I’m just recovering from an amazing (but exhausting!) 2 weeks travelling around America!

I decided earlier this year that with a major (and unwelcome) birthday coming up, I’d arrange to be out of the country for it, and so the planning for a trip to the States was begun! I spent ages working out the trip – flights, trains, coaches, hotels – and surprisingly, it all went really smoothly!

DAY ONE: Chicago

The journey started on the 6th October, when I flew out from Manchester to Chicago. We left the UK on the Saturday morning, and after an 8½ hour flight, got into Chicago O’Hare Airport early afternoon (the magic of time travel! 😉 )

Actually, the descent into Chicago was quite memorable because when you first come through the clouds, you see a cluster of skyscrapers by what looks like the sea, but of course is Lake Michigan, and then from that the city sprawls for miles upon miles. Also, I won’t forget it in a hurry because as we were dropping towards the runway, the plane suddenly started pulling up again, and we went into a massive circle pattern over the city – the pilot told us that air traffic control had accidentally put us on the shorter of the two runways, which wouldn’t have been long enough for our landing, so they aborted right at the last minute! For someone who’s not the greatest flier, that’s not really what you want to hear!

Anyway, we eventually landed and I then headed straight to US Customs, and it was a very long wait! The queue for American citizens moved quite quickly, but the queue for everyone else was incredibly long. And when I got to the desk, I was quizzed about why I was visiting the country, and the guy seemed suspicious of the fact that I was spending 16 days on a holiday, and asked me what I did for a job and how I could afford the time off – but I think I read somewhere that Americans only get something like 3 weeks paid holiday, so that might be why it seemed strange to him!

After making my way through the airport, I took a train to Oak Park – a western suburb of Chicago and less than 10 miles south of O’Hare airport. But I had to get a train to the city centre before heading back out towards where I was staying on another, so it ended up taking about an hour and a half to get to the hotel.

I checked into ‘The Write Inn‘ a small ’boutique hotel’ in a pretty nice ‘village’, about 7 miles out of central Chicago. Then after sorting myself out, headed back onto the L-Train to venture into the city.

The L-Train is the main way to get around the Chicago area – once it gets into the centre, it’s all on raised tracks that run over the top of the streets between the buildings. It’s so cool – and the sort of thing I’ve only ever really seen in films before!

Since it was the evening, there wasn’t lots that I could check out, so I explored the Millennium Park area where they have various public art pieces such as a pool with glass block tower fountains containing large video screens showing the massive faces of different residents of Chicago!

DAY TWO: Chicago

First sign of jet-lag showed when I woke up at 4am – my body thinking it was still UK time! So I ended up watching local TV for a bit before heading into Chicago. As the train came into the city centre, it passed over a couple of streets full of runners since this was the weekend of the Chicago marathon.

I got off near to the park I’d been exploring the night before, and then walked down towards the harbour, and then a bit of a stroll along the waterfront. Like I said before, it was actually Lake Michigan, but really felt like it was the sea, but without waves!

I then headed over to the finish line of the Chicago Marathon and got onto some bleachers along the final stretch to watch the runners complete their race. There was a real mix of runners – from those in fancy dress to some obviously serious participants, and I noticed quite a few Brits come by with Union flags on their running kit! It was a really great atmosphere down there, and I hung around for quite a while taking it all in in the bright sunshine (although it was quite chilly!)

In the evening I grabbed some food in a bar near my hotel – and had what was to become a bit of a regular meal for my trip – steak and chips… sorry, fries! It was actually served with garlic butter, which was basically a blob of solid butter with garlic in it on top of the steak, so I managed to spread it like buttering bread, and I’ve got to say it was probably the most garlicky meal I’ve ever eaten! I was sat next to a TV that was showing some American Football game, but I really didn’t understand any of it, so when the bar owner came over to ask if I minded him changing channels, I explained that I didn’t even know who was winning! When he realised that I’m English, he stayed to chat, and we ended up talking about Premier League football (soccer!) which I had to blag a bit because my ‘real’-football knowledge is only marginally better than the American version!

After my steak and beer, I decided to go and watch a film at a small cinema in Oak Park – it had 7 screens but the only film I fancied seeing was ‘Frankenweenie’, a black-and-white stop-frame animation. It was pretty good, and quirky – although there weren’t many people in the screening, and during it my eyes may have got a bit heavy at times as a result of the jet lag… so I might need to watch some of the middle section again sometime in the future! Also, I made the mistake of buying popcorn, and not realising that in America, you get served salted buttered popcorn rather than sweet, so that wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience!

DAY THREE: Chicago

My final day in Chicago started with leaving my suitcase in the secure luggage area at Union Station, then meeting up with Tim Beavis from my uni-days who now lives about an hour north of the city, so came down for the morning to meet up with me.

