Country: United States.
Currency: 1Euro = 1.00 United States Dollars
Arrival Date: Sunday the 26th.




City: Dallas.
State: Texas, TX.
Arrival Date: Jan 26th, 11pm

OK I've made it three months in South, Central America and Mexico and I'm finally in the States!! The people speak English, the toilets flush and you can even flush the paper too!!! without having to put it in the bin beside the toilet!! It's been weird today looking for the bin and then realising "oh yeah I can flush it in the toilet".... Bizarre!! It's funny the little things that you get used to! Also I've been answering some people in Spanish too! It's funny how your brain just gets used to a language and you begin to react automatically!! One other thing that really got me when I got here is HOW BLOODY FREEZING IT IS HERE!! Whats that about!! I have three layers on me and i'm still cold! Bloody hell!! hehehee

Anyway! Sandy (works for Braxtel along with her husband Rusty) (Braxtel being the company I resigned from last year to go travelling the world!!) and I had chatted a few days ago and she asked me to stay with them while I was in Dallas!! Well how could I refuse!! I got picked up from the airport in this monster of the car and we drove back to their home (a five star luxury hotel for me!!) Where I met their children Brooke, Blake and Lauren for the first time. I got my stuff sorted and laundry in the wash and we all sat down to dinner with friends of theirs also and watched the Superbowl!! (the Tampa Bay Buckeneers won by the way!) Oh this dinner was amazing!! And funnily enough it was tortillas!! but the chicked and the beef and the chips and salsa and dips and frozen margaritas where amazing!! I'm in heaven!! I'll tell you it's very weird but extremely nice to have a break from spider infested hostals and stay with a friend in a house with a home cooked meal every couple of months!! You definitely appreciate it A LOT!!

After dinner I went to watch Brooke play her soccar game against the under 9's team "The Hippy Chicks". Brooke played for the team "Liverpool" and they won the match many goals to only one scored by the other team! It was a really good game and then we came home and had some hot baked chocolate chip cookies and milk!! Oh I'm being spoiled rotten here!!! But I'm definitely not complaining!! So after updating the site now I think I'm going to head off to bed! I'm very tired and looking forward to bed and my stay in Dallas a lot!! Buenos noches!!!

Date: Tuesday the 28th, 9.35pm

Well I've had a fun filled two days in Dallas. I took it easy yesterday (Monday) and slept in til about 11am. Then I had delicious pancakes that I kinda make with Sandy for breakfast before just hanging out and chatting for the morning while Sandy worked!! I checked my mail and then found a site on the net that told me stuff about Dallas.I had a look at the online lonely planet to see what there was to see and do in Dallas!! It was pretty cool actually and there was plenty to keep me busy for the next few days which even surprised the Colemans!! They were saying "You can do that in Dallas!!" hehehe I was saying "eh yeah...you live here...haven't you been there!! hehehee" So I figured it was too late in the afternoon to try and get to do any of my trips so I had lunch instead and just chilled for a while before fixing up all the Peru photos on the website!! So they're all fixed for South America now!! Woo Hooo!!

Then in the evening we had dinner and after Lauren had a basketball match which we all went to. It was really exciting and I even got a bit carried away watching it myself!! It came right down to the last few seconds with only one point in the score!! They were in front at the first two quarters and then were behind by one point at the very end when one of the girls had to take a shot with a second to go and missed!!! AAWWWwww!!! So they missed it by a point! Ah well it was a great match anyways!! hehehe I got some photos so provided they're approved they'll be on the site soon!! hehee So then I was pretty tired last night by the time I went to bed and was all prepared with information for a trip to Fair Park today!! Well Sandy did a lot of work finding out the bus and train routes and times for me which was perfect and really easy to follow too!!

This morning I got up and had breakfast before Sandy dropped me off at the bus station in time for the bus to Forest Lane Train station where I hopped on the train to Downtown Dallas!! There I hopped on another bus to Fair Park!! This is a huge Park that has loads of Museums, Gardens and other interesting stuff!! So the first stop was the "Science Place" building where I ran about with loads of five year old kids and played with lots of interactive science experiments!! Seing as I have a degree in Science I had fun of course!! hehehee After I went to the Planetarium where they had a show on how the Egyptians used the stars to build the Pyrimids which was great!! I had a really nice walk about the gardens and then went into the Aquarium! This was really cool with a huge Snapper Turtle, some Morey Eels and Black Tip Sharks!! Sound familiar!! Eh I was swimming with them a few weeks ago in the Caribbean Ocean!!! Well Except the Snapper turtle...it was just a noraml turtle...dunno the exact name of the one I saw! But the Eels and the Sharks were the same!! hehhee MAD!!

After that I headed back to the Science Place where I went to the IMAX show that I had booked earlier in the day! I was greeted by a guy saying "Ahh you're just the person we were looking for!" So I said "...you were!!??" and he said "YIP...you're the only one with a ticket for this show!! ..and you know we need 150 people at this show to break even as it costs $1300 to screen!!" "OOps!!" well it's not my fault I only paid $6 and that no-one else was there!! hehee So they played it for me all on my own in the theatre and it was really cool actaully "The Mysteries of Egupt" was the film. It went through the History of the Egyptians, how they might have worked to build the pyrimids and the story of King Tutankhmen etc..etc.. It was pretty cool on the massive screen too!

After all that I hopped on the bus back to Downtown, took the train back to the "Forest Lane" station and hopped on the bus back to the bus station in 'Plano' before calling Sandy to let her know I was back and still alive! On the way back to the house myself and Lauren picked up a yummy Chinese meal!! So that's about it for now I'm pretty stuffed after a yummy "Pei Wei Sweet and Sour Chicken" and "Crispy Potsticker dumpling something or others!!" hehehe they were good so I didn't really care what they were called! Anyway I'm off to bed now and will probably head back to Downtown tomorrow for some more sightseing and finally get to see the "Grassy Knoll" too! Hasta Luego!!

Date: Friday the 31st, 10am

Well Wednesday didn't turn out exactly the way I thought it might but it was still a fun day...I was waiting for Rusty to come back cos he said that he wanted to bring me to the 'Grassy Knoll' so I had breakfast with Sandy and then chilled out for a while before we got to talk to Rusty again. Only then it was lunch time so we had lunch together before we decided to go shopping instead and to the post office and get a few things done that I needed to do!! So when we went shopping I got some ingredients for a lemon cheesecake which I made later in the evening. Then we all had a delicious dinner of Cornish gamehens and rice and thne the cheesecake for desert!! yum yum!! What a great relaxing day it was!!

