And so the saga draws to a close…

After sending a couple of letters to Scotrail about being their quality of service when things go wrong, I was awarded compensation of £10. Sure, it doesn’t sound like much but it’s better than a kick up the backside. I’m planning on using vouchers for money off my ticket to Glasgow in May (I’m heading to a Michael Buble concert, in case you didn’t know).

Now I just have another ticketing problem to sort out. I received my ticket for the Proclaimers concert but in the envelope, instead of 1, there were 3. Yes, I could have done the dishonest thing and sold them on eBay but it turns out the ticketing department hadn’t torn the tickets properly. There was my ticket, then a sheet with someones elses address on it, followed by their 2 tickets. I’d like to think if someone else ever got my tickets that they would do the honest thing and tell the ticketing company. I’m sending the extra ones I got back to See Ticket ASAP.

Mood : cheerful   Music : Keep Pushin'  by  REO Speedwagon

Remember my post which described how I got stuck on a train last month?

Well, Scotrail finally responded to my complaint letter this week. They apologised, said I should have been offered refreshments whilst they were available (they were available when I was on the train, they were just unwilling to give them out) and sent me £5 in rail vouchers for taking so long to respond to my letter.

That’s not all- they’ve requested I send a copy of my season ticket so I can get further compensation. The only thing that irks me here is that because I have a season ticket, its registered to the station I purchased it at i.e. they have all the details relating to it (I had to fill out a form when I bought it).

Anyway, hopefully I’ll get a result in the upcoming weeks.

Mood : blah   Music : Ramrod  by  Bruce Springsteen

My first blog of the year and it’s a complaint.  Sorry about that.  Last week, I got stuck on a train on the way from uni and was less than impressed.  Anyway, here’s a copy of the letter I sent off to Scotrail- it sums up what happened.

Dear Scotrail

I await your response.

Mood : blah   Music : Ohio  by  Bowling For Soup

On Thursday, I was teaching at uni and the class finished at 5pm.  The first train I could get home was at 5.40pm.  I know from past experience that trains in the evening around rush hour are pretty crowded.  It was especially bad on Thursday because most of the schools in the surrounding areas were on holiday.

Anyway, when I got on the train, there were no seats left so I ended up standing in the vestibule area which was uncomfortably crowded.

15 minutes into the journey, after a few stops, I managed to get a fold-down seat in the vestibule.  At that point, the conductor appeared and that’s when a debate began

It all started when at one of the stops, the conductor wasn’t going to let a couple of guys with bikes on the train.  Now, Scotrail sold these people the tickets, and they had waited on the platform for that specific train to arrive.  Scotrail doesn’t have a cycle policy where you must book your bike on-board therefore, they shouldn’t have the right to refuse entry.  If they are so concerned about health and safety, perhaps they should implement a policy.  In this case, the guys did manage to travel.

To my right, there was a guy carrying a guitar who was perhaps in his late 30′s, sitting on the other fold-down seat.  He’d paid £50 for a ticket, taking him from Kirkcaldy, up to Aberdeen.  He started talking to the conductor, saying that he was quite concerned with the state of health and safety on the train.

He made the point that people shouldn’t be allowed to stand on a train- what if there was an accident?  The conductor retaliated by saying that when you buy a ticket for a train, you don’t automatically have the right to get a seat- all you’re paying for is the journey from A to B.  Again, I think this is wrong- you have to pay so much money for a ticket (not to mention the fact that the ticket prices keep going up), of course you should get a seat.

The conductor then gave the guitar dude into trouble for having his guitar sitting too near the door.  She said it was a health and safety issue (what a joke).  Basically she said that it was ok to have people standing in front of a door because in an emergency, people can move out of the way, luggage can’t.  She also said (perhaps jokingly) that at least if the train was overcrowded and people were standing, you’d probably be quite safe because there would be no room for movement (i.e. you wouldn’t get thrown around much).

