Oh Christmas tree!

Even though I don't start work until three o'clock in the afternoon, I am already finding that I miss my lie-ins. I went for my first proper day at work on Monday and was full of the novelty of the thing. Rather like seeing a famous building, it felt like something that I should do since I was in town. But waking up yesterday and realising that I had to do it all over again was a bit of a shock. Go to work? Didn't I do that yesterday?

But in I had to go. And so far I am actually enjoying it. I really enjoy teaching and it has been weird at times to have a job that I don't resent every single hour that is leeched out of my social life.

And the location is great! I used to work on Oxford Street but it was so busy up there that I usually just bundled onto the tube at the end of the day and got home as quickly as I could. It is a different kind of crowded at Piccadilly Circus. So I have been getting the tube to Embankment and then walking to work from there.

I can either go via Haymarket or Leicester Square or down the small side streets. Yesterday I came back via Haymarket and spilled into Trafalgar Square to see it stuffed with people. It was the 59th time that a mayor of Oslo had been in London to light up the tree there. The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree has come from Oslo every year since 1947 to show the appreciation of the people in Oslo for the help that Britain gave them during the Second World War.

This year is special too since it marks a hundred years since Norway regained its independence from Sweden and an English princess became queen to their new Danish king. During WWII, the Norwegian Royal family stayed in London away from their occupied country waiting for their chance to return.

In November of each year the Lord Mayor of Westminister goes to Oslo and chooses the tree. He is encouraged to choose the tallest tree there though it has to be trimmed to fit on the boat that will carry it over the North Sea to London. This year's tree was 22m tall until it was cut to fit the boat.

I was mainly interested in the Christmas carols but the tree made an impressive sight. And the Square being so full of people was very exciting too. I am beginning to feel like I am starting a new period in my life rather than spending so much time mourning the last part.

Oh, and the Korean girl in my class is from Mokpo, of all places! It was a true bonding moment when we found out.

Late Night Drinking in London

Well, it has been a while- how you doing? I want to say that I have had a hectic week but I know that compared to people that work full time, I really have had a whole lot of time doing nothing. I haven't worked full time for over seven months, nearly eight now, but I did start my new part time job on Friday.

So before I was stuck working five days a week I thought that it would be a good idea to get away for a wee bout of visiting. Wednesday saw me getting a train to Paddington Station to get over to Reading to see my cousin. She had sent me the train time to co-ordinate with her own homecoming. I arrived at Paddington about an hour early in my eagerness.

I walked around and admired all the Paddington Bear stuff, read loads of books in Waterstones and waited for my train to appear on the board.

Which it duly did. Well, kind of. The 16.50 appeared on the board but on closer inspection it didn't seem to be going where I needed to go. Hum, time for some more investigation which uncovered the fact that I was at the wrong station, twenty minutes before my train was due to depart WATERLOO Station on the other side of town.

Bummer.

Ah well, got a train to Reading from Paddington and changed there to get to Winnersh Triangle- which sounds like the kind of place that drunk racing punters might end up in.

I was met by my cousin's family and we did a bit of catching up with everyone before me and Liz departed to the pub. We had a great pub meal and a few pints but it was the end of an era here in the UK- yes, Wednesday night was the last night that the pubs would have to close so early. As of midnight, we would have the choice to act like grown ups and stay out until the wee small hours.

We didn't do so that night though since we were going to Owen and Dylan's school the next day to sit in on the afternoon lessons. It is always a little weird for me to be around kids that can speak English but we had a good time, practicing for the Christmas concert and being read to by the little 'uns. It was almost a shame when it was time to go home.

After school, we barely had time for a pizza before it was time for me to head back to London. I fell asleep on the train and woke up to the annoucement 'everyone will have to get off the train now as it is no longer safe to travel on'. I don't know what happened but we just had to wait for about quarter of an hour before being rescued by the next train.