Thursday I got up and after breakfast I headed to the bus station and got the bus and train back downtown for my last full day in Dallas!! So I headed straight to the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey Plaza where they have The Sixth Floor Museum. This is a museum set up in the building where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot President John F Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. It was extremely interesting as they went through all the history of the Kennedy family, JFK's presidential campaign, details of the time he spent in office along with his views and objectives that he had planned. Then there were details of the trip to Dallas and the fateful day when he was shot and died. There was information on the investigation and the reactions of the family, people in America and all over the world in fact!! There were loads of pictures and information and even videos playing certain footage of the Kennedy's, Lee Harvey Oswald and even when Jack Ruby shot Oswald when he was being transferred from prison.

It was so interesting in there that I spent about 4 hours wandering about reading, watching and looking at pictures before I even went out to see the Grassy Knoll!! You even got to see the actaul window and spot where they stated he shot JFK from!! It's was really weird being there and looking out the window to the White X painted on the road below where the fatal shot hit. Kinda made you think if you could go back in time right there and then and be standing there beside the window if you stop it happening or something. Or even find out exactly what did happen!! Was there someone else on the Grassy Knoll!!?? Oh well...I took a stroll out to the spot itself after visiting the museum and there's not much there really but after seeing all the pictures and video footage it was kinda weird being there too!!

After my stroll about I headed up to through the Hyatt Regency Hotel (the Silver building behind the Tower) in order to get up to the top of Reunion Tower (the huge thing with the Ball on top shown below!) and through Union station where I later got the train home!! There are three floors in the Tower, the Observation deck, the fancy restaurant called Antares and the cheap revolving restaurant with no dress code that I went to! hehehe

So I spent about an hour revolving up there and had a fantastic view of all of the entire city!! It was really nice to just sit, eat and relax!! Then I hopped on the train and bus back home to be picked up by Sandy, Brooke and Blake and head straight out to Lauren's basketball match which they won by the way!! Later in the evening myself and Rusty drove to the airport and picked up Oisin (a guy from Ireland that I used to work with for the last 2 years!!) So it was great to see an old friend again after travelling for a while!! We all chatted til the early hours and then went to bed! Today however I'm flying off to DC now!! So catch you later in Washington DC!!

City: Washington DC.
Arrival Date: Jan 31st.
Date: Sunday the 2nd, 10pm

I made it to the Capital!!! Washington DC!! Wooo Hoo well I got here on Friday evening and I'm staying with Nicole Freeman, a friend of mine for the last two years or so after she played waterpolo with my team for a season in Dublin and came to a few of my parties!! So now I'm visiting with her and her flatmates Jen and Kallie and having a few parties of our own again!! :-) Nicole had to work on friday night so Jen came to pick me up from the airport!! Boy was I glad about that!! We landed in the worst fog, rain, mist and cold I've seen in a very long time!! I had never landed in fog that bad before ever!! It was just thick and you couldn't see two feet out the window for about 20mins when we started decending!! I was starting to wonder where the ground was when all of a sudden we came through the clouds and I could see the ground!! ..only we were about 100ft above it and after a few seconds we had landed!! Respect to that pilot ...he may as well have had his eyes closed trying to land the thing!

Then came the harsh reality of the bitter cold here!! I thought Dallas was cold before!! It really IS freezing here!! It was really cold and lashing rain all the way back to the apartment!! I was so glad to get inside where "thank God" they have central heating!! So we picked Nicole up after she finished work and headed out to pick up the supplies for the big party planned for Saturday night!! Then back home again to sort everything that we had bought. Not one to wait around Nicole asked if I wanted to go to the local Irish bar and have dinner and drinks!! hehheeee No need to tell you what my reply was! So we picked up Mike (Nicole's neighbour from upstairs) and Kallie came along as well and we headed off to "The Four Courts"!! hehee we had a fun night and next morning ...well we had to stay there til 12 anyway as it was Kallie's 24th birthday at midnight!! So we celebrated until the early hours when the last of my pint was grabbed from my hand and we were shoved out the door!! Much to my disgust!!!

Apparently it was illegal to allow us to drink any more after 2am!! What rubbish!! In an Irish bar as well!! I was very disappointed! So we headed home anyway and slept late the next morning. I was pretty tired after travelling and being out til all hours!! So Saturday was a lazy day! Well not too lazy come to think of it...we cleaned the apartment up and organised the fridge, the food and the drink for the party!! I dropped my central america films in to be developed so I should have them on Wednesday and be able to post them on the website fairly soon!! Then we ate dinner and got ready for the party!!

There were about 50 or 60 people that came to the party during the night!!! It's lucky they didn't all arrive at the same time cos the apartment is big but not that big!! hehhee It's was a lot of fun though and I met a lot of really nice people!! One friend of Nicole's works for the Washington Caps (dunno if I got that right or not!) but they are an Ice Hockey team and so we got tickets to see a match on Wednesday night!! Cool!! My first hockey game!! hehehe so that should be fun! apparently they make a big deal out of the fact that fighting is legal in this game!! hmmm so it should be interesting!! Anyway the party went on til very early in the morning when I eventually got to bed!! What a great night!!

Today I decided to make my first start on DC sightseeing!! So I put on my T-shirt, then my long sleeve top, then my fleece, then a scarf, then my rainjacket and my cap!! Now I was ready to leave the house!! Hey it's bloody freezing here after coming from the Caribbean!!! So I headed out to see the Washington Monument, an obelisk that stands 555ft tall just in front of the 'Reflecting Pool' (the one Tom Hanks jumped into in the film 'Forest Gump'). I walked the length of the pool to get to the 'Lincoln Memorial' were many famous demonstrations have been held over the years including Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream.." speech!! It was amazing to think that he stood on those very same steps so many years ago!! Inside is the famous stone sculpture of Lincoln seated. To the left, carved in the wall is his 'Gettysberg Address' and to the right is his second Inaugural Address that he made 63 days before his assassination.

After all that I decided to head home as it was getting late and dark and even more cold!! I didn't think that was possible!! But yes! So I walked back past the Reflecting Pool which wasn't reflecting very much actually as it was drained for winter and full of leaves!! This also meant I could walk in it though, which I believe isn't allowed normally!! hehehee ...I found my way through the Metro and back to the apartment after stopping for a little food shopping along the way!! I can finally cook my own food again!! Woo Hoo!! You don't realise how much I missed that while travelling!! Being able to just pick out the exact meat or fish or vegetables or whatever you want and have them cooked exactly the way you want and you don't have to settle for anything else!!! ahhhh!!! hehee Yummyyyy!!!

The girls weren't home so it was kinda weird being here like I was back in my apartment in Dublin again on a Sunday night just chilling and watching TV with a nice dinner!! Bizarre!! hehehee only thing is it's Monday tomorrow and I have no work to go to!! yeay!!! heheheee Tomorrow I'm going to head back to the Washington Monument as you can actaully go up to the top for free but you need to get a ticket to do so and the last tour was at 4.30pm which I missed today. Nicole's going to come with me as she's never been up it yet either. Then I'm going to head to Capitol Hill and a few other places I haven't decided exactly where yet! So I'm off to bed now til tomorrow!! night night!