Here goes my theory: if there was an accident and the train was overcrowded and people were tightly packed, then no, you probably wouldn’t get thrown around as much.  On the otherhand, you would get shoved into the people around you which would undoubtedly result in crush injuries.  Now, the facts show that it actually doesn’t take that much force/pressure to stop the supply of oxygen to your brain.  Please correct me if I’m wrong but normally, if your oxygen supply is cut off, you die.  If your lucky, you end up brain damaged.

Also, as I previously mentioned, the conductor stated that it was ok to have people in front of a door because in an emergency, people can move.  Hypothetically, if a train accident was extremely serious (and lets face it, most incidents involving trains usually are), then people could be fatally injured.  To my knowledge, dead people can’t move (unless they’re zombies/vampires).  They’d be blocking the door.

Train companies need to get their act together- they must be making a great deal of money from passengers.  They never provide enough seats.  How much extra would it cost to add an extra carriage?  Really?  Perhaps they could put on extra trains?  Is that too much to ask?

Mood : annoyed

So now you have read (all) my blogs about the holiday, have I made you sufficiently jealous? Am I right in thinking that some of you now want to go on a similar trip? Ok, I’ll take you on an all-expenses paid tour. Kidding (c’mon- wise-up- I’m a student with no money ). You’ll have to save up and go yourselves.

The least I can do is tell you who we booked our holiday with. It was booked via the Thomson travel agency and the tour itself is run by a company called Jetsave. The one which we embarked on was called The Big 5 (as in you visit 5 major cities). We ended up seeing a lot of places…

2 countries (USA and Canada), 6 states (New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware), 1 district (Washington DC), 1 province (Ontario), 1600 miles

A big thanks goes to *drumroll* British Airways (great flights- no turbulence), Adrian (JetSave tour director- very entertaining and knowledgeable), Diego (Escot driver- long days and fab driving), the staff at the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Av, the staff at The Oakes Overlooking The Falls, the staff at the Hilton: Crystal City, and to anyone else who helped us out along the way .

Admittedly, I’m still not entirely happy about being back in Britain. I want to see more of America and Canada and revisit the places I’ve been. I had the time of my life over there- so much fun. Waking up in a different place with something to explore every day. Never a boring moment.

Best holiday ever

Mood : awake   Music : Running Up That Hill  by  Placebo

“It’s easier to leave than to be left behind. Leaving was never my proud. Leaving New York, never easy. I saw the light fading out”

I had to start this blog with those lyrics from R.E.M. because their song “Leaving New York” was in my head from the very moment I woke up on that particular morning.

Weather-wise, it was an awful day. It was grey as I got out of bed and when I switched on the news, it said there was a high risk of thunderstorms later in the day: not exactly something I wanted to be in the middle of whilst on a plane. When we went downstairs for breakfast at the Prime Cafe, we saw the rain was much heavier than we first thought. The cafe sits at ground level and has a glass roof so when you sit in it, although you are flanked by skyscrapers, you have a clear view of the sky right above you. The rain was thundering down on the roof.

As I was eating my breakfast, I used my phone to go onto the Internet, so I could check my uni grades. I’d been checking every couple of days because I’d expected them to go up when I was in Canada. Perhaps I got the dates mixed up but I thought some of them were supposed to be published on the 5th June? Anyway, when I did eventually get online (damn GPRS!), I discovered I had 2B’s and 1A at that point. Yes, I was chuffed with that

Before we headed outside, I nipped back to the hotel room to grab my waterproof jacket- no way was I going out in the bucketing rain without it! At that point I then realised I hadn’t bought myself any Hersheys Caramel Chocolate Kisses. Whereabout was I going to get them?! Panic! First of all, I went to the Olympia Deli but they didn’t sell them. For a horrible moment, I thought I wasn’t going to get them, then, I glanced across the street. There was a CVS Pharmacy. I know what you’re thinking- “pharmacies don’t sell sweets”. Of course they do- Boots does. Luckily when we got there, they had some in stock so I bought a couple of bags for me (I’ve now eaten one of these bags and am gonna have to import some soon).

