Round the World

We arrived at 3am local time after a mammoth 11 hour flight from LA on which I had about an hours sleep! I even watched the whole of "Failure to Launch" and "Casanova" and still didn't nod off which wasn't too happy about! However, the Air New Zealand flight was pretty nice and the food was good so no complaints about the airline itself, just my insomnia!

From there we had to get a little domestic flight out to the island we were staying on - Malolo Island - at 9.30. Thankfully the airport had very comfy sofas where I managed to catch a couple of hours sleep while we waited to check in for our flight. Had I known quite how small our flight was going to be, I might have caught the boat instead but having survived it I'm very glad we did it! The plane was barely bigger than my Nissan Micra and only fit 6 people plus the pilot but the views from the plane were unbeatable...Andrew even managed to take pictures! It only took 15mins to fly from Nadi airport on the mainland but the airline kept us waiting for an hour before they actually took us (word to the wise, if you ever find yourself in Fiji, avoid Sun Air like the plague!) This was our first introduction to the concept of 'Fiji Time'. Things basically get done when people can be bothered to do them! While annoying when you're waiting on others, the principle was highly enjoyable when applied very long lie-ins!

When we got to the island (which wasn't Malolo but Malolo Leilei which means small Malolo and is, unsurprisingly, a smaller island just next door) we were met by Rick from the Funky Fish Resort where we were staying and he took us by speedboat to the next island over! It was an amazing ride...we could see right to the bottom of the crystal clear water and even see the fish is the shallows! It totally made me forget I was exhausted!

The whole of the week was just a jumble of incredible experiences...we kayaked out into the sea along two coral reefs, stopping to spot fish along the way. We saw sun fish, angel fish and these cute ones that looked like little black nemo fish! We went snorkelling along the inner coral reef too and got up close to the little guys. Despite being convinced I was about to be eaten by Jaws the entire time, I'm so glad I did it...it was just breath-taking to be doing it, I'm only disappointed we didn't have an underwater camera to capture just how beautiful it was! To fill time between sunbathing and eating, we walked to the nearby resort that actually had a shop (ours didn't) and bought some gorgeous Fijian art plus we hiked up a hill to get pictures of the island and the sunset. The only bad thing about the week was the bugs! I ended the week with between 55 and 65 bites all over my legs and arms which itched like crazy! But my tan makes up for it I guess!! We also learnt loads about Fijian culture from Rick, the events organizer, and Joe the barman...it was a fantastic experience! It was sad to leave. The resort was so friendly as there was only about 20 other guests and the people who worked there were so fun! At the airport we stocked up on reminders before we headed off to a new city in another new country!

New Zealand is brilliant! It's winter here so it's raining a lot but that can't stop me loving Auckland! We're staying in a hostel in the middle of the city and everything is dirt cheap! As we're back to real life, we're back to living on Subway sandwiches and here they're even cheaper than America! Our first one cost $17 NZ for 2 foot longs...that's about £2.70 per sandwich! THEN we found a little food mart that has a Subway in that gives you vouchers for a free 6inch upgrade...so now our two 12inches cost $9.70 which is £3.30 FOR 2!!!! It's the greatest place in the world! We shopped at a supermarket and got some ready meals, bread, beers, chocolate and crisps for about £15! I want to move here!!

We went to the travel agent this morning and we've booked some great things for round the country... horse riding round the Lord of the Rings locations, white water rafting and whale watching to name a few...

But we'll have to tell you more later as my noodle ready meal has arrived courtesy of Andrew and I'm starving!

After Tampa and Busch Gardens we flew to Las Vegas and it was paradise! The strip is amazing and glitzy and baking hot! It was around 100 degrees for our whole stay there but there was so much to do I didn't really get a chance to sun bathe!

We took at tour out the Grand Canyon which rocked and we drove through the desert to get there and it was so huge and dry (obvious I know but I’d never really seen anything like it)! It is a rather spectacular hole in the ground and we took a stupid amount of pictures (about 200 I think - thank god for digital cameras)! It was a really long day though...took about 17 hours round trip and we had to be up a 5.30am and I am really NOT a morning person...AND my ipod went crazy half way there so I had nothing to listen to either! (Thankfully my ipod is now fixed and I'm happy again)!

We got the nerve up to play a table game on the second or third night...I can't remember which. We got $30 in chips and played Craps (the one with the dice) - Thank god for A-Level statistics as I was actually able to understand the odds and with Andrew as the "hot shooter" (he got to throw the dice - and he actually threw them at the casino employee and on the floor before he got them on the table but the boy did good)! We came away from the table with $68 which was a rather healthy profit! It was such a total rush and I can see how these guys were spending all night at the table! I can't wait to go back again when we actually have a disposable income to waste!!

