Days 17-19 – Vegas – Hostel Edition

The hostel version of Vegas turned out to be a lot more fun than staying in a hotel. At the end of the day you don’t spend too much time in your room and you constantly have to walk through the casino resulting in little wads of money disappearing gradually from your budget.

Hostel Cat had been recommended to us by some backpackers in LA and it was everything that was promised. The owner, Chandler, was a bit quirky and in standard Vegas fashion, thought he was the Don of the town, but all credit to him for the effort he put in. He personally ran events and tours every night of the week and was extremely helpful whenever called upon.

The first night we were introduced to Fremont Street otherwise known as The Old Strip. Gambling, drinking and everything else you can think of are considerably cheaper here than on the New Strip and it was great to have a budget version of Vegas considering the amount of money we’d spent the previous two nights at Excalibur.

The hostel also organised day trips to pool parties at the Monte Carlo Hotel which turned out to be one of the hottest places in town for Cinco De Mayo. Our mode of transport was a little controversial as we crammed thirty people into a small white van. As he’d been doing it so long Chandler had the technique perfected, his record was thirty seven.

The parties and constant drinking just blended into by the end of the journey in Vegas but I have some great memories and I can’t wait to go back. Sam and I have booked a car for Monday to Road trip to the Grand Canyon and then down to San Diego. However, we have to return the car to Vegas so we will be back here at some point next week, for Sam’s birthday. I should probably start saving

Days 15-16 – Vegas Baby! – Hotel Edition

The drive from LA to Vegas takes you through some of the stereotypical US scenery. First you drive through the beautiful area between Mount San Antonio and the San Bernardino National Forest. Then you come to the Mohave Desert which is incredible to see for the first time but after a half hour or so, the endless road ahead becomes slightly tiresome.

We were both eager with anticipation to finally get to Vegas. I’ve always wanted to go and had plans to go for my Stag Do depending on funds when it comes to that time, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to head there earlier than expected. As a treat me and Sam agreed to spend our first night in relative luxury and booked a hotel room at the Excalibur, a castle themed hotel.

The view from the room was pretty stunning with New York, New York and the MGM Grand right on our doorstep. After realising very quickly that slot machines are not my forte, whilst Sam appeared to make as much as I’d lost at every machine he played, we decided to relax by the pool. We soon worked out that drinking is free in Vegas as long as you’re gambling. Everywhere else, alcohol is relatively expensive.

Five small beers poolside set us back about 30 bucks but it was worth it just to have some luxury and a quick timeout before we attempted to recreate “The Hangover.” We’d arrived just as the sun was going down so the heat was perfect. Beers finished, we headed up to the room and after the briefest of naps the drinking began.

At the bar downstairs in the casino a Vegas regular taught us that we could just sit with 20 dollars in the mini slot machines on the counter and order drinks all night, even if we didn’t play. Unfortunately that big green button is just to hard not to push and the twenty dollars was soon making its way into the giant casino vaults. We managed about four drinks each though so it works out roughly about what we would have paid elsewhere.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur. I know that Sam wandered off at some point and we didn’t find each other till the morning where he discovered he’d lost a lot of money playing roulette. I’d stuck to my budget although somewhat begrudgingly.

We extended our stay in the hotel for another night, not quite ready to abandon luxury for hostel life again. The next night pretty much went the same way as the previous except Sam managed to win back all his money and then double it which he was pretty chuffed about. I wasn’t actually betting enough to win anything substantial but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. As long as you go out and play to have fun as opposed to winning then you can have a great time in Vegas. I think the only time I didn’t enjoy myself in those two nights was when some prick from Texas beat me at poker by drawing a full house on the flop (for the poker illiterate among you, that’s extremely unlikely).

We partied till sunrise and then returned to the room for some shuteye. The next day we moved onto Hostel Cat but not before a much needed hangover cure at Hooters Hotel. Thank god for Wingsday!

Days 13-14 – Los Angeles (Part 3) – Hangover & Planning

I woke up with a rotten hangover. Unfortunately I did my standard thing of continuing to drink when we got back to the hostel last night. That probably explains the spiderman selfie as well. Hope I remembered to give him a tip! On the brighter side of things I had absolutely nothing to do for the day except to make some plans with Sam for the next couple of weeks. We decided to go for a solid hangover cure lunch at Mels, the local celebrity themed diner.

Don’t get me wrong, I love big portions but I’d probably draw the line at one plate. When your food is coming on two plates then you know you’re in the States. After my pathetic effort to finish this behemoth of a meal, I boxed up the remaining 75% of food and prepared to collapse into a food coma. First we discussed what we should do next and after checking the prices of car hire in LA we decided to bus to Vegas where rentals are considerably cheaper.

