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Hi beautiful people!
Well here we are from not-so-sunny Orlando! (We know you have lots of sun and we don't want to hear about it please).
Wow, so where to start?! After a tearful departure from Heathrow Airport on Wednesday 11th July, we had a smooth 7 hour flight to the USA and made a drunken American friend who sat with us on the plane - 22 year old Caitlin from Carolina.
Upon arrival, we were struck by overwhelming heat and a confusing travel system. After various advice, we travelled back and forth (3 times to be exact) until we were finally heading in the right direction towards Harlem, New York City. Despite the apparent reputation and 'ghetto' atmosphere, we were welcomed with various conversations, help with our bags and were even offered to be escorted to our apartment by a local cop!
Arriving on the block (picture Jenny from the block or Christina Aguilera 'Can't hold 'em down' music videos), and dripping in sweat, we made our way to our apartment (we rented the room off a site called AirBnB) to meet our hosts for the week; Nick and Petrushka - a lovely couple we met with a baby on the way. Their apartment was quirky and pleasant although extremely hot and we are surprised we got any sleep at night! (Laureen: "I didn't!") We were met with a single bed and a blow up 'duplicate' on the floor, which didn't last one hour before we hit the ground! This was soon replaced with just a duvet on the laminate floor - an improved substitute we found. Our one cooling fan was a good friend, but it needed a Harlem crew to keep the room cold.
Here's a little bit about what we did each day:
DAY #1: After settling, we wandered the streets of Harlem and as you can imagine, we didn't blend in! Everyone had this innate ability to pick out that we were English tourists - our rucksacks being a big clue. We ignored this though and resorted to naming them; Laureen's is Jimmy and Sarah's is Wesley. We settled on a Domino's take-away and crashed in bed around 10pm to heal our jet-lag.
DAY #2: Hmmm, our embarrassing navigation skills are about to be revealed. We managed to reach Manhattan via the bus, however the driver told us to 'just get on' when we started questioning him about tickets. Our next aim was the Empire State Building. After the first two hours of searching, we decided we needed a hard earned break and stopped for a spot of lunch. Another two hours later, we spotted a beautiful tall building. "Follow it!" we shouted and after 7 blocks or so we headed into the air-conditioned building. Laureen had her camera out relieved that we had finally made it and was asking how we get up to the top. Sarah: "Err Laureen, I don't think we're in the Empire State Building" she points. Well the Chrysler building is apparently a tourist attraction too!! So we got away with it, apart from our pathetic attempts of hidden laughter surrounded by business men. We eventually made it to the Empire State Building around an hour later for an early evening view of the city. We bought a queue-jump ticket and we walked up smiling as we walked past NOBODY. Our bad. It was still cheaper though! Reaching the 84th floor, we stepped outside (Sarah slightly hesitantly) and glared at the beautiful site before us. Every angle was astonishing and was such a great start to our trip. We have both been up before but it was different now that we are older and can appreciate what we were looking at. Laureen decided she wanted a birds-eye view and stuck her arm outside the barrier with her camera to take pictures of the ground!!! Sarah had to walk away as she couldn't handle her nerves at the thought of the camera dropping. A lovely French man offered to take our photo with his panoramic camera and our memory card for us. It was so sweet and we were really excited about the outcome. We checked after he left and all we saw was a lot of leg and a lot of sky! Not a professional we assume. Afterwards, we walked into Times Square to look at the city lights! We were stopped on route by street dancers who were doing all sorts of tricks. They pulled us nearer to encourage a bigger crowd and Laureen was grabbed and taken into the centre with other members of the audience. After obtaining donations from the public, they resorted to peer pressure to get Laureen and the others to donate $20 each to their bucket. She postponed for a while (all attention on her) and couldn't find her purse! They moved her to the back of the queue where they were planning to jump over the human line. The suspense grew, the participants legs were spread and the show ended with the lead man crawling underneath them instead of jumping over them! It was a let down but very funny to watch Laureen involved with it all. We ended our day by picking up our Amtrak tickets late in the evening and getting a famous 'Nathan's hot dog'. We took the subway home and attempted to sleep.