We took a walk over the river and headed over to Navy Pier, which sticks out from the shoreline of Lake Michigan, with a few shops, restaurants and fairground amusements, plus a variety of boats and ships docked to the side of it. We went to a cafe for lunch – the Billy Goat Grill – where I got a steak and fried egg in a burger bun with crisps (they didn’t do fries!). It was a bit greasy but tasted good!

After lunch we strolled towards the more retail-end of Chicago, and after the obligatory ‘ask a stranger to take our photo’ moment, Tim had to leave to get back for a meeting. It was nice catching up again because it’d been a few years since we’d last spoken in person, and was interesting to hear what he and Lisa have been up to.

Back on my own, I ended up at The Cheesecake Factory (a place I previously only knew of as being where Penny in The Big Bang Theory works!) and bought myself a nice slab of cheesecake which was pretty delicious!

Still with a bit of time before the next part of my journey, I walked back to the shorefront and carried on until I got to the impressive Soldier Field Stadium which I circled round before eventually making my way back to Union Station.

Having collected my suitcase from its secure locker, I then sat in a decidedly grim cafe in the station for 2 hours doing a bit of people watching until my overnight train was ready to depart.

DAY FOUR: Cleveland

To be fair, the Amtrak train to Cleveland was pretty decent – loads of space, a soft reclining seat, and free wi-fi! I didn’t sleep – partly because I was worried about missing my stop – but also because I didn’t want to be caught snoring on a train! Across the aisle from me was an Amish family, which I found pretty fascinating – they were dressed exactly how I’d seen in films and TV, and I’ve since discovered that Ohio has the largest Amish population in America. Anyway, I finally got into Cleveland station around 5.30am, where waiting to pick me up was Tim Karas, who’d I’d met a few times before when he’d been over in the UK visiting Vinelife and Reach. Tim lives in Cleveland, so offered to let me sleep on his sofa, and show me around the city – but first of all, I grabbed a few hours sleep before doing anything!

The first thing we did was head down to get breakfast at the West Side Market cafe – a little cafe based in the historic West Side Market building – and the bacon and eggs were pretty welcome after a long overnight journey! It would have been cool to visit the market too because it looked really interesting, but it was closed that day so I only got to see it through the glass door from the cafe!

After breakfast, Tim drove us through the centre of Cleveland, and then down to the lake-front, and we made a quick visit into the ‘Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame‘, which is a really cool museum celebrating the supposed birthplace of rock and roll. Inside the main lobby once you go in, they had a really cool display of exhibits from U2’s Zoo TV tour – the hanging Trabants, and neon signs from the stage set. To go and see much more would have meant paying an entrance fee, so I made do with the displays in the entrance and a look around the gift shop!

Then, Tim had to go and visit a friend of his who wasn’t well, so left me at the Museum of Art for a couple of hours to take in some of the exhibitions there. Some of the art was pretty interesting, and they’d also recently completed building a new glass enclosed atrium for public events which was a really cool-looking space.

Next, Tim picked me up and we made our way to eat lunch at the Parkview Nite-Club. I really wasn’t sure what to expect when we parked up and approached the building. It was fine though, and what I found really fascinating was that you often see restaurants try to re-create a really old-fashioned Americana-style look, but here it was all totally genuine, and without any sense of irony! Plastic tablecloths, neon signs, wood panelling, old photos on the walls – the whole lot! But they served good food and beer, and we had a nice chat about lots of things over our lunch!

Then, after we’d eaten, we took a trip to the beach!

I say ‘beach’… I guess really it was a bit of the waterfront to Lake Erie, although it was actually called Edgewater Beach, and if you didn’t know it was a lake, you could think you were on the coast with the water slightly lapping up on the sand. Even though it was a brisk October day, the sun was pretty bright and it really did look nice, although I wasn’t tempted to go for a paddle! We went for a bit of a walk around the park, ending up on a little boardwalk, taking in the view of downtown Cleveland.

Then, Tim took us for a drive just south-west of Cleveland down the Valley Parkway, a bit of a green wilderness following the Rocky River right on the edge of the city. With it being the autumn, all the leaves were those beautiful autumnal colours, and looked really pretty. We stopped up by the river just to take in some of the atmosphere of the place, and it was nice to be away from city-life for a short time!

For the evening, we met up with Tim’s girlfriend Ariel, his brother Bryan, and his friends Rick and David to eat out at an Italian in the city called Luxe Kitchen & Lounge. Now, I’m not renowned for being particularly adventurous with my food choices, but I did manage to find food on the menu that I liked! It was a nice evening, meeting some of Tim’s friends and having some really interesting conversations with them all.