Then on Friday I had to go to work for my induction. Basically I met more people than I could possibly remember the names of, was shown around the school and had loads of things told to me which I instantly forgot! I sat in on the class that I am taking over today and panicked myself by knowing less grammar than the students, this always seems to happen with my adult classes but I have always got away with it so far.

So I really should be doing some homework ready for the class this afternoon. The class only had eight people in it and they all seemed very nice but again it was weird that they didn't look Korean! There was one Korean girl there and I intend to find out more about her today but I bet she is from Seoul.

The best thing about the school is the location- it is literally behind these lights

On Saturday I went into Greenwich to meet Russ, who I know from Gangneung. We fulfilled one of my long term dreams, we went to a comedy club. I haven't been to one for ages and it was as much fun as I remembered. Then, because the pubs are open later, we were able to carry on drinking! We went to the Gipsey Moth and then Russ wanted to go to The Venue in New Cross- a club I haven't been to in about a decade and I felt old then.

I managed to get the taxi driver to take us to Lewisham on the way and saw my old local. Not able to resist we went up to the doors of the Fox and Firkin, only to be told that we weren't allowed in after midnight- which seemed to make a bit of a nonsense of the later opening hours.

I got all misty eyed with memories though and rather than listen to me going on about the 'old days' the woman let us in after all.

I was just looking around in wonder at the pub that was my local for many years but I had been told had closed down sometime in the last seven years when I glanced across the bar and saw a familiar face... Carl! He might still be in the bar but some things had changed I realised when he told me that he was married. Another one of my mates joins the list!

After catching up with someone from my 'old life' for a while, we only had time for a kebab before getting a mini cab home. On Sunday we went out for a sausage baguette and looked around Greenwich Market until my throbbing head sent me home.

Now it is Monday. Ah well. Only five more days until the weekend.

Facts and Figures

I thought that you might be interested in some statistics from my trip. So here they are in all their glory. They cover the time of the Round the World trip- 1st June to 2nd November

Travel
Countries visited 9
English speaking countries 5
Hours on aeroplanes 70
Hours on trains 32
Hours on buses 85
Hours waiting in airports 70

Transport
Boats 7
Flights 21
Buses 24
Trains 5

Sleeping
Hotels 21
Hostels 32
Friends' floors 2
Guest bedrooms 3
Huts on beaches 1
Sofa beds 1
Waterbeds! 1

Tours
Days on various tours 21
Tour guides met 15

Time
Biggest time difference encountered Auckland to Rarotonga -23 hours
Crossed the Equator 2
Crossed the International Date Line 1

Mates
Friends visited 19
Email addresses given 14

Stuff
Pairs of sunglasses sat on 1
Pairs of sandals left in hostels 1
Conical hats left in manicurist's huts 1

Sun
Litres of sun screen used 3

Clothes
Items of clothing made in Hoi An 5
Pairs of shoes thrown away 3

Backpack
Times people have walked off with my bag 3
Lightest my backpack has been 12kg
Heaviest it has been 19.5kg

More stuff
Parcels sent home full of keepsakes 5

Problems
Tour buses that have encountered problem 2
Flights diverted 1
People collapsed on planes 1
Longest delay on a train 11 hours

Food and drink
Weeks I have gone without cooking 11

Korean restaurants visited outside of Korea 6
Hangovers that have had me sitting on the floor moaning 'why do I do this? Never again!!'
5

Misc
Colds I have had 4
Caves visited 6
Currencies with the Queen's head on 4
Photographs taken 3,500
New stamps in my passport- in and out 19

Just let me know if there is anything else that you need to know that I haven't covered.

A Cold and Frosty Morning

After three years of telling Koreans that it really isn't that foggy in London, I have woken up to a world of frost and fog AGAIN this morning. Guess I was wrong. I don't think that I saw a foggy day the whole time that I was in Korea except when the yellow dust from China came over and obscured the landscape but that really wasn't actual fog. This was the view from my sister's window this morning.