Date: Thursday the 6th, 4pm

So I'm in DC and still in one pieceafter all this time travelling...I seem to be missing disasters where ever I go though!! In Ecuador I missed the volcano erupting by a week!! In Mexico City I missed the earthquake by a day!! ...then I had just left Dallas and the next day the shuttle blew up over Texas!! kinda weird eh!! Anyway DC is great!! I'm having a lot of fun with Nicole!! She's showing me all the sights and Irish bars!! DC is huge and there's so much to see here it's great!! I also got my pics developed from central america so they're going to be on the site soon!! So lets see what have I been up to lately??!!

Tuesday was a pretty cool day!! It started off after we dragged ourselves out of bed, had some breakfast and headed in to the Washington Monument! There were tours every half an hour and free tickets but you had to book the tickets before going in. We got there at about 12.25pm and there was a tour at 12.30pm, perfect timing!! We went up to the top of the momument and had a great view of the entire city from all directions including a great view of the White House!! Then just as we had come down and were walking away the Presidents helicopter flew in and either dropped him off or picked him up and flew away again!! so we had just missed getting a great view of the landing by a few minutes but it was still cool to see that!

After that we headed to the Supreme Court as I had been to the Old Supreme Court the other day and wanted to see the new one. We had a walk about the exhibits and watched a video on the court and how it works before going to a lecture in the courtroom where the nine Supreme Court Judges Actually hear the cases and work. It was a pretty impressive courtroom and a very interesting lecture too!! When we were finished in there and decided to give Nicole's friend Michelle a call as she wanted to meet us for lunch. We met Michelle and she drove us out to Old Town Alexandria where we had lunch in an Irish Bar and it was delicious!! Then we took a walk down to the Potomac River after doing a bit of shopping!! What a great day!!

It was to get even better though!! We were dropped home after that by Michelle and had an hour or so before we met Nicole's friend Jacque for drinks in a place called Witlows on Wilson. We ended up listening to a live band playing for the night called The Johnny Artis Band and they were great!!! There was only three out of the seven band members there but they were fantastic!! Johnny gave me a signed copy of his CD ..hey I didn't even ask for it either!! ..and sang a few Van Morrison songs for me too!! hehheee it's just the Irish charm eh! then we met two girls from DC and they joined our table and we all had drinks and a great laugh together!! After his set Johnny even joined us for a drink and a chat! We got home at all hours after that.. but what a superb night!! hehehee

Wednesday when we got out of bed we headed in to the National Scultpure Garden where they have an outdoor Ice Skating rink!! I was really cool there!! literally!! It was freezing! Even though the sun was shining it's still really cold here and apparently going to SNOW tonight!! S*@$!!! So we had fun there skating to the Jazz music they were playing for us. There was even a really cool old guy dressed in a full suit, like he was a business man on his lunch hour or something and he was doing all sorts of jumps and spins like he used to skate professionally when he was younger or something!! It was really cool and kinda funny to see him dressed in a suit skating as well!!

After over an hour there we headed to Dupont Circle and checked out the Irish Embassy to see if I could get a tour of the White House or the Pentagon!! No such luck though!! Apparently no one gets a tour after September 11th anymore but a friend of Michelle's is a Secret Service Officer and had offered to try to get me in. Unfortunately, because she's working nights next week she won't be there during the day to bring me in...ah well at least she tried, but no tour for me this time! Anyway we had a yummy lunch and then I bought a book on Tokyo as I'll definitely need one when I get there in a few weeks I think!! The language and culture is just too different for me not to have one and not know where I'm going for the first time getting there in my life!! But I'm really looking forward to it!!

We headed home for an hour sleep and then out again to my first ever Live Ice hockey game last night!! We got these great tickets and all for free too!! Nicole's friend works for the Washington Caps!! Nice to have friends in high places eh!! She had tickets for the game and just gave them to us!! The game was really cool and there was a huge fight at one stage as well!! Nicole was a bit disappointed though as there wasn't that much fighting as there normally is!! hehheeee she's nuts! After the game we went across the road to FADO, another irish bar!! We were going to meet Nicole's flatmate Jen but she had to work late so we made our own friends again!! It was one guys birthday on the 6th so we made them stay until midnight drinking in order to celebrate his birthday with a Flaming Sambuca even though they had to work the next day!! We all had a great time though! What a fun night!!! hehheeee

Today I've just been taking a break from the sightseeing and organising the website, some pictures that I have developed from central america and relaxing! My friend Katie called me though and wants me to head out with her tonight..so I'm going to get ready and probably head out to meet her tonight!! hehehe later!

Date: Sunday the 9th, 11pm

Well thursday night was super!! I ended up calling in to Nicole's neighbours and luckily Praveen came out with me to Old Town Alexandria to meet Katie because when we left the apartment and walked out to the street the entire place was covered in 6 inches of SNOW!!! What the hell is going on!! ok i knew it was going to be cold here but that's just ridiculous!! SNOW!!! it's bloody freezing here!! I was sliding all over the place in the snow and ice and so we eventually made it to the pub and met Katie for a few drinks and a chat to catch up on old times in Dublin!! what a fun night that was!!

Friday I decided to take the day off sightseeing!! well I'd been out for the last week every day seeing something and every night going somewhere so I just took the bus to Georgetown with Nicole to see the hotel where she works and had a walk about in the town. So in actual fact I still did some sightseeing!! heheheee I guess I just can't get away from it! So I was planning on going to the bookstore and getting my lonely planet for South East Asia only because of the snow it was bloody well closed!!! what sorta wuss closes an entire bookstore just cause of a bit of snow eh!! So I decided to walk back home instead of taking the bus! I walked across the Scott Key Bridge and saw a really nice shot of the river and the Georgetown University that I was about to take a picture of when the Presidents helicopter flew over!! So I managed to get him in there too!!hehehe

I made it home in one piece and managed to get a lot of the pictures I've had developed uploaded onto the website so that took a few hours...In the mean time I had arranged with Mike (Nicole's neighbour) to head out for drinks as one of his workmates Don was celebrating his birthday!! So later that night I met Don, Mike and Keith and a few others in this club called "Modern" on M street where we all danced and partied til the early hours of the morning!! That was a fun night, we met loads a fun people and danced all night long!!

