New York, New York!

I forgot how much I love this city. 

So my brother has given us his flat, rent free for a whole month, and we are loving it! Its in a great area, 10 mins outside the centre of Manhattan. We've done some touristy things, lots of shopping, and had a few lazy days (where I have managed to get Ross to like watching Sex and the City, yay finally!). Before I forget all the things we've done, I'm going to write them down.... 

The first day we shopped and spent some time in Union square, then went out to a place called Bareburger with the bro and his wife.The next day we went to a flea market which I loved, and I bought some lovely girly antiquey things for my room. The next day we decided to go for a picnic (and some more shopping) and wandered around to Times Square, where we managed to get free tickets for the David Letterman show the following night! It was soooo fun, we were sat right near the front and Ricky Gervais was a guest on the show! That night we watched it on tv and saw ourselves twice! We went shopping (again) in Soho the next day and got rained on. We went out with the bro again. Ooh the next day we went to the top of the Rockerfeller centre to get amazing views of the city, but then I discovered my camera lense has a black mark on it so it looks like theres a big bird/ufo in every picture. We went to some lovely bars this night, and the night after! Today was sooooo good, we went to a free Friendly Fires concert in central park. Ross has never been so sweaty in his life.

Tomorrow we are going to an outdoor cinema in Bryant park. The next day we are going to get rowing boats on the lake in Central Park. I love this city!!! Oh and Ross keeps falling over, literally, everyday he trips up. And we are eating too much, I forgot what having a fridge is like.

I don't want to come hooooooooome, not yet!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm in Miami Girrrrll.....

We flew into Vegas just in time for the 4th of July and stayed in the Stratopshere hotel (courtesy of Mr and Mrs Cardell for my birthday). It was so nice to have our own space and 2 flat screen t.vs! Vegas was not what I expected at all, so much more fun and slightly less tacky. We spent july 4th at a pool party on the roof of our hotel in 40-something degree heat. We went out most nights to the strip, but didn't win more than a dollar between us. My birthday was lovely except my bday cards got lost in the post :( Ross woke me up with a cake, card and balloon. Now I understood where he had disappeared to the day before for a few hours - he claims to have walked for miles and that was why the cake had melted! Anyway so then we went shopping for the day. We got all dressed up and Ross surprised me with a meal at the Bellagio! He'd managed to blag us window seats so that we could watch the fountains. Ross had steak surprise surprise, and I had a rather posh pizza. After that we went for a few drinks at our favourite casino and went to the club that ross had got us VIP for, but they wouldn't let him in without trousers! Oh well.

We left the next day for L.A again on a bus........never again will I get on a bus in America, neverrrr! There were a lot of gangsters talking to us for 6 hours, I even pretended to be asleep so they would leave us alone! Then we got dropped off in downtown L.A, and it tooks us about another 4 hours to reach our hostel. 3 metro rides through the dodgiest parts of L.A, a 2 mile walk in the middle of nowhere, followed by me spotting a big yellow M and Ross' face lighting up, then a taxi. We FINALLY ended up back at our favourite place again in Hermosa Beach. We spent the next 10 days sunbathing, eating, watching sunsets, cycling, watching live bands every night etc etc. I want to live there! We were so so sad to leave. The lady who owns the hostel even gave us a private room free of charge because apparently she liked us!

Then we went to New Orleans and stayed with one of the guys we had met in Costa Rica. His flat was about 5 mins from the centre of town which was perfect. They took us out that night to Bourbon Street where we drank Hurricanes and Hand Grenades. I don't remember much else. The next day I was pretty keen to see the city. Ross, however, only managed to see all the public restrooms (lets just say the Hurricanes didnt agree with him)! I still managed to stroll around the french quarter and listen to some jazz. I wish we had stayed longer because it was one of my favourite places so far.

We landed in Miami a few days ago. I have to say, it isnt one of my favourite places but we are enjoying it for what it is. It is like a ghetto Ibiza. We went on a tour to the Keys which we managed to get for a bargain! And today we went on a trip to the Everglades to see the alligators! We went on an airboat ride which was soooo fun! Anyways, thats enough for now, off to New York in a couple of days woooooooooooooooohooooooooooooo! xx

Where to begin....

Its been a while since I've written one of these! I will try to rack my brain and remember things....

