American Adventure

So we made it back to New York on the china town bus which was cheap as chips and as fast as scones. Got into town at about 9ish.. with sydney, went to the hotel she had booked, checked in and chilled out. Very nice, its a ramada, but she got us a cheap deal on it so it wasnt too bad. Me and sydney went and got a slice of pizza and b.rock checked his email, i slept on the floor that night as there was only 2 double beds and i ddnt fancy sharing, but brendan has the floor tonight! We woke up today and walked for a long long walk down to central park, we are on 34th. Walked around the park, saw the dakota building, strawberry fields etc. Was really great. We then went for lunch in this very quirky (sanctuary esque) place called serindepidy 3. It was great if not a bit on the pricey side but syd recomended it so we obliged. We then got the metro back up to the hotel and took a nap as we were all shattered with v sore feet. that was about 5, got up at 7 and headed out for the empire state. Stopped for dinner on the way at this japanese place, teryaki beef, average! then we walked to the empire state and went on up! Its just as breathtaking the second time, lots of great pictures and the views streched for 30 miles aparently tonite. Walked back via a street which felt like it had every single homeless person in new york on it, including one doing a poo.. very attractive! got back to the hotel and me and b.rock decided to head over to a 24hr burger king that has v cheap internet so that is where we are now, sydneys in the room doing a bit of school reading and we are out here doing a bit of home writing. Cant wait to get home now, still having an awesome awesome time, but im defo ready for home!! Right think thats about it, me and brendan are new york pros now, we know the streets, how to cross them like locals, we feel right at home, its hilarious cos im sure we still look like a pair of tourists but we feel the business! gona go.. lots of love to u all! xxxx

So we ended up in Boston in the end. Im really glad we did, this city is gorge. Its in new england, which makes perfect sense cos it really is just like england! we came up on the bus last night and got pickedup by sydney our mate. We gpt settled last night, went out for a curry then just hung out till about 1 ish before sleepytime. Woke this morn at half elevenish waited for syd to finish her class and then at one headed off into the city.Got off the train at harvard and had a walk around there, it was v interesting, really lovely campus. We then had lunch at this place called fire and ice, it was awesome there was like 5 salad bars full of ingredients, you chose what u wanted then u watched the guy cook it on the grill thing, i had a shark, calamari and prawn sweet curry with noodles, was delish. Defo need one of them places back home! Then we went looking round Boston proper, all v historic and lovely, saw alsorts of v important places in history that i dont really know! Then we came home and me and brendan have just been hanging out as syd does some work with the school weekly paper. Plan was to party tonight but its looking less and less likely so i think sleep and dinner may be on the cards.. heading back to NYC tomorow i rekon so dad your suggestions will be put into practise! (good old tour guide dad eh mum!!) mum, hilarious about your newfound facebook addiction, welcome to the world of the addict!! Anyway, brendans getting ratty about not having the comp so i better go! Lots of love to yall! xxxxxx

Hello all! Im gona keep this nice and brief cos ive rung home quite a bit recently so you all kinda know whats going on i guess. And im incredibly tired! So since me and mr blog last spoke Ive had 260 bucks stolen, which is always fun! Moved hotel, walked an average of 10,000 miles a day and seen lots and lots of new york! We woke up the morning we got robbed, checked out of the dive hotel and walked our bags over the block to the new nicer one, checked in and then hit 5th ave hard. We spent that day wandering about looking at 5th ave and all the shops. We then strolled into central park and had a look around, watched a baseball match and chatted to some old folk from just outside of york. It was very nice and when we got back to the hotel it was like arriving in luxury as it was so so much nicer than the crack house that we stayed in the night before, and from where i write this from cos they have cheap internet access! So today we have done alot more walking, we walked up 5th to central park, then back down, all the wa down broadway, past the flatiron, through china town (saw the frogs in the buckets again) and walked all the way back up town, just caught the underground for the last bit of it. So weve had a very tiring day, we had a little afternoon nap then we went out for dinner at bubba gumps shrimp house. Its a place based on forest gump the movie, kinda cheesy but quite nice. The plan was to go to boston tommorow but i dont think we are gona bother cos theres still loads to see here and it would mean getting a very dodgy bus from chinatown which we aint keen on. Also the girl who we would be staying with wants to come back here with us afterwards but we were planning on staying with shevani for the last few nights, but if sydney(boston girl) comes back we cant really do that.. all v complicated but im happy with staying here. I love it to bits. Plan is to go up the empire state tommorow night i think, got to try and extend our stay at the hotel by two nights also, the receptionist says that at the mo there are no vacancies but some should have come up by the morning! All seems very hit and miss but we shall see.. so tommorow may be dedicated to finding somwhere to stay, but it may not! Also gona go try see some more of central park and the dakota building etc.. we shall see. Dad, if mum says thats all fine then ill defo go buy that stuff for you, depending on the size of it all cos space is pretty tight as it is.. as in no room but ill defo try! right, sorry this must seem really distant but im sure ive told both mum and dad most things anyway?! lots of love to everybody! xxxx

