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Sorry guys bumper edition over the next few days, hopefully, the stupid thing is I am writing the Contiki trip blog whilst I am on the Gadventures tour in Brazil! Yeah, a bit behind……again!!!
Anyway, here goes…..the last Contiki instalment! I have to say I have actually felt quite emotional whilst writing these up, bit sad I know but hey, it was a pretty awesome 26 days with a group of fantastic people, who I have to say made the trip for me. I am already missing everyone massively. Again, another one of the downsides of the travelling, the constant goodbyes, I say you get used to it, but I was lying, I fully expect to being feeling crap for a few days after this has finished…….and I know I won't be alone on this front. The only thing that will be cheering about the end of this trip is my liver and bank balance.
So, we depart Raleigh feeling fresh as daisies, there was no bar last night, thank god. On the way into DC we drove past the Pentagon, unfortunately my photos are rubbish of this. We then visited Arlington National Cementry. A very peaceful place, I felt sad being there and seeing the thousands and thousands of headstones of fallen US service men and women. We also visited the tomb of the Unknown Solider where we saw the changing of the guard. We left all feeling quite quiet and thoughtful. Having arrived at the hotel we headed next door for pizza before we hoped back on the bus for our city tour which was due to last for 3 hrs. The memorials in DC are quite something, we visited the Washington Memorial, the Martin Luther King memorial and Lincoln memorials amongst others. The words on the Martin Luther King Memorial are just lovely. All the memorials here are incredible impressive, Ive never seen anything quite on this scale. I really enjoyed this tour.
So, I missed the bus this morning, luckily it was just a drop into DC and not the trip to NYC. I made my way to the Smithsonian museums via the subway and got totally soaked, there was also a tornado warning! So trudging through the streets of DC in my flip-flops with my iPod for company I made it to 3 of the museums, the national archives to see the declaration of independence, the washington monument and of course the White House. Quite bizarre actually being there! In the evening we set off for dinner at Medium Rare, the steak place where you get two servings, it was amazing and we were stuffed. We then made our way back to the bar next to the hotel where the night continued, but prior to making it back we went past a firehouse and had pictures with the firemen, wore a lieutenants hat and held the water hose!!
Feeling a touch delicate today (along with everyone else) I made my way to the zoo and saw the pandas, they were very cute and quite active surprisingly enough, more so than me today. Having not done much else today, i headed back got ready and it was time for dinner, quite an early one this time as we had tickets to the hockey game - The Washington Caps were playing, but i can't remember who. It took me a while to get into but it was fantastic! i have to say i was quite fascinated by how they were skating for obvious reasons - thought i might pick up some tips for hockey stops! After about 3 hrs the game was over , the caps had won and we were hailing cabs to the rather oddly named bar of Madams Organ. The bar was really great, and everyone was dreading the next day as the goodbyes had already started. The beers were flowing the dancing was beginning and the night ended with the most enormous slice of pizza you've ever seen - i couldn't even finish it believe it or not. Then it was cabs back to the hotel. Oh yeah, and we had been told not to have too much of a bigger night as we had a long journey to NYC the next day starting at 7:45am……….so yeah of course we completely ignored said advice.
The next day arrived, the alarm went off, i hauled myself out of bed and realised that i should have indeed heeded the advice of our tour manager, the good news was it wasnt just me that looked like death warmed up. We boarded the bus, within about 30 mins there were sick bags being handed out, luckily i was asleep and missed all this excitement, i did however wake up to discover i had also been given one, although i didn't need it. Apparently i just looked a bit rough and very pale! Nice! So having made it through the most painful bus ride of them all we arrived in Philadelphia accompanied by Bruce Springsteen and the Fresh Prince of Belair. Our next stop being the steak and cheese shop. So a particular fast food sandwich place at home attempts a steak and cheese sandwich, and quite frankly having experienced the real deal, they should just give up now.. What we had in Philly was incredible and what we all needed to aid the recovery from the night before. It was also at this point we were informed by Creg we had another night out tonight. Bloody hell i thought, i was looking forward to an early night…….no such luck.
Creg then started a recap on the 26 days, wow we had done a lot. He did suggest that a lot of us might not be able to remember everything so that it was a good idea to run through everything again…………ah memories, and there are a lot of them! Then the photos started coming round, for people to sign and leave messages, well, this well and truly set me off, the messages were all lovely, that was it the flood gates opened - for gods sake, I can be such a pathetic girl at times. Just proves how much I knew i was going to miss this bunch of nutters. I will only ever have one Contitki family - sentimental stuff done! Love you lot!
We arrive into NYC admiring the skyline as we drove in, we were dropped at the hotel and had to get cabs to the hostel, this is where the fun began. Eventually we got one and were then just stuck in traffic for nearly an hr, so what should have been a 15 bucks ride was more like 40. Ah, then we arrived at the hostels - a twelve bed dorm for me, quite a shock to the system after a month of my own rooms in a hotel, but I soon got back into the swing of things. We found an outdoor urban food market, got food and then made our way to the irish pub to meet the rest of the group for the last official/unofficial end of tour drinks. And it did not disappoint, the dance floor was rocked by everyone. After getting lost on the subway at stupid o'clock in the morning i made it back to the hostel.
I eventually surfaced at lunchtime, then had to head into soho to search out some water purification tablets for South America, then i met the remaining contiki bods for a fews beers in the sports bar, i was home and in bed by 11pm! The next day was washing and admin day, i was beginning to panic that i had done hardly any prep for my next bit of the trip and hadn't even got a Portuguese phrasebook, i was beginning to get a bit wound up and felt quite uneasy about the next leg of the trip. As it was my last night we had a lovely dinner, and i had my first chocolate milkshake which was yum, then i had to say bye to the Aussie contingent, which was absolutely horrible. Love those girls ! From here we made our way to the rooftop bar, had a nice glass of red and then bid a farewell to the last remaining Contikiers, again absolutely horrible. Feeling quite sad and on edge about what was next on my trip, i made my way back to the hostel.
Today i leave NYC, but not before causing an enormous queue in the post office by sending my sakes to Chicago and another box load of stuff home. And yes i used all the wrong boxes and all the wrong forms……i was little miss popular! The Super Shuttle arrived, i got dropped at JFK airport made it through security and bordered the worst plane I've ever been on and had a horrendously cold and uncomfortable flight into Rio……… So thats nearly all of the US leg done (final 2 weeks back here before i fianlly come home), its all flying past at an incredible rate of knots now! Wont be long till I am back…...
Next update from football country………
much love me xxxx
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