It's up to you, New York New York!

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With several songs in our heads, some of our favourite shows such as Heroes and Friends, with a small guide book- we arrived in the much talked about New York. Tired and dragging our feet, we made our way to the subway and were amused to see our breath clouding up again as we waited for the train. We took a train, hoping it would take us to Manhattan. Thankfully, we chose right and ended up next to the famous man-made Central Park, heaving our heavy bags onwards towards the hostel.

Our hostel was through an estate but unlike the ones in England where you hate to walk through unless you have to or you live there, this one was well-lit, clean, quiet and we often saw the 'cops' driving through. It wasn't too bad really and at the end of this estate was our hostel- Hostelling International. Feeling extremely cold, we were happy to go in and checked in.

The hostel was okay on first appearances: internet, small cafe, kitchen, lounge, good security cards. We went up to our room and gauged there were 2 others in our 6 bed dorm. We chose 2 beds and a locker (even though we only wanted one bed really) but later moved as there was another couple in the room and they were in the bed directly opposite. We warmed up with the wonderful in room heater (much needed the whole week!) and got a few large pieces of pizza for dinner. Then bed!

The next day we decided we'd better get started on exploring this huge city. We walked towards Central Park, a strange place where roads run through, numerous people go jogging and loads of posers walk around advertising either their dressed up dogs, their made up baby or their perfect family unit with matching coats and hats! It is a great park though, especially from height and you can see just how straight and strict the boundaries are. The park is perfectly square and the houses and buildings come right up to the edge perfectly. It was strange seeing it in person as it looked weird enough on the map! A perfectly square man-made park... It was interesting to see though and probably a beautiful place in the summer, as we imagined the whole of New York would probably be much better in.

We were really crossing places off the list on the first day so we headed to the famous Fifth Avenue for a quick look. The best shop we went in was a toy shop where we saw one of the famous floor pianos (like in Big) but there was a queue! Urgh... We also saw massive cuddly toys that were completely overpriced and useless, millions of stupid pointless toys that unfortunate kids probably have to receive from their misinformed relatives and we also saw Bindi (Steve Irwins child). Seeing grown men queue up to get Bindis autograph was rather disturbing and that child is far too young to be in the spotlight so much but I guess that's their problem...

Both Joe and I got a few things from normal shops, like Espirit which was good. Yet the sales assistant practically ambushed me and wouldn't leave me alone! I had to tell him a few times I was capable of getting my own sizes thanks... I absolutely hate that and thats one thing I don't particularly like about American customer service but then the English could do with a bit of improvement in that area! Perhaps a happy medium...

On we went to another 'landmark'- Times Square. Actually not a landmark but one of the tackiest places I have ever seen! Flashing lights, adverts galore, people trying to sell you things, masses of tourists and shops that were three times bigger than they needed to me. Of course we chose carefully and went into Toys R Us! It was horrible though, very busy and had a giant ferris wheel in the middle. We did see a cool moving dinosaur model and excellent lego scultures of things like the Harry Potter characters! Next essential stop- the M&M's shop! I was just expecting M&Ms but there was loads of merchandise too which were completely crazy. Why would anyone want an M&Ms jumper? After a bit of convincing, I roped Joe into getting a bag of chocolate with me. We got to choose loads of flavour and colours for $9- bargain! (Unfortunately, we spent the week having to eat the Cherry flavoured ones that had such a lingering taste. After a while, I just stopped eating any red ones!)

