London & waiting...

After seeing Brad off at the airport I went back to stay the night at my cousins place in Boston Manor outside London. I was planning on spending a few days in London and meeting up with my auntie and cousin and do a bit of sightseeing with them.

I booked myself into a hostel for a few nights and then met up with my aunt and cousin and did some sightseeing around the Westminster area of London. Firstly we planned on taking a ride on the London Eye, but unfortunately it had been closed for maintenance for a week. Alright for me because I was sure that I'd have plenty more opportunities in the future.
Next was a ferry ride down the river Thames to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London. We bought tickets to the Tower Bridge which gave us access to the walkway high above the road and also into some of the behind the scenes operations of the bridge. Its amazing that so many years ago they were able to build such massive structures with such intricate details in the stonework. After freezing ourselves on the bridge it was time to defrost with a coffee and a bite to eat.
After lunch we went for a tour through the Tower of London. It's a massive fortress, surrounded by dried up moats and has been around for hundreds of years. Some of the stories about the place and the history were very eye-opening as to how far the world has developed from this period of time. Inside the walls of the fortress the Crown Jewels are kept locked away but available for viewing for the public. I tried to sneak a few photos of the crowns but unfortunately got caught almost instantly. See what I have to go through to try and keep you all visually up-to-date!

After the tour we noticed that the day was slipping away and we decided that we wouldn't have enough time to see everything we wanted to see in the one day. My aunt offered the floor of her hotel room for the night so we could finish off the sightseeing the next day. Obviously, I took her up on her offer.

Day 2 we planned to see the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. 1st stop was to be Westminster Abbey. This massive cathedral is decorated with perfectly carved stone walls and ceilings and lit by huge stained glass windows. Here hundreds of important people, from priests to kings to killed soldiers to poets, are buried beneath the floor under massive slabs of stone.
Next stop was the Houses of Parliament. We managed to get into the House of Commons and the House of Lords while they were in session. The House of Lords was decorated in gold leaf and was almost overdone, a bit hard on the eyes! Interesting but boring... I don't have much to comment on here.

Finally we walked passed the Big Ben and headed home for some dinner. Time to say our goodbyes and it was time for me to head out to Ashwell again to waste a few days until Pete arrived on the 21st.

Ashwell, Manningtree & B-rad’s departure...

The bus ride to London was long, but 5 1/2 hours later we arrived. Our plan was to head to Ashwell for a few days just to relax after our long week of partying. Ashwell is a small town about an hours train ride from London with only a thousand or so residents. One of my dad’s mates Allan owns a house there and said it was cool if we stayed there a while.

Our time in Ashwell was boring the say the most. But we couldn’t complain we were looking for somewhere to relax that’s exactly what we did. I don’t have much to say about this part of our trip other than it was great to chillax.

From Ashwell Brad wanted to go and see some family friends in Manningtree, near Essex. So off we went again back on the train to London then out to Manningtree. They were very good to us, cooking breakfasts, dinners and giving us a nice place to sleep for a while, and I can’t forget the beers too. They also took us out to see their part of the world which was interesting and quite different from other places I’d visited, from the small traditional English pubs to the luscious green fields to the babbling brooks. In some places it was very surreal.

After a few days of chillaxing there with Brad it was time to leave again, this time was the big departure for Brad, time for him to head back home to Sydney. Back on the train again, next stop, Heathrow Airport. So after 2 weeks of B-rad, the awesome times we had were coming to an end. He was very excited to be heading home and said that 2 months was more than enough for his travels.

It was time to say our goodbyes and good lucks and then he was gone… Lining up in a line for security checks that was no shorter than a few hundred meters long! I’m not sure how long it took you to get through Brad but it seemed like it was a bit of a wait!

Now that I was by myself again I had planned to stay in London for a few nights and meet up with my aunt and cousin, who were also here on holiday from Australia.

English Roadtrip, Part 3...

