Category: Travel

Well here I am in an Internet place in downtown Miami, rain pouring down outside causing flooding in the streets. A tropical downpour. It is warm here. Much warmer than anywhere else I have been since leaving Singapore, and the palm trees swaying in the breeze match the lazy beach-villa mood that reaches through this place.

This is my last day in the United States of America. For thirty-one days I have travelled by bus and by plane. From New York to Los Angeles and back to Miami, tracking my friends. Now I go. Here are some of the highlights of my time in The States, other than being able to catch up with all of my old friends.

• New York – Meeting Becky and walking over the Brooklyn Bridge.
• North Carolina – being able to relax and meeting new people at church.
• Memphis – their BBQ Ribs are the best.
• Dallas/Ft Worth – Watching the Dallas Stars ice-hockey game with LindaR.
• Las Vegas – a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon.
• Los Angeles/Ventura – Trying an all American chilli-cheese hotdog.
• Orlando/Daytona – visiting the NASA Space Centre at Cape Canaveral.
• Miami – Being in a warm climate again. I forgot how much I missed it.

Well they are the highlights. The details will come later.

Tonight I leave for Brazil. This vibrant country has just finished 4 days of frenzied celebrations at Carnival. I am hoping it will be much quieter when I arrive. But for now, I am off to explore more of Miami.

Pronunciation guide:

• Paraty = pudachi
• Angra de Reis = Ung-hra thde Hey-ice
• Ilha Grande = ee-ya gran-gee
• Rio de Janeiro = Hio thde Jani-erdo
• São Paulo = Sow-wul Pa-wul-oh

Now you can read the place names correctly…

Ever heard of a place in Brazil called Paraty? Thats where I am right now. A small seaside villiage surrounded by huge mountains and lots of islands. It has a historical significance that draws lots of people, although I came because my book said it was pretty. It is too.

Based around an early mission, the original half of the town is filled with colour and activities, although the afternoon siesta is alive and well here. Each street, closed off to vehicles, is made from huge cobble-rocks and bows down in the middle to direct runoff waters into the nearby sea. It also does something very unique. The town is designed so that the streets are flushed with water that pours in from every high tide. Pretty cool. Im waiting for a high tide now.

So that is where I am. And as you will know already, São Paulo is where I have been. Now that is a big city. It has lots of favellas (slums) which are litterally shanty towns built from any materials the people can get hold of. These are the most dangerous places in the city.

I lived in Centro (the old middle of town) where the atmosphere was charged but I didnt see any immediate danger. During the day the whole city (not including Favellas) felt anywhere from reasonably safe to very safe. At night is a different story though, and I didnt venture far at that point.

Everywhere you look in Centro there are homeless people sleeping on the streets. Even during the day they are there, sometimes in the middle of the pathway, catching whatever sleep they could get. Most people simply ignored them and ensured their paths did not connect. Others would stare while they walked past them, perhaps they were tourists.

My time in São Paulo was short but good. Travelling around most of the city by foot allowed me to see much more of the real life that happens out there. I found it when I got lost and wandered the streets for a while trying to find myself.

So now I am here in Paraty. Where next I hear you ask. Just north of here is Angra de Reis, gateway to Ilha Grande. That is where I will be tomorrow. Of course if you are wondering about Rio, then that is my last stop in Brazil and one of the most beautiful too… and the most dangerous. I will be there from (Tue) 2nd to the 4th of March.

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.