After that, we went back to our hotel room and watched tv. We could have gotten a later check-out time and could have asked the hotel to hold our luggage so we could spend another day wandering around but given the weather, and the risk of storms, we decided to head to the airport.

At 11am, we went down to the foyer and asked the front desk to call us a cab. I was expecting another ride in one of the traditional yellow cabs but not this time. The front desk ordered a limo taxi. When I say a limo, it’s not one of the huge long cars that you might be thinking of: it’s just a posh, normal-sized car. I felt really sad during the ride to the airport- I absolutely loved the holiday and loved everywhere that I visited. I wasn’t ready to go home and I didn’t want to return to normal life. I was perfectly happy in NYC.

I tried to soak up every last little sight that I could while I was riding in the back of the car. There were some great tunes on the drive, notably “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith and “Breathless” by The Corrs. What did I see on the journey? Well the giant inflatable rat was out and about on the streets which amused me. Also, there was something being filmed by the side of the road at once point when we got stopped at some lights. I don’t know what it was though. Just before we went into the Midtown Tunnel, I looked back to glimpse the last view of the Manhattan skyline, before it disappeared out of sight. Another pang of sadness- who knows when I’ll be back in NYC and get to see this again? Yep, “Leaving New York” ran through my head again.

On the Sunday when we dropped the rest of the tour group off at the airport, Adrian gave us some useful advice. He said that if you’re early for a flight, you can talk nicely to the airline to see if they will bump you to an earlier one. We decided to give this a try, as we arrived at the airport just after 12noon (traffic wasn’t bad at all….sometimes it takes hours), and our flight didn’t depart until 10.30pm. We spoke to a woman called Robyn at the British Airways desk in JFK airport who looked into changing the NYC to London flight. She said we could get the 6.30pm flight although it would cost £50 plus $20 each to change flights. We said we were more than happy to pay but she told us to hang on another minute while she called her supervisor because she didn’t want us sitting on the plane next to someone who swapped their flights for free. After calling her supervisor, she said that we didn’t have to pay any extra and could go ahead and leave at 6.30pm. A big thank you to Robyn – saved as a lot of time and money.

We still had a long wait in the airport once we cleared security- 5 hours. During this time, I found myself a seat, stuck on my iPod and closed my eyes. I still felt really sad (to the point I could have cried) because I still didn’t want to go. I felt a bit better once we had some food at McDonalds (tsk tsk!) but wasn’t a-ok. Just before the gate opened for boarding, I decided to nip to the toilets. On my way there I did hear an occasional, ear-piercing whistling noise but few people seemed to care about it (well, apart from one woman who ran out of the toilets with a face that said “arrrggh”). I thought nothing more of it. Walking back to the departure lounge, I noticed what I thought were flashbulbs firing to my left. I was about to see what was going on (thinking, ooh, there must be a celeb) when I looked at the flash that occurred directly in front of me. It was the fire alarm. Ooops. Even when I returned to my seat, nobody seemed to care. It turns out there was a fault in the system and it just randomly went off.

The flight on the way home was a good one, even thought I’d been dreading it. I was sat inbetween my mum and an Australian guy who was really chatty, which was nice (I’m not used to this- 4 years of commuting on a train and only 2 people have ever talked to me). The in-flight entertainment was excellent- 30 Rock, Back To You, The IT Crowd (yay!) and Top Gear: Vietnam Special (seriously, I was laughing the whole way through this). I did see something slightly freaky but neat while on the plane. I was watching Top Gear when the Australian guy nudged me and said “do you want to see something cool?”. He noticed we were flying above lightening and it looked awesome from where we were sitting .

