two hour surf lesson, and almost stood up once in the entire session ! Decided to keep on the hobby until I can stand for more than 0.5 seconds, so I am going to hang around for 2 days until the next bus comes around and take a couple more sessions.

Boys from Reading (who surf) beware, for my l33t surfing skills will soon 0wn you ! Maybe.

BUNGEEEEEEE was pretty scary but all good fun in the end. Being the heaviest, they hooked up the livestock strength uber-bungee and made me go first, which was even scarier, but meant I got to laugh at everyone else afterwards.

I have just returned from a 3-day tour of the Northlands. This invovled a trip up the coast to the Bay of Islands, stopping for some horse riding. My mount was a greedy, independant spirited beast called Barbie, who was so annoyingly similar to me in those respects that we seemed to get on in the end. Infact, where it not for her equine species, we could of had something special... ah well

Next day we took a tour to the very top of New Zeland, Cape Regina, took in some sights, and went Dune boarding (throwing yourself down sand dunes on a boogie board). At this point our tour bus broke down, which gave us four extra hours to Dune Board in (yea) until a rescue bus could be sent out. Then end of the tour was a nighttime drive down 90 mile beach at high tide (rather than the low tide we were supposed to do it in) which made for some wave dodging and fast riding down there. All in all, a lot better than it was billed !!!

Still, we got an apology note and a free trip on the "Duck" bus/boat the next day to make up for the bits of the tour we missed. So today we headed out on the duck, drove past a golf course and then down the ramp into the bay. At this point we heard a loud cracking noise as the engine hit the base of the ramp and broke off, leaving us stranded in the water. Being much closer to home, the rescue was a much quicker affair, but needless to say the guy who owned the company was very VERY apologetic this time (we all thought it was hilarious). As they knew we were due to rejoin our tour bus back to Auckland today, they gave us half of our money back for that day trip in the end, which was fair.

Back in Auckland now - but leaving straight away to explore the rest of the North Island. Lost my camera lead, so photos are probably a couple of weeks away until I get to the next major town (Wellington).

Made it to Auckland ! I'll write more when I've actually done something - so stop reading and get on with your jobs...

Ok - so far Auckland has been a little dull for a major town, but has given me time to plan my full-on trip around NZ. On Monday I depart for a 3-day tour of the Bay of Islands (the top bit), and then I head back through Auckland for a 17 day+ tour of the North and South Islands. The "+" part meaning I can jump off at stops of spend extra days there if they look good fun.

So, left with a weekend to kill, I have signed up for the Auckland bridge bungee jump - to take place in just over an hour... Don't feel too scared to be honest, but that's probably as I'm not standing on the edge of the 43m drop yet !

Bula !

After 10 fun days of relaxing around the various isles of Fiji, I find myself rejuvinatred, slightly better tanned, missing some more basic items (towel, sunglasses - whoops) and feeling quite chilled. Some of the final point may be attributed to today's extended kava ceremony whilst waiting for my flight out of here :)

During my time I read books, played lots of drinking games with fellow travellers, snorkled and even got to dress up as a Fijian cheif during one evening of entertainments. As always, pictures will follow soon.

The only real story was the transfer between the two islands, which we attempted to do in one day going via the mainland to pick up supplies. This seemed a good idea until you remember getting supplies is not as easy as popping down Tescos - we are in a completley different culture and unknown town. So in buying food and booze we missed the bus (by choice) and got a taxi down to our dock - arriving one hour too late, which even by "fiji time" is a little tardy. The sun had set, the wharf was empty and dark and no-one seemed to be around...

Eventually we found one small shop that was still open, who called out to the island and got us a boat. Although, from language barriers, we were not exactly sure this was the case until the boat was physically there... and even then we didn't really know if it was going to the RIGHT island ! All good traveller fun - not too worrying - but a little stress reminds you how much fun relaxing on a beach is :)

Off to NZ on a 4:30am flight soon - but first time to sample the local goat curry and one last Fiji Bitter

Grand Canyon was a big hole in the floor but quite impressive. I'd love to go back there and do a 2-3 day trek into the center of it - just walking around the outside didn't quite capture how godamn big it was :)

But after a few hours of walking and gawping, we headed back into San Diego where we stayed round mission beach and partyed a few days away. Then back into LA for some final all-night benders on Sunset strip (during which our SUV aquired a new outside paint job from a new drunken friend) and then a tearful farewell to Ben and Will... sniff...