Continuing with our very American day, we stopped for dinner in an American diner. Going for the classic burgers and milkshake combo of course! We also had our waiter ask us where we were from and then proceed to tell us that we were in America now so these burgers were 100% beef and the standards were much higher than in Europe. Good to know we'd get better than our shoddy standards eh... Joe summed it up perfectly by saying to me later that he understands that American Airlines advert now and why the guy from the Sopranos says New Yorkers are hard to please in it! It seemed that in general New Yorkers really do believe their own hype. I don't want to be too harsh but it always seemed that they were ready to tell you how great they were and even if you're lost, they love to tell you everything they know. I guess it's not hard to see why when they have so many songwriters, films and shows constantly going on about the city they live in and acting like it's the centre of the world. Even on Wikitravel, it said things like this:

'Jaywalking is extremely common among New Yorkers, but can be extremely dangerous. If you cannot properly gauge the speed of oncoming cars it is recommended you wait for the walk signal. An average New Yorker typically jaywalks 10-15 times a day, so do not blindly follow one as they are quite adept at making split-second choices...If you do not wish to jaywalk, be considerate of New Yorkers by not blocking them from crossing at an intersection while you are waiting for your signal.'

Those wild crazy trend-setting New Yorkers! Never have I thought to cross the road in England or anywhere else when the green man wasn't showing! If even Wikitravel calls them 'adept' for being able to cross the road, no wonder they're a bit proud of themselves for living there.

The next day we took the subway across the water and walked back over Brooklyn Bridge, catching sight of the Statue of Liberty as we did, our next destination. At the ferry port, we waited in -1 temperatures (with the wind) and shuffled towards the baording area. I couldn't understand how the line was moving when there was no boat there but as soon as we got into a tent at the front, we saw that everyone was being subjected to airport like searches. We went through x-ray machines and metal detectors, taking off our belts and coats. Then the security guard told me to empty my pockets and emptying my pockets of a few dollar bills, I asked him if that was okay. Apparently, that was allowed... Joe had a similar experience with the guide book which the man actually flipped through. Perhaps he was checking to see if we had circled any important landmarks, oh wait, tourists do that as well as terrorists!

Finally on the ferry, we go across to Statan Island. The statue is pretty impressive up close and you can see why it's such a landmark. I had no idea is was given to America as a gift from the French so that was interesting. We took lots of pictures and thought about the immigrants who migrated here by boats years ago and what they must've thought when they saw the statue. In a similar vein, we then took the ferry to Ellis Island where the immigrants used to stopover on before either being granted access into American, being incarcerated for a time and then being allowed in, or being sent back home. There was quite an interesting museum there with lots of stories and information about the experiences of the hopeful immigrants. Some of the procedures were fascinating such as the way doctors only had about 7 seconds to assess whether an immigrant was carrying/suffering from any diseases. There was also a lot of funny facts such as about the numerous postal brides who used to communicate with an American man by post and then travel all the way from their native countries and marry them on Ellis Island before going off to live in America with them. The equivalent of an internet bride!

This side of town was also where the World Trade Centre site was so after our adventures on the ferry, we headed towards it. On our way, we read in a shop window about the new 'Freedom Tower' they are building which will be really high too and a sign of their intolerance to terrorism or something like that. I'm not quite sure about my feelings on this still but I found it peculiar to say the least. Approaching the sight, we saw a commerative wall for the firefighters and saw that 350 of them died on the day. It seems so crazy even considering that number but there were so many more and there were no shrines for them (although I think they have an official one somewhere on the sight). At the actual site, there wasn't much to see or rather, much they would LET us see. They have surrounded the site with fencing and covered it so nothing can be seen. There are walkways all around the site but you can't see anything. Perhaps our going there was a bit voyeuristic but I think that's natural with something that's shaped the last 10 years of our world so significantly. Anyway, all we could think was that it seemed almost like a cover up. What was so bad about a building site that people weren't allowed to see?

The next day we have a new guy in our room. He's American and when we tell him we went to the World Trade Centre site, he immediately sprouts off for about an hour and a half about conspirary theories regarding it and other political events in history. It's interesting and strange to hear what some Americans are thinking about their country and the capabilites of their government to kill individuals and their own citizens mercilessly. Although I still don't know where I stand on the issue, this guy did prove that there is a lot of doubt around and experts are even putting their own careers on the line to criticise the American government. The whole conversation was very thought provoking and almost too much to take at the same time. But I won't bore you with all the details.

