Sydney is 'HEAPS' good mate!

They say 'heaps' far too much over here... "That's heaps brill", or "Free, 300 texts per month, thats HEAPS of free texts on [insert mobile phone network name here]" But this is probably the worst thing I have to say about Sydney so far...

Its been over a week anyway, so I better update all you little (and not so little) darling sweethearts that I know, with what I've been up to since I got to Sydney. I've got myself a bartender's job in a restaurant / bar called Khosh. Look, their website is lame, but the place itself is actually quite lush. Its a bit empty, there isn't anything to really look at, no pictures or artwork, but the lighting is nice and the lounge and stuff is nice and poncy and modern. The menu is expensive but its really nice food and I guess the drinks and cocktails are nice enough if they are prepared by me. I'm really the only one on the bar unless its the weekend, and its all table service, so the punters come in, sit down and I don't get to talk to them, which has its plus side but it gets a bit boring. I've gotta learn a load of new cocktails and they serve Jack Daniel's *howls of laugher from the O Bar staff* but its an ok job, we get loads in tips every night and it pays ok I guess. Its not like home though, the people aren't as friendly and its not half as fun as O Bar, but I don't have to serve pikies.

I'm currently looking for somewhere to houseshare with some random peeps. Living in a hostel has its downsides; 1) No matter how discreet or quiet you try to be, between 11pm and 11am, you are almost guaranteed to wake someone up when you get into your room, or be woken up. 2) There is always someone that snores throughout the night. 3) The showers are always a bit iffy, and 4) You have NO privacy, making it near-on impossible to get it on with a late-night randomer from the bar downstairs, and definitely impossible to walk around your own room naked (not that I used to do that at home... honest...) But the hostel I am in looks pretty cool from the outside and inside its pretty modern, bright and clean too..

(Cool building huh?! I'm currently on the 2nd floor... It used to be a department store and is dead opposite the main central rail station in Sydney. It takes 15 minutes to walk into the centre of the city and about 30 minutes to walk to Circular Quay)

Its about $120-$160 for a decent room in Sydney, thats per week, which is about 60 - 80 English Pounds. Which may seem like a lot, but most jobs in Sydney pay $15-$25 an hour, so on a 40 hour week, well, you work that out but it makes English wages look like real slave labour. There are a few guys at the hostel that are looking for somewhere to live, so hopefully we'll get somewhere soon and not have to live out of our backpacks for much longer, as thats proving to be a total pain, and all my clothes are always creased.

This week I've not done much, I spent some cool time with a girl I met last week called Ruth (if you are reading this babe I hope you got that toothpaste off your Snoopy top you drunken lil' classy bird you) and I've also spent loads of time trying to fend the bloody flies off. They come in droves and attack your face, try to fly into your ears and crawl around all over you. Horrible little bastards. I really think that those hats with corks hanging down are now totally cool, I could do with one at the moment just to survive a simple walk down to the shops. Honestly. I also went to an art gallery and got told to delete a photo from my camera after I took one of some artwork as soon as I walked in.. Well if there were some signs up saying that no photography was allowed then I wouldn't have taken any photos would I?! Dumb bitch. Click the yellow bulb & the lemon for the 'Museum of Contemporary Art' piccys.

I also have some crap pictures of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, both located on Circular Quay which is north to the city centre of Sydney. At least the pictures prove that the Opera House is infact not really white, but more a crap shade of white showing it needs a good clean with some Colgate Whitening Toothpaste or another coat of Dulux. Me and Jason also took the ferry to Manly Beach (what a class name, and no I don't know if there is a 'Womanly beach') but we got there fairly late so no decent beach pictures yet, sorry boys. Took some crap night pictures of Circular Quay however, check out the gallery for those. I will get some better photos next week I promise. I have Friday off as well and I'll be sure to be on the beach getting burnt and taking advantage of the rather good zoom on my digital camera, (for the birdspotting of course, *wink*)

Christmas Day looks like it'll be some kind of beach party, either Bondi or Manly beach, where some big-name DJ's will be gracing the sand with their groovy beats. I can't imagine being on a beach on Christmas Day with a beer in one hand and, um, well I guess a beer in both hands, but it sounds like fun! New Years Eve/Day, well, Sydney Harbour will be packed, I hear that you have to get down here at about 10am to find a spot in view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House for the midnight celebrations, but I think as long as I'm surrounded by beautiful girlies, some cool mates and I'm drunk in a gutter somewhere I'll be happy....

