- 01.05.2002 -

Vancouver, BC

Wow its been 5 months since I left the UK. It seems longer. I checked out and headed to the bus stop where the bus was just arriving. I was also just in time for the ferry and also for the bus from the ferry terminal at the other side, and my transfer. Not bad.

A point to note is that Canadians are really friendly and love an excuse to talk to complete strangers or help you out. With me it was my pacsafe system on my bag. They asked if it was to keep animals out (I thought it was strange but they probably means racoons which I've only seen as roadkill so far). Once I replied they say 'oh you're english!' and then they talk to you for ages about their dog/cat/distant relative that lives in England/the royal family's current mortality problems/etc.

After checking in I discovered that there are no Airporter buses to the airport at the time I require in the morning. The hostel staff are pretty helpful and I find out that I can take a couple of early buses to the airport if I get there in time. An early night for me I think.

- 02.05.2002 -

Arlington, Texas, USA aka The Lone Star State

Up before dawn, checked out and headed to the bus stop a few blocks away. I was early so I grabbed a coffee from the 7-11. A few short rides later and I was at the airport and getting my tickets updated.

My day got worse. I've been travelling through airports with no worries about my stuff. After I was through a guy asked if my luggage contained camera film. I said yes and he told me that it was all f'kd now coz these machines destroy the film. Oh great. Tell me that after I've gone through. I was mad as thats all my LA, Vegas, Grand Canyon and San Francisco photos destroyed as they are yet to be developed.

The flight was turbulence free but you had to pay for everything. They charge you five bucks to rent headphones to watch the movie or listen to music. You are not allowed to use your own either. The film was a Jim Carey movie so I had no interest in watching it anyway. I was still fuming about the camera film.

I met Shawn and his mother-in-law, Eve at DFW. After hellos we drove to Eves. A beautiful house in a gated community in Arlignton. Eve and Tom own a string of Pizza restaurants so they ordered in and we all chatted, ate, drank and then watched some TV.

Later we went to a bar called Sunshine where Eves son, Eric works as the barman. We got free beer all night which was cool. The local beer is called Shiner Bock.

- 03.05.2002 -

The house we are staying is so cool. Its like a 4 star hotel. So luxurious! We ate a huge breakfast of wraps containing sausages, eggs and veg, followed by fruit and other comfort food.

Shawn and I headed to FRY's electronics to get some laptop memory for Tom. This place is like a huge hypermarket that just sells cheap stuff for computers. Most of my mates would love this store as its geared towards customizing and tweaking your PC.

Today is the premiere of Spiderman so we went to see that at the cinema. Its not bad but I was a tad disappointed. Its definetly a Sam Raimi film with cheesy affects, bad CGI and lots of puns. Its worth seeing but its not 'wow' or anything so go in to the cinema with an open mind.

We got some sub sandwhiches with nachos from Eve and Toms restaurant for dinner and veg'd out in front of the box. 77 channels and nothing on.

- 04.05.2002 -

Breakfast today was sushi with samon bagels and fruit and cereal. God I'm stuffed. Then we headed over to Erics, got his minivan and headed to a BBQ place for ribs. Yum. I can see that I am going to need to diet after my Texas visit!

We drove to a train station that was only just built and rode to Dallas. There we went to what was the book depository but is now a museum. We then went over to the grassy knoll to hear about the JFK conspiracy. I got a signed magazine about the conspiracy by its author whom worked on the film starring Kevin Costner.

We headed to a bar called DICKS where the theme is that all the bartenders are rude to you. Hmm. Eric showed me his license to carry a concealed weapon. Now theres a conversation starter.

The next train is in a few hours so got a taxi downtown and grabbed a TexMex meal which was great and some beers before heading back.

- 05.05.2002 -

I didn't get much sleep as there was a tornado warning. We are right in the middle of Tornado alley. During the night the thunder and lightening was intense. Back home, storms do not bother me at all. You see the flash of lightening and wait for the thunder. The time delay between the two tells you how far away they are. They were happening at the same time. The TV next door kept coming on when the power would go off then on. I watched the storm pictures. We were in the middle. People were killed a few miles away.

Finally managed to get some sleep and slept in for a bit. Another big breakfast and some reading and TV watching. We then drove to Erics for a BBQ on the lawn. A very Texan thing to do apparently.

Eric showed me his gun collection. A Glock pistol, Taurau .22 Berreta copy, modified chinese AK47 assault rifle with USA approved stock and its predecessor assault rifle. All were loaded and just lying around.