We found a brilliant way of getting free food from one of the casino chains by signing up to their players cards so we didn't pay for any food the entire time we were out there and by some crazy stroke of luck, we also won $150 from free draws in the free food casinos too! (I won $125 of that I'd like to point out)! All in all we walked away from Vegas about $20 in profit (not including accommodation unfortunately) so we felt it was well worth the visit! We are so desperate to go back and I think that's the first thing I'll be saving up for when we get home!

We did the Greyhound thang overnight (17hours on a coach) to San Francisco via LA bus station (not recommended - smelled like pee and was full of homeless people). We got to San Fran at about 9am completely exhausted and dying for a shower and had to walk through the gauntlet of bums to get to our hotel. At the time we assumed that it was just that street that may have been a place that the homeless hung out but as it turned out, the whole of San Francisco is infected.

It was probably my least favourite city as everywhere we went were accosted by homeless people which was a bit scary but mainly really sad. A lot were pretty truthful - they asked if we could spare money to by drugs and booze - so I sort of respected that but mainly they were just really pitiful. One of the crazier ones followed us down the street shouting that he hated us "white mother f****rs" - Nice huh?

Chinatown was good - it's the largest Chinese settlement outside of Asia according to the tour brochures - and we made it there on our first night and had an incredible meal! Two huge plates of noodles and beef in black bean sauce and two beers for $20 (about £12)! It was amazing - I haven't been that stuffed in a long time!

We stopped in an Irish bar on the way back to the hotel and didn't realise it was getting dark and then we accidentally walked back a slightly dodgy way- I get the feeling we were sort of lucky not to have been mugged or stabbed! After that we decided to be in before dark!

For the next few days we bought a City Pass which gives you access to loads of things for $50 - over two days we went to 2 art galleries, an aquarium, a science museum and took a cruise under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz. Plus we walked the whole of the bridge and back again - something like 1.2 miles each way (I can't remember but I needed to wee the whole way over so it seemed longer)! I'm really glad we did that before seeing xmen3 or I probably wouldn't have set foot on it!

It was a really lovely city in the daytime if you could avoid the bums - it's the hilliest city I've ever been to! Having lived in Norwich for so long, hills were a bit of a shock to the system! We got so much exercise walking up and down the hills all the time, it was brilliant!

We meant to leave on the Tuesday but we found out that the Arctic Monkeys supported by We Are Scientists were playing Wednesday night and decided that if we could buy cheap tickets on eBay we would stay another night. As luck would have it we managed to pick up 2 tickets at the last second for 99 cents (that's about 52p!) so we stayed!!
The gig was amazing! We Are Scientists rocked and the Monkeys were brilliant (it was slightly like being back in HMV again listening to those same albums on repeat but I survived it)!

We left for LA the next morning and we're still here now for another 6 hours or so! We've been staying in a wicked little retro hostel which is stupid cheap! It's $50 a night for both of us and we have a private room, a private bathroom and our own kitchen! Its got a good atmosphere too - there was a courtyard party on Saturday night and we got a tad wasted and chatted to a couple of really cool people - one of whom we may meet up with in Melbourne in a month or so!

We've done quite a bit here in Hollywood (that's where we are - not in LA cos it's too scary) We saw Xmen 3 in Graumanns Chinese theatre where they have all the film premieres and has the hand and footprints outside it, we took a tour of the stars homes and saw the outside of Tom Cruises pad and Nic Cages cars and stuff - it wasn't brilliant cos we couldn't take any descent photos through the tinted windows The consolation was seeing a real life star though! We were on a walking tour of Hollywood Blvd and checking out film locations and learning the history when our tour guide says - "and there's a star now. Hello sir" - and who turns round and says hello to us but Alfred Molina!!! Doc Oc said hello to us!! I almost swooned! It was so cool!!

We also took a tour of the Kodak theatre where they hold the Oscars and got to ride in the lift the winners take when they have their Oscars and hang out in the VIP room which was cool too! I wanna work there!

To top it all off, last night we were invited to a test screening at Sony Studios! We watched a film called All The King's Men starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, James Gandolphni, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins! It SUCKED! and we had to fill out comment cards afterwards (they didn't want to interview us as we weren't American so apparently our opinion doesn't count)! We all know how harsh I am so I wrote all over the paper all the things that were wrong with the film! It was so much fun! In the "would you recommend this film" box I wrote only if I hated the person and in the "was there anything you didn't understand" box I asked why so many good actors could make such a crummy film! I even filled up every available space where there were no questions with my own comments! I think it's safe to say I probably wont be welcomed back to Sony Studios again! But it was SO MUCH FUN!!! It would have been perfect if we could have found Adam Sandler’s car (we walked past Happy Madison’s production HQ) and we would have keyed it!! That would have been a perfect night!

