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Published: April 13th 2010
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Last stop! I have come to the end of the trip and what a strange feeling. I have spent the best part of 7 months on the road and I have actually loved every minute of it. So, I have made the most of my last city vist here in Washington DC. I left New York on Monday morning (after sucessfully hailding down my first NYC yellow cab to get to the bus station) and then endured a 4 hour Greyhound journey (not as bad as I had built it up to be...) down to Washington DC. I managed to sleep a bit on the way which was good but then I was half asleep when I got off the bus which meant I managed to get into an unmarket taxi and only realise that it was not a proper taxi half way to the hostel. He took me right there which was good but he then said "that'll be $45.60". It was a journey of only 13 blocks! Fair enough there was traffic and roads were closed (because of the big international world leader summit going on at the minute) but I thought it would be a $10 fair maximum! He kept trying to get all this money out of me, and I was tired and basically asleep and just couldn't deal with him so I eventualy got fed up of bartering, gave him $10 dollars only and told him to jog on. He was not happy at all. I didn't really care though. I ran away. The Hostel here in Washington is super cool. The most expensive one of my whole trip but worth it for my last night. It was now stange to be back in a hostel after two and a half weeks of hotels! I checked in, dumped my bags, and headed straight out. It is super busy in Washington because of the summit being held with 46 world leaders so secuirty is crazy. Police cars and army trucks everywhere. After wondering down the road I came straight to 1600 Penslyvania Avenue and the White House. This is a pretty cool place to live. I got a couple of photos but you couldn't go anywhere close to it. There were police everywhere. I then walked round the back to see the gardens and I kept thinking it was starnge to see it in real life...as opposed to on the news or in the film Independence Day (which by the way, is one of the greatest films ever). I saw the Washington Monument (very tall indeed) and took a walk down Consitution Avenue to see all the Smithsonian Museums. It was such a warm day as well...and I had my smaller bag on me because I didn't want to leave my laptop in the hostel room...I've only got it on me for the last two days of the trip so don't want to take any risks! I went into the National Museum of American History and learn't about Edison and the lightbulb, oil tankers, Cold War telecommunications and the Titanic and then I moved over to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and learn't about how seals survive the cold, how mankind evolved, and and the histroy of the Rastifarian religion in Jamacia and Ethiopia. All incrediably random things to learn about in one day but it was all very interesting. I then headed back out to the Washington Monument and walked right up to it and could see right over to the White House and the United States Capitol (the big dome building). There were still police escorted blacked out cars racing up the streets late in the day, so there must have been lots of very important people on the move. The army soilders with guns and tanks outside McDonalds was quite a funny sight! I sat up by the monument for a bit in the sun and suddenly realised that I was heading home. It really is a strange feeling but a good one knowing that I have done so much fun stuff since I have been away and I now having so many memories and experiences to look back on. As the sun went down I headed back to the hostel, took advantage of some free wifi and then headed to bed. With no working phone, no charger to get it working, and no watch, setting an alarm to make sure I didn't miss breakfast proved to be a difficult task. I did however rely on the fact that there were nine other people in the room so hopefully the nosie of them getting up would wake me. It did, thankfully, and I dominated a free hostel breakfast for one last time. I have also realised that since arriving into LA back in February, I have been to so many US states including; California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho Oregon, Washington, Minnesotta, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, District Of Columbia and probably many others! Some I have just passed through, others I have stayed for up to two weeks...either way i have enjoyed seeing a lot of the country. So now I am all packed up and ready to head out to Dulles International Airport (named after a famous spy...info there from my Dad!) to fly home. I will be back in the Uk at 7am tomorrow. London here I come!
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