So the story continues…

We had to be in the Philidelphia hostel by 12am, otherwise we couldn’t check in, so we thought 5 hours should be long enough to get to the hostel. But things never went as smoothly as we liked.

One significant error we made was by catching a greyhound bus instead of a chinatown one which would have been cheaper and got us to Philidelphia much quicker. We arrived about an hour and a bit later than expected, about 11:10pm which still gave us about 50 minutes to get to the hostel. The hostel was quite far from the greyhound station so we got a cab for the quickest and simplest solution. We thought we had a vast amount of time to get to the hostel, but it didn’t look hopeful when we saw the cab driver relying on his GPS.

As time went on, we were still sitting in the cab. We noticed that the cab driver seemed to miss a junction which was not good news as we were already running out of time. I was starring at the GPS system to see if the driver’s error caused us to be further from the hostel when suddenly a strange noise started at the rear right side of the car. Yes, we got a flat tyre! By now it was about 11:40pm and we had lost most hope of getting to the hostel in time until the cab driver raised our hopes again by attempting to change the tyre.

We was very optimistic again that we could make it if he could change it in time. We were even grabbing our torches to provide him with light to change the tyre as it was pretty dark where we was. Then, just when you think things can’t get much worse, the cab driver mumbled “we have a bit of a problem…” We looked down at the wheel and could see the driver pointlessly figuring out how to get the tool which loosen the nuts on the wheel to fit on properly. The tool the driver had was the wrong size and did not fit on the nuts of the wheel which meant he could not get the tyre off the car!! You cannot imagine how frustrated and annoyed we was at the cab driver. It was late at night with the prospect of sleeping rough for the night. It was not a happy moment.

It was about 11:50pm and we was in the middle of nowhere. The cab driver who seemed a little dodgy was going crazy on the phone. Clearly, he was getting nowhere and he coudn’t do anything to get out of this mess. Moments later, we received a gift from the gods! We were saved when Kev saw another cab appear in the distance which was a rare occurance on this road, of which we managed to flag down and get us into the hostel just in time!

Tired as we were, we managed to check in and locate our beds to recover and re-energise for another round of hectic sightseeing the next day.

We left New York for Washington D.C. in the morning by catching the 7:00am Chinatown bus. The bus was absolutely packed are all four of us was lucky to get a seat. The rest of the journey was uneventful as we were all catching up on lost sleep. We arrived in about 3 hours and for a change we booked up to stay in a Comfort Inn Hotel which are similar to the travel lodges back at home. This was luxury compared to the hostel we stayed in previously. We had our own TV, air conditioning, phone and even a microwave. And to top it all off we was entitled to a buffet breakfast!

We didn’t stay long in hotel when we arrived and got stuck right in to the sights. We went and saw the big sights; the Capitol building, Washington Monument and the Lincoln memorial.

CAPITOL BUILDING AND WASHINGTON MONUMENT

This was no easy task as the distance bewteen the Lincoln memorial and the Capitol building is approximately 2.5 miles! There are so many museums, galleries and war memorials in between to see which meant it made more sense to travel on foot visiting each site along the way. In the end we walked from the Captiol building to the Lincoln memorial and back about 6 times which totals about 15 miles! This is because there was no tickets left to get up the Washington memorial causing us to come back the next day, we went back past the capitol building to catch a beer at Capitol city brewery, being indecisive in the museums we wanted to go to and to take some night shots of the city which we got vey few of!

LINCOLN MEMORIAL

We could easily add miles for walking to the president’s household (White house), for the guided tour of the US Bureau of Printing and Engraving where my lifetime’s salary passed through my eyes and for repeatedly visiting Union station many times for baggage reasons.

We have certainly seen a few muesums (Washington has tons if you like them. Most are free) and memorials here of which came the cost of tired feet. We ended up staying in Washington for one day and a half which was more than planned. We left washington at about 7pm for Philadelphia, by then we were shattered and had plently of time to reach the hostel by 12am or so we thought…..

to be continued….

So finally after much has been said, the trip has begin and where better to kick start any trip with a visit to New York City.

