Blogs from North America - page 9491

Sunday 26th June - Zacatecas We catch our bus to Leon OK and make the connection with the Zacatecas bus. It is not a long trip and it is a beautiful afternoon. When booking the hostel I had given expected arrival as 6pm. We walked through the doorway of the Hostal Villa Colonial at 6, to be greeted with 'Ah, the English, punctual as ever' from Ernesto the manager. He was very friendly and had an excellent command of English. We settled in and met John, a retired ex-pat who spends quite a lot of his time in Mexico, but also Florida and other places. He showed us the town centre (stone's throw from the hostel) and left us to find somewhere to eat. Maybe because it was Sunday, we found very few places open and ... read more

I've now arrived at the New York hostel, after an epic 17 hour journey, to find my road trip compadres are all missing presumed lost! Unless they turn up soon I'm going to have to brave the dodgy looking pizza restaurant over the road alone. New York is exactly how you'd expect. Yellow cabs, apartment buildings with fire escapes bolted on the side, fat people... I expected this but I am still surprised at just how familiar it all feels - as if I've lived here half my life. Tomorrow the sight-seeing begins in earnest.... read more

Work is almost over! One last exam to give tomorrow and mark by Tuesday, and then it's time to clean up my stuff at Monsignor Doyle, pack up, and get ready for what is certain to be an INCREDIBLE summer for me. I leave for Edinburgh, Scotland on Thursday at 11 pm - I'm certain I'll have no trouble sleeping on the plane, as that is the last day of work. I'm still a little wary of this whole backpacking-style tour that my brother, Michael (Shortstuff to Travel Bloggers) and I are taking. Yes, those who know me know that I like to be pampered, but also that I enjoy trying something new - I guess that partly explains why I'm moving to Egypt for 2 years in August! I'm sure that Michael and I ... read more

Our first stop was the Valley of Fire in Nevada. Let me tell you, this place was definitely hot! The entire landscape was red and desert like. We did a short hike over to Mouse's Tank. An alleged Southern Paiute Indian renegade named "Little Mouse" hid out there in the 1890's. He was accused of gunning down two prospectors and many other crimes in the area. He was finally trapped in July 1897 but not in the Mouse's' Tank. He was caught a few miles away by the spring at what is today called the Muddy River. The official story is that he was surrounded, refused to give up and he was shot. In the afternoon, we drove to Las Vegas for some gambling and buffet eating :) I made the whole group head over to ... read more

After a flying visit to Sedona, we headed on to Vegas! I love Vegas, it is just so much fun... This time we stayed at the Paris hotel, so glad we stayed there it was fabulous. The Parisian style was so funny, there was a lovely pattiserie that did cakes to D D Die for! We also went to see Cirque De Soleil's "O" which was incredible, those acrobats are so talented, there moves were incredible. Really reccomend this show. We also went to the new Wynn hotel, it was so luxurious, I ate the most gorgeous strawberries dipped in white chocolate there... MMmmmmmmmm... Check out these pics:... read more