Hopping around North America

From mid-August through mid-September I spent a month in North America visiting friends. My days were mostly filled with socialising with my friends, which doesn’t make for particularly interesting reading, so in this post I’ll endeavour to mention as many sight-seeing recommendations as I can recall.

Toronto

I spent a few days in Toronto visiting my friend Amanda, a lovely lady who had been my roommate for my tour in Togo/Benin/Burkina Faso. Toronto seems like a great city, although I didn’t get to see much as I was tired after my trip in South America and spent some time simply chilling out, and a lot of time hanging out in Amanda’s neighbourhood, which was a cool place.

A highlight for me was a surprise reunion with my friend Aman who I worked with at the UN in 2008.

The one bit of sightseeing that I did manage was a day trip to Niagara Falls. The falls are about a 3-hour drive from Toronto and are easily reached by public transport (I got there using Megabus). The waterfalls themselves are impressive (although nowhere near as impressive as Iguasu Falls and Angel Falls, both places of which have been absolute highlights to me this year). I was less impressed by the tacky developments around the falls, including multiple casinos and everything else that you could blight a naturally beautiful landscape with.

Niagara Falls

Vancouver Island/Nanaimo

From Toronto I flew to LA and then onto Seattle where I spent a single night in a hostel. From Seattle I caught the Clipper Ferry up to Victoria, Vancouver Island. The purpose of this visit was to see my good old friend Rivers, who I met in Tanzania in 2008. He and his girlfriend, Brittany, met me at the ferry terminus and it was honestly like no time had passed even though we hadn’t seen each other for six years!

I had a fantastic 2 days of choreographed fun during my visit. First, on the way up to Nanaimo, where Rivers lives, we stopped off at a delightful cider orchard and restaurant called Merridale Cidery (http://www.merridalecider.com/). We had a delicious lunch there, complete with gluten free pizza and dessert (J) and a taster-row of ciders.

Next, we stopped at a birthday party for a friend of Rivers. Rivers does geocaching, and is such a veteran that he was even doing it back when we were living in Tanzania, which was back in the early days of geocaching. The party itself was an “event cache”, which means that attending the event counts as a geocache. I had personally never gone geocaching before, although I did once watch my housemate, Sophie, find a geocache in Newtown and I’d heard Rivers talking about it, so I knew the general concept. Basically, a cache (any sort of random object, along with log book) is hidden somewhere and added to the website complete with instructions and coordinates. The aim is to find these geocaches and log your finds, but there are also further aims for serious geocachers, such as being the “first to find” for a new cache. So, we attended the party and whilst we were there somebody mentioned that there was meant to be a geocache somewhere on the very oval that we were standing on, so we decided to find it. Despite the fact that the cache was meant to be “easy” it took a long time for us to find, with a lot of combined experience (plus my zero experience). In the end I found the cache, which was a bit awkward for the veterans who’d been searching with me. Also, when they all snapped out of their geocache-searching-trances they seemed surprised to find not one, but two, young females in their midst. Apparently young females are a rarity amongst the geocaching crowd.

Much to my excitement we not only found the cache but also a huge blackberry bush bursting with juicy, ripe berries. We picked these berries straight from the bush and ate until we were full and covered in berry juice. (and no weed spray, as blackberries are native there)

That afternoon we went “tubing” on a nearby lake. It was a quintessentially Canadian experience. I wish I’d taken some pictures.

That evening we had some amazing BBQed steak on Rivers’ balcony overlooking the water, and then had a bonfire on the beach (totally illegal but worth it). All in all a great day.

The following day Rivers and I drove out to Cathedral Grove Forrest where we checked out the massive trees. It was pretty cool, but hard to really capture photographically, especially as a shitty-amateur photographer like me. Here’s what I did manage:

Big trees

Finally, I tried Tim Horton’s. I don’t actually drink coffee, so I had a hot chocolate instead. It was mediocre, but then most chains are.

Seattle

That evening I caught the Clipper Ferry back to Seattle where I was to visit my friends Sally and Tristan (unfortunately Tristan was stuck at work so I never got to see him, but I did get to meet their delightful baby girl). Whilst in Seattle I stayed with Diane, the mother of my dear friend Lindsey. She had an absolutely beautiful house and it was great to meet some of Lindsey’s family. Unfortunately Lindsey couldn’t be there (she works for the US Airforce as a JAG and is stationed overseas) but it was still nice to meet some of her family even without her there.

After having brunch with Sally I did a tour of the Seattle underground. Seattle was (with a severe lack of foresight) built on a beach, which, unsurprisingly, caused problems when it came to flooding (from the tide) and also removal of sewerage (a problem that intensified with the Industrial Revolution when people started to purchase toilets). These problems were solved using a feat of engineering: the street level was raised by one storey. Rather than physically lifting up the buildings (impossible) the streets were lifted and the (previously) ground levels were left underground for posterity. Nowadays you may do a tour of the underground, which is something that I recommend.