Saturday I chilled out a bit too in terms of sightseeing...I needed to get some errands done if you can say that!! So I got my flight changed so that I leave for Chicago on the 15th of Feb instead of the 13th!! Well I wouldn't want to be lonely for Valentines day eh!! So I'll hang out here with Nicole for that!! yeay!! I also managed to get a lift over to Georgetown from Abdul who lives near here and who I met when partying in Modern. I managed to get to the bookstore and buy my book on South East Asia!! Woo hooo!!! Then I needed to check out the hostal situation for Chicago also seeing as I've got no friends there I'll need to get that sorted soon too!! I arranged to meet a 1st cousin of mine during the week who lives here also!! And call Steve and Asri (who I met in Costa Rica) to arrange to meet them on Sunday or Monday!! WOW how much stuff can I organise in one day eh!! hehehee

I managed to get some more stuff done before dropping over to Tim and Praveen (neighbours) and heading out to Dupont Circle for drinks with Nicole, Jen and Dustin, Kallie and Jill and a few of Dustin's friends also. We went to a place called "Buffalo Billards" where the guys played some pool while we all hung out and had a few drinks!! I even made friends with the bar tender who I insulted 'apparently' because I asked him for a drink instead of asking him how he was that night!!! hehheehee So I apologised to Mathew (that was his name) and so we chatted again a few times each time I got another drink. At the end of the night I even managed to get my picture taken behind the bar so that's another one for the website!! I put it up as soon as I can Matt!! hehehee

Sunday morning I was woken up early by Steve calling to arrange to meet me and bring me out today!! That's ok Steve I forgive you!! hehehee So do Nicole and Jen!! well they had to get up for work anyway!! So I was picked up by Steve and brought to a Black Gospel choir mass!! It was fantastic!! It was just like mass at home except the priest was funny and the music and songs were amazing and sung by people who were fantastic singers...and you could clap your hands and sing along and almost dance too!! It was a lot of fun! We met up with Asri and Hiatt and all went to brunch afterwards to a delicious restaurant before heading up to see the White House and check out the American History Museum for a while!! Later I was dropped home and had a message from Jacques (another one of Nicole's friends that I know) and we met up and went to the local Irish Bar for the Sunday Pie and a Pint offer!!

I had a yummy Shepards Pie and a Pint, so we hung out there for a while before I headed home. Kallie was home when I got back and we decided to head upstairs and check on Mike and Dan!! Mike was still in New York but Dan was having a dinner with all his mates from the Italian Club he's in!! So we got invited in to have some very alcoholic desert and a great chat!! We met all the guys and had lots of fun chatting with them all!! At the end I just had to take a picture of everybody for the website!! So that one is coming soon guys!! heheheee Right I'm off to bed and have a long day tomorrow as Nicole has the day off!! Sweet dreams!

Date: Thursday the 13th, 11am

So we finally got a good nights sleep on Sunday night and Monday morning we got up to go sightseeing for the day as Nicole had her day off work!! woo Hoo!! We walked out to the Arlington Cemetry and past the Iwo Jima (the huge bronze momument of the American soldiers trying to raise the American flag on Mount Iwo Jima I believe it was. So after a nice walk around there we went to the grave site of President J.F Kennedy and his wife and children too. Now I've seen where he was shot and buried!!! We also saw Robert Kennedy's grave and witnessed a 21 gun salute at the gravesite of someone who was being buried there!! We walked around to the grave of the Unknown Soldiers also and saw the changing of the guards which was interesting!! Those guys are like robots the way they walk and the way the guy in charge inspected the new guard to take over!! very weird!

So after all that sightseeing we decided to head to the cinema for a nice sit down and drool at Colin Farrell. We went to see 'The Recruit' with Al Pacino and of course Colin Farrell (he's from Dublin you know!) So it was really funny cos it's about the CIA (which is based in DC) so loads of the scenes were set in places that I'd just visited over the last few days! hehehee Then one scene Al and Colin are sitting right in front of the Iwo Jima (we'd just been there an hour ago!!) ok so we were a bit too excited about that!! hehehe Anyway later that evening we got ready and were picked up by Steve ( a guy I met in Costa Rica White water rafting!!) who lives in DC too!! So we headed over to Steve and Asri's place and had a fantastic dinner of Salmon, potatoes and salad!! I am being spoiled here!!! So we had a wonderful evening and then later headed home.

Tuesday I got up in the mornign and as Nicole was working I headed out to the air and space museum which was really cool!! There was loads of planes and rockets and space capsules on display and even a flight simulator which i had to go on of course! It was really cool and I had a fun few hours in there before heading home as Nicole was finished work at 7pm and we were heading out for Karyoke that night!! hehehee so we were told about a place called 'Japone' that had karyoke and decided to head there for a laugh! Well this place turned out to be a Japanese Restaurant that also had Karyoke in it!! Of course it did! So we thought about leaving and then decided what the hell we'll stay and see what it's like!

In the end we had a great night, had a few bottles of wine, some delicious chicken and rice and sand lots of songs too!! probably far too many in the end! We got home at a very late hour after a really fun night!! Wednesday morning I decided enough was enough and stayed in bed!! hehehheee I spent the day trying to update the website and check my mails and crop and resize all my photos that I had developed in order to ahve them up on the website as soon as I could! Then it turned out that they all have a white background on the pictures sop I haven't put them up cos I'm not happy with them!! heheheee I'm just a bit too fussy I think! anyways...

Wednesday evening when Nicole finished work we had arranged with Mike, Don and Keith to head out salsa dancing! So I found a place on the salsawed website that was open on a Wednesday in DC called 'Bravo Bravo'. It was a huge big club with two big dance floors, loads a tables and chairs and about five bars I believe! So we stayed in there for the night and I had a few danced with all the guys and even danced with a few other guys in the club that were good dancers!! ahhh it's great to be dancing again!!! So we danced until about 2am or so before the manager gave us all free VIP passes for next time we wanted to go!! unfortunately I'm leaving in a few days and so I wont be able to make use of the passes but Nicole and the guys better!! I think they enjoyed it too!! and even said that they'd go back!! hehehee cool!!

Date: Saturday the 15th, 11am

I'm just about to head off to the airport but first I'll fill you in on the last few days!! Lets see Thursday I woke up kinda late...hmmm...yeah I see a pattern emerging here!! anyway I headed into the city and went to the Holocaust Museum and saw the most horrifying sights in there!! It was a real experience to visit the museum and to be honest words can't descibe it ...so that's all I'm gonna say, you have to go there and experience it yourself!

Later on I headed back home and met up with Nicole and we got ready before heading out and catching the Metro to visit my mom's cousin Sean who also lives in DC!! I just knwo soo many people here it's crazy!! hehehe So we had a beautiful dinner with Sean, Marita and Eamonn and caught up before we hopped on the train and headed out to Dupont Circle again to meet Rob, Ringo and Kevin for a few drinks. These guys are friends of Dan (Nicole's neighbour) who I met a few days ago at their apartment. We ended up having a few drinks and then heading to IHOP for breakfast until Dustin (Jen's Boyfriend) picked up at 4am and drove us home!! heheheee what a fun night that was!!

