The good ol' US of A, and a bit of Mexico thrown in for good measure! - helenandpaul
We've got a month, we've got tickets booked to the States, and well, that's about it!!
We're starting off with a couple of days in Washington DC, have a vague plan about going to Colorado,...

Washington DC
Washington, United States
After Helen repacking her case three times and Paul not understanding why his suggestions of "all you need is a pair of shorts" really weren't useful, we finally made it to Gatwick on time! We saw Kate Garraway of GMTV and "Strictly Come Dancing" fame in departures - A list celebrity or what?!!?
Ready for the off!
Our travel companion is Barnaby bear - from Year 1 at Helen's Mom's school - so he'll be popping up throughout the trip and sending postcards and photo's back to the children at school. So far he's travelled in Helen's bag as Paul says he's not getting caught at customs with a teddy in his bag!
There were only 43 people on the flight from Gatwick. Helen said it'd be nice as we could stretch out a bit on the spare seats. Paul said it'd be nice as it meant the food would be served faster! Typical!!
We flew via Bermuda (which looks really nice and can be added to the list of places to go!!). We got off for refuelling - and two people with only hand luggage decided they quite liked the look of Bermuda and were going to stay there, but decided not to inform anyone! Hence a delay followed while the cabin crew tried to figure out why a plane that left London with 43 passengers was now down to 41!
Route map, nearly arrived in Bermuda
Immigration at New York took about 5 minutes - unlike the 2 hours last time! But we knew it was too good to last and to punish us our flight down to Washington DC was 2 hours late. We finally arrived at midnight and met Simon at the airport, who drove us back to their wonderful house. Desperate Housewives eat your heart out - but without all the scandal obviously!!!
Gorgeous house!
After a much needed sleep after 24 hours of travelling we thought the best way to refresh ourselves would be to go shopping - obviously!! Janice took us to the mall and we dived straight for Bloomingdales and Macy's!
Shopping was cut short so Paul could watch the Liverpool game (on at 3pm here), so Janice and Helen went for a pedicure and left the boys to it!
Went into Washington DC yesterday (Wednesday). Saw the Washington Monument (but needed to be there at 7.30am to get a ticket to go up it apparently!!)
Washington Monument
Went to the White House - don't think George was home.
George and Laura's House
Walked along The Mall to Capitol Hill and then decided we'd pop into the "National Space and Air Museum".
Space Museum
Hours later the day had disappeared and we were still looking at rockets, missiles and Helen was being given a physics lecture by Paul everytime anything to do with satellites or radio waves came up! Was a really good museum though, and all the museums in DC are free so that was a bonus!!
Walked back down The Mall to the World War II memorial which was really beautiful
World War II Memorial
Met Simon back at the office and Paul proved he really is as sad as we all think so when he's not photographing radio masts he's taking pictures of Arqiva offices worldwide!
Geek
Stopped of at a nice viewing point on the way back home to look at the Potomac River, and much to Paul's delight there was even a radio mast on the opposite hill - hurrah!
Paul and Simon 1000ft above the Potomac River
Have been out for two lovely meals with Simon and Janice and have really enjoyed our time staying with them in their gorgeous house!
Going to Great Falls Park with Janice now, and then back to the airport this afternoon. Next stop Denver!
written by  helenandpaul on April 24, 2008 from Washington, United States
from the travel blog: The good ol' US of A, and a bit of Mexico thrown in for good measure!