Unfortunately I had arrived at the hostel when the group of people I’d befriended the previous night were going their separate ways. As a result, the hostel was now completely dead and the latest arrivals had yet to come out of their shell. That’s probably my biggest issue with hostel life in that you need to stay somewhere for a decent amount of time in order to bond with people to the extent where you can relax and enjoy yourself. That poses quite a big problem for me as I’m not staying in any one place for a long time until I get to Rio. Then again it allowed me to take the next day to see some more of Hollywood before I headed off for Vegas. Besides it would have been sacrilegious not to catch up with an old friend before I left:

LA is an incredible place with so much variety in term of both the people and the things you can do. If I were to recommend one thing it would be to head to Venice Beach at the weekend. Once you get past the hustlers and overpriced custom clothing, it’s great to see the locals playing basketball and handball, as well as the atmosphere in general.

The next day we headed to Las Vegas!

Day 12 – Los Angeles (Part 2) – Universal Studios

After catching up with Matt and Josh we headed for Universal Studios in North Hollywood. Having been to the sister Park in Florida I was expecting something similar: huge roller coasters and live shows with enough explosives to raze a small town. Although the latter was true, there wasn’t a single roller coaster in sight. This Universal Studios is geared much more towards looking at the Studios themselves. The majority of rides take place in simulators with a couple of indoor roller coasters thrown in for good measure. I can only assume that there’s no outdoor roller coasters because it would decimate the view from the top of the hill, as well as they would interfere with filming.

The simulators were excellent with the exception of Transformers which broke as we were queuing for it and didn’t resume service till right at the end of the day by which point we’d decided to head home. What really impressed me though were the live shows, specifically Waterworld which surpassed all my expectations :

As I should have expected, they aren’t joking when they label the front few rows as the “Soak Zone”. Several jet ski waves later and I was left attempting to salvage what was left of my rucksack.

The special effects shows were amazing as well, both educationally speaking and entertainment wise. However, it does diminish the spectacle of films like King Kong when you see how a large portion of the movie was filmed in front of a green screen.

All in all, I’m glad I went but I wouldn’t go again because I’m more of a roller coaster person, as well as the entrance fee of just under $100 being totally extortionate in my opinion. Six Flags is just down the road and at just $40, is the best value for money in the area considering they have 12 world class roller coasters.

That night we went out in Hollywood and I met Sam who I’d end up travelling with for the next few weeks.

Day 11 – Los Angeles (Part 1) – Rodeo Drive & Venice Beach

I arrived in Los Angeles late last night and was immediately confronted by the famous traffic congestion that plagues the City. The shuttle bus had stops all over the city so I made myself comfortable. Like New York and Philadelphia, the neighbourhoods change rapidly in LA. One moment you’re heading through the dangerous dwellings of Inglewood surrounding LAX and then you cross into the bright lights of North Hollywood, an area filled with tourists, street performers and gay bars. North Hollywood would also be the location of my accommodation, Hollywood Youth Hostel. I finally settled into my room but it was so late that I decided to just crash out.

The next morning I got up early and set off for Beverly Hills. I’ve always had a bit of an obsession with the area that’s home to some of the wealthiest people in the world and I hoped to draw some inspiration to get moving on the entrepreneurial aspect of my life. Unfortunately the most luxurious of houses are set behind high walls and hedges and are almost impossible to see. Thinking about it, when I return in a couple of weeks it may be worth taking one of the tour buses as they know which ones belong to who, and which you can see from the road.

Next up I took a stroll down Rodeo Drive, the famous strip of designer stores that is a great place to spot celebrities. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of anyone but there must have been some about as the supercars were out in force. The shops are perfectly designed to entice their desired clientele; ceiling to floor windows, security fit for a superclub and personal stylists who wouldn’t look out of place on the catwalk in Paris. They may as well just put a “RICH PEOPLE ONLY” sign in the window. Enough pretentiousness for one day, I headed for Venice Beach.

If there was ever a metaphor for polar opposites, it would be the comparison between Rodeo Drive and Venice Beach. Having found it impossible to people watch in Beverly Hills because of the tinted windows, I sat down on the bleachers to watch the locals play some basketball. It’s refreshing to know that places like this still exist in an area of , maintained by those who use them.

There are also various street performers although the quality of some is debatable. Some offer bad advice for a dollar, others offer you the chance to kick them in the crotch for a measly ten bucks. However, the quality of the street dancers is undeniable and I watched the performance for a good hour.

Despite failing to get the final photo of a guy diving over a line of seven people, it was a great display. Time to head home, I grabbed the bus in rush hour, a devastating error on my part. If I’ve learnt anything in LA so far, it’s that the Subway is king. An hour later I was back at the hostel and ended up meeting a couple of guys, Matt and Josh, who were also from Oxford. After a few games of beer pong they invited me along to Universal Studios the next day which was on my list anyway so I agreed. Unfortunately the night ended sourly when Josh was thrown out the hostel for throwing up in the dorm. That’s hostel life for you!