Anyhow, one 11 hour plane journey later, I am now in the tropical paradise of Fiji where I have no idea where I am or what to do and I have no local money at all. Some more reseach could of been good ! Fortunatley I have been taken under the wing of three helpful girls who have all got some idea of what they are doing, so I am happily adopting them as guides and drinking buddies !

Long time offline - apologies for current e-mail silence ! I've been through San Diego now, nice beaches and a few travelling reunions (hello to Erwann and Jessica). Whilst staying near the mexican border, a quck day trip to Tijuana was in order - which heralded a day of bad tourist shlock and cheap cheap tequila drinks !

Then on Saturday I got a lift up to Los Angles, where I met up with Will and Ben for some holiday style relaxing. After 10 weeks of solo tourism, it was nice to kick back and relax for a while, and having a car in the US is a great bonus - especially in spread out LA. We went down to universal studios and rode all the rides, went drinking on Sunset Blvd and cruised the beaches and Hollywood sign.

Then we moved onto Las Vegus and toured the casinos. Another random travel reunion (hey Joe) and some low stake blackjack games culimanated in an all night bender of dollar beers, dancing util 5am and then gambling on $5 stake blackjack whilst utterly drunk. Fortunatley I had, like everyone else in Vegus, a system ! So despite my intoxication, I just followed the system and walked off $100 richer - basically covering the cost of previous losses and 3 days of all-you-can-eat buffets.

Currently the three of us are chilling out a few miles away from the Grand Canyon which should be tomorrows expedition. Better sign off and get some kip - only got about 2-3 hours last night and feeling a little drained now !

Hey - in San Francisco right now. Just had a real moment standing outside the hostel with two American guys in the military telling us how lucky we are they were keeping us alive. Esp. from Iraq soldiers. I tried to explain to them that we invaded iraq - and that they had nothing to do with 9/11 - but they didn't seem to get it. Infact, when I conjectuered that had the 20 odd terroists been based in Britiain rather than Afganisitan, would they have bombed great britain, one guy said "yes - because they were stopping American freedom". I laughed so hard, it was like a really good Bill Hicks or Python sketch. Except real, which made it a little worrying and scary.

Anyhow, off to see AL-CA-TRAZ now. Wooo.

I'm back over the border - and into Portland, Oregon. Today was self-pampering day, as I've been in a shitty mood for days now and a little bit tired. Once I hit the hostel after the overnight greyhound bus, they had to open up a new room so I could get a bed, and this room oddly enough had 2 bunk-beds, one with a "double-bed" bottom bunk. That was soooo mine.

Napped until midday, then refereshed I had a sandwhich with healthy stuff in it (nothing fried for once) and popped into the chinese gardens for an hour of zen sitting and drinking fancy tea. Once my ying had vaguely located my yang, I headed out again, picked up a ticket for the Dandy Warhols (playing tonight) as compensation for missing lots of other musical stuff (Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot), and wondered around the Portland Art museum. Feeling very rested and up for lots of beer and rock now. Woohoo.

It's so clean and tree-lined out here - big shout out to people living out in the big smoke !

Seattle didn't get me straight away. Infact, after the first night of tourism and drinking I was fairly unimpressed. To try and kick start my flagging enthusiasm, I did the touristy stuff - space needle, Expericence Music Project (in it's crazy Ghery building) and a starbucks coffee (corpoarte whore that I am :)

This sort of did the trick and that evening - and after I failed to get up in time to get the bus, the next evening - I got happily trashed whilst watching bad movies and going out the the Green Croc. club, where I saw the Bellrays (Rock 'n' Soul music, and much improved from last time I saw them), and the next night was Northern State (basically the Beastie Girls - nothing more but nothing less).

Finally I got up early enough to hurl my self into the hound up to Vancouver which is a wonderful city. I has cheap sushi, a great park to walk / bike around in, big city stuff in a small city area and easy access to outdoor stuff (including Whistler, of course). I could spend more time here - if there was more snow !

Not too much touristy stuff to do, and I felt like a break from the beers, so I went to see "American Splendor" in the cinema, about the life and story of Harvey Pekar, writer of the underground comic the film is named after. It was a really good film, lots of comedy and real life moments, and one of the first good films I've seen in a while out here whilst sifting through the summer release garbage.

One more day out here and then I'm smuggling myself back over the boarder and down the West Coast.