I guess I'll be in Sydney until February sometime, not sure where I want to be on my 24th birthday. But by then hopefully I'll have saved up some serious cash, and I'll be able to travel again up the east coast of Australia on the Oz Experience, then I'll probably travel back down the east coast and at the end of my full year in Australia I'll go back to New Zealand and do my two months there as I had planned before I ran out of cash.

I have more to write, but as that new Foo Fighters song comes onto the radio and makes me think of home (in particular, Jimmy & Pikie at the bar, miss you guys), you are probably bored with this so instead I'm going to go back to the hostel, to do some laundry and try to take some better snaps of this place over the weekend. The sun has been out in force much more the last few days, its hot and humid and I feel bad for sitting at a computer for ages, so I bid you farewell for now.

x

P.S. The population of Australia is just over 20million, which is about the population of Greater London! Yet it is around 30 times the size of the United Kingdom! Wowzers...

Got a new number foo'!

Hey guys, lots to tell you all, but this short post is just to inform you of my new number (yes, again, I have ANOTHER new number...)

I've got a Vodafone Prepay sim card and its number is +61 404 279 124... So I will expect a lot of texts from you very soon.

Adios! Steve.

G'Day From Sydney!

If you'd bother to read my e-mails or my previous post, you'd know that things wern't quite happening as I wanted to in New Zealand... Mainly because Natwest bank are a bunch of morons and I ran out of cash because they didn't sort out a graduate loan for me. So here I am in Sydney, this is my second day here and I've been fairly productive so far; got my Working Holiday Visa, my Tax File Number (TFN), I've got myself a bank account (I've even stuck $150 dollars in there!) and I've just done myself a CV from scratch. Oh, and I got really drunk last night too. Gonna go and get some lunch and peruse the papers and look for a decent bar job. I guess I can't be picky but a job similar to my old one at the O-Bar would be nice! McDonald's is a last resort for me, I'd even prefer to sell my body than sweat my tiny little arse off pulling continuous runs of 8 regs / 4 macs / 4 doubles over a record hour* I'm hoping that if I can find a job then soon after I'll be able to get myself a place in the city to live, as hostels are good and you meet a load of new people all the time, but sleep is an issue when you share with 4-6 other peeps! (Especially ones that snore like banshees, not mentioning any names 'JASON'!) Plus, living out of a backpack isn't very convenient. Haven't been to see any nice sights so far, but the weather has been holding up well so far since I arrived. Apparently its not been so great here the last few weeks, so maybe I'll get some good snaps for you all to gaze at soon. Oh, and finally, just to let you all know that we're 9 hours ahead of you guys back home, but I still would appreciate a text or phonecall now and again from some of you!

Hope you are all well, Steve. x

*please excuse the micky dee's mac speak....

Auckland Sucks.... Except for the Sky Tower

Ok, I've spent 4 nights here so far and its really not that great, I wish I were travelling around on the Kiwi Experience but I don't have the cash to do it (no thanks to Natwest for refusing my graduate loan application). Its too expensive for me to get a working visa, tax number & a bank account and then spend time looking for a job so I have instead just paid to have my flight to Sydney brought forward to tomorrow morning at 7am (7pm Brit time). I'll work lots in Sydney and save up my dollar bills, then probably change my flights or get an extra flight and do the Kiwi Experience sometime next year. Auckland itself is ok, there is a good mix of culture here and there are some ok bars / clubs, (and although a nice receptionist called Lisa who works in the hostel fancies me) I just don't have the cash to stay around here... Plus the clothes shops are crap. I mean really crap, Leicester is far superior for shopping and thats saying something.


I ventured up the Sky Tower armed with my digital camera, the views from there were wicked, I could have done a Sky Tower climb, where you go really far up the tower, but I can't remember how high.. Anyway, it was high but I decided I was skint enough so I shouldn't spend more money on it... You could see everything from the Sky Tower, Auckland is really spread out... Other than the Sky Tower there isn't much else to do but mingle with the Kiwi's and talk about Rugby. (Which I still can't appreciate, despite watching the Kiwi's pan the Aussies in the League game the other night)



Cya later New Zealand!