I went out on Friday night to meet my mate, Matt, in central London. I do like to see Matt and not just because he actually asks to see my photos- more fool him! Fortunately for him meeting in the pub means that I can't subject him to the DVD that my brother made for me with all 3,500 photos on it. I just brough a handful of my favourites with me.

Earlier that day I had met up with my sister and we had walked down Oxford Street, Regent Street, Picadilly Circus, Chinatown, Soho, Covent Garden and out onto the Strand to see the Christmas lights. Penny had also looked up the train times for me so that I would be able to stay in the pub for as long as possible. The train website showed the last train as 23.45. Plenty of time. Since I am now a proper watch-wearing part of society I felt that I could leave it right up until the last minute to get back across Tower Bridge to Fenchurch Street. What I hadn't counted on was that the bridge being open to let a big boat through. I don't have any photos of the bridge open unfortunately since I was more worried about missing the train than missing the shot.

I have never seen the bridge open before so it should have been pretty exciting. Almost soundlessly, the middle of the bridge raised in two halves and the boat sailed through. Then the bridge dropped down once more to restore the road and our path across the river. Worrying that this had eaten well into my time to get the train, we legged it as fast as we could. I could imagine having to call my sister from some far flung part of Essex to beg her to come and pick me up. In fact, this didn't happen until Sunday.

Running into Fenchurch Street station I clocked myself in at 23.42 only to discover that the train wasn't leaving until 23.52. Lovely.

Getting off the train at Purfleet, I was treated to a gorgeous visual display as the lights twinkled off the frosty lawns, cars, bits of garbage like minature disco lights all the way home. It really was very beautiful and I was almost loathe to go into the house. But it was a bit cold.

Saturday I spent the afternoon watching the Ireland vs Australia rugby match. I would have been watching the England game but it wasn't on terrestrial TV.

And I didn't have the appropriate mascots, of course (I have an All Blacks kiwi but my collection is missing anything England related).

Yesterday I went into Central London to meet some friends. It is a challenge to get into London at the weekend here in the UK. In fact, my wonderfully generous sister drove me out into the country to find a station that had trains that weren't being disrupted by engineering works. I got to London Bridge and walked along the embankment to Blackfriars Bridge. If I was a little late it was probably only because I had to keep stopping to take photos.

I was meeting Amanda, Des, Robin and Reg- the guys I used to live with in Sydney. It was a good afternoon for a long overdue reunion.

On the way back I had to take more photos and a tube to West Ham, mainline train to Barking where I was due to get onto a bus replacement service.

However all of the coin operated ticket machines were out of order and everyone in the ticket queue was renewing their weekly train pass so I had to wait for ages to buy a ticket. And missed the bus in doing so. My lovely sister then dragged herself out of her snug house and picked me up at Barking Station and brought me home.

And so begins my last four days of freedom. I start work on Friday! It has been a while since I worked so I am a little scared!

Friday

It is seven years ago today that I went to Australia for the first time and stayed for a year.

Fridays suck, there is no one on Messenger to talk to and I got no new emails today. Good job that I have plans for later. I am going into Central London to post bunch of stuff that I have been meaning to post all week and then going to see the Christmas lights on Oxford Street with my sister. To top it all off I intend to indulge in a little binge drinking to see the weekend in.

Have a good one!

Life Changes Everything

At 4.30am the cat dashed into the room, clambered over me and jumped up onto the sofa. He walked along the sofa and jumped onto the windowsill from the air of the chair. He pottered over to his bed and sat down. And promptly threw up all over the windowsill. It was the smell that finally rused me from my bed.

The cat ran from the room and back to my sister's room where he spent a nice vomitless night curled up next to her. And I couldn't get back to sleep after the clear up job. Not until around 7am. For the first time in a long time I was awake when my sister got out of bed to go to work. Much to her surprise.