Now back to the silly stuff...can you imagine a street that can cater for both my poetry love and Joe's football love?! Well we found it! Eager to watch the two games that were occuring whilst we were in NY (one at 7.45 am!), Joe did his research and found us a pub called Nevada Smiths in the East Village. On the same street, I had been told about a bookshop called St Marks and not too far away, a church where regular readings took place. So we headed down there for the matches, finding an amazing amount of football fans who were eager to sing and even more eager to drink! The bar was absolutely packed out and the drinks were on constant flow. Alhtough we were happy to see so many Arsenal fans, we were slightly put off by their excessive need to prove themselves by swearing constantly, downing beer after beer and wailing out songs every five seconds. Guys, you can just watch the game and say a few good things too...

After the match, we found the bookshop not far down the street. At first I couldn't find the poetry section but luckily I spotted it before completely giving up- a whole stand of poetry! I could've stayed in there for several days probably as I only had a few names to look up and there were masses of books. A quick scan of most the titles later and a lot of flipping through, I managed to pick only 3 or 4 more books. Joe was very patient and left me to it! After that we headed onto the poetry reading. We were seeing Jerome Rothemberg who has been around for years and has about 70 books and a woman named Alison Knowles who was involved with an interesting movement called Fluxus. I was quite looking forward to them both.

However, comfy in out seats with quite a crowd, we were to be disappointed and a little amused too... Alison Knowles who I expected a lot more from, put on a crazy show that made me want to hide my head in my hands. I don't want to be a poetry snob or anything but her writing was pretty obvious and accomponied by some strange man playing stupid tunes on a guitar and a woman she used as a prop. This woman had to endure a lot of embarrassing things such as standing in front of everyone in a body suit, being wrapped in paper and paraded around, and moving around behind some paper sellotaped to the back wall and making shapes with her body holding a torch. It was ridiculous! Unfortunately, although Jerome Rothenberg was a better poet, he wasn't that great either so we made our way home, wondering what had happened in that church...

On Thursday we made a long awaited trip to the Natural History Museum. Unfortunately it was nothing like the 'hit' film 'Night at the Museum'. Alas, none of the exhibits came to life at all! Although it was still quite interesting with lots of extra exhibits, such as the H2O exhibit examining the availibility of water in the modern world and ways to conserve it. We also went to the plantarium where Robert Redford narrated a very interesting film about the big bang theory and made all the religious members of the audience go home crying... Only joking but it was pretty logical and I haven't heard it this in depth before. Growing a bit tired, we headed home for a rest.

Sadly we had some new roommates and as soon as we entered the room, we knew it isn't going to be good because our locker with all our belongings was empty! I ask the three of them where are stuff has gone and they say the security guide said there was a problem and took it. Joe went to retrieve it and when he returned, he told me that one of the new guests had gone downstairs and told them the locker for her bed had been taken so they had no choice but to come in and break our lock, taking our belongings with them. Although there were 5 other lockers this girl could have chosen, without having to make such a fuss, she simply couldn't manage to show some initiative and be friendly. We were very annoyed as the hostel was generally turning out to be a bit like a nazi state with people constantly walking in our room and not explaining themselves and now this! We understand we had the 'wrong' locker but we had taken it as it was the bed we initially chose and had forgotten to change it. Was there any need to get it broken into???? No!

Our new roommates weren't just stupid, one of them was also disgusting. That night after a lovely mexican meal, Joe and I settled down for bed. One of the new girls was still out, one asleep and the guy with them still had his lamp on by his bunk. We got off to sleep but waking up about half hour later, for no reason I could place, I suddenly realised what had woken me up. There was a suspicious rocking noise... Waking up a little more, I realised it was our new male roommate. He was in his bunk, alone, clearly having some 'fun'... I won't go into the whole story and I certainly don't want to be inappropriate but I just wanted to illustrate how random your roommates can be in these hostels and how completely disgusting and inconsiderate they can be! Despite me getting up to go to the toilet, our friend only stopped for a ten minute interval and resumed his fun without caring that anyone else could hear.... Thankfully they left our room the next day, I think we put them off sharing with us, despite us not doing anything that inappropriate!