Dreamcatcher Coral Reef

I just got my photos developed & uploaded from my introductory dive off the island of Nananu-I-Ra in Fiji, they have come out a bit too blue (no there is no porn on them!) for my liking and they do not at all show off the beauty of the life underwater, its not like blue at all but its much more colourful that the pictures show, but they are still ok. Click the pic of me & Tabitha below for the gallery.

6 hours 30 minutes...

...was how long my flight out of Fiji was delayed for!!! At first it was 2 hours but then it turned into 4, then 6... then 6 and a half hours! Talk about being pissed off. My mobile was low on battery and I couldn't get any phone cards to make any calls back home. Bugger it. I had some crap airport food, got a few drinks in at the bar, then slept on the seats in the waiting lounge.

The flight from Fiji to New Zealand flew by (excuse the pun). I watched a bit of the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' which was rather pap, had dinner and just passed out. I awoke just when we were approaching Auckland International Airport.

Excuse the photo, its the only one I have taken since I have been in Kiwi land.

I arrived at the hostel at about 7am, checked in, and then got lured into the lounge of the hostel where a few guys and a girl were getting drunk... So of course, I shared my 58% Fijean Bounty Dark Rum with the Jim Beam and got hammered... In Auckland, until 10am when I think I made it to my room and woke up my dorm roommates and conked out in my top bunkbed. But then I woke up and spoke to an Irish guy and a German guy who are in my room and then me and the Irish guy crossed the main road outside to get McDonald's breakfast. They do a muffin which is like a Double Sausage & Egg McMuffin but with bacon on as well. And I mean the old skool' round Canadian bacon, not that streaky sh*t that we used to (and I presume still do) serve in England. I bought a hot chocolate, but when I made it back to my room and woke up at 2 in the afternoon, I guessed it was too late to drink it.

The hostel is cool, the internet thing is down at the moment but there is a job / work thing there for people wanting to find work in New Zealand, and there is also a travel thing there so I can get my Kiwi Experience tickets & bus passes. If the Kiwi Experience is anything remotely like the Feejee Experience in terms of meeting cool people and doing stupid crazy stuff all the time I cannot wait to start it! Although first I need to get some work in and save some money before I do!

I'm signing off now, I've typed so much in this blog today (its cool how you can edit the published date & time heh heh) and uploaded about 250mb worth of photos from my camera, and I'm getting hungry again so I need to get off my arse and get some food. I'm sure a night in and a drink or two will be more than enough as I need a good nights sleep, but I have a feeling that an Aussie guy and probably every other person in the hostel with an appetite for booze will drag everyone else down to the crap bar thats nextdoor for a long long night out! I guess it'd be rude not to, I mean, it is Friday night, and it is my 1st night in New Zealand!

Apparently the women here aren't that nice. I've seen a few nice ones, but I think I know what they are talking about. "Buy British", thats all I can say!

Love you all,

Stevie P, comin' all the way at'cha' from Kiwi Country...

Beachcoomber Island

I left the Nomal Skylodge hostel after the Feejee Experience dropped us off there yesterday and left Kieren, Maria & Tabitha to get some sleep after another late heavy night of drinkage...

This island is about a 20-30 minute boat ride from the edge of Nadi Town, and in its view is Treasure Island (where 'Celebrity Love Island' was apparently filmed). The island itself is very small, you can walk round the whole island in less than 10 minutes, and you can swim round it easily. I met a few guys and gals as soon as I got to the island, then proceeded to get burnt on the beach. Getting burned by the sun in Fiji seems to be something I'm good at.

I then took advantage of the free-to-hire snorkelling gear and swam around for a bit nosing at some fish in the shallow waters around one part of the island. I took this opportunity to use up the last few exposures of my underwater disposable camera I'd used to take snaps whilst diving the day before. Then a few other guys I'd met; Gary, Dave & Nina joined me and we swam really far out towards a beautiful coral reef, now I wish I'd kept some snaps free for this reef as it was again really gorgeous, we couldn't get down deep but we didn't need to, it was a really shallow reef and full of life. Once we'd done with that reef, we swam round the back of the island in search of more reef, and we were not disappointed! The reef on the right hand side of the island around to the front was stunning. There were fish swimming everywhere, all around us and it was fantastic. We all just kinda floated about a bit in awe. Then we saw a few catfish, bless em, munching on the sand at the bottom of the reef, must be tasty. We were out snorkelling for a couple of hours I think, and my skin on my feet and my hands turned very prune like, but I don't give a t**s because it was really stunning. I guess its also gonna help keep me slightly fitter than my usual stint at the gym every 2 months back home in Leicester!

