Only In America

United States flag and Texan flag

(its a country and western song!)

This past weekend has been the Best Weekend EVER! In order to fully understand and get the recent events in some sort of understandable order for the first time since 'blogging' I will give you a day-to-day account of what happened.

THURSDAY


So Mike (who's family I am staying with) had college on Thursday. I went with him and had a look around his campus. Really puts the education system in the UK to shame. It was very clean and smart. Whilst he was at his class I did what every English man would do with about a hour to kill, I went to the pub. His college is in downtown Fort Worth. I was recommended a bar called the Saucer. This place had the largest selection of Real Ales that I have experienced since being in the States, they claim to have over 200 beers on tap. I settled down with a Fullers ESB and it was heaven. After Mike had finished college we then went to visit his fire station where he is based (he is training to be a fire-fighter and working as a volunteer fire-fighter at the moment). This was cool. I got to sit in the engines and try on the suits.

FRIDAY


I just chilled in the day. It has been so good to be able to have somewhere to relax and a comfy sofa to sit on. Around 16:00 we headed to Grapevine Mills. Now in the States they like to do things big, and this shopping mall was no exception. It is in the shape of a square and each side of the square is about a mile long, this thing is HUGE! However, the sole purpose of going to the mall was to try and pick up some St. Louis Rams shirts & hats (a hat is needed as my hair is now getting to the stupid long stage) and this place didnt have any decent rams stuff. I did manage to pick up some t-shirts for $5 each and a Green Bay Packers hat for $13 (Dad, I know you would be proud of me). After we had walked around the mall we then headed to Irving, and the chaos began.

Me, Laura and Mike ready for Cowboys!

The plan for Friday night was to have a 'cook-out' (basically a BBQ) round one of the girls house who I met when I was last over. Most of the friends that I made on my previous two trips to this great State came over. Now they have kids and wifes and distractions like that but it really was great to catch up with them all and see where their lives have taken them in the 9 years that I have been away.

This cook-out was a typical Texan evening. It was hot, most people (not the scrawny English guy) were getting bitten by mossies and the thing that I got most excited about was the fact that we drank out of red plastic cups. Like that kind you see in all the American college movies. RED PLASTIC CUPS! How cool!

After I had introduced the phenomenal drinking game that is 'fives' to the unsuspecting Americans they saud that they had a game that could beat it. Well as you and I know dear reader, 'fives' is THE best drinking game ever and how could this nation that drinks Bud Light possibly beat it? They did. I was introduced to Beer Pong. The idea in its simplest form is to chuck a ping-pong ball into a cup and then your opponent has to drink said cup. I teamed up with Mike (as he had lived in the UK I therefore instantly threw down the 'world championship' gauntlet. Britain vs USA) and I am very proud to report that Britain is now the un-official world champions at beer pong. My professional career record stands at 1-0. We rocked! The rest of the night was done catching up with friends, drinking more and declaring that if the Americans wanted their world championship back then they would have to come over to the UK and get it!

Oh and at one point I was fed watermelon, whilst lying on a sunbed, by a blonde Texas girl, from her mouth. It was a interesting moment in my life.

SATURDAY


Woke up with a fuzzy head, not really surprising. So when an 'all you can eat' breakfast for $8.99 was thrown out there I jumped at the chance. The place was interesting. I got to watch Stoke draw with Arsehole. The food was just what the doctor ordered however, this place had a jukebox. Nothing wrong with that, except that it started playing Christmas music, and because of that it drew our attention to the fact that this place hadnt bothered to take down the christmas decorations, we did at one point wonder just how hard we had partied last night and weather our hangovers had been so great we had slept till christmas. This was not the case though

So after breakfast we did the right thing and got straight back on the beer (well I say beer, it was Bud Light) and basically sat in the hot, hot Texas sun and put the world to rights whilst I introduced the Americans to different music such as Frank Turner and Afro Celt Sound System. As the day got on more and more friends joined us in the back yard until the night drew closer and we started getting ready for 'Cowboys'.

Me and my future wife!