We arrived at Heathrow a bit earlier than expected (5.30am) but had to circle a little as planes aren’t allowed to land there before 6am. We had another wee wait at Heathrow because the connecting flight up to Aberdeen wasn’t until 11.40am (or something like that). We had breakfast at Giraffe then I found a comfy seat where I could sit with my iPod and have a snooze. Unfortunately it was near some plane spotters *rolls eyes*. Anyway, I managed to get into a deep sleep for 20 mins and woke with a bit of a start, fearing my mum and I had missed the flight (we hadn’t).

The flight to Aberdeen was another good one and we arrived bang on time, with the smoothest landing I’ve ever witnessed. My grandparents and my sister met us at the airport and a short while later, I was back home, feeling quite sleepy!

Mood : tired   Music : Leaving New York  by  R.E.M.

I awoke in the morning, feeling a little sad with the knowledge that this was going to be my last full day in the glorious city of New York.

My mum and I took the opportunity to have a bit of a long lie as we’d been up quite early on most of the other mornings (when I say long lie, I mean we got up just after 8am ).  It certainly felt very strange that we no longer part of the tour group.  We kept thinking that we should be meeting up with everyone, getting on the bus and heading off on our next adventure.  I kept expecting to bump into people that I knew in the hotel lobby but of course, they were all well on their way home by that point.  Honestly, you might think it sounds silly but when you’ve travelled huge distances with a fantastic bunch of people, it feels odd when they’re not there.

That morning, we ended up buying our breakfast from Dunkin’ Donuts and sat at a table in the middle of the road just outside Macy’s/Herald Square.  Yes, you read that’s right- the table was in the middle of the road.  Mayor Bloomberg recently made this street a pedestrian area with chairs and tables for a trial period.  It’s the same in Times Square and Broadway.  It’s quite odd to see actually!  It was a cloudy day (with the sun poking through) but it was still nice and warm.

Our plan for the day was basically to go shopping and explore the city a little more- pretty much make good use of our remaining time.  Me, my sister, her friends and my mum wanted a bag from Bloomingdale’s- you know the famous “Medium Brown Bag”.  Looking at the map, we noted that it was on 59th Street between Lexington and 5th.  My mum was a little apprehensive about walking all the way up there because we’d not been up that way before.  I assured her it would be fine because I had a map and knew what I was doing (lies, all lies! ).  I’m not entirely sure if I took the best route but anyway, we walked up 6th Avenue, until we got to 57th street, turned right, walked along that, passing 5th, Madison and Park Avenue.  Once we reached Lexington Avenue, we walked another 2 blocks and we were there.  Couldn’t believe that I had actually managed to read a map correctly!

Bloomingdales has a lot of nice clothes but it’s quite expensive (with it being full of designer clothes and all!).  Visitors get a discount so if you’re ever shopping there, be sure to take your passport to the visitors centre so they can issue you with a discount card.  After getting a little lost in the store, we found the area that was selling the bags we wanted.  We got a couple of medium bags and a couple of small ones.  I meant to buy myself one of the traditional “Medium Brown Bags” but a canvas one caught my eye so I bought that instead.  I saw a really nice scarf which I was going to buy until I saw the price tag- $250!  Yikes!

The next location I wanted to visit on the map was a Dog Boutique.  It was called Billy somethings (forgotten the surname!) Le Chien.  Ok I know that sounds quite posh for a dog shop but I wanted to get my mutt something because I felt bad leaving her at home.  We’ve had Gypsy for nearly 11 years and this trip was the longest I’d ever been away from her.  Anyway, we had a little bit of difficulty finding this place because we’d come out of a different door at Bloomingdales.  I think we ended up on 62nd Street before we’d realised our mistake.  Once we were on the right track, we passed a furniture store which had real wee pug dogs inside it, asleep under a table (seriously cute!) so we figured we might be getting close.  When we did arrive at the correct location, we discovered the shop had actually closed down!  Disaster!  Instead, we wandered along to Radioshack to buy some last minute gifts for my sister.

