18th August

Went back to the pool today to sunbathe, it was absolutely boiling again, not as hot as yesterday but still blistering...went back to the hostel at about 6 and headed down towards Little Italy. We decided to Walk down 3rd Ave/Bowery to try and find Patricia Fields shop but couldnt find it. There are some really nice bars and restaurants round there though (if only we had more time and money!)...found anice little restaraunt that seemed really busy but the food was a bit disappointing. i had a calzone and it was just full of cheese and not much ham and no tomato! It was a really really hot night as well, and just as we finished eating a thunderstorm started! We were about 2 blocks from our subway station so took refuge in another bar and had a glass of wine and waited it out.

19th August

We went to Jersey Gardens today which is another outlet centre where you can do tax free shopping! It had different stores to Woodbury Common, more high street stuff like Abercrombie and Fitch and Old Navy! I bought a couple of things and got some stuff for Mum. gem managed to get some of her favourite brand jeans with about 100 pounds off so that was good! We went for tea at Chilis inside the centre and had frozen strawberry margaritas. We went to the bus stop for the 7:15 bus but the queue was so big that we couldnt fit on and had to wait for the 8pm bus and so we werent back at the hotel until after 9...so just read in bed for a while and then went to sleep!

20th August

We did a TV and Movie tour today across the city! We thought it was on an open topped bus but it was an air conditioned coach which was better really as it was a sorching day! All the guides are actors so very enthusiastic and they sing a lot which was quite embarassing but Jesse (who we had) was really good! They showed us locations from Hitch, Spiderman, I Am Legend, Godfather and loads more, and there was a DVD player on board show he showed us actual clips from the movies so we could see what they locations looked like in the films. We also saw where Janet Jackson, Bruce Willis, Renee Zelwegger, Julia Roberts and David Schwimmer live. We got out at a few places as well including The "Cosby Show" house, the "Friends" Building and the "Ghostbusters" head quarters, and they took us for lunch at Ben's Pizza where they have filmed "Sex and the City" and "Men in Black II"...all in all it was a really good tour, and was only $36 for 3.5 hours so pretty good value. They dropped us off on Madison Avenue so we walked up to Central park and had a look round as we have only sunbathed there so far. We went to Strawberry Fields where there is a memorial to John Lennon, but people had put teddies all over it and I think that made it look a bit tacky! Then we went to Bethesda fountain and onto the conservatory where there is a statue of Hans Christian Anderson and also Alice in Wonderland!We didn't have time to do it all as Gem wanted to buy an Ipod and we were meeting our friend for dinner. While Gem was getting her Ipod i went online to have a look at the weather for the next few days, should be good tomorrow and then thunderstorms sat sun...but hopefully it will be in the evening and we can sunbathe during the day. Also looked at the weather at home which is rain Monday and Tuesday!! GREAT!! We also went into Abercrombie and Fitch as Gemma wanted a jumper, but it was so busy we gave up! There was 1 till open per floor and most of the shop assistants were just standing around...most of the staff are models (which is how you get the job) and to be honest they should spend less time sat around looking beautiful and more time helping customers! We finally got back to the hotel at about 6 and got ready and then met Emily (who is a girl we originally met in Fiji!) and went for dinner at Metro. It was absolutely gorgeous, i had chicken, mash and brocoli and Gemma had stirfry and both were so nice! Emily wasnt feeling too well so she went home and me and Gem headed into Soho to go to some bars and this club our friend Tom had recommended. We went into the first bar and got chatting to this guy, and as he left he gave the barman $40 and said just keep filling their glasses, which was nice. We stayed therefor a bit and the went to a bar called O'Neals which is featured in Sex and the City, but it wasn't very good, and then we couldn't find the club and Tom's friend who is a Dj was working on the west side so we didn't really have much option but to go home to bed!

21st August!

Went to the pool again today as it was nice however, it closes at 3 for an hour, so we went and had some food and by the time we got back the sky was black and it looked like it was going to throw it down so we wandered home and as we did it started to throw it down! Weather is supposed to get worse tomorrow as well so not sure what we will do if it does. We have booked a shuttle taxi to take us to JFK as we don't want to be late and they will know what time to pick us up to avoid traffic etc.

Well i cant believe it is actually all over! It seems 5 minutes ago that i was saying to Gemma "in 3 months we'll be travelling" and that was a year ago now!!! It has been absolutely amazing...and we have met some great people who i really hope we will see again. It seems strange to think we wont. Realdont know how i feel about coming home. I cant wait to see everyone again, and have some home comforts but i think we will have some serious holiday blues when the novelty wears off!!!