Cowboys, I have been thinking for the past few hours the best way to describe this place so here goes. Its a nightclub, but it is unlike any nightclub I have ever been to in my entire life. It is situated in Arlington which is about a 20 min drive from Irving. When you walk in, the first impression that you get is that it is just like a normal nightclub (although instead of the CHAV's that you get over here it is full of Cowboys & Cowgirls) and then you see the dancefloor. On the dancefloor there are many many cowboys 'two-stepping' with their partners. The place had a live house band that rocked out country music. It is what they do here in Texas, and it was amazing fun. About halfway through the night the music changed into a kinda Rap/R'n'B/Country mix and all the bargirls (who were AMAZING) jump up on the bar and start dancing 'Coyote Ugly' style. It was during this song that I clocked quite possibly the most amazing girl that I have ever had the fortune to see. She was amazing, however she was also a bar girl who walked around the club selling Jelly Shots. $15 later (best $15 I have ever spent) I had a brief, blubbering conversation with her and off she trotted, I did get my photo taken with her even after she had turned down my offers of a kiss and if she played her cards right a English visa. Guess my accent doesn't work on everyone over here.

It was really weird that you can smoke in the clubs over here, didn't feel right, I kept wanting to 'pop out' for a ciggie. We danced the night away and although I didn't 'two-step' on the dancefloor I did bust out a few moves to 'jump around', we then headed back and chilled on the patio until the wee hours of the morning.

I know have a strange fetish for women in Cowboy boots wearing skirts/cut off jeans.

SUNDAY

BDD and Mike, the morning after the night before.

Having a obligatory hangover I woke and sat on the patio with a coffee with some of the 'crew'. After a few hours of chilling we decided that another cook-out would be on the cards. Off to Walmart we trotted and stocked up on so much food. BDD said that he would do the cooking and we had it over at Tony's family house. The food was amazing, BDD did a awesome job on the seasoning of the burgers, boiling the bratworst's in beer and jerk chicken. We then proceeded to drink more, play football (both kinds) in the back yard. Then we settled down and watched the start of the baseball. Around 22:00 and when the beer ran dry we headed back to Mikes house.

This weekend has been amazing for so many reasons. I feel that I have had an experience that no tourist would ever have. I have hung out with some amazing old friends and just lived as a 'Texan'. I love this state, yes there are bad points (guns, capital punishment to name a few) but Texas will always have a very special place in my heart. I am here until Thursday and I will be sad to say bye, but I will be back.

I have noticed that there have been quite a few readers hailing from Germany, Welcome, Willkommen.

Please, if you enjoyed reading this then feel free to drop me a email - tom@tomswayround.com
I would love to hear from you.

Until I blog again,




Tom

California Girls?

The St. Louis Gateway Arch -
Gateway to the Midwest, apparently!

The Beach Boys wrote that the California Girls were the best in the USA, THEY LIED! Texan women rock, end of!

So, my first full day in St. Louis was pretty cool. Just spent the day walking around the down town area. It is by far the smallest city that I have been too so far, which is surprising that they have 3 major sports teams there (Cardinals, Blues & Rams). The Blues are the ice hockey team and are currently in the play-off's so everywhere you look its 'lets go blues' signs about. The city is so excited about it that they have dyed the water fountain blue, something that I haven't seen since last day of school when the water system for Mendip house was dyed red (ahh the memories!). So I set off to see what St. Louis had to offer me. The truth, not much to be honest. I saw the Rams stadium (I support the Rams, hence why I stopped in the city for a few nights) and it really wasn't that special, there wasn't anything going on and not even a shop. I then walked to the St. Louis arch and went to take a photo when my camera battery died on me. DAMN IT! Headed back to the hotel room and put camera on charge an settled down for a night of crappy american T.V. Well, I was sorely mistaken, I found 'Dancing with the Stars' (USA version of strictly), my future wife was on it - Katherine Jenkins. So that was my night sorted.

At a ticket booth that was, like the rest of the
Rams stadium, closed!

