Tour of the Canadian Rockies

Initially before starting the tour I did not really know what to expect but the tour has almost surpassed my expectations so far.

It is great to travel with a group of like-minded people (which is a big change from travelling alone!!!) with a tour guide (who is also our chief photographer, cook, driver, luggage porter and more!!). We have been to some amazing places, seen many glaciers, lakes, mountains and even travelled on what is described as the "most beautiful road in the world" - the Trans-Canada Highway. It was certainly amazing, but it did not stop a few of the worn out group from falling asleep. This is in part due to the many activities that we have participated in and the fresh air which many of us are not used to!!!

We have participated in several activities as a group such as white water rafting, an ice walk, whale watching and more. The white water rafting was a great thing to do as a group as a lot of team work was involved. It was pretty crazy, especially when our guide lost his oar. To which a German member of the group turned round to me and said "how do you spell OR" this was amidst the guide's commands, shouting "left back" or "right back... we've lost the oar". So I shouted to the German guy "Row baaCCKWARDS... it is spelt O..A..R..!".

A few of the optional activities I chose not to do, but paragliding was one that I could not miss!!! It was a great experience - near sunset, over the spectular valley of Golden with the surrounding Rocky mountains, simply amazing.

First days of Canadian tour

First black bear sighting



Looks fairly tame from here!!





First group photos



Typical night on camp, campfire, stories, beers and marshmellows

Paraglide at Golden, Yoho

The poor bus driver!!

On the bus from Vancouver to Seattle, I had a quick nap after crossing the American-Canadian border. What happened next was quite surreal as I woke up to the chorus of happy birthday for a young girl who was standing at the front of the bus. Her younger brother was sitting down at the front next to her when all of a sudden he was sick all over the front seat, right behind the bus driver who was leading the birthday cheers!!

I think I was the only one who saw it as I was quite near the front and I could barely believe it as no one had noticed, not even the bus driver!!! The only other person was the birthday girl herself who was trying to get her Mum or Dad to realise what had happened but could barely do so over such enthusiastic celebrations!!!

Finally everyone realised and the parents rapidly tried to clean the floor and chair, it was then I noticed a few bags on that chair too which probably weren't the children's bags as they were only at the front for the birthday chorus? It emerged later that the boy had been sick over the bus driver's lunch bag!!!!!!! Poor guy!!!

Good morning Seattle

I have arrived at my "gateway" hotel in Seattle where I will begin my tour at 7.30am tomorrow. There isn't much in the area, but I have a nice room which I am sharing with someone who hasn't arrived yet. I did see a bit of Seattle on the way here including the Space Needle which is no way as big as the CN Tower in Toronto.

The internet is free here at the hotel so I have been catching up on emails, meant to be keeping usage below 15 minutes, but I think I have already gone over it!!!!

The bus from Vancouver to Seattle was really quite good with very few stops, I was dropped off at the nearby airport where I phoned the hotel for a courtesy shuttle, this was only $2.

So the first 21 day tour of the Canadian Rockies awaits...

On my way to Seattle!

I have booked my shuttle bus from Vancouver to Seattle earlier, this is for peace of mind really as the train was just too long! The shuttle was around $36CAN which is about 15pounds so not bad at all!!! I nearly thought I could not catch it as couldn't book it online, but went to a hotel where the bus leaves from and was able to book it with them.

The bus leaves at 9.30am just around the corner from me so will hope to get there in good time. Should arrive in Seattle at around 2pm and I am gonna get off at the airport so that I can get the complimentary shuttle to the hotel instead of being dropped off in central Seattle with my bags and no idea which bus to catch!!!!

The hotel is only mean to be around 15 minutes from the airport and will hope to meet some of the other members of the tour group the night before we leave. We will begin the tour early on Monday morning at 7.30am! I think we are going to the Cascades first of all. I will try and let you know which direction we set off in as it could be clockwise or anticlockwise. Then I will be able to work out where I may be when my results can be accessed online, as well as where I'll be for my birthday!! Really looking forward to the tour and camping, I have missed it!!