We stayed in the Village Inn hostel in the New York’s east village which we chose for its close proximity to the local nightlife. After spending 4 nights there I can certainly say its an awesome place for a good evenings merriment. However upon our arrival to the hostel we were greeted with this sign which says.

PERILOUS TO LIFE!!! OMG!! WTF!!!

Despite the 2 rooms opposite ours being cornered off for our personal safety the place was clean and had a nice vibe despite the place being half full due to 16!! rooms being out of commission.

As far as daytime activities go we managed to cram in a lot in a short time. We marched over the Brooklyn bridge for the fantastic city skyline shots from Brooklyn heights, posed for (multiple) pics atop of the Rockefeller and empire state building plus we meandered though Greenwich village, chinatown and central park.

I love New York (cheesy huh) and it was great to spend some more time here to fully soak up the unique characters of each of Manhattan community. Next stop the USA capital, Washington D.C.!

Goonies highlight:

• Kev: Drinking in McSorleys, the oldest traditional pub in new york
• Mike: ‘Big Piano’ - Childhood fantasy. Done!
• John: Toying with the skyline at the Rockefeller Center
• Chris: The views at the the top of the Empire State Building 30 minutes after an almighty rain downpour.

The day has finally come it’s 8^th August 2008, the day our epic world tour will begin. In true Goonies fashion we decide to should to start ridiculously early at 6:30 AM to catch our first flight to New York at 11:45 AM. Our motive behind this is that as a group we are always notoriously late for everything and as regular as clock work Kev arrives 20 minutes late.

At the airport after saying our farewell to the family and shedding a few tears along the way we checked in with no problem. At the security check desk we all decide to remove items that could set off the metal detector, but on this occasion I was too lazy to remove my belt which I knew always set off the detector. What a big mistake as I have never felt so abused as it was the most rigourous body search I have ever experienced. The security staff took body searches to new extremes as he used his fingers to rimmed the inside of the top of my boxer shorts. I thought I was getting ’special treatment’ but Chris made the same mistake except he was less fortunate as he required 3 body ‘molestering’ searches to get the all clear.

After being molested in board daylight we decide to knock back our first beers. It was about 11 AM and we had to board the plane at 11:45 AM so we had a good 30 minutes to enjoy a pint. As 11:30 came around we neck the rest of our pint and make a move to board on the plane. To our amazement we was so late that we was the 4 last people to board the plane. The staff had already printed a list (which only contained our names) of luggage that had to be removed off the plane. Despite a shaky start to our world tour we arrived safely at JFK Airport with no further set backs.

Many people ask about where we are going on this epic tour around the world and there are usually two standard answers; the short answer and the long answer. The short answer is usually used in situations where time is short or when the long answer is so long that it induces the formerly-interested person into sleep. The short answer involves explaining the continents and a few key locations whereas the long answer could list all places! But the long answer is a rarity these days because it is so tiresome to go through. It’s just lucky we have a year break to get over it.

I hope to go through our route in this post about this year long trip. We do have a planner but its just lists the places we are going to with little explanation. So here is a long-ish answer for those interested! Our route isn’t set stone or follows a rigid structure so we can stay in a place for longer if we like, run away from places that just have no life or even add additional places that were not previously thought of.

So here goes…

• North America- The first place on our ticket is New York which seems a nice little place to start. We could have started in the East like in Japan or Thailand and then finish in New York but we decided to travel West and chase the sun. The plan is to travel up the East coast into the cities such as Boston and straight into Canada where we would hit Montreal. From there we would move on to Toronto where my uncle lives. We would then venture back to nearby Chicago to catch a flight to Las Vegas to boost our travelling funds. We hope to end the last part of USA with a 3 week mini road trip around the west, visiting various national parks. One of the highlights of the end of this part has to be driving down the south pacific highway from San Francisco to LA with a pimped up convertible for a true classic American drive.