We arrived in Liverpool just before sunset and had already decided that we’d stay in a hostel so we could have a proper sleep, shower and wash our dirty clothes. Brad had already decided on a hostel from his trusty Lonely Planet guide so we drove straight there to get settled. On inquiring about the cost of a bed each for the night we were quoted ₤15 each. I thought it was a bit expensive and was sure I’d seen it cheaper on the internet. So I asked the lady to give us a minute and I jumped on the internet in front of reception and booked 2 beds for ₤10 each. Up we went back to reception and said that we had a booking for 2 beds. She seemed a little confused but all was good and we ended up saving about $13 each. Later to be used much more wisely…

After dumping our gear in the room we put on a load of washing each and headed out for some tucker and then returned to our room to prepare for our night out. There was a Kiwi guy staying in our room who came with us for some bev’s. He was keen to go to The Cavern Bar where The Beatles had played hundreds of gigs. So we went along with his suggestion and after descending 3 flights of stairs into the underground bar, we were pleased to see a Beatles impersonation band playing. After many pints of beer it was time to move on.
Our next stop was the Walkabout, the Aussie pub! We stayed at this pub all night until it closed and only then did we notice that our Kiwi roommate had left us! Oh well, he wasn’t that fun anyways and he did seem a little drunk. After Brad insisted on a Kebab we made our way back to the hostel.

As we entered the room we were instantly confronted with a stale smell. Too drunk and tired to care we continued to prepare to become horizontal. As I was just about to jump into bed I felt something wet on my foot next to my bed. Instantly I remembered the stale smell and instantly came to the conclusion that what I had just stepped in was fresh urine. As I announced my discovery to Brad, he didn’t believe me and felt the urge to touch, stroke and almost caress the bed and carpet numerous times until he too decided that what was now covering his hands was indeed fresh urine.

So about now I was pretty annoyed so I woke up the Kiwi guy and asked him if he’d taken a piss on my bed. He was extremely drunk and could hardly speak but managed to say that he didn’t think he’d pissed in my bed. So off I went down to reception and got a key to a fresh room. Okay I was happy now. Back to the stale urine smelling room and tried again to get the Kiwi to admit that he’d urinated all over my bed. After 5 minutes of probing for an answer he admitted that maybe he might have done it but he’d never done anything like it before! Oh well, there’s a first time for everything, time for sleep…

The next night was equally as good, back to the Walkabout we went and had another large serving of bev’s and hung out most of the night with a few Bobette the Builders! Good fun and good laughs were had and once again Liverpool had delivered another memorable night. Another kebab for Brad and myself on the way home and we were satisfied enough to become horizontal for a few hours before we had to drop the car off and jump on a bus to London.

This was to unfortunately mark the end of our English Roadtrip…

The rest is coming...

The even more up to date blog is coming! It will magically appear here in 2 days from now! So check back and dont be afraid to leave comments...

English Roadtrip, Part 2...

We left Newcastle knowing only one thing, the direction we should be going on the highway. Brad was busy, nose in his Lonely Planet guide, trying to find an adequate next destination. His idea was to go to Wakefield, a small town near Leeds and not far from Manchester. It’s a footy town and Deano, Brad’s brother, had been there previously returning with good reviews.

We arrived to a small country town, Wakefield. Found a place to park the car for the night, also to be our sleeping location, and headed out to checkout the town. After walking around for an hour we decided that nothing was going on here so we got some Chinese takeaway and hit the burl again. Next stop Manchester…

50miles & 30mins later we were in Manchester. Again we found a place to park, visited a YHA hostel and asked about the nightlife. Half an hour later we found ourselves, unintentionally, inside a gay bar. The only good thing was that the drinks were very cheap, maybe because it was a members only bar… I guess Brad must have looked like a member… Here's some proof!
The night fell short of our expectations so we decided we’d stay another night, only because we’d heard great things about Manchester.

Our 2nd night was much more eventful; luckily we booked ourselves into a hostel for the night. We followed the advice of a group of uni students we met in a bar and headed to a place called “Printworks”. We drank and danced the night away and were glad that Manchester had finally delivered! Back to the hostel and awoke to a throbbing headache, nothing a brisk walk in the chilly air of Manchester couldn’t fix, and again it was time to hit the road.

Next stop Liverpool...

English Roadtrip, Part 1...

1st stop, Newcastle. We arrived just after sunset, with nothing planned we thought we better find ourselves a bed for the night. A little while later we were dumping our luggage in a B&B a short walk from the town centre. After grabbing a can of beer each we walked into town to find ourselves some dinner and later some more alcohol.