Hey all.. so me and b.rock made it to New York, we found our hotel and weve had a stonking first day here. The hotel is defo seriously below standards, but so far humans are the only living things we have seen in the hotel so im ok with that. We hit New York HARD today, we got off the plane, got a bus into town found our hotel then set off for lunch/breakfast/ our first meal in 21 hours! Found a great little italian pizza place and gouged on delightfull pizzary goodness. We then hopped on the metro and headed for ground Zero, had a mooch, walked dwn to the water and decided to take a boat tour out, so it went round under brooklyn bridge, back out to the statue the up the west side of manhattan and back. It was great and we got some really nice pics etc. We then got back on the metro and headed for china town. Brendan was blown away with all the cheap sunglasses and cologne but he managed to avoid buying any.. even tho we got chased down the street (literaly 2 blocks) with some chinese guy shouting "buy it, buy it" at us. It was hilare. We then got back on the metro, got massivly lost for about an hour then managed to find our way back to the hotel. Weve both popped in for an internet and restroom break and now we are about to head out up 5th to check out the NBA shop. The hotel is literaly 100 yards from times square so it couldnt get alot better for location, and im sure we will get over the stains on the walls, and the bottles under the bed, and the hairs on the soap, and the lack of power cables on the TV, and the lack of english speaking people working here... its a delight. No but really, it has its charm, in a kind of "i really hope i dont catch anything from this place" kinda way. Anyways the Big Apple is calling us.. as is Boston on Wednesday, which should be amazing. Lots of love to you all... xxxxxxxxxx

I cant see any of your comments... gutted!!! xxx

Boo... So since last time ive had a chat with mum, and ive wanted to ring u dad but ive lost your number.. again, im gona try again tonight i rekon! SO now we are in LA. We came here from redlands which is just outside of LA after dropping kim and Jorge off at their uni. We drove down tuesday night, helped move all of Kims stuff into her dorm then got taken out to dinner with kims mum and her and Jorges parents and him. They took us to a very swanky resarante (dad style) and me and brendan had sirloin, it was delish! We then went and stayed in Jorges condo over in Palm springs which is litterally in the middle of the dessert, i hear its very famous for golf? remind me to tell you the toilet story at this point, when im home! So his condo was overlooking the green on the 8th, with mountains in the background, really gorge!! We then rushed like mad to make the check in time at college, made it and hung out all day getting them settled in and eating free food etc. Its a private uni so its all pretty swish..! We got stuck on campus cos its a drive to anywhere and we needed a lift from kims mum. The plan was to go to LA that night buit we figured it was daft to arrive in the dark with nowhere to stay so we booked into the motel that kims mum was staying in and slept there last night. Which is where you got my phone call from mum! And where you met the infamous "brog" otherwise known as brendan.. will explain all if i havent already cant remember! So we got up early this morn and kims mum dropped us at the greyhound station in some town.. we caught a bus to LA and when brendan sat down he somehow mananged to sit next to another aussie who is also traveling about, a bit more hardcore than us though, shes bein going for months and months. So we arrived in LA and realised that a. we were in the middle of skid row. and b. our motel was not only in the middle of the mexican ghetto, but its at least a 30dollar cab ride from anywhere! So we got a cab, cancelled tomorows reservations and got on the phone.. tomorow we are getting up and getting a bus into LA proper, we are gona stay at a friend of the headboys counselor ben kelly, and going out tomorow night to some frat party or something. SO!! thats about all I have to report, we got lunch from some mexican "meat market" we had a berlin style picnic lunch then slept for the rest of the noon cos we are both completely shot. The motel has a computer in the corner of the lobby which is 5bucks an hour so we have both been making full use of that! We are looking hard for places to stay in New york, not gona stay with steve cos we both feel a bit cheeky and we kinda want to be free agents, probly daft i know but, the hostel experience beckons!! Anyway, theres latin soap operas to watch and home made guacamole to eat so i must dash back to the room, dodging the flying burritos and drive by shootings of course! love to you all. (dont worry, this place isnt really that bad) Was amazing talking to you last night mum, made my week! And dad, ill give you a ring tonight hopefully! Love to you all.. xxxxxx

