Farewell New York

Well, I write to you at the end of my time in New York, I leave in just a few hours. I've had a fantastic time - its lovely coming back to a city and being able to explore away from the main sights (having said that I did a fair amount of that too). Highlights of the trip (apart from seeing Kathryn) have been: hanging out in Central and Prospect parks, going to Brooklyn Heights to see the view of Manhattan famous in the movies and pretending I'm in a Woody Allen film, walking across Brooklyn Bridge, going to the opera and pretending I'm in Moonstruck (yes there's a theme), drinking at the 'Hog & Pit' - the best, and in my opinion most underrated bar in New York, and last but not least seeing thee Ghostbusters fire station. Awesome.

I also went to Boston for the weekend which was a serene break from the hustle and bustle of NY. I learnt a lot about American history and learnt about the kindness of strangers - in particular a couple I got chatting to in a restaurant who insisted on paying for my dinner to welcome me to America. On the same night I saw some fantastic improvised comedy and got drunk with lots of old men in a bar. Nothing dodgy before my wayward friends start asking.

I now have to don my huge rucksack and smaller rucksack and head to the airport. I'm just 2 short flights from Buenos Aires (ok about 20 hours away but I'm trying to be positive). See you on the other side.

Hello from sunny Brooklyn

So here I am finally, writing from a far off land. The flight from London was very smooth and even landed 40 minutes earlier than planned. Unfortunately for the man sitting in the aisle seat on my row (I always go for the window) I needed the loo 4 times during a 7 hour flight, always it seemed, just after he'd dropped off to sleep - although for the 4th run, I cunningly took my toiletries bag with me to look like I was freshening up before we landed (the fact that I returned from the loo wwith no sign of improvement is neither here nor there). My only disappointment flight wise was missing March of the Penguins while sleeping. I'm sure I'll get over this with time...

Arrivals at Newark airport was also remarkably smooth. I'd braced myself for several hours of queuing, but actually got through really quickly, I even had some cheeky banter with the immigration officials. I think they reached the conclusion that I looked so dodgy that I couldn't possibly be a terrorist.

Anyway, with some excellent directions from my host, I made it to her office at Union Square (making an impressive entrance with a huge rucksack on my back, in clothes I'd been wearing for 2 days) and then headed back to her flat in Brooklyn for a shower before heading out for birthday drinks (her's not mine). Obviously I had no intentions of drinking so early on in my trip, but my arm was twisted, and the bar was giving out free sparkling mango vodka, which would have been rude to refuse really. We ate free pizza in a bar - the best idea ever, they give out whole pizzas free with every drink. Amazing. Kathryn, her friends and I partied the night away, staying up to a ridiculous 10.30pm. You heard me right. In our defence we were very, very drunk and it saved us from feeling too rubbish the next day.

I spent the following morning exploring the local area in Brooklyn and being too embarrassed to take any photos as I didn't want to look like a tourist (you don't understand, everyone here is very cool). Met Kathryn and friends for lunch (they were all bearing up well after the night out). Then it was off to the UN, like the good human rights type I am, for a tour. Apparently George Bush will be there on Monday or Tuesday for the General Assembly. Tomato pelting optional.

Next stop Boston.

The Plan

Hello all, as promised I've started a blog of my exploits in South America (except I'm currently in a kitchen in South Wales). As you may know, I quite like to have a 'plan' in life, so here's the one for South America so far...just so you can see if I stick to it in anyway.

The South American trip starts, controversially, in New York, not officially part of South America I'll grant you but please bear with me. After 10 days I'll be moving on to Buenos Aires to learn Spanish for a little while. What follows basically covers the whole of Argentina from the glaciers in the South to the Iguazu Falls in the North and a search for a lovely Welsh family to adopt me for Christmas in Patagonia.

I'm also off to Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

Can you guess which country I've researched the most...?

I'll try and keep this up to date, although I'm not envisaging spending all my time in internet cafes, but the next blog should be from a slightly more distant land, (yes even further than Wales, London folk).