I also bought some sunglasses this morning after all this time trying to find a decent pair. I saw some in Toronto which were okay but price was a little too high at $36 and today I luckily found a better pair on discount at $17!!!!! As cheap as chips!!!!! Hopefully I won't be saying that in Las Vegas!!!!

So far I have only seen the central areas of Vancouver so I will have a better look this afternoon before dinner. I will walk the short distance to the Stanley Park area of Vancouver which is meant to be really nice. Then I will cook dinner tonight and have an early night to save my energy for the coming weeks. Before I log off though, I am going to investigate how I will get from Seattle to San Francisco for my second tour around the 19th of July, I may have to fly but I will look into it further so will let you know.

I am holding onto the photographs that I have developed so far with me as I will use the 500gram postal charge to the full (only 285gram so far!). So will wait a little while and develop some more photos first and then send a package through to you. I'll let you know.

Okay, hope all is well and that you had a good weekend in the Devon and Plymouth area and that perhaps Chess (our pregnant cat) is holding on until you get home!!!

Flying to Vancouver...

Well I thought I would make contact after a little while since New York. Really enjoyed New York as you may have been able to tell by my emails!!! The photos I took turned out quite well too, so it was a success!!!! The hostel there was fairly limited, no kitchen, and around 5 bunk beds in a small room but everyone there was really nice and it wasn't difficult to get a couple of bagels from around the corner for breakfast!!

My last night in New York was spent with a few from the hostel in a couple of bars in Chelsea, which wasn't far from the hostel. It was quite a late one and I had to wake up a couple of hours later to pick myself and my rather big rucksack to walk a few blocks to the train station!

The 12 hour train journey to Toronto left New York at around 7.15am and the scenery on the way was impressive especially along the Hudson River. Though, it turned out to be the longest train journey I have ever taken by a long way. A few delays magnified the overall trip to an impressive 15 hours. In that time, I had only my own company to enjoy, which as many will know, is among the best around. But even I can get bored of myself and my rather repetitive jokes so it was a difficult journey!!! In the end, I finally got my minidisc player and listened to some of Coldplay's new album, it was certainly a relief!!

So when I finally arrived in Toronto my distant Canadian relatives had been waiting some time at the station which was unfortunate, but it was great to see some familiar faces!!! They quickly gave me a tour of Toronto at night which was quite impressive.

My 15 hour journey was put into perspective by one of my relatives who had spent over 40 hours on a bus from America to Canada, so any heroics I thought I had achieved were simply, unimpressive!!!!!

My time with my relatives was really good, spent around 5 days with them and it was planned to perfection as at Niagara Falls we did the Maid of the Mist, went behind the falls, saw fireworks over the falls at night and also went to the Imax cinema and a theatre for dinner that very same day.

I was also able to go up to the Muskokas for a two days from Toronto to stay at their cottages alongside the lakes up there. It was amazing, the water was quite warm so I had a good swim in the lake as well as practised my rowing skills by taking their small boat out.

The following day I did a bit of Kayaking with Dot's husband Ron and we saw a swimming Chipmunk in the process. Something he had never seen before let alone me!!!! Finally, I also went to an concert alongside Lake Ontario seeing a popular Canadian band called Sloan in the process. And on the final night they took me to watch baseball at the Toronto Skydome right next to the CN Tower, that again was brilliant!!!!

After all that, I resumed my life on the road staying for two more nights in a hostel in Toronto. I actually met a guy from London who was doing a massive trek from America to Canada, he had walked 1,400 miles so far!! Impressive!!

Flew across Canada yesterday to Vancouver which took an impressive 5 hours!! I actually still haven't seen much of Vancouver yet, which is strange as normally I quickly have a good look around but after arriving yesterday I spent most of the afternoon washing my clothes ready for my first tour which begins on Monday for 21 days around the Rockies. As part of that tour I will revisit Vancouver so will get a better look then if I don't make the most of this afternoon!!!