I watched sunset properly for the first time in Fiji that evening, bang on 6pm and I sat round the back of the island by myself with a beer in my hand and camera in the other. Check out the sunset. It came around quickly and by 6.30pm it'd gone, but it was awesome and added to the great stuff I'd seen earlier that day underwater.

That evening consisted of dinner, and then we sat around a massive table in the bar and loads of us just got wrecked. I met so many more cool people, American guys who were just speeding round the table with a pack of cards dealing cards to us and making us drink loads, some English peeps and people I'd met earlier that day. Although I was tired and I hit the sack (well, a bunk bed in a 90 bed dorm!!!) early just before the bar closed...

A girl called Tabitha from my Feejee Experience group showed up the next day which was cool, I didn't think I'd see anyone again so soon and it was nice to see her, but I had to get the early boat at 11.30am back to mainland Fiji so I could get some stuff sorted. I wrote a bunch of postcards at the Skylodge hostel, used their outside showers and made my way down to the airport. Of course before I left I had to sit by the pool for a while longer and get burnt a bit more :O)

Goodbye Fiji! I love you!

THE Feejee Experience!

Good things were said about this tour round the island in 4 days and it really delivered. I met such a great bunch of people on the bus and the tour guy and the bus driver were such a laugh as well. On the first day we just played around in the waves on a nice beach and then had a BBQ / picnic kinda thing. This was followed by a visit to a village which was really cool. Just to see some of the buildings and structures that the townspeople make themselves and their way of living. Sandboarding down a tall sand dune followed, but the steep slope up to the top meant that I only had a few goes because I was too tired to climb it for more! That night we stayed at a hostel called the Crow's Nest and there was a bit of local entertainment in the form of some singing and dancing by the local Fijean's. Our group drank a lot then had some 'Cava' which is like a Fijean drink that is taken from the root of a cava plant. Its dried and ground into little bits before being made with water. Placing the cava into a bag and then dipping the bag into a bowl of water filters the cava in with the water to make the cava. Its drank out of a big wooden bowl traditionally, although in the hostel we just had it out of a silver washbowl thing. It kinda makes your tongue go numb and the taste really is one to be acquired, otherwise you hate it. The fact that it looks like dirty dishwater doesn't help either, but I found it helped me sleep and kept me relaxed!

The next day, day 2 of the Feejee Experience. We trekked into the hills of somewhere (god I'm rubbish with names!) The clay was a bit slippy but the colour of it was beautifully contrasted inbetween the green surroundings. The rainforest was awesome and we got really muddy and wet walking through deep streams, the little stones and sands in our boots didn't matter and we completed a 3 hour walk in just over 90 minutes. We got to a large river (think its the river Nauvua or something like that) and just rugby tackled each other in there for a bit whilst waiting for our boat which had our lunch on. After lunch we floated down the river on rubber rings (hot rubber rings I must add, they'd been in the sun for a while!) and then jumped around underneath a lovely clean waterfall! The two boats then took our group back down to our bus where we left it earlier that day. Although when we got to the boat it had been robbed! The lock was bust and we couldn't get in for ages, then once onboard we were all oblivious to the fact that someone had cheekily taken our $50 notes and left everything else in our wallets and bags. They didn't take any iPods or cameras! This held us up for hours whilst the police and our driver & tour guy dude Luke dealt with it all. They suspected that it was one of the guys that helped us get up to the start of our trek at the start of our trek, he'd left the bolts from the lock off the bus door on a seat inside the bus! He was however nowhere to be found, I was about $150-$200 down, everyone else had a similar amount stolen! Gutted... This didn't stop us having a lovely dinner & a great time at a family ran hostel in Suva, which is Fiji's largest city on the south-eastern part of the mainland. We then proceeded to all get absoutely wankered in a cheesey 'Irish' bar in the city centre. Who cared if it was Sunday night and the music was wank and the crowd was iffy to say the least?! It was a great night!