After we’d done with our meal, we moved on to dessert by visiting Sweet Moses Soda Fountain & Treat Shop, a really cool bar-like place, serving handmade ice creams and sodas. I went for an amazing sundae with chocolate and nuts, topped off with cream and a cherry… it was delicious!

And then to round the evening off, we went to the ‘Stone Mad‘ pub, a bar with a bit of an Irish influence, and Tim’s local! I stuck to drinking lager, whilst he went straight for the Guinness! One thing that really stood out in there was a crazy painting they had on the wall, that just looked more and more wrong the longer you stared at it!

DAY FIVE: Niagara Falls

So my fifth day started off in Cleveland and ended up at Niagara Falls!

First thing, Tim drove me down to the bus station (via a local coffee shop for essentials!) to catch a Greyhound bus which took me to Buffalo, and then I had a bit of a wait before getting another bus to complete the journey to Niagara Falls. Travelling on the Greyhound was pretty interesting – there was a real mix of people on there, some like myself probably doing a bit of travelling, but there was one family who got on with loads of boxes who looked like they were moving house! There were also a couple on there who were arguing and shouting quite a bit, but luckily they weren’t on the bus for the whole journey!

All in all, it took about seven hours to get there, and then I had to walk for a bit to try and find my hotel using a map I’d downloaded. I got a bit lost at first, but eventually checked into the Days Inn hotel, before walking down to the falls to take a quick look.

It’s fair to say that what greets you is a pretty amazing sight! The sheer power of the water going over the edge of the American Falls is absolutely breathtaking, and the noise – so incredibly loud! I took a few pictures to stick on Instagram before heading back to the hotel for an early night before properly exploring the following day.

DAY SIX: Niagara Falls

I started the day with breakfast in Denny’s diner which was attached to the hotel, and I’m not totally sure what arrived at my table!

It was a cooked breakfast with french toast, but there seemed to be a blob of cream or similar on the toast, and it was also covered in icing sugar! Of course, there was also the maple syrup for the bacon (which didn’t get used for that purpose!), but once I’d separated the sweet and savoury, all was good!

After breakfast, I headed back to the falls, which was only about a 5 minute walk from the hotel, and took a load more photos before making my way onto the observation tower, which has a platform that juts out from the American side, 86 metres above the bottom of the gorge. It allowed me to look back at the American Falls, and also to see a much clearer view of the Horseshoe Falls.

I’d also bought a ticket for the ‘Maid of the Mist‘ boat tour, so I made my way down the tower to the queue for the next available boat. Whilst waiting, we were all given a rather fetching blue poncho to help keep us dry from all the spray from the falls.

The view from the boat was amazing, and you really got a sense of the power of all that water. I was glad to be wearing the poncho because there was a lot of spray. Foolishly, when we got off the boat I got rid of the poncho, without realising that there was still a high chance of getting very wet! When you get off the boat, there’s a path that leads to some steps that take you right up the side of the American Falls, so obviously I just had to go up there to take more photos – even without full spray protection!

I was glad I did, because even though I got totally drenched through, it was spectacular to see it close up, and the sound was deafening! Unfortunately, my camera got a bit wet too, and some of the buttons started playing up, and as I was taking a look at it back at the bottom of the steps, I managed to drop it, which caused the zoom lens to jam open into an odd position, but then the camera wouldn’t then operate, and I couldn’t get the lens to retract back into the camera. I was pretty gutted because I still had quite a lot of my trip to go, and I’d bought the camera a few weeks ago especially for this holiday!

So I went back to the hotel to let the camera dry out a bit, and did a load of Googling on my phone to try and work out how to fix it. Eventually, by applying a bit of force to the lens, it went back in, and then seemed to be okay – the after effects of the water remained slightly with the mode dial being one position out from the relevant menu icon, but I soon got used to that!

Later that afternoon, I went to the Cave of the Winds, which despite its name, is nothing to do with a cave! You take an elevator down to the Niagara river and the foot of the falls, and then follow a series of wooden walkways across the rocks between the Canadian and American Falls to the base of the Bridal Veil Falls. It was pretty slippy, and I got very wet (even with my lovely yellow poncho), but it was definitely worth doing! Straight after that I went to the Adventure Theatre to watch ‘Niagara: Legends of Adventure’ – which was pretty cheesy, but I guess I learnt some facts about the falls from it!

Then I took a trolley bus from the visitor centre at Prospect Point over to the Aquarium of Niagara. It wasn’t massive, but there was an interesting collection of fish, penguins, seals, and sea lions. I got to see a show with the sea lions, and then before I left, I got to see some of the rescue seals during a presentation in the Rescue Harbor.

All the attractions done, I went back to the hotel and edited a video of my 2 days on an editing app I downloaded for my phone, and uploaded it to Facebook!

