http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Hutcho/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Hutcho en-us Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:00:05 UTC Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:00:05 UTC Being the highly dedicated and passionate blog writer that I am I have cleverly postponed posting and indeed writing the last of the blogs from my RTW trip until many months after I have returned home. Indeed it is only through a sense of wanting to round off the chronicles of my year away that I have eventually tied myself to the chair and forced myself to sit down and type out the following http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-202990.html After a short 4 hour ferry journey we were finally on the South Island after a week and a bit in the North . We were heading west towards the famed and beautiful Abel Tasman National Park to do a bit of a hike. We found a spot near where all the water taxis leave from and settled down for the night. Us guys mucked around a bit Deadman lost and then retrieved my skateboard over a cliff and Joel http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-194066.html As I sat in the plane on the way to Auckland New Zealand I thought about some of the innumerable experiences that I had been through since I had last left the Southern Hemisphere travelled through Europe and Africa well one country each which may be stretching it spent two semesters on exchange in Montreal at McGill University travelled through Western Canada and the Rocky Mountains San Fr http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-191623.html After the amazing time I had on Maui it was time to say goodbye and move on to the last but definitely not least Hawaiian island I would visit The Big Island.The Big Island is actually the island with the name Hawaii the group of islands commonly called Hawaii is actually the State of Hawaii got it good. The Big Island as it were is a nickname relating to the fact that it is in fact big http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Big-Island/blog-173059.html Jumping on the plane to Maui from Oahu was the shortest flight of my life no sooner had we climbed into the sky and reached cruising altitude than we began to descend. I think the flight was officially scheduled for just under half and hour.I was staying at a little hostel called the Banana Bungalow it is not in the best area but it does run FREE tours everyday repeated weekly to different par http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Maui/blog-172007.html Stepping off the airplane in Honolulu on the Island of Oahu I was immediately greeted by a warm and pleasant breeze a smile spread across my face and there was a little extra spring in my step. Its good to be alive.I jumped on the shuttle bus straight into Waikiki found my hostel put on my boardies and headed straight for the beach where I promptly got sunburned on the area of my back where I c http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/blog-171985.html Los AngelesArriving in LA I was glad to finally feel the warm after the chill of San Fran finally it was shorts tshirt and thong flip flops for all you nonaussies out there weather I was staying in a hostel in the Santa Monica area for the first couple of nights before moving in with my cousin Anita her postcode is 90210 now that's cool. We met up that first night and she took me to a co http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/blog-168237.html Yosemite National Park the Heart of the Sierra Nevada. Everyone I had spoken to had said that it was the most beautiful place in the world so I was pretty excited to be spending some time there on a 2night 3day camping trip.We were scheduled to leave at the ungodly hour of 6.45am so I duly borrowed someone's phone from the hostel to wake me up it didn't work. Luckily I woke up at about 6.30 s http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Yosemite-National-Park/blog-166526.html Landing on the plane and looking out the window I was a little sceptical of San Francisco's reputation for being a hilly city indeed millions of people must have just been having a winge about a few little hills. It was a day or two before I realised my mistake. It was a big one.After arriving at this really cool little place called the Adelaide Hostel I decided to go for a walk in the remaining http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-161920.html So when last I left you we had just picked up the car in Jasper and spent the night just outside of town in a hostel. The next day we drove the 400km to Edmonton. The Rockies suddenly finished to the east of Jasper and instead of steep mountain peaks to keep us company we were suddenly among rolling hills along possibly the most boring road in the world straight wide no features and only two on http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Canada/Alberta/blog-158878.html So after finally organising my life and tying up all the loose ends it was time to say the goodbye and leave Montreal for the last time. It has been a great 8 months but I was now sitting on a place winging my way across Canada to Vancouver British Columbia for the next stage of my year away 3 months backpacking.VancouverI got to the hostel 10 a night and just went for a walk around the city http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-157792.html How do you sum up 8 months of your life in one go How do you properly convey all the unique and wonderful experiences in some lines of text The short and sweet answer is that of course you cannot I cannot even come close to sharing all the little moments all the vast varied happy times all the big moments or all the endless activities which make up not only a great exchange but also a compl http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Canada/Quebec/Montreal/blog-152922.html I couldn't quite make up my mind about Toronto. I couldn't figure out if I liked the place or not somehow I found myself comparing it to some of the other amazing places I have been like New York Boston and of course Montreal. Now I know the folly of comparing one city to another as each is different and has its own particular vibe but I just couldn't help myself. In a way itrsquos like Mo http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-144835.html And boy did it live up to its reputation for winter it was freezing but to be honest it was beyond that it was way way below freezing about 20 C below freezing add in the wind chill and it was a ball shrinkingly cold weekend.The awesome foursome making up this little trip Rachael Gen Matt and myself. For me the weekend held a little more significance as February the 4th was the occasion of m http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Canada/Quebec/Quebec-City/blog-132725.html So after spending all night on the bus from New York I had a couple hours sleep before getting picked up to go road trippin' my partners in crime Nick Eliza and Ryan.Our first stop was a place that has since become one of my favourite places in the world Mont Sutton. Ryan knew a family that rents a cottage about 10 mins from the mountain the Yeldon's officially the nicest family in the wo http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/blog-127643.html Firstly I think I should explain the bed situation in NY at New Years and the complete lack of planning and blindstupid optimism me and Jacqui had before leaving on our trip. Every single bed in NY is occupied on the 31st of December without exception we only had the faintest hope of a whiff of a chance of a place to stay but smiling and optimistic we both jumped on the China Town bus from Bost http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/blog-124817.html After arriving in Boston from Nova Scotia we dumped our bags at our crumby hostel and set off to explore. Our intended route took us up through the main area of Boston following the path of the river. It was immediately obvious that Boston is a city of many different contrasts and has over the course of its long and interesting history been subjected to many varied influences and cultures the re http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Boston/blog-121401.html As the semester wound down and people began to relax after the stress of exams it soon became clear as reality set in that most of us would be saying goodbye to each other. So for a few days we all did our best to ignore the inevitable and have fun read drinking before having to say our farewells. I was definitely lucky to have had such an amazing group of friends over the first semester here at http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Canada/Nova-Scotia/Halifax/blog-114790.html Lured by the promise of deep snow and wintry conditions I had decided to go hiking at Mount Mansfield Vermont's highest peak at 1339 m 4393 ft with a group from the McGill Outdoor Club MOC. We left at the ungodly hour of 6.30am for the 2 hour drive to the Mountain. On the way we stopped at one of the girl's parentrsquos house for bagels and tea which at that time was a godsend. Then it w http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Vermont/Mount-Mansfield/blog-102491.html Start spreadin' the news I'm leavin' todayI want to be a part of it New York New YorkWith the soundtrack for the we suitably selected it was time to throw some clothes in my bag and make the 15min walk to the bus at uni and yes of course I left everything to the last minute and had to rush to make the bus. I was making the trip with the McGill International Student Network MISN and my two t http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-100838.html