July 31
We had a bit of a lie in before venturing out to Chinatown. It looks completely different during the day, busy with all the goings on of the day. We are staying just down the road from Little Italy. We walkked around and had brunch in a small Deli (had a chicken Parma roll!), and people watched from the window - excellent!
Walked to and across Brooklyn Bridge, taking lots of photos along the way.
Went to the pier just by Brookyln Bridge and had a Brooklyn ice-cream.
We got the metro back across the bridge, walked along the river to get to the place where you go for the ferry.
Queued up and went through the security and onto the ferry to Statue of Liberty island. We are now not allowed up the statue (sine 9/11) but walked all the way round the bottom and back on the ferry!
We got a bus to WTC site. Really eery/wierd feeling when there. Peolple still going around doing their daily routine but have the feeling something just there - difficult to explain.
We walked tothe subway and back to Chinatown. In the evening we went for a meal in Little Italy and had some live music.

August 1
We had around 12 hours sleep so got up and went on the subway to Times Square/42nd Street. We walked around and up to 52nd Street to have a bit of lunch in Applebees.
We walked back to 46th Street and started queuing at TKTS for some cheap tickets for a Broadway show. We saw the huge queue so turned around and decided to return tomorrow.
We walked down to Macy'son 34th Street. We continued walking along Broadway down to 18th Street, then onto 3rd Street. Once we got there we realised how far we had walked so walked a bit more to Chinatown - by the end of it we were both knackered!!
In the evening went back to Little Italy for a meal.

August 2
Walked to the subway and up to 81st Street and to Central Park. We walked through the park, eating an ice-cream, some of the route for the Marathon on Sunday. Had a drink at the Tavern on the Green.
We got the subway to the Rockefellar centre. We had pizza pie for lunch. We went to the 'Top of the Rock' and the viewing gallery and able to take photos of the Empire State Building.
Went and queued at TKTS and finally manage to get tickets for 'Rent'.
Got subway back to have a shower and siesta.
Back ont he subway to broadway. We got a hot dog before going into the Theatre. We watched 'Rent'. It was good, although bit wieard and quite american.
We walked up towards the Chrysler building to take photos of it in the dark, when we got close though the camera battery ran out! Just as we got to Grand Central Station. We still went in and it was really quiet.

August 3
Up, packed stuff and put it in storage. Got the subway to Grand Central Station (battery fully charged!) Took photos, walked outside to take more photos and walked along to Empire State Building.
Had lunch in the Red Lobster. Well nice - had prawns, crab legs, lobster tail and cheese biscuit things (more like scones).
Got subway 1/2 home to pop into a couple of shops and walked back to Chinatown. Had a shower. We headed with all the luggage to the subway (in 94 degree heat) to get to JFK airport. Arrived at the Airport around 4 hours before our flight. Checked in and spent the last of our money on a Bud and pizza.
Once on the flight we had to queue in an electrical storm on the tarmac for 2 1/2 hours.

written by  James & Tracey on July 30, 2007 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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July 30
Left the hostel and got a taxi to the airport. At the airport had a meal in a Diner, waited around for plane.

written by  James & Tracey on July 29, 2007 from Las Vegas, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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July 29
Yet again the trains ran very loud and early this morning. We went on the internet and had a powercut! Got taken to the bus station ready for the 6 hour journey back to Vegas. It takes longer for the return journey, not sure why. When we stopped half way this time we made the walk to Jack in the Box, as if we had to eat burgers we were going to have a half decent one!

written by  James & Tracey on July 28, 2007 from Flagstaff, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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July 28
We didn't really need the alarm we had set to get up early as the trains here seem to go all night and still honk the horns. Anyway we made it out and walked to the local bus stop for our next onward journey.

written by  James & Tracey on July 27, 2007 from Flagstaff, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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July 25
James and I had Craps lessons in the morning - a whole hour of a man explaining everything about Craps (the game you always see played with the Dice) We understood everything (kind of) when we left. We had brunch with Melon and heard about last nights' goings on they got in very ealry this morning!
James and I went for a swim in the pool, then Kev and Si came back from there Canyon Helicopter tour and joined us in the pool.
Si, Kev, James and I all had dinner at the Chin Chin chinese restaurant. We then went to the roulette tables and played. I won James some money as he put 2 chips on my birthday (19) and it came in, he then lso all of it!
Went to the Irish bar for a drink and some live music.