Snow!
Silverthorne, United States
Great Falls, Virginia
Had a really nice time at Great Falls National Park, Virginia - amazing views of the waterfall.
Weather getting hotter! Helen thought she'd put suncream on the whole of her face - obviously not as she has a glow in the dark hairline! Excellent! Not a good look!
Barnaby enjoying his day out
Paul standing over Mather Gorge at Great Falls Park
High water marks!
Janice gave us a lift to the airport, and we arrived in Denver, Colorado on time (after a connecting flight in Charlotte, North Carolina). Helen realised travelling in short trousers and flip flops was a bad idea, brrrrr!!! Picked the hire car up and figured out driving on the wrong side of the road in the snow, and made it to the B+B in Silverthorne at about 11.30pm. Probably a really pretty drive through the Rockies as we're pretty high up where we're staying, but it was pitch black.
Mountain Vista B+B, Silverthorne
Would have arrived at the B+B a bit earlier but the directions said "turn right off the main road and then right again after one block". As we had no idea how far "one block" was and as the street names were all covered in snow it took a bit of driving around!
Colorado is 2 hours behind DC so 11.30pm felt like 1.30am so it was straight to bed!
We are staying in the "Liberty Room" which is everything red, white and blue, stars and stripes, and Uncle Sam! Not as bad as it sounds - it's quite cool really!
Liberty Room - Red, White and Blue all the way!
The room next to us is "Paris" so we can only assume it's full of can-can girls and garlic.
Arapahoe Basin
After breakfast this morning we were shown where the hot tub is - hurrah! That will come in handy very soon as we've just got back in from a day on the slopes.
Arapahoe Basin has to be the most chilled out ski area ever! There are three car parks - "early risers", "high noon", and "last chance". Those on "early risers" reverse their cars to the bottom of one of the slopes in an area called "the beach", set up camp, get out the bbq's and have a party!
BBQ's on the "beach"!!
As luck would have it the B+B is 5 minutes walk away from a big shopping outlet village! Well, it would be rude not to at least go and look wouldn't it.......!!
PS, Barnaby Bear is having a lovely time in case you're wondering!!!
Barnaby having a break from the slopes
Barnaby on his board
written by  helenandpaul on April 25, 2008 from Silverthorne, United States
from the travel blog: The good ol' US of A, and a bit of Mexico thrown in for good measure!

Still just snow!!
Silverthorne, United States
Had a day off from boarding yesterday (Saturday) as we thought the slopes would be really busy at the weekend (and mainly cus we got up too late and had a lazy morning!!) Went out the night before for a meal with two other B+B guests - Zach and Sarah; two really cool Americans, Sarah lives near Denver and Zach is from Brooklyn and on a road trip to LA! Maybe we'll see him "on the road"! They asked us sensible questions like "does everyone hate your new Prime Minister?", "how do you elect a PM in the UK?", "how expensive are things in England?", "what's the food like?", "how much is petrol?", "does everyone watch 'soccer'"? The most important question Helen had?? No, not about President Bush, or who's going to be the next President, or the war in Iraq, or the rising price of petrol in the USA, or global warming - but "where can I buy Lucky Charms cereal?!". To her joy and delight it is available in all supermarkets - wahoo! Not like at home where it is now only stocked by Selfridges for an extortionate fee for a tiny pot! We are now the proud owners of 2 huge boxes, and are seriously considering leaving all our clothes here and bringing back suitcases full of cereal!
Went to the shopping outlet village 5 minutes away from the B+B. Paul nearly cried over the cheapness of the snowboard boots, and after making Helen try on every pair in the shop he finally found some to fit her awkward feet and decided the offer of a new pair of boots for 25 pounds was far too good to miss! Not sure how we're going to get them home, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it! If it's a toss up between the new boots and the Lucky Charms then the cereal wins hands down! Paul's idea of filling them with Lucky Charms might just work!
Have been boarding again today (Sunday). Brilliant sunshine and clear blue skies. Helen watched over Paul making sure he really did cake himself in suntan lotion to stop his already burnt face getting any redder and more embarrassing! Factor 50 all the way today!! White forehead where his hat has been and lobster face from the eyebrows down is soooo not a good look!
Took a drive over to Breckenridge this evening just to have a look! The slopes are still covered in snow, but Government regulations mean they have had to close. Even Paul puppy dog eyeing the slopes and constantly muttering "such a waste" made no difference. They've got an 80 inch base of snow but had to close a few weeks ago. For anyone who cares Paul says the half-pipe and terrain park are pristine, but no one can access them.
Drove past Lake Dillon which is completely frozen and covered in feet of snow. Pretty spectacular! Fact for the day - Lake Dillon is home to the highest sailing club in the world at over 3000 metres.
We had a drink in Breckenridge, had a walk round the shops (most of which were closed for the season or because it was Sunday night - Paul's Bank Manager will be glad to hear!) and then headed back to the B+B to jump in the hot tub - hurrah!
No pictures this time as we can't get the camera to upload onto the B+B computer. Hopefully will be able to find a computer that will let us do that soon.
PS, Someone send a text or leave a comment letting us know how Albion get on please!!!!!
written by  helenandpaul on April 27, 2008 from Silverthorne, United States
from the travel blog: The good ol' US of A, and a bit of Mexico thrown in for good measure!