I awoke the next day and packed up my bag as my coach was at 13:30. So I still had time to grab some shots of the arch. It was very impressive, its around 600ft high and there is the option to take a tram up to the top. This wasn't going to happen for me as I had my full travelling bags with my and the bag search would have lasted decades, I was just content with the snappy photos that I took. I then caught a taxi to the bus station and hopped on the Greyhound for my long trip to Dallas!

This trip was spectacularly uneventful. The highlight being the bus station at Memphis that I had to change buses at. It was the best terminal that I have been to so far very clean and safe. The guards there were searching people bags before they got on the buses so hopefully there wouldn't be a incident involving a sprite cup again. On I hopped to my Dallas bound bus and got my head down.

See I got a Rams top on, brought from the Hotel!

I arrived into Dallas about 45min late so I knew that I wouldn't be able to catch my connecting bus to Fort Worth. A quick call to my friend Mike sorted the situation, he would be picking me up from Dallas instead. I jumped into his truck (yes, he is a proud Texan with a pick-up tuck with the state of Texas stencilled on the hubcaps!) and back to his house we went. I was made to feel right at home by his mum Victoria (who I know from playing American Football in the UK) and we caught up and chatted for pretty much the whole day. About 4/5 I was feeling really tired so I went for a short nap, at 9 I woke and realised that my short nap had turned into something sleeping beauty would have been proud of. We then had sloppy Joe's - AMAZING! And me and Mike went to a Country & Western karaoke bar. This was the typical saloon that you see in all the movies, guys in cowboys hats, girls in whatever cowgirls wear, it was a real fun night and I am sure that as a typical tourist to Texas it would have been something that I wouldn't have seen. We stayed till the end, drinking bud light and I even helped clean the tables (like the good little English boy I am).

Making use of the tripod I brought with me!

There are a lot of catching up with friends and drinking planned for me for the next few days and I can't wait. Texas really is a remarkable state with some truly remarkable people. Have some home comforts and seeing friends is just what I needed as I get to the halfway mark across the states.

And that thing about Texas girls - The are amazing, so so attractive, I am in pesting heaven!

Tom

0/6

Strangers In The Night.

I am alive.

I have to admit there were moments last night when I had a feeling if instead of writing this blog today I would be apoligising to St. Peter, claiming that I really have been a good boy and hopefully be letting myself through some gates that are indeed pearly. But I will come on to that in a bit.

Where Queenie stays when she is visiting
'the Obamas'

My last full day in D.C. was pretty damn good. I headed into the city center and decided that I would walk around the front of the White House (reason behind this was that I have seen that side more often on 'The West Wing' - what can I say? I am a geek!) As I was walking up I popped into the White House visitor center which was pretty good, for free. Then I walked around to the White House. It was still white, and still a house. After I had taken a few more shots (on the camera!) I was walking away when I noticed one of the little town houses nearby being guarded by a policeman with a big gun (ooh er!). I enquired why he was protecting this seemingly normal house and he told me that it was the 'Blair-Lee' house. This was the house that all the heads of state (and Queenie) stay in when they are visiting the President. I thought this was pretty cool. So then I headed off to the Holocaust museum. It was pretty intresting, I joined a group that was being led around a exsibhit on Nazi propaganda. The tour guide was very informative. This was only a exhibition there and there was still the main display on the Holocaust to see, but by that time it was getting late and I still had the Natural History museum to go to, so that is where I went. On the way over I heard a helicopter. I thought that this was strange as I know that the airspace over D.C. is restricted, as I gazed up into the clear blue sky I saw Marine One (the Presidents helecopter) flying low. This was awesome and made my stay, now I dont know if he was in it or not, but I dont care! Natrul History Museum was mediocre. They had the capsule there that the Chiliean miners were rescued in, which was cool. In the evening I celebrated my last night with two Aussie girls who were staying in my hostel, we drank lots and decided that Britian beats Australia in both film actors and music!

Marine One BABY!