Loads of pictures have been uploaded ! There a little bit out of order right now, but I can fix that at a later date.

Note that the Yellowstone park pictures have been put into a seperate album

Onwards I ventured, with Erwann my new Swiss companion, to the town of Bozeman in montana. The idea being to try and find someway of getting to Yellowstone cheaply. The question was answered almost as soon as I got there and met up with Tanja - another Swiss companion - who was also looking to get into the park. The three of us hired a car from Rent-a-Wreck and the next day drove into Yellowstone park for 3 days.

Around the park we saw many beautiful hot springs (which smell bad and made me feel ill one night), some waterfalls and a big canyon. The first night I spent in the tent we had and almost froze to death ! Forgot it got colder up north, and only had my sheet sleeping bag... The other 2 night were spent in the luxurious comfort of the Dodge Neon we had hired, which was comfier and slightly warmer. Just like the Reading festival experience, only without the music and fun. I saw lots of wildlife, but no Moose or Bears. We did have a close encounter with Bison though that was fun and scary - we detoured away from them fairly sharpish.

Photos uploaded soon I hope - I only have 9 shots left on my camera ! I think Yellowstone will make a seperate album - lots of nature shots with me grinning in them coming soon...

After the park, we returned the car and boarded a Greyhound bus - and 16 hours later I find myself in Seattle - tired as hell after four crappy nights sleep in a row. My bed should be ready now, so it's time to jump off the internet and under the sheets for a mid-morning power nap. More from my advenrtures in the west coast land of java and rock sometime soon !

Boulder was a sunny fun outdoor-tastic time of lovelyness :)

I went hiking around the Rockies and shit myself whenever I saw a "warning : bear / lion country" sign. On my lst day I went a little off-trail and into a climbing / bouldering uphill section, which looked like a haven for lions. Eventually I paniced and joined the main trails again !

Nightlife was pretty cool too - found some bars and played some pool. Boulder is a very studenty town, so has some really cool bars, shops and lunch spots.

Next stop was the Black hills to see Mount Rushmore. Getting there involved an overnight Greyhound with the entire contents of Wyoming insistute for the terminally odd - lots of talking and conversations that made no sense. One girl inparticular ran on the bus to "hide" from 2 guys, and then when we stopped for gas in the middle of nowhere, she never reappeared... oddball.

Finally I made it to Deadwood hostel, from which I took a tour out to Mount Rushmore (not that big), Crazy horse memorial (will be massive, when finished in 1,000 years ish) and Custer Park. The tour was great and really good fun. Then today cam bike riding - a 14 mile trek around the Black Hills which concluded with a side-trip to Deadwood cemetary, where I saw the graves of "Wild Bill" Hicock and Calamity Jane.

Apparently deadwood is the home of these Western figures as well as many others (Wyatt Erpp, etc...) but now it's just a big gambling hole in the mountains. Free blackjack lessons tonight though - I need to get into form for Vegus next month ! Next stop should be Yellowstone - but with forest fires and no public transport going into the park, I'm not sure how I'm gonna get there !

[Note : no new photos due to crappy internet terminals - might have to wait until Seattle at this rate]

Santa Fe was beautiful but touristy. I would recommend everyone to see the town and it's museums, but eat light / supermarket food and buy sovernirs elsewhere !

An overnight greyhound got me into Denver, which paralleled with Atlanta in that it was a nice enough place, but not much fun. I did want to travel to see Idaho springs or other nearby sights, but my desire to keep moving forward took me today into Boulder, which from first sights seems beautiful and scenic. I think some long mountain treks await me, and hopefully some good drinking !

In other news I have started to read about Russian / St Petersburg history instead of just reading trashy novels. Some sort of need to learn stuff apparently... I'll see how long this academic streak lasts !

Regarding Austin - I like the nightlife, I like to boogie. Well, actually I did more drinking and not much boogie-ing, but nightlife in Austin was $1 beers and lots of live music. Not much GOOD live music, but I may have been frequenting the cheaper joints so what did I expect :)

I spent 4 good days in Austin, the last day of which I spent in an outdoor natural spring / pool, Barton Springs. There I aquired travel compaions with a car for the next few days, and a moderate amount of sunburn ! In the company of James and Chrissy we drove West from Austin to get out of Texas and into New Mexico.