We ate and ate and drank beer. Nathan took me for a spin in his new Camaro. We went out onto the freeway and I figured it wasnt as fast as my Supra until he put his foot down. The acceleration was so fast I was forced into my seat about to throw up. This baby has 380bhp from a 6litre V8. He didn't think it was fast. 'It was faster with the NO in but I had problems with the canisters so I had to take that out'. Oh.

We said bye and headed back. 75 years of NBC TV was on. I recognised maybe 15% of the shows.

- 06.05.2002 -

Today we went to Fort Worth. We had a look around the water gardens and grabbed a TexMex meal at a famous restaurant in a hispanic part of town. I was stuffed. We then went to a bar by the stockyards where the bar stools were saddles. Yeha. Man some of these Texan women..

Eve et al have been telling me that New Orleans is not a safe town so I've been reading up on it and true enough its not. In fact its one of the more likely places that a tourist will wind up mugged or shot in the USA. Hmm. So I'm thinking screw the penalty, I'm not staying there too long. I'll see the sights and either pay the penalty to fly out earlier or take a bus and see whats between NO and Chicago.

Tom has a cable connection to the net so I'm updating this journal. I'm going to Austin tomorrow. The news is reporting more heavy weather. The houses are pretty well built but man, until you see stuff like heavy storms, and I don't mean on the TV, you really appreciate how deadly they are.

I really want to see the real New Orleans but the more I read the more disappointed I get. I have no idea what I'll be doing in a weeks time but hey, thats part and parcel of travelling. Whatever I'm doing you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be safe. The first time I see something dodgy, I'll be running the other way.

Hmm. Just read the Lonely Planet website which says that May in New Orleans is Hurricane season. Me thinks my 15 days is going to be more like 4.

- 07.05.2002 -

Austin, Texas

We had an easy morning today. Once we were ready and packed we headed south in Shawn's Mazda 323 down to Austin. It was a 3 hour ride and we talked the whole way to eliviate the boredom.

In Austin I met Steph, Shawn's wife. We talked for a while about this and that. She's pretty smart and is an advisor at the local university. Shawn and I headed into town to grab food at STUBBS BBQ then headed into a bookstore for an hour to browse and to let the meal digest before heading across the street to AMY'S for the best icecream in the area.

Back at Steph's apartment I read a book from her shelf about Carl Jung.

- 08.05.2002 -

We drove into town and grabbed a huge burito at Chongos which I had trouble finishing. We spend an hour in 'half-price books' where I managed to pick up 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone' (The Americans changed the title of the book and film for some reason) and a Harry Harrison book that was not released in the UK. My love of books has grown since I started travelling and I have almost read all the books I wanted to read on my travels. Shawn has 'The Hobbit' which I have not read since I was young.

We headed to the museum of art which featured some weird LCD displays and some early etchings of the devil which were pretty good. I liked a small picture entitled 'Burden' of a guy sitting down on a huge rock with his head in his hands and this huge backpack on. Shawn thinks I should put it on T-Shirts and sell it to fellow backpackers.

Next we headed into the Lyndon Baines Johnson museum and watched a film about him then went exploring. After which we went to the university campus to see Steph. We read for a bit in the library then went back to meet her and headed to TRUDY'S to meet her friend Catherine and grab dinner. I had some pretty good Enchiladas and a couple of pints of Guinness.

- 09.05.2002 -

Started the day off with a really healthy breakfast of cereal and soya milk (its actually quite tasty and good for you). Then we drove to the mall and hung out like mallrats, people watching and shop browsing. We grabbed a sub sandwhich which wasn't that great. Mall food is never really good aparently.

Shawn has yet to see ICE AGE so we grabbed a couple of matinee tickets and went to see that. It was still funny for me the second time around.

Night time and we headed to a bar where they brewed a selection of beers themselves. Home brewing and microbreweries are all the rage here in Austin. I tried the Hammerhead stout and was happy to discover that it was pretty good.

The bar we were in had stopped serving food and we were hungry so we headed to the 'dog and duck' a local bar trying to be British. We drank Guinness and sampled the nachos which were pretty good and spicy.

Back at the apartment and not yet done for the night we started in on some beers and sat out on the balcony until the wee hours of the morning.

- 10.05.2002 -

Last night was pretty cool. The 3 of us chatted for ages about travelling, family, our careers and life in general. I still wasn't sure what I want to do when I get back to the UK but now I'm pretty sure (well, almost). I'm going to go back into contracting. I'm also going to look into doing an MSc on the side. Maybe its posible to do one through Open University? I'd also like to live in Ipswich again but thats probably the hardest part of my plan as it relies on getting a contract there. We'll have to see what happens.

We ate the food we bought at the supermarket yesterday to save money as we'd been eating out an awful lot lately. The supermarket had computers where you could pay for the food yourself without any human interaction at all. Sweet but maybe the next step would be not to leave the house and to order the shopping on-line.