DAY SEVEN: Atlanta

Day seven was an early start, with a taxi picking me up from the hotel just before 6am to take me to Niagara Falls train station, to then get the 7.05am Amtrak train to Buffalo Airport. It started off well – I made sure I was nice and early to catch the train, and ended up sitting in the end car with some of the staff since my journey was pretty short compared to most of the passengers. I arrived at the destination station at 8am, with the plan to get a cab from there, taking me the final 3 miles to the airport.

However, I quickly realised – as I stood in an empty car park – that there was no taxi rank, and the only way I could get there was to walk! So I set off, pulling along my suitcase (thank goodness it has wheels!), and head towards the airport! It took me about an hour to get there, and it was actually quite an interesting walk, passing house after house with really extravagant Halloween decorations – they make more effort with that than we do with Christmas decorations!

Luckily, my flight wasn’t until 11.45am, so I got there in plenty of time, and caught my flight to Atlanta via Charlotte without any hassle.

After a full day of travel, I finally got to Atlanta – which has a ridiculously big airport! After navigating my way through there, and after I’d collected my bags, I met up with my friend Emma (who used to live in Manchester but now lives in North Carolina) who had driven there in her truck, and we drove the couple of miles to our nearby hotel. After sorting ourselves out, we then ate out at Ruby Tuesday which was only about a 10 minute walk away – although over a couple of junctions not really designed for pedestrians!

DAY EIGHT: Atlanta

First real day in Atlanta, and we drove into the downtown area, and after parking up walked over to Pemberton Place, which is right next to the Georgia Aquarium and the Coca Cola museum.

Emma had just bought herself a new DSLR camera for her birthday, so we spent a short while getting it set up and then taking photos of some musicians who were playing drums and sax by the entrance, before heading over to the aquarium.

And it was massive! Especially compared to the one in Niagara Falls I’d been to a couple of days earlier! We spent a bit of time looking round various rock-pools that had lots of different fish and sea creatures in, before moving onto the penguin area, where they had these perspex ‘bubbles’ where you could basically go under the floor, and pop your head up alongside the penguins! Then we went through an underwater tunnel, like you find at the Sealife Centres, where you see the fish swimming all around you.

As part of our admission, we got tickets to go and see the dolphin show, which is called ‘Dolphin Tales’, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. And to be honest, what we then got to see, it genuinely wasn’t what I’d expected at all!

Basically, it was one of the most cheesy things I’ve ever seen! Some wannabe Broadway guy in a cape with flashing lights sang his way through some convoluted plot of star constellations, sea monsters, and a shipwreck, with dolphins jumping at various points, and then racing through the water with their trainers on their backs, like surfboards!

The crowd seemed to like it though – maybe it’s not as cringey to an American audience as it was to a cynical Brit! I guess I’d just prefer something a bit more about the dolphins themselves!

So, after we’d seen everything at the aquarium (and Emma had been round all those machines that squash a coin and emboss a design on it!), we headed opposite to check out the World of Coca-Cola – which is a museum showing the history of the drinks company, since it was first invented in Atlanta.

It was actually really interesting – one of the first things you get to see when you get in is a collection of loads of old Coca Cola signs, posters and artefacts from around the world, and it was cool to see the different styles across the years.

We then went through a working bottling production line where you can see the empty bottles put onto a conveyor by a robot arm, before they’re filled and capped, and then travel on an overhead rail to another part of the building. It was interesting to see – although I think the process had been slowed down here so people could actually see what was going on!

Next on the tour, we made our way into the Vault of the Secret Formula, where the entrance has been made to look like a bank vault, and then you pass through a room that’s a bit like an old chemist’s lab, with loads of old bottles of potions on the shelves. We then went into another room where they show you a short film pretty much telling you how great Coke is, with loads of imagery of Coke over the years, before revealing a big safe that ‘apparently’ contains the secret recipe… although I’m not totally convinced it does!

We then spent the next part of the tour checking out a load of cool artwork and memorabilia, including retro Coke dispensers, vintage delivery vans and even a replica of a Coke machine that went up in one of the space shuttles!

The last room was a big space with the bottles from the production line travelling over our heads, and there were all these stations with I think over 100 different flavoured drinks from all over the world. We tried quite a lot of them – most were nice, but some were pretty gross! It showed how tastes across the world vary so much. To be honest, I felt a bit sick after this bit!

We had lunch sitting on a wall in the park, where I showed Emma that her iPhone had a brightness control because we’d spent the day so far straining to look at Google Maps on it in the bright sunshine, but she didn’t realise that you could change it, and had always had it set to low!

Across the road from Pemberton Park is the Centennial Olympic Park, which was built for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and we took a wander around here, checking out the sculptures and monuments, plus the Fountain of Rings, before heading back to the hotel to get ready for our evening meal.