After the underground tour I had a wander around the CBD, especially the Pike Street Market area. Seattle is very nice, a place that I could imagine living, which is not something I often feel in North America. That afternoon I spent several hours at the air and space museum, which I also highly recommend although it’s a bit of a schlep to get to, especially on public transport.

The Seattle Underground

The Museum of Flight and Space

Chico

I spent 3 days with my friends the Stephens family who live in Chico, Northern California. Chico is not the easiest place to get to, and I chose the famed Amtrak as my method of getting there (long distance trains in America). The main problem with Amtrak is that the rails they rely on for their trains are privately owned by freight companies, so if there is any sort of irregularity or delay they have to negotiate with freight trains, which are always prioritised, in order to use the tracks. On the day I took the train this was a bit of a disaster. Despite Seattle being the departure point for the train we didn’t depart until 4 hours after we were scheduled to depart. No information was provided to the passengers on why this was, and we were never told how long the delay would be (they kept saying “another 30 minutes”) so we couldn’t do anything else with our time other than sit around the station. Furthermore, we were delayed by 2 hours in Portland as the train’s electricity system failed, and then another 2 hours somewhere in Oregon as a passenger on the train had an epileptic seizure and needed paramedics to come to take him to hospital, a monumental task requiring the assistance of the fire brigade due to his body habitus.

Chico was lovely and visiting my friends there was well worth the exhausting train journey that ended up lasting 30 hours. Chico is a medium-sized town with a substantial student population and was exactly how I imagined NoCal to be. I met the Stephens in Sierra Leone back when I was there in March. Sean, the son, was nearing the end of his time working in the Peace Corps there and his parents, Anne and Paul, were over there visiting him (for the first time in over a year-and-a-half, so that was a beautiful and emotional reunion). As such, most of my time in Chico was spent reminiscing about Sierra Leone (my favourite country of the trip).

Chico isn’t a particularly exciting destination for tourists (although it was nice to have some time out from typical sightseeing) but I would recommend one thing there to anybody passing through: the Sierra Nevada Brewery. I can’t even drink beer and I loved it!

Memories of Sierra Leone

A photo of me teaching English to the children at John Obey (from the Stephens' photo album)

San Francisco

I didn’t have long in San Francisco. I have been there before so was really only using it as a transit point between Chico and Los Angeles because I couldn’t afford to fly so elected to get a lift to SF with a guy from Craig’s List and then catch a $19 bus down to LA.

The one thing that I did do in SF was visit the mother of my great friend, Christina, who had a box of my stuff at her house. When I planned this trip I desperately wanted to attend Burning Man Festival, and had planned my itinerary around this and even spent over $100 on posting a box full of stuff to Christina (who then lived in SF) in order for me to be able to collect this before the festival. 

Unfortunately, tickets sold out in a matter of minutes and I was in rural Burkina Faso the day that they went on sale, so I had Buckley’s Chance of getting one (even my friend Leslie who I was planning to go with couldn’t get one even though she was in LA and had a much stronger internet connection than me). So, I went to Christina’s mother’s house to collect the box (unfortunately Christina had, in the interim, moved to Wichita, KS, which is extremely hard to get to, so I wasn’t able to see her L).

I also went for a morning walk where I took some photos and experimented with the Polaroid camera that I’d posted to Christina (something that was set to become a fixture for the remainder of my time in North America). Unfortunately I don’t have copies of these photos to add to my blog right now as I posted them back to Australia so you'll have to settle for the crap from my iPhone instead.

The waterfront in San Francisco

Los Angeles

I spent a week in Los Angeles with my friend Leslie and her boyfriend Forest (who is now also my friend!) and had a blast. Highlights for me were going to see live comedy at the Meltdown (http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/category/comedy-show/), and also watching the ongoing silent wars that they were having with their neighbours, including small-penis loud-car guy, and Riff Raff, a probable drug dealer and pimp who would spend his day getting drunk and loudly recounting his sex life (which wasn’t very exciting, and consisted of a lot of missionary position).

I did several great touristy things during the week and Los Angeles has a lot to offer tourists. Here’s what I saw:

• -       The Petersen Automotive Museum (where Forest works)
• -       Disneyland (surprise, surprise)
• -       The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which was superb
• -       The Observatory (which was made more interesting by the loud and very public domestic dispute being had between “Jessica”, her (I’m guessing former) significant other, and their pet dog)
• -       The La Brea Tar Pits (these were more fun back when I was 12)
• -       Santa Monica and Venice Beach
• -       The beach at Long Beach (where my friends were living)
• -       The Getty Museum
• -       The Disney Music Hall

I had originally planned to go camping with Leslie but this didn’t work out and it was fine because LA is huge and varied so I was never bored J

Splash Mountain was more fun than it looks

Las Vegas

I spent a single night in Las Vegas with the intention of saving money as it was much cheaper to take the Greyhound bus from LA to Salt Lake City (my next intended destination) via Vegas than pay for a flight. When Leslie and Forest dropped me at the bus station they wished me luck and said “just be prepared for the sort of people who want to visit Vegas but are too cheap to pay for the flight” – a warning that turned out to be pretty accurate.