The good news was that my camera film was ok and I got it developed. The bad news was that they made an error and overcharged me so I'm going back tomorrow for a refund. Shawn also needed to get his alternator belt replaced as it was starting to shred. I offered to change it but we ended up at a garage that tried to pull a fast one (83 bucks!) until Shawn argued them down.

We went to the Texas capitol building and wondered around following the tour. Its a pretty big place full of history. George.W.Bush was the Governor here.

To cheer ourselves up we got OFFICE SPACE and THE BLACK KNIGHT from Blockbusters and some Haagandas icecream. Yum! OFFICE SPACE is a popular film here. Shawn has got Melvins voice down to a tee. 'Umm the people to cake ratio..'. He's pretty good at doing impressions. Especially Mr.Burns 'excellent'.

We read and drank beer on the balcony until I was the only one out there as the others were tired. I thought I heard an animal in pain and looked down below in the darkness and made out the form of a woman lying on the floor near the bushes cyring. She was wearing trainers, shorts and a bra. Maybe it was a sports bra but I was worried so I went and got Shawn. She saw us on the balcony and took off. We went outside to find her with the intention of seeijng if she was ok and needed help but she was gone.

I finished reading 'The Hobbit'. In this print (American) it mentions a title that I have never seen published entitled 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'. I'm not sure if it was ever published but I am going to keep an eye out for a copy when I get home. He is a character that has been left out of the films.

- 11.05.2002 -

After an unhealthy breakfast of doughnuts and fruit we drove into town and I managed to get my refund for the camera film. We then drove to San Antonio to visit the Alamo. It was pretty interesting. Afterwards we followed an artificial water display that lead past shops, under a hotel and out into the river that becomes the river walk. We grabbed lunch at 'The County Line' which does a mean BBQ meat brisket and the best strawberry milkshake in the world.

We waddled back to the car totally full. We drove to an art gallery, getting lost on the way only to find out that it was closed so we drove back to Austin.

Back at the apartment we 3 had a long chat over wine until Steph's bed time. We then sat out on the balcony in the cool breeze chatting and drinking beer. Ah the easy life! Tomorrow evening we drive to Houston to catch a live gig. Shawn's brother knows the guitarist and also works in radio.

- 12.05.2002 -

Houston, Texas

Steph and Shawn headed out to prearanged gigs and I sat down and logged on for abit to catch up on emails and plan my New Orleans and Chicago trips. Steph came back after a bit and we chatted until she had to leave again.

Shawn and I headed out to Houston. It was a long dull drive punctuated by a halfway stop for food. At Houston we headed to the sidecar bar to hear a live act. The guy was the lead singer and guitarist of a band called BLUE OCTOBER. It was mothers day here so he had his mother here and was doing an improv gig partly for her and partly for us. He was pretty good and I enjoyed it imensley. The music style is a bit like 'outside' by Staind.

Eric and Shannon had turned up as had his brother Tommy and his girlfriend Leska. Tommy works for the local radio station.

- 13.05.2002 -

Weslept in then hedaed out for breakfast at the 'house of pies'. Then we drove to the Johnson Spcae Centre. We missed the last tour but we headed into the IMAX, took in some displays, checked out the space gear and touched a moon rock, as you do.

We grabbed dinner on the way back and then headed to a bar called the velvet melvin advertising 'cheap ass beer and cheap ass pool'. Pool was free and we played against Byron, Shawn's brother and his mate Tim.

Joanne, Byrons girlfriend showed up later. She's from Retford near Nottigham and is working over here for a while.

- 14.05.2002 -

We drove to see Delores (Shawns mum) today and had lunch there. They have a nice big house with swimming pool. His dad's into birdwatching and their are books, pictures and models of birds everywhere. He's off somewhere photographing them.

Later on that day we met Delores again at Taco Cabana for dinner with Byron and Joanne. After Delores left we headed to a bar for drinks and ended up playing this trivia video game at the end of the bar for ages.

Us three guys went back to Byrons to veg out on Simpsons videos.

- 15.05.2002 -

Arlington, Texas

We said goodbye to Byron and then went to check out some local museums and art galleries before driving to Arlignton.

Back at Tom and Eve's we veg'd out on free pizza and TV again. I leave tomorrow. Pity.

- 16.05.2002 -

New Orleans, Louisiana

I woke up at 6:30am to find that everyone had slept in. Argh! I rushed to get ready. We piled my stuff into Shawn's car and said goobye to Tom. We met Eve down the street at Satrbucks with free coffee. Great, I can get my fix!

At the airport I said bye to Shawn. We've effectively been travelling together for a few months now. We promised to keep in touch.