Pictures
Silverthorne, United States
Just a quickie today to mainly put some photos on as we've figured out how to trick the B+B computer into letting us upload!
Leaving Silverthorne, Colorado, tomorrow. Probably heading for Moab, Utah, about 280 Miles away. Paul has heard there is good mountain biking there, which obviously fills Helen with joy!
Have had a good time in Silverthorne. The B+B was brill, Arapahoe Basin was really good; the snow was brilliant, the weather was fantastic, the atmosphere was great, the people were really friendly, and the American boarders were crazy with their ski-bikes, and the snowboard races with "how many people can you fit on one snowboard" seeming to be the favourite race catagory! However, the highlight?! It's got to be the four guys sitting at the picnic bench deciding they were all going to sit on one side so they could look at the slopes while they drank their pints. Que, bench falling over backwards, drinks sliding into their laps and them having a view of the sky. Maybe it was a "you had to be there moment", but Helen's still laughing about it now! Ok, get over it!
So for today there's only one last thing to say: BOING BOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Outside the B+B
Paul getting carried away by an eagle next to Lake Dillon
Snow bike! Crazy!
Frozen Lake Dillon
This photo is for Amie, Katy and Alex: Paul with his sponsor!!
Having a beer outside the B+B watching the sunset behind the mountains
Paul with the whole run to himself
Dog driving a skidoo!
Ski-bike!
written by  helenandpaul on April 29, 2008 from Silverthorne, United States

Saddle sore!
Moab, United States
Drove about 280 Miles from our B+B in Silverthorne, Colorado to Moab, Utah. Once we'd turned off the main Interstate we drove down the most amazing road following the Colorado River through a canyon. Fantastic sandstone scenery. Took us hours as we kept stopping to take pictures!!
Sandstone Scenery
Arrived in Moab, which after first impressions seemed to be a town in the middle of no where just made of hotels and motels! The cheap backpackers hostel we had seen on the internet for $26 for both of us for the night had no rooms left - sigh.
But as there were about a billion more places to pick from we decided to play a few against each other to get the rates down. Hurrah.
After a walk through town we discovered some cool quirky shops selling cool quirky things!! Good job it was all too big or heavy to get in our cases!
We were in Moab as Paul had heard it was the "mountain biking Mecca of the world". We hired a couple of bikes and went out on the "easy trail" called the "Bar-M Loop". At 7 Miles long and a mix of rock, dirt track, up, and down, it was enough for Helen! There were some fanstastic views across the desert landscape.
Paul and a pretty big drop!
Natural Arch
From Moab we drove about 100 Miles south to Bluff - a place Paul had picked purely by looking at the map, and which we soon discovered was one road in the middle of absolutely no where.
Bluff - a one road town in the middle of desert!!
This place made Moab look like the busiest place in the universe!! We found a place to stay - what can only be described as a shed. Paul says "log cabin"! It was quirky and unique anyway!!
The spit and sawdust steak house!!
Right next door was the Cottonwood Steakhouse, which was clearly the only place to eat within a hundred mile radius so they got our business! It was actually fantastic, and luckily had a vegetarian option!! Paul had half a rack of ribs which were really good and cooked outside on a big grill.
How cool is this cup!? Clearly they knew Helen the shoe queen was coming!!
Next stop - Monument Valley.
written by  helenandpaul on May 3, 2008 from Moab, United States