Day #3: We woke up early and walked from our apartment down to the upstate side of Central Park, where the public swimming pool sits. We sunbathed and dipped and it was a nice break from this new found thing we were doing called 'walking'?! We washed in the afternoon and headed out in nicer clothes to the bus stop which took us to the river for a ferry ride along the New York skyline and around the Statue of Liberty, or 'Libby' as we nicknamed our friend who seemed to pop up everywhere! Whilst we were waiting for a ferry to arrive, we met three southern guys who were on their 'vacation'. We spent the evening with them on the ferry and we got our first pints bought for us. Not bad for day 3 of being 20 in America! During the trip, we saw many famous monuments including the new World Trade Center buildings and on a personal favourite note; the apartments belonging to Jim Carrey, Leonardo Dicaprio and Jennifer Aniston! Really cool. After the trip we went for a dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. Laureen's name went up on the board whilst we waited half an hour for our table. Sarah ate steak (she ordered it medium and it was bleeding, no joke) and mash whilst Laureen had a good old NYC burger and fries. Our beer earlier must have given us a little false confidence as we then tried to order another one each. It's in Times Square... of course we didn't get served. We didn't mind though; it had been a lovely day! We then bumped into our new friends again on the way out as they were in coming in to eat... what are the chances?!
Day #4: Now we had a plan for this day, and it was cute. We were going to book a west-end show and then have a picnic in Central Park. Instead, we ended up rolling home at 5am on Sunday morning very drunk! We'll explain. Walking down Times Square, we were stopped by a man who was trying to sell us a Salon experience with 90% off but it still cost $70 dollars. This doesn't fall into our 'Traveller's' look or budget unfortunately, however we got talking to the guy and were invited to lunch time drinks at an Irish pub 'around the corner' - yeah right. In the heat which was still unbearable, this seemed like an appealing idea and so after a long time chatting, we finally agreed to live in the moment. Before we left, we were distracted by several aggressive men preaching in the road, wearing what can only be described as warrior fancy dress and we were appalled at what we heard. A lot of it went over our heads in the short space of time, but the jist of it was that Black American's are not African-American's and that they are cared for more than any other race by the Lord. They said the bible shunned homosexuality and the only explanation for it was molestation as a child and they displayed graphic photographs of abortions (in font of wandering children) to emphasise how wrong they think it is. They described Muslims as projecting fake ideals and dismissed Christian beliefs. They were challenged by many members of the public and often ignored them, not being able to answer their questions or criticism. One brave black American stood up to them shouting that they need peace & prayer and that they were embarrassing themselves; it was incredibly moving to watch. Anyway, we were getting too frustrated listening to them so we decided to go with this 'peace' idea; ALCOHOL, whay! The salesman brought two of his colleagues and we headed to the bar. After a couple of beers, some chicken wings and a game of pool (which Laureen and Joe won because Sarah put the white when they were down to just the black - boo), we headed onto a Russian Vodka bar. There was a pianist and a candle-lit atmosphere. In our shorts, high-tops, rucksacks and vests/tees, we felt under-dressed to say the least! None the less, alcohol soon numbed these worries. A bottle of diluted cranberry vodka was bought for our table and in the Croatian tradition (one of guys was from Croatia), we did various rounds of shots, taking it in turn to toast each time. You must always look in each other's eyes when you clink your glasses. The boys kept putting on Texan accents and we were soon nicknamed Bowana (Sarah) and Jowana (Laureen) for the evening. They also had an unstoppable tendency to high-five so we resorted to keeping a talley in our colouring books throughout the night to count how many times this happened! They bought us dinner (a small buffet of sausages, potatoes, peppers and bread) which sounds average but was actually amazing to us food lovers! We were joined by one of their friends Sheila and Johnny's fiancée as we carried on drinking. We ended up in a club after Joe talked them in to letting us in and the shots continued... With the heat, alcohol and loud music, Sarah had a headache and Micha went to get her aspirin. Joe asked 'how hard do you girls like to party?' as Sarah took the tablet and Laureen put two and two together and got mad at her telling her not to take pills from strangers! Sarah then panicked and made herself sick in the ladies! Woopsie. They were legit painkillers though and all was fine! We ended up in Times Square at 4am in McDonald's (pretty much your standard Bucks night at the services) and sat around soaking up NYC for a while. Oh wait, we've just gone into Day #5 we realise. Hang on...