• South America - This is the part where we get to test the Spanish we have been trying to learn in the past few weeks or in most of our cases… begin to learn. We begin our adventure in the city of Quito, Ecuador where we hope to take a trek up Cotopaxi which is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. Lots to see and do there of which we plan to wing when we arrive there. Following from Ecuador, we move on to Peru where the main attraction is the Inca Trail. We will be roughing it in the Amazon Jungle over a four to five day trek to see the ancient ruins Machu Picchu. La Paz, Bolivia will be our next stop from Peru where we plan to bravely go mountain biking up the World’s Most Dangerous Road, aptly named after many deaths on and off it. If we are still in one piece, we hope to make it to southern Bolivia to see the Salt Plains. We leave Bolivia heading towards northern Chile to see and tackle some mammoth anacondas. We get to see a little of of northern Argentina, but we will try to get to Buenos Aires to sample some authentic Argentinian Steak. Finally, we head for Brazil via the Iguazu Falls. We get to spend some time in Rio De Janerio and change from survival mode to party mode!

• South Pacific/Australia - Before hitting mainland Oz, we will be spending a few days on Easter island and spend time with the famous Moai statues. We then get to relax and chill out on the remote island of Tahiti. With our mind and bodies reset after the adventure in South America, we head off to Sydney where we shall spend Christmas and the New Year. We leave Sydney, travelling north along the east coast through Brisbane up to Cairns. Along the way we plan to chill out in nice beaches such as Bryon Bay and the Whitsunday islands. Of course we can’t miss out a visit to the Great Barrier Reef. We then make our way down towards mid Australia towards Alice Springs. We keep moving south towards Melbourne and then finally back to Sydney to complete the loop. We will arrive in Christchurch, New Zealand for our next destination where will we move north towards Auckland in about a month feeding on adrenalin rush activities and to see some amazing local sites. We then catch a flight via Sydney to start the Asian leg of the trip.

• Asia - This part of the leg is not so clear (it is about year away!) so the rough direction of where we will be given is explained. The first destination shall be Jakarta, Indonesia where we well catch a flight or boat ride to Singapore. From here we should be able to head into Malaysia. We can leave Malaysia through the north which allows us to enter and explore southern Thailand, visiting places such as Phuket and Ko Samui. Bangkok is the next main destination and the start of a big loop around Asia. From Bangkok, we go to Chang Mai then head east through the north of Laos and north Vietnam. To continue the loop, we head south through Vietnam and then start heading west through Cambodia before re-entering Thailand and reaching Bangkok. We start to move away from South East Asia by catching a flight to Hong Kong. This is where we enter mainland China and work our way to Beijing in about 3 weeks. Then to top the leg up and to make sure we have no money left when we get home, a visit to Tokyo, Japan is on the cards. We spend about a week there to see sights and reminisce over the past year’s travel before finally heading home to London where the dream ends.

…phew that was loooong. After all that explaining, the whole route may change! However, it is a good guide of what we will be getting up to and where we are going.

Here is a question I have been pondering in the dull hours which I fully intend to find the answer for!

Just how many different beers will one who is embarking on a round the world voyage, drink in 365 days?

In order to answer this grand question, I plan to keep the most important of travel journals, a Beerlog. People need to know what beers to knock back when on their travels. The grand aim is for this in many years time to become the pivotal prized tome of Beeroscopy that no backpacker should be without.

We will see how it goes but I like the idea and I’m sure, we the GOT gang, will have plenty of fun and merriment compiling this grand encyclopedia of fermented bar bound beverages.

Let the Beer-Watch Begins…

As you can probably see from the steadliy growing planner page. The Goonies have been extremely hard at work over the last few months creating a provisional outline of the vast ambitious trip we’re undertaking.

Now after what has been months (and months and months etc…) of planning and bookings made from behind the computer screen, it seems to me that this is all we will ever do….PLAN!

What with, accommodation, tours, visas, vaccinations, sights, travel arrangements… the list is truly endless! Sure, it is a slighty more fun chore than doing the ironing, but it’s a chore nonetheless (Cue abuse)! However despite planning madness, I’m certain that one of these days over the next 79 days, i’ll be hit square in the face with the realism that we’re “actually doing this!” and I “will” enjoying some of the benefits of opening that huge chasmn in my bank account.

But until that day of stark realisation (I may need a few stiff drinks on this day), i’m just happy for the general escape from reality the planning brings. Not to mention the comedy from translating some of the cryptic emails recieved from hostels the other side of the globe!

If anyone has any ideas on places to go and things to do then don’t hesitate to make a suggestion on the planner page! All ideas are good ideas!

Kev