So I left D.C. the next day feeling pretty hungover, got on my greyhound coach at 11:00 ready for the worse night of my life. Now Greyhounds have a bad name but the first one I got on had WiFi, power points and lots of leg room so I didnt see what the problem was. Then I got into Pittsburgh at 18:00 and I saw what the problem was. I had to go to the sales desk to re-register my luggage as I was catching a connecting coach. I knew that the woman behind the desk wasn't the sharpest knife in the draw straight away because as I am walking towards the desk she is ordering a chinese takeaway. I wait for her to add on the Chop Suey and then she decides to help me. I say help, I actually helped her more. Americans aren't know for thier vast knowlage of geography, but if you work in a bus station, that has a direct route to St. Louis, you would expect her to know what bloody state it is in. After a brief lesson she goes to check me in. Then tells me that she cant check me in and moves on to the next customer. After demanding that I will be getting on that bus she refers me to customer service desk (a very good passing of the buck I have to say). There was no-one at the customer service (that made me happier). Eventunally I get to speak to the Supervisor and after informing him that his chinese is waiting outside (I know this because the takeaway driver asked me for directions!) he managed to check me in on the bus and I was away. You know how I said before that Greyhound has a bad name?

Chilien Miners capsule. At time last night,
I would happily have joined them!

Well this is why . . . . . . . . The coach was not as nice as the first one. It was probably about 10 years old. But that was ok, yes the WiFi was nice, but its not the end of the world. So we left Pittsburgh off to Columbous Ohio, Indianapolis and finally St. Louis (WooHoo). The mix of people on the bus was very varied. There were a lot of long distance lorry drivers going to thier next destination (they were ok), there was a few college kids heading home (kept themselfs to themselfs) with a few goths and hobos chucked in that was pretty much it. Oh yea, I forgot, the drug addicts! Crazy! There was a obvious heroin addict (or simmlear) behind me who one of the sleezy drives took a shining to (thats all I will say about that, nasty stuff happened!) and there was this small polystyrine cup of sprite that was being passed around the coach that no-one drank out of. Whenever someone had it they took it to the bathroom at the back of the coach. You dont have to put 2 and 2 together to work out what was going on. I moved seats to the front of the coach at the first opportunity and then pretty much slept the whole way. We got into St. Louis at 06:00. I read my kindle for a few hours in the bus station then checked into my rather swanky hotel. Luxury is something that I feel I need. I am here for 2 nights then on to Dallas, on a Greyhound, overnight again. I. AM. SO. EXCITED!

I know that this has been a long blog but hey, I have a lot to tell. I am off for some comfort food now.

1000 views! Thankyou all so much!

Tom.



P.S. - A english traveller that I met told me how when one particulary rude american asked him if we drive on the left side of the road over in the UK he replied that we do. The English guy then went on to say that we drive on the same side as the USA but our left is actually our right and vice-versa, so we do drive on the left but it is the same side as the Americans, the rude American actually believed him!

0/6 - Should have been 1/6

Weather With You . . .

Popping in to meet my mate Obama!

Hello one and all.

I love Washington D.C.! But first let me explain with I have been up to these past few days. So I packed up and headed away from the bright lights of NYC. Was a shame to say bye to a awesome hostel and some awesome friends but I would be a really rubbish traveller if I didn't 'travel'. I was so nervous about getting on the Greyhound as all I have heard about them is bad things. This was not the case thou. The coach was comfy, only about half full - very much like the National Express back in the UK. Thou greyhound are better as my coach even had WiFi on it. So nothing to worry about at all. I saw 2 American Football stadiums on the way out of NYC, (Giants & Ravens).

So I arrived in Washington to be met with drizzle (the kind that soaks you all the way through!). I jumped on the D.C. subway system, which is by far better than New York's (this one has carpet in the trains) and made my way to my hostel. Now I was warned on the website that the hostel has no signs on the outside, but REALLY! It just looks like a normal house. Anyway, it is pleasant enough, it is reasonably clean, free WiFi, pretty tidy bathroom and free breakfast, so cant complain.

