London, Rather!

The following day was Saturday. Bevan had hockey, so Suzanne and I decided to go to Hampton Court, as it was something Bevan wouldn't miss out on going to, as he had been there before (they had taken his parents there).

So we went out there on the train. It was quite interesting, the palace itself was OK, but I'm not really a glorified mansion guy, I prefer castles with moats, drawbridges, and turrents. However the grounds were rather amazing - huge considering the rest of London is so claustrophobically small.

There was also a maze - however it was reasonably small, and Suzanne & I managed to walk straight through it.

That evening was Valentine's, so I thought it only fair to let Suzanne and Bevan go out for dinner without me, so I went speed dating instead. It was quite fun - met 25 women, although there was 50 attending (natural instinct is why can't I meet them all?) After the main event it turned back into a night club, so I hung out with a girl I had been chatting to, but made sure I left early enough not to miss my train home.

London, What!

Hey there, thanks for your patience, finally we get to the London leg of the journey.

So I got to London, 10am in the morning (London time) however I hadn't managed to sleep at all on the plane. Suzanne met me at the airport, and we headed back to the flat to drop off my luggage (which wasn't the easiest to lug around on the tube and around the stations. Anyway, had lunch, then headed to the bank to activate my bank account, which was an interesting and mildly entertaining time while fighting sleep and nearly nodding off. Anyhow, we made it home, had some dinner, watched part of the first episode of Flight of the Concords (before nodding off) and then went to bed at about 7.

I was up again at 6 or 7am which was quite nice, but during the following week I would end up waking up at about 2 or 3am, and not being able to go back to sleep. Naturally this meant I could last until just after dinner time, before crashing.

Anyway, that next day (Friday) I got up and went with Bevan to his work, which is basically just round the corner from Buckingham Palace. I took a few photos before quickly getting bored with it. Next I walked towards and past the Big Ben, where then you cross the Thames. On the other side of the Thames was the London Eye, and I got talked into going to the "Moviem" basically a museum of some props and sets from different movies. To be honest it was OK, but not worth it when you work out the cost in NZ dollars. I then walked past most of the other Bridges along the Thames to Tower Bridge, and had a late lunch with Suzanne.

Jamie goes to Hollywood

So I made it to Hollywood, about 6 or 7 O'clock. They were doing a BBQ for dinner, so I joined in on that. Later on they were doing a Limo trip around Hollywood - so I joined in on that too. I had a quick shower - couldn't spend too long in there as the fuse had gone in the room, so there was no light or hot water. Anyway, the limo trip was OK, can say I've done it - although we didn't really go anywhere spectacular. Afterwards I decided that I would go and check out the nightlife - such as the Viper room etc, on the Sunset strip etc. Turns out that's not as close as you would think - so I didn't really make there, instead I did a bit of a fast food crawl - trying out several burger chains we don't have in New Zealand.

The following day I nipped down to the Hollywood walk of fame to check it out one last time, before catching the hostel-provided shuttle to Santa Monica - back to the Hostel I originally stayed in, for a night.

That night I didn't get up to much, and the next day I caught the shuttle to the airport. The shuttle driver was from Egypt, and was a great guy to talk to. And so, I got to the airport, hopped on the plane, and left the USA.

San Francisco

So after a flight of an hour or so, I landed in San Francisco, and caught the train into town. The hostel was a little bit of a walk from the station, but not too far.

Unfortunately the shuttle bus I wanted to catch to get back to LA doesn't operate on the day I wanted to catch it, so I had to take the one the day after I got there (rather than the following day.) I could have got a Greyhound bus, but it would mean having to travel to, and finding the depot, and paying a little more, where the shuttle was cheap, and door-to-door. So after sorting things out once I got to the hostel, I went for a walk to make the most of it, albeit being dark. I took a few photos, of the bridges - it was hard to tell which was which, as they (the Golden Gate and the other one) looked very similar.

The following day I took a quick tram ride to the Fisherman's wharf and back (unfortunately not enough time to look around it) before hoping on the shuttle to Hollywood.

The shuttle ride was interesting, although I did read and sleep parts of it - such as going through snow covered mountains - which I believe were the Sierras.

Viva Las Vegas

So after a long bus ride to Vegas - which unfortunately went through Los Angeles (and therefore wasn't as direct as it could be) I got there about 4am. After a bit of wandering around, I got escorted to the hostel by one of the conveniently located security guys. So it was about 6am before I got there - the map wasn't particularly to scale - it missed out Avenues 1-12...

So I had some more sleep, until about 9:30, and then got up and organised my stay in Vegas - I was semi-considering changing hostels, but decided against it as the others were probably not much closer to the action, and I would have to find them, which would waste more time. So I got the hostel to book me a tour to the Hoover Dam, I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but they weren't doing tours there because of the apparent bad weather there. They also helped solve my problem of getting to San Francisco - I wasn't keen to take another Greyhound bus, especially as it sounded like you had to go via Los Angeles again..., anyhow they recommended flying, and after looking at a few sites, found a flight for $55USD on Southwestern Airlines. So I ended up booking another 2 nights there.