Monument Valley and scary dams!
Page, United States
The classic "American Roadtrip" shot! Monument Valley
Drove through Monument Valley which was really cool! Didn't see any cowboys and Indians though - although it felt like they could pop out from behind a rock at any minute, and Paul sang the Lone Ranger all the way down the road, haha!
Monument Valley
From Monument Valley we carried on about 80 Miles to Page, Arizona. We went to the Glen Canyon Dam Visitors Centre and found out we were just in time to join the free one hour tour!! We walked out on top of the dam and Helen thinks she was very brave considering dams make her itch, haha! At 700ft high that's a whole lot of itching!! Jude - if you're reading this I hope you're proud!! You'd have hated every second of it!!
Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona
Drove a bit further on to a point that overlooked Lake Powell
Lake Powell, Arizona
and then drove back into Page to find somewhere to stay for the night.
Have entered another time zone now, so we're now 8 hours behind the UK.
We're now setting off to the Grand Canyon, South Rim.
Can hopefully add some more pictures when we're not using the world's most temperamental computer!!!
written by  helenandpaul on May 3, 2008 from Page, United States

Vegas Baby... almost!
Las Vegas, United States
Horseshoe Bend
After leaving Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon dam we drove past Horseshoe Bend where Paul risked everything for the perfect picture!!!!!
Dare devil photographer. Anything for a good photo!!
Grand Canyon
Drove to the Grand Canyon, which was spectacular. Can't be described! Was one of the bits of the trip Helen was most looking forward to - not quite so much when Paul decided to read aloud from the guidebook "it is common to see groups of tarantulas scurrying back into the canyon in the evening for warmth". Great! Well thankfully we avoided tarantula bed time and the only wildlife we saw were deers and baby lizards.
At the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon as the sun was setting
Drove along part of the historic "Route 66" on our way through
Arizona.
Route 66
Tonight we are staying next to the Hoover Dam - Helen is braving her dam fear once again!!
Barnaby at the Hoover Dam
We are about 25 mins outside of Vegas and are going to "hit the strip" tomorrow, after locking our wallets up to avoid loosing everything!
Pictures to follow of the Grand Canyon, but the computer won't let us right now!
Only a short one today - internet isn't a freebie at the moment and it's ticking down fast!!!
Love Helen and Paul x
written by  helenandpaul on May 4, 2008 from Las Vegas, United States

Viva Las Vegas!
Mammoth Lakes, United States
Vegas Baby!
Vegas was every bit as awful as we expected, but there's something about the place that makes you kinda like it! It's busy, brash, over the top, hot, loud and Bright, but it's got something about it! You certainly don't need more than a couple of days there - you'd go insane and completely lose touch with reality!! And despite it being absolutely scorching hot don't expect us to have a sun tan! Vegas is designed to keep you inside your hotel and give you no reason to actually go out into the open air!
There were people gambling at all hours of the day and night, and people who looked like they hadn't left the chair in front of their slot machine for years, decades.
Venice!
We visited most of the major hotels - including Caeser's Palace, the Ballagio, the Luxor, the MGM Grand, and the Venetian. Helen had seen Bruce Forsyth on a programme once on a gondola ride at the Venetian so she of course had to have a go!
Gondola Ride
We put $1 in a machine and got 50c back!! That was the extent of our gambling!! We were so proud going to the cashier to claim our 50c winnings!!!
There are no pictures of "Barnaby does Vegas" - he stayed in the hotel room as it wasn't felt appropriate for a teddy bear from Year 1 to be in the gambling Mecca of the universe!!!!!
Left Vegas and headed for Death Valley. Drove through Death Valley - the lowest point in the USA and one of the hottest places on Earth.
Death Valley
The temperature reading on the dash board reached 104F, about 40c?? Bizarre landscape - very dry, very sandy, very low and flat, but then mountains suddenly rise from no where and the whole place is covered in volcanic rock.
We're now in Mammoth Lakes, California. There's some snow left on the mountains but we've been told it's not great so we're going to give it a miss. The road to Yosemite is still closed for the Winter though so we're trying to find a divert round it and get to Lake Tahoe today.
Have added pictures to the Grand Canyon entry.
written by  helenandpaul on May 8, 2008 from Mammoth Lakes, United States