I managed to change my New Orleans to Chicago flight at DFW with no penalty which was lucky. I boarded the plane and sat next to a guy from Arlington who does community workshops. He wanted to talk and I didn't mind as it took my mind off flying.

At New Orleans airport I grabbed a shuttle bus to the hostel and checked in at the weekly rate to get the discount. I'm here for 8 days anyway.

I met Abe and his mate (Denmark) who are in my dorm room and Iain (London) out in the garden patio area. We chatted throughout the day and were joined by Kim and friend (Pittsburg), a german girl, 2 guys from London and Andy from Tennesse. basically I spent my day sitting out back at a table in the garden, complete with umbrella, while perfect strangers stopped by to talk and swap travel stories. That's what I like about hostels.

The journal continues...

- 17.05.2002 -

The two Danish guys never got back until about 6am so they were not really up to heading into town. The two guys from London whom I met last night were up for it though. Their names are Nigel and Dan. They are on RTW tickets and are only 17 days into their trip.

We bought a streetcar pass and headed into the french quarter. The NPS told us not to go to the cemetries at any point because you will get mugged. Hmm. New Orleans has the highest crime rate of any city in the USA at present. The higest state is Detroit however as the rest of Louisiana is fairly ok. If you go to a search engine and search for 'New Orleans crime' your first hit is more than likely the NOPD site which states that there are 6 murders a month and almost as many rapes. Yikes.

After exploring the french quarter we took a ride on the free ferry across the Mississipi and back. Its a large brown coloured stretch of water. Its actually higher than the land around it. They have measures to prevent the land becoming flooded. However, most of New Orleans is swampland.

We caught the streetcar back to the hostel, grabbed a bite to eat and got a group together to head into town. Our group consisted of Tom (Australia), Aide (Ireland), Andy (Tennesse), 2 girls from Pittsburg and some hangers on whose names I cannot recall.

Have you ever seen that advert on TV back home? I think its for Southern Comfort. Everyone is in a blues bar in New Orleans and its raining outside. A guy goes something like 'the hurricane has stopped!' and everyone groans 'but its still raining!' he continues and they all cheer. Well, if I had any idea of what New Orleans would be like, it was that advert. And it was true to a tee because tonight it was raining heavily and thundering and lightening as we walked along Bourbon Street taking in the sights.

The group was too big and people wanted to go here there and everywhere. We split up and me, Nigel, Dan and Andy ended up in some bars opposite Pat O'Briens. We ran into Mark from London who was with an acting group from the UK. With him was Karen (London) and Jennifer (Scotland). Nigel went in for the kill and hit it off with Karen.

We moved on to a bar called the Dungeon. It was a goth bar heavily into vampires and played my sort of music. I liked it. It was tacky right down to the wall gargoyles and human skulls. Wes would love this place.

Jennifer was bored so I tried talking to her. She was stunning and when I asked her where abouts she was from in Scotland she just said 'south west'. I hate it when people think you will never know where they are from so they don't even bother telling you. I managed to narrow it down to Dumfries. I mentioned that every year as a kid I used to go to Kirkudbright (ka-ku-bree) with my family. That woke her up. We chatted for a while. Later Nigel (chuffed with the fact that he had a date tomorrow with Karen) told me that Jennifer had come over to them saying that she'd enjoyed talking to me. I was glad I got her to at least talk.

Dan and I left later in a Taxi as we were pretty cream crackered. It was a good night. Andy had wandered off. He was in a drunken stupper talking to himself about how the FBI were trying to find him and he had to keep changing his name to conceal his secret identity. You meet some.. characters when travelling.

- 18.05.2002 -

Dan, Nigel and I went on the swamp tour today. We got a hostel discount which was pretty good. Plus they pick you up and bring you back. A day trip for about 10ukp.

A naturalist or whatever you call them talked about the creatures of the swamp. He had some racoons, a napier, some snapping turtles and gar fish. He told us about the aligators and had a set of skulls to emphasise their jaw size.

We boarded the boat and we got the seats at the front. The swamp, or the bayou as its called is a big place with just winding waterways surrounded by thick vegetation and cypress trees with spanish moss hanging from it. Don't touch it though as the spiders nest in it.

Once we had seen our first gator we knew what to look for. No more pointing out floating sticks. Once spotted the guide would power down the boat and threw marshmallows at them so we can see where they were. They then glided effortlessly through the water towards the marshmallow. They see prey by sensing the distubance it makes in the water and the fact that a marshmallow is white floating on a dark surface.

