To begin with a short rant. As we were coming into LA on the train the driver said "It's a bit of a grey day out there today but it's supposed to clear in the afternoon". The Los Anglean sitting next to me said "Yeah don't worry it always becomes fine in the afternoon". I did wonder to myself what sort of weird weather pattern means the sun only shines in the afternoon, which was pretty naive on my part. The truth being, of course, that th...

Well I had expected Tucson to be hot, being in Arizona and all, but I hadn't expected record spring temperatures. 37 degrees both the days I was there. And being a foot traffic tourist I didn't manage to explore great areas in that heat but really just pottered round town until the hotel pool was just too appealing. But I liked Tucson - the brightly coloured buildings and brightly coloured cactuses to match make it a very pretty city considering it's in the...

I loved El Paso. Can't even put my finger on why, there's just something relaxed and comfortable about the place. I was a bit stunned when the assistant manager at the hostel told me that the Mexican border was only 15 minutes from the hostel, that's 15mins walking. And yet I felt the safest I have in the US cities I've visited so far (admittedly only 3 others). The assistant manager, Antonio, runs a pseudo tour guide service because he thinks the tourist o...

I didn't have any expectations about what Houston was going to be like, other than that when I told people I was going there next they seemed a bit "ho hum" about the place. On the whole it was a bit of a non event because I'd chosen accommodation in the wrong location and there was no transport from the city to the NASA Space Center which was the main thing I wanted to see. Houston is the 4th largest city in the states (4 million peeps). However...

So I was sorry to leave New Orleans. Even though I had nearly 2 weeks there it wasn´t long enough in the end. But here are some of the lessons I learnt along the way: Carry ID at all times. It is required nearly every time I use my debit card (even though the debit card doesn't have my name on it). Pedestrians nearly always have right of way. Hitting a pedestrian is an absolute liability offence so drivers will usually insist on stoppin...