NB For some reason Bexleyheath isn't in the list of locations for me to select. God knows why, everyone knows it's the real capital of England. In terms of teenage pregnancy and drunken violence anyway. My journey home was sadly uneventful. I watched Control on the plane and got a bit upset that Ian Curtis died 28 years ago but think this was more due to my frame of mind about returning home after 5 months away. I hadn't told my parents I was coming back, so I lugged my bags across London and finally arrived home at 1pm. Luckily someone [View Full Entry]

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Well today, is the last day of my jaunt before I head home tomorrow. And what better way to spend it than by taking advantage of the pitifully weak dollar and buying stuff to replace everything I've lost and broken over the course of the past 5 months. So I hit the shops, but due to a lack of space (and the fact Americans seem to have long monkey arms judging by the jackets I was trying on) I managed to buy just a coat for myself, though did stock up on gifts for other people After spending the last of [View Full Entry]

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Luckily the weather this morning was much better so I jumped on to a tram from outside my hotel and went down to Fisherman's Wharf, the tourist trap of San Francisco, where I wandered round several shops selling tat before killing some time on Pier 39 in the arcade and seriously considering spending 3 grand I don't have on a signed Dylan guitar. I'd also booked myself a trip to the prison Island of Alcatraz, which bizarrely enough is now a National Park. On stepping off the ferry, I took a walk to see the surprising amount of wildlife on the [View Full Entry]

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The original plan for today was to pay a visit to Golden Gate park and then the bridge, but the weather scuppered my plans yet again so I couldn't be bothered. Instead I walked the 7 or 8 blocks to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, despite the fact I decided a few months back I'd had enough of galleries to last me a lifetime. The art on display was OK, but a number of the galleries were closed again, so I didn't get to see as much as I could have. And what I did see didn't impress me [View Full Entry]

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My last journey on the hell on wheels that is Greyhound was pretty smooth all told - we even pulled into San Francisco early. I made my way to my hotel, an English style place which has Beefeaters outside and chilled out for a few hours before going for dinner at Sears, a supposedly famous restaurant. The next day, I decided to undertake a walking tour recommended by my Lonely Planet, taking in Chinatown and North Beach, the former hangout of Kerouac, Ginsberg and the rest of the beat generation. Starting in Chinatown, I realised I had made a mistake in [View Full Entry]

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After the usual Greyhound debacle (the station opened at 9.15 am, not 6am as per the website and in fact the sign on the door), I settled down on a pretty empty bus, hoping to enjoy the view of Big Sur (the stretch of coastline between San Luis Obispo and Monterey) as we travelled up Highway 1. This wasn't to be however, as we took an inland route so all I got to see were vineyards. Sadly the weather in Santa Cruz was no better than that which I had just left behind. I made it to my hostel despite the [View Full Entry]

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After weighing up my options, I decided not to hang around LA playing Sal Paradise to Nic's Dean Moriarty as interesting as that would have been, and continued my planned journey north to Santa Barbara, hoping to enjoy some R & R on the beach there. However, the weather had other ideas. I arrived to rain the likes of which I don't recall ever seeing in England, which is surprising because I'm pretty sure we invented crap weather. Due to a lack of taxis, I had to walk the mile from the bus station to my hostel. Not to worry though, [View Full Entry]

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In my drunken state after the stand up, I stupidly agreed to go to Universal Studios the next day, clearly forgetting how crap the one in Florida was. Sadly California version was just as lame, and a waste of $60 if ever there was one, the only highlight of the day being when Elroy from the Blues Brothers told me off for not dancing. After that excitement, I went home and went to bed at 8 pm. In my defence however, I wanted to be up early to find somewhere showing the football the next day. So I awoke at 11 [View Full Entry]

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Well my plans to actually see the things I planned to see in LA kind of fell by the wayside, due to me being easily led us per usual. I arrived at my hostel in Hollywood in the mid afternoon, hoping to get some rest as I still hadn't recovered from Vegas. However, it became clear pretty soon that this wasn't going to happen - the hostel had stand up night on Sundays, and Chris, the kiwi guy in my room insisted we attend. First though I went to get pizza at the place over the street. The waitress gave me [View Full Entry]

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Originally, I had planned to take a trip to Tijuana in Mexico today, if I'm honest just to get my passport stamped. However, after news the night before of a 'gun rampage' in the town, I opted for the safer whale watching excursion instead. I've done something similar before, and to be honest, it was better. The gray whales are protected, so we weren't allowed closer than 100 yards from them, meaning limited photo ops, and with my poor eyesight, limited whale sightings full stop. We did also see dolphins and sealions, which was an added bonus. Foolishly, I had chosen [View Full Entry]

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