hello all! So the day after we arrived we got up and went to a lovley river and hung out and had lunch by the side of it. it was very yosemite esque. We were swimming and jumping in etc, lovely! Really good fun and very refreshing. We then planned to go into a local town to do some snack shopping but when we headed down the hill towards the town there was a police road block. We were very puzzled so we asked and he said that there were severe forest fires and even he couldnt get through cos there was loads of equipment in the road. So we headed back up to the house, watched zodiac, a movie based on a true story about a killer that took place in san fran, which kims mum can remember happening so it was pretty interesting... i reccomend it!! Gambling in the US is illegal unless you are over 21 but native americans have some loop hole in the laws which mean they can run casinos for people 18 and up. So last night we headed over to one of the casinos to have a gamble! It was awesome fun. I took 50 dollars cash, on my first black jack table i walked away 80 dollars up, then my second i walked away 30 down!!! Then when we got home we had a game of poker and i lost another 10 bucks, so the night cost me 40 dollars, which is only 20 quid, and i had a completly awesome time, the casino was amazing, i can see why ppl get addicted!! So this morning we got up and made the 5 hour drive back to san jose and kims house, we just arrived now. Tonight lots of kims family are coming over cos she is off to uni on tuea so they are saying fair well. Still having an awesome time, ready for home cos im exhausted, its been 110% non stop for nearly 3 months but its been the most amazing 3 months. Off to LA on tues... another adventure becons. Love to u all. xxxx

hello all! So the day after we arrived we got up and went to a lovley river and hung out and had lunch by the side of it. it was very yosemite esque. We were swimming and jumping in etc, lovely! Really good fun and very refreshing. We then planned to go into a local town to do some snack shopping but when we headed down the hill towards the town there was a police road block. We were very puzzled so we asked and he said that there were severe forest fires and even he couldnt get through cos there was loads of equipment in the road. So we headed back up to the house, watched zodiac, a movie based on a true story about a killer that took place in san fran, which kims mum can remember happening so it was pretty interesting... i reccomend it!! Gambling in the US is illegal unless you are over 21 but native americans have some loop hole in the laws which mean they can run casinos for people 18 and up. So last night we headed over to one of the casinos to have a gamble! It was awesome fun. I took 50 dollars cash, on my first black jack table i walked away 80 dollars up, then my second i walked away 30 down!!! Then when we got home we had a game of poker and i lost another 10 bucks, so the night cost me 40 dollars, which is only 20 quid, and i had a completly awesome time, the casino was amazing, i can see why ppl get addicted!! So this morning we got up and made the 5 hour drive back to san jose and kims house, we just arrived now. Tonight lots of kims family are coming over cos she is off to uni on tuea so they are saying fair well. Still having an awesome time, ready for home cos im exhausted, its been 110% non stop for nearly 3 months but its been the most amazing 3 months. Off to LA on tues... another adventure becons. Love to u all. xxxx

