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Published: June 12th 2007
Hey guys! Ben here. I've spent the last week or so keeping a fairly detailed journal of events so if you're a hardcore blog reader (as a lot of you should be after reading Dave Blair's epic travel diaries!) here is a slightly more long-winded version of the first 6 days. If you can't be bothered reading all this, Iain's next bite-sized journal entry should be available in the next few days or so. Ok, here goes...
Day 1 (04/06/07) We set off from Dumfries at about 8am on 4th June and arrived at Glasgow International Airport at approximately 10am, 2 hours 20 minutes before our first flight to London Gatwick was due to leave. At check-in the woman behind the desk told us to go to the information desk to try and change our flights so we wouldn't have to transfer to Heathrow before flying to Washington. Thankfully they were able to sort us out so we could fly directly to Heathrow. The flight to Heathrow was pretty smooth and we touched down in the capital at about 1:30pm. Now all we had to do was hang about at Heathrow for 7 hours or so before our flight
to Washington departed.
We had a couple of beers and bit of dinner and when we eventually boarded the plane at about 7:45pm were told by the pilot that the flight would be delayed because a truck carrying some of the meals had gone missing! We eventually departed at about 8:30pm and 8 long hours later we arrived in Washington, 11:30pm local time (4:30am British time). After a long wait at customs, largely thanks to the computer system going down, we reclaimed our baggage and headed for the exit. It was at this point that we realised that we probably should have booked somewhere to stay in advance! We didn't really know what to do so we just hopped in a taxi outside the airport and asked the guy to take us to a hotel. We stopped off at a couple of hotels and asked if they had any rooms but quickly realised that we probably wouldn't find anywhere at that time of night so we just headed back to the airport and tried to get as much sleep as we could before catching the first shuttlebus into the city at 6:30am.
Day 2 (05/06/07) After sleeping
sporadically for a few hours at Washington Dulles Airport we caught the first shuttlebus into Washington at 6:30am. Once we arrived our plan was to walk around the city until we found a place to stay. It was at this point I realised that I had probably overpacked my rucksack! The weighing machine at the airport said it weighed 15.5 kg, which doesn't sound like much but when you're lugging it around a city for hours and hours it can become a bit of a burden. After about 3 hours of hopeless searching for a place to stay, we decided to head towards the train station, catching as many sights as we could on the way. At this point I was feeling very fed up and driving Iain crazy with my constant moaning! We saw the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool and walked past a couple of Smithsonian Museums but I didn't care - I just wanted to get the hell out of there! In retrospect it would have been nice to have had a proper look at some of Washington's attractions but if I'd had to carry that bag around any longer I'd have gone insane!
When we arrived
at the train station in Washington we had to decide where to go. We considered going straight to New York or maybe Baltimore but eventually agreed on Philadelphia. The train journey to Philly lasted about 2 hours and was by far my favourite part of the trip so far! It was nice to finally be off my feet! We'd looked up a couple of places to stay in Philly before we set off and once we arrived we headed towards a hostel on Bank Street, about 30 blocks from the train station. Thankfully the hostel had a couple of beds available for $25 each. As soon as we checked in I headed straight to bed for my first proper sleep of the trip so far. Our first two days hadn't turned out as well as we hoped but things were about to get a whole lot better!
Day 3 (06/06/07) We decided not to stay in Philadelphia on Wednesday and made our way to the bus station to catch a bus to New York City. We left at about 1pm and again the journey took around 2 hours. The bus driver was quite a character. He introduced himself
as "The friendliest Greyhound driver... not the best, but the friendliest!" The he went on to tell us all the dos and don'ts on his bus in a slightly more dramatic way than you would expect on a British bus or train. Needless to say the driver's quips and pearls of wisdom cheered me up a lot and put me in a positive move as we approached the Big Apple. When we arrived at the bus station on 42nd Street we hopped on the express subway to 96th Street, the location of a hostel called 'Jazz in the City'. They had a couple of beds available in a 12-bed dorm for about $30 a night each. We booked to stay for 3 nights and after dumping our big rucksacks, set about exploring New York City. This was first time on the trip that I had the chance to explore a place without a heavy bag digging into my shoulders and I wanted to take advantage. I almost felt like running just to prove to Iain that I wasn't the pathetic, moaning, unfit weakling that I seemed to be on the first 2 days. In the end we settled for a
brisk walk into the middle of Manhattan starting at the north end of Central Park.
Central Park is a beautiful place in every sense of the word. New Yorkers use it as a refuge from the fast-paced frantic city streets. As we wandered past reservoirs, lawns, castles and turtle ponds, we witnessed a host of people partaking in various activies - there were people taking photographs, painting, knitting, studying, sunbathing, playing sports and just sitting and watching the world go by. I don't think I'd ever be able to live in Manhattan without Central Park - it really is like being in a completely different world - only the skyscrapers creeping over the tops of the trees remind you that you're actually in the middle of New York City.