We needed to take our shopping back to the hotel but on the way, we felt quite hungry so bought some food at an international supermarket near 57th street and walked down to Bryant Park to eat it.  I think I mentioned it in an early blog but there’s a nice relaxed atmosphere in that place.  You might recognise the park if you’ve seen the Sex and the City movie.  Remember when Big and Carrie have a bit of an altercation on the street involving some flowers?  Well, that’s Bryant Park you see in the background.

Right before we got back to the hotel, I mean literally just before we turned to go down 26th street, we found a pet store.  How we could have missed it I don’t know!  We’d walked all the way to 62nd street and back- nearly 5 miles in total and there was one 5 minutes from the hotel!  Yep, we felt pretty stupid.  At least we finally got toys for the dog.

That evening, we went for a walk round the block as we realised we always turned left when leaving the hotel and wanted to see what was to the right.  It turned out there was a Baskin Robins 2 minutes away!  Had I known this, I would have eaten there everyday haha.  For tea, we went back to the Prime Cafe where I had Nachos again and some ice cream (I know- I’m trying to be healthy but hey, I was on holiday!).

We had a bit of an early night, preparing our suitcases for travelling the next day.  After getting organised (and watching an episode of Bones), I went to bed, feeling extremely sad that it was my last night in such a great city.

Mood : sleepy   Music : Possession  by  Sarah McLachlan

We’d been given the option of taking a cab from the airport ($55) or remaining on the bus with Adrian and Diego and paying just $10.  We decided to stay on the bus because it was a much better option, plus, Diego is a brilliant driver.

On my previous journey from the airport into Manhattan, it had been dark, so this made the journey a little different.  One thing we did see was a massive graveyard.  It reminded me of Arlington in that it stretched as far as the eye could see.  The gravestones were packed together very tightly which seemed a bit odd so we asked about it.  We were told that the graveyard contained more bodies than Arlington National Cemetery (which holds around 300,000).  And the reason for the graves being so close to each other?  Space has always been an issue in Manhattan so some of the bodies were buried standing up, meaning more could be fitted in.  Sounds grisly, doesn’t it?

My favourite part of the ride back to the hotel was travelling through the Queens–Midtown Tunnel on the Long Island Expressway.  Just before you enter the tunnel, you can see Manhattan in the distance.  When you exit at the other side, Manhattan is right there in front of your eyes and it’s a magnificent sight.  I was all excited when I saw it the first night I arrived in NYC and was just as thrilled this time round.  Definitely an image which will stick in my head.

On the bus we were talking about what sightseeing things we could do on our last couple of days in NYC when Adrian mentioned that the Tony Awards would be happening in the city that evening at Radio City Music Hall.  He suggested we could have a look in that area if we wanted to and experience the atmosphere.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was time to say goodbye to Adrian and Diego.  A few hugs and kisses later and we were in the elevator, going to our room.  We thought we might be given the same room as we’d had before (604 if you really wanted to know) but instead, we got room 907 (ok, you didn’t really need to know that).  We didn’t spend that long there- basically dumped our stuff, got changed and went out again.

We figured we should head to Radio City Music Hall at Rockefeller Plaza to see if any stars were arriving early at the Tony’s.  As we were walking up 6th Avenue, we could see a huge amount of people in front of us and they weren’t just on the sidewalk; they were all over the road too.  My mum and I continued walking so we could see what was going on.  Turns out that part of the Avenue was closed off to traffic (probably because of the Tony’s) and there were stalls up both sides of the street.  One thing I will say- what a fantastic atmosphere!  It felt like a festival or something- a hot summers night, an awards show nearby, homemade lemonade stalls and a variety of clothing and music on sale.  There was even a stall which was blasting out some reggae music.  Great