Day 3 and we took a trip to an orphange. It was sad to see all the kids and stuff and they get trreated fairly strictly but it wasn't really something I wanted to see. Usually the Feejee bus goes to a school but because of the Fiji Holiday & the weekend we went to this orphange. We all bought them some fruit or toiletries & stuff as presents, and some of the little kids went beserk and clung onto some of us (thankfully I didn't have one clinging on to my leg or pulling on my arm throughout the visit, I must repel kids like I do mosquitos!) After this we paid another visit to a village. This time we took a cava root as a present to the cheif of the village, who owns 3 villages and the river that runs by it, as we wanted to use his river to go rafting down! We nominated a spokesperson; Scouse boy Matt!, and a chief of our tour; some older Aussie guy who joined us earlier in the day with his wife. The cava ceremony was an official one and everyone sat in their t-shirts and sarongs (yes, the guys wore sarongs, we were all used to wearing one by now!) and the girls sat on one side and the guys sat on the other side in front of the chief and his spokesperson and the some of the occupants of the village... Well, aside from the lady who joined us earlier that day from a hotel/hostel with her husband sat on totally the wrong side of the room and refused all the cava on all the rounds, which everyone thought was really rude, and it was! Anyway we soon went rafting down the river which was cool.... Wet again, I was getting used to it! We dried off, took the bus to the north part of the island and boarded a couple of boats to go to 'Nanaru-I-Ra' island (I think its spelt like that!) but unfortunately we missed sunset! D'oh! It would have been so so pretty as well. Anyway, some of us played volleyball before we had dinner which was a lovely buffet, then some of us got wrecked and after the bar closed we had a beach fire thing with some other guys and gals who were on the island...

I woke up to the most amazing view from our dorm room... Diving soon followed... Like, diving down to 12metres for my first time for a time of 42 minutes! It was my first dive and I was really excited about it, but when I got into the water I started to panic as I couldn't breathe comfortably... Once I was down there despite a bit of water in my mask/goggles I kept taking deep breaths and the instructor held onto me and guided me round the coral reef called the 'Dreamcatcher'. The views and sights to be seen, oh my days it was so so so pretty. I took some photos but I have yet to have them developed, once I do I will definitely scan them or something and upload them. The coral life and the coral itself is fantastic and I don't care how scared you are of the water diving must be done! When I get to Australia I will deffo do my diving lessons! Saw a baby shark as well for a brief moment, that was scary but f**king cool! Once back on the boat after we had finished diving and I burnt my thighs where the wetsuit cut off! Now my legs are red but then again some of my back is burnt too so I'm just a red/tanned/patchy English mess! We got back to the mainland after saying goodbye to Dave, Kat & Thomas who stayed on the island for a few more days (I wish i had stayed but I had no time!) and had an Indian meal for dinner. I had a goat curry but it was more bone than goat, still, the rest of the meal filled me up and onwards back round to Nadi. We hit some mud pools and started throwing mud at each other which was pretty cool, before making ourselves semi-clean in the hotpools. Then back to Nadi and it was time to say goodbye to everyone and the big green bus! The end of the Feejee Experience! Nooooo!

We had such a laugh, we had a great group of people and we did some amazing things. I wish I had more time to write about it all but at the moment I'm shattered after a flight and I've spent AGES uploading my Fiji photos. Click the pics to view the new snaps I've uploaded, there really are some gorgeous pictures!

To anyone that is thinking about doing anything in Fiji or thinking about doing the Feejee Experience, I highly reccommend it and urge you to do it as soon as you can! Take your time thou, it says its a 4 day trip but you should allow 2-3 extra days to stay on the island on the 3rd night, its really really worthwhile!

Thanks (or 'Vinaka!') for reading... :O)

P.S. Anyone who I met on the Feejee Exp., I miss you all so so much! Hope you are all well!

10 Hours Later...

Bula!

The flight from L.A to Fiji went quite quickly actually, I watched that new animated film that features the voices of Ben Stiller & Chris Rock, y'know, the one about the animals in Central Park Zoo in New York, yeah that one, and a total American rip-off of our British films ('Mean Machine'), called 'The Longest Yard' starring Adam Sandler and again, Chris Rock amongst a few others whose names I can't remember.

At L.A. airport & on the plane I met a couple of girls who are in Fiji for a day longer than me before they go to New Zealand, they are travelling for around a year as well. I also met a guy called Chris who'd been to Costa Rica for a fortnight and he was on his way back to Brisbane, and a woman who was also from Brisbane who was sat on the same row as me in the plane, she was telling me about where to go in Oz and also what Sydney is like etc...