Indian was on our “solids” menu for the night which we swiftly devoured in order to progress to the more enticing mesmeric “liquid” menu. After dinner we found ourselves in a shopping mall, although not any shopping mall, it was a shopping mall almost entirely devoted to pubs and clubs with the exception of a cinema on the upper floor. Were we in heaven? It sure looked like it…
Countless hours later we were back at the B&B sprawled out on our beds, music blaring from my laptop along with Brad drunkenly singing along. A few hours later we woke up, 5 minutes before checkout, only to hear an Asian woman banging on the door telling us to get out because she needed to clean up our mess.

We did some rapid packing and departed.

Next stop, unknown…

Edinburgh, NYE!

B-rad arrived at the train station (29th) and we stayed a night at my cousin’s place in Glasgow. In the morning we hired a car which was to mark the beginning of our journey. We burled from Glasgow to Edinburgh, found some accommodation with free wireless, which surprisingly wasn’t too difficult... It just happened to be our vehicle, parked out the front of a 5* hotel! Couldn’t have been in a primer location!

After having some beers in the car it was about time that we made our mark in the Edinburgh pubs. Beer in hand we walked from our accommodation into the city to find a pub. First up was some dirty pub which we stayed for a decent session of bevving until we decided that we'd have one more pint and that would be it for the night... After our pint we made our way to the next pub/club next-door where Brad bumped into an Aussie guy he'd met in Ireland. 5 minutes later and we had a pint of Snakebite (1/2 beer, 1/2 cider and raspberry cordial), then another, then another, then a few double vodka red-bulls and some tequila shots, all of which were compliments of Brads mate from Ireland! All I can really say is it was a very fun filled messy night.
Next night, New Years @ Edinburgh's Hogmanay. We awoke in the morning, or was it afternoon? All I remember was that my head hurt... Brad and I thought it was about time to get going and book ourselves tickets to the Hogmany Street Party. 20pounds later we had our tickets, along with a beanie and "kissable" lip balm. By now it was getting dark so darkness = bevving, well actually, anything = bevving at this point of our travels. So back we went to our accommodation and onto the sauce for a few hours preceding the main event. As the cans began to build up around our accommodation, the weather started turning bad. The winds became gale force and the rain became heavier so we put on heaps of clothes and ventured out to the street party.
Along the way we felt the urge to pickup some more booze, a flask of Vodka & some Red Bull’s was on the menu for our 2nd course. At the off-license where we made our purchase we were told that the street party had been cancelled due to the extreme weather conditions. We thought they were joking but sure enough they were telling the truth. Oh well, we had our grog and we were in the mood for a good night so we strolled the streets singing and carrying on, picking up our 3rd course (vodka & coke) along the way and finishing the night with a pint for desert in a pub before returning to our comfy beds at around 6am. Another night, or parts of, to remember...

Next day, the beginning of our English road-trip...

London & Glasgow

The flight from New York to London wasn’t too bad it was only about 6 hours and I slept almost the whole way...

My cousin Hayley met me at the airport and we jumped on the underground to her place outside London. The house was nice and her housemates were all heaps nice people too so later on that night we headed out to the local Irish pub down the road. I was only going to have a beer or two because the funds were a bit low (bloody weekend bank transfers!) but Hayley's boyfriend Rhys wouldn’t have a bar of it. After him shouting me pints of Guinness all night I was smashed and I paid for it in the morning!

Next day we just chilled out and checked out the town and I planned how I was to get to the Gatwick Airport to catch my flight to Glasgow. When I booked my flight I didn’t realise that I'd need to get two trains and a bus to actually get to the airport. And to make things worse, my flight was at 6:30am and no busses ran at that time... Hmm, I decided that I'd sleep at the airport for the night thinking there'd be plenty of places to sleep. Well, so did a thousand other people! I arrived to find a human carpet covering almost the entire floor of the airport with horizontal humans! Oh well, so I found myself a corner behind a vending machine and set up camp for the night... 7 hours later and no more than and hour sleep it was time to check it...