When we arrived outside Radio City Music Hall, there was a crowd but it wasn’t too big.  We were stood at the opposite side of the road because the red carpet, along with the World’s media were on the other sidewalk.  We stood next to this dude who was talking to someone saying “oh yeah, I had to queue for like 4 hours to get this spot”.  I smirked a little because my mum and I had just walked along the street and waltzed right into a spot on the barrier.  No need to queue!  We stood around there for a bit and there were some famous people who arrived (because the paparazzi went nuts) but I didn’t have a clue who they were.  I know Neil Patrick Harris was hosting the awards (think Dr Horrible) but I guess he was already inside.  As I’ve already mentioned, it was a hot, humid summer evening and we started to get a bit too warm (even more people had joined the crowd on our side of the street).  Soon after, we left because we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was now early evening.  Still, it was a fab atmosphere in that area too and I’m glad I got to experience it – it’s not something you get to see everyday, is it?

There were tons of restaurants in the area near our hotel (ok, there’s heaps and heaps of restaurants *everywhere* in NYC) but we couldn’t be bothered walking back there.  Being the rock music fan that I am, I mentioned we could eat at the Hard Rock in Times Square.  When you go in there, you have to get a ticket to be seated and then there’s then a board which tells you who’s “up next” (as if you were going on stage), which displays your surname.  We had about a 20 minutes wait so we looked around at the Rock n’ Roll Memorabilia.  There was Billy Joel’s motorbike, suits worn by The Beatles, stuff from the Offspring and signed posters/ guitars from a variety of artists.  Seriously cool place .  Oh, and yes, I got my picture taken in front of the wall of guitars.

Just before you get seated, the staff there take your picture in front of the wall of guitars anyway (and then try and sell it to you….glad we took our own).  The food there is great- I had a yummy chicken sandwich/burger and fries and it’s reasonably priced.  The music played while I was there made me smile .  Some of my all-time favourite artists including R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen (they played a bit of a gig) and Sheryl Crow amongst others.  On the way out, we bought a few things in the shop (a guitar hoodie for me) and I ended up having a wee conversation with the guy who served me because he noticed my Scottish accent.

After all that, we slowly wandered back to the hotel.  We were planning on staying out later but it was quite hot and we’d travelled quite a bit during the day so we were tired.  Once we got back, the air conditioning was put on full blast for quite a while!  We decided we needed snacks for the hotel room so we went to the Olympia Deli which was about a 2 minute walk from the hotel.  If you’re ever looking for a huge, extremely yummy chocolate chip cookie, then this is the place to go.  Of course, they sell a variety of other food as well.  Back at the hotel again, we watched sitcoms – Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld amongst others before falling asleep.

Knowing that my adventure was soon coming to a close and that I only had one more night in NYC, I couldn’t help but feel that it was going to be very weird returning to “normal life” after all of this.

Mood : tired   Music : A Pain That I'm Used To  by  Depeche Mode

On the way to Newark Airport, we ended up passing through the state of Delaware, yet another place I didn’t know we were going.  It’s a relatively small state so we drove through it in no time.  Next state: New Jersey!  I was all “yay New Jersey: home of Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen” when we crossed the state line (if you didn’t already know, they are 2 of my favourite artists).

It seemed to take a little while to reach the airport so I just sat back and enjoyed the scenery.  Once we arrived we said goodbye to about 4 people off the bus.  Next stop JFK airport.  The bus was going to become very empty after this stop- only me, my mum and the Welsh couple were extending our stays and returning to the hotel in NYC: 17 people had to get off at the next stop.

Due to the traffic, it took a few hours to get to JFK.  There was still lots to see though.  At one point, we got stuck on a bridge because of an accident on it.  Again, my memory is failing me at this point so I’m not sure which of the bridges I was on (if it helps, when you looked left, you could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance.  The accident that occurred on the bridge looked pretty bad- the entire back of a car was seriously crumpled.  I only saw that one car so I’m not entirely sure what happened.