It turns out Texas is BIG though, and we just made the New Mexico border by sundown, and found a spot to camp - an outdoor lake surrounded by large bushes and a few isolated campsites. It was beautiful and full-on back to nature. I honestly don't remeber being anywhere so remote and peaceful in my life.
We carried on through various state and national parks / forests, seeing bat caverns and ancient indian cave dwellings, and moved on through Alberquerque into Santa Fe.

Here my car companions and I will be parting - they are heading West to California and myself North into the Rockys. I am feeling happy but quite travelled out ! I think I will try to book some 3-4 day treks around the Rocky mountains to keep myself busy and see more of nature, which is where the US has really impressed me so far.

New Orleans held a couple of good drinking sessions, but otherwise was a bit of a meat market (in a bad way). The french quarter was basically a well kept beautiful network of small blocks and iron balconied houses, which a sleazy Ibiza street plowed straight through the middle (Bourbon Street).

I could see myself enjoying it in a larger group, but I just got tired of being harassed to buy shots and beads all the time. Getting old, obviously...

So on, through Houston (not much to say there - didn't bother with the space center as it's apparently a major rip off), and onto Austin, which by day is a bit quiet. Looking forward to tonight though ! More later...

Atlanta was uninspiring but had some good moments - met a 3D graphic artist and chatted computers for a while. Also, when I ended up stuck in a bar for 4-5 hours waiting for the next greyhound bus, I met some guys and had a good drinking session that I had to drag myself away from to not miss the bus ! I slept good that night...

And awoke in New Orleans which is very nice although a little heavy on tourists and scam artists ! It's my first day, so I won't say much yet, other than I've found an internet cafe to upload my camera pictures (finally) which should all be in place in the next day or two.

Sidetracking for a second - movie news !

Over the few weeks, being alone many evenings, I have digested a few movies and feel obliged to point out that Terminator 3 and The League of Extrondiary Gentlemen are dire movies barely worth seeing for the effects. Of the two, Terminator 3 disappoints the most, as it looks back at the "man vs machine" and then "machine vs machine" previous movies and reguritates those idea badly, adding nothing new, leaving predicatble turgid filth.

Bad boys II was funny though, and possibly better than the first one - making it one to add to the "sequels better than the original" film list - so go see that if anything :)

Motels have turned out to be the answer - although not so hot for meeting people you can get a nice room to yourself for $40. Also not so good for getting out and abuot downtown at night - as you are really relying on buses to get you there and back.

Anyhow, Nashville was Country-tastic, and then I moved onto Memphis where my accomadation problems worsened - there were 100mph winds raging the previous day and most places were without electricity, or in some cases, walls. So 3-4 hours of wondering around I got to a bar at the edge of town around 10pm, made a few last calls and gave up. And at this point Steve, the guy next to me at the bar, overheard my plight and offered me a floor to crash on - which turned out to be a floor with an airbed + beer + a rooftop pool. Both very hospitable and nicer than the places I've been paying to stay, even without electricity. Shower in the morning was a bit cold though...

So I saw the sights yesterday - Graceland and Beale Street. Most other things were shut down or wrecked by the storm. Then I got an overnight bus to Atlanta, Georgia.

Today I'm quite tired - and bitten. It seems me 'n' Steve had wing-ed friends in Memphis, and I now have over 100 bug bites all over me - there are over 40 bites alone on the inside of one foot ! Needless to say I am in some for of tired - itchy - irritable state and not really feeling up for this travelling lark - that and all the places are starting to feel the same. I think I just need some good rest, although given the volume of the parrot in the hostel I found, that may not happen.

Ok - I've got to Nashville now - but facing a small problem - accomadation (for under $50) ! The only option is looking to be a bus in and out of town for 4-5 miles to get to a "Motel 6" - which is my entire daily budget just on accomadation. Given I can then spend the next day on a Greyhound bus (free accomdation) I guess this balances out - but it still kinda sucks.

Europe was littered with Hostels I seem to recall - is the US just not so hot for Hostelling ? Answers / useful URLs for finding non-HI hostels on an e-mail :)

St Louis was the change of scene I've been looking for - it's mid sized town with a big arch as it's main attraction, but the hostel is located just south of downtown in the French Quarter, Sulard. Initially sceptical, I bumped into a few drinking buddies and discovered Sulard has bars on most corners, all hosting some excellent Rythmn and Blues music, and serving fine long island ice teas !