The hostel I am staying in at the moment is really nice, quite central and quite busy which I like as there is around 200 beds, though not all in the same room, thankfully!!! I am sharing a room with 3 other guys, one Australian, New Zealander and a German. In fact, since Toronto I have actually been put in single sex rooms even though I have requested mixed rooms all the way so just my luck!!!!

Though the guys at the hostel at the moment are pretty cool and we went out last night which was good fun!!! Okay better sign off, hope to be in touch when I am on my tour so I'll let you know how it all goes.

Thanks for the messages again, hope you all are well and enjoying the hot English weather!

Leaving Toronto... here I come Vancouver!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the hot English weather, it is quite hot here also, around 27c today as well as yesterday. Apparently tomorrow is going to be around 33c!!!

Tomorrow morning I am flying to Vancouver and hoping to leave the hostel by 6am. I have already made my breakfast as there is a kitchen in this hostel so managed to make two ham rolls!!!

I actually had a takeaway pizza last night which I could not finish even though it was a small pizza, though by English standards it is more like a large!!!! So saved half for dinner this evening which went down well, I hope!!! Time will tell.

My money is going very well so far as didn't spend too much in New York as didn't buy any clothes! This is the same for Toronto as well as having stayed with the family here, I doubt I would have been able to have done half the things we managed to do. I also had a better insight to Canadian people in the process which was great.

Niagara Falls was fantastic, the baseball on the final night was really interesting too, though I prefer football!!!! I didn't tell anyone that though!! The idea of being interrupted every few minutes for a Bud or popcorn takes the fun out of it in many ways.

Today I went up the CN Tower which made my day!!!! From the tower managed to see the baseball game on tonight, the fourth game against Baltimore in a row that Toronto Blue Jays have had to play this week.

I am really looking forward to moving on now and checking out Vancouver as well as the Rockies. The flight is around 5 hours which demonstrates the sheer size of Canada. Today I checked the flight with Air Canada and all seems to be in place. I have also booked a shuttle which is a similar price to getting the subway and bus so decided to go for the option which meant less hassle as well as the fact that the shuttle is far quicker. Hoping to get the 6am one!!!

Canadian view of vegetarians

... Lousy hunter!!!

Adrian's appearance at Major League Baseball

Unfortunately I wasn't good enough to play during the Toronto Blue Jays baseball game against Baltimore (due to injury). But instead Adrian and the Canadian relatives were captured on the giant television screen inside the Toronto Skydome!!!

In hindsight, this was not because everyone wanted to see me or the family, but instead the four supposedly "pretty" girls sitting right in front of us. They get all the luck!!! Though in that case, I guess I was the lucky one to be shown on the big screen!!! Coincidential fame, even if it was for just 3 precious seconds!!!

Off to Niagara Falls...

I have sent a postcard from New York a couple of days ago so that should arrive soon. The New York skyline was amazing. Toronto is quite different and seems far smaller in comparison!!

Looking forward to having a good look around. Tomorrow we are going to Niagara Falls and a lot of plans have been made such as walking underneath the waterfall, going on the boat called Maid of the Mist as well as going to the restaurant in the evening followed by fireworks over the falls. Should get some great pictures!!! My New York pictures turned out really well and so I think I will send the photos home but keep the negatives. So hope you enjoy the photos!!

I am also going to my first baseball game on Tuesday night at the Toronto Skydome, apparently the seats are the best ever as we will be sitting off third base three rows from the front!!! Will tell you guys all about that and Niagara Falls in the next few days, hope to send some photos too from Dot's husband's digital camera. Speak soon, goodnight I am well tired!!! Nearly talking like an American now... you're welcome, no problem, have a nice day!!!!!

