Remember when I first began and said that we weren't sure that we would have a big enough budget. Well in the end we managed. And we did everything we wanted to do. Up to new york our accommodation was perfect. But since 3,5 months of travelling and shopping is kind of expensive we had to compromise. We found this new website where you can rent a room in someone's house. Basically a lot like couch surfing only now you pay for it. We stayed in Brooklyn with a friendly enough guy called kwesi. The neighbourhood is best describes as little Africa. There was not that much to do, it was hot as hell, there were no white folks on the streets and there were a lot of African shops. Even our taxi driver didn't like to drop us off and told us we should look better next time before booking. The room was tiny but suited our needs. It reminded us a lot of the extreme heat in the car while driving in the desert. It was almost as hot since the airco in our room didn't work. We stayed there for a week. Ate at Wendy's most of the time since it was so close. Then we travelled an hour and a half to get to Manhattan. The birthplace of cheap pizza and hot dogs. It is a bit smelly but overall worth to see. We did all the highlights. But after a week and a half in the big apple we didn't really feel connected. To our liking it was too big. Except of course for the 2 nights we stayed right on times square. I would seriously recommend spending a little extra to stay in Manhattan. It is totally worth it!

When we got to Washington it was like going on holiday inside a holiday. We stayed in Takoma park, again with the website Wimdu. This place rocked, it was in a quiet neighbourhood with beautiful houses. You could see a lot of squirrels and deers walking about. We had the whole lower floor of the house to ourselves. In the end we liked it so much we stayed for 5 days. In those 5 days we ate donuts every morning because we felt full till about the late afternoon. And when we were hungry we went to the mac Donald's. They had a monopoly game where you could win a million dollars if you had the right sticker. We only won a few free food coupons and ate around 12 big macs and large fries for winning them. The city was a blast. We've been to the white house, Lincoln memorial, George Washington memorial, the us capitol. Basically everything that there is to see in Washington. The zoo was for free as well and it was a big one too. The reason everything is for free is because all the museums are funded by the Smithsonian institution. They had some really nice exhibitions and it took a few days to see all of them. I've learned a lot about American history and their point of view. It was funny to see that there is more information about the attack on pearl harbour then there is of the nuclear bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They only had one line in the war exhibit where they said they bombed Japan into submission. Gotta love America.

Last 2 nights we stayed in a shady area of Brooklyn. Just waiting to go home. Travelling is a wearisome business. It is rewarding and exhausting. But I will have a recap once we're home.