Travel

I’m a geographer at heart so I love to travel and I love to see new places, meet new people and eat new things.

Over the past two years I have done a lot of travelling with my girlfriend, B.

In February of 2010 I took my first trip to the US of A with B and we visited Boston, Massachusetts. Boston quickly became my new favourite place. I love it.

Then, after finishing university, we went on an around the world trip. It was an incredible trip and a fantastic experience. We travelled from the East Coast of America to the West Coast, drove around the North Island of New Zealand, wandered around Sydney and the Blue Mountains, sweated in Singapore, got lost in Kuala Lumpur, soaked up the sun in Phuket, got stuck in traffic in Bangkok, raced around Rome and dipped our feet in the Mediterranean off the coast of Naples and Sorrento.

Then, after coming back to the UK and moving to London and working in our new jobs for a few months (me a researcher for the British Red Cross and her a PA at a prestigious private school), we went to Prague for a long weekend and shivered whilst walking around the Gothic streets then shortly after that we went to Brussels and ate chocolates, waffles and frite mayo.

We also went to Las Vegas in November 2011 and visited the home of gambling, the “adult show,” more Cirque de Soleil shows than you can shake a stick at and, of course, CSI.

And we’re also planning our next big America road trip. Details of that soon…

I have stories and photos to share so just click on the links below to jump to country or just scroll down and read about the entire adventure.

Boston

Our Around the World Adventures

Boston…

Back in February I went to Boston, Massachusetts with my girlfriend, B, for a Valentine’s getaway. B had been to Boston five or six times previously and, obviously, loved it. For me though, this was my first time visiting the USA.

We managed to find a fantastic deal through Expedia that included flights and a week in a four star hotel for less than the flights would cost on their own. Bargain.

We started our journey at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 and, I must say, it’s very shiny and very nice. It’s packed to the rafters with shops and restaurants and is mostly open-plan so you really get a feel for the enormous size of the place. Best of all, whilst sitting in Wagamama, we saw Ronan Keating and his family and B got very giddy. The incessant security checks get a little irritating, but after the third bag check and pat down you kind of enjoy the attention.

The flights were with BA and were fantastic. Logan International Airport looked very old in comparison to Terminal 5, but that’s because Terminal 5 is roughly 5 minutes old. The hotel was the Hyatt Regency Boston and was just fantastic. The concierge, whose name I forget, just happened to be from the UK and, since living in the US, can’t figure out how we survive with such small cars.

We visited Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall. I marvelled at the amount of (cheap) food on offer at Quincy Market. I got to ride on the T for the first time. We went to Cambridge, Massachusetts and visited Harvard University and both felt a little inferior surrounded by some of the smartest people in the world. We visited MIT and felt even more inferior. We got lost in a giant shopping mall but were saved when we found out Abercrombie & Fitch were having a sale and that there was a Cheesecake Factory in the mall. Again, I marvelled at the amount of cheap food on offer. We went to the Prudential Tower and gazed out over Boston from the Prudential Skywalk on the 50^th floor. I fell in love with a little place called Finagle-a-Bagel and their fantastic rotary-saw-cum-bagel-cutter device. We wandered around Boston Common and played with the fearless and oh so inquisitive squirrels. We mooched around the Museum of Fine Arts. We went to a very unfunny comedy gig at Motley’s Comedy Store. We wandered around Louisburg Square and dreamed about buying a house there. We visited the Science Museum and awed at a man playing with lightning. We walked around the Italian Quarter and gawped at the amazing cakes and pastries. I got to experience an American cinema for the first time and found them to be much better than their UK equivalents. We wandered around the New England Aquarium and watched the penguins and turtles swim around. And, finally, we followed (most of) the Freedom Trail and visited the Bunker Hill Monument.

Boston is incredible. I love it. I can’t wait to go back. We have decided we want to live there. We just have the tricky immigration situation to sort out. It was freaking cold though.

To see a full set of photos from Boston click here.

Chinese Friendship Arch

State Hall

Quincy Market

Qunicy Market Cookies

Harvard

The Frozen Charles River

Boston From Above

Turtle XRay

Boston Fire Department

Protect and Serve

Freedom Trail

Bunker Hill

To see a full set of photos from Boston click here.