Arty photo for you Dad of the
 Washington monument

I decided that I would head out and explore last night after I had dropped my stuff off. D.C. rocks. There is a really good vibe about the place. The streets are wider than NYC and a lot cleaner. It reminds me a little of comparing London to Bristol, a little. Washington is definatly smaller, but just as much to do. So anyway, I found this bar called the Turtle Bar right next to where the National's Basketball team play, and even thou there was a game on last night this place was really quiet. I got a seat and there was a T.V. at my table - only in America! It did allow me to watch various baseball and hockey game whilst I had my meal (which was good as I was on my own!) And what a bloody good meal I had. I decided to push the boat out and have a 'Philly cheese steak burger. It was a burger (proper burger made in the restrunt) with sliced steak and cheese on the top. It was AMAZING, best, Burger, EVER! My waiter was really cool and they served 'proper' pint sizes as well, overall a really good night.

'FORREST! FORREST!'

So today I woke and decided to walk the city, I headed out to Capitol hill, saw that then walked along the mall towards the Washington memorial (really tall pointy thing) then carried along walking towards the Lincon memorial. I saw the Korea monument (really good actually), then I saw a house that was White. My conclusion about the Americans is they do managed to produce a bloody good monument/memorial. Unfortunally the pool of reflection (stretch of water in front of the Washington memorial) was under re-construction, and so I couldn't recreate the scene in Forrest Gump where Jenny runs into the water shouting his name - another dream shattered! The mall was under reconstruction as well, so a few diggers dotted around but even so, was really good day! I then decided to hit up one of the many museams in the city, opted for the museum of Space and Flight. UK take note from the Yanks. This museum was awesome, it was free, had so much stuff in it (highlights being Chinese Nuclear Missile, the jacket worn but the flight director on Apollo 13 and the capsule for the round the world balloon world record flight - Geeky I know but I was in my element!) I could had spent a whole day in there, I didn't read half of the stuff in it to be honest.

Note: Many lunar modules and a MASSIVE chinese
Nuke!

So, that is my time in Washington so far. In case you hadn't realised, I love this city. And the title of this blog comes from the fact that even thou it was raining yesterday, it was beautiful sunshine today. Tomorrow I will be going to more museums. I am of out to china town for food in a bit, the hostel is located 2 blocks from the center of Chinatown - really good location!

When we meet again I will probably be on a bus outta here, and I probably would have wished I had planned more time here.


Adiós Amigos,

Tom

Yankee Doodle

Me taking a picture of  really sexy British
guy at ground zero

Good evening/afternoon or morning depending where in this vast planet you are.

So what have I been up to since we last spoke? Well Sunday I took a Mexican, Kiwi, Australian, German and a fellow Spurs supporter to a sports bar in Manhattan to watch the Spurs vs Chelski game. Now even thou most of the people that I went with don't particularly like or know the rules of football we all agreed that the ball has to cross the line in order to be a goal.

Where one of the towers used to be. There is a 30ft waterfall
there now.

Then yesterday a group of us from the hostel went to ground zero. It was a very sobering place. You get a real sense of the size of the buildings when you get up close to it. Even though it is in the centre of the financial district it seems very peaceful and quiet. They are still doing building work all around the site but you just don't get a feeling of noise or anything, it is hard to fully explain. The thing for me that was most sobering was not the vast expanse of the site or all the names carved into the side of the pools but it was the little artifacts that they found and have on display in the visitor centre. Things like wallets they discovered and fire chiefs hats etc. Unfortunately the museum isn't yet open so we couldn't have a look around that.

So then I walked down to the bottom of Manhattan because I was going to get the Staten Island ferry to see some present that the French gave to the USA. However by that point in the day I was so hot and sweaty that the thought of ANOTHER security check really didn't appeal to me in the slightest. I just took a picture of it from a distance. From the waterfront I caught a subway train up to YANKEE STADIUM!

LETS GO YANKEES! WOO!

I had tickets so it wasnt like I was just visiting. Things that I observed about my visit to Yankee stadium -
1) The price of the beer doesn't necessary reflect the quality ($12 for a 'American' pint of Stella)
2) Everyone is wishing that the Yankees win, just for me! - 'Hope they win for you!' whenever they heard my 'Australian' accent.
3) The subway station is slap bang next to it. Makes attending/leaving so easy.
4) It is not common for 2 'homers' to be hit in succession, in the first innings, with both opening balls. The Yankees achieved this and I thought that a 'slog fest' would be in order.
5) However the Yankees are then incapable of scoring any more runs after that first innings and will loose 7-3.
6) The is NO NEED to pause the game midway through the 7th innings and sing America the brave/beautiful. I couldn't understand the pause in play for this, if you want to sing it, do it at the start.

