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Argggggggggggghhh I'm actually at the point of giving up. I just wrote a whole blog for you guys and then managed to lose the whole thing just before I was going to post it. Therefore I have to say that writng out the whole thing again is not going to happen. So this being my final blog of the trip I thought I'd give you the highlights of what I've done over the past two weeks. So since the last blog I made it across to Ottawa the capital of Canada and then onto Montreal, Quebec City and then back doen to the States via Washington DC and hen onto New York City.
Perhaps the best thing to happen over the past fortnight has been the sheer randomness of the last couple of weeks. Take Montreal for instance. A city that exhudes European and North American greatness in one. I spent the chief of my time there exploring the Old Town and taking in the weekend markets. One of the chief recommendations given to me was to head up to Parc Mont Royal and watch the Tam Tams. Basically a group of people head up to the park on a Sunday afternoon and play the bongos all day much to the delight of the populace. It really was a great atmosphere but perhaps even better were the randoms further up the park who were having Medieval sword fights with each other. Nice. I particularly liked the added French drama when a guy went down crying "pourquoi.........." Love it. Just a quick thank you to Emma for letting me use the apartment. I owe you one. Next it was on to Quebec City, the oldest and only walled city North of Mexico. I was lucky enough to get there while they were celebrating the city's 400 birthday and I was doubly lucky to get there after the Celine Dion concert had finished. This didn't stop all her albums bing played in the shops though. Anyway the city is really beautiful and I spent the next couple of days trying to soak it all in and also trying to be French haha. My French however has improved a lot since being here though. I was suprised by how much I could say and understand. Anyway my time in Canada was coming to an end and in all truth I was sorry to leave. It really is a great country depite the random head chopping in Winnipeg, and I definately want to go back and head further north. Anyway it was soon time to head off to the States.
Now I love the States a lot and I'm sure I'm not the only person to say the following. However, I've never been made to feel as unwelcome to a country as I have at US border control. Having to deal with the border guards impertinent questions about How/Why/Who I'm travelling with really irritated me. "oh i"m sorry I didn't realise me coming to the country and spending my tourist dollars would piss you off so much. I'm going back to Canada".Grrrrrrrrr. Anyway after getting through finally we headed towards Washington. DC is a cool place to hang out for a couple of days. After the long ass bus ride down to DC all I really wanted to do was have a shower, dump my bag and head out to the sights. This happy drean was shattered by the fact that I could'nt check in until 2 and then in order to store my luggage I had to pay $4. Mon Dieu. Still in desperation I did and went out to see the town smelling a little funky but past caring. The following probably illustrates what the locals thought of me. I walked in to Starbucks only for the guy behind the counter to say "we don't give away free food until 8pm". "Sorry" I replied. "Oh sorry....what can I get you sir". Bloody charming. After that I saw all the principle sights of the place and then tired and dejected I headed back to the hostel and chilled out.
The next morning I headed off to NYC, the final destination of the trip and thankfully Sarah from previous travels let me stay at her apartment in Brooklyn. She later told me that as I'm from Kent she thought I was to posh to be in an area like this. Obviously she's never heard of the Medway Towns! Brooklyn is cool though. So as usual I've been travelling in my own way and actually loving this city a whole lot. It's true that every neighbourhood here is different from the next. Luckily this city provides a whole load of randoms to laugh at. Yesterday I was sitting in Central Park when a drunk guy starts shouting an singing in the middle of the park and then proceeds to pull his trousers down for all to see. Apparently it was for the girls sunbathing there who were not particularly amused. Special mention also has to go to the woman who was beating up her husband in Times Square. Evidently his infidelity had come to light and she wasn't very happy. I have done some srious sighseeing here to by the way it's just not as interesting in my eyes. My recommendation is to take a trip up the Rockefeller Centre instead of the Empire State buiding. You get an awesome view of the park and downtown Manhatten especially at sunset. I've also managed to only spend a $200 here which suprised me a lot to
.......and so here we are. The end of a long road and I can't quite believe that it's over. In my head it feels like I only left a month ago and yet so many things have happend. My Favourite countries on this trip have been India and Nepal. These two countries excited and irritated me in equl measure but I don't think I've seen two more amazing places in my life. SE Asia was a lot of fun particulary Indonesia and Laos. Good times. Australia suprised me a lot and I liked it a lot more that I thought I would. Maybe I'll go back to the west coast some day. New Zealand ranks amongst my favourites. The place is awesome and again 1 month wasn't enough to see the whole place. The States has been great particularly Oregon which is so different every 50 miles or so that it never gets boring and of course Canada. The country is friendly, easy going and naturally beautiful to the max.
Yeah there were some bad times but you always have to take the rough with the smooth and I wouldn't have changed anything about this trip in he slightest. Lastly I want to thank everyone who I met on this trip for making it what it was. Particular shout outs to the India/Nepal survivors and the SE Asia and NZ trippers....and the Italian......I know where you live. Enough of this sentimental BS though. It's time to make plans for the next trip.
Hopefully see you all soon alng the way.
Will
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