The final part of traveling to and exploring the wonders (mostly nutritional) of the United States of America

This blog post will cover three days and the final three days of my journey. I figure I will post it all in one because the penultimate day I honestly do not have much planned at all other than catching up as best as I can with tv, playing games, and resting my legs as they finally started hurting quite a bit after walking through DC.

21^st August 2015

Boy this bed is superb. I like a hotel room as they have controllable Air con, which means that If at any point in the night, I can just turn it off (and it actually is cool enough that I dont think I will need to turn it on now)
I slept through like three alarms, im not sure if its because im still super hungry or that I am just super tired from the last day/ the last few days of constantl being on my feet but it has meant that I am late for travelling around DC
I figured the plan would be to hit as many free museums as I can, considering getting into DC from here involves the free shuttle bus and then a bus line which is 14 dollars round trip.
The first plan is to get to the Air and space museum in DC and it is actually larger than I thought with some really cool exhibits. This is a museum I can get behind. Highlights were the UAV section and the section which covered missiles mostly US based but I imagine some from other countries. Its really cool to see how long missiles can be in real life.
After that museum I strolled around and saw a mobile mcdonalds and thought that was cool and interesting
I made my way to the Natural history part of the smithsonian which featured mostly animals as well as a nice exhibit where you could walk around with live butterflies. Sadly that cost money and me being a cheapskate, I passed on it. A lot of the animals were models or stuffed or whatever, I like to think that every single real current animal was taxidermied into their current positions and were once real. There was a great moment when a 6 year old asked their dad if they were looking at a real polar bear, I was hoping the dad would explain how taxidermy methods work. They gotta learn sometime right?
After that museum It was already 3m and I wanted to do all the other touristy stuff So I figured I would get to washington monument, walk past the pool and see Lincoln. I saw caiptol hill on the way to Baltimore and sadly the big spire section is still under construction so I felt there was no real point to try and see it again.
Oh god the heat is starting to pick up again, I got to the Washington Monument and while it is pretty cool its just a big tower.
Walking across this memorial pool I saw the free-est of ducks and geese, swimming in the most free (and most murkiest) of water. Equally so, there is a shit ton of shit casually on the side of this pool. Surely ducks don’t poop that much? I was wondering if at the time of the Million Man March or during the Vietnam protests some people had to deal with that and try and avoid it as much as I did.
Got to the Lincoln Memorial, took my shots and read his speech on the side and left. Not much else to say other than a bunch of tourists just hanging out on the seats, bunch of lightweights that aren’t ready for New York walking is what they are.
I angled sharply to the right leaving the Linoln Memorial because I had to hoose between the korean war memorial or the vietnam war, and I figured the Korean one might be more interesting as I know far less about it. It actually was a really interesting memorial, there are a few pictures that I took its essentially meant to symbolise a select few troops walking through a rice paddy field in the country.
On the side all of the countries were listed that were involved in the Korean war and it was nice that I was able to see South Africa listed there, it was not nice that an ass was sitting on it. Ah well. Time to move on to the Luther King memorial
I feel it is owed to Martin Luther King Jr. that a memorial be placed near where one of his most prominent speeches took place, and while it is out of the way and awkward to get to, it does still deliver of an almost full sized carving out of a stone. It really is one of the best places most people should go considering all that he had done for our previous, current and future generations.
The Franklin Roosevelt memorial is a little further on but I did not see anyone continue down towards it. I also had to go as I did not wish to be late or really care to walk much further as my knee was starting to lock up.
On the way back to the Washington Monument I saw an open stage with some sweet modern jazz casually playing. I had to stop around there for a few minutes to see that while I figured out where I could grab some more water.
So drinking fountains really are a thing in Washington D.C. They are almost everywhere around these public spaces, even within the Smithsonian museums.
I forgot to add earlier that I had consumed a Quiznos, It was on the way to Mcdonalds and I figured it would be a better thing to tick off my list. Turns out its just a fancy subway, but no one told me that. I had the chipotle steak and cheese on rosemary something bread. Biggest crime of this store? Its a toss up between a large being 11 inches not a footlong) or they dont actually serve sweetcorn as a veg option.
Through this whole day my mobile phone has been crashing on me so that I would not be able to access this internet at all. I have no clue what caused it but it happened once before and the thing I thought fixed it last time is doing nothing this time. Thankfully 10 minutes before I needed to get to the bus stop and check times it started working again.
Thankfull I thought about this bus line and figured out that it actually went direct to where I needed to go, rather than stop at Rosslyn and take the metro from there, so me being a scrooge I did that, along with the return. It still ends up being a full hour bus journey.
Returning home I find out it is an n call basis for the free shuttle so I had to call them and its an hour wait. Thankfully I arrived two minutes before the guy actually turned up for another pickup, so I snuck on to that journey.
The plan for the rest of the day is to use up the remaining internet that I have ordered and then go to the bar for food and drinks, plenty of drinks (im writing this at the bar and so far I have had a blue moon, a corona, and a makers mark, last call is now so im hoping for at least one more makers mark) .
I got another one
I forgot to add at the bar I also ordered street tacos in homage to the lack of taco bell that I have had. Its not quite my fault as the only one I have seen is on the Dulles toll road which was a Kentaco joint (I did not see a hut). I asked for chicken and they were soft roll tacos, They were pretty good to be honest but I bet they lacked the quality and charm of the dirty greasy taco bell that everyone knows and loves.
One thing I read up about this place is that they are pet friendly but I have not seen it put in to work until now where a lady came from the elevator with their dog, I think thats pretty cool and more hotels should do it, granted it becomes a problem when a dog with fleas arrives and infects the place. They even offer their own custom dog bed with the same type of mattress they use with the actual beds in the place (I still cant get over how a king here is the standard) but I imagine the doggies will not be too impressed with it as it is too hard ( I like a nice hard large bed, named king) plus I bet they are re used and dogs with their territories will all be questionable about where they sleep. But its nice they offer it.
CNN has been completely consumed by this Donald Trump thing In Alabama where in all honesty, it has been nothing but flavour talk for the crowd that appeared. From 8pm until this whole time I have been in the bar it has been nothing but trump, surely something else has happened in the news around the world right CNN? Want to give me an update on that Cyanide that was in Tianjin? Care to give me some information on the failing stock markets? Ok at least give me an update to the scores on the little league world series.
The one person that did chat to me casually at the bar was a lady who is very dedicated to Trump. While I like her style of being an independent (which would be really really cool to see in the current US system) when I casually gve her easy high balls about what Trumps role was on certain arguments (like Foreign affairs, which to me is a deal breaker, being the person the affair is being set upon) she really could not put forward any idea as to what he may be like. Another problem with that is we know Trump is super opinionated while someone like him versus someone like Putin just spells WW3 all over the place. Regadless, we will see, I would love it if he ran independent and then lost very closely to Hillary as it would re-introduce a system which is not just a simple two horse race which I am sure no one is happy with in the US.
CNN is now essentially replaying what they were showing at 8pm (is now 11pm) are they really at the point where they are just rolling old tape even though there is a whole world of news to report? What happened to the credible CNN that I grew up with?

