We wanted to see some of the "out of the way" parts of North Eastern USA so we turned to the trusty mode of transport known as the automobile and took a week to drive ourselves around the region, focussing on the state of Maine.

It started out on a high note when collecting our vehicle in Boston we were offered a free upgrade from our small, cheap car to a Mustang, so we set out north, in style, towards the coastal city of Portland, Maine. The state of Maine is quiet by US standards, with Portland being its largest city, it still had a small town feel to it. We paid a visit to the Shipyard brewery and had the pleasure of trying around 10 different beers. We stayed with another couch surfing host, Rachael and her two housemates who were a great, fun group to get to know and as usual, surprisingly friendly and welcoming to the two strangers who showed up at their door expecting a bed. Rachael even took the time to show us a few of her favourite spots in the city after she finished work.

From Portland we went further north to Bangor, primarily as a base to do some hiking around some national parks within driving distance. Our couch surfing host there, Andre, was by our reckoning, the nicest person we have ever met, a top guy who treated us more like guests of honour than mere couch surfers. He is 24 with three jobs which he fits around his task of doing up an old house to make a small bed and breakfast. He figured, while it was incomplete he may as well let surfers stay there and he can get started on practising for the real thing. When we arrived he wasn't home, the door was unlocked, the lights were on and we found a very sparsely furnished, half complete house with no working kitchen or kitchenware, curtains or even door handles. At first we thought we were stepping into the beginnings of a horror movie but as soon as we met Andre all of that changed. He actually insisted on buying cookware and hooked up the stove that night and while we were there he connected the internet so that we had wifi.

During our stay in Bangor we spent our days either in Acadia National Park hiking around, or Baxter State Park, also hiking around. Acadia is a popular holiday area for people all around the country (including President Obama last year), located on an island accessible by bridge, there's lots of different areas to explore. Our pick of the walks though was in Baxter State Park, climbing to Baxter Peak, which had us scrambling up dry creek beds and rocky mountain ridges, it was spectacular, exciting and challenging. The hiking had a community feeling to it, as though everyone there was in it together and by the end we felt like we had met everyone on the mountain.

On our way back down to Portland we stopped in at the White Mountains to climb one of the many peaks in the area. Jansen received a nice little battle scar on this walk, getting stung by some wasp-like creature, but it all went off without a hitch really. After five days in a row of serious hiking, we returned the car to Boston the next morning, completely exhausted, and caught a bus onwards to the Big Apple, New York.