I woke early on our last full day in New York and as I went to the toilet down the cold hallway, I was greeted by lots of snow! I was very excited but managed to go back to bed for a little while and later surprise Joe with it! It was kind of appropriate as it snowed on his birthday last year and this was probably the only weather we hadn't seen yet!

We excitedly got dressed in all the clothes we could find and went out into the snow. We were eventually heading to a place called Chelsea Piers where there was meant to be good sports facilities but on the way, we made our own fun in the snow! The snow was incredibly deep, probably at least 5 or 6 inches! We had a good snowball fight, tooks lots of pics and wished we had a sled to use in Central Park. I think the snow was also good because it helped us see NY in a different light. With the white covering over everything, it looked like a different city, perhaps even more beautiful in a sense.

Anyway we really enjoyed traipsing across the city in it. It's a shame we had to go into Chelsea Piers which turned out to be horrible! We heard there were great facilities and although that was true, it was just a very unfriendly place. It was like a big warehouse inside and when we finally decided on bowling, it was a horrible experience. The staff treated us like we were buying a porshe and were just a few steps from offering to wipe our behinds for us... They pounced on us when we arrived and gave us these perfect untouched bowling shoes (it made me miss the nice tatty ones in England!) and gave us one ball to use each. Then over at the lane, they watched us every minute. I was particularly annoyed after I threw my first ball and gutted it, which I had no problems with, until a man came up and told me how I should throw the ball. I'm sorry, was it any of his business??!! If I wanted to throw every ball into the gutter I could!

These vultures watched us throughout the game, constantly trying to clap and make comments. It was like big brother or something! We just sped through our game and promptly left, feeling violated! We made a quick pit stop at the batting cages where Joe showed me how it was done and I failed miserably to replicate! I did hit one though! Wooo...

After the horrible piers, Joe and I were looking forward to our basketball game. We had bought tickets to see the New York Knicks (actually called the Knickerbockers- no wonder they shortened it!) versus the Raptors (a Canadian team). The game was at Madison Square Gardens and we are both intrigued by basketball so were very excited! The woman we bought the ticket from said our tickets were more for the 'experience' than actually seeing the game. However when we arrive, we are shocked by her comments! We can see the game perfectly and we're happy for the price.

One thing about basketball fans is that they seem to be more concerned about buying refreshments than actually watching the sport. They also get more excited by the cheerleaders than the players! The atmosphere was also so artificial that the commentator had to initiate chants. Although English football fans can be pretty lazy, this took it to extremes. They even booed the team at the end of the second quarter because they were losing!

In the end, the Knicks won. We were cheering for the Raptors but they completely lost it. There was an amazing player for the Knicks who just got every basket from great distances, he made up almost half their points! It was great to see how fast those guys can move, some amazing shots and slam dunks, as well as the mere spectacle of it! There was so much entertainment such as the cheerleaders, some dance group, a half time shot where a member of the public got to shoot from the halfway line and loads of announcements and competitions going on. It was crazy and the consumption going on all around us, making a lot of people miss the actual game, was phenomenal!

On our last day, Joe and I checked out early to watch the Arsenal game. As the kick off was at 7.45, we headed for some breakfast after. After that we browsed a few shops and decided to waste the rest of the day in the cinema. We went to see 'There will be blood' which was quite good but I didn't enjoy all of it, taking the time to lie on Joe for a bit as I felt tired and we had no base to go back to! After that, with more time to spare, we snuck into another film 'Juno' and caught most of that. We then went back to the hostel and collected our bags and jumped on the subway, heading home apparently...

Unfortunately on the NY subway there are express trains or 'local' trains. I have to say we never really got the hang of it whilst we were there. Sadly, we picked a 'local' train to the airport which means it stops at so many stations and therefore made us incredibly late. Starting to panic, we jumped off at a station in Brooklyn hoping to catch a taxi. In all the shows and films I've seen set in New York, there's always a taxi! They're everywhere! Yet here we were outside a station, freezing and anxious, and there were none... Feeling pretty stupid and desperate, we went back into the station and found another train. We knew already, unless some miracle took place, we had missed our flight.