Our Around The World Adventure

4 continents, 9 countries, 11 flights, 14 airports, 23 hotels, 36 cities, 81 days, 28,718 miles

We started by planning a road trip through the US Southern states (Alabama, Louisiana, Texas etc.) but found out it was going to be really expensive to rent a car for a month or two. A little dismayed by this we started looking into other options. We soon stumbled upon Round The World Experts, a travel agency that offer round the world tickets with an unlimited number of stops. This got us thinking.

We looked up car rental prices, campervan hire, train times, AirAsia flights, hotel prices, local attractions etc. Within a few weeks we had a plan…

We were going to fly London to New York, get the AMTRAK down to Philadelphia then Washington DC, fly from DC to San Diego, rent a car in San Diego and drive up the California Coast to San Francisco, fly San Francisco to Auckland, rent a campervan in Auckland, fly Auckland to Sydney, fly Sydney to Singapore, fly Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, fly Kuala Lumpur to Phuket, fly Phucket to Ho Chi Minh, get the train from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, fly Hanoi to Bangkok, fly Bangkok to Rome, get the train down to Naples and Sorrento, and finally fly Naples to London. Done.

Our Adventure

This is what happened…

East Coast: New York, Philadelphia and Washngton DC

A Volcano in Iceland and No New York

On April 15, 2010, the day before our flight to New York, Eyjafjallajökull a volcano in Iceland, erupted. The resultant ash plume cancelled all trans-Atlantic flights and most flights in and around Europe for several days. We were devastated. We spent the next five days watching the news, clicking on the BA website and harassing our travel agent.

Flights were cancelled for so long that we had to skip New York altogether and rearrange the start of our adventure. Not a great start.

When planes did start flying again, we got ourselves to Heathrow as quick as we could and jumped on the next flight to Philadelphia.

B at Heathrow

Me at Heathrow

Part I: Philadephia

When we stepped off the plane in Philly airport we were accosted by a news reporter who asked us where we were from, how long we had been on standby for, and our view on pesky Icelandic volcanoes. That was kind of cool. I like to think we were on the news somewhere.

Since our journey was postponed several days, we ended up with only three full days in Philly. We didn’t waste them. Philly is quite a small city and easily walked around on foot and boy did we walk.

We went to Reading Terminal Market and had an Amish breakfast; we wandered past City Hall with the 37-foot statue of William Penn adorning its roof; we visited the National Constitution Centre (Center!) for an Ancient Rome & America exhibit, which we felt was fitting since we would be visiting both Rome and America; we walked around Independence Hall, Congress Hall, Old City Hall and Philosophical Hall, all of which excited me because Nicholas Cage ran around the same area in National Treasure; we walked up and down Society Hill and the oh so cool South St; we fell in love with the Smoothie King; we visited the fantastic Rodin Museum; we posed in front of the Rocky Statue; we wandered around the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where I finally got to see Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Monet’s Japanese Bridge; we visited Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest and cutest street in Philly; we rode the number 38 bus; we visited LOVE Park and posed in front of the famous landmark; we ate Philly Cheesesteaks (provo with onions), which were well worth a special journey and thus deserving of three Michelin Stars; we rode on the SEPTA; I ate some coconut M&M’s, which were ace; and finally we got lost and ended up at the wrong Greyhound bus terminal, and consequently missed our ride to DC.

Phily is incredible. It’s full history, fantastic architecture, world famous artwork, and, of course, is home to the Philly Cheesesteak and Rocky. What more could you ask for. I can’t wait to go back.

The full set of East Coast photos are available here.

Reading Terminal Market

State and Federal

Standing Tall

Pain

Horns

Elfreths Alley

LOVE Park

The full set of East Coast photos are available here.

Part II: Washington DC

Our first impression of Washington DC was that it was super scummy and rundown. Getting the AMTRAK into DC took us through some very run down parts of Baltimore. We were not happy. When we finally got into DC it did not get any better.