One gator had been caught by a hook at some time and when he escaped he'd torn a hole in his lower mouth. This was pointed out by our guide because as it engulfed the marshmallow it would fall through the hole in his mouth and surface again. The guide thought it was hilarious but we thought it was cruel. It managed to catch the mallow in its teeth and chomp it down finally. Poor thing.

The bayou is a really cool place. Steven King would love it. Nothing but endless swamp and eyes on the surface of the water waiting for you to fall in. Do you hear a ticking sound Peter Pan?

The longest aligator we saw was 11 foot long. It swam alongside us and was happy to eat the marshmallows our guide threw it. I think these guys probably have a serious sugar addiction by now.

Back on dry land we went to IGOR's for lunch. I had the Jambalaya, a cajun speciality. Or sould that be Creole? Either way it was pretty good. It tasted like risotto with pepperoni slices, crawfish and corn on the cob. Yum.

Later in the hostel courtyard I talked to two Australian girls who were aboard that flight out of Australia that made the recent news. Due to turbulence, people were injured and they were forced to land in Auckland. The second attempt there was an oil leak, the third a malfunction so they got a new plane. The fourth time they were ok and managed to fly to LA. If it was me, flight one would of convinced me not to fly anymore.

We headed out to Bourbon Street again. This time Aide and I chatted for ages as he was an IT contractor working in New York. He gave me his email address but I lost it! We went to a blues bar and listened to some cool music. With us was Louise (Australia). Girls were trying to get me to drink shots out of test tubes by putting it in their mouths and asking me to drink it from there. I declined as I knew they were going to hit me with a fee afterwards. They put it between their breasts next. These girls have good marketing skills.

Aide told me that while in New York he's been robbed in the street twice by gun point and one night he came back to find a burglar robbing his flat. He also had a gun and orded Aide into the bathroom until he was done. He says you do as they say and afterwards are really pissed and stressed out for weeks but you get used to it. I don't think I would want to thank you.

- 19.05.2002 -

Dan, Nigel, Louise, Libby (Australia), Yoko (Japan), Fred (USA) and I headed around the garden district. We checked out the Lafayette cemetry where they filmed 'Interview with a vampire' with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. We also saw Anne Rice's house. She is the author of said film and the rest of the vampire chronicles including 'Queen of the damned'. Her house was old Spanish style with gothic statues and candles in the garden and moss everywhere.

We walked into town and along the riverwalk where Libby had to leave us. We grabbed lunch. I had a crawfish wrap which wasn't too bad. Crawfish is basically king prawns.

We grabbed cocktails at Pat O'Briens before heading back to the hostel. I grabbed 40 winks then met the others. Dan, Nigel, Simon (Australia) and Louise and I headed to Bourbon Street and started knocking back cocktails. We went to a bar and headed up to the balcony above Bourbon St. People passing below asked people to throw down necklaces. Women took of their tops to show of their breasts. In exchange they got free necklaces.

Louise and Yoko left leaving us guys. We started in on the beers and went downstairs to check out the rock band. The lead female singer was amazing. She was a good singer too. They played everything from Alannah Myles to ZZ Top. The best live band I've seen yet.

Dan got tormented by the shot girls until he couldn't take any more and bought us all shots. A quite cute brunette placed a blue test tube between her lips, grabbed the back of my head, brought my mouth to hers and tipped my head back. Man this stuff tastes like Aftershock mixed with Listerine!

Nigel dragged us into a strip bar where there was a one-drink minimum, no entry fee and the beers were five bucks a piece plus tip. The womem were pants. I was bored. Once you've been to Patong in Bangkok, you've seen it all. Except.. a girl came on in a school uniform and looked 16. The law states they have to be at least 21 so she looked young for her age but Dan was so embarrased he stormed out before she started stripping. I followed him (more so because I didn't want to buy any more expensive beers) and the others reluctantly followed.

- 20.05.2002 -

Dan and Nigel were leaving today via Amtrack for El Paso. We shook hands said our goodbyes, exchanged emails and that was that. I think I'll take it easy today after a few nights at Bourbon Street. I did try to change my flight to Chicago to get out of New Orleans a bit earlier but they wanted 100bucks as a penalty! I told them I had signed a contract with STA Travel in Sydney and the penalty can be no more than 25bucks. They said its 100. Bugger.

I guess I'm stuck in NO for a while. What are my options? Well there's an STA office in Chicago so I guess I'll wait until I get there. Maybe in the meantime some cool people will come through here.

I phoned home and talked to my sisters until my phone card ran out. My package from Australia arrived safely and they have been watching my diving video.