The people playing are all local and superb muscians - and there is a really nice vibe going around, as they invite other musicians up to play bass for this song, and then play this other song as it's someone in the bars favorite. It was the tonic I needed from big city tourism, so I've decided to extend my stay for a couple of nights and party some more.

Thanks for all the mails, apologies for those I don't have time to reply to ! It's really nice to hear what's going on at home, so do keep me posted. Saturday night I should be on an overnight bus towards Nashville or Memphis - pushing onwards into the southern states !

Chicago was loverly, weather was perfect and has some of the best architecture I've seen - expect many tedious building / skyline pictures when I find a decent internet cafe ! I saw some really goot art and stuff in the museums, making use of free days - one museum (the natural history or "dinosaur" museum) had cancelled it's free day, but when I said that I had no money and went to leave, the security guy let me in for free, saying that he'd been in England a while ago and they let him into the museums in London for free, so he was simply returning the favour. I hadn't the heart to tell him they are free to everyone all the time :)

I spent some time with a guy from Liverpool, Rick, who made an excellent companion for wondering around, laughing at stupid american things and going up the Sears tower with, but a terrible drinking companion as it turned out he was only 19, and ID laws are very strict out here. In the end I brought a 6-pack of bud lites and we smuggled them into the hostel TV / common room and sneakily drunk them like 14 year old kids in the park with cider. Turns out drinking your own purchased alcohol anywhere in the US is illegal, except in your own home - which kinda sucks for cheap drinking - bars are expensive.

Anyhow, final day in Chicago passed quickly with some Krispy Kreme donunts (v. nice) and fireworks in the evening (sponsered by Pepsi !) and then an overnight bus trip took me into St Louis where I arrived and promptly slept 3 more hours in the bus terminal, waiting for the day to start and the hostel to be open.

So, one overnight Greyhound bus later, and I'm in Detroit - CITY OF ZOMBIES !!!

Ok, not quite, but it was a very "28 days later" feelign as I wondered around the downtown area. All the shops were shut and no-one was around (Ok - so it IS 10am Sunday) - but over half the buildings are shutdown permanantly / abandonded - cardboard / wood boarding up the windows. I should also add that the one and only Detroit Hostel shut down a while ago. Along with most non-alcohol serving industries, it seemed.

So I was kind of getting the fear - I walked out of downtown up towards the "cultural center", which turned out to be about 2-3 miles along a long straight main road, flanked by shutdown buildings and a few remaining party haunts. Eninem was due to play that night, and I had a feeling that any minute I'd hear a growing roar, and in the distance, thousands of slim shady fans would comgin piling ove rthe horizon line, tanked on gin and juice and turn this way-too-quiet urban scene into a sprawling melee. Ok - I was tired and a little over-dramatic at this point - but I jsut needed to sum up my frame of mind for the record :)

So early afternoon I got back onto the greyhound and went over to Chicago where I am now. More on Chicago another time - but briefly, this is looking to be one of the best cities so far !

It's my last hour in Toronto - and indeed Canada - what better way than to spend my remaining Candaian currency that on the 'net ! (the answer is of course drinking beer - but I havn't got _that_ much Canadian cash left)

Toronto got better as time went on. I saw all there was to see of the CN tower - tallest building the world - so they say. I also met up with Laura tonight for food 'n beer and saw a few of the cooler side streets I had missed to my general patrol. One of the problems of big cities will always be that the real core and heart of what makes a place kick is often hard to get to - I think it took me 3-4 months to really get into London. The other problem is you need to certain level of cash too - another resource that is a little scarcer these days !

Oh, I also almost lost my passport here ! Left it under my pillow, changed rooms in the morning, and then around 8pm had this moment of horror when I realised what I'd done - fortunatley no-one had been near my old bed, so it was still there. Before anyone says anything - yeah, yeah, I know. Just let it go... let it go...

Anyhow, in a hour I am heading out to Chicago - it's a 12 hour coach trip. It's kinda a drag, as I wanted to see Detroit, and I had someone to meet whilst I was out there, but there are NO hostels in Detroit ! I could stop off for the day, but then I'll be running on 5 hours sleep and have to leave after 6-7 hours to get to Chicago (and a bed) for the night.

Better head on down that Greyhound terminal - and bag a loverly double seat for sleepage.

This post is coming to you North-side ! I am currently in Canada. "But how ?" I hear you ask - well, let me tell you.