But what was keeping me awake? Well, I got offered a job yesterday which I accepted. Then found out the hourly rate of pay was a little short of decency. I am still going to start the job next week- it is a teaching job in Central London- for the experience but it made me stop and realise that I can't stay on that salary. It is significantly less that the salary I was on when I left the UK seven years ago and much as I love teaching, I would like to be able to move out of my sister's place at some stage (as I am sure would she).

So I am going to have to rethink my plan of staying and teaching English in London. I think that it might be time for a change of direction but not a complete change as teaching is a job that I love. So I think that I will have to try a different kind of teaching. The thoughts racing through my head kept me awake during the wee small hours. And I found out that it is still getting light before seven am though I am sure that won't be lasting for long. When I lived in England I never really realised that our long summer days and long winter nights were not the experience of all nations.

When I finally got out of bed I found out that Australia had qualified for next year's World Cup- fair play to them, hope we get a chance to play each other. I have to go now, the cat is sitting my lap and rubbing his head on my fingers making it a little tricky to type. He seems to be under the impression that he is forgiven for last night's shennanigans. Huff.

A Few Notes on Being Home

People keep asking me what it is like to be home. They ask me this everytime I come home. And the answer changes each time. Of course, it is an emotional time. There have been a lot of changes this year.

England also changes and confuses me. Last time I was home, just before this last trip, I discovered this new chip and pin thing- you know it as EFTPOS in Australia. So you hand over your card and type in your PIN, or you put your card in the machine and type your PIN or you hand over your card and are given a receipt to sign.

Now you see the confusion. So many ways to do the same thing and I never know which one I am meant to do. Then my sister tells me that I can no longer buy a ticket on a bus in Central London as I get on the bus, I have to purchase one before. The old open backed Routemaster buses have been decommissioned and put back into service while I have been away. The Guardian newspaper has changed size and shape.

Also, while I am 'at home' in England, I don't actually have a home here anymore. I am staying with my very generous, long suffering sister, on an airbed in the living room. That is hardly the same as being back in your own bed and actually able to unpack your bag once and for all. And I don't feel like I have just the one home anymore- I get homesick for Australia, Ireland, Korea and England at various times. Even though I am back in the UK I sometimes get homesick for the England that I used to live in seven years ago before I started this transient life.

I left England on 18th November 1998 and last night I met up with the people that I left with back then, Amanda and Des. While it feels that my friends have got on with life (got married, bought houses, had kids, got a career etc) my life feels a bit like it hasn't changed that much. While they now talk of trips to Ikea, I am still talking about drinking and clubbing. It can make me feel like I have failed to grow up.

But in a good way! I love my life, as I am fond of telling people. I have very proud of what I have achieved over the last seven years- all the places I have been to, the people that I have met and the ways in which I have changed. I have to admit though that arriving back in England has made me miss Korea even more- rather, the people in it. Even if I met up with all of my mates here in London every week, I won't have a social life as healthy (or unhealthy) as I had in Korea.

I have spent the last couple of days wandering round London, between job interviews, and of course taking photos. I love being a tourist in London- all those famous places that I used to take a bit for granted when I lived here and things which didn't exist back then, like the London Eye.

This is the skyline, looking back the City of London from the Golden Jubilee pedestrian bridge that runs along the side of Hungerford Bridge out of Charing Cross. There was a gorgeous sunset that night

This is the Golden Jubilee Bridge itself- this is also a newcomer since I left London

The National Gallery lives alongside Trafalgar Square, it used to be across the road but the road has been rebuilt into a pedestrian area which has opened up the Square in a fantastic way

The really quite famous Big Ben and Houses of Parliament

And the London Eye, now one of the biggest attractions in the city.

Right, I am just waffling on now for lack of anything really interesting to write. So I will go and fill in an application form or two.

Photos of Pubs and Things

I went to Dublin and stayed with my friends in Castleknock. I fought my way through the rain one day to go into central Dublin, where I used to live. When I arrived back at Ner and Barry's I discovered that a majority of my photos seemed to be of pubs


Typical Temple Bar scene before the hen parties arrive

The Temple Bar, ah man, the stories I could tell you about this place but won't!