Train from New York to Toronto

After a final night out in midtown New York with Anna (the Oxford-Lithuenian girl), Laura (the Japanese-American girl), Nao (the Japanese guy) and Sly (the French guy) I finally got to bed at around 3am. At 5.30am I woke up rather tired as you can imagine, and rooted around for all my stuff including my rather heavy and noisy rucksack, waking up everyone in the process!! I finally headed out with all my stuff walking around 3 blocks to Penn Station just below Madison Square Garden. It is true, New York never sleeps, it seemed just as normal! So boarded the train and left New York at around 7.15am, found a great window seat on the left-hand side of the train as recommended by the ticket operator. In the process I saw great views of the Hudson River on the way. In time we reached Albany, then a couple of other stations still making our way to the Canadian border heading towards Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Though, by around about 3pm after a nap with my handy travel pillow supporting my tender neck, I realised that we were running late. This meant around two hours on top of an already long 12 hour journey and as a result, it was getting emotional indeed. So finally, after an epic journey which demonstrated the great expanse of both America and Canada with great effect, I arrived in Toronto just past 10pm, nearly 3 hours late. When I arrived in Toronto with my green hat and red shirt I looked out for the lady dressed in pink, my relative as a matter of fact!! As I decended down the escalators from the platform I saw both Beth (sure enough in pink) as well as Dot's husband Ron waiting to greet me in beginning my five day stay with them. As we went to the waiting car, Beth's sister Dot was waiting and she had last seen me when I was just two weeks old in England!!

In brief... TORONTO!

Arrived in Toronto after an epic train journey, the family are all looking after me very well indeed!! Going to Niagara Falls tomorrow so will be in touch then or Monday.

New York

New York was amazing. I was able to go up the Empire State Building, check out Grand Central Terminal, Madison Square Garden, Central Park, the Guggenheim, Statue of Liberty and Madame Tussards New York as well as many other amazing buildings and sights.

I have some great photos to show you all, as well as some burnt out soles from all the walking that I did!!!

NY and a pint of Pale Ale...

Thanks for the messages guys!! Nice to hear from you. Thought I would take the opportunity to quickly let you know what I've been up today, it was mental, headed up to 34th Street initially and then walked all the way to the bottom of Manhattan!!!!!! This is miles!!! I realised I had to walk a bit for the right tube but in the end carried on walking all the way and finally reached the Financial District after about 3 hours!!!

Managed to see the Guggenheim and Central Park yesterday which was good and then went all the way downtown on the subway to the Financial District where I wondered around Wall Street as well as seeing a bit of Ground Zero. But today because I walked it I went through Little Italy and Chinatown where I went to a restaurant called the Little Dumpling House for lunch and ended up sitting on a table full of other people eating by themselves!!! Met a couple of New Yorkers in the process which was pretty cool. When I finally made it back to the Financial District I headed for the Staten Island Ferry which is free and takes you right past the Statue of Liberty as well as great views of Manhattan from the Hudson River.

It has been a bit cooler today which is a bit of a relief and even had a torrential downpour a few moments ago!! Tonight may be going out with other hostel people which so far haven't managed yet, last night I ended up taking a few photographs of Times Square at night and then ended up in this bar called Times Square Brewery for a nice pint of Pale Ale New York style and watched a bit of the New York Yankees baseball game!!!

Cheers again for the messages, will be in touch soon, hope all is well with everyone,

NY No.2!!

Here I am in New York!!! The flight was pretty good as managed to score a window seat, and although there wasn't much to see apart from brief views of the green fields and tiny hamlets of the UK as well as the Atlantic Ocean, for quite a long period of time!! As always, window seats have much to offer as the flight seemed to come down the coast of America or Canada to New York, there was hardly anything there but great to see, tried to check out the map on my inflight TV to confirm where we were but no joy. Unchartered territory methinks!!

Have met a couple of other people from the hostel also travelling by themselves, I was pretty happy about that as for a while I thought it was going to be a one man band around the world!!! One is from Lithuenia but has lived in Oxford!! Another is from Oregon and is auditioning on American Who Wants to be a Millionaire today in New York!!! So exciting stuff.