The current plan I have tomorrow is a complete lazy restorative day where I plan on doing nothing and if I can wrangle it properly, get to the other air and space museum where they have a blackbird. But I think that is wishful thinking with the current transportation issues that I have. Who knows maybe I will try the pool, I was planning on going to the gym but screw that with the amount of food I have eaten and the drinks that I have consumed. The next day I do plan on hitting the pool and gym as well as the bar more, two makers mark, a blue moon and a corona for 26 dollars is pretty alright

22^nd August 2015

I had a terrible/great sleep where I kept falling asleep and waking up every couple of hours, it was fun seeing what was on the tv each time before passing out again. I found a channel that showed at least the qualifying of the F1 so heres hoping that they show the actual race as well.
At one point old NJPW appeared on the screen but with american commentary, its safe to say these guys were almost WCW level of hype for almost everything. It was quite entertaining
I half achieved my plan of sleeping the day away but decided to venture to a local village market area where lots of restaurants were mostly to stock up on liquids as well as to buy some chewing gum for the flights (im not making that mistake again)
On the way back I saw a bar and couldn’t help but go in for a few beers and a burger. They asked me how well done I wanted the burger which always seems weird to me, its happened to me every time I order a burger (even while I am typing this in the hotel when I ordered their “executive burger”. Another thing which can be really weird is when the burger finally arrives but instead of fries they give you a bag of potato chips/crisps. That seems like the weirdest/ potentially pretty cheap thing to me. However I was not going to complain as these were some nice jalapeño cheddar flavour and were pretty good. Problem was I ordered this burger medium and while it was kind of medium the burger was pretty soggy and red. I hope that was just tomato juice.
Ohgod I bought way too much food at the grocers. I obtained a big pack of nerds, a bag of cheetos (which by the way proves strong in being able to stain everything in sight) and a payday bar. UGH why add salt to a candy bar, this payday was the hardest thing to finish. I get salt and sweet working together but not when its 90% salt, 8% peanut and 2% caramel
This sheraton hotel has a nice system where if you choose not to have housekeeping come in they give you a five dollar voucher, its a double win for me as I would rather not have housekeeping snooping in on my stuff. The only downside of this place is that there is no minifridge or microwave. Thankfully I am only here for a few days so it does not matter to me but I imagine it would suck if you’re here or a week plus.
I tried using the swimming pool that they have in this hotel, Its pretty small, like 10-15 metres in length and I can stand in the deep end (I am really short) but thankfully I was the only one using it at the time so it was still a nice experience. Except for the fact that the eastern european lifeguard was sort of staring at me almost the whole time, granted it kind of his job but it felt weird. So I only stayed in there for around 25 minutes.
At the end of this trip I should have saved a bit of money, not much, maybe 50 dollars but considering I only took 850 for me as spending money I felt that I have done quite well.
Small panic attack when the printing service at the hotel doesn’t actually work for my boarding pass but it was quickly resolved instantly when the guy let me use his desk computer at the front office to print it out, that was really nice and quick to deal with
At the hotel bar and there is a new guy but he is just as helpful as the previous bar guy. The previous bar guy was really cool because he was quiet but knew exactly when I needed a new drink.
I tried ordering a burger at this place and boy is it large I will in no way finish this meal, I have tried to eat waaaaay too much food today.
The bar lady and her friend were excited to hear a British persons accent, its the first time the fabled British accent has actually worked, fitting that it is the last day