It really was a awesome experience thou and well worth the $11 that I paid for my tickets.

Most of my 'fwiends' that I have made in the hostel have gone home today. We had a group of about 10 of us in the end. All single travellers with a sole purpose - get drunk! We decided early on that instead of learning everbodys names we would just call people by what country they are from, just like in the movie Zombieland. This make it easier to remember names and as soon a new member joins the group then ,they are given a name straight away. We have had Mex, Kiwi, D.C., Cleveland, English (I am Wales), Sydney 1, Sydney 2, Sydney 3, Mel (bourne) & German (there are a LOT of Germans in this hostel, but our one is the coolest and he too, hates the fact there are so many Germans everywhere).

Some woman, holding a torch.

So I am leaving NYC tomorrow. I am not going to lie, I think that I have spent enough time here. For some reason NYC just hasn't 'done' it for me. I think that I came here with massive expectations for the place and it hasn't lived up to them. Sure things like the Empire State, Chrysler and Rockafeller center are all impressive, but I was expecting them to be. Central Park blew me away mind, that place was cool. Hopefully Washington D.C. will be pretty good - lots of things to see there, I just hope its cheaper than the Big (expensive) Apple.

Signing out from NYC

Tom

Brooklyn Bound

Hiya! Its me again!

Firstly Brooklyn Bound is a song by The Black Keys, so I can use it as the title and still keep the game alive.

The view from outside my hostel. I took it quick before I got
mugged. See it's charm? Me neither.

So, here I am on Brooklyn, its, um intresting! It aint no Manhattan. The new hostel that I am in is wicked, you can clearly see why this place was vote the 8th best hostel in the USA last month. There is a free breakfast every morning and I am led to believe that there is even a free BBQ tonight. It is really clean, safe and secure (which is a massive plus which I will come onto in a bit.) HOWEVER, the local area leaves a lot to be desired. Chatting to some of the other guests here they are putting it down to the area having 'charm'. If that is the case then the Hartcliff estate in Bristol is the most charming place known to man. 

So last night after I arrived and chose a bed in the 12 bed dorm that I am in I thought that I would run the risk and see what this area had to offer. After checking that my travel insurance covered me for gun shot wounds, gang related violence and rabies I headed out. I found a small bar that the receptionist (hot btw) recommended and perched my lil' white bottom at the end of the bar. I ordered 12 buffalo wings (this place won the 'Brooklyn Buffalo Wing award 2011!') dynamite hot. This bar was okay in fact. It served good beer, awesome wings and just a good vibe. It then got dark and I decided that I better make my way back to the hostel before 's**t kicks off!'. Feeling in a meeting people kinda mood (JD does help this!) I worked my way down to the rather pleasant courtyard here. I made lots of friends and drank a lot more beer. I made friends from Australia (2, 1 surfer dude & 1 mad party animal), New Zealand (cool, calm collected), Canada (make up artist who looks like Helen Bonam Carter), England (group of posh school kids who were only 20 and so couldn't buy alcohol), Germany (typical German, clean cut and efficient!) and the final guy was from Washington D.C. He was the only one who I could actually remember the name of (Dan if ya intrested). He is, um, cool, but rather hyperactive (he wears a AC/DC t-shirt but with AD/HD on it!). The whole night kinda just got very blurry, as was my head this morning.

Brooklyn Bridge, done all 'atry'!

Anyway me and Dan went to Brooklyn bridge today. It is quite impressive. Pisses all over the Severn crossing (and you don't have to pay £6.00 to cross it). He then took me to a burger place called 'Checkers' where I had a awesome burger.