After we left the Park at about 60th Street we walked 15 blocks or so towards Times Square. The sidewalks were completely jam-packed with people and it was quite suffocating at first. We didn't really have any idea where we were going but planned on finding a bar somewhere after having a proper look at Times Square. We bumped into a couple of guys selling VIP tickets to Comedy
Clubs. The first guy told us the show that was on that night was going to be filmed for MTV. We ended up buying a ticket each for $10. The next guy, a cool black dude called Abraham was representing the Laugh Factory. We were talking to him for a good 15 minutes as he seemed quite interested with the fact we were from Scotland. Eventually we agreed to go to the Laugh Factory on Thursday night - another $10 each.
Abraham recommended an irish bar round the corner but we couldn't find it so we headed to a 'social bar' a couple of blocks on. After staying for a few bottles of beer we started walking back towards the hostel. I wanted to get the subway back so we could get changed at the hostel before heading to the Comedy Club. However, Iain wanted to walk the 50 blocks back and I hesitantly agreed because I didn't want us to get separated. We arrived back at about 8pm and I was too knackered after the walk to even consider walking 10 blocks back to the Comedy Club. So we missed it. Iain's love of walking would become the
main theme for our trip over the next few days. I don't mind walking a couple of hours a days but Iain wants to walk all the time! I just need to get him to understand that I'm not as fit as him and I can't just keep walking for hours on end without getting tired! I have told him but he just says "Ah, you'll get used to it in a few weeks!" Anyway, Day 1 in New York was pretty good and a massive improvement on the first couple of days.
Day 4 (07/06/07) On Thursday we walked into the middle of Manhattan again, taking a slightly different route to the previous day. We stopped off at a cafe on about 50th Street for something to eat then made our way to 32nd Street to see the Empire State Building. As we neared the building we were approached by a guy in a red shirt who was selling tickets for open top bus tours, amongst other things. He offered us a tour of either uptown or downtown Manhattan along with a ticket for the Empire State Building for about $65. The ticket for the bus tour
allowed us to hop on and off any open top red bus around the city any time we wanted for the next 48 hours. We decided to buy the tickets and go up the Empire State Building first. The queue inside the building wasn't too bad and once we went past the baggage check area, we made out way to the first elevator which took us almost all the way to the top. We then queued for another elevator that took us the rest of the way up. The view at the top was pretty amazing and I took a few photos which I hope to upload in the next couple of weeks.
After spending 15 minutes or so checking our the view we got the elevator back down and naturally went looking for a bar! We found a nice Irish bar on about 45th Street and I was delighted to find out they had Strongbow Cider on tap! After 4 pints or so we headed along to the Laugh Factory. There were four American stand-up comedians performing and they were all very good. I didn't recognise any of them but apparently they've all appeared on American TV at
some time or another. Most of them picked on members of the audience but fortunately we were sitting far enough back to be left alone! After the show finished I was ready to get the Subway back to the hostel but Iain wanted to walk back again! He was starting to drive me mad! We made a deal to walk back that night and get the subway back the following evening (which we somehow didn't end up doing!). Once we got back I went straight to bed and so ended our second day in the Big Apple, another fun if slightly tiring 24 hours.
Day 5 (08/06/07) Our final day in New York was a relatively chilled out one. In the morning we headed to Central Park again and sat in the shade for a while before checking out a castle and 'Strawberry Fields' a mosaic dedicated to the late John Lennon. In the afternoon we took the open top bus tour that we'd paid for the previous day. The tour took us from about 45th Street uptown through Harlem and back to Times Square. The woman speaking to us on the tour provided us with interesting descriptions of what we were seeing. Things like "that was the hotel that Diane Keaton's character stayed at in that film" etc. After the bus tour we walked back through the park and back to the hostel. We checked out bus times and fares for Niagara Falls, our destination the following morning.
Overall New York was by far my favourite part of the trip so far and nowhere we've been since has come close to matching the atmosphere and energy of that city. The only thing that we hadn't done so far that we'd been looking forward to was meeting some fellow travellers and comparing notes on each others' adventures. This was about to change at our next location.
Day 6 (09/06/07) We checked out of the hostel in New York on the Saturday and caught the 11:45 bus to Niagara Falls, NY. The journey lasted 9 hours(!) but was fairly comfortable. We didn't have reservations at any hostels in Niagara but the first one we checked out had plenty of vacancies. The hostel was run a by a scary little Chinese woman, although it was an equally scary American woman that checked us in. The rooms were a bit dingy and the place wasn't particularly clean or tidy but the atmosphere was good and it was perfectly sufficient for our two night stay in the town. We had checked in at about 10pm and were both pretty hungry so we headed down the street to find a convenience store to buy a sandwich and a drink. The streets themselves were pretty intimidating at night and I felt a little bit uneasy walking past several dodgy looking groups of people. But we made it back, food in hand, in one piece and after eating headed to bed for a well-needed sleep before visiting the Falls the next day.
And that's all for now! Hope I've not bored you all too much! Hope you're all keeping well! I'll be back with the next installment in a few days. Ben
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Vickster
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Hollyoaks Drama!!!!!
OMG Ben u r gonna be so gutted to have missed what is just about to happen in Hollyoaks!!!! A big whodunnit!!! WHO PUSHED CLAIR OFF THE ROOF OF THE LOFT!?!?!!! Calvin, Louise, Justin, Max, Warren? Just hope this doesn't go on as long as the whole getting married to max debacle! Just thought Id keep you posted!