23^rd August 2015

I tried sleeping in late but just couldn’t, which is not helpful as my flight is only 5pm and lands at 7 (only 8 hours flight time) so I would have limited sleep if that
On the plus side NBC or some channel is showing the Chelsea West Brom game.
The annoying part about today is that checkout is before 12 so I actually got to the airport at 11:45, meaning I had to wait around 4 and a half hours to actually board this flight.
I also arrived at the worst time because the check in staff are at lunch and only returned at 2pm, They also suggested to go straight through TSA because in the afternoon it can take up to two hours to get through if you’re unlucky.
Thankfully there is food on the other side and turns out Potbellys is also just another Subway rip off. I wonder which one of these styles of chains came first (its probably subway). I have not had a Starbucks in about a decade by now probably so I figured I should get one in its home country but I forget that a Venti really is large, chugging that down was not fun at all
Finally ready to board and I chose an aisle seat and all set with my chewing gum, dude next to me is similar to the guy I sat next to on the way in to the US, very quiet and kept to himself.
This take off was smooth but jeez the whole way was pretty turbulent, it was not like this at all coming into the US. It meant that with awkward positioning I just could not get any sleep at all, I maybe got an hour at best.
I played more geometry wars 3 until I hit a dead end and decided to restart fez. I really want to play fez gain but every time I do I start remembering what I was able to figure out last time and go ehh. I kind of want to go into that game again as fresh as I possibly can be. At least so far I don’t really remember how to solve many of these puzzles or platforming levels.
So the gum did not help at all with the landing and my ears are pretty bad again, not as bad as last time but we will see how they are when flying in to London.
Now that I am in Copenhagen I have to wait for all the business morning flights to go through before I can figure out where I need to be, in 3 and a half hours time. It makes sense though as this is the next London bound flight by this airline as when I landed their last one was about to depart.
Oh that was close I almost passed out on one of their sofas and missed the flight. Thankfully I stayed up and was able to board.
I really dislike it when people ignore the boarding process, you board the people in the back rows first so they can walk all the way down the aisle, then slowly call out closer aisles so as boarding is a smooth process, no instead you get impatient assholes who queue hop and then stall the entire boarding and make 30 people each side wait for their slow asses to put their bags in the stowaway area and then sit down. There is a reason for the process.
I was sitting next to a superb lady, sadly I probably did not smell the best, she did not speak english at all and I was more interested in trying to stay awake.
Finally made it into the UK and once through border checks it was really easy to find the London Underground and hop on, but boy does the train from Heathrow to my stop take long, I did not realise it would take an hour alone, then I got on a slow train to my house which was a further hour and 15 minutes.
Running on almost 30 hours awake now. I spend 11ish days in a heatwave with barely any clouds in sight and it takes less than 20 mintues being in the UK for it to start to rain. Ah the UK.

This section will be a conclusion piece to end the series of long and boring posts that I created about my trip. There is a good chance it will repeat a lot of the things stated before but with good emphasis. In that they are items which should definitely be considered by other people and myself when I return.

The first and probably biggest thing that I have learnt is that America is huge and there is no way one single trip can cover even a coast, let alone the three cities that I toured through. I feel like I would love to return to New York again but come in the winter time where it is cooler, I imagine more things may be happening and I will be able to explore more of Jersey/New Jersey. The second most important one would be to always plan ahead. If the AirBnB experience in Washington taught me, its that I should make an honest attempt to at least plan on where I am staying for the night.

The rest of the bullet points will follow a more long form version of the previous posts.