Lunch was a cream cheese bagel. Back at the patio I chatted to a guy from Australia and a guy from Poland who told me I should visit his country. He lives in Krakow, works in engineering. He told me about the Polish mafia too. Interesting subjects we travellers talk about. The conversation usually goes like this: 'where are you from, what is it like there, what is your currency like at the moment, is it cheap to live and eat there, what are the women like, what are the tourist attractions, what is the crime rate like, etc'.

We were joined buy a guy from the UK and another from Germany. We talked for ages and watched the rats run along the fence tops as the cat eyed them. Later, in bed I heard them scuttling along the roof. I looked out the window and occasionally saw a tail or some whiskers sticking out over the guttering, caught in the moonlight. Nice.

- 21.05.2002 -

A lazy day today. Doing nothing but reading and listening to a book I wanted to read that the hostel had on cassette called 'Guns, Germs and Steel by Jarred Diamond'. I even bought batteries for my walkman from Wallgreens so I could listen to all 11 tapes.

- 22.05.2002 -

I met my new room mate, Gareth (Wales) and his mate Claire (Wakefield). Claire's accent was identical to that of my contracting mentor Sue (who taught me all about expenses and hotels. thanks Sue he he).

I grabbed a Subway then we headed into town to the library. Dan and Nigel had told me that every town in North America has free internet access for up to an hour at the public libraries so we went there to catch up on our emails.

Back at the hostel I met Sarah (Grimsby) and we just clicked. She's a fellow petrolhead that works on and races Ford Escort Mark 1's and owns a Bandit motorbike. I told her that one day I'm going to buy a Cortina Mark III and supe it up. Or maybe I'll just get my Dad to do it he he (only joking Dad). I also mentioned my dream to get a Yamaha Virago when I return to England and that I missed watching Speedway and the banger racing in Ipswich.

We talked for hours. She told me that when I return, not to take any trains as their safety record since I had left the UK had gone down the toilet. She's a nurse and was part of the team that had to go to the recent crash. It was not pretty.

Glen, Tommy (Oz), Peter (London), Sarah and I headed out for lunch then came back where about 14 of us gathered into a circle and talked into the wee early hours.

- 23.05.2002 -

Gareth and Claire checked out today. I met two guys from USA and Sarah at the patio where we talked about accents. I have had this problem everywhere I go. No one thinks I am from the UK! I'm either Australian, Irish or American. If I'm English then my accent is not from the north east. No one can place it. Its definetly not from Middlesbrough some say. Its just a mess I guess. Maybe I've picked up bits of other peoples accents and unconciously incorporated it into my own. Sigh.

I went to the Laundromat to do my washing then came back and hooked up with Peter, Tommy and the guys I met from the States. We went drinking but my tooth hurt like hell so I split early.

- 24.05.2002 -

Chicago, Illinios

Checked out and had coffee with Tommy on the patio then caught the shuttlebus to the airport. Grabbed a pretty decent Creole breakfast (avoided the grits) and ran into Tommy again. We then met four women from the Brazillian volleyball team that were touring. Tommy had met them last night and danced with one.

After being searched umpteen times again (random my ass) I boarded my flight and talked to the Scottish girl in the seat next to me about our world trips so far as we flew to Chicago.

In Chicago I enquired abouut hotels downtown. They were 100bucks plus a night. I wanted to treat myself after the dump of a hostel I'd been living in but not at that price. The guy said I could stay in an airport hotel for less than half the price. How much? He gave me a pink slip for people whose flights are delayed and I called the freephone number. For 45 bucks I could have the Ramada or the Hilton. 'Which is better?' I asked the girl on the other end of the line. 'The Hilton' she laughed.

The Hilton was literally opposite the airport so I walked over there and checked in. I didn't fit in so in my room I changed into the best clothes I had and I blended in. I could afford the room at the cheap rate but not to eat here. I bought some over-priced pringles in the shop downstairs along with todays paper. I filled my ice bucket with ice from the ice machine and left it to melt. I dined on pringles, free columbian coffee and ice water while flicking through 99 cable channels.

Ah this is the life. The Hilton has to be the most luxurious hotel I've ever been in. The room is massive with a king size bed, a desk with a view of the airport, internet access and nintendo, a huge bathroom, coffee point, ironing board and iron etc etc. Everything a traveller would need. Well, a traveller with a gold coloured credit card.

- 25.05.2002 -

Experienced major homesickness this morning. Checked out and caught the 'L downtown. You could not check into the hostel until 2pm so I grabbed a buritto at Amigos next door. Man it tasted good! I love texmex food.

I found STA Travel around the corner and managed to get my New York to Heathrow flight changed for 25 bucks. Cool. My tooth had developed and absess so I was going to get it done at home on the NHS rather than pay through the nose in the States. All I had to do now was change my last two internal flights.