Emma knew a couple over in Conyers, a suburb of Atlanta about 30 miles away, so had arranged to meet them for a meal that evening, so we drove over there and met them at the Outback Steakhouse, an Australian-themed restaurant on the edge of the city.

The food was good – and afterwards we went back to their house for coffee. It was properly in the middle of no-where… we drove quite a distance in the dark down these never-ending roads, and when we got out of the truck, all you could hear was the sound of crickets, just as you hear in movies! The house was just as I’d imagine an American house out in the sticks to be like – totally just by the architecture and decor. We entered through the kitchen and settled in the living room, where the walls were all floor to ceiling wood tongue and groove, which you don’t really see in the UK nowadays! After an ‘interesting’ discussion with Richard about theology and the American church, we eventually left and drove back to Atlanta.

DAY NINE: Atlanta

Sunday morning started with breakfast at the hotel (including a mouldy apple which was pretty gross!), and then we took a drive back into downtown Atlanta, and went on to the ‘Inside CNN‘ tour at the CNN Center!

Obviously, I love anything to do with behind-the-scenes of all kinds of production, but I think Emma quite enjoyed it too. We got to see the newsrooms and studios of HLN and CNN, plus demos of the presenter’s autocue and the studio greenscreen wall – and it was funny seeing others in the tour getting excited by people disappearing when they stuck a green cloth over their heads! It was pretty quiet because it was a Sunday morning, but it was cool to see around the place. Oh, and they also had the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine in the main atrium which was very cool!

After our CNN tour, we had a quick walk around the Centennial Olympic Park again, with Emma running though the Fountain of Rings. but luckily she didn’t get too wet! We then got back to the truck and headed to the north of the city to go to Passion City Church, which is the church run by Louie Giglio, who used to speak quite a bit a Soul Survivor, and who’s written a few books that I’ve read over the years.

We got to the main building (which was massive!), but were directed to the overflow parking area, which was a multi-storey about half a mile away, and then took a shuttle bus to get there! We arrived just after 11 so the meeting had already started, but we managed to grab what seemed like the only seats left at the back!

Then straight after church, we drove back to the downtown area to spend our final afternoon in the city at Zoo Atlanta. They’ve got a pair of giant pandas which we got to see, and a massive variety of animals and species. It was really enjoyable and it was good to see that the animals generally had a decent amount of space to roam around.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel where Emma finished her packing before she drove home, and I then took the opportunity to wash my clothes in the hotel laundry (in a really old-fashioned top loading washing machine, which meant I couldn’t get everything totally dry!), before going back out to Ruby Tuesday for basically the same meal as on Friday – but this time I got ID’ed when ordering my beer! I’m pretty sure I don’t look that young!! 😀

DAY TEN: Washington DC

Monday morning, and after breakfast I took a shuttle bus to the airport, and then flew to Washington via Charlotte. I’d visited Charlotte during my last visit to America, but this time I only got to take in the airport (which had a pretty cool clock tower in the atrium with rotating planes, hot air balloons and spacecraft). I ended up being delayed by an hour because we were told there was a fault with the plane, so they had to find us a different one! It meant I got to Washington an hour later than planned, but I was actually quite pleased, because the original connection time was quite tight, and I was worried that my suitcase might not get processed quickly enough to make it onto the second plane!

I landed at Reagan National Airport at around 3.30pm, which is really close to DC – it’s basically just over the other side of the Potomac River, and the city’s metro system has a station right in the terminal, so was really easy to get to where I was staying.

Washington DC’s underground (the Metro) is really cool – there’s lots of curved patterned concrete, and it’s really artily lit. And it felt pretty spacious compared to London’s underground system.

Anyway, I got myself to the Waterfront area where I’d booked for 3 nights at the Channel Inn, and I think it’s fair to say this was the one crappy hotel on the whole trip! For a start, it was in a part of the city where I didn’t feel particularly safe walking in, especially after dark, and the hotel was really tatty and run-down – but I’d really struggled to find an affordable place to stay, and I chose this particular one because it also had free wifi, but it turned out that it was so slow, it might as well not been there!

After I’d unpacked, I got the metro to the National Mall for a quick look around and ended up by the Washington Monument, which is massive! As it was starting to get dark, I decided I should head back and sort out what I was going to eat.

I couldn’t find anywhere nearby to eat out (and I’d made up my mind not to eat at the hotel restaurant!), so ended up buying a rotisserie chicken and loaf of bread from a local Safeway supermarket, and took it back to my room to make sandwiches!

Since the wifi in the hotel was so bad, I gave up trying to do anything with my phone, and just ended up watching the Big Bang Theory and election programmes on TV!

DAY ELEVEN: Washington DC

I got out bright and early the next morning and embarked on the Federal Triangle Heritage Trail – which is a DIY walking tour taking in The Old Post Office, the FBI Building, the National Archives, and other various old buildings! I got lost a few times because I couldn’t find a few of the markers, but I think I generally saw most of the interesting ones!