From Washington I headed via Pittsburgh, which was a nice bite-sized city to take in, especially as it was a Monday, and everything is closed in Pittsburgh on Monday !... well, not everything, but all the modern art / museum stuff is, and there are only so many shots of the "neo-gothic" PPG building you can take.

So next I crused on up towards Buffalo, and during the trip was informed that Buffalo is no fun at all by a fellow traveller, Laura - who has been travelling way longer than me (I'm such an ameteur !) So we stayed on the bus chatting until Niagra falls, Ontario, where I jumped off and stayed 2 days to look at big waterfalls and generally go Oooh and Aaaah.

In Niagra, I hung around with Pete and Elin, a top class Dutch couple I met there, and we saw the falls by day (boat trip !) and night (pretty colours) and drunk some beers. All good stuff. But then, despite Niagras claim of having over 50 other things to do - all of them tourist traps to the last - I decided to head North into Tornoto, where I current find myself blogging.

No real news from Toronto yet - I am on day two but the weather has been rainy again, so I have put off going up the CN Tower ; "Oh look, it's a cloudy day for miles around !" ; until the weather clears up a little. The city itself has lots of intersting little districts (little korea is nice) which was good for food and probably fun to live near, but not really that exciting to be a tourist in.

Some good art was found in the ARO museum - and hopefully more in the Royal Ontraio Museum which is free on Fridays !... Because I should actually be out drinking beer, of course, but I'm a little skint and alone right here right now.

Next stop - Detroit - then onto Chicago.

Washington (DC) - seven bargain-tastic days chez John have been good fun. There has been tours of the cooler suberbs of DC, as well as the obligatory tour of large impressive buildings that you see on the movies (shortly before the aliens / terrorists / tenacious children blow them up). Also took a day to explore the Smithsonian Museums, as they are all free here, and get a bit of culture on. Modern art seems to be gripping my interest most of all at the moment - but then again I didn't get a chance to do the postal museum, so I'll never know which is best...

Independance day was nice and chilled. Lots of people hit the mall to drink, eat and play Volleyball. However, not a lot seemed to happen until the evening when the fireworks started - then 20 mins of blinding lights and booms (these were good fireworks !) - after which everyone clapped.... and went home ! It just felt like there should of been something more going on - 100,000 people all gatherd in one place to celebrate independance from some oppresive little island, you just think they would have more entertainment things to do.

Next stop : Pittsburgh on the way up to Toronto, via Niagra falls / Buffalo. After this it's internet cafes for web access - not broadband in my mates house ! So e-mails and blog updates may slow down a little.

Photos of my trip have been split into two albums. Firstly pictures of my travels, and secondly pictures of art and museums, to keep them seperate. Apparantly, you need to sign-up to view the photos - sorry about that - but it is worth it, honest !

Coming soon - pictures of mo travels ! Curteousy of the new digital camera I have ordered.
I'll be uploading pictures to my digital album, which currently has some photos taken over 2002 by my old camera - you can get there via the link on the left.

[edit] Found the camera for a bargin-tastic 35 dollars less than I was about to pay on-line in Office Depot, a sort of US version of Staples. Very unexpected and excedingly bargin-tastic. Photos to follow when I get John to hold still long enough :)

Boston - city of good lobster meals. Stayed over for a couple of days in the generous hospitality of a workmates cousin, with beer and lots of cable TV channels. But then it was time to head on to...

Zach's Wedding !!!
Zach, an old friend from university, married one of the coolest gals in the world, Tara, this weekend. It was a fantastic weekend filled with booze, food, booze, late-night pool swimming, booze, dancing and of course booze. The hotel we stayed in, the Juniper hill inn, was loverly - it's all downhill from here on in as far as creature comforts go ! Big thanks to Mr and Mrs Veitch for a memorable event.

Big hello to anyone from the wedding reading this - I'll be sure to be in touch about sleeping on your sofas soon :) Feel free to jump the gun and mail me first.

This post was actually composed on a laptop on the Amtrack train, midway through it's 10 hour journey from New Hampshire to Washignton DC. We are just pulling through New York towards Manhatten - halfway there. These long trips could become a little tedious, I think.

New York - a city so good I came here twice !

Day 1 was a long-flight then lots of beer day. Weather is rainy and grey - not quite what I expected or packed for !
Staying at a friends apartment (Ollie) on Upper-East side - very nice and comfy sofa to sleep on + broadband access - nice.