Anyway, that brings us up to now and we're just waiting to get the bus to the airport to jet off to Fiji for a week...how tough, huh?!

(This is a postdated update of the time we were in Chicago at the beginning of May - K)

I apologise that the beginning of this entry is all about one journey but we think you will all sympathise (or possible die laughing) at all the craziness we had to endure on this one!

It all began innocently enough at 6.15 am on the morning of the 1st of May (yes, I am capable of getting up that early mum!)... We braved the Toronto streetcar fully loaded with our backpacks to the point where it was hit and miss whether we'd actually make it through the streets car door. Thanking God for the American/Canadian grid system, we counted the blocks, which unfortunately acted like sheep and made me sleepy again, until we arrived at the bus station. Like all bus stations we have endured all over the North American continent, the whole building had a distinctive musk that smelled like the bathroom of Andrew's early student house (ah, Lubbock Close - interesting side note, every theme park attraction that was trying to smell faux-damp like ET at Universal, also smelled like Lubbock. Go figure!).

Boarding the Greyhound was simple enough, it was on time and actually surprizingly comfortable so we were able to catch a little shut eye before getting off back in Niagara Falls again. I know it seems a little odd to backtrack on ourselves but with all their resources and money the US only has ONE train route which connects the East coast to Chicago and there was no direct route from Canada so it sort of made sense at the time. Plus as it was overnight we saved ourselves a nights accomodation and Chicago is very expensive!

Getting off the Greyhound we consulted the map of Niagara I had rather intelligently kept out and saw there was a bridge to cross into America only a few mins walk away so we set of. It was a cool day but anyone with experience of heavy backpacks knows you get sweaty quickly so by the time we reached the bridge we were exhausted. We were slightly confused to see a huge gate across the road and as we tried to walk towards it we were curtly informed that this bridge was for goverment workers only and we would have to go another couple of miles up the road to use another one. Feeling a tad dejected and even more soggy, we treked back towards the centre on Niagara to find the "Rainbow Bridge". Now, just so you aren't mislead in any way, the Rainbow Bridge is not actually a rainbow, it's not even painted like a rainbow, it's a huge, grey, concrete bridge - I only mention this so if you ever come here you aren't disappointed the way I was.

Phase 3 begins - we walk across the border, geting the customary grunts from the guards and little else and start to look for public transport to the train station. Perhaps we expected too much having lived in places were cars are not an essential part of daily life but the fact that no one in the tourist office, the Hard Rock Cafe or any hotels even knew that their town HAD a train station was disconcerting to say the least. In the end we asked a hotel receptionist to get us a cab and spent 20mins with an odd Indian man asking us what it's like to have a King in England(!)

Arriving at the station which is basically just a track with a shack next to it, we were glad to be rid of our heavy packs temporarily but our glee was short lived (this is getting tragic, isn't it). A freight train had derailed between Niagara and the next train station and while it was ok to drive over, US law says the train isn't allowed to drive over it with passengers. We weren't too worried really, they had put on quite nice buses which we got on and waited for the train to drop of the passengers who had been on the train from an earlier stop. W waited...and waited...and waited. The train had come in to the stop but because it had come from Canada, US customs had to inspect everyone and there must have been some non-Causicans on there because it took them an hour and a half!

Eventually we were underway and this bus dropped us at Buffalo where we had to wait yet another hour for our train to catch up with us, by this time 3hours delayed. We weren't too fussed as we had a 7hour gap between trains at the next stop so we enjoyed the sunshine on the platform and listened to our ipods!

Once we got on this train we were ushered to 1st class which was rather nice while all the people who had been searched at Niagara had to stay in their original coach seats - the Americans (rather mouthy as a nation) did not seem to like this and I did feel sorry for the poor conductors! We exited the train at Rochester and left our bags there in seach of food (it had been a long time since breakfast!)

If you ever come to Rochester in up state New York you might want to bring a packed lunch...there were no restaurants or even fast food anywhere! We had to search for half an hour and eventually discovered a slightly skanky Burger King inside a bus terminal. We settled in for the long haul (we had 5 hours to kill and they do unlimited drink refills) when a giant of a man who could only have been called Bubba, tells us they're about to close and we have to leave! So we dejectedly traipsed back to the station and played poker for many, many hours once we ran out our ipod batteries watching 24 (season 3)!