1 hour later, Glasgow, Scotland, and my cousin Paul picked me up from the airport. I was staying in his house over Christmas to have myself my first Chrissy away from the traditional stinking Christmas day sweltering over a juicy barbie! I'll tell ya, I missed a good steak and snag! And the family shenanigans!

For the rest of my time in Glasgow Paul took me out to see the sites, or should I say the pubs? I saw my fair share of Glasgonian pubs over my 5 days there, but I did manage to scrape some site-seeing in in-between!

We got around to seeing some old cathedral and some very old buildings including the oldest house in Glasgow which was pretty amazing thinking that they are heaps older than any buildings in Australia.

We managed to see the Glasgow Transport Museum which was filled with really old cars, trains, gipsy vans, and horse & carriages although without the horses... Also we got round to the Museum which had all sorts of historical stuff, from paintings to fossils to knights to military aircraft to an impression of Pete’s face!

The days passed, the beers started getting all that more tasty and I knew in a few days that I'd be meeting up with B-rad for New Years then off to Edinburgh for many a good times!

New York New York

I arrived in New York knowing that I'd be meeting up with Mick so I was pretty excited even before I got to see the city! When I came out of the subway into the city it was amazing just to see how many people, cars and buildings were in my face...

I had a hostel booked just down the road from Time Square. The hostel was pretty nice and the location made it awesome for just seeing the sights of the city. So I dumped my bags in the hostel and went in search of Mick. He didn't have a mobile with him so I couldn’t call him so I sent him an email saying that I'd meet him at 10am and 4pm on the corner of two streets.

For those of you who know Mick, you know what happened, he didn’t show up... So back to the hotel and used my laptop and skype to call Mick's mum to get the name of his hotel. Finally I was a bit closer to finding him! So off I went to his hotel and left a message under his door saying I'd meet him in the lobby at 6pm. Again, 6pm, no show :( Hmm... I thought he'd be getting back to the hotel soon so I waited in the lobby until just after 7pm when in he walked. He was amazed to see me sitting in the lobby and instantly got excited.

15 minutes later and we were off to a New York Nicks basketball game at Madison Square Gardens. After lining up for a few minutes we were offered tickets for $20 from a scalper. So we snatched them up and took our seats. A basketball game usually has four 12min quarters so you'd think the game would go for no longer than 1.5hrs including breaks... 2.5hrs later and we were into extra time! Mick and I were getting very restless, it just kept dragging on and on and on and on and on and on...

The next few days were purely sightseeing...

We went up the Empire State Building at night which was amazing. It’s so much higher than all the other buildings. We only stayed up there for a little while because it was so cold and windy but definitely worth the shrinkage for the experience!

Next day was Statue of Liberty time... We caught the subway down to the wharfs where you get the ferry to Liberty Island. The ferry ride gave us a great view of the city from the water, its kind of weird without the twin-towers though. On Liberty Island we tagged along with a tour which was both boring and interesting.

After our harbour cruise to the Statue of Liberty it was time for a more sobering area of the city, ground-zero. At the time we visited they had just erected the first beam of the replacement building, the Freedom Tower, and the whole block is basically a massive construction zone. It’s very weird to be there, knowing that two massive buildings collapsed and so many people had died under our feet. If you look closely at the pavement and some of the neighbouring buildings you can make out small chips in the concrete, assumably from where the debris from the collapse impacted.

I stayed at Mick's hotel for the next 2 nights which was a nice change from the hostels I'd been staying in for the past month. Thanks again Mick!

For my last full day we went Museuming. Firstly though, we had to walk through Central Park. It’s actually very amazing that in such a massive city with so many building that they still have a park as big as Central Park. Its absolutely massive, probably would take an hour or more to walk from one end to the other. It's more like a National Park than a "park"; it has massive lakes, boulders, squirrels and thousands of trees along with an outdoor ice-rink.

We went to the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Modern Art; they were both pretty interesting but got boring after a while. I can only seem to look at painting for so long before they all start looking the same...

Next day time to leave, my last day in the USA...

Off to London now!

The update...

Its coming guys... Something happened with my old blog site and I cant add anything else too it so this will be the UK/Europe blog from now on... With New York added first :)

Sorry ive been heaps slack on the updates but im in the process of getting them all up to date!

Check back here very soon!