Spent yesterday afternoon after I arrived checking out the sights walking from my hostel on 27th Street right up to Times Square and then across to the Empire State building and the Chrysler building. Also checked out Grand Central Station and took quite a few pictures in the process!! This morning woke up early and went up the Empire State building, only 10 mins from hostel and went right up to the 82nd floor. Although it was a clear morning there was slight mist in the distance or even smog!! But the views were still excellent. After that I walked to Madison Square Garden and took some great pictures, I think!! And then again headed up to 42nd Street where I am about to go to Madame Tussauds where I have a complimentary ticket from my Godfather waiting at reception!! I will try and get a picture of me and Jacko!!

After that I will try and head up to the Guggenheim and then I hope to end up at the Financial District early evening. Tomorrow morning I am going to try and see the Statue of Liberty as well as Chinatown and Little Italy. Then on Friday morning I will head up to Toronto on the train for the next stage of my journey.

Hope everyone is well, will be in touch soon,

Best Regards, Adrian

P.S - thanks to those who may have tried to leave messages on my mobile, had a few problems lately so have not received any at all. My new number or mobile is not even working in the US so that is quite annoying!!! Meanwhile contact me on email and let me know what you are up to.

Arrived in NY!!

Arrived in New York but guess what mobile phone does not work, so will try and email O2 to sort it out asap!

The hostel/hotel is quite nice, there are a few others travelling by themselves too and they have not met anyone with anyone else, so that is good news!! I arrived at about 2pm at the hostel and had a shower etc. It is so hot in New York!!! Baking, especially near the subway vents!! The skyscrapers loom high and will try and see a couple more things before going back to the hostel before it gets dark. It is not too far from the main things such as Empire State building and Times square where I am now!!!

The flight was really quite good, BA to be highly recommended!! The shuttle from JFK took me straight to door of hostel. Couldn't really see New York from the air as JFK is around 40 mins drive away so only saw it from the van first of all and it is a massive place. Will hope to see more after this email.

Well will definitely be on internet tomorrow which will hopefully be around 11am New York time and will hope to respond then too, and even say more about New York! Hoping to go up Empire State building tomorrow first thing and then get onto internet. May be going out tonight for a drink or something but not too major, funnily enough there is a person from Eastern Europe who has lived in Oxford so may be going out with her and another person!

Departure from Heathrow airport

Seems a long time since I left Heathrow airport now (writing this just over 5 weeks on in San Francisco) and it was strange at the time to say goodbye to Mum, Dad and Charlie for six whole months. The only other time I had been abroad by myself was in Paris for New Year's Eve 2005 and even then, I went there with two of my friends Nick and Erin!! Although, on the way back from Paris on Eurostar I was by myself so it gave me a very small insight to what travelling by myself would be like!!

I have stayed at a whole variety of hostels and I would have to say that the best hostels are the ones that have a kitchen, which makes things a lot easier and not to mention - cheaper!!! Also some hostels provide towels which is also a bonus and if you get a complimentary breakfast too, then your stay will undoubtedly be far more comfortable. The best hostel I have stayed at so far was in Seattle as that hostel did all of the above and in contrast, the New York hostel did none of the above but at least I had a bed and more importantly I wasn't there to spend my time in the hostel!!!

New York was only the very beginning...!

Entry

Hi guys, check out my round the world website for my six month trip which begins on 14th of June 2005 in New York and ends mid December in Perth, Western Australia. After a few days in New York I will then catch a train from New York to Toronto and then after several days I will then fly to Vancouver for a tour of the Rockies. After the initial tour I will then head to San Francisco for my second tour which will visit Yosemite, Yellowstone, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon etc as well as Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles. After spending a few final days in America relaxing in Los Angeles I will then head to Fiji around late August for several days for a hop-on, hop-off tour of the main island as well as Beachcomber and Manta-Ray island. Then I will head to New Zealand for a hop-on, hop-off tour of both the North and South islands. Finally, I will then fly to Australia to complete the final stage of my trip. Hear all about it here!!