Later that day I went into town with 2 Aussie guys in my room. We went and had lunch at a buffet restaurant for only $8. Turns out things are relatively cheap in Vegas as it draws the people in so they come and gamble. Naturally not everyone who goes there has heaps of cash, so they have to get them there some how. Where the hostel was was in the poorer casino area, ie where you would go if weren't as affluent.

That night we went out drinking, including a ride in the pimp bus (pictured)

The next day I got up, and caught the tour bus to the Hoover dam. As I hopped on the bus I was greeted by a girl who said to "sit here where the fun people are" so I did. Her name was Renee, and she was there with her friends for her birthday. Turns out they were all Engineers, so every time the driver called concrete cement, they would correct him. Without them, it may have been a fairly boring trip.

So we did the Hoover Dam, including crossing it - which means you are then in Arizona, and also a different time zone, which was kind of cool, bringing my American state count to 3 (California, Nevada, and Arizona).

When we returned to Vegas, I got the driver to drop me off at the other end of the "Strip" so I could check out the various buildings. It was all very interesting, and if I ever go back I would go and check them out more thoroughly. I ended up walking the whole interesting part of the 'strip (ie where all the big casinos are, to the part where it is just normal shops and buildings (except for the wedding chapels) - the best part of 4 miles apparently. I did stop however at IHOP- International House of Pancakes - where it was all you can eat for $4USD. By the time I made it back to the hostel I was stuffed, and just had a spa and went to bed.

The next day I got the shuttle to the airport, and flew to San Francisco.

San Diego: So, so, suck your toe all the way to Mexico

So I took the Amtrak train to San Diego. The trip was interesting, a lot of it was along the coast. When I got there I made my way to the Hosteling International Hostel. As it turned out to get there you walk straight past the Hostel USA hostel, and not knowing the difference, I booked into and stayed at the USA hostel, which then meant I stayed at USA hostels from then on until I got back to Santa Monica.

That night we went out on a pub crawl, which was fun, one of the bars was a Piano bar where people made requests and the guys on the pianos played them – good atmosphere. We ended up going to one bar where I started dancing with a girl, turns out she was a good dancer, and even more surprising was that I managed to hold my own too. So she and her friends were moving on, so with the blessing of the other pub-crawlers I went with them.

So not long after that her friends disappeared, which suited me just fine, so we just danced the night away, pulling some flash moves, and considering we were surrounded by Latino couples (who are great dancers) I reckon we did pretty well.

The next day I mucked around a bit, sorting out how I was going to get to Vegas. I booked a ticket for a Greyhound bus – the latest one, so I could sleep on it, and then set about trying to catch up with Pam – the dancer. Ended up she was heading towards Mexico to get her hair done (why so far I don’t know). I decided since it was only two stops from San Ysidro – the border crossing into Tijuana, Mexico, that I may as well go there. Up to that point I had been debating whether to go because every second person I talked to said it was rather dangerous. But I decided that I may as well, and at least then I had achieved/seen something in San Diego.

Anyhow I marched into Mexico (as the Mexicans don’t really care who comes in, so there is no customs on the way in) keeping an eye out for danger. I went to the main street, but felt a little nervous about it all, so I only stayed for about an hour (I also wanted to get back to catch my bus.)

Fear & loathing in Los Angeles

Hey all, since its been about 23 days since I left home, I should at least make a start on writing up some blog entries. So naturally we start with LA...
Got there after the 12 hour plane trip. Went for a little walk. I had slept a little on the plane, but not heaps, so by 7pm I was ready to sleep. However I then woke up at about 1am, and couldnt go back to sleep, until 5am, and then slept to 9am. The next day I tried to get my phones to work, but no avail, so had some lunch and checked out the beach, including biking down to venice beach. That night I went to an acting class held at the hostel, but it was a little bit airy fairy for me, seemed more like the lady liked the sound of her own voice. Anyhow, what annoyed me was we had to do some relaxing exercises, and I had my money belt over my shoulder, (being a good safe little traveller) and she told me to take it off, so I clipped it to the chair. Anyhow when I left the class I forgot it, and when I later remembered, and returned, it had gone. Naturally I s#@t myself, and we called her (and only got her answerphone) anyhow, the following morning she called, and it turned out she had taken it home (not knowing who's it was, obviously not remembering events as I did) and she dropped it off that night, despite my subtle hints that I would rather have it as soon as possible (as I would have liked to have headed somewhere else by that stage) so I had to stick around LA for another day .

Anyway, made the most of it and did the Hollywood etc tour, which showed you Venice beach, where the stars live, (at Adam Sandler's house the gate opened, but it turned out to just be his groundsman) Rodeo Drive (very pretentious shops, I was walking around in my Canterbury of New Zealand t-shirt and shorts) and Hollywood (which doesn't seem all that cool now) and nearish to the Hollywood sign. That night, in my room came another a guy from NZ, so we went out for a drink.

The following day, I got a bus across town to the train station, to take me to San Diego.