Ordering a large is a very bad idea in the US as a large is essentially an XL for us brits, granted things like a quiznos large sub is essentially a foot long so those somewhat match (along with a burger king sandwich). This is mostly telling with beverages, The infamous big gulp really does not disappoint.
While America is the land of variety, there really are only a few major chains that are always located closely around. My biggest regret this whole journey is that I have not had taco bell yet. Its not that I have skipped past it, its that I have not actually seen any close to me. I have settled on some tacos on the final day as a poor substitute (these Tacos are probably better tasting than Taco Bell but wont give me the same dirty greasy feel afterwards)
I really like Americas drinking system with their long pour over the super measured spirits that we have in the UK. Granted if you do some research some bars will actually shark you with the long pour (if the barman pulls his hands upwards with the pour it looks showier but its also slowing down the release of the liquid). Saying that I have not seen that happen yet and all drinks so far have been quite strong and great.
Wise words from my first AirBnB guy held true throughout the day. Always take a full ottle of water with you and try and fill it wherever you can that’s suitable to and if there are restrooms free somewhere then don’t be afraid to use them as 90% of places wont allow you to use them unless you are a customer. While that was truer in some places than others it was a great tip, especially on these hot days that I have been here.
Its interesting the culture difference where tabs are casually created at any bar or restaurant you go to almost instantly, which can be annoying for a scrooge like me who wants to know exactly how much they have spent, so for example: I know how much the tacos were but I have no clue how much this blue moon was, I am estimating 6 dollars, but I do know (from last night) a rum and coke is 8 dollars so I can plan to fit that in later on.
I need to do some more research on actual hotels and ettiquette, I am still unsure if the coffee and tea that is in my room is free to use, there is no information at all on the situation on the internet either.
The street system in the US is really interesting as its almost all block related unless you get to the suburbs where it is more free form. However because it was all the same it was really easy to understand where I was and needed to go (New York became easy to not bother with a map because it was all XX st and X avenue). One thing which is shitty is your crossing system. Because JayWalking is illegal and im not getting popped in the U.S. I end up having to wait every second crossing I need to do. Hot tip, If I needed to go somewhere and a crossing turned red before I got to cross it I would just start zig-zagging my way there, so I wouldn’t impede my forward momentum. I do like the crossing system that you have though, What with its warning of cars want to move and you have X amount of seconds to cross so hurry your ass up. The downside? Cars still turn right or left on your ass and it becomes all awkward anyway.
At first I thought I did not take out enough money (to be honest I didn’t if I was with friends getting drunk everyday) but for Mr scrooge here, I was able to work with around 90 dollars a day for the entire trip. The end result is I should have around 40 dollars for last minute drinks and chipotle for the flight in.
Oh man I definitely want to return to New York City as (I dont think I mentioned this before) all the ladies are pretty super there, with a great mix of Latino, European and Asian ladies. America has a great mix of everything, and I think thats what I like best about it compared to England or Europe.
In America it really is easy to see a class divide, which to me is still a crazy thing to see for 2015. Granted that England does have its council estates and its dodgier areas but it is not a clear cut case as what I have seen in DC and Baltimore. What I will say is Jersey City is definitely a place to go now, while there are still people out on the street, it really is a pretty safe place to walk around in, I walked almost the entire section just to get to Barcade one night semi drunk and nothing out of the ordinary happened other than seeing a cool pavement barbeque happen and me being very awkward walking right through the party.
The next time I return to the US I will have my driving license as it really is a pain relying on public transport, for example getting to an air and space museum only a few miles down the road will either be 20 dollars there and back by uber or up to 20 dollars and an extremely long wait time for DC buses. The second sub thing to note here is that travelling with friends is probably the best idea. While I have been going to gigs and events alone for quite a while now I have found it semi boring and it has been very rare to let loose and get drunk. I plan on doing it tonight because im inside this hotel, the one night in Baltimore with the AirBnB guy because he was real cool and super fun to hang out with and the one time in Jersey City where honestly I should not have because it was a real real dumb idea.
The amount of planning that I did do for this trip was probably some of the best, with transportation, locations (the guys I met up with for the wedding were also last minute booking hotels) as well as sorting out my phone.
Makers Mark seems to be in every bar over here which is awesome, In the UK its regarded as a luxury whiskey whereas over here its nothing really.
America always asks you how well done you want your burger, I mean what? Its ground beef surely it should always be well done? Regardless I still opted to get it medium almost every day.
Bar service over here is really really nice as the bartenders always follow what you drink or keep you company and never hassles you about anything really. Compare that to the UK and its almost always a case of we give you the drink, you give us the money now leave the bar so other people can get in and order drinks

Well that’s it. I hope you guys have enjoyed reading my travels through the U.S.A. It has been a wonderful experience and one I hope to do over again when my funds allow it. My next plan would be to travel through the West coast and Seattle.

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