I walked my way back to the National Mall, and then to the Washington Monument again, so took some photos of it in the sunshine, and then some guy offered to take a photo of me in front of it, so I was able to get a photo proving I really was there! Apparently visitors used to be able to take a lift up to the top of the monument, but there was an earthquake in Virginia last year, which caused them to close access because of cracks that appeared in it. I’m no structural engineer, but looked fine to me!

I then crossed the road over to the World War 2 Memorial – there was some kind of event going on there with a large group of veterans. It was quite a reminder seeing them there that soon there won’t be many people around who experienced the war, which I guess it’s why it’s important to have memorials like this so we don’t forget.

Next along the mall is the Reflecting Pool which is a long stretch of water between the WW2 Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. I realised I had a picture of the Lincoln Memorial in my pocket – in the form of a $5 note! I spent longer than I should have done balancing my camera and getting a photo of both the note and real thing together!!

I then walked alongside the pool up to the Lincoln Memorial, where inside there’s a big white marble statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair, and after checking out some of the other areas around the pool, I walked over to Constitution Avenue and followed it until I arrived at ‘The Ellipse’ which is just behind the White House. There was some kind of event taking place on there. Under a small marquee, there was a small band playing music, and a sign saying that it was 40 days of prayer and worship from a group called ‘David’s Tent DC’. It wasn’t that busy when I went past, but it was just after noon on a Tuesday, and I’d imagine there’d be more people on an evening or at the weekend.

So, I carried on to the metal fence that runs along the far end of the White House’s garden, where I was able to see the back of the White House without too much restriction. I mean, there was a decent police presence around, and the road seems to be closed to regular traffic, but they were fine with people taking pictures through the fence.

I then went to the visitor’s centre, which was in a portacabin because the real one around the corner was being renovated, and I watched a pretty interesting short film about the history of the White House, the various presidents, and how their home has changed dramatically over the years – and it felt even more relevant with the up-coming election.

Then I walked around to the front of the building, and I was really surprised at how close you can get to it, and also how small it looks! There were quite a few tourists milling around, plus a protestor with an anti-gay marriage placard just kneeling down with his head rested on a camping chair at the side of the road – but no-one did anything about him… people just walked past him!

I grabbed a bit of lunch at a nearby Starbucks (and made use of their free wi-fi to post on Facebook whilst I had access!), before taking a short metro journey to the Arlington National Cemetery, which has a station right outside.

It was a really peaceful place, and actually quite sobering seeing row upon row of gravestones, knowing that all those buried there are due to conflicts.

I also went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where there was a large crowd of people there watching the guard walking back and forth, followed by changing of the guard on the hour, and then a ceremonial laying of a wreath.

After spending a couple of hours at the cemetery, I took the metro one more stop to the Pentagon, and walked around to the 9/11 memorial they have there, before heading back across the river to take a walk around the outskirts of the Capitol building, which looked pretty glorious in the golden light of the sunset.

Back to the hotel, and it was more of the chicken left over from the day before (hoping it wouldn’t give me food poisoning!) along with a bag of crunchy Cheetos – I’m sure they put something in those to make them so addictive!

I ended up watching a presidential election debate on TV, and I thought Obama came across really well, but we’ll see if he can actually get people to elect him again! One thing that really struck me was how negative all the political TV ads are – they basically just really put down the opposite candidate rather than say what they’d do themselves. And the style of a lot of them is very scare-mongering, which is unusual to see compared to party political broadcasts in the UK.

DAY TWELVE: Washington DC

Wednesday morning, and I decided to go to the International Spy Museum which is located on the edge of the Chinatown district – I walked past a really cool ornate Chinese gate to get there – and I found it really interesting! They had lots of smart things on show, and some of it was proper James Bond level, with things like a lipstick gun, a fountain pen and a lighter with hidden film cameras in them, and even a leather glove with a concealed pistol!

Then I took a bit of a walk around the various buildings alongside the Mall, and after grabbing some lunch, went into the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

They have some fascinating things on show there. As well as loads of early planes, there was an exhibition on the last 50 years of space flight, detailing the space race between the US and Russia. I actually learnt quite a lot there! There were loads of replicas of various spacecraft, plus the actual Apollo 11 command module that took Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon in 1969!

Then late afternoon I took a walk to the Jefferson Memorial, which is situated on a kind of lake just south of the National Mall. It was a bit of a trek negotiating a route alongside busy dual carriageways, but I eventually got there! It’s a pretty cool view – you can see the Washington Monument and the White House across the lake and through the trees.