Now how many flights had we had on this trip? About 8 or 9! How could we miss the last one?! I guess just bad planning and maybe a little bit or arrogance, mixed with that damn 'local' train. Yet the fact was we had missed it and all we could do was arrive at the airport and try our luck... As we walked through the terminal door, we heared the last call for 'Miss Dudley and Joe Ruddock'. We ran up to the desk but were told to go and see the ticketing desk. With not much hope, we told the lady on the desk all about our troubles. She told us we'd already been taken off the flight so that wasn't an option but apparently there was another flight 50 minutes later and this wonderful woman got us two seat! And seats together too!

We rushed through security, only losing our water bottle on the way and made a quick dash to the gate. Thankfully, we had plenty of time and in a way, missing the flight had turned out quite well as we were on practically the same flight and we hadn't had the long drawn out security process!

We spent the flight sandwiched between a friendly Asian guy and a big beef cake of a man who I had no chance of getting past. Joe and I watched 'Mr Magoriums Magic Emporium' which was pretty fun and enjoyed a lasagne dinner. We kept laughing whenever one of the attendants spoke to us because she had the poshest English accent!

Going home... After nearly 4 months, I'm not sure how to sum up my mood on returning. I felt excited about seeing some people, those I hadn't spoken to properly in months. Emailing and talking on the phone is okay but it isn't quite the same. Sometimes you just need the physical interaction. I had also completely ran out of money (as some sponsors of the time will be aware of), I missed having private space and the whole trip had been pretty non-stop moving/excitement/challenges.

Yet despite all those things (and no offence to those at home), I could've easily stayed. Seeing all these places was an amazing experience, it made the world seem smaller and bigger at the same time. I hadn't been to that many places before this and now I have seen all these places at once, it's almost too much to process. I learnt a lot about myself too, how I could do more things than I thought, how your body adapts and copes with various situations, how it's not as hard to connect with other people as you might think, how there are so many things to see everywhere you go, how you should trust yourself a bit more.

The most important thing though was that I had the best companion with me. If I ever felt too tired or got homesick or needed some quiet time or needed to let loose or needed someone to hold onto or needed someone to entertain me, Joe was there every time. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had with the best person to have it with! It wouldn't have been half as enjoyable and successful without Joe. I'll always be happy having shared these fantastic experiences with him and any time he's willing, I'd be happy to go and explore some more places with him! Thanks for being the greatest companion and making everything and everywhere ten times more fun! I'll never forget our amazing trip.

Here I would also like to thank my parents, without whom I never would've gotten to go on this fantastic trip. And the rest of my family were VERY supportive too! Also, Martin and Pip were a great help and support. Basically thank you to everyone that made this trip possible and kept in touch while we were away- it was great to hear from home!

Coming home is hard and it's definitely made me want to travel even more. I know it's possible now and I know I'm capable of doing and coping with more things than I ever believed of myself. After all the emotions and transitions of the last few months with leaving, travelling and returning, I think the hardest thing to adjust to though will be not seeing Joe every day. Not meaning to sound too soppy here but that's the truth!

So it turns out it's true- 'It's a small world after all'! It's a world where anyone can jump on a plane to anywhere which is an amazing advantage. It's a shame that when you get somewhere there's so much to see and do, and never enough time or money to try every single thing!

If you ever have the chance, I would take it! As for me, I hope I get the chance again. For now, there's plenty to see and do back in the UK. Perhaps I should buy a guide book!

Thanks for reading all of these blogs, it's been fun to share with you all. I hope reading them has been interesting, perhaps made you intrigued, made you laugh, made you get a sense of place, anything! As long as I haven't bored you too much.

Joe- see you soon for more local adventures!

And everyone else- if I haven't seen or spoken to you already, see/hear you soon!

Taking a bow, Nikki xxx

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