San Diego was lovely, we were in an amazing location right in the heart of the Gas Lamp district. We spent one day in Mexico(!), a day exploring a place called La Jolla cove, and a day in Balboa Park. We went on a bar crawl with the hostel which included Ross getting threatened by a tramp, me on a bucking bronco, everyone buying me drinks because of 'my accent', and not quite remembering how we got home, but all in all I think it was a good night.

When it was time to say goodbyw to San Diego we got the train (not the greyhound, never ever ever ever again will we go on a greyhound) up to Orange County where we would catch our flight to Hawaii. We booked a comfort inn for the night before the flight, and we were like children when we saw it. A T.V, clean sheets, a sofa, and a big window made us run around screaming and jumping on the bed. Yes it sounds sad, but it was such a change from hostels! We spent the night watching the nba game with nachos and burgers.
Then it was Hawaii!!!! We couldn't believe it when we saw the beach, both of our jaws dropped to the floor. I have never seen water so clear. We spent a couple of days sunbathing on Waikiki, which was needed for me (not Ross) because I haven't kept up much of a tan. One day we went snorkelling in Hanauma Bay which was amazing! We saw lots of colourful fish, including one with the name 'humuhumunukunukuapuaa'. The Hawaiian language gave us a few giggles. One of my favourite memories of Hawaii was watching the sun set on the beach whilst a hula performance was going on.
After I was eaten alive by bed bugs ( i counted to 63 on my legs alone and got bored...) we decided to check into a hotel which was only a few dollars more, and got upgraded to a sunset ocean and city view! Wait, I can't believe I haven't mentioned the SKYDIVE yet! I spent the day before not talking to Ross as I was too scared. It was so funny waking up in the morning - we just exchanged a very serious 'morning' and didn't speak whilst we brushed our teeth and waited for the shuttle to pick us up for the jump! I was expecting some kind of briefing or training before we went on the plane, but oh no, just a 10 page form we had to sign that said at the bottom of every single page YOU MAY DIE. It was reassuring to say the least and really calmed my nerves about the whole thing. Anyway so the truck ride to the plane was scary enough, very unsecure. And then we got into a very small rattley plane without any seats. And then when you think you can't get any higher, they throw Ross out of the plane. It was so funny! One minute he was there, the next he was a little dot in the sky! Next was my turn, it wasn't even scary by the time you realise that you have no choice but to fall 15000 feet. It was so much fun freefalling for about 60 seconds, then gliding around for about 10 minutes seeing the amazing view of the North Shore. Anyway I would have loved to have bought the video but we couldn't afford it as well as the photos. This was one of the best moments of the trip!
Ooh so we arrived back in L.A and started our rooooaaaddd triiiiip! We started off driving through Malibu and then stopped in Santa Barbara. Then we pelted it along the Pacific Coast Highway (which was amazing) to get to the Big Sur on time to get a cabin to sleep in. But Ross delayed us quite a bit by stopping at every single opportunity to take pictures of lovely scenery, but it all started to look very similar to me! So after discovering that it was very expensive to stay in the Big Sur ($100 dollars up), we managed to afford a 'tent cabin', with no electricity or plumbing, which is great fun when you arrive at night and can't see anything. When we woke up we discovered we were on a river in a redwood forest! It was so pretty and unlike anywhere I had ever stayed. It was a shame to leave but we had to cover a lot of the coast before night time again. Next stop was a place called Carmel. This is where i will live when I have lots of money and am retired. Its right on the sea, and the people here are so happy and chilled out. All the shops and cafes are very Lorna-esque with little Cath Kidston (everythings covered in polka dot or flowers) looking things everywhere. Then we drove to Santa Cruz! I don't want to bore you, but that was lovely too! We got a little cable car over the pier. That night we slept in a lighthouse! Watching the sun set there was another highlight of the trip (photos to come!). The next day it was time to head for San Francisco!
So my first impressions of San Francisco weren't quite as I had hoped. Scary, crazy people everywhere. but then I realised we had been hanging around in the 'Tenderloin' district, a.k.a The Ghetto, and also it was Pride weekend. So basically everyone was walking around naked  etc etc. But we decided to embrace it and went to the Pride festival, it was crazy! Then we went to the Pink Party at night which was a street party with a DJ, I have never seen so many people (let alone crazies) in one place. The next day we watched the parade which was interesting....but also very fun! The next few days we hung around with some english guys which was s surprising relief. Haha Ross just reminded me of his karaoke, I managed to persuade him to sing (or rap) Crank That by Soulja Boy - he even did the dance to accompany it. I have never been so proud. The following week we went to a place called Fishermans wharf, and generally just wandered around. Ooh yesterday we went to a Jazz festival! Oh and one day we met up with a girl we knew from Costa Rica, and she showed us a posh hotel and we got to go up and see the penthouse where all the Presidents stay! Anyway I'm a bit bored trying to relay everything, and you are probably bored reading it so I will go now. Theres so much more I could say!
VEGAS TONIGHT! Its 44 degress....Oh dear xxxxxx

