So yeah okay, I was rough on Monday morning. While drunk on the night out me and Michi had organised to do some things on Monday, agreeing to meet at 10am. Clearly I was not awake at 10am. Michi came up to the room and I turned over and awoke to her laughing at my hung over face, next to my hung over shoes. On to our day of plans. We got up and had breakfast, I can't remember if this was this day or the next as I'm writing this on Friday but at some point ...

After the long ass tour I certainly slept that night! I woke up on Sunday jet lagged, still tired, achy legs and a giant blister on my toe. But I'm in New York baby! I didn't really have any plans for Sunday, or any other day really; I had a loose list of the sights and things I wanted to see and do but I was lacking a day to day plan. I thought it would be sensible to get some rest anyway, so I got my netbook and went into one of the many common rooms in ...

On to my first official day on Saturday 30th April. I had a really good sleep and got up for a tour I'd spotted on the notice board. One of the major reasons I chose this hostel (Hostelling International, HI for short) was that they offer lots of free or cheap tours pretty much every day. This was gonna be a long day; the tour started at 10am and was listed to finish at 12 midnight… really? Was that a misprint? I'd find out sooner, or later…very later. ...

I awoke at 5am on the morning of April 29th 2011. I'd been waiting patiently for this day for 2 whole years. Two years of planning. Two years of planning and I was still packing and rushing around at 11pm on the eve of my trip. So I arose at 5am after having about 3 hours sleep and set off for Manchester Airport. After a relaxed but also slightly subtly nervous coffee chit chat with everyone that came to the airport (Mum, Dad, Step Dad, Laura, both Sisters...