Blog

Well I’ve done it. If my journey could be stated as four quarters then I have now passed the half way mark and am starting my third quarter now as I write. You see, I am writing this from Times Square, New York.

Asia, then Europe, and now the United States, and only South America remains. Of course my USA time lasts for almost a month, so I will be here for quite a while yet.

My first stop, as you already know is New York. Here I am planted for about 4 days. So far I love the place. Everywhere I turn there are Spanish speakers and language. It is so nice to hear it again, it seems so long since I was in Spain. The place is pretty busy but not crushing crowds as London was, and there are shops here… oh boy are there shops here. Lots and lots of shops. I love this place… I could spend so much money here. There are electronic shops, clothes shops, music shops, food shops, and so much more. How wonderfully exciting.

It is very cold too. I thought I would be ready for how cold, but tonight have dressed with too little warmth and am feeling the cold muchly. My method for getting to the next place is shop-hopping where I wander for a bit then duck into a shop to warm up before wandering for a bit more. This seems to work ok for now.

Jet lag is supposed to be easier when you fly with the sun as I did from London to New York. I’m not convinced. Mind you, being as totally worn out as I have been lately, I’m not sure it is even the jet lag. I took a sleeping pill on the aeroplane to help me sleep and then didn’t even sleep after it. I slept before it for a few minutes though. Perhaps it was the tub of Maltesers that kept me company throughout the flight that counteracted the effects of the pill. Hmmm… not sure, but am tired now.

Well, this is not an epistle on my New York experiences… that alone, just for tonight, would take a book. Nope, this is only to let you know that I am now arrived in New York. Sometime later I will head to Washington DC, then to Asheville in North Carolina from about 1st to 7th Feb.
Continue reading “Update – United States of America”

I have just arrived in England.

The lady on the passport control in Heathrow almost didn’t let me into their country. I had to answer the Spanish Inquisition before my passport was stamped. Crazy woman. She had me feeling like a criminal and I certainly did not feel so welcome to Britian. Everything else was smooth however and I found my way over to Bristol to meet my mate Tom.

Tom and I have a hired car with loud CD player in it. I was expecting our trip to include some of England in it, but have now discovered that for Tom it is a Scottish tour rather than a tour of Britian. That sounds fine to me… so now I am on a Scottish tour with Tom. We leave in the morning reather early… around 6am to get to Glasgow by lunch time.

After a dinner at the local pub, The Swan… a very lovely restaurant feeling place which is nice enough to take your family to (nothing like I have seen or known in Australia or NZ)… we have sorted out our itinerary and are looking forward to starting our trip tomorrow.

From Glasgow we head west to the Isle of Bute, then Oban, and overnight somewhere near or at Fort Williams before heading off to Aberdeen where my grandpappy used to live and around the coast until we reach Edinburgh. From here we return home again, hopefully via some of the less reachable places of England if there is time.

So for all you Scottish peoples out there, “Lang may your Lummy Rick”… meaning “Long may your chimney smoke”.

Hi all, sorry for the delay in the update. I am now in Finland, living in Helsinki with Pauliina. There has been days of lots of snow and days where it was dry. The snow on the ground melts fast when it stops snowing and the city now is looking quite snowless (this is relative to how it normally looks at this time of year of course where there are piles of snow everywhere… from my Australian experience I still see heaps of snow everywhere on the ground).

Tomorrow we fly out to Lapland to go snowboarding, look at the Northern Lights and have some fun on Snowmobiles and other such adventures. It should be lots of fun.

Temperatures here are always below zero, but it is quite comfortable walking around outside while it is above -5. I have just bought myself a warm coat (something I was sorely missing) so I am looking forward to wearing it – oh and mum, dont worry as it was on special.

I have been for a sleigh ride at warp speeds behind a impatient horse, and have driven for over 200kms along an icy slippery road at highway speeds right into the night during a snow storm. The thing about driving at night here is that all the road markers get covered with snow and you cannot tell where the road is. Very exciting stuff.

If you have sent me text messages to my mobile phone then be assured that I have received them, it is just that I have run out of credit and cannot reply any more. Sorry.

Hi all. Happy New Year for 2004.

I am currently in Prague in the Czech Republic and loving it. All of the intricate buildings and find art work around the place is certainly a feast for the eyes.

It is -5 (celcius) during the day here and snowing. Very cold indeed. The city has more of a country town atmosphere than a city, but the crowds of tourists that swarm around remind you otherwise.

I have camped out in a dilapidated old building with some lovely people who met me at the train station. It is very near the middle of town too. I kind of like this place because it is probably closer to the real Czech experience than a normal hostel or hotel. Oh, and this is the weekend after New Years which means the city is still very very busy with people from all over Europe that are here to celebrate.

Tomorrow at 2pm I train to Frankfurt for an overnight stop, then fly out to Helsinki. My trip through Europe has been very whirlwind and hectic with little time to enjoy each place I have gone but enough time in most cases to see it. It will be wonderful to stop in Helsinki for a solid 10days soon.

So for my travel through Europe, I have been able to see Spain (Madrid, Barcelona), Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice), Austria (Vienna, Mistelbach), Czech (Prague), and a night of Germany (Frankfurt). It is certainly not the trip I thought I could do, but it has been wonderful to meet so many amazing people on my way through.

As for when you will get an update on each place, I do not know, but my diary is current so it will be forthcoming when I can find the time.

Hi again. As you know, I am in New York. My time here has been a moment of dropping my bundle. I have hardly done any tourist things at all… and yet there seems to have been a lot done anyway. I met up with a friend of a friend, Becky, who is a radical Christian just like me. Together we have had heaps of fun tearing up the town and doing lots of cool stuff.

What I Did In NY
Some of this stuff included the normal: Times Square, Broadway, Wall St, World Trade Centre, Waldorf Astoria Hotel (very expensive), St Bartholomew’s Church (St. Barts), Central Park, and wandering around. This was fun. But even more fun was when we headed over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was amazing to journey over the top of this incredibly busy bridge, with the massive suspension wires holding it up and the city buildings in the background. Becky and I were pretty stoked about it all… yelling and jumping around the place. It was during this moment, little understood by those passing us, that the unthinkable happened, and Becky’s beloved hat went flying off her head down into the heavy traffic. It provided a little entertainment for a while as drivers swerved to miss the unknown black object on the road, but we were soon back on track crossing this remarkable bridge.

On the other side, after countless stops in the freezing cold wind for me to take a photo or six, we headed down to the waterside. This was a remote park in Brooklyn that had a fantastic view of the city skyscrapers through the suspended arches of the bridge we had just crossed. Excited at the photo opportunities here I did a little dance and then set up shop. Just on the waterfront was some park benches which I decided would be better filled with someone to add interest to my photo. Becky provided just the person I needed. With a burst of energy she ran down and leaps over the benches, planting herself on the seat in one go. Except there was ice on the seat. It didn’t work like that. Instead she continues on across and down the seat, straight onto the ground. Sorer and wiser, she returns to the seat and generously remains there as my model.

Empire State Building
We also climbed up the Empire State Building. Twice. Well, climb is not actually the right word, but at the top of 86 floors the view is pretty fantastic. The trouble with our first journey to the top ended up being the snow in the air. Our views were restricted to only the buildings below us. It was an exciting view but New York looked so much smaller because of it. The second ride to the top, after a debacle over having my tripod confiscated during the security inspection, yielded magnificent views of dusk forming into evening over the city and surrounding areas. We could see right through to the ends of the city in all directions. It was a fantastic sight.
Continue reading “Brief Update – New York”