Goodbye cold showers, Helloooo USA!!!

So its been a while due to a severe lack of time and internet but we have just managed to blag 3 free hours each in San Diego!!! I shall start with Costa Rica...

BEST WEEK EVERRRRR!!!! A dodgy start to the week when we arrived in San Jose only to discover it was the sketchiest place we have visited, it was NOT pretty. So on a whim we decided to catch a bus to the Caribbean side to Puerto Viejo. We had heard of a hostel there that sounded pretty cool so we headed there and met some people on the way who were going to the same place. When we arrived (in a "taxi" with flames on the side) it was amazing! It was a huge hostel, most of the beds were hammocks or tents, and the whole place was tiled by the guests. We spent the 1st night having a few drinks at the bar and getting to know the people we met on the bus. We then had a couple of crazy nights to follow including bonfires, ross playing bongos, a beach party, beer pong, flip cup, a creepy hostel owner, his drugged up scary son running around in circles threatening people, and some mysterious (and cheap) pink alcohol. It was a great few days, we met some amazing people, and the hostel was the most unique place we have stayed. If you stayed much longer than 3 days you would go insane though, so we checked into what we described as a "spa". In other words, we had our own room and a hammock and pool! We spent the next few days chilling out, apart from one day when Ross made me cycle. I was just about to kill him for making me exercise in the ridiculous heat again when we arrived at the most beautiful beach ever! It was literally like a postcard.

All in all, it was a crazy week. I loved the reggae vibe of the Caribbean and the people (and the FOOD!), and had the best time. But by the end of the week I was ready for hot showers, toilet paper, and not worrying about dodgy food in..... Californiaaaaa!.........

The day we arrived in California I knew straight away this would be my favourite part of the trip so far. I loved Latin America, but I have always wanted to travel around the USA. We woke up in a place called Hermosa Beach in L.A and walked along the pier. At about 7am people were already surfing and fishing. Ross and I are so jealous of the lifestyle here. Anyway so it turned out to be Memorial Weekend so there was a big festival going on over the weekend. It was so fun! There was live music, markets, free foooood, volleyball tournaments on the beach, and a beer garden with a band. We were so sad to leave a few days later (but managed to get a free ride to Hollywood in a danish couple's car).

Hollywood was a mixed bag. I loved the whole tacky side secretly - the walk of fame, the Hollywood sign, the fake celebrities etc etc. The hostel was right in the centre, so we spent most of our time on Hollywood Boulevard looking at all the famous stuff. We did the tour of the stars homes (obviously) which was fun, but I got very sad seeing where Michael Jackson died <3. We got a bus to Venice beach for a day to see all the crazy people, including an arrest and a police stand off. We also spent a day mingling with the rich and famous on Rodeo Drive whilst I was head to toe in Forever 21 (america's version of Primark) with poo on my shoe that Ross got on his hand, but thats another story! On the last night we did a bar crawl with the hostel and went to this lovely little blues bar, followed by a gross but very fun club where Ross and I thought we were pro's at Samba all of a sudden. It was a great few days but I was very excited to leave for San Diego today!

Having just arrived in San Diego I don't have much to say apart from my first impressions are that I will love it here too. Our hostel is right in the centre again, and there is such a lively vibe here. Tomorrow we are going out in Tijuana in Mexico!! Update soon....

Oh and we have decided we want to stay in California longer than planned, so are cutting out other places ooooooooppppssssss    : )

Looooonnngg Blooooggggg

Hola¡ Excuse the strange/lack of punctuation.....

