Aloha! We landed in Honolulu Friday night after a nightmare day's travelling from New York. Just been chilling out for a few days after the chaos of the Big Apple! Been soaking up the sun by the pool cos the temperature's in the 90's!!!! Went down to Waikiki Beach yesterday to spy the surfers :-) The Quiksilver long board finals were on down there so watched a bit of that. We didn't fancy competing to be honest cos wouldn't want to show them up! Booked tickets ...

Last full day in New York today so decided to shop like only we know how!! Found the Abercrombie and Fitch store which is half the price of England. Went to Macy's and Bloomingdales, the Disney Store etc. Managed to stay away from Prada and Chanel considering our backpacker budgets! Caught the Subway (on the 6 a la Jlo!) Downtown to SOHO. That was an experience! Found it though. It's all pretty compact down there so had a wander through Greenwich Village to befo...

The last day of our bus tour so took the Uptown loop to Harlem. Saw the Dakota building where John Lennon got shot. Saw the Museum of Natural History for the fans of 'Night at the Museum'. Jumped off at Central Park to go to the zoo!!! Yep there's a zoo in New York! Saw the sea lions, penguins and Polar Bears amongst others! Then we went for a little walk through Central Park and people watched!! Seems surreal to have such a beautiful retreat in the middle of the...

Woke up early to go up the Empire State Building! Fantastic 360 views of the Big Apple from the top. After that decided to take a hike over the Brooklyn Bridge to the famous Grimaldis pizza place. Needless to say, we got lost!!! Took us over an hour to find it but was well worth it! Pizzas bigger than both our heads put together! We then hopped on the bus for a tour of Brooklyn. Really nice place, quite the opposite of the reputation it has. Liz & Jo xx.

Our first proper day in New York so thought we'd do the touristy thing!! We'd booked a hop-on-hop-off bus tour so took the first leg of that Downtown. Stopped off at Ground Zero which was very sombre particularly considering the time of the year. Went to St. Pauls Cathedral where the firefighters and volunteers took refuge on 9/11. Then we headed towards the pier to catch the ferry around Liberty Island. The ferry left on the hour and we managed to miss it twice,...