Friday (Valentines Day!!) we went back in the see some more sights and Nicole and I went to the Art Museum for the day before heading home and getting ready to go out and party for my last night in DC and of course Valentines day!!! hehehee So we decided to made Fado's ( the Irish Bar) the base for the evening before we headed out somewhere else to dance for the night! We had a delicious meal there and met up with Jen and Dustin, Jaques, Katie, Don, Mike and Keith!! Also bumped into Mark the Irish guy that we had met there before!! So we all had a fun night there until about 10pm before we headed out to find a club to go to to dance the night away!!

So then we went Home!! No not really home we found a cool club called 'Home' that apparently is the cool place to go to now in DC as well!! hehehe So we stayed in there and danced to all sorts of cool songs for hours before heading home to bed!! I had a good nights sleep and then this morning said bye to everyone including Nicole and sorted my stuff out for Chicago!! The snow is starting to pick up though and so I checked that my flight was still on schedule before Jen ever so kindly dropped me to the airport. Whata fantastic time i had in DC!! I absolutely loved every minute of it and will miss EVERYONE THERE a lot!!! I'll be back for sure!! someday!! heheheee

City: Chicago.
State: Illinois, IL.
Arrival Date: Feb 15th.
Date: Tuesday the 18th, 12pm

Well lets see now!! I got to Chicago on the saturday after leaving the cold snow of DC and well there wasn't as much snow here but it was bitterly cold!!! Oh my god I couldn't get over how cold it is here!! So besides that the transport from the airport was pretty cool!! I got off the plane and knew the address of the hostal that I wanted to go to as I got the directions off the hostaling international website before I left DC!! So it was simple enough really, I just walked through the airport and followed the CTA (Chicago Tansit something or other) signs and was led straight to the trains!! I hopped on and in about 45mins on the Blue line I was at my stop! I just had to walk about 3 blocks to the hostal and there I was! Simple and it only cost $1.50!! god I'm good!! heheehe

As I was checking in another girl called Michelle was checking in too, so we got talking and then later on she mentioned that she was going out with a few friends of hers that live here and asked if I'd like to join them!! Sure why not!! hehehe So we were picked up by Nate who was driving and then there was Adam (these two guys are in a band together) and then there was Doug who was Michelle's friend! So we went to this bar in the complete middle of nowhere called Hideout ...I think...and it lived up to it's name! there was no way in a million years I would've ever found that place if the guys hadn't brought me there!! So it was kinda cool! Doug's friend was the DJ and she played some really cool songs too! There was a very interesting group of people there with very interesting dancing techniques!! definitely has to be seen to be believed! But Adam actually looked like Jack Osbourne (as in Ozzy's son) well I thought so anyway (sorry Adam!!) hehehee and this place looked like all of the Osbournes friends were there!! hehehe But I liked it and had lots of fun with the guys and we all got home very late!!

Next day (Sunday) I went sightseeing with Michelle as she had a day off before she had her conference. We went to the Field Museum for the day and saw the 75Million year old Dinosaur 'Sue'!! Now that was something!!! They had the actual bones there reconstructed... although they were missing a few and these had been recreated for the full effect! It was huge and really cool!! Then we walked around the rest of the museum for the day and saw lots of cool and interesting sights! On our way back home we had to walk a few blocks after we got off the 'L' as they call it there ...you know in every city they have a different name for the underground or Tube or Metro or El ...can you not just pick one name for the train in your country and use it everywhere!! The States are definitely...em.. interesting to travel around in!! anyway it was far too cold and we were hungry after a day sightseeing so we went and had dinner to thaw out before heading back to the hostal!

Monday I got up pretty late but had to get myself back on track and so I went to the Planetarium, The Aquarium and stood in the Michigan Lake, I think that's the name of the lake anyway!! So the Aquarium was really cool!! There was one floor that had all types of fish from everywhere in the world!! Then in the centre of the first floor they had a big tank with all sorts of Carribean fish and a few times during the day a diver would go inside the tank and feed the fish and answer questions and that as they had a microphone and hearing aid thingy that worked underwater!! It was really cool!! They didn't have scuba gear though cos of course they wouldn't have been able to talk if they had a regulator in their mouth now would they!! Basically they just had a line from the surface that they used to breathe and a microphone in the mask too so they could talk!!

After all that I went to the Oceanarium where they had a Dolphin show which I loved!! Then another few tanks with Sea Otters, Seals, Penguins and Sea horses!! But the best of all was the Baluga Whales (I'll need to check my spelling on that one!!) But they where just amazing!!! There was one that kept coming to the surface and just sitting there looking out at us and almost talking to us!! It kept making these noises and opening it's mouth and sticking it's head right out of the water and just sitting there!! I was about 5 feet away and I just wanted to jump in there and swim about with them so much!! I was trying to imagine what it was thinking and how cool it'd be to know and be able to communicate back with them, not just in signals and that.. like retrieving a frisbee or make a splash or something but to have an actual conversation!! anyway enough babbling about that I think!!

After that I went and walked on water ....ok so it was ice but I can still say I stood in the Lake or on it at least!! It was completely frozen!! See it is bloody cold here!!! Well I wouldn't have done it normally but there was a couple out there on the ice with their kid and video camera so I figured if they didn't fall in then I'd try it too!! hehehee They didn't so I asked them to take my picture standing on the frozen lake!! It was really cool out there and the ice was amazing!! It kinda reminded my of Superman when he goes to that place made of ice to get the crystal thingy!! hehehee yeah I'm so good at describing things!! hehheehe well anyway that's what it looked like on the ice!! all jaged and in spikes and stuff!!

That night I met up with Carol from Scotland and another girl from the States and we all went out for drinks in the local (used to be Irish) bar...yeah dont ask...anyway we had a few drinks before we met up with three Chicago boys... Declan, Brian and Patrick....wonder what they were doing in the Irish bar with names like that!! hehehee anyway we started having a few drinks with them and before we knew it we were heading off to another bar on the other side of town for one before close. This bar was full of CPD guys on their night off or after finishing work so i felt pretty safe in a bar full of Police!! hehehee what a fun night!!

Tuesday, today.. I got up and went to the Library to make some use of the free internet there but it was up to much really and you only got half an hour before someone else got a go, then you had to sign up again and the next time slot was in about 2 hours so I packed that in and went to lunch. Then I went over the other side of town to the Hancock Observatory which was pretty cool!! I had a great view of the shore where all the ice on the lake was frozen and the rest of the city too!! Pretty impressive view!! After I took a walk along The Navy Pier which would have been nice if it was absolutely freezing cold! I really couldn't stay there for long it was just too cold!! So I headed home and had some dinner.