Day 7 & 8 – Philadelphia – Adriiiiiiaaaaaaaannnnn!

It was sad to spend such a short time in New York but my budget was being stretched to the absolute limit. I was also faced with the decision on what to do next as my plans for the USA consisted of one flight in to New York and one out of LA. After quite a bit of research I decided to leave the East Coast as I could return for a fairly reasonable sum at a later stage.

However, the flight to LA from Baltimore didn’t leave for a few days so I decided to head to Philadelphia.

Although the business district contained the familiar skyscrapers, Philadelphia also has a preserved Historic District which is awash with information concerning the Civil War. There are also original and refurbished buildings from that era which are available for tourists to look around. The scenery was a breath of fresh air from the constant metal and lights of NYC.

This was also my first chance to use AirBNB, a superb service that allows locals to rent out couches, spare rooms and even their entire home. I was staying with Steve and his dog, a hounddog called George. The apartment is located in a quiet, friendly Italian neighbourhood. Children play on the street corners, everyone owns a dog and you’re never out of view of a church. If I could choose from anywhere I’ve been in the States so far, it would be here.

The next day I took a trip to one of Philadelphia’s most popular tourist attractions : The Rocky Balboa Steps. On the way, I passed by the City Hall which is a really impressive building. Unfortunately the top of the clock tower looks like it’s been finished with a different type of stone which dampens the look a little but it’s impressive nonetheless.

The pool you can see in the foreground is in a recreational area called “Love Park” which was a great place for people watching. Skateboarders, street dancers and families playing football all come together to share the space and make the most of it. It’s quite an amazing thing to find spaces like this so close to the city centre and it reminded me of Central Park on a much, much smaller scale.

The walk down to the Balboa Steps is great and the area is well maintained. There are parks on the north side of the road where the school teams play baseball. From the games that where on I could tell children’s sport is much more closely followed than I’ve seen from England, with huge numbers of parents turning up to see their children play.

Once I got to the steps and did the standard run that must have been done by millions of people, I sat down at the top and took in the view. Philly had been a fantastic city to come to after the fast pace of NYC and it was well worth sitting down for a half hour to realise how far from home I’d come.

The next day I headed for Baltimore but not before grabbing one last piece of Philly tradition:
The Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich. Having got talking to some locals at a bar the night before, I learnt that there are many places that claim to have the best sandwich, but there were two places that came the most highly recommended, Pat’s and Gino’s.

Apparently Pat’s set up over 70 years ago as a standard diner and was largely successful, only for Gino’s to move in right across the street with bright neon lights and huge orange signs. I went for the original so I can’t say which is better but it’s a popular talking point amongst the locals and tourists. I’d highly recommend trying one for yourself!

 

Next Up: Los Angeles !

Brooklyn Bridge Montage

A Collection Of My Favourites

Day 6 – New York – Time Out

Some Things Are Great No Matter Where You Are…

Once again I was up early and raring to go. However, today I wasn’t heading off to a common sightseeing destination. In fact only a small exclusive group of people will have heard of it. The Blind Pig is a small pub on the south east corner of Manhattan in an area dominated by Irish pubs and sports bars. It also happens to be the official Arsenal NYC supporters club and ever since I had read about it in a weekly Arseblog, I knew I wanted to go and meet some of the people who supported a team that played their football so far away from NYC.

A beautiful 3-0 victory and several pints later we left and went for brunch. Cautious that I was in severe danger of losing a whole day of my little time in New York I decided to head off to South Manhattan on my own. Brooklyn Bridge was another goal on my to do list and I had some beautiful weather for the occasion:

I wasn’t disappointed and although there were tourists everywhere, I was getting used to it by now and it didn’t ruin the walk. The view across the bay is amazing and second only to the Staten Island Ferry but more on that later. I spent some time looking at the various messages on the bridge and snapping photos of a few which you can find here. Here’s my addition:

*Not really. My handwriting is woeful compared to that masterpiece.

An Emotional Walk… For Some

Next I decided to head down to Wall Street via the World Trade Centre site. I wasn’t really sure what to expect and when I got there I wasn’t convinced I was in the right place when I did:

The entire area has been done up and there’s barely anything to show for the tragedy which I think is a shame as I thought there might be some sort of memorial. Then again there was a huge section cut off where there may have been some stuff in the planning so I’ll hold off until it’s been released. I did find this statue depicting the man who climbed out of the rubble in the aftermath of 9/11:

What really pissed me off was the light hearted manner that many of the non English tourists were adopting on the scene. One family where climbing all over the statue, making jokes and having a right old laugh about it. I’m pretty sure if something similar happened at one of the war cemeteries in Europe someone would have something to say about it. Anyway, that’s an issue for the police to fix.

