Some of my favourite pic's from the trip so far

Venice Beach- L.A

Central Park- N.Y

Empire State Building- NY

NYE- N.Y

NYE- NY

Christmas Eve- NY

Puerto Escondido- Mexico

Puerto Escondido- Mexico

Puerto Escondido, Mexico.

Hollywood, Los Angeles.

London

LDN by Lily Allen

Except that unlike Jess and Stef, I wasnt flying into Heathrow, I was flying into Gatwick. Therefore all the instructions I had been given on how to get to Dylan's were void.

Arriving at 6am after zero hours sleep, (on top of the eight cookies I rammed down my throat; fearing customs would confiscate them) I eventually figured out that it would take me 2 trains and a cab to get to North Acton.

Two hours and something later I was tapping on the window of 8 Friars Way- trying to quietly wake up the girls, but not the six Aussie boys who also live here.

The Australian flag hanging in the front window and Fosters beer cans littering the front lawn gave the place a special 'Bathurst' feel.
Thankfully, the bleary eyed girls heard my knocking and answered the door in their PJs before heading straight back to bed in their double mattress on the floor of the living room.
The 'feel' only continued once I was inside. A home-made picnic table with the 'Made In Australia' symbol painted ontop acted as the dining table, mix-matched couches and various mattresses (occupied by random drop ins) littered the floor, dart boards and posters of naked women, a overflowing lost and found box....it was like coming home to I-Hut circa 2006.
According to the boys, this house- nicknamed 'The Ranch', has been a half way house to more than 50 people. There are six full time residents (including one who lives in the attic...literally has to climb a ladder up through a hole in the roof to hang with the asbestos) who all have stupid nicknames like Dozer and Termite making it impossible to pin down who is who. Then there are the stragglers, Jess, Stef, myself and a bloke called Tom who we share the living room with. Two bathrooms, two tv's and a fully stocked fridge if you choose to put in with the weekly shopping budget...

Thinking it unwise to sleep, I snuggled down between the two girls and squirmed and giggled until they admitted defeat and got up.
We decided to spend my first day in London at the Tower of London. We got the tube to London Bridge station and had lunch at a really awesome old English pub that did a mean fish and chips with mushy peas.
Our next tourist stop was the London Bridge which....
a) Isn't falling down. I checked. And,
b) Isn't actually called London Bridge but Tower Bridge.
Either way, it was pretty amazing to see, especially on such a nice and sunny day.
283 tourist photos later and we were walking across it, heading towards the Tower of London.

Stopped off at a tourist shop on the way, only to have it playing The Voice by John Farnham (go figure) however for some reason the 'I Love London' t-shirts just dont have the same ring to them.

We decided to wait 10 minutes for the guided tour, however only lasted until "Our story begins way back in...." before we ditched the group and grabbed our own map.
It was insane to think of the history we were walking through; the torture chambers and secret towers. The spot where Anne Boleyn was killed was especially exciting for me to see, as were the Crown jewels. I cant fathom how heavy those things would be to wear on your head.
Sunset (and the locking of the door ceremony) came and we made our way back to North Acton.

Since then, we've visited The National Portrait Gallery for the Annie Leibovitz exhibition which was breath taking, did a spot of shopping at Covent Gardens and checked out Topshop at Oxford Circus.
We also had a big night out with the boys, turning a small local club into our own little dance party.

The streets here are beautiful, so picturesque and classic. The accents are exciting, as are the numerous free papers you get to read on the tube ride home and the massive lasanges and dinners Dylan's been cooking.
The dark is taking some time to get used to- if we sleep in, we end up eating lunch in the dark.
The noise of six boys is also taking some adjusting. Most of them are teachers or plumbers/builders which means getting up at 6am. As we're in the living room, backing onto the kitchen, this means WE also have a new wake up time.

Im looking forward to checking out some live music, the markets (especially Camden and Portobello) and some day trips to Bath and Oxford.
Australia Day is also apparently huge here, so that's something else to look forward to.

For now, I better get off this thing and get ready for our trip to Shepherds Bush...besides; one of us left the secret imported Kraft Penut butter out so I have to go hide it before any of the boys catch wind of it.

The end of my love affair with New York...

As my month in New York was drawing to a close I scrambled to fill my last remaining days with everything left on my List Of Things To Do.
It was a very strange feeling, preparing to leave our home on W36th. Half of me felt like I had only just arrived- only just made it up the six flights of stairs with my backpack.
The other half of me felt like I had been living there for months- compleltely comfortable with my now familar streets, accents and fast foods.