July 26
James and Si went for one last swim in the pool. We packed our bags, checked out and said farewell to the lads. They went to the airport and we went downtown to our new home. The USA hostel - a bit more basic than the NYNY.
We settled in then headed back down the strip on the bus. We walked by Treasure Island hotel with all the pirate shipe outside. James took me to Venice (the Venetian) then Paris, then he bought me the biggest Ben and Jerry's ice cream ever!
We walked through Planet Hollywood shops. We were inside but the ceiling was painted blue with clouds, so it gave a feeling we were outside. As we walked along the clouds became slightly darker, then it began to rain and thunder! All very cool, but wierd as we were inside.
We went to the Planet Hollywood casino as we had an appointment for 90 minutes about the new hotel they were building and wanted to sell the rooms (in other words a time share presentation) We sat there patiently for the 90 ,minutes listening and looked round the show room, got introdused to the manager - who Trace did not like as he addresses and shook hands with James first and kept saying the English dollar was strong against their dollar which wouldn't last - stupid man we have POUNDS!! Once we told them we weren't interested as we had no money cos we are travelling the manager was extremely rude. The other guy was nice, so we got our voucher for our free stuff and left.
We walked to NYNY hotel to have a ride on the Roller Coaster. It was quite good actually, a few big dips and actually go upside down.
Walked back to Planet Hollywood and had our free buffet. This place is amazing. So many different things to eat. We started with the seafood - prawns, oysters, fish, crabs legs. Next course was some meat and veg. Trace went for 2 desserts as it was free! After resting for a bit we headed upstairs for the next free bit of the day - to see the show Stomp. It was really good, and quite loud.
We gothe bus back to Downtown. Stopped off at the Fremont street experience. A huge ceiling that has pictures/film played on it. We had a bit of a look around and more of a gamble, but lost, so walked back to hostel.

written by  James & Tracey on July 24, 2007 from Las Vegas, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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July 23
We hit the road early as we had a massive drive ahead of us.
First part of oour journey involved a slight detour where we drove to see the General Sherman. This is the largest tree in the world. A few facts :- Aged 2300-2700 years; circumference at ground 31.3m; Diameter at base 11.1m; Height 83.8m; Volume of trunk 1486.6 cubic metres. All in all a very impressive tree.
When we walked back up the hill to the RV and after a short discussion, we decided not to go to Death Valley as most people we had spoken to said why would you want to go there, its boiling hot and there's nothing to see.

written by  James & Tracey on July 22, 2007 from Fresno, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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July 22
We got up earlier than the others to check out the prices of their watersports on the lake. There was an early bird offer, so we went back to the RV to get the others up. Four of us hired 2 Jet Skis and the other 2 hired a small fishing boat without fishing gear. While Leigh and Melon set off to pootle around, we set off on a more fun pace. Trace and James on one and Si and Kev on the other. Trace drove responsibly for the first 15 minutes, then quickly made her escape before letting James take over to go and catch up the equally mad Si and Kev.
Once the hour was over Trace went to meet the others. James arriving with a huge grin on his face, but also a touch worried when returning the jet ski they may notice the new scratches to the front end after Si had driven into the front of him, as he was temporarily blinded from doing a jump and a big wave getting round to the back of his eye balls!
Went down to the Lake in the boiling heat of the day, which James measured with our dive watch - it was 42 degrees on the beach - we decided to take a few dips in the water, which the dive watch read the water to be a freezing 29 degrees. This place is gorgeous.
Somebody else took over the navigating from Trace as she now had Harry Potter which was now taking up 90% of her time. It seems she is in a race to finish it before anyone else.

written by  James & Tracey on July 21, 2007 from Yosemite Lakes, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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