Love Cuzco¡ But not the altitude. We are about 3500 metres above sea level which basically means walking down the road leaves us out of breath. Theres so much culture here and the buildings are amazing. Today was the first real day we went out and saw Cuzco, I have been a bit ill since the TREK TO MACCHU PICHU¡¡¡¡ Here goes...

So the first day we are driven up to about 4500 metres and are given some dodgy looking mountain bikes and are told we will be cycling down about 3000 metres. At this point we are in the clouds, surrounded by mountain tops. The first 15 minutes of cycling pretty much involved me screaming the whole way and not being able to see because of the clouds whilst moaning about how freeeezing it was¡ But once we were below the clouds and i had got used to cycling on a cliff edge, I absolutely loved it. I still screamed the whole way though. We cycled through the seven springs, got absolutely soaked, and then it dawned on me that i didnt have a change of clothes, yay¡ After we reached a little village called Santa Maria, the group got to know eachother and the boys played football with some locals. After a scrummy dinner we all headed to bed.

The second day of the trek was possibly the hardest, worst, and best day of my life. 8 hours of solid trekking through the jungle in the sun with a rucksack on getting eaten alive by mosquitos-one on my face which is always lovely-was not my idea of fun. By the 6th hour I was ready to give up, basically cried but kept on going¡ Hitting the 8th hour, I hitched a ride in the back of a Peruvians truck and enjoyed the view¡ I met the rest of the group at the next village, Santa Teresa. Looking back, the walk was actually amazing. We walked along cliff edges, ate loads of random fruits that our guide took from the trees, saw a little old lady making coffee halfway up a mountain¿¡ It had become pretty clear that another girl and I did not have the trekking abilities of the rest of the group¡ After checking into a pretty gross hostel that looked like something out of a psychological thriller, we all went our for another scrummy dinner and I tried Alpacha, which is like a llama. It was goooood. Then we all went to the ´discoteque´¡ It was sooo random but everyone came out of their shells and I witnessed some pretty crazy dancing from the rest of the group. Id say that was one of the funniest moments of the trìp.

The next day we had the option to walk for 2 hours OR go on the biggest zip line in South America¡¡¡¡ Hmmmm hard decision. There were 6 zip lines going from one mountain to the other, it was soooo much fun¡ It was pretty scary knowing that the only thing stopping you from falling 1000 metres or so was a small clip¡¿ That was my favourite part of the trip, maybe because I didnt have to use my legs. Then we walked AGAIN along the river through a valley but i actually really enjoyed it. The scenery was ridiculous. You get immune to it after you see it all day every day, and no pictures can quite capture it which is a shame. So then we arrived at Aguas Calientes, a strange touristy, theme parky feeling town at the base of Machu Pichu mountain. It was early to bed that night as we had to get up at 3am¡¡¡

We were climbing the mountain by 4.30am and i have never been more determined and more sweaty in my entire life¡ it was over 1000 steep and wobbly steps to the top, but we couldnt believe it when we arrived¡ I felt so relieved and so proud that I had made it and that the last 4 days had all been worth it. Machu Picchu was just like you see in the pictures, it was absolutely insane. And so interesting. So we spent the day wandering around chasing llamas and taking in the views. I cant really describe it so take a look at my pics.

It was quite sad to say goodbye to our trekking group, it had been a tough and fun few days, and I will never experience anything like that again in my life. Coming back to Cuzco felt like home, although the last few days I havent really been able to get out of bed, I suspect I ate and drank some dodgy stuff on the trek. Anyways, I hope this isnt too long to read so I will stop now. Adios amigos xxxx

Traveller tip....take a watch

Its a bit soon to be typing up another blog post, but since i have a three hour wait at a bus station i cannot think of anything better to do! I panicked Ross into thinking it was 1pm and our bus was leaving at 2, so after a quick brekkie and a tense and pretty erratic taxi ride, we arrived at the bus station only to realise we are still on Brazil time, and are in fact, not in Brazil anymore.

