Blogs from North America - page 9703

San Diego and Tijuana are effectively the same urban sprawl, except that there happens to be a border running in between them. We got a tram to the border crossing - the busiest in the world - and then after going through two turnstiles, we were in Mexico. It was like we had suddenly gone back two hundred years. After the plush buildings and flash cars of San Diego, everywhere was old, run-down and primitive. You couldn't believe that two turnstiles could make such a difference. Tijuana is basically a tourist town and its very existence appeared to be based on people coming across the border for a bit of shopping. I could understand why, the shopping was fantastic, certainly compared to the tacky crap that dominated across the border. I got a fantastic ceramic chess ... read more

We had seen two so called 'Grand Canyons' in Australia - namely Kings Canyon and the Blue Mountains. Now it was time for the real thing and it knocked those other two for six; it was one of the most awesome sites I had ever seen. We first went on a rim tour, but your first glimpse of the Grand Canyon is the most spectacular and then the tour gets a bit repetitive. To truly appreciate the Grand Canyon, you have got to walk to the bottom and we decided to go for it. Going down was long - about 10 miles - but relatively easy. We started at the top in snow and this gradually turned to mud and then to a dry dessert. In that ten miles, we went down about a mile, most ... read more

We met a guy called Greg at the hostel who disliked hippies as much as we did and he travelled around with us for a while. He had just broken up with his woman and fancied getting away from England for a while and, as he was into bodybuilding, he had come to LA, which is apparently their capital. Flying is the standard was of getting around America, but our funds wouldn’t stretch to that so we got the bus. After all the freeways of LA, the roads between cities are surprisingly narrow and quiet, although not in the league of the outback. As I said, everyone flies. We found a hostel and then did some washing at a laundrette nearby called 'Brain-wash'. This was actually a combined laundrette and restaurant, which was a neat concept ... read more

Now that we were flying domestic, United suddenly went downhill. You had to pay for the beer and you even had to pay for headphones in order to be able to listen to the movie! Tight gits! At least we didn’t have the custom’s grilling when we arrived. We weren’t going to take any chances of not being able to find a hostel in Los Angeles, so we had already booked into one at Venice beach. This place got Ian’s prize for the weirdest place we stayed, with arty paintings all over the walls, Beatles posters, four foot plastic monsters over the doors. Unfortunately it was full of obnoxious German hippies. Needless to say, we hated it. Los Angeles is just one huge great urban sprawl, going on and on and on and on, with little ... read more

When we were in San Diego, caught a bus across the Mexican border into Tiajuana for the day. Bought a mexican hat, if I recall.... read more