Discovery of the day - travel towels. Brilliant things, dry quick, and absorb better than normal towels. The only downside is that it's like rubbing yourself with felt...

Reading party - a bit of a blur ! Recall some fine drinking action across Irish, Carribian, Russian and Ozzie bars - then finally the purple turtle, of course.
Much booty shaking action was had in the turtle, and many leaving cards / presents went wandering - still have the inflatable globe though ! But no "star" stickers to put on it - they appear to have been distributed amongst the faces of everyone in the bar instead...

So that's it - all leaving do's done. Many kind words and presents from lots of people (thank you !)
Now it's time to figure out what to stick in my bag - next post should be from NYC :)

Leaving London Party was a big success - thanks to everyone who came down.
If anyone has any pictures, let me know, as it's be quite nice to have a copy online etc... !

Next stop - Reading - for more party-age - the theme ?... American beer is shit :)

Hope to see many of you there too !!!

RTW ticket booked - tick

If your interested, you can view the full itinerary (click).

Notice handed in - tick.

Very scary moment - drafted up a proper resignation letter at the last minute (well planned as always) - then whilst reviewing my goals for the end of this year with my boss, I decided now was the best time to confess my plans.

So far, no major comments at work - mainly surprise ! Feel a bit guilty... Ah well, I'm now offically beyond the "point of no return" !!!

So I'd better get a RTW ticket, I guess :)

4 days until I hand in my notice... still no RTW ticket purchased...

Good news is selling my life has gone well - both through amazon and work noticeboards. Chalked up aobut 400 quid from games, books and videos, with another 400-500 quid coming in from selling PCs and Palm Pilots.

One final selling drive of old board games and books once I'm back at home, and then see how the finaces are going. Should hopefulyl have sold enoguh stuff to pay for my entire ticket (leaving saved cash for rent and beer money).

Heck, I can sleep on long night bus journeys - more beer money that way :)

I declare today, April 22nd, "Sticking your tounge out" day
So there :)=

It appears there are a lot of people buying second hand shit out there... must of made alomst 200 quid on amazon marketplace in 2 weeks !
Been feeling the cold turkey of not buying CDs though... no new White stripes album for me... or Manitoba... or Massive attack... :(

Also been looking closer at routes and such - it looks like 1 grand will get me London -> NYC -> LA -> Fiji -> New Zealand -> Sydney -> Singapore -> Bangkok -> London, with a few thousands miles to spare for deviations.

Cancelled direct debits today - it's amazing how easily you rack up these "money leeches" to drain your salary. It feels so good to just lop them all off every year by moving house or travelling - to be able to confirm that every penny disappearing from your account is either being invested wisely, or contributing towards a painful Sat / Sun afternoon of hangover hell :)

Pre-holiday pledge :- no blogging while drunk !

Money - need money.

Apparently budgeting, like dieting, requires you to do more than say you are doing it - you actually have to do it as well !

So, in a killing 2 birds with 1 stone style-ee, I think I rigorous session on ebay should raise some extra funds, as well as clearing some of the old games / books / videos out of my folks place, for a fresh layer of crap to sit on top of.

Not sure I want to do a complete "all my life for sale" job, but anything that has gathered dust for 10 years is probably only worth keeping if dust replaces sterling as currency (In which case I will just haul all my old junk down the travel agents and blow in there direction...)

Told parents - tick.
Ordered iPod - tick.
Sorting house move - tick.

Not going too badly then. Just gotta farm off some furniture to family and friends, and sort out that all important route and ticket.
Gonna make a deadline of 31st March to sort those things out... after which I'll do some sums and see how much cash I got knockin' about !

Sorry about the incredible dullness off all this - it's basically a progress tracker for me at the moment.
Besides, no-one is supposed to be reading this for a couple of months yet ! Then I promise more stories of (mis)adventure.

As your here, I gift you my quality link de la jour to be more entertaining than I.
Au reviour, T

No real progress so far - how lame. Need to sort out :

• A route


• A round-the-world ticket


• Getting enough cash together


• Sorting out some job thing in Oz


• An iPod full of 'choons to keep me sane


• Moving out of the house I'm in right now


• Telling my folks there getting a whole load of crap deposited back home quite soon

Better "phone home"...

Hmmm, a blog to record my progress around the world - good plan. So here it is (woo).
...
Ok, so I'm not actually going for a few months yet, but at least I can get warmed up to this blogging lark first ^_^