Day 365 / 365

DW - Wow! That's it! Game Over, Man! Today is our last day on the road. To summarise, here's Jodie...

JB - Where did the time go? A whole year of adventure whizzed by us. Now the challenge is to get to JFK airport with three bags, yes I said three!!! You just can't come to New York and not shop!

It has been a whirl-wind year with so many exciting places and crazy moments, scary border crossings, yummy food, beautiful scenery and brilliant people, I will miss it all so much, but I am very excited to come home. This has been a year of such variation and yes cheesy to say but it has also made me appreciate what I have at home, especially wardrobes and hangers.....ha ha only joking folks.

From New York City

It has been great for us to hear from all who have emailed us on the way, and a little scarey to hear our friends getting married, having babies, moving towns etc, we did think of staying away in case it was catching!! : ) Just hearing whats happening at home has made us feel somewhat not forgotten on our travels.

From New York City

If anyone thought "wouldn't it be great to travel", then I definitely would say to you DO IT! We were surprised how easy it is to just pull up somewhere and find accommodation, how people do help you out, and how much fun it is getting it wrong and laughing about it later.

DW - What a year it's been... we've done so much I can't even get my head around it. Arriving back in the UK makes it the 14th country we've been to during 2006, and the strangest thing is it's the first time we've been in England all year! It's going to be awesome seeing family and friends again, and it's been great keeping you guys updated and getting emails back from you. Not sure how people did all this travel stuff in the old days, but in the 21st century it's not been too tricky. OK, maybe tricky at times, but generally alright.

We're staying at Trish and Pete's who are kindly putting up with us. We will try to get round to see everyone, but it could take a while, what with no vehicles. If you need us, best off dropping us an email and we'll get back to you, which again could take a while, what with no mobile phone.

Anyways, see you guys soon, and thanks for following us.

From New York City

Darren and Jodie, 2006
xxx

New Yoik, New Yoik

... And where people say "cwa-fee" instead of "coffee". It's all true.

We arrived in our lovely hotel in NYC the other day, which compared to some places we've been in, is fairly palatial. Jodie is over the moon, as it's got a bathtub in it! Imagine that, ay, bathtubs.

From New York City

So far in New York, we have wandered around a lot, checked out all the shop windows which are all very impressive with the Christmas stuff, and attempted to go shopping a number of times. This usually results in me getting stressed out (no idea why we decided it would be a good idea to come to the shopping capital of the world at this time of year, there were more people in Macy's yesterday than the population of China), and Jodie returning with far more shoes than she originally went out with. All of this is related to something known only as 'Nine West". I have no idea what that means.

From New York City

We've seen quite a few of the sights here already, with a few more to do over the next few days. The weather is behaving itself, with today a balmy 15C and sunny sunshine, which is apparently far warmer than it should be, and a lot warmer than home.

From New York City

Christmas Day is now fully planned out - starting off with Champers for breakfast, a stroll around Central Park, then 4 course Christmas Meal back at the cosy hotel. Sounds great, but won't be as good as mum's cooking of course :(

From New York City

Our only concern at the moment is... the end... of the trip! It's all very scary stuff, so we'll avoid thinking about it until we absolutely have to. Which will be when we're heading to the airport on the 26th no doubt. Yikes!

San Diego (Final West Coast Crew)

We've been in San Diego for a few days now. Mainly, it's been shopping but yesterday we hired out bikes and went exploring. Everything was fine with this, same as back home really, apart from trying to work out whereabouts in the road we were supposed to be cycling.We first went to Balboa Park. After a quick mooch about there, we then headed off see USS Midway, which as JB says, is a "Big Boat", others would call it an Aircraft Carrier.

From San Diego

I was very pleased. There was a lot of military stuff on there which was not only interesting but also quite dangerous looking. On the flight deck we were able to look at many planes normally seen only in films, such as Top Gun, and Iron Eagle, and Iron Eagle II (Ok, I struggled with remembering the name of other great aircraft films). It was brilliant! Although I think Jodie would have been happier left in one of the shops back in downtown San Diego.

From San Diego

Today we went out for a tour of the San Diego area, by a friend we made during a previous tour in New Zealand, called Amanda, who has lived here for ages. After a great day of driving around and seeing stuff in what is still pretty good, warm, sunny weather we then headed to....

From San Diego

... the Kansas City Barbecue! Which is where they filmed the 'Sleazy Bar Scene' in TOP GUN! Back in 1985! Wow, if I didn't feel old then, I do now. We headed in for an obligatory pint and photo, and said goodbye to Amanda after a great day of her touring expertise, but were unable to leave for a bit as the barman kept refilling our drinks. 5 drinks and a T-Shirt later we made it out. LA tomorrow for a quick tour before heading east to New Yoik!

More photos of our recent exploits can be viewed here.

San Diego

We're now in San Diego which is very chilled out. Seems to be pretty well set up for drinking and eating (enormous food only) and we're in Gaslamp area which is in the middle of everything. Lots of Jazz Bars and Ice Cream places.

The other thing here that there is a lot of is 'shops' and they're all pretty cheap, so JB's very happy. I've done a lot in the Oakley shop round the corner, and JB's covered about all the other ones.

That's pretty much everything for now. We're meeting up with one of our Stray buddies, then leave to go back to LA on Tuesday.... then it's off to New York! Brilliant.

Crazy Vegas

It's true to say Las Vegas is totally crackers! We are staying in Egypt well the Luxor, with it's enormous Sphinx and light beam leading us back home after a night of giant margaritas and getting very lost in one of the many giant hotels.

From Las Vegas

We have seen piano duelling in New York, New York, Lions in MGM Grand, ate Krispey Kreme doughnuts in Excaliber, ate steak mignon in Paris, drank magaritas in Venice, watched the fountain display at the Bellagio, overlooked the Strip from the Stratosphere tower and have just about walked our little socks off!

From Las Vegas

Managed to double our money in the casino but then loose it again, but then $10 is not bad going compared to some of the stories we've heard happens out here.

From Las Vegas

San Diego is our destination tomorrow for a few days catching up with a friend who will be our personal tour guide (we hope) and then it's off to New York for our last week before we finally head home! Getting very Christmassy now I love it.

From Las Vegas