The Porterhouse, brews its own beer in the basement which is why it is hard to get draft beer there on a Sunday. Home of singalongs with Woodsy in my day

The Turks Head- downstairs dancing place, good for when the Porterhouse has kicked ou


Down Under at Major Toms. Once a thriving Aussie/Kiwi/South African bar, now mainly full of people looking for backpackers for a bit of fun.

There was one or two that weren't but they were definitely inthe minority


Litton Lane hostel

The spike on O'Connell Street- no, the Irish don't understand it either

I used to sit at the base of this statue and tuck into my Supermacs garlic chips- heaven!

It was a grim old day and no mistake!

Other than taking photos of them, I didn't really spend a lot of time in the pub- I was too busy playing with Roisin (and Ner!)



And when we did finally make it to the pub it was at Roisin's request- honest

Now I am back in the UK, trying to fix up job interviews and time to see friends.

Irish Eyes are smiling

I am in Ireland. Would you believe that the weather has been mainly rainy, windy and mainly crappy since I arrived? I got here on Wednesday after an over eager start from Penny's house saw me sitting at Stansted Airport for way too many hours. Saw a travel book by some guy called Andrew Eames- don't think that he is a relation, handy if he was, maybe he would have some publishing contacts for me.

Cruised into Dublin with no problem at all then waited forever for a bus to Castleknock where I was meeting Nerissa and her little one at the pub. Roisin seems awful keen on the pub for someone under the age of three and keeps asking if we can go there- mind you, I do keep whispering the idea into her ear and getting her to repeat it to her mum in the hope that we might just go one time.

As ever, I gave no one any notice that I would be in Dublin so have been unable to meet up with anyone outside of Castleknock. Spent an enjoyable day running errands with Ner and Roisin yesterday and ventured in Dublin centre alone today to mooch around some old haunts. I was sad that most of my favourite shops seem to have disappeared- though the pubs still remain. Next time I head over to Dublin I intend to give a bit more notice so I can round some people up for a good old fashioned night out in Temple Bar- like the one days.

I will post some photos when I get back to London.

Ah, I love Ireland!

Top of the Morning!

I am off to Dublin this afternoon- do a bit of visiting, do a bit of sightseeing, do a bit of 'oh, I used to love/work/drink/pull there..'

Dublin may not be the most typically Irish of cities- I think that the rest of the country have never forgiven it for becoming 'cool' recently- but I loved living there. If I could tug it over and tuck it just under London then I would live there again- or if someone would give me a job there. When I first arrived in Ireland back in 2000, with no idea of what was going to happen, I couldn't understand a word that anyone was saying. Within weeks I was able to distinguish between different county accents. I would imagine that being away for so long I will be right back at the beginning again. I probably can't even remember how to pronounce Dun Laoghaire (if that is indeed how it is spelt).

Anyway, I could sit here all day writing this and I would miss my plane. So I am off to complete my ablutions and get myself off to Stansted Airport- gateway to cheap flights to Ireland. Am also tempted by the free flights on www.ryanair.com but am trying to convince myself that I should be putting more effort into jobhunting and less on looking up cheap flights (www.easyjet.com also has some great ones!)

The Last Few Days

There is certainly no shortage of places to ice-skate in New York. Whether it be Central Park, Bryant Park or a host of other venues, there are loads of people happy to spend the day throwing themselves around the ice and even falling over for the amusement of others. And the day after we went on our hike around the city, the weather turned cold enough for us to have been able to ice skate anywhere we wanted. And this was the day that we chose to go and see the Statue of Liberty.

Now, everyone will tell you to just take the Staten Island ferry, which is free, as it gives the best views of the statue. But, quite frankly, this misses the point of the visit altogether- the gift shop experience. Penny had to drag me out of there kicking and screaming, my hands out clutching at the air in front of the classy Statue of Liberty clocks, corkscrews, plastic statues, boxes of mints (called 'Monumints'), pens, shot glasses, Liberty crowns.