A couple of things we did during our last few days that are notable because of their awesomeness:
*American Museum of Natural History- possibly the most interesting musem I've ever been to. I dont know why more musems dont follow their lead. Dont just show us diagrams or photos- create life size dioramas with (taxidermed?) real animals in there. We had planned to spend an hour or two, but ended up spending the entire day, making sure we didnt miss a single exhibit. We also got to visit a Butterfly Conservatory where thousands of butterflies flew around us, some even deciding they wanted to attach themselves and come along for the ride. So insane seeing violent blue and yellow butterflies sitting on your arm, brushing past your face. A definate highlight.
*Our Brooklyn visit. On Jess's last full day in NY, we decided to venture over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. If possible- I love Brooklyn more than I love Manhattan. The vibe is a complete 180. The buildings are lower, the sky is bluer....every single shop had original tees and hoodies, vintage boots, belts and caps. On every corner is a 2nd hand book shop just dying to be sucked dry and every brick wall is plastered with bright grafetti. We had the most amazing Chinese food at a little place called Red Bowl for a fraction of the price we had been paying for similar food in Manhatten and spent the rest of the day being good little backpackers and trying to pretend we didnt see that sick vintage t-shirt, perfect leather jacket or good-as-new ankle boots with studs.....

Before we knew it, it was once again time for Jess to leave us. After saying farewell to Jess and putting her in a big yellow cab bound for JFK, Sab, Coolie. Stef, Sabrinasquared and I headed to meet some other Aussies for chicken wings in Soho.
After ordering 50 chicken wings, popcorn shrimp and calamari between the five of us (and paying about $2 each all up) we rolled home....Stef eager to get packing for her own London flight (not).

The next night was Stef's last in New York, so we decided to finally bite the bullet and go see Wicked, the musical. It was something I had wanted to do before I left NY, however had long resigned to the fact that it probably wasnt going to fit into my budget.
In the end, I figured I could hardly come to New York and not see a Broadway musical...and holy shit was it worth it!
Wicked was everything the five star reviews had promised it would be. It gave me goosebumps, made me smile like a five year old and clap so hard my hands hurt. I dont understand how the cast can get up night after night, sometimes also performing a matinee performance, and put on such a jaw dropping show of amazing standards each and every time.

The next day I bid farewell to my travel buddy for the first time since we had left Sydney (okay okay so I MAY have cried a little), and after a pub dinner at Gatsby's in Soho with Sab and Coolie- made my way home to start the long task of packing my whole wardrobe into a backpack.
Hours later- an extra bag added to my travelling circus show- and a fully fledged cold later (thanks Stef/Jess) and I was packed and ready to go.
I spent MY last day in New York doing errands for Stef.
Fun!
Treated myself to one last cupcake from Burgers & Cupcakes on 9th, said my goodbyes to Sab, Coolie and perhaps most importantly- Batman and hopped in my cab for the journey to JFK.
Both Jess and Stef...(yes even STEF) had managed to find their own way from Heathrow to Dylan's house- it would no doubt prove just as easy for me...

"Whats better for me, toast with philly or a pop tart?"

** Before I continue with the story of my overseas adventures, it seems Stef has decided to risk giving her Aunts heart attacks and share the story of her drink spiking incident, therefore I see it only fit to tell the story from the un-drugged point of view;

After realising Stef had been in the bathroom for a good 20 minutes, we decided to send out a search party. Not only had Stef been vomitting (un-heard of in Stef's books) but she had suddenly turned mute. Wouldnt (couldn't) answer any of our questions and had a worried look on her face.

Finally, "I feel weird...I think someone spiked my drink."

As usual, I flew into fully fledged panic mode, even screaming at some guy trying to talk to us "NO FUCK OFF, FUCK. OFF."

I managed to get Stef to dribble where her wallet was, got our coats from the cloak room and carried Stef downstairs. After a cheeky snow-gutter-vomit incident, Sabrina- sensing the urgency of a situation, hailed down a limo and promised the driver Stef wouldnt spew in his car.
Another cheeky gutter/vomit senario later and we finally had her home.

We spent the rest of the night encouraging vomitting, swearing at whoever was responsible, keeping Stef awake with cold washers and slapping and eventually, danced whatever was slipped into her drink off to Vampire Weekend.

It was a scary and awakening event and we were all thankful that we were in a group who would never leave anyone alone for too long.

Stef slept like a baby well into the next day while I set my alarm every hour to check she was still breathing.

* * *

SINCE then, however things have been far less dramatic.

Highlights of late:

• Jess and the Byrne family arriving. Not having seen Jess for 3 or so months, it was very exciting to have our fellow BFG back with us to play. Her parents shouted us dinner (first proper meal we'd had in a while) and we took Jess and her brother Matt to Times Square and the MnM super store for a taste of what was to come.