Bear spotting!
Yosemite Lakes, United States
Left Mammoth Lakes and drove to Lake Tahoe. As we were leaving Mammoth we went to see the ski resort at Mammoth Mountain. The snow wasn't as bad as we'd been told, but it was too late by then! Paul was gutted! We drove back to the main road via a marked "scenic route" and stopped in a car park signposted "craters". The road became too snowy to drive down so we didn't see the craters, but as we were turning round we saw...... our first bear!! Only a baby one (we think, with our expert bear knowledge!!!!), and he was camera shy so we have no proof of this sighting, but you'll just have to take our word for it!!
Lake Tahoe
Arrived in Lake Tahoe after a four or five hour drive - which the girl at the hotel reception in Mammoth said would take 45 minutes!! And we all thought Paul was a fast driver!
Lake Tahoe was nice - some of it has been a bit over developed, but we found a quiet bit and had a walk along the beach.
After a very stressful "are we about to run out of petrol in the mountains" and "why are Californian road signs soooooo rubbish?!" kinda drive we arrived in Oakdale (via a long detour to Sacramento thanks to the afore mentioned rubbish signs!!) and got a room for the night.
Yosemite
Went to Yosemite National Park which was spectacular.
Yosemite Valley
Saw El Capitan
El Capitan
and Half Dome which rose impressively from no where, and walked to the bottom of Bridalveil Falls where we got absolutely soaked!!!
Getting soaked at the bottom of Bridalveil Falls
Considering Yosemite is meant to be the place to see bears, we saw a grand total of zero! (Barnaby was very disappointed!!)
Paul asked about staying in the Park for the night, and was told they had one tent left. He thought he'd better run it via Helen first, and after going to see it she decided a metal frame with some canvas thrown over it and metal boxes outside to lock food in to keep it from the bears did not pass her stringent "bear proof" tests, so the idea was scrapped!
Nightfall at Yosemite
Watched the sunset from Glacial Point, overlooking the valley.
From Glacial Point
written by  helenandpaul on May 9, 2008 from Yosemite Lakes, United States

Steve McQueen eat your heart out
San Francisco, United States
Arrived in San Francisco and after getting a bit lost round the city streets Paul decided he wanted to re-enact Steve McQueen by driving up and down all the steep roads which scared the life out of us both! The roads are amazingly steep! Houses very pretty. Seems like a nice city.
More by luck than judgement we found ourselves at a marina and had a walk along the marina wall watching the sailing boats with views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Golden Gate Bridge
Drove over the bridge and walked back along half of it. Carried on driving into Marin County, where mountain biking was invented and which greatly excited Paul!
Found a nice beach and we both paddled in the Pacific for the first time. To be fair, it's just as wet and cold as any other sea!!
Headed South on Highway One, following the coast - which by now was unfortunately covered in sea fog.
The Golden Gate Bridge disappearing into sea fog
This made us both feel right at home - we hadn't had bad weather at all so far!! To get out of the bad weather we just had to get off the road for a bit at a shopping mall - hurrah!!
Drove down to Monterey for the night.
written by  helenandpaul on May 11, 2008 from San Francisco, United States