It was a sad goodbye to Brazil, we spent our last 4 nights in Rio with some Aussies and English people we had met before. We didnt want to leave, but it was good to end it on a high. Ross decided to do a favela tour on the last day, which he said was interesting. I decided to accidentally fall asleep on the beach and burn my face. So we flew to Lima at 6 in the morning and arrived in the best hostel I have seen by far. Right in the centre of town, rooftop games area and bar, really nice beds and rooms etc etc. Lima itself is ok, we were told by some travellers before that Cuzco is where to go, and that Lima is a bit of a stopover city. I actually quite like it, but couldn´t spend a lot of time here. Its so cheap here compared to Brazil! We went to China town last night for dinner and had wonton soup and a main course with rice with a drink for around 2 pounds! We only stayed the one night because we need to head to Cuzco in good time for the JUNGLE TRAIL TO MACCHU PICCHU!!! Its a 22 hour bus ride yaaaaay. We are actually strangely excited about it.

My hair is a lost cause.

My next blog will be after we have done the trek!! Very excited but also kind of nervous. I am not a trekker. Wish us luck! xxx

A lot can happen in 10 days....

I´ve had to change blogs because the other one stopped working....

So, the week started with TORRENTIAL rain in Paraty, so Ross and I decided it would be fun to go for a walk into town and get absolutely soaked. Needless to say we weren´t talking by the end of the walk. Our clothes were soaked all the way through and when we returned to our room it was flooded!! The rain was relentless for the rest of the day and night, so we watched some films, cooked and went to bed! The next day I woke up like an excited child on Christmas day....sun! So ross and I ran out to the beach and got some canoes. Then it rained again.

The next day we headed to Ilha Grande (´Big Island` to you and me) which would have looked like paradise if it wasnt for the torrential rain. We dragged our stuff a kilometre across the beach, got soaked again, but found a great hostel looking over the bay. We met so many people there and the bbqs were a-maz-ing! The first day there the weather wasnt too bad so we decided to do a trek across the island to Lopes Mendes beach. It was a good chance to test out my rather lovely mens trekking boots. We went with 3 other guys, and I was flagging and bit at first, was tough! But it was a good excuse for Ross and this other guy to stay behind to ´keep me company´ - truth is Ross needed more breaks than I did. Anyway, we saw mahousive spiders and things and it turned out to be a pretty good walk through the jungle and the mountains. The next day a few of us hired kayaks and went out in choppy water - I have never crammed in so much exercise in 2 days! Although I did end up just sitting enjoying the view whilst Ross did most of the paddling. The next day the weather was absolutely amazing, so we all went to the beach and did some well deserved sunbathing.

Leaving Ilha Grande in the sun the next day was quite sad. We had met some amazing people, and it literally was a tropical paradise (when not raining). So we got the boat back to Rio only to find our hostel had messed up our reservation, so using Ross` ridiculously flukey directional skills we found a hostel that we knew some Aussie guys we had met in Ilha Grande were staying in. So glad we chose it, great location, 2 blocks from the beach and sooo much cheaper than the other place. We were only due to stay one night as we were catching a flight to Salvador the next day.....

So we arrive in Salvador and I was already a bit unsure about the area when we pulled up in the taxi outside the hostel. The lonely planet had pre-warned us that Salvador was pretty rough and that if you were going to get mugged in Brazil then this would be the place. We had also heard from some travellers some pretty crazy stories. So Ross dragged me out to look at the city.... It was a bit sketchy and it was clear that everyone was on something, but i wasnt carrying anything of value so it was fine. The buildings were beautiful there, and we saw a live samba concert in the street. After a while we head back to the hostel where we met some english guys who said they hardly left the hostel whilst they were there. So we watched a film in the tv room which had a balcony overlooking the street and heard screaming coming from downstairs. We all ran to the window and a woman was being attacked and mugged. She was on the floor, and the attacker started stabbing her boyfriend. It was pretty horrific to watch and it shocked me a lot to see it that close up. The boys went to see if the couple were ok but they were in so much shock and the guy was bleeding so much they hardly spoke. Ross and I had a chat and decided that we didnt want to spend our time here, so we caught the first flight back this morning to our favourite place... RIO!!

Anyway, its been a crazy 10 days, had so many different experiences and met so many people. I absolutely love love love Brazil, it is just such a shame that somewhere like Salvador is ruined by crime and drugs. But for now, I am going to enjoy Rio - the amazing beaches, the great nightlife, the people, staring out of bus windows at the favelas (Rios version of city slums usually run by drug lords) and the grafitti, and being amazed by the view of the Christ statue every single time I pass it. Off to buy some din dins (Ross and I are cooking a lot now to save some dinero due to the unexpected cost of a flight!) Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx