I'm sat in a Comfort Inn in Washington as I write this, it's our first day of 'relaxation' after whats felt like a week of non-stop walking and travelling in New York.

So lets start from the beginning...

The flight from Heathrow was a dream. Thankfully I haven't adopted the discomfort of flying my parents suffer and hence enjoyed the 6 and a half hours we spent above the Atlantic watching various city guides, Ninja Assassin and eating the 'glorious' on board food. We were served with a main course of chicken in a mushroom sauce with potato wedges, green beans, a side salad pot and bread roll and believe me it went down a treat!

Strangely nerves weren't kicking in as I thought I'd be absolutely bricking it. We arrived on time and made our way into the JFK arrivals lobby. Immidiately we were almost conned into taking a cab which wasn't from the taxi rank. Luckily we weren't tired enough to just accept the 95$ fare though and got to our hostel for half the price.

Initial impression of the hostel was pretty much as I expected. It was cheap and small and based in a sketchy part of Harlem east of Central Park. At the end of the day we knew wha we were expecting and were thankful for a place to rest our heads.

The first night was sleepless though. I unluckily drew the short straw bed wise and got sandwiched between a bloke who snored for a living and the air conditioning unit. It was safe to say my first investment would need to be a pair of ear plugs!

But anyway, I was far too excited to let that affect me and the boys and I set off to explore NYC early the next morning. We walked across to Central Park using the tour guide as our map. After standing there open mouthed at the sheer size of the park we started to make our way through snapping every picturesque setting as we went. I can't describe how incredible the place is, it's a haven in the midst of a concrete jungle and has so many hidden areas to be explored.

We continued to make our way down and eventually found ourselves outside the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). After paying a quater of the suggested admission we started to examine the amazing Egyptian history which had incrediby found its way to New York. The museum was fascinating and included sections on American history as well as te Roman and Greek eras.

After a couple of hours in the museum we wanted to get back out in the sun (30 degree weather certainly is great :-)) and walk towards Times Square. We walked, and walked, and walked oh and walked some more. At the end of the day I'd have to say we covered 10 miles plus. Our stomachs got the better of us and the boys got our first stereotypical food of NYC the good ol' frank with mustard and ketchup. We eventually found our ways to the Rockefeller building where after neck straining efforts we decided to hit the heights and sample the views.

'Top of the rock' was superb. It gave you a brief background into what the Rockefeller Centre was built for and what it symbolised for America and then you were left to enter the lift to the top. Views were out of this world - you could see all the way back across Central Park one way and views of downtown Manhattan the other. As you can see from Facebook, the camera was primed and ready!

Thankfully the second nights sleep was alot better thanks to Wildy's loaned ear plugs. We got up fairly early once more and decided to save our feet the pain of another hike and took the tube down to Brooklyn Bridge. We walked across to sample the stunning views before heading through the Financial District to the Stattan Island Ferry so we could see the iconic Statue of Liberty.

Once we'd seen the statue we continued by foot on to ground zero. The site is more of a construction site than a rememberance place now with the Freedom Tower well under way. There were still tributes though with the most moving being the NY fire departments mural and copper plaque as tribute to their service. We then headed onto Chinatown to sample the 'local' cuisine which was really nice.

Our next day was slightly more chilled out but still involved a hike and a half (all worth it when you consider the scenery, weather and cost saving). We headed down to the middle of Central Park to see the American Natural History Museum. It was huge... literally 5 floors+ filled with exhibits on all types of culture, animals and earth and spaces wonders. We literally got lost in there by the end of our 3 hour stay!

We the headed 'home' for an evening of chatting to the other travellers in the hostels common room and playing pool. That's one of the great things about staying in a place like we did... everyone was in the same boat and had time on the evenings to share stories with one another.

Our last full day was spent at the Bronx Zoo which thankfully offered donation admissions for Wednesdays. The zoo itself was HUGE, spanning something like 300 acres. The whole place was set in a woodland area with various enclosures spread throughout. Although it was beautiful, after all the walking we'd been doing it did take a lot to find our way around. I'm really glad we did though as the variety of animals was great. My personal favourite would have to be the reptile enclosure which included some incredible snakes and massive turtles.

Well the next day was our departure and we hit the greyhound bus station for our departure to Washington DC. The journey was nice and after a long trip out of the centre we found the delightful hotel/motel thing I'm in now. Today we've just spent the day chilling out and exploring the local area with plans to spend a full day tomorrow seeing the capitals sights.

After that we're due to go to Miami where we're spending 6 nights in the South Beach Hostel - I'll be sure to try and write another blog sometime soon and let you know how the beach life treats us ;D