Finally (you're all thinking - I know I ramble), we made it to the train which would take us non-stop-over-night-sleep-in-your-seat straight to Chicago! It was delayed by an hour when it arrived and was almost full but we were lucky enough to get the last two seats together. I think I would have freaked if I'd have had to sleep next to a stranger (Andrew is bad enough!). The seats where quite big and I started to think this would be an ok way to spend the night...until we started moving! Oh dear God, it was the bumpiest journey ever! The route is mainly used for freight and I guess the tracks must take a pounding so we practically bounced half way across America! Add to that a soundtrack of babies crying, conductors shouting stops and two old ladies taking about Jesus and it was possibly the most awful way to spend a night ever! We managed about 2 hours of broken sleep all night! But we made it to the Windy City and now all we needed to do was locate our hotel!

Once again I feel the need to word-up the grid system. This is the only place in the world where even I can't seem to get hopelessly lost! It only took us about 30mins to located the Howard Johnson we were staying in and the receptionist took pity on the two tierd, dishevelled and lets face it, slightly pongy kids in front of her and let us check in early (it was 10.30am local time and we'd been up for 29hours at that point)! At that point we both gave in! We showered (after it took me about ten mins to peel my sweaty socks off!) and crashed until mid afternoon!

For anyone thinking of visiting Chicago we must share a little secret with you...one word...PORTILLOS! Is it fast food? Is it a restaurant? Who knows! It's a big building which is decorated like a Hard Rock Cafe but lower budget and it does cheap but oh-so-good food! You can go with fresh sandwiches, burgers or what we had...fresh pasta! About $8 gets you a massive bowl plus garlic bread and a drink - just what you need after such a long trip. I couldn't even finish mine it was that huge! It's a chain but seemingly only in Illinois which we were so gutted by! If you come here you have to try it!

We decided just to wander round and explore for the day as we were still a bit train lagged... we went to a park which had some nice fountains and some strange sculptures and then visited a bar on the way back to the hotel meeting a lovely man called Rick who worked for Fedex and seemed slightly intoxicated but was a very nice man all the same. Unlike most Americans, he had actually travelled around to some of the places we were going to so we swapped stories and got some great tips from him! The bar also had Sam Adams seasonal on tap so we had a pint and then went back to the hojo and crashed once again!

Day 2 and now we get more cultural! Due to crazy time spent travelling and being wiped out on our first day we had to pack as much into this one day as humanly possible but we actually found there wasn't that much we wanted to do.

We started at the Nave Pier with hot chocolate and cookies in McDonalds - we braved eating it outside and, believe it or not, it was a tad breezy! The pier gives you some beautiful views back onto the city and out on to lake Michigan and we decided (or rather Andrew decided and I got dragged along) to see it all from a huge ferris wheel (yes, I am scared of heights). Despite my hanging on to the seat the entire time, the views were very pretty and it was quite a unique experience!

We spent some of the day posting things home to England as we were becoming bogged down with ticket stubs and leaflets and fridge magnets (we appear to have started a collection) and then we gave in to our instincts and went off to find a cinema!

Laughing was in order so we saw Silent Hill (for mum and dad's benefit, that's a trashy horror film). The film was quite rubbish but what made it the American man in front of us who kept yelling things at the screen! His favourite phrase whenever things were getting tough for the leading lady was "Hell NO!" (Just like Will Smith in every one of his movies!) It was hilarious! Anyone who worked with me in UCI knows I usually throw people out for so much as sneezing but this guy really made the whole film enjoyable! To top of a wonderful film experience, our large combo was unlimited refills! Take that Odeon! We love AMCs!

We had intended to eat at the Rainforest Cafe but due to stuffing ourselves silly on popcorn we decided not to. So when the munchies called at about 10pm we trundled over to Portillos again where Andrew got a burger but I needed ice cream so I made him come to Maccy Ds too. You know when you really want something particular...I had that...I was craving a whippy icecream in a cone, but when I asked for one the Mexican woman behind the till couldn't understand what I wanted. So she called over her Mexican supervisor who was equally unschooled in English and despite the fact that we could SEE the cones and we were POINTING to the cones I did not get a cone that night Instead I had to settle for chicken nuggets and they didn't even give me any ketchup - Damn McDonalds!

So that was Chicago...any questions?

We're short on time again, and in a very sweaty, but very friendly internet cafe above a Burger King in the middle of Toronto. Crazily, we're not too far from being up-to-date! We spent 3 days in Niagara falls after New York, then a further 3 days in Toronto, soaking up the culture (and the beer!). We'll give you a brief insight into what we've been doing in this laid-back and highly interesting country.