After checking in to the hostel which in itself was a pain (the security guard is a cop wannabe and I had to check my sleeping bag in to storage) I headed to a phone to try to change my domestic flights. They wanted 200 bucks! WTF??? No way! Pay it or dont change they said. But at the airport they had quoted 75 bucks for both changes at the same time not 100 bucks each! I was mad. I went to STA and the girl was nice and tried making some calls but they could do nothing. Sigh.

I got my tickets and a good book and bought a banana at a 7-11 so I had change for the subway. I rode the subway to O'Hare (45 minutes) for 1.50 dollars. At the airport they said 200 bucks also. I was patient (oh how I've learned to be on this trip) and was nice to the woman who was obvioulsy stressed from dealing with pissed off travellers. We talked about how she'd like to visit England one day. She made some calls. 'The best I can do is 100 dollars for all the changes right now'. I took it. At least I'd saved 100 dollars. I'd priced Amtrack and Greyhound through STA and they were both over 100 including tax and took 12 hours a trip. No way.

Chicago's public transport system is not voted as the best in the States for nothing. The subway goes to the basement of the airport and to one block from my hostel for a dollar and 50 cents. My card had not expired so for an additional 30c I cam recharge it and ride back!

Opposite me on the train was a pilot. He was happy to talk to me. He flies for American Airlines. I asked him all the questions I've ever wanted to ask a pilot. He was pretty cool.

My toothache was back with a vengenance later on. The pain killers were not working either. If its not one thing its another. I met Andre (Belarus) and Aide (Birmingham) in the hostel TV room. We watched EMEMY OF THE STATE and chatted about this and that. Andre told me all about Russia and how Smirnoff is actually a weak version of Smirnov, manafactured for export. We talked about the Russian maffia and the crime and about how I was thinking of doing another RTW trip in 3 years time, this time on the Trans Siberian railway.

Later in my dorm room I met a guy from Wyoming who lives around the corner but his apartment is being fumigated, and a guy from Taipai, Taiwan. He was upset because on the news another ChinaAir plane had crashed killing more Taiwanese. Man, I am never flying ChinaAir!

- 26.05.2002 -

Its Sunday and no shops are open. I still have to buy my niece a birthday card! Its memorial day tomorrow and no shops are open.

I ended up at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was huge! I spent the day here until it closed. It was pretty imformative with pieces from Egypt, paintings by Monet (3 rooms full!), Cezanne, Migrette (my favourite), Dali, Picasso etc, sculptures, room minatures, Indian history and childrens illustrations.

I ran into Peter whom I had met in New Orleans. We agreed to meet up later. We did, at the hostel and headed up town to get some of this famous deep dish Chicago style pizza we keep hearing about. Every pizza joint had a queue though. Who queue's for pizza? We did. Forty minutes then 45 minutes for the order to arrive.

Ginos had a theme. You can write on anything except the waiters and pictures. There was graffiti everywhere. The pizza was amazing. I could not drink beer as it affected my teeth now (fermented sugar?) so I ordered milk. Maybe the calcium would do them some good.

- 27.05.2002 -

I joined the free tour of Chicago this morning. We walked around following our guide. We saw Buckingham fountain which appears on the start of every episode of 'Married with Children'. It shoots water 135ft into the air.

After the tour I had a nap then headed up Michigan Avenue to take some photos and to buy some birthday cards. I was in a supermarket when a black lady just started screaming at the rest of us that we were evil and we were killing her. She was completly nuts and scarey. Security escorted her out. Everywhere you go in the States people ask you for money or preach from their bible (loudly) on street corners. (in Mr.Garrison voice: ' you are all going to hell, you are going to go to hell and you will die for your sins oh yeah. say it with me!').

- 28.05.2002 -

The gum above my problem tooth was pretty swollen this morning. Sigh. No pain though which was something. I headed to the Field Museum and got there at 9:30am and sat down for a coffee and a bagel. I figured I'd be out by 12:00 noon so I could go to this free blues thing at the hostel. I left the museum at 4:50pm. It was that good. And big.

In fact, my hat comes off to the Field Museum of Chicago as being the best museum I have been to in the world. Its even better than the Cairo museum and thats saying something since Egyptology has become my favourite thing to study while travelling.

There is so much to see in this museum. There is an Egyptian burial chamber, ancient africa themes that you can walk around, including the Amistad. Dinosaur bones, ancient Tibet, lions of Tsavo (which is what the film 'Ghost in the Darkness' with Val Kilmer was basd upon), biology, zoology, plants and gems (Sapphire is my birth stone I learned). It was great. I had a great learning experience.

Exhausted I went back to the hostel, stopping for a buritto at Amigo's. I said bye to Peter who was moving on and headed to the library across the street to read my emails for free.