After dinner I had arranged to meet Tiziano for a drink. ok I'll explain, when I was in DC I met up with Dan and Mike, Nicole's neighbours! Dan is in an Italian club and Umberto is one of his friends in the club! So when I met all the guys from the club Umberto gave me Tiziano's number and said hey you must give him a call and meet up for drinks when you get to Chicago! So we did!! hehehee kinda funny looking for someone you've never met before!! But we met up and went for a drink in the fancy bar on the top of the Hancock Observatory!! Which was really cool cos it was night time this time so you could see all the lights of the city!! Then a few clouds would pass by and it was all white outside the windows and you couldn't see out!! Really cool! So after I headed back to the hostal and sorted out all my stuff for my flight to LA!! Thank god I'm getting out of this cold!! It's just too much!!! LA here I come night night!

City: Los Angeles.
State: California, CA.
Arrival Date: Wednesday Feb 19th.
Date: Saturday the 22nd, 2pm

oh thank god for this weather!! The flight here was pretty nice and not long ...only four hours! Again I picked up a list of the hostals in LA and decided on the one in Santa Monica which is right by the beach!! YEAYYYY!!! hehee I had no idea how to get here though but figured it out fairly quickly after I picked up my bag I asked a nice lady at the information desk how I could get to Santa Monica from the airport and you know what it was only half an hour away!! woo hoo!! I was directed to the free shuttle (i love that word free!!) to the Bus Depot, then from there I just had to hop on 'The Big Blue Bus'!! eh and that's not just a name the nice lady gave it...that exactly what it's called!! heheee So I paid my 75cents and hey presto I was two blocks from the hostal!! Excellent!!!

I was really expecting to pay tons for a taxi or have some madly complicated trip out here cos everyone says 'oh you cant get around in LA without a car!!' I think it's fine!! heheee So I got myself checked into the hostal and met up with two Ozzies, three English and a girl from the States in my room so funnily enough we ALL went out for drinks and chicken and chips in the local English pub!! Does anyone see a pattern emerging here!! I seem to be spending far too much time out in Clubs and Pubs for my liking!! Doh!! Anyway it was great fun and when chatting to one of the English guys Tom I found out that last year he was standing about 15feet from myself and my little brother in Dublin! How you ask!! well I'll tell you!!! He works as a sound engineer for a load of cool bands and has just finished the tour with David Grey here in The States, But last year he was in the sound tower in Witnness (a huge music festival in Dublin) and I was standing right at the bottom of the tower for a while too!!

So we chatted all about the bands that played and what we thought of them and the sound and stuff!! it was really funny and he was a really cool guy to chat to! Later we met Dean adn Jim from England also and ended up having a few with them for the rest of the night when the guys went back to the hostal. What a fun night in LA and the weather is so warm here it's fantastic!! hehehee I got up on thursday very late as I got to bed very late too but after breakfast I headed off down the beach for a nice walk in the sun! OH my God the amount of weird freaky people here is just unbelievable!! I couldn't get over the amount of homeless and just plane insane people there are about here!! Definitely has to be seen to be believed!!

After my walk I headed back to the hostal and did some food shopping, had some dinner and watched a bit of TV before chatting to Basil one of the guys I had met in the pub last night and arranging to do some sightseeing with him on Friday! Pretty chilled night thursday was! But I needed it after Wednesday!!hehehee

Friday morning I got up and met Basil at about 10am and then we headed off to do some sightseeing Downtown!! Yip we took the bus as far away from Santa Monica as possible I think and went walking about to see the sights! We walked through the city for hours and saw Chinatown, City Hall (which apparently is used in the TV version of Superman), the Disney Opera House which just looks amazing but still being built! We went into the Central Library, Grand Central Market, Union Station and even headed up to Dodger Stadium but we couldn't get in as everything was closed!! We headed home then on the bus past the many homeless, weird and just insane people here in LA!! Definitely has to be seen to be believed. I just chilled last night before watching a movie before heading to bed.

Date: Tuesday the 25th, 9am

Well this morning I'm flying to San Francisco!! But for now I'll finish off with what happened in LA for the last few days! I just chilled out on Saturday and finally got the website up to date only to leave it go again for the last few days! that seems to be what happens here in the States as the internet access is so crap that I can't get access very often!! then they have these crappy machines in the hostals that are really expensive too!! anyways Saturday was a chilled day I just did a bit of food shopping and then met Joe (a guy I dived with in Belize) for dinner, we just had a few drinks and played some pool and chatted before I headed back to the hostal for the night. I ended up chatting to the guys Brandon and Brian for a while before heading to bed! they're funny guys! Oh and a big thank you to them for looking after me at the hostal! I had lots of fun hanging out with them too!

Sunday I got up and decided to head out to Beverly Hills for the day. So I hopped on the bus and walked along Santa Monica Boulevard (as in the Sheryl Crow song), then I walked along Rodeo Drive, up to the Beverly Centre (the Brandy sings about on her album). I walked further down Santa Monica Blvd until it looked like women suddenly became extinct!! hmmm apparently I was in Hollywood West and it was just me and loads of interesting guys and even more interesting shop windows! I continued on past Melrose Place and eventually took the bus back home to the hostal. Well I wanted to see all these fancy places but they were nothing special really and everything was far too expensive to buy anything there. A bit disappointing really!! Later in the evening I just had dinner before watching 'Point Break' in the movie room and chatting to Brian for a while before heading to bed.

Monday I went to Hollywood for the day, I hopped on the bus and the metro to get there and then finally got to the street that's paved with Stars!! I saw the Hollywood sign up high on the hills and all the footprints, handprints and autographs in the cement of lots of famous people!! that was kinda interesting!! After that I decided to check out the Ripleys Believe it or Not!! which was ok ...then I went to the Wax Museum which was pretty crap! I walked further through Hollywood and on up to Sunset Blvd before getting a bus home. All in all I though LA was a bit disappointing...maybe cos I didn't do any of the parks as they were too expensive!! I just wanted to see what different parts of the city were like and what there was to do there...I did have fun with the people in the hostal and the guys who worked there though which was good.

Anyway Monday night I met up with Claire and Gabi (two girls from my room) and we went to the local pub for a drink and to get some dinner. We ended up bumping into Dean (a guy we had met the other night there) again and had a few drinks with him too before he headed home and we stayed on to play darts! There were two guys from Spain called Carlos and another guy called Bernie there so we played darts with them for a while until this sleasy guy came in to join us called Giorge (I thin he was Italian or something) anyway after annoying us for a while he left (thank god!) Later in the night myself and Claire decided to head home only who did we see along the way but the Sleasy guy Giorge handcuffed to a chair in 'Starbucks' with the alarm going off and not two or three OR Four but Five Police cars out to arrest him!! We quickly legged it home and made sure that he didn't see us on the way past!! Ahh that was funny!!! So now I'm off to the Airport!! and off to San Fran!! Woo hooo!!!

