The roadtrip started at 5:30am on Friday morning, all half asleep (except for Trist who was driving), and we were met with a gorgeous sunrise shining up on the mountains.

We proceeded to make our way through countless playlists in between naps and random sing-a-longs until finally it was time for breakfast at Wimpy in Heidelberg – breakfast of champions really – and even got a free karaoke CD with all the SA classics! We were then only about 250km from Plett but it took us until about 1pm – singing all the way – to finally pull into Robberg where we found our backpackers, a few kilometres from the centre of Plett, the Starling Backpackers.

Starling Backpackers, Plett

It was a cosy place, a lovely big dog greeted us at the entrance, a horse and a pony roamed the paddock next to the house, and a chicken warmed itself in the flower beds – it had a real homely feel. We had a private room of 4 beds so no sharing the room this time, but shared bathrooms were clean and even had hot water (and free breakfast! Score!). After a quick lunch we didn’t waste time, and made our way straight to the beach for a bit of a nap and a tan. Tristan had met up with his friend and was already on his mountain bike to Bloukrans where we would meet him later that afternoon. I was surprised to hear quite a lot of foreign languages being spoken on the beach around us, I was always under the impression only us Capies went there on holiday The beaches are pretty great though, clean and lots of fine sand to dig your feet into.

Central Beach in Plett

Then already it was time to head off to Bloukrans so that my adrenalin junky cousins could jump off the bridge! The whole day I had been asking them if they were scared, and only when we actually arrived at the bridge did we all realise how high it was, and all gave a slight squeal! When we arrived at Face Adrenalin they were really organised, all we had to do was book in and they got harnessed up, then we could spend a few minutes watching other people bungee on the screen in the restaurant area. When they went off to the bridge, we stayed in the restaurant so we could watch everyone jump. Some people got thrown around quite a lot on the way down and it was scary even just to watch them flying off the bridge into the deep valley below! When my cousins had gone, they came back shaking from the adrenalin rush, as I can only imagine how much adrenalin was pumping through their veins. Some would say its not at all natural to jump off a bridge!

Here’s a little video on the bungee:)

After the excitement had died down, souvenirs bought and videos watched, we headed back to Plett for a relaxed rest of the weekend. We spent that evening enjoying dinner at a food market, with great live music and delicious food being sold at different stalls.

The next day was all about the beach, I was up nice and early to take T to his mountain bike meeting point, but went back to bed as a 6am start didn’t go down so well! But by 10:30am we were on the beach and soaking up the sun (although my body regrets this decision) and what a beautiful day it was. We lunched in the town, and sat on the beach some more, swam in the sea, watched the holiday makers eating ice-creams and went for cocktails at the Lookout Deck. Dinner that night was a boerie braai (special South African sausage cooked on the fire) as the ex-saffa’s had been missing their boerewors whilst living in Melbourne!

The guys playing a bit of sting pong...ouch!

Next morning it was up early again and a 7am walk on the beach before we had to pack up and head back to Cape Town, not before stopping at the famous Ice Palazzo on the Main street for some early morning yumminess! This time we spent most of the way home alternating between sleeping (or pretending to sleep in Claire’s case) and eating! We stopped for lunch in Mossel Bay at the Fork&Train (yes it is really called that) and then powered on so we could get home for early evening.

I think I speak for all of us when i say what a great place Plett is, it was a beautiful weekend and totally worth the 15 hours in the car driving there and back

D x

Paragliders enjoying the sunshine outside Sedgefield.

Being home is just like the saying, home sweet home, you arrive and everything feels familiar. Since we were only gone for six months, I guess its too short a time for things to change that much. When we started planning the trip and told people we were leaving for six months, many people were shocked, “Thats ages!” they said. But others were more realistic and said, “six months, you’ll be back before we know it!” I guess the last response was true, we had moments that it felt like ages but on the whole, the six months flew by without us noticing. Its not surprising then, that we feel like nothing has changed since we left. We got back to the same houses, the same friends doing the same jobs, mostly, and the same city, with maybe just a few new buildings popping up.