I needed to charge up my netbook because the battery life was getting low. So out I pulled my universal multi-charger adaptor thingy that my mate Steve gave me before I left. Plugged it into the wall and the little catch broke inside it. 'Aha' I thought, 'I can fix things like this easy!'. 40 minutes and a lot of swearing later I conceded defeat. My first aid kit containing my nail scissors and tweezers just wern't up to the job. Luckly thou the plasters in the kitdid a excellent job of stopping the beading where the nail scissors slipped, one door closes and all that. I managed to bum a adaptor off the girl next to me to borrow until I pop into Best Buy (yea, they are still open here, just!) and buy a new one.

Plans for the weekend then are as follows - Sat: Probably staying in the hostel all day, really don't fancy NYC on a busy, sunny Saturday. Sun: Me, German boy and Hyperdan are all heading into the city to watch Spurs beat Chelski at a sports bar. Mon: Ground zero in the day then Yankees at night!

Quite glad that I have go some things planned now as otherwise it could become very boring and expensive. 

I am off to drink Boddingtons and eat a free BBQ.

Catch ya all on the flipside,

Tom

An Englishmen In New York.

All packed up and raring to go!

Howdy all from the US of A!

So I am finally here. I awoke at the crack of dawn yesterday and packed up my carry on luggage and set on my merry way (forgetting to check the room where I did all my packing - mistake no. 1). Just as we were driving past Swindon I realised that I hadn't packed my dollars, lucky I have a very considerate parents who were there to bail me out! So we arrived at heathrow, some goodbyes were said etc. and after hitting duty free I had just enough time for a pint before my flight. I didnt go to the weatherspoon as it was rammed (mistake no. 2) and wernt to a rather swanky wine bar (which wasnt rammed). I then discovered the reason why it wasnt rammed was there are not enough millionaires in heathrow at anyone time to go there. 1 (yes 1!) pint of Becks Vier set me back £5.20! Most. Expensive. Pint. EVER!

Yes, its a plane, but it was MY plane!

Anyhow, I got on my plane, settled down and watched the Artist during my flight. Very good film, I recommend it to all! I was sat next to 2 spainish women, who kept themself to themselfs and so did I. Across the asile from me however were 2 Germans, they were rude and inconsiderate beyond belief. An example, during the food service there was the choice between a very mild chicken curry and pasta. I had the curry and it was delightful. One of the Germans ordered the curry. He took one bite and then called the trolly dolly (a bloke - still a dolly thou) over an asked if he could have the pasta as the curry was too spicy for him. The dolly said that it shouldnt be a problem but he would have to wait untill the end. The end came, he brought down the pasta and the German has since finished off the curry, THEN TOOK THE PASTA!

IMAGINE! - John Lennon memorial @ Central Park

So after strained diplomatic relations at 40,000ft we landed and had a tremendouse time waiting for just under 2 hours at US border control. Anyhow, finally got to the hotel. I would describe it as medeocre. Its hard to say what the standard is because its the first one that I have stayed it. We have 2 bunk beds in the room, (top bunk baby!). I am sharing with a Spanish guy who doesnt speak to me, a guy of some continental persuasion (ain't worked out the accent yet!) and a 31 year old dancer from Santa Cruz - Female!

Last night I decided that a New York drink was in order. The location for the hotel is spot on, right in the centre of Manhattan! I went to the first bar that I saw, and ordered a pint of Stella. No-one told me that pints in the USA are not the same as 'proper' pints, they are smaller, it sucks! I went to about 4 different bars, trying out the sorry excuse they have for larger and just feeling the vibe. I then stopped off at a Japanese restarunt that had a bar in it. Shaun was the barman and what a ace barman he was, proper New Yorker, chatty, exactly how you see on the TV. I then spent the best part of 5 hours in that bar. I was RUINED. All the locals were chatty to me a excellent night was had by all. Shaun (the barman poured me at least 4 free whiskeys (Famous Grouse because it was meant to remind me of home, I obviously didn't correct him that actually its from Scotland).

MUM, DAD I'm in New York!