Helllooo all. So since my last blog not loads has happened. Me and the Brendan boy have been splitting our time between san jose and san fran. We met up with brian, an awesome guy from camp who left early. we hung out in san fran and had chinese for lunch in china town. We ate at a place called sam wos. it was unlike anything iv ever seen before! To get into the mdf built dining room you had to walk through the kitchen, complete with chiken heads on the floor and lots of relatives i the corner smoking. A meal cost the equvilant of about 2 quid and tasted amazing. I get the feeling it was real chinese food rather than the kind of western stuff we are all used to! so yea, we hung out in town, then went back to katies, hung out there, played lots of nintendo wii, laughed lots, stayed up very very late talking rubbish and watching movies. We then went back to san jose and kims parents took us out to this lovely italian restaurant. for dinner. We walked around down town san jose after we ate, laughed and chatted some more then went home. Day after we went into san fran again with some of kims friends. Shevani and justine, there's pics of them on facebook. They are both really great laughs and fabby tour guides so we had a good time just cruising round san fran seeing the sights. that night we got the bart (bay area rapid transport) back to katies house from san fran which is like a tube/train and took about 30 mins. Mine and brendans first real taste of independant american public transport, we did good! That night we did much the same again, ate, laughed, talked. Its really really nice with just me brendan and katie cos we all get on so amazingly that we never stop laughing and we all just seem to understand eachother, gona miss these guys like crazy. The day after we went back into san fran and met up with lizzy, an english counselor, and her boyfriend and her little sister who flew out after camp to see her. We had a really nice day, it felt like catching up with old friends even though its only been 2 weeks really. We all had so many stories to tell it was really nice, we all then went back to katies house and watched a movie, then them lot left and it was jst the 3 of us again. That night (last night) we went out for in and out burger for tea, its like fast food but cooked fresh, its good! hahaha 90% of my blogs are food related, i realised a while ago, tis funny!!! so we got more movies out, bought lots of energy drink, and stayed up till 5 in the morn chatting and watchin moves.... again!!!! This morning katie drove us back to san jose and we said our final goodbyes to her. That was really sad, her and brendan are a couple so that was hard, but she is studying in aus for 6 months and she leaves before brendan so im guessing they are gona see quite a bit of eachother. It was really hard for me, she is easily in my very top friends, here and home and it sucks that there are gona be so many miles between the two of us, not to mention the 3 of us. she is studying in germany after aus so im defo going over to stay with her for a while at somepoint, funds permitting of course! after katie dropped us off we set off with kim, jorge and lyle from new zealand to kims holiday home/grandads house in the sierras in a town called arnold. The house is lovely, we arrived here after an around 6 hour drive, on which we stopped at a little bar/grill place in the middle of nowhere, very stereotypical, lots of locals looking very inbred and food served on paper plates, we all got some very funny looks for beng foriegn! after looking at the menu for a while i spotted in the seafood section "frogs legs" very wierd, so i ordered them!!! they were actualy really good, a little like chiken i guess.. so here we are in the holiday home, about to go for a late night drive in the houses golf cart, should be fun!!!! Not an awful lot to report other than that, still having an incredible time, im completely exhausted, as is brendan who is snoring away on the bed behind me as i write this. We are going to sneak into a country club tomorow i think, perhaps a round of golf!! haha. right... the golf cart calls!! love to you allll!!! XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wow guys... thanks for all your comments, k im gona mention everybody here now so u can all stop being arsey!! Both the parents (so neither of u come first in the list)!!, both the parents other halves, all the bros n sis, Molly dog, nan grandad jules jadey.. think thats the list?! Thanku all for reading so avidly, its really really nice when i come on and ive got lotsa comments, even if 9 of them are an ongoing feud!! So...to the American life of Mr T.E Reas. I left you last time after going to the catilian, which was great, a little awkward but great allthe same.. we went out for the brunch that i rushed off the comp for, that was delish, i had a guacamole burger, yumm! Then on the drive home i spotted a british food store. I went nuts!! So we pulled in and found a paradise!! I bought irn bru, toffee crisp, and some tea bags for lizzy the other english girl thats in LA at the mo but we plan to meet in san fran soon. We got chatting to the woman behind the counter and itturns out theres an aussie shop just around the corner! So brendan gets a good home treat too!! We then came home to kims house and hung out, her dad made us kebabs and stuffn the bbq which was delish. Then sara zimmerman arrived and we headed off to San Fran ( lafayette to be presice!!) I went in Zims car and brendan went in kims cos we knew that sara couldnt stay till tues, which is when we are here to. We arrived in San Fran, pickd up katie from her house then headed into berkley to stay at a friend of a friends apartment. We got thee, went out for frozen yog then went back to the appartment and hung out. we ended up going to a fraternity party. Frats are like big clubs for lads at uni to join to get friends and social events etc. Girls have got the same but they are called sororitys. Because its welcome week, the same as freshers, all the frats are trying to recruit new members so they throw big parties with free drink etc. So we partied away the night telling people that me and brendan were international students! Got back to the apartment, pursuaded a burrito shop to open up for us so we could get some grub! Although i stayed at the apartment cos there wasnt eneough room in the car. got food and we slept on the balcony! woke up, headed back over to katies house in lafayette. Got here, hung out and played nintendo wii to sooth our hangovers. Went out for lunch and coffee which is always a good laugh with these lot cos we get a little wild together! then we got coffee and movies and came back to katies house. Sara had to leave cos shes got loadsa stuff to do at home cos shes heading off to college soon. We will see here again when we are back at kims so it was sad to say bye, but not as sad as it could have been. We watched movies, hung out and had bbq for dinner. It was delish and katies mum and dad are awesome so it was really great to chat and joke about with them. Went for a 11 oclock swim in katies pool then came back in and went to the snug room and watched a movie that we all fell asleep in front of!! Woke up about half an hour ago, 1130, and now im writing my blog to all u whinging winnies!!! We are heading into san fran today to seel the sights and i think we may go to another frat tonight perhaps?! should be another fabby fabby day!!! Having the time of my life!! missing u all lots more now im away from camp cos there is obv gonna be a few more quiet spots but its all good!! Have a great time in france dad, send my love. Missing u like mad mum n carl and the boys!! Cant wait to see u all! Keep on with the face book, it makes me chukle! Jadey i havnt forgotten about u at all u mug! Have a great time in france with lover boy! Love to u all! xxxx