jimdare

Acapulco is nothing to write home about. It's kind of like a Mexican Surfers Paradise with more spring break type bars, beach hawkers, and a higher crime rate. We stayed our first night in a place called Hostel K3 which provided us with a room about the size of a standard New Zealand closet. It did, however, have air conditioning which we were very appreciative of. The next day we moved down to a Hotel near the Zocolo, just around the corner from the world famous Acapulco cliff divers. That night we walked up and watched a number of adolescents throw themselves off a 33metre cliff into a churning pool of water below. I have jumped off a number of cliffs and diving boards in my time but nothing even remotely close to 33 metres. Needless ... read more

Well we finally made it Guadalajara after a three hour Greyhound bus ride from LA to Tijuana, and a four hour flight from Tijuana to Guadalajara. Once we collected our bags, we sat in the airport trying to decipher the directions given to us by our hostel and eventually decided to try our luck with the local bus system. Unfortunately the airport bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere which, in absence of a decent map, began to cause us a fair bit of concern. In hindsight our concern was probably unwarranted, and was probably exaggerated by the Mexican crime books I have been reading beforehand; not a good choice before a trip to Mexico! Anyway, after a great deal of deliberation we decided to risk being taken hostage and flag down a cab. ... read more

Hooray, we made it to Hollywood and our hostel (Bananna Bungalow) is amazing. It has a movie theatre, a number of pool tables, a foosball table, a pingpong table, and a chill out zone called the Tiki Garden. We spent our first day exploring Hollywood Boulevard, and our second on the boardwalk at Venice Beach. LA has even more weirdos than London. Must have something to do with the multitude of medicinal marijuana clinics and scientology churches that we keep passing. Next stop Mexico! Adios mi amigos! ... read more

Ok, I haven't updated this thing in a while so I will try to give a brief overview of the past week. Our hostel, located in an artsy part of Brooklyn, was an absolute joke. There were no signs outside advertising its presence, just an old warehouse door that was slightly ajar. We entered and it took us a good half hour to find someone who actually knew anything remotely about a hostel. It turns out that some entrepreneurial Jewish landlord had installed ten bunk beds in the loft of his apartment block, with the intent of raking in thousands of dollars a week from poor travellers with no where else to go. Fortunately the hostel was only a few stops away from Manhattan, enabling us to get into town by nine am on the first ... read more

We're back home for a couple of days to sort stuff out before we leave. The flight was delayed from Mallorca, which meant that we missed the connecting easy bus from Gatwick, and didn't make it to Earls Court in time to catch the tube. Claire and I ended up tired, cold, and miserable, hanging out on the street in Earls Court at 2am waiting for a bloody night bus to come and take us home. We woke this morning with a hundred things to do, only to find an email informing us that our hostel in New York had been closed by the council and our booking was cancelled. Spent most of the morning trying to book somewhere that wasn't going to blow all of our saving in a single week. Finally found somewhere for ... read more

Just thought I would upload some photos. Weather finally came right today, hooray! Biked into Puerto Pollensa, a neighbouring town, and hunted out a few geocaches. We got abused by a peloton of scottish cyclists for being on the wrong side of the road. In our defence, it was confusing because we had just come off a dual-way cycle lane and nothing told us to revert back to the other side of the road. Oh well, it was quite amusing hearing thirty scots in lycra swearing at us while the zoomed past. We also found an awesome roman archaeological site to explore in Alcudia. Sitting in the sun on our balcony enjoying un cerveza at the moment. Enjoy the photos, a plethora more to come!! ... read more

Yesterday Claire and I walked to Alcudia old town. There is a beautiful old fort, in which the town is built. Tried my hand at speaking spanish with local shop assistants and managed to get a positive response, almost too positive. I seem to be able to trick people into thinking I speak a whole lot more spanish than I actually do. Quite awkward when they expand past my limited vocabulary and seek a response from me. Oh well, at least I'm trying. Oh, the weather is rubbish and I only brought one jersey... bugger. ... read more

Saturday was a sweat box in London! We had to lug our backpacks to Baker Street in order to catch the 'Easy Bus' to Stansted. Turns out our bus didn't turn up, but managed to get on the next one at 11am. The (mini) bus had no aircon so we we had to endure the heat for another hour. Took a Ryanair flight to Palma Mallorca which left me with the impression of a flying McDonalds restaurant. Took the resort hopper bus from Palma airport to Puerto Alcudia. Mallorca looks ruggedly beautiful, can't wait to explore. Managed to find Mallorcan vino for less than 3 euros... sweet. Beer is quite cheap too. Off to explore the Easter markets today. Apparently the spanish are into their religious festivals; who would have known? ... read more