Reliving our childhood
Los Angeles, United States
Wild flowers along the Big Sur coast
Carried on our drive down Highway One - classic driving road!! Along the "Big Sur" coastline.
Big Sur coast, California
Along the Big Sur
Saw hundreds and hundreds of elephant seals on one of the beaches. An amazing sight. They were females shedding their "winter skin", and males fighting in the waves!
Hundreds of seals on the beach!
Arrived in LA at about 9pm, and after battling with their road signs once again we found the hotel.
Us and our new friend
So two adults with one day in LA before their flight to Mexico. What do they do? Go to DisneyLand of course!! We were probably the most excited people in the queue to meet Mickey Mouse!!!! Went on the main rides, and saw lots of Disney characters. Barnaby met Mickey too!
Paul meets someone else who has time keeping issues like him!
Even in Minnie Mouse´s house Paul can´t resist raiding the fridge!
Helen in Mickey Mouse´s car
Got to try and jam everything into our suitcases now ready for Mexico tomorrow!
written by  helenandpaul on May 12, 2008 from Los Angeles, United States

Hola Amigos
Puerto Morelos, Mexico
Arrived in Mexico yesterday (Tuesday) evening after a very bumpy flight. Had paramedics meet the plane on the tarmac after a lady became ill and needed oxygen in the air. Landed a lot quicker than normal, seemed to drop out of the sky very fast and the captain announced over the tannoy that we´d be "touching down at full speed". Excellent - not scary in the slightest then!!!!
Picked up the hire car and drove about 20 Miles from Cancun to our hotel. We´re staying in a really cool beach hut type thing!!
Our beach hut!
Hard to describe, but it´s right on the beach and we have a brilliant view from our hammocks on the balcony!
This is the life!
Without starting to sound like nautical geeks, we have had another "ocean first" when we both swam in the Caribbean sea for the first time today. No getting used to the cold - just run straight in!
Paul in the Caribbean
Had the beach to ourselves, worked on our tans, did some swimming, and saw some tropical fish.
Had a very lazy day so there´s not much else to write!!
Have added pictures to LA, San Francisco, etc.
PS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICCI!!!
written by  helenandpaul on May 14, 2008 from Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Hot, hot, hot!
Tulum, Mexico
Although the thought of lazying around doing nothing was very appealing, we thought we'd better do something a bit more active before we moulded into the hammocks!
It's so hot during the day though so it's difficult to find the energy to do anything!
We decided we'd visit some Mayan ruins, the closest of which were about a one and a half hour drive from the hotel. Thankfully our car had air conditioning otherwise the trip would have been ruled out immediately! Although we'd had some hot weather in the USA, the heat in Mexico is different altogether. It's relentless and intense and there seems very little shade! At night it settles at about a sticky 28c.
Tulum Mayan Ruins
The Mayan ruins we visited were at Tulum. They aren't as big as the ruins at the major Mayan site of Chichen Itza, but that was a three and a half hour drive and with the Mexican roads (and drivers!) being as bad as they are (and the heat!) we didn't fancy it! We're glad we didn't go as we found out the next day that the temperature there was 46c! At least Tulum is on the coast so it has a sea breeze. The beach was gorgeous, the water was such a beautiful colour.
Lifesaving sea breeze!!
Sunstroke had already started to set in however, so we found it difficult to properly concentrate on what we were looking at or read the information signs. We'd drank so much water, worn hats, found shade, and put on so much suntan lotion, but we still got caught, and Paul spent the evening rubbing aftersun into his burnt feet and arms and Helen spent the evening in bed with heat exhaustion, topped off by a migraine and being sick!
The ruins were nice to see, although if we'd been feeling 100% we would have probably have got more out of it! As with everywhere else in Mexico, there were iguanas everywhere, sunbathing on the ruins and on the paths!
Iguanas!
written by  helenandpaul on May 15, 2008 from Tulum, Mexico