Fiji itself is absoutely amazing, its so hot, sunny, the people are so nice and the place is beautiful. I'm in the busiest town and I can say its probably just twice the size of Braunstone Gate, its just a long main road with shops on mainly one side. The hostel where I am staying is wicked too, theres a pool, sunbeds, the rooms are fine and its cheap too, plus its not overcrowded. There are a few couples here so I've not met anyone new yet, hoping that I'll have some roommates soon though as I'm in a 4 bed dorm by myself at the moment.

I'll stay here in the Nomad Skylodge hostel in Nadi, Fiji for 2 nights, then I'm going on the Fiji Experience tour on Saturday, it looks like an amazing 4 - 5 days, I won't say whats included on the tour and stuff but I'll take lots of pictures and post back here when I'm finished with it. I wish I were staying here longer, but the tour pass I have lasts for a year so maybe I'll have time (and money) to come back here at a later date.

Right , I'm off, it seems wrong that its about 30 degrees celcius here in the blistering sun and I'm sat in the shade at a computer!!!

No Sense, None Whatsoever!!!

I purchased a memory card reader in a digital-computer-camera-kinda-shop-thingy for just under ninety-dollars... Ninety dollars? I got fleeced, but I thought this was worth it considering I needed to get my pictures uploaded.

Ho Hum...

Took a walk across Times Square to another shop, similar kind of cheaply-branded card reader, when I asked how much it was he would sell it for $40....

Right...

So now I have two card readers for no apparent reason other than the fact that I am tired and my brain is still not functioning yet. No more stupid purchases please steve. I did get a couple of slices of pizza though and walked around scoffing my face which was quite satisfying. Now I'm in the net cafe uploading everything.

In my shared dorm there appears to be a few of the guys that I guess I'm sharing with, that are all asleep... Its only just gone 9pm for fucks sakes!!??! Lightweights.. There are a few British people wandering around here too, but they are in groups and I'm yet to feel brave enough to break any ice.

Bemuddled By Technology

I took my lead from home to connect the stand for my digital camera to a USB port, but alas, have left the stand at home. I can charge the camera, but I haven't got any way of putting the pictures onto this computer, gonna trek into town and look for some sort of cable, otherwise, I am royally fucked and will have no real proof that I'm actually in New York, you will probably then just think that I've fucked off to Skegness or something.... Or maybe Chiswick...

Good thing the shops don't close until about 9pm round here!

Steve & Olivia's Leaving Party Pics...

I just wrote a big post about this party and the pictures being online now, but the f**king computer lost it all. So f**k it. The pics are here and my favourite picture is number 55 heh heh..

Enjoy peeps.

Central Park

God, I've walked around so much in Central Park today I've given in and come to rest my arse on a hard wooden chair in a crap internet cafe. I've seen some nice women however, the sun certainly brings them out like it does in England!

Purchased a subway metrocard thing today, saved my bacon plenty of times, can't believe I didn't buy one as soon as I got here, the subway is pretty ok once you get used to it, its not as busy as the London underground and (the geezer in charge of the London Underground should really take note of this...) the trains are air-conditioned!!!

I've had enough of typing, my brain won't function properly either. I've gotta check-in to a hostel later on, when I find another internet cafe I will put up some good photos and also maybe write something interesting in this blogger thing.

In a bit yo.

x

New York New York

I'm here, and I can't quite get my head round it yet, I've done quite a lot already and yes, I am still scared like I was before I left Leicester. I suppose I should try to make it more interesting, but I have sod all time left on this public computer and I haven't got my lead to connect my camera at the moment, but the main thing is that I'm alive and still in one-piece (although sometimes I think I may have left my brain back on Bosworth Street...)God, 60 seconds left on this pc.. Ok Steve, shut-up!! Pictures and more of me talking rubbish to follow very soon!

Cya peeps!

Love you lots!

xxx

I Can't Believe...

...I'm in a nice hotel in Manhattan, down in the centre of New York. I want all my friends to be here. The taxi was so expensive at $90 to get me from the airport to Manhattan, but it was very very busy. The room is $169 (about a ton to you my son) but I'm all set up in a nice place until 11am tomorrow morning. The city is huge and Manhattan looks awesome. Got Friends on the TV and my warm sandwiches from Boots back at Heathrow airport to keep me fed.

Gonna shower, and go wander the streets, maybe go to a bar or two.

Wish me luck.