Day #5: We crawl home and pass out. We awake in the afternoon and mope around feeling sorry for ourselves for a while. When we finally get up, we shower, put on our faces and head out to 'Big Daddy's' diner. Mmm. Laureen had a sandwich and fries and Sarah had pigs in blankets (which we didn't realise are actually sausage rolls in America) and potato tots. It was a really fun atmosphere, even if our stomach's still were a little uneasy. We then decided to walk the length of central park into Times Square (around 5km in total) to get to the Comedy Store which we had tickets for. Now, they say American weather is extreme, but MY GOD did it rain!! It was still extremely hot and started slow, but it suddenly thundered down and Sarah shouted 'What's happening?!' as we ran in hysterics to the nearest shelter. We were wearing next to nothing with our hair straightened and full make-up and the end result was stunning. We finally made it to the show hoping for the trip to be worthwhile, but we were a little disappointed unfortunately. We went up in the lift and accidentally got off at level 2; 'Times Scare' and were presented with dark rooms and bloody walls - we were genuinely terrified, thought our tickets were fakes and we were about to get kidnapped! ...for a split second, or maybe two. After being corrected and redirected, we carried on up to a small theatre room that was only a third filled and watched the show. Perhaps we're not used to American humour, but it just wasn't that funny! All in all though, another good day!
Day #6: We headed uptown to the Bronx Zoo. The weather was sweltering again and we could barely bring ourselves to walk down the streets. This somehow had an impact on the speed we were walking and we ended up at the zoo at just after 4pm!! This meant free entry which was great, but we only got to see the birds, one monkey and two seals. The park was huge!! Woopsie again but the evening made up for it. We got ice-creams and headed to the Yankees Stadium to watch a baseball game! We didn't really understand it at first but soon concluded it to be a good old game of rounder's. We bought some traditional 'game grub' but Sarah spilt all her chicken on the floor. She still picked it up and ate it though - of course! We took the subway home and passed out again.
Day #7: Our last day in NYC. We attempted to walk through Central Park again into the city but the heat got the best of us again. We rode the bus into the centre and took the subway to the World Trade Center where we picked up our pre-booked visitors tickets to the Ground Zero memorial. After going through security and despite the heat, we were overwhelmed by how beautiful the huge water fountains were as they sat where the twin towers used to stand. We took a look at the tree that survived through it all but the museum was not yet complete for visitors unfortunately, but we did get a look at videos, books and a remembrance motorbike across the street. We then headed back to Times Square for our West End Show; Mary Poppins (with 40% off!!). We ate at Applebee's beforehand and then went to find our seats. The production was stunning and the songs and dances were entrancing! If we had to sum it up, we would say it was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Either that or swell. Then we headed back for our last night in our 100 degree room.
Day #8: Onto Philadelphia! We got the train from Penn Station at lunchtime and we met Cass (Sarah's family friend - her dad went travelling with him around Europe when they were in their 20's!) He picked us up and took us to see the Philly sites in his air-conditioned car before heading over the bridge into New Jersey. We stopped at an American drive-through, where you pull up to the counter and the waitresses come out to your car to take your order. Your food then gets placed on a tray that attaches to your window - so cool! We got drinks and then carried onto the mall. We had a little look around but needed to rest so Cass took us back to his home where we were greeted by Sue (his wife) and their lovely kids Ben and Sammy. They presented us with a gorgeous cold room with a bathroom and everything we needed. We then had home cooked burgers and hot dogs with fries and we were in heaven! It wasn't so humid there, so it had cooled a little by the evening and we all sat out on the decking with beers. Cass had quite the collection and Laureen tried her first shandy whilst Sarah stuck to her trusty Stella's! Many stories were shared and it was a lovely evening.
Day #9: We got up at god knows what hour and Cass dropped us to the Atco station to take a day trip to Atlantic City! Right, this was the first day to embrace the heat on the beach, and it only goes and rains almost ALL DAY. We stopped for a bite to eat in a diner along the seaside. It was so cool and traditional with old music and juke boxes on our tables. The waiter's did a dance and it kept us amused and distracted from the weather. Laureen ate a Philly Cheese Steak and Sarah had a Route 69 Burger - both with fries. We wandered around the Casino's, the sea-side markets and the peer fair attractions before the sun finally came out and we got ice-creams and headed to the beach! Sarah had a little dip. We headed back for a spaghetti bolognaise dinner and played cards before bed - beautiful!
Day #10: Another early morning and Cass dropped us to the station again. It was goodbye's all round as we made our way to Washington DC. After a smooth journey and a new metro system to work out, we made our way to the hotel and find ourselves with a massive bed! We spent half the day wandering around trying to find a library for a computer in the rain and four hours later we returned to find a computer in the lobby staring at us!! We even asked the receptionist before we left if she knew any internet cafes and she wasn't sure!! - Maybe she didn't like us... We settled down for the evening and skyped Sarah's parents which was funny all round. We then put on 21 Jump Street and curled up like 10 year olds at a sleepover.