Sun, sea, sand, and "I do"
Puerto Morelos, Mexico
Helen's friend from Uni, Becky, was the reason for our divert to Mexico. Her and her fiance Lee had chosen the swanky El Dorado Royale for their Wedding location. The hotel was only about fifteen minutes down the coast from our hotel. The location was lovely, and the Bride looked absolutely gorgeous! We had a really nice day!
The happy couple!
Congratulations Becky and Lee!
written by  helenandpaul on May 16, 2008 from Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Corruption and an absolute cheek!
New York, United States
Flew from Cancun to New York ready for our flight home.
Our hotel was reached via a dirt track, a road that was still under construction and still made of rubble. It had a 40 kph speed limit, and any faster than that and the doors would probably have shaken off the car anyway!
About a minute after leaving the hotel, and about 2 seconds after crawling over a speed bump, we saw a Police Car at the side of the road. As soon as we got to them three Officers jumped out, waving what looked like a hairdrier at us telling us we were travelling at 60 kph! We weren't even doing 40 kph, let alone their alleged 60!
We pulled over, and were told we'd get a ticket and would have to go to the Station and pay a $100 fine. As you can imagine, Paul was having none of it! He got all the paper work out for the car and the flights, standing his ground that we were not travelling at 60 kph! 48kph or 52kph or something similar then maybe we'd have thought twice before dismissing their corrupt money making accusation, but 60 kph was too rounded off and just too fast! The road was a dead end, there was no need for them to be there, no one went down there expect people going to the couple of small hotels there, so they were obviously just there to con the tourists!
After ten minutes of "heated debate" one of the Policemen asked Paul his occupation. Paul said "engineer" and suddenly everything changed! Until then we were told we had no choice but to pay the fine, but after a mention of a profession that they respected we were sent on our way.
Not a great end to our time in Mexico! Paul had read in the guidebook about the corrupt Police and we can now say that it's true!
Arrived in New York about an hour late at 9pm. To top off the Wedding theme one passenger got the Pilot to propose to his girlfriend for him over the speakers. Luckily for him she said yes!
We then had to join a complete free-for-all to get through Customs. There is a lot to be said for a good old English queue! Hundreds of people, plus luggage, trying to funnel into the one Customs desk that was open. Luckily the moaning and shouting of a few Americans paid off and they opened another desk. We thought there was going to be a riot when one passenger decided he was going to ram through the barrier and got pushed back by the security officer.
Excitement over we arrived at the airport hotel about 11pm, tired and hungry. The front desk got a Chinese delivered to our room so we had a midnite feast!
Got the Subway into New York City this morning to look for Ugg boots for Helen. She has now looked for them in the whole of America and has had no luck. There is an official Ugg shortage! So to make up for it Paul had to go to Hugo Boss and buy something! Typical!
Was really nice to go into the city though - even if we were only there a couple of hours!
written by  helenandpaul on May 18, 2008 from New York, United States

Home sweet home!
Eastleigh, United Kingdom
Left New York Sunday afternoon, luckily not having to join the end of the huge queue for take off that was causing delays.
Traffic, JFK style!
Plane half empty again so we stretched out a bit and Paul tried to get some sleep before we landed and he went to work! Unfortunately, he was too tempted to stay awake and watch the films!
Landed nearly an hour early at Gatwick, at 5.30am.
Dawn over London
So right now we're not really sure what day it is, what time it is, or where we are! Hopefully we'll feel a bit more human after a proper night's sleep! Helen has already done 4 loads of washing, only one more to go!
We've had a really good month, have seen some wonderful things and been to some great places. We've only scratched the surface of the huge USA and although some of it seemed a bit "whistle stop" we've seen lots of places and places we'd go back to explore!
So over 3000 driven Miles, 8 flights, nine US states, and two countries later, we're home!
We hope you've enjoyed our blog! Time to plan the next trip now then.....!
written by  helenandpaul on May 19, 2008 from Eastleigh, United Kingdom