We walked the wrong way out of the train station and ended up in a Godforsaken part of the world. When we finally made it to where our hotel was, a crack den known as Motel 6, we realised we were in some kind of warehouse/meat packing district. It was awful. To it justice, the hotel was OK. It was the idea that we’d have to come back to this awful neighbourhood every night that put us off it. So, we quickly made our way to central DC in search of a better hotel.

When we finally got off the Metro an overwhelming sense of relief hit both of us. We were close to Chinatown and it was busy and bustling and vibrant. We finally found a nice hotel that had a room and we checked in. The rest of our DC trip turned out to be amazing.

We visited the White House; we wandered around Lafayette Park and spotted the elusive black squirrel, which neither of us knew existed; we went shopping in a Macy’s; we walked past a building that looked like it was the Addams Family house; we bought new shoes; we ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant that served vegetarian chicken, pork and beef dishes(!); we ambled our way through the George Washington University campus; we visited Abe and wandered around the Lincoln Memorial; we visited the Albert Einstein Memorial and sat on Al’s lap; we strolled up The Mall and peered up at the Washington Monument; we made our way to Capitol Hill via an Earth Day festival and heard Reverend Jesse Jackson talk; we visited the Smithsonian Gardens; we ate in a Hooters; we shopped at the excellent CVS; we visited the National Archives and gazed at the Charters of Freedom; we bought an umbrella from a random guy for $5, which we still have, bargain; we walked around the National Museum of Natural History and devised a way to steal the Hope Diamond; we were dumbstruck by the Apotheosis of Washington, which is now affectionately known as the Zeus/Washington monument; we visited Ben’s Chilli Bowl and ate some, President Barack Obama approved, chilli; we wandered around The Mall at night and took photos, which I very much recommend to you; we found out that Abe Lincoln weighs 120 tons; we got a an excellent Chop’d salad and watched an awful/excellent country and western karaoke show; we devoured a Smoothie King; we went to the incredible Union Station to catch a train to BWI Airport; we flew to Chicago Ohare Airport; we killed some time in the airport; we boarded our flight to San Diego and found out we had a bunch of Marines on our flight and so felt it was the safest flight possible; we landed in San Diego.

Washington DC is such a mixed bag. It’s full of history and monuments and museums and Government. But, as you work your way out from Downtown, it’s full of run down houses, homeless people and scared tourists from the UK looking for their hotel. It is incredible though; the architecture, the sense of grandeur, the feel of importance.

Despite an early hiccup, DC lived up to all of my West Wing/Dan Brown imposed dreams. I can’t wait to go back. We needed much more time in DC. There is so much to see and do; the Smithsonian museums alone could take you a week to walk around. I’m looking forward to going back and seeing all the things we missed or didn’t get chance to do; visit the Washington National Cathedral, walk around Arlington Cemetery and go on a tour of the White House, for example.

The full set of East Coast photos are available here.

Tracks

The White House

Secret Service

Presidential Squirrel

Pointing

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Abe

Reflections of Power

Einstein Memorial

Zeus Washington

Bens Chile Bowl

The full set of East Coast photos are available here.

West Coast: The California Road Trip

Part I: San Diego, Tijuana and La Jolla

The West Coast is so different to the East Coast.

We picked up our rental car, the fantastic Nissan Sentra, and got on the open road. The roads in America are huge and quite daunting. We got lost quite a few times but it was fantastic having the car and being able to go where we want, when we want. Road trips are quite possibly the best trips.

We cruised in the Sentra; we sang along to Girl Talk; we got lost on Rosecrans; we checked into the cheapest motel in San Diego; we drove down to Mission Boulevard; we ate some of the best burgers in the world at Bareback Grill; we ate dessert at Denny’s; we frequented CVS more than a normal person should; we drove to the US-Mexico border and got the “Mexicoach” across the border; we wandered around the shithole that is Tijuana and quickly headed back to safety of the US of A; we drove around downtown San Diego; we ate pancakes at IHOP; we visited Sea World and watched Shamu and pals do tricks; we watched an otter carry Pepsi cans; we drove North on the I-5; we strolled through La Jolla and fell in love with the place; we discovered frozen yoghurt and fell in love with that too; we got back on the I-5 and headed North to the City of Angels; and, of course, we got stuck in traffic.