New York is a big place. The city is, of course, one of the largest in the US, but New York State is also rather big. Not that we knew this when we got on the train. I'd seen a map or two of the area and guessed it couldn't take that long to travel across to Niagara... three or four hours maybe... so when the conductor informed us we'd be pulling into our destination some 10 hours later, we were shocked to say the least! However, we had our Ipods, and we had Kiefer Sutherland in 24 to keep us occupied, so we were okay.

(Kate takes over typing duties here....apologies for the spellings - it's the dodgy keyboard, I swear!)

It didn't really help matters that we hadn't thought to check where the Canadian border actually was before we got there so when the train pulled in to a desolate building site with the sun going down we were slightly panicked! Thankfully, there was a handily placed cabbie touting for business - ordinarily we would be annoyed at such shameless self-promotion but this time we thanked other people's gods and got in!

A quick $13.10 cab ride and we were at the Whirlpool Bridge, which connects America and Canada. The first Canadians we saw were the two drunken guys staggering ahead of us, singing anti-American songs (from what we could gather they may or may not have been thrown out of an American bar and were returning home)! They thought we were also American so we came in for a small amount of light-hearted abuse before they let us leave! The border guard seemed unphased by our drunken friends telling him we were smuggling drugs and he let us pass without a smile or any words of welcome!

Ok, on to Niagara: yet again I have wasted time rambling (me?! write too much...) I'll let Andrew do the talking for a while...

So, after managing not to get strip searched by the Canadian authorities, we crossed the border and went in search of our hotel. Again, our preparation was suprisingly lax, having only the address in hand and the vague idea that Kate thought it was two roads back from the front or something...maybe.. This added to our lack of desire to ask for help from the locals ensured a fun hike around the town at nightfall. Finally, after twenty or so minutes of walking with our increasingly heavy rucksacks, we caved and asked for help at the Hilton, which we thought had to be close to our Days Inn. As it turns out, there are 6 Days Inn in Niagara and none of them were near the Hilton. They were, however, near the bridge we crossed some thirty minutes previously... how we laughed... then promptly stopped laughing as our straps dug into our shoulders further and made us want to cry. Anyway, after about another thirty minutes of treking around the town, we made it through the haze of neon that makes up most of Niagara, and were greeted by a very friendly receptionist at our hotel. Despite it being nearly 10pm, she was genial and very helpful. We were doubly relieved when we entered our room to find it immaculate and very spacious. For less than 35 quid a night, it far exceeded our expectations!

So as not to bore, and so we still save something for our memoirs, I'll hand back over to Kate who will summerise what we did!

As you'd expect, and we ourselves expected, we did the Maid of the Mist and got very, very, very wet! It was fun and we kept the ponchos for Disneyland!! Then we headed underground and did the Journey Behind the Falls which basically involved standing in a cold cave looking out into some rushing water! Cool but no great photo opportunities!

Apart from those gems, we also did the neon bits! The Skylon Tower which over looks the falls was very pretty at night...we went to a 4D film with Leslie Nielsen in (Canada's best export!) and we had to do the casino since we got the bug in Atlantic City! All of which was exciting and enjoyable!

Thanks to the helpful Robert on the front desk, we booked a Greyhound to take us to Toronto after three days and we were loath to leave the happy little ball of tackiness that is Niagara - especially in a coach but it was cheaper than the train!

In Toronto we didn't really know what to do...we had 3 days to fill and only the CN tower in mind but we've done quite a lot! We went to the harbour and saw out onto Lake Ontario which was gorgeous! Went to the Steam Whistle brewery for free beer samples! We went round little harbour-front art galleries and went up the CN tower which was scary

Today we went to the Distillery District which is a whole yuppy area salvaged from old buildings ad filled with expensive shops and hundreds of little art studios (most of which were filled with stuff that my sister could do better but was priced in the tens of thousands of dollars!) It was briliant and made us want a yuppie flat to fill with yuppie things! There was also another brewery with more free samples so now we like Mill Street beer too!! (It's becoming a habit) But this beer is only avaiable in Toronto so we'll have to have it imported when we get back!!

Then we went on to the Royal Ontario Art Gallery, which was nothing special! And finally on to an English pub lunch!! Yummy!

And that is Toronto in a nutshell!!

We have to get going soon...the cafe is getting sweatier by the second and I am dying for a glass of water! Plus Family Guy series 4 is on the telly at 9pm and we want to get back for it!!!

Whole day of travelling tomorrow and then we get to Chicago the next day so hopefully we'll update again soon...the next stop after that is almost 3 weeks in Florida!! YAY

Hope you're all jealous & you're having fun where ever you are!

K & A