The journey was pretty funny though, with Adrian telling tales of cats and wigs (someone on the bus suggested wigs made out of cat hair ).  Ok, maybe it doesn’t sound that funny right now but trust me, it was- tears of laughter at one point.  I’m sure someone pointed at a lady on the street as the bus was stopped at a light and said something along the lines of “See that lady there?  She wears a wig.  I can tell.  I know.” which was hilarious as well because it clearly wasn’t true.

There was a slightly scary moment as we were going along Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn, NY.  We were told something along the lines of “if you hear something that sounds like a bullet, it probably is a bullet”.  After being told this, we were (jokingly) asked if anyone would like to get off the bus.  Everyone was sitting there thinking “..errr….yikes!”.

Before we knew it, we were at JFK, dropping people off at their respective terminals (each terminal is for a different airline) and the bus became oddly quiet.  It was a strange feeling, having to say goodbye to the majority of tour group (6 people were left on the bus).  I didn’t know everyone that well but we’d travelled 1600 miles together, had a good time and looked out for each other.

Next destination: the hotel we’d previously stayed in when we first arrived in Manhattan.

Mood : tired   Music : Stand  by  R.E.M.

Today was going to be the last day we were spending with the tour group. My mum and I got up at 5.30am to sort out the suitcases, have breakfast and prepare for another packed day. At this point in time, I took the opportunity to swipe a few bits and pieces from the hotel room (the pen, the laundry bag and the shampoo ). I was last out of the room and placed the swipe cards in the back pocket of my jeans, with the intention to hand them in at the front desk. Well I kinda forgot about them….oops…. We headed down to the foyer of the hotel with our cases at 7am so we could get them loaded on the bus. For some reason, my suitcase felt like it had doubled in weight. Maybe it felt heavier because I was tired, I don’t know?

It was a bit weird when we got on the bus. Looking around, I realised the majority of people I’d spent the week with would not be returning with us to NYC. We hit the road at 7.15am in preparation for a long day. We passed Baltimore and once again, “Good Morning Baltimore” from the musical Hairspray popped into my head. I’m trying to remember exactly what time we arrived in Philadelphia but I can’t. The first thing I noticed when I got off the bus was the intense heat! Seriously, it was roasting! Part of me wonders how hot it would have been had we arrived in the afternoon.

We went off to see the Liberty Bell. If your visiting there, I must warn you, the security checks there are very stringent. Now for most of my trip, I carried my pink rucksack with me and inside it, I had a bag for my SLR, an over the shoulder bag, and a bag with my inhalers inside. Stupidly, I took this off the bus with me and into the Liberty Bell Center. Security took forever to check my rucksack, taking each individual bag inside of it out and raking though all the pockets. Yes, I realise that security checks have to be performed but c’mon! Wouldn’t an x-ray machine have been better as it would have done a more thorough job?

The Liberty Bell Center is quite interesting and there is a series of exhibits to work your way through. When you get to the end of these, you finally get to see the Liberty Bell right there in front of you. It’s impressive but the crack in it is huge! After we’d seen it, my mum and I decided it was time to go get some breakfast. We walked passed the Independence Hall and went into The Bourse Food Court, which is a huge breakfast buffet. I decided to have pancakes with maple syrup there. That’s when my mum had a slight mishap with the jug of syrup. She was pouring it on my pancake but didn’t realise how runny it was. I ended up with half a jug of syrup on my breakfast pancake but it was extremely yummy haha . I tried to check my uni grades on my phone there but they still weren’t up- gutted!

After eating, we popped to the shopping mall next door where I bought a few more things for myself (a couple of music themed scarves, with me being a guitarist and all). To get back to the bus, we walked through the Independence Mall State Park and stood in the sun a little while. Just after we left Philadelphia, we found out that it’s nicknamed “Killadelphia”. Scary, huh? Apparently if we’d gone 5 blocks in either direction of the Liberty Bell Center, we could have run into trouble…

So that was our last official stop as a tour group. The next destination was Newark Airport in New Jersey (a state I didn’t even realise we’d be passing through).

Mood : sleepy   Music : The Great Beyond  by  R.E.M.