I arrived in New York somewhat frazzled as I made the mistake of drinking a few beers before, and some wine during my flight from Salt Lake City. It seemed rude not to take advantage of free alcohol. So just as I started to enjoy a rich deep sleep, the lights came on, the shutters came up and we landed at JFK at 6am. I hopped on the subway from JFK and after changing at 42nd Street and an initial muddle of where to go I arrived at my hostel on 103rd Street on th...

After all the delays leaving Las Vegas I finally arrived in Salt Lake City the following morning where I was picked up at the airport by my friend Ben who I was visiting for the week. The first thing that struck me about Salt Lake City driving from the airport was how spread out and flat everywhere looks, obviously because it's all salt flats out there. After arriving back at Ben's and meeting his wife Liz and their little boy Atticus we all went out for a meal w...

Hmmm.... Cant recall exactly what I did in my last 4 days in San Francisco as it's getting on for nearly 2 weeks ago and i've done so much since! I visited Haight Ashbury for a third time along with Angelo from Alaska who was staying in the hostel while he's in the process of setting up his wholesale fish business and Laura from England who like me is just backpacking. Haight Ashbury is a nice retreat from the city so I didnt mind heading up there for a thi...

I arrived in San Francisco after a 3 or 4 hour journey from Yosemite. The weather was typically sunny for the journey down and the sun was still out in force when I arrived in the city. The coach driver for the last part of the journey was one of those tiresome know it all types and loved the sound of his own voice so I was glad to get off the coach and start walking! I found my hostel quite easily as it was situated near Union Square in the heart of the downt...

After a pretty uneventful couple of days in Sacramento I took the train to Yosemite. I was up early doors, 5am in fact, the train left at 6.30am, far too early! I had a 2 hour journey up to Merced in the central Californian valley and along the way passed through a number of small country towns, Lodi, Stockton and Modesto. Along the way I spotted lots of farmhouses with old trucks rusting in the yards and endless crop fields, all of them with the morning mist sti...