DAY THIRTEEN: New York

I’d arranged to travel from Washington to New York by train, and it was such a good decision! I got on at Union Station, and got onto the double-decker train… yes, it had an upstairs!! It’s not something I’ve ever seen before, but it’s a really good idea. Not sure whether they’d fit under the overhead wires in the UK, but it’d be good if we could have them here. Anyway, the journey to New York took about 3½ hours, and I really enjoyed seeing a unique view of the terrain and all the different neighbourhoods we passed through (I’d not really seen anything on my train from Chicago to Cleveland because it was dark!)

The route went via Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, and I finally arrived at Penn Station, before taking the subway to 53rd, and then walked the last bit to the Pod Hotel. I stayed there back in 2010, and I thought it was a really great little hotel – modern, clean, and with all the basics that you need, so booked it again for this trip!

After dumping my luggage, I took a walk to Times Square, which seems so busy all the time(!), and then did a bit of people watching at the ice rink in the Rockefeller Plaza. I absolutely love New York – there’s a kind of buzz about it, and I think a familiarity because I’ve seen it in so many films and TV shows over the years. It’s a shame it’s so far away!

Anyway, whilst out, I started feeling a bit rough – not sure whether it was something I’d eaten – so I headed back to the hotel and had a really early night, hoping to sleep it off.

DAY FOURTEEN: New York

Next morning, and the weather really turned. The rain was torrential, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting out and exploring! I took the subway to downtown Manhattan and started off at the City Hall Park, before walking to where the new One World Trade Center tower is being built on the site of the old World Trade Center. The weather was so poor that you could only see the base of it, and the rest of it just disappeared into cloud.

About a street away, there was what looked like a shop but was actually an information centre about the new development, so I went in there (which was respite from the rain) and read a bit about the whole thing. I then noticed that they had free tickets available to the 9/11 memorial plaza which had already been built, but you couldn’t see it behind the building site hoardings. So I got a ticket, then joined a pretty long queue that took you through part of the site, but then eventually to the area containing the two pools which are where the two towers used to be.

Around each of the pools are inscribed names of all those that died there in 2001, and it really brought back memories of watching the attack happen live on TV. They’re also building a museum that contains a couple of the steel columns from the towers, but I don’t think it’ll be opening for quite a while, but you could see in through the big glass windows.

Emma was going to be joining me for my birthday weekend, and with her not arriving until late afternoon, I said I could queue up at the TKTS booth to get us tickets for a Broadway show that night, so she gave me a selection of ones she’d like to go to, because I wouldn’t know what was available until I got to the window. You have to start queueing about 90 minutes before it opens to get a decent choice, and even then, there were still a lot of people ahead of me.

I eventually managed to buy tickets for Mary Poppins, then walked down towards Chelsea and after a bit of investigative work, found the ‘Friends apartment block’ – a building on the corner of Bedford Street and Grove Street in Greenwich Village that was used as the exterior shot for where they all lived, and also Central Perk, which in reality is a restaurant called ‘The Little Owl’!

Emma’s flight from North Carolina to New York via Washington didn’t go overly smoothly. One flight was cancelled and then there was a delay waiting for a runway slot, but we eventually met up back at the hotel a bit after 6 o’clock. We didn’t have much time to hang around because Mary Poppins was starting at eight, so we got ourselves sorted, and headed over to the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street.

The show was really good – and technically, it was stunning. They basically had a 4-storey house on the stage, without a front, like you’d have with a doll’s house, and it raised and lowered depending on whether it was focused on the main house, or the attic room. And at times, it lowered into the stage completely – there must be a really deep space beneath the main theatre! The only thing that I found distracting was the shocking British accents from the two kids – I guess to an American, it’d sound fine, but it was worse than Dick Van Dyke in the original! We went straight back to the hotel afterwards – I think Emma was pretty tired after a day of travelling, and I’d done quite a bit of walking around the city too!

DAY FIFTEEN: New York

The day I turned 40!

I mentioned right at the start that I wasn’t looking forward to my 40th, and my thought process was that if I entered my 40s whilst on another continent, then that wouldn’t count, right? Well, even if that isn’t true, I made sure that I filled up my birthday with loads of things to do!

The first place we went to was ‘The High Line’, an elevated park on Manhattan’s west side. I’d seen a video about it on the BBC website, and decided I wanted to check it out. It used to be an old freight-train route which closed in 1980 and was threatened with demolition over the years until a plan was put forward to reclaim it as a public space, and it eventually opened in 2009, with a second phase opening last year.

It’s such a good idea, and you get a really different perspective on the city, taking in a load of public artwork, and a place where people can just sit and chill. We even saw a wedding party having photos taken! There are also a couple of points where you can sit above a main road with a big window in front of you so you can just watch the world pass by! The High Line is just under 1½ miles long, and there’s a final section that currently belongs to someone else, so it’d be good if that also gets renovated and added to the rest someday.