So waking up with a hangover this morning I got out of bed early and had a great day, I walked at least 10 miles today, did Times Square (its not a square!), did Central Park (really impressive, so big and LOADS of wildlife there. I reckon I saw Cardinals, Orioles and Blue Jays today - knowledge of baseball teams came in handy! ), did Chrysler Building (best building in NYC bar far), did Empire State building (Meh!), had a Wendys (really good burgers), went to Museum of Sex (next door to the hotel and they wanted $17.50 entry, I can get a lap dance for that and learn more about sex!) and that's pretty much it. Aint really got any plans for tonight, might just find a coffee shop and read ma kindle!

Until next time,

HAVE A NICE DAY!

Tom

0/5 - for Andy!

Hello, Goodbye.

How will it all fit in my bag?

So, this is it then. I sit here in my parents dining room, watching Wales send me off with rain, writing my last blog from the UK.

I have checked in online - yea, crazy I know. Chose a delightful seat at the rear of the plane (watching Air Crash Investigation has lead me to believe that I will survive a crash even if a fireball occurs - result!). Just finished printing off all the documentation that I need and packing is just a case of a few 'odd's and sods' and I am done, ready to take on the big bad world. I think that I have managed to get under the 23Kg limit that BA have for luggage, mine read 15Kg at last count, however the scales belonged to my mother, which means they probably came from either Home Bargains or Lidl - not the most reliable sources for scales!

It is still kinda hard to believe that this is happening. I suppose when I am sat in a bar, in 28 hours time, knocking back the first of many celebratory JD's that it will all sink in.

We had a wonderful sat night as a family, we went bowling - I duely won the last game (the rest of my non-professional bowling family insisted on having the 'bumpers' up, so they got lucky!) then we went to Nandos - greatest restaurant EVER!

I sent out the obligatory text to everyone in my phonebook advertising this very blog, so hopefully I should have some new readers. Speaking of which - welcome all you Aussies (1 of you!) and the Germans have joined the party to - Guten Tag!

I will defo try to update this at least once a week when I am away. Dont want to do it too often, sorry - but this trip is about ME! I hope that you will check back regularly to see my shenanigans! Now, I will be posting a number at the end of the blog which will look like this - 1/5 or 5/5 or 8/5. For those of you that understand what I am on about, this is how you keep score and track me compared to the other one. If you dont know, dont ask me, I wont tell - ever. Just use your imagination.

So, from a very wet Wales, until we meet in the Big Apple,

So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight!

Tom,

0/5

One Week . . .

604,800 seconds OR10,080 minutes OR 168 hours OR 7 days OR one week. Thats all I have and then I will have just hit NYC for my first drink of my travels. It has come around so so blooming fast.

So I have moved out of my flat now and back with my parents. Which means home cooked foods, being woken up with cups of tea in the morning and washing being done for me for the next 7 days. I said my goodbyes to my friends and they were very emotional. . . . . . .actually they weren't, it was more like a drunken filled stupor whilst attempting to woo the women of Weston-Super-Vegas with my poor dancing moves.

A lot of people have been asking me if I am excited or nervous about the travels. In all honesty I dont know, in some ways it is a little scary (especially now as I have just seen the devastation that has struck Dallas with the tornados!) I suppose it is just a case of taking it one day at a time.

I cant remember if I have mentioned it on here or not but I must apologise for my poor grammer on here. I have no-one to blame but Mr. Parsons, my english teacher at Backwell school. He wasn't a particularly bad english teacher, but he was my english teacher and as so, took on the responsibility of all my grammer for the rest of my life!

I had a massive clear out of my room today and chucked out a lot of stuff that I have kept purely for memory purposes - cuddly toys from ex's, old school books, photos, etc. And it kinda made me realise that this really is a fresh new start for me, kinda like hitting the reset button, just got to hope that I rebot fully and correctly!

The popularity of this blog is getting pretty sexy (yes popularity CAN and WILL be sexy!). Our friends from France have viewed it (all 2 of them) also New Zealand and Hong Kong - welcome along!

Right, well I am sure that I will post again on here before I pile into a tin tube and defy evolution by crossing a vast expanse of water.

Until then,

Bye!

Tom