My afternoon and night in Vegas weren’t particularly fun as I had a headache, and I also don’t gamble. I spent the afternoon in bed and then dragged myself up in order to attend the Cirque du Soleil show, O, which was great.

The fountain at the Bellagio

Salt Lake City

I went to Salt Lake City to visit my friend Mike, a mate from my tour in Togo/Benin/Burkina Faso. Salt Lake City is a very pleasant city that is inhabited by very pleasant people. It is beautifully located in the middle of the American Rockies.

The first evening that I was there Mike had just returned from Madagascar, so was very jetlagged, but somehow still managed to take me to his family’s country house to see some rural Utah. We had a fine dinner at a country roadhouse, which was really very good. The following day I spent some time looking around the complex at the centre of the LDS church and then going to the State Fair, which was just like in the movies. That afternoon Mike and I drove out to a ski resort (not yet open for the winter) to take the lift up to the top of the mountain and see the view. Unfortunately the lift was closed that afternoon (it’s normally open off season for sightseeing), so we just hiked for a bit, but it was still incredibly beautiful.

The Tabernacle, SLC

Utah State Fair

Ski resort in Utah

Boston

I flew to Boston the next day and spent the following 2 nights there. Whilst in Boston I stayed at the worst hostel of my trip as there are only 2 in town and the other (YHA) one was booked out when I tried to book 1-week before my visit, as were most mid-range hotels.

I spent the morning of my full day in Boston at Harvard University visiting my dear friend Duncan, and attending one of his MBA lectures, which was surprisingly very entertaining. The highlight was this YouTube clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDOI24RRAE) which I recommend checking out (the lecture was on the international trade of bananas). I had lunch at the students’ lunch hall, which was far better quality than anything that I’ve ever eaten at an Australian university. It was great to see Duncan and also to attend a tertiary lecture that was engaging and interactive (something that can’t be said about mass lectures to 300+ students with 100 powerpoint slides for 50 mins).

That afternoon I walked around the city and met some people from my hostel who I had dinner with. I also went to see The Lion King as I managed to buy a last-minute half-price ticket. Fantastic show, a “must see”!

The building from Boston Legal

The Lion King theatre before the show

New York City

My final week in North America was spent in New York City.

I spent the first 3 nights in New York staying with my good friend, Mitch, who has moved from Australia to NYC and works as a corporate attorney. Mitch’s parents were visiting so we had a lovely time exploring the local food and beverage options, which were, unsurprisingly, superb! Highlights were:

• -       Perilla (http://www.perillanyc.com/)
• -       Junoon (a Michelin-starred restaurant: http://www.junoonnyc.com/)
• -       Attending a house party at the house of one of Mitch’s lovely friends
• -       Chelsea Market (http://www.chelseamarket.com/)
• -       A fantastic cocktail bar that I can’t recall the name of (sorry)

After staying with Mitch I was joined by my sister, Alex, my travel buddy for the next month. We stayed in an AirBNB apartment near Chinatown with an eccentric but kind host and her insane pet cat. Alex and I had a fantastic time, the highlights being two Broadway Shows: Matilda and The Book of Mormon, which were both highly entertaining.

I also had a lovely time in NYC catching up with my friends: Mia, Jen, and Susan.

Some tourist things to do in NYC (we skipped some the typical tourist things as we had both been there before with our parents):

• -       Go to the MET! This is a fantastic place and worth spending a lot of time in
• -       Wander idly around Central Park
• -       Check out The Highline
• -       Check out Alice’s Tea Cup for an amazing array of fine teas and desserts (http://alicesteacup.com/)
• -       The Natural History Museum is great
• -       Coney Island (where I went with my friend Jen) is great fun
• -       The Brooklyn Bridge (walk back from Brooklyn to Manhattan)
• -       Anything on Broadway

The museum of natural history

Sister at Alice's Tea Cup

Alice's Tea Cup

Matilda! 

Finally, getting out of New York just wasn’t that easy. I’d booked a flight to Stavanger (to visit my friends) with Norwegian Airlines, a budget airline (which is registered in Ireland to get around Norway’s more stringent employment and safety laws). I really regret booking with them.

First, my flight was delayed by 7.5 hours overnight. Second, they refused to put me up in a hotel despite the fact that the new flight time was 5am and it’s very difficult to get from the main city to JFK Airport at this time without a pre-arranged transfer. Third, they refused to provide me with a letter for my insurance company so that I could get my hotel room reimbursed by insurance. Fourth, when I called customer service the service representative said to me “don’t worry, it’s safe to sleep on the airport floor because there are plenty of security guards so you’re unlikely to get raped”. Fifth, the plane was freezing cold and my gluten-free meal consisted of a single rice cake with no toppings and a carton of reconstituted fruit juice. I say without exaggeration that this airline is one of the worst that I’ve ever flown with, and should be avoided for all long-haul flights.

Next stop: Norway and then Helsinki to Berlin via the Baltic States