City: San Francisco.
State: California, CA.
Arrival Date: Feb 25th.
Date: Thursday the 27th, 10.30am

I finally got to San Francisco!! Then I left!! heheee While I was on the plane I decided not to stay here!! hehehee that may seem a bit harsh you might say ...well I actually decided first to head straight to Lake Tahoe instead to meet up with my old friend Shannon who I met in Chile!! I hopped on a bus to the downtown bus station where the Greyhound also ran from!! luckily enough! However as soon as I got to the station I realised I had missed the bus to Truckee by 15mins only!! ah well...so I walked a few blocks and found the HI downtown which was quite nice and so I got settled in and found the lounge where I met Ronen (a nice chap from the States). We got chatting and he asked if I wanted to head over to the Irish bar and catch some music and have dinner and a drink?? why not eh!!

We had a fun night but I was pretty tired so I headed to bed after that at about 11pm and had the best sleep I`d had in ages!! The beds in that place are great!! Really comfy and they give you a duvet and not just a blanket!! pity it`s still $25 a night though! Anyway Wednesday morning I got up and made my way to the bus station and made the 5 hour bus journey to Truckee California. This is just around the Lake Tahoe and when I hopped off the bus I was met by Otter (Shannon`s boyfriend). We took a quick stop at the skate park before heading over to his friends house where I would be staying for the next few days! There I met Dan, Squaw, Jackie, Trish & Kevin and a few others. These were my new room mates for the week!

It happened to be Dans birthday so we went to the local Sushi bar where Shannon happened to be working and had dinner there! It was great to see her again and I am really looking forward to hanging out with her for a few days. The sushi was yummy and we had plenty to eat along with some saki to drink before heading back to the house in the SNOW no less!!! It`s bloody freezing again!! but that`s ok cos I`m going Skiing!!! heheheee So I just hung out at the house after that and had a chat with the girls and a drink before Shannon called over. I was pretty tired so we just went to bed! I had my new bed on Jackie`s floor! thanks for that Jackie! and it was very cosy! So this morning we`re off to go skiing!! yeay!!!

Date: Saturday the 1st March, 12pm

WOW!! what a fantastic two days skiing that was!! Thursday was great!! Shannon and I drove to Alpine Meadows after picking up a quick breakfast and she was great!! She managed to organise a complimentary lift pass for me for the day to go skiing, I got demonstration skis, poles and boots for free and she gave me a lend of her ski gear for the day!! So we were off up the slopes together!! woo hoo It was great until I realised what slopes she was bringing me up!! We went up a run called `Summit Six` and yes it was a high one!! eh I would appreciate a warm up run next time Shannon seing as I had only been skiing ONCE before THREE years ago!! talk about throwing me in at the deep end eh!! So I managed to get a quick warm up and after a bit of a shaky start I remembered what to do and we made it down in one piece!!

I decided to take it easy the rest of the day though and do a few of the shorter, easier runs to get back into it a bit!! So I ski`d all day and then headed home with Shannon and took a shower before getting some dinner and an early night! Wow I was exhausted after all that exercise!! I`m so unfit!! heheh Friday we got up early as Shannon had to make sure she wasn`t working at 10am and try and find somewhere for her to live too!! We headed back up to Alpine and I had stored my ski`s and that the day before for a dollar so I just picked them up again and headed out on the slopes again for another day only that day I hadn`t bought another pass I just avoided the guys with the scanners and had a great day again before taking a few runs with Shannon and then taking the bus home.

I hopped on the bus called the TART (yeah that was quite funny) before dropping in to see Trish in `Subway` and getting myself a sandwich for lunch. I relaxed for a while and watched TV until Jackie came home and we went to Safeway for some shopping. I decided to get myself a pizza and some ice cream and just chill for the evening watching TV. I so needed a night relaxing cos I`ve been going non stop and then skiing for two days really takes it out of you!! Today Saturday I had a nice lie in (on the floor) heheee hey I`m not complaining it`s free and it`s warm!! It`s all good! So I popped down to the local library with Jackie to update the site! Shannon is working today so I`ll see her later for dinner probably.

Date: Tuesday the 4th March, 6pm

Lets see well Saturday was fun after that...I hung out with Jackie and the guys for the afternoon before Shannon called over and we went to dinner at `Spindleshanks`!! I had the most delicious prawns, oysters and salad I`ve had in AGES!! it was yummy!!! Later we got ready and headed out to the Biltmore ( a casino) for some drinks and partying before heading over to another pub across the road where a punk rock band were playing!! Two in fact!! Now this was interesting!! There were a load of guys moshing in front of the band and kicking and punching each other (as you do) some interesting clothes and hairstyles too!! I had a great night though and met a really nice guy called Phil who also lived there and worked at Northstar (another resort around the lake).

Even with the late night or should I say early morning, I managed to get up early with Shannon and with a lend of a board from Dan (thanks for that Dan you`re a star!) we headed up to Alpine again so that I could learn to snowboard!! yeay!! hehehee Shannon had the bindings so all I needed was the boots adn a pass for the day. Her boss got her a deal and with a voucher for $20 I got the boots, two boarding lessons and a pass for the whoe day!! WOW it was fantastic!! Shannon is an instructor there so it worked out that I was able to join her beginners lesson and learn to board!! Now that was scary at first!! When you`re feet are locked to the board and you`re heading down the hill!! It feels so alien the whole thing at first!!

I soon got the hang of it though and Shannon is a great teacher so we had fun and I soon mastered my heel edge and toe edge and after lunch and the second lesson I was turning from one side to the other!! Wow!! How much fun is that!! and how sore are my wrists, knees and ass after it all!! hehehee But it was definitely worth it and I had such a great day I stayed there until 4pm when Shannon was finished work and got a lift with her and Otter home. I showered and got myself organised whiel they went to the skate park for a while. Shannon was pretty tired and so was I so I just hung out with Trish and Jackie for the night, went for a drive and something to eat before heading to bed absolutely knackered!

Shannon came over again Monday morning and we headed up to Northstar for the day!! Phil had asked us to come up and gave us comp tickets for the day!! Fantastic! We met him in the restaurant and had a quick drink to warm us up for the day before heading off on the slopes! I went boarding for about two hours before meeting up with Shannon for lunch. It was really nice up there and there was even a Hip-Hop group called `Element` playing outside the restaurant!!! They were cool guys and had everyone of all ages up jammin with them!! Check them out at their website, they were called Element and I even managed to get a picture with them all so I`m looking forward to getting that developed and on the site!! hehehee

Back out on the slopes we went after that and I got a cool picture of Shannon on the Half Pipe before we both boarded back down to meet Phil in the bar for a drink! Now I`m not surprised how things just happen and plans fall into place so this was day was just another one of those cool days!! We started chatting to Phil`s friends Tracey and Mike, had a flaming Sambuca and then ended up going over to Traceys place with a few drinks and getting in the outdoor hot-tub they had there while it was snowing!! hehehee Then we all went to the `Naughty Dawg` for dinner before hitting `Tradewinds` for another drink and a game of pool before heading to bed sometime in the morning!!

