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James & Tracey


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Trips:

James & Tracey World Tour

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The Big Apple

New York, United States


July 30
Arrived in New York around midnight and caught a cab to our Hotel in Chinatown. Forst impressions weren't that good, as we think the cab driver took us the dodgy way to the hotel and looked awful from the outside.
Once inside it was basic and no window, but nice and clean and the all important air conditioning.

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.

permalink 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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Airport City

Atlanta, United States


July 30
Yep thats right we landed in Atlanta, only stayed for a couple of hours and never actually left the airport, but thought we'd put it in anyway!


permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 30, 2007 from Atlanta, United States
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Bright lights once more

Las Vegas, United States


July 29
We arrived back in Vegas around 4pm. On the way back to the hostel we stopped off for a cool and refreshing drink in the pub. The evening consisted of walking tothe 7-11 to get a bit of food and chilling out watching American TV.

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.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 29, 2007 from Las Vegas, United States
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How Big?

Grand Canyon Village, United States


July 28
It took the bus 2 hours to get to the Grand Canyon South Rim. We were dropped off and headed straight for the rim. We got on the Red route (Americans pronounce it rowte - wierdos!) bus. First stop was Maricopa point. Here we got our first good look of the vastness of the canyon - it is huge. We walked to the next 3 lookout/Vista points, then decided it was pretty hot so jumped back on the shuttle bus for the next viewpoint. To Mohave Point, here we could see the Colorado river. Not what we were expecting as it was dirty, but apparently it carries a lot of silt along with it. We hopped back on the bus to Hermits End, where we had our lunch sitting looking out at the canyon - not a bad view!
GOt the shuttle back to where we started and hopped on another bus (the blue route) then walked across to the green route bus. We got dropped off at South Kaibab trailhead. He we walked down into the canyon. We reached Ooh Aah point and said "ooh" and Aah" at the view, it took us half an hour to get to this point. It is 183m/600ft down into the canyon and teh round trip is 1.8miles/2.9 km. We walked back up the hill (in the 110 degree heat) it also took half an hour but by the time we reached the top we were sweating buckets! We got the bus back to Maswik lodge where we had a well deserved ice-cream and beer/wine!
We then got on the 2 hour bus back to Flagstaff


permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 28, 2007 from Grand Canyon Village, United States
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Back to Toot Toot

Flagstaff, United States


July 28
We arrived back to Flagstaff just in time for the rain and thunderstorm. Not haveing brought anything except shorts and t-shirts we got soaked walking/running from the Hostel to the local Thai restaurant. We enjoyed a nice meal, except James forgot how hot Thai curries can be and sweated a bit more!

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!

permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 28, 2007 from Flagstaff, United States
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Toot Toot

Flagstaff, United States


July 27
We left Vegas with small bags, as the hostel had storage facilities.
We joined a massive queue for the Greyhound bus service to Phoenix, Arizona (except we aren't going that far). Once on the bus we settled in to the 5 1/2 hour journey to Flagstaff. We did stop 1/2 way for a meal stop - McDonalds which was awful!
We arrived at Flagstaff and rang the hostel to came and pick us up, an hour later they arrived, it only took 5 mins to get to the hostel, so goodness knows why it took them so long!
We walked to the local supermarket to get some supplies for tomorrows journey.

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.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 27, 2007 from Flagstaff, United States
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Viva Las Vegas

Las Vegas, United States


July 24
Set off around 8am (yep all got up that early!). We arrived at the flashing lights of Las Vegas and went to the hotel - New York New York no less. We cleaned the RV up then went up to our room. Wow! We were all on the 17th floor, James and I had 2 double beds in our room, a view of the pool and roller coaster.
We all had a look around the hotel - downstairs inside its more like a little town than a hotel. We had pizza for lunch, of course! We walked along the strip. Watched the water fountain show outside the Bellagio, then went inside the hotel/casino. It was amazing, thet have the largest chocolate fountain in the world there - Yummy.
After realising it was far too posh and expensive at the Bellagio we went across the street to Planet Hollywood - much more our thing. The lads stayed for a buffet, but James and I made our way back to the NYNY looking at the casino and went up to our huge room.

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.

permalink 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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Lightening with no thunder

Barstow, United States


July 23
Instead of the 120 deg F, we decided to head for the cooler 110 deg F of Barstow. This took about 5 hours of driving with a stop off at Taco Bell. When we got there we had an evening meal at Peggy Sues 50's Diner with a life size Elvis looking over us. The rest of the evening was spent by the lads sitting in the pool watching the electrical storm in the distance, followed by more poker and Trace continuing on her quest of finishing Harry Potter in record time.


permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 23, 2007 from Barstow, United States
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Lodgepole, Sequoia National Park

Fresno, United States


July 22
After Melons hair raising rally down really windy roads with a massive drop to one side we finally and thankfully arrived safe and sound at the campsite. At the office they were less concerned about the camping than with the long list of rules to do with the many Black Bears in the area.
The evenings entertainment was a couple games of poker which involved winning or losing small amounts of cash from each other. Getting ready for Vegas.

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.

permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 22, 2007 from Fresno, United States
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Bass Lake

Yosemite Lakes, United States


July 21
After driving about 6 hours and stopping off for Trace to buy Harry Potter we arrived at Bass Lake. Which turned out to be a very picturesque place. We booked in at the office we found a spot on the side of the road as the sun was going down quickly slipped on our bathers and charged into the lake expecting it to be cold, but found it was the temperature of a warm bath - Lovely.
We got changed and went to the local Forks restaurant. When it came to getting to our RV pitch we were greeted by a local who claimed we were goign to have trouble getting our 30 foot long RV up the windy path and parked. However, with all of us helping, as it was pitch black and lots of trees, it was no problem for us now seasoned RVers.

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.


permalink written by  James & Tracey on July 21, 2007 from Yosemite Lakes, United States
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