• Museum of Modern Art. We dared to attempt to go on a 'Free Friday' which was hectic but well worth the hour wait in the line. It was very exciting to see works by artists such as Picasso, Van Gough, Monet, Worhol and Pollock...some of the most famous artworks in history. We also found Magnolia Bakery which is the famous cupcake bakery from Sex and the City, however we're still yet to try one as the line is always around the block. That night, we managed to get tickets to a session of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which was amazingly done...especially the part where they managed to make Brad hotter than he was back in the 90s.


• Christmas Day. We spent xmas at our friend Josh's house in East Village with about 9 other Aussie orphans. Lunch turned into more of a dinner as we all sat down to two roast chickens, a lamb, ham and a table covered in salads, breads and roast veggies. Numerous wine bottles and some terrible games of Pictonary later and it was time to play our Secret Santa game. The idea; everyone brought a present worth $15 and we all put it in the hamper and picked out another one. Some presents were genuinely good eg. the rubix cube alarm clock and Obama figurine...others, such as the ones Stef and I landed ourselves, were some hand cream and soap (bought from the shop downstairs) and a constipation care package complete with laxatives, 'Good Friends' cereal and toilet paper. Merry Christmas? The Aussie flag and blanket of familar accents made the day all the more enjoyable.


• Another highlight was one of the first days we got to spend with Jess. We started the day off with a trip to this secret burger joint we'd heard so much about. It's all hush hush (and the locals prefer is that way) but the story is, you go into one of the fancy resturants and in the lobby, hidden behind a curtain with only a small neon burger sign as signage, is the best burger joint in town. They werent lying. The place is as big as Sabrina's living room and packed to the brim. As soon as we got there, there was a line all the way out the door. The walls are covered with famous people's signature's such as Samuel L Jackson's recommendations of the "Best burger in NY!" We then decided to check out the John Lennon memorial at Centeral Park and after much goo-ing and ga-ing over the cute little squirrels, we found it. Jess and I then proceeded to break conformity and ruin the line by getting down on the ground and hugging the 'Imagine' for a photo. We then found our way to the Upper East Side for a spot of gorging at Dylan's Candy Bar. Nothing can describe the look of pure ecstacy on my face as I came face to face with my dentist's worst nightmare. Chocolate covered Oreos, chocolate covered cookie dough, sugar rock candy, an entire WALL of gummie lollies, sour straps, those little christmas chocolate balls, grape flavoured gummi bears....there was THREE levels of this place, the top level being a ice creamary. The walls were adorned with giant gummi bears and candy canes and every single song that came over the loudspeakers was lollie themed, from Candy Shop by 50 Cent to Candy Man by Christina. Needless to say, we all walked out of there 34kg heavier and feeling a little sick.


• Ice Skating at Byrant Park was also an experience. After sussing out all the different rinks around NYC, we decided Byrant was our best option and minus the 45 minute wait in the line, ended up being another highlight right up there with Venice Beach. Stef was, of course, a natural and was zooming around with the best of them. Jess and I however were a little bit slower on getting our ice legs. In fact, I never managed it. The rest of the crew took great delight in watching me grasp onto their sleeves for dear life and scream at anyone who came too close to me. The giant christmas tree and minus something degree weather made for a scene right out of the movies.


• NYE (last night) was another eventful night out in the city that never sleeps. Drinks and nibblies at the apartment at 4pm meant we were well on our way to a big one before we even realised it. Jess was actually already on the water's before we had decided to make our way to the main event, 230th on Fifth (http://www.230-fifth.com/). Having paid $140 for Option One, we were in for a night of free alcohol and "enough hors d'oeuvres" to fill us up ontop of their rooftop courtyard...which would have been awesome, had it not snowed again during the day. It was worth every penny. Balloons filled the room, free NYE party hats and tooters were given out on arrival and the view included a up close and personal view of the Empire State Building. The rooftop courtyard ended up being the place to be, thanks to the stylish huge red dressing gowns provided for our warmth and warm alcoholic beverages the upstairs bar was serving. As usual, Jess, Stef and I started the dance floor and everything from then on in is a little hazy, right up until the moment I was holding Jess's hair back while she vomitted. After half an hour or so of partying in the bathroom, Stef and I carried Jess down the stairs (she had a cheeky spew in the bar's pebble feature in the lobby on the way out) and to her hotel room, where we, through giggles, tried to explain to her mum what had happened. Leaving Jess in the capable hands of her parents (Sorry we brought your daughter home catatonic!) we made our way back to the party only to find the group of friends were were with had dispersed. Woke up this morning feeling like a sack of rubbish and lounged around the apartment until we felt it was vital to fetch Gatorade from the BP downstairs.

At the moment, its minus something and freezing cold outside. Sabrina gets back tomorrow with her boyfriend Coolie and Jess moves into the apartment for a few nights after her parents leave so the times can only get sweeter.

When in Rome right?