Next up – a birthday boat trip!

The boat left from Pier 83 on the Hudson River, and we’d bought tickets for a 3 hour cruise that was supposed to circle the whole of Manhattan. But because of high tides, we weren’t able to go through the Harlem River which runs at the top of the island, so when we got to Randalls and Wards Islands, they took us back around and then back up the Hudson River until we got to the George Washington Bridge.

The weather was so much better today, so it was great to be on the deck in the sunshine, taking in all the views of Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You could also now see the final section of the new World Trade Center building, which is still being constructed.

The boat trip was great – except for one thing! Since we were on it over lunchtime, we bought food on there, and I asked for a hotdog – making sure there was no sauce on it – but then they asked me if I wanted onions on it. I said yes, assuming that they’d just stick some fried onions on top of the sausage, but when I opened it, the ‘onions’ were in fact a tomatoey sauce with bits of onion in, which definitely wasn’t what I wanted! Not being a fan of tomato at all, I tried my best to scrape it off the hotdog, but it had properly absorbed itself into the bread, and in frustration, I ended up binning the whole thing! Not sure what I was more annoyed about – going hungry, or wasting my money on an expensive hotdog I’d just thrown away!

Next we headed back towards the central area and had a bit of a walk around (and a trip to Starbucks for coffee and internet access!) before eventually arriving at the Empire State Building. Last time I went to New York, I went up to the top of the Rockefeller Building, because you then get to see the ESB as part of the skyline, but this time I thought it’d be cool to be on the observation deck of the Empire State at dusk… unfortunately, so did everyone else!!

We had to queue for ages to get to the elevator up to the top, and when we got onto the observation deck, it was rammed – a totally different experience to Top Of The Rock! You had to kind of fight for a gap to be able to take photos, but it was really cool watching the sunset from up there, and seeing the city starting to light up.

Once down, we started to look around for somewhere to eat – one of the problems with New York is finding somewhere that doesn’t cost the earth, but does food that I like! We ended up going to TGI Friday’s just off Times Square where I ended up having a birthday meal of steak and chips (for a change!).

It was quite late by the time we were served – and my meal was great, but Emma had to complain because her food arrived cold, so that took the edge off it slightly.

After we’d eaten, we took a short walk to have a look in ‘M&M’s World’ at Times Square, and there were so many varieties of M&Ms in there – it was crazy! I bought a bag of random ones I chose from some giant tubes, and then had my photo taken with a giant M&M – as you do!

We then walked back to the hotel where Emma presented me with a birthday cupcake and other bits and pieces (including glow-sticks!) to round off my 40th in New York!

Not a bad way to spend it to be fair!

DAY SIXTEEN: New York

Final morning, and we had an earlyish breakfast out on the terrace – it was a bit chilly to be fair! One thing with having Emma there is that you end up speaking to random people, which I don’t really normally do! So we ended up chatting to a woman and her daughter for pretty much the whole time we were out there!

Then after breakfast, we headed out and took the subway to Grand Central station.

I think Grand Central station is so impressive – I remember last time I was there how blown away I was by the grandeur of it, and it’s great that it’s been preserved this way. Also, I knew that Apple had opened a store there last year, and wanted to check it out, but unfortunately they didn’t open until 10am, and we didn’t have the time to hang around, so we just took photos before heading back towards the hotel.

On the way back, I bought some presents for Brandon & Chloe, including metal license plates with their names on which can go on their bedroom door, plus I popped into American Eagle at Times Square to buy some t-shirts and a hoodie!

We checked out of our hotel, bought bits for a picnic lunch, and took the subway up to 103rd street so we could eat in Central Park. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn out of the subway station, and ended up walking in the opposite direction through a neighbourhood that I later discovered is Harlem! With us dragging our suitcases behind us, we couldn’t have looked more like tourists if we’d have tried! We got a bit lost, but eventually found our way back to Central Park and we had a picnic (of sorts) in the Conservatory Garden in the top right of the park.

We then walked through a bit of Central Park until we got to 96th Street, and then took the subway to the airport. We’d left it quite late for Emma to get to her plane – I’d still got a few hours before I needed to check in at JFK, but hers was at 4 o’clock, and we didn’t get on the subway until 2.30pm with a journey time of about 50 minutes to LaGuardia! Emma got off at Roosevelt Av-Jackson Heights to catch another train, and I carried on a few more stops to then catch the AirTrain to JFK airport.

I checked in with plenty of time to spare, before boarding my flight and flying back to Manchester. As usual, I was totally unable to sleep on the plane, so just watched a few films, and was finally back on home soil at 7am, desperately in need of sleep!

I had an amazing couple of weeks – not sure whether I’ll get a chance to do something similar in the future… maybe something to do for my 50th (arghhhhh!).