After my brief visit to Vegas I made me way to San Francisco. The flight itself was pretty interesting. As everyone was preparing to board an announcement came over the PA saying [sic] "Ladies and Gentleman, it appears that all passengers have checked in for flight 473 and as such we do not have enough seats. Any passengers who are able to travel tomorrow please approach the counter and you will be booked on the first flight out tomorrow morning, we will pro...

Today I went on a tour out past Hoover Dam and on to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. I was woken at 4:45am with a wakeup call from the tour company. Given that my tour did not depart until 5:50 I was a touch peeved at this, it does not take me that long to get ready for a bus trip to the desert! Driving out of Las Vegas you could see just how huge this place is, and growing, we drove past numerous new estates being built. But it is the desert, it just is such...

Yesterday I returned the key for my little Upper West Side apartment and headed out for a night at the oh so salubrious Ramada Kennedy Airport. Packing was a nightmare. Even though I have sent back two parcels of stuff everything still seems to have multiplied. Had to invest in some extra travel space bags to squash it all in. But I managed and managed to get it in under the 50 pound limit by 2 pounds. Not sure what that is in kilograms but it is an absolute b**...

Today was St Patrick's Day and in New York that means only one thing, a parade. They do parade's really well. And there was a huge crowd, all with their pride on in hats, scarves and painted faces. In fact I asked the woman standing next to me if it was a public holiday, and it is not, so I am not quite sure how come so many people did not have to be at work! Everyman and his dog was in this parade. Every Irish county was represented, half a dozen school marchi...

Today I went on a day tour from New York to Philadelphia and then on to Amish Country. I had booked the tour from what appeared to be a reputable tour company, however as I discovered they outsource. (Some may remember that my tour was actually scheduled for last Monday, but they had failed to show up!). So with great trepidation I returned to the freezing cold corner of Park Ave and 42nd to wait, and wait. But they did show up, not that I would have known. Som...