Man, it was a cold day and to get out to the Statue it involved.. you've guessed it, queuing again! Standing in line to buy a ticket, standing in line to get on the ferry, standing in line to get a hot dog- OK, we didn't actually do the last one because we were too worried about losing our place in the ferry queue. There were plenty of street 'entertainers' around- some of them dressed at the Statue and charging you to have your photo taken with them- something that happens all around the city, in fact an Elmo was arrested the week before for over agressive marketing- and food stands but me and Pen stood firm and just waited for the boat- and complained about the cold.

It is true that the statue is really quite difficult to photograph when you are actually standing next to it- the angles are all wrong and you have to fight your way through the crowds to see it. Here is a fantastic self portrait of me in front of the Statue



That should give you an idea of the outcome of most of the photos. So we saw the statue, raided the gift shop and went onto Ellis Island (stood in line for another ferry as the cold winds cut across us), raided the gift shop there and went back to Manhattan. We went back to Time Square and into a 'Toys R Us' that was so big it had a ferris wheel in it (no, we didn't go on it).

The next day we woke up to glorious sunshine and so we did the Staten Island ferry thing.

I guess that they are right about the view but again you have to fight your way through all the other cheapskate tourists trying to see it for free. We also went to the sight of the World Trade Centre (I should say Center as it is an American building after all) and saw this memorial to the victims of the terror attack

Around the area were loads of Chinese men doing paintings with your name in them- I had seen them in Time Square too but this guy was the best I saw so I got him to whip up a couple of paintings for my friend, Linda's, two kids for Christmas



They came out so cute that it was a struggle not to go back and get one for myself and one for everyone I know. But I didn't. We went to see another movie and then home. Penny was due to leave the next day so we just got up in the morning- moved me to another hostel for the next night and hung around in Central Park for the morning. I saw Penny onto the airport shuttle bus and went to buy a book. That evening I saw all the kids out treat or treating, carrying their own body weight in candy and chocolate. There were some really cool costumes. The day before we had seen lots of people dressed up in Time Square and I even saw an angel on the subway- but he turned as I tried to take a sneaky photo

Ah well. I spent my last night chilling in the hostel ('Jazz on the Park', it is pretty cool and not too expensive though I was in a room with 11 others I am more than used to sharing my bedroom with strangers by now!) and went off to JFK airport the next day.

One thing that I will say about American airports- they are so dull! They seem to get so many other things right over there but these they just have wrong- not enough shops, if any, let alone the food choices which always seem to be in areas you can't get to. But JFK was the quickest international airport that I have ever been through. They don't stamp you out of the States so there is no Immigration queue to go through, or Customs or anything really. Which meant that I got there too early and spent the afternoon looking at the one shop that was at my gate. Then, all too soon, the plane arrived and I was on my way home.

Dammit!

Back in Blighty

I am in an internet cafe in Central London at the moment- yes I do have internet access at my sister's house but this seemed a more 'authentic' way to update the blog.

Right, so I left us (me and my sister that is) in New York on our first night there. We were staying in a strange hotel which seemed to be a cross between a hotel/hostel/long term dosshouse. We didn't really see many of the other residents but we did hear some of them fighting at night. Nice. But we were only a hop, skip and a jump away from the World famous Central Park. So the next day we got up and went there. We walked through the park and into the theatre district. Now, Broadway confused me, I had no idea that it was such a long street! Our hostel was also just off Broadway but a loooonnnnng way from the centre of the theatre action. Then we went onto Fifth Avenue and had a hot chocolate in Trump Tower before moving onto the Empire State Building.

I must have ignored the bit in the guide book that told me to be prepared for queues so it was a shock to be warned that there was a two hour wait to get up the Tower. But they lied, in fact, we only stood in line for an hour and three quarters so that was good! Finally we could see the lift. And then we were in the lift and thought that we were on our way to the top, so imagine our dismay when the lift doors opened to reveal... another queue for the NEXT lift! We chose the other option and walked up the next six stories to the top.