Not tired (maybe my growing coffee addiction could answer why) I headed out again as the Art Institute was open tonight for free until 8pm. I looked around the paintings that I had to rush through at the end of my last visit. There is a guy called Rothko who in my opinion is crap but got rich out of it (he paints two stripes or a black canvass and calls it art and sells it for a million dollars). I checked out the Monet's again. Naw, I can't see what my sister sees in them. I like flemish paintings and some early Italian works.

- 29.05.2002 -

I had originally asked for 5 days at the hostel but they only had a bed available for 4 saying that I could check out after day 4 and check back in on day 5 no problem. They were not allowing people to make reservations. It was a case of first come first served. So I checked out but they had nothing left so I was screwed. Feck.

I was not bothered to be honest. I checked my luggage into storage and walked to the train station and caught a train to south Chicago for 1.95 dollars. It was a double-decker and I rode up top. At 77th street I got off and went to the Science museum.

This was another large museum that I ended up spending the day at. I recommend to anyone that they should go to Chicago and see all the museums and Galleries. They are amazing.

I went aboard an aircraft carrier and learned about Navy warfare. I went aboard a Submarine and read up on sonar technqiues. I also went down a mineshaft and learned about coal mining. I had the biggest chocolate fudge sundae ever next then went aboard the U-505 German U-boat followed by rooms dedicated to farming, biology, science, chemicals, time, fairy castles and imaging. The later was great. I moved about in front of a thermal imaging camera and was displayed on the big screen above as a collection of heat sources. I also went through the digital internet rooms, watched international broadcasts, digitized myself and made my own avatar then learned about DNA and played with cloned animals that were on display (mice, frogs, bees, etc). Cool.

I caught the bus back, grabbed lunch and my luggage and caught the metro to the airport. This time I got a deal on the Radisson hotel for a couple of dollars more than the hostel. Nice one.

- 30.05.2002 -

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Woke up feeling refreshed. Found the indoor pool in the basement. I was the only one there so I had a leisurely swim then went into the sauna. Ah the hard life of a backpacker eh? he he.

Suitably refreshed I caught the free shuttle bus to the airport, got searched three times and boarded the plane. We were grounded for an hour and taxied along the runnway in a queue for ages due to bad weather. I happily read my book.

In Toronto I found a reasonable hotel and caught a bus and two subway trains to my stop. I called Leah my diving budy who was going out of town for the weekend. She said I could stay at her place from Monday onwards. I promised to call, and went to the food court at the Eaton Centre for dinner.

The guide to Toronto states that there is a very large Chinese population here. This is true. I talked to a girl from southern China while I waited for my food. We talked about the Mandarin language and its differences to Cantonese and life generally in China compared to Toronto.

I watched TV in my room. The view here is amazing. Its like looking out onto a Bladerunner set. Nothing but neon and skyscrapers. I was on the 17th floor way above the city below.

- 31.05.2002 -

Checked out and headed down Church St to the hostel where I checked in for 3 nights. The place turned out to be a dump but I only intended to use it as a bed until Leah got back into town.

I headed out to get some currency. The best rate I could get was in the third bank I tried. The tellar wanted to know where I was from and then started talking to me despite the queue. She asked where I was staying. When I said the hostel around the corner she told me to keep an eye on my possesions. Er.. I went back and locked them up. Weird.

I grabbed a bite to eat then bought a ticket to see Star Wars 2. I headed into Chapters to read for free (you can do that here) and read up on up-and-coming computer games. The film was ok. Spiderman is making more money because that does not have to be shown in a THX cinema.

I headed uptown afterwards as the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) was free tonight from 4:30pm to 9:30pm. It beat paying the usual 15 dollar admission charge.

I had a good walk around. I'd seen most of this before in other museums so I concentrated on learning about the sujects that interested me and just perusing the others quickly. I learned more about Egypt and its ties to ancient Italy, Greece and Europe. Then I went through their Europe through the years tour (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classical, Victorian and Modernism) which was pretty good.

I left when the museum closed (as usual). I'd had a yearning for mashed potatoes for days so I was pretty determined to find a restaurant that included them with the meal. I found a Thai place around the corner from my hostel that had an international menu. I treat myself to a New York sirloin steak with mashed potatoes and veg for less than half the price it would cost back home. I also guessed correctly that red wine would not affect my tooth so I got drunk on half a litre of red wine because I hadn't eaten much today.

It was a slow night so the waiter who was from China sat down and talked to me. He told me that ChinaAir is military controlled and is pretty badly run and maintained. Hmm. We talked about Hong Kong and Shanghai too.

David Kei

previous | index | next