Today I got up and said bye to everyone before packing up my stuff and dropping Squaw to work and then getting a lift to the bus station with Shannon. I`m gonna miss it up there a lot!! I had so much fun and it was so beautiful around the lake and all the guys were great fun to hang out with and I hardly spent any money cos they all hooked me up with gear and passes and a place to stay!! How can I possibly say thank you enough guys! I`ll miss you all lots and have to say I had a fantastic time!! take care!!!

So after my bus journey back to San Fran I decided to head for the Fishermans Wharf Hostel which is in a beautiful area and slightly cheaper then downtown hostal!! It had a Safeway nearby so I went and got dinner and funnily enough bumped into Claire (a girl I had met in the LA hostal) and her friend Vicky as they were both staying in my room! mad!! Claire is leaving tomorrow but Vivky said that she`d be up for going to Alcatraz tomorrow so that`s what we`ll do then!! Cool!!

Date: Friday the 7th, 4pm

Wednesday was pretty cool!! I got up and after breakfast which is included in this hostal ..I walked along the harbour to Pier 41 where we bought the audio tour for Alcatraz!! We hopped on the ferry after checking out all the seals at Pier 39 and headed out in the Bay to `The Rock`. It was really cool there and the tour was very good. I saw where they supposedly kept Al Capone, The Bird Man and all other sections of the Prison...it was really cool and there was a great view of the city and The Golden Gate from the ferry. After that we went for lunch in Fisherman`s Wharf before I went on my own for a walk about the city. I walked to uphill to Lombard street (the most crooked street in San Fran) and has been in lots of movies too!!

I walked up to the Coit Tower and had a great view fo the city from that as well before I headed back down to the harbour and walked along the beach back to the hostal. I had to do my laundry and make dinner and unfortunately I had a cold so I took some lemon and went to bed after that. When I woke up Thursday I felt crap!! I guess all the stuff I`d been doing had finally caught up on me and I just needed to take a break. So I checked my mail and had dinner and realxed before trying to call a guy that I had met 11 years ago in Italy!! What!! hang on a minute you`re saying....you met a guy 11 years ago in Italy and you`re trying to call him now!

OK so I figured why not...I was swimming in Italy in the Internation Youth Games and had met these guys from the American team who were running track and field...somehow I still had his address and so the operator gave me his house phone number so I figured well I`ll try to give him a call and see if he`s still here! Well his name is Proinsia Fitzpatrick (yep he`s Irish) so who answers only his dad!! now he has the thinkest Irish accent there is and we chatted for a bit before he gave me Proinsias` mobile number cos aparently he lives over this side if the city!! Cool!! So I gave him a call and he was willing to meet up again that night nearby the hostal! Cool!!

So we met up at `Fiddlers Green` and had a drink and chatted and had a great time catching up on what`s been going on the last 11 years!! hehehee after about 5 hours I eventually got home at 1 in the morning so that was fun and we arranged to meet up on Friday night too!! More partying!! hehehee

This morning (Friday) I got up and had breakfast before hopping on the bus for The Golden Gate Bridge!! and it`s Huge!! I walked across it and boy is it windy up there!! It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining but it was quite windy along the Bridge. There was a barrier up part of the way across but after that there was nothing but a railing just above my waist!! It was kinda freaky cos you could easily hop over if you tried and when I got half way I stopped by the main span and watched it as it swayed backward and forward in the wind!! weird!! I`m gonna give Proinsias a call now and arrange something for tonight hopefully! Later!!

Date: Monday or is it Tuesday!!!

See I`m in Japan now and it`s all messed up but I`ll finish off San Fran before telling you anything about Japan!! hehehee Let`s see Friday night!!! I ended up meeting Proinsias for dinner in an Italian restaurant called `Bocce Cafe` which was lovely before we went for a drink and then met a few of his friends at another cool bar. There was Louis, Paulie, Mamo, Gus, Peter and Art...I think I remebered them all although I`m sure I spelt the names wrong!! ah well... So I got introduced to the group of guys and aparently I was accepted as part of the group by the end of the night!! What a priveledge!! They`re great guys and really nice!! I had a lot of fun hanging out with them all and even got dropped home at some mad hour in the morning!!

Saturday I checked out and packed up...no I wasn`t leaving San Fran just the hostal!! Proinsias had ever so kindly offered to take me out for the day and then let me stay at his place for the night before dropping me to the San Jose airport Sunday morning!! What a great guy!! How lucky am I to have friends like that eh!! So I was picked up and off we went for a drive to Santa Cruz (where `The Lost Boys` was filmed) for the day! First we stopped off at this cool Irish shop and got some Irish Cadburys chocolate!! WOW!! it was yummy!! there`s nothing like that chocolate you know!! I missed it so much but Proinsias knew exactly what you`d miss about Ireland! cool eh!!

So that we headed off along the coast and stopped along the way to chat to some cool Kite Surfers!! woow you should have seen some of them jumping!!! that`s another one for my list of mad sports to try!! heheheee Then we got to Santsa Cruz and went on the rollar coaster and I took some pictures and had lotsa fun before driving back to San Francisco. We went out to dinner then and met up with Gus, Serena, Peter and his wife and Louis and a few others at Fishermans Wharf. After dinner we all went to a Salsa club!! cool!!! I had a few nice dances and even danced with the guys too!! After a few hours we left there at 2am and went to another club where Gus and Proinsias knew the owners and we got the VIP bands for the night!! cool eh!!

We danced in there for a while and I watched all the silicon implants about the place and the muscley guys in string vests!! It was a funny group of people in there but it was interesting to watch and the music was great so we had a good dance too!! what a fun last night in San Francisco!! It was all hours by the time we got home and all there was to do was sleep before I had to get my plane to Japan!! wooo hooo!!!!

Proinsias was great an drove me the whole way to San Jose airport on Sunday!!! That was sooo nice of him and he`s such a cool guy!! I`m so glad me managed to get in touch again after so long!! So that`s it!! no more America!! I got on the flight after lots of checks and tickets and queueing and metal detectors!! The flight was really nice actually, there was nice food, good films on and I watched `Antwone Fisher` story and then `I Spy` ..well that was kinda crap actually...but then I bumped into this really nice flight attendant called Lisa and we chatted a bit too about Costa Rica and my trip and that. What a nice woman!!

It was funny travelling back in time to the start of the day...well that`s what it was on the land or sea below me..only to then cross the International Date Line and end up in the 10th of March!! So I landed in Tokyo Japan on March 10th at 3.40pm!! and hour ahead of schedule!! Tokyo here I come!! heheheee Adios to the States!! I had lots of fun there and will miss everyone I met there a lot!!

Here are the Dallas photos!!
Here are the DC photos!!
Here are the Chicago photos!!
Here are the LA photos!!
Here are the San Francisco photos!!

(Back to my Itinerary.)