There really isn't a lot at the top of the building, two almost identical gift shops and some toilets. But it worth all the waiting for the view and the fact that you are actually outside looking down. It was pretty awesome.

After that we queued again to get back down again. We must have had our defences weakened by all the standing or waiting or something since we ended up buying the souvenir photos that they had taken of us before we started queuing and looking fed up. I think that buying the photos at that stage was just a way to break up the tedium.

And after all that walking and waiting and admiring of views, we decided to walk back to the hostel- don't ask me why! All I know is that we walked a lot that day and it took the rest of my time in NY for my legs to stop aching!

Photos now, talk later

This is my brother being a sundial at the Domes in Milwaukee (note, this is not his full time job)

Nemo at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

Wearing of a cheese hat is not to be taken as proof of support

Milwaukee- home of Miller beer, other than that it is all good :)

New York, New York, so good that we queued twice

Skating in Central Park

View from the top of the Empire State Building

I think that you know who she is- the crappiest weather of our whole time in the US and we chose to spend it on a boat and a couple of islands-doh!

The 9/11 Memorial at Staten Island looking over at Manhattan

Proper American diner and proper American diner breakfast.

More words and probably pictures later

Home again

I am worried that if I don't write something soon you are all going to think that I have finished this blog rather abruptly. I can assure you that this is not the case. I will give you some warning before this thing finishes, promise! I have loads more photos to show you too- not just the last week or so in New York but loads that I didn't post from all the other places too.

OK, now where did I leave you? Probably in Milwaukee and probably up to my elbows in pumpkin guts. After all that work, me and my sister left before Halloween and were sad to find out that someone went into a smashing frenzy over that weekend. RIP pumpkins. Our last day in Milwaukee, we went to The Domes, three big greenhouses. It was pretty mental to be looking at loads of beautiful flowers when it was so cold outside. There was a show garden, a tropical environment and an arid one. Most of them reminded me of places that I had visited along the way- they even had birds in them- though I don't think that the sparrow we saw was an original tropical feature.

The next day we went to Chicago to visit the Shedd Aquarium. Now, I don't know why this is the case but I love aquariums, I really do. And this was quite possibly the best that I have ever been to. Seriously. Sydney Aquarium has always been the best until now. But this could just be because Chicago has dolphins there. And I had never seen those kind before- they were beauitful white sided Pacific ones. And in the tank next to them were beluga whales, which was also a first for me. They had some really cool exhibits and we had a great time even though we kinda rushed round because we arrived so late.

Then Gareth took us to a hotel out near the airport and left after dinner. The hotel was nice enough and it was a treat for me to have a bed to sleep in after two weeks of sleeping on the floor. Me and Penny snuggled into bed early for a CSI marathon and some chocolate biscuits. Moments later, Penny emerged from the bathroom with a worried look on her face

'There's something wrong with the toilet,' she said.

I told her it would be fine and to settle back down again. Her next visit to the smallest room ended with her standing with her hand in the cistern trying to stop the water from overflowing. It didn't work and the water sloshed over the floor as I called reception.

'Is the water coming out of the room?' the guy queried
'It would be if my sister wasn't head first in the cistern,' I replied

We transferred to another room.

An early start the next day saw us timidly using our new bathroom and heading off to Midway Airport and our flight to Newark. The flight was fine, if a little delayed and we arrived into Newark before lunch. We had a snack and went to get a shuttle bus. We stood in a queue for nearly 45 minutes before being told that our bus would be there in 'twenty minutes or less', another 40 later and we were on the bus and starting an hour and half journey into New York. Yes, I know that it doesn't take that long to get from Newark to New York but trying telling the driver that!

We arrived into our hotel (on the Upper West Side) over four hours after arriving into Newark and settled down to watch some 'Sex and the City' after dinner.

We were in New York!

(photos and more to follow)