Taking the long way to Venezuela: London - New York - Miami - Trinidad

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My dad would call it the scenic route. It definitely wasn't scenic. Chester to London was fine. I went first class. It was cheaper!? London to Heathrow was good, Rayna came and met me on route and hung out at the airport with me. I haven't photo documented this awesome last minute surprise because she'd been out the night before, hadn't had a shower and had a couple of big juicy zits on her face. Not that I minded, but she did. Heathrow to New York JFK was really good, I got a free upgrade to World Traveler Class which meant I had a much bigger chair with more recline, extra leg room and a big foot rest. Battling against jet lag i stayed awake for the entire flight which took me to 1am my time, 8pm New York time. An hour and a half later I had got through immigration and was on route to terminal 4. Terminal 4 is the 24hour terminal at JFK and is where all of the other skinflints, like me, who don't want to pay 50 quid for a night in a hotel, hang out. I found myself a corner and settled in for the night. The floor was rock hard and very cold. I bruised my hip trying to sleep on it. It was a pretty horrendous night. New York to Miami was alright. No upgrades this time. Obviously my Total Wipeout fame hasn't got as far as America. Miami to Trinidad was much the same.

Trinidad airport to my guest house was horrendous. I couldn't find my pre-arranged airport pick up so after looking around for a while jumped in a taxi. It took us nearly 2 hours to find the place! We even called in at the police station to see if they knew where it was! When I did get there the guy that runs it wasn't around. He was at the airport! And didn't get back for another 3 hours! I didn't have a room but I managed to get into the office and used the net (does it count as breaking and entering if you find a key?). When Baby (that's his nickname not my pet name for him) did get back i was so tired i went straight to bed.

Monday I had to go to the ferry pier to pay for my ticket to Venezuela, then i spent the afternoon lounging around by the pool and had an early night. Today I've been on a road trip with two local guys that I found on couchsurfing.com. For those of you not in the know its a website in the same vain as facebook but for people who like to hangout with travellers and holiday makers. I found Stanton who lives in the same area as the guest house I'm in and he turned up with Marcus and Marcus's mums car and took me out for the day! First stop was Maracas beach on the north coast, about 45mins drive away. At the beach I tried a Bake and Shark which is fried dough (bake) opened up like a bun and filled with fried shark meat! Delicious! After that we went up to a couple of view points, into Port of Spain city centre, to Chaguaramas beach, which is apparently great for snorkeling after a US submarine blasted a hole in the bottom to make room for big ships to dock, to Marcus's house and then we hiked up to Maracas waterfalls.

When I got back to the guest house Baby had made me a delicious Trinidadian dinner of red snapper and some other things i don't remember the names of. Actually he's made me all kinds of nice things whilst I've been staying here. He's even got me a fish ready to be cooked in the morning, for me to take with me to the ferry! As I'm the only guest here at the moment I've got my own little private apartment - bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom. Cable TV, DVD library, private pool.

Trinidad doesn't really get many tourists, they all go to Tobago. To be honest there isn't much here, I doubt I would come again, or even recommend it, but its been a nice couple of days thanks to Baby, Stanton and Marcus.

So next stop Venezuela! Hot Brazilian bf here I come!

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Photos

Looking down onto the Port of Spain
That big bit of grass in the middle is the worlds largest roundabout. Or at least it was, apparently the Chinese now have a bigger one.

Comments

[Daz]

Looks great!!
Hi Laura It looks amazing, and you sound like your having a fantastic time!! So did you pull your Total Wipeout celebrity status out to get an upgrade at Heathrow??? Haha Take care, looking forward to the next instalment. Daz X

[Veroon]

TnT is not dat good
trinidad is not dat good it jus looks the prime minister is an @$$ and 2 much crime

[sas]

Hello!
Where in Trinidad did you stay? How much was it a night? I really want to travel to Trinidad and Venezuela and would really just like any information possible!! Thanks in advance!