Afterward it was getting towards sunset so I headed for the Staten Island ferry, camera in hand. I made a huge error in rushing to the front of the boat as they close all the doors and windows which haven’t been cleaned in years so it’s impossible to get a good picture. However they leave the doors open on the back so you can get a really good view of Manhattan as you drive away from it. I’d definitely recommend going at sunset, I managed to time it just right:

Here are a few more of my favourites from the Brooklyn Bridge.

Tomorrow I head to Philadelphia.

A quick note on Brooklyn…

I wanted to make it clear in my last post on New York how I changed my opinion on Brooklyn but I haven’t posted it yet and I think as it stands I may annoy some people so need to set the record straight. Brooklyn is a fantastic place and I wasnt staying in a bad area. I only write what I felt at the time and arriving in pitch black in Brooklyn is pretty intimidating no matter which area you go to! By the time I left I was than happy to walk anywhere. The only reason I was intimidated in the first place is the preconception that television and films give people of the Brooklyn area.

I’ve also been told that I did not in fact cross the Hudson but the East River, apologies!

Day 5 – New York – WOW

Good Morning New York

Originally I thought it was the jet lag that woke me up at 5am this morning. About ten minutes later as I was just drifting off again I realised the actual cause. The J line of the subway system goes above the road that my hostel is on and I had a room overlooking the train line itself. That placed me about 10 feet away from a train that runs up to every ten minutes, 24/7, with a single pane of glass to shield me from the noise. I was really starting to like Brooklyn.

I spent the next hour or so taking tiny power naps between the trains before eventually giving up and getting showered. It was time to head out and do some sightseeing. If I’d been culture shocked by the city’s vastness the night before then it was nothing compared to climbing out of the subway at Rockefeller Centre Station. You see the skyscrapers from a distance and they’re impressive, but it’s when you get underneath them and have to arch your neck to see the tops where you get a real feeling of how impressive these buildings are. Pictures can’t even do them justice.

Having readjusted my neck to the correct degree I set off for Time Square. I was fairly underwhelmed to be honest, it just seemed like a huge tourist trap with not a lot to see. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed the area I just thought there were far more important things to see.

I wanted to make my way to Central Park via Fifth Avenue which is the shopping hub of New York. I’d promised my lite sister I would head to Abercrombie & Fitch and get her some discount stuff. Unfortunately, when I got there the queue was well over an hour long and I just didn’t have time to waste standing around some alley. Abercrombie will have to wait till California. Eventually I reached Central Park:

What amazed me most about the Park is the complete contrast to you get from walking down fifth avenue, arching your neck to check out the skyscrapers and avoiding the tourists with their ridiculous number of shopping bags, to walking through a park that wouldn’t look out of place in the English countryside. Obviously there are still a lot more people but no ones in a hurry, unless they’re out jogging the 11km circuit. Most people are just chilling out on the benches, feeding the squirrels or even rowing on the lake. A few days on I can still say that it’s my favourite place in the US so far. I just wish I had done the run as it’s on my bucket list. At least it gives me a good reason to return when my ankle has healed.

Top Of The Rock

Now I came to one of the key dilemmas facing any tourist in New York : Empire State Building or Rockefeller Centre? It’s a serious ‘first world problem’ I know but still one that has to be addressed. Now I had it on good information that the view is actually better from Rockefeller Centre and it is also considerably cheaper so I went for that option. I got my ticket for the earliest tour available which gave me an hour to kill. I took the opportunity to grab my first authentic New York Deli Sandwich, a choice I’d highly recommend. There are a huge selection of places to get these in the basement of Rockefeller Centre. Unfortunately I made the error of also getting a ‘large’ coffee from Starbucks. The cup I was served reminded me of the sharer cups they give out at the movies in England that are designed for four people. If anyone has ever finished one of these behemoth beverages I’m pretty sure they’d have needed a restroom break in between starting and finished. Personally, I needed two.

Eventually it was my allocated time to start queuing for the ascent. The wait was long but relatively painless. There were a large amount of shows providing information about the Rockefeller Centre and its roots. Unfortunately they also had a lengthy story about their nation’s unhealthy obsession with the Christmas Tree. I’m certain that no one can be that excited about lighting up a tree once a year but maybe I’m just not being festive enough. Up the elevator we went and walked out to one of the most spectacular metropolis tickets views available on the earth today:

Like I said, pretty spectacular. I had also decided that I wanted to see the view at night as well so I bought the Sun & Stars ticket allowing me to make the trip up later that night, a choice I’d highly recommend to anyone considering it:

Going up at night gave me a great opportunity to mess around with my camera. Here’s me making some J’s using the ESB :

Last but not least, a wise piece of advice from me to you: whatever you do in life, never, ever be this guy:

Tomorrow the Arsenal are playing and I’ll have the opportunity to visit The Blind Pig!