Day #11: We made an early start for the hotel breakfast. We headed downstairs to find a box of doughnuts and a couple of cereals but no bowls - traveller's budget hotel we guess. We then headed out to Union Station to catch our tour bus for the day. On the subway, Sarah got on the train, but not fully. The doors shut and Sarah's rucksack was caught on the outside! In sheer panic, she repeated "no no no no!" whilst Laureen used her muscley arms to try and force the doors back open before the train started moving. A local stared at us, not flinching, and said 'It will open' casually. It did. We then had to face the full carriage whilst us Brits stood up laughing at the ground, trying to be quiet. When we got on the tour bus successfully, we visited various sights including memorials, attractions and our personal favourite; the White House. We were tempted to knock knock ginger Mr. Obama. The grounds were cornered off however by lots of Police and tape so we're not quite sure what was going on... We then went to the American history museum to take a look at many interesting things including original movie scripts and records! When we came back, we popped out to get some take-away dinner and curled up once again for a comedy on the big screen as we dozed off. We got drunken tweets from our friends at Winkers and realised how un-wild we were as 20 year olds!
Day #12: Sarah got up early to head down to the local church two blocks away. The bells were ringing at 11 and Sarah made a friend called 'Brick' who she sat with for the service. It was a United Methodist church and they had a beautiful choir who performed songs and the sermon was truly inspiring. It ended on the note; 'We love God and we love each other. If we keep that up, then that my friends is how we change the world'. The end song was 'I've got a feeling that everything is going to be alright' led by the choir whilst the congregation joined in and clapped - it felt like Gospel music! Afterwards, we checked out of our room and went out for lunch. Laureen had a cooked breakfast and Sarah had a pizza. We killed time sitting in the sun (that was back out) and sipped cool water before we headed back to the hotel. We tried to upload our photos but the computer was too slow unfortunately so this is why you can only see 8 at the moment!! We will try and put up the rest next week if you are interested in seeing them. We then headed to the station to catch our 17 and a half hour journey to Florida!! When we boarded the train, Laureen swung round to check the station names and whilst doing so she happened to head-but the officer's arse, reacting with an 'Oh!' gracefully before throwing her head into her lap. Sarah found the highly amusing and had tears as she couldn't stop laughing. The trains were lovely and spacious and we put our feet up, our backs back and slept for the majority of the trip which brings us to day #13.
Day #13: Today. We arrived in Orlando around 1pm and took a taxi to our hotel. We were excited about the pool until the thundering rain started! So we're stuck inside again whilst you lot are loving life back home. We did make it to the supermarket for a weekly shop and have lots of attractions to look forward to this week as the weather clears!
Anyway, well done if you have made it through all of this!!! And we will update you on more soon. Missing you all and hope you are well. Please message us to let us know how you are getting on.
Lots of love, hugs and kisses.
Sarah & Laureen oxoxoxo
- comments
Charlie Jones Guys this all sounds so fun...and funny! The food sounds incredible too. Ah I'm so jealous, it may be sunny here , but I'm on the train to work , so it may as well be raining ( Gemma is in for work experience today/ tomorrow which is fun though). My favourite part was when you got out at the wrong floor and thought ou were going to die. Brilliant. I love and miss you both , keep safe , lots of love Charles xxx
Holly Neale You two are not typical tourists. Sounds like you are having such a good time! Agreed, the food sounds ridiculous - really healthy guys! I cannot believe you only saw a total of 3 animals at the zoo! This whole thing had me laughing a lot! I'm glad you are making the most of your time and having fun! Carry on enjoying! Lots of love! Miss youuuuu both! Holls
Gemma Bourne hahah so funny that you thought the chrysler was the empire state building ! Super jealous of Applebees yummy ! Sounds so great specially the food elements, hope you have a sunny week in Orlando ! havin two days at charlies work rather than slaving away in the kitchen at T Park missing you two ! lots of love gemma xxxxxx
Jane Lewis Rhianna Lewis Sounds like you are having a great time, made us laugh with all your antics. Hope the weather is good to you in Orlando (Rhianna had an amazing time there this year, I'm sure you will too). Keep up with all your news, we shall be reading it with interest. Have fun xxx
gemma my phone background is a photo of me with you two atm and my friend at work asked if i had a sister ( as he had seen this photo) and i assued he had taken laureen as my sister because of the dark hair, but he thought sar was my sister ! so weird. this is super random/irrelevant but i felt like i had to tell ya haha miss youuu xxxx