We’ve had many questions since we got back, mostly the ones that we expected – the ones we answered in the our post Cape Town…the Most Beautiful Place in the World- but a lot of people ask us what it is like being home and have we settled in well. To be honest, I expected it to feel strange being home again, to not be dragging my backpack around, and not be moving to a new home every few days. Funnily enough though, the day after arriving home, it already felt like we’d never left. I went back to my room, which had a few minor changes but felt the same. It felt unbelievable to be sleeping in my own comfy bed once again, but after the first night, the novelty had already worn off, it felt normal, of course.

The cake from our surprise welcome home party!

Did the travel bug bite? Well, to be honest, I don’t think so. We’re not planning our next trip, if thats what they mean by it. We’re quite happy now to get stuck in to a job with some routine and a stable monthly income. Does that mean we’re not travellers at heart… Well I’m not sure actually, because when I read the unbelievable stories of other travel bloggers like Adventurous Kate and Twenty-Something Travel, I’m kind of jealous that their lives are so interesting. Since we’ve been home, my life went from a story a day to hardly something even interesting enough to put on my Faebook status. (Okay besides a few really awesome things – like our welcome home surprise party and a weekend away at a music festival!!!) I feel kind of bored really… Is that normal? Well I guess it would be, I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t miss travelling a little bit, miss the adventures and the stories I could tell.

My plans for the next month or two are as follows: type us all of the daily expenses we wrote down for the trip, finish organising all of my 5000 photos into folders, pick out some good ones to show off and lastly I am beginning to compile all of our blog posts into a continuous story to make into a book about our trip. I think it is a little ambitous to say I will finish this in the next two months, but hopefully within the next year at least, I will finish what I started

Along the way I hope to keep you posted on my progress and write up a few stories that we didn’t get to writing up on the URT. I will also be writing up a post on how much the trip cost, and the breakdown for each country, as soon as I finish typing up all of the expenses.

Until then, have a great week!

D x

Here it is:

“As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide South Africans with monstrous piles of cheaply-produced goods; merchandise that’s been produced at the expense of South African labour (not to mention the Earth’s resources, accompanied by huge amounts of pollution). This year will be different. This year South Africans will give the gift of genuine concern for other South Africans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift-giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by South African hands.

Yes there is! It’s time to think outside the box people! Who says a gift needs to fit into a Chinese-made box, wrapped in Chinese-produced wrapping paper, taped with Chinese tape, draped with a Chinese ribbon and a Chinese gift tag?

Everyone — yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut right? How about a gift certificate from your local South African hair salon or barber?  What about gym membership? It’s appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.

Who wouldn’t appreciate getting their car serviced? How many people couldn’t use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the South African working guy? Small, South African-owned shops and car washers would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates. Are you one of those extravagant givers? Fine!  Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway paved, or the lawn mowed for the summer, or games at the local golf course.

There are a trazillion owner-run restaurants – all offering gift certificates. And, if your intended isn’t the fancy eatery sort, what about half a dozen breakfasts at the locally-run restaurant? Remember, folks, this isn’t about big national chains – this is about supporting your home town South Africans with their financial-lives-on-the-line to keep their doors open.

Thinking about a heartfelt gift for Mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day. Or, a gift voucher for a pedicure/manicure/facial at your local beauty salon. Or, you could give of your time to the elderly and offer a foot massage or a manicure or do some shopping for them? Hand them a card with what you can offer.

My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is struggling to get his repair business up and running. OK, you were looking for something more personal? Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves; they make jewellery, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes. Contact a local handyman to do something special for someone who’s been wanting those pictures hung up or that paint job sorted out.

Plan your holiday outings at local, owner-operated restaurants and leave your waiter/waitress a nice tip. How about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre? Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.

Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese lights for the house? If you have that much money to burn, leave the postman, litter-man or babysitter a nice big tip.

You see, this season shouldn’t be about draining South African pockets so that China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about US, encouraging South African small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. And, when we care about other South Africans, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn’t imagine.

THIS must be the new South African tradition.

Forward this to everyone on your mailing list — post it to discussion groups; send it to the editor of your local newspaper, radio stations and (South African) TV news departments. This is a revolution of caring about each other; isn’t that what giving’s about? “

So there it is, like I said, the South African context can be exchanged for many other countries world-wide who are feeling the stresses of a downturned economy. I reckon if we support the small businesses, economies will grow from the bottom up!

That is all!

The first thing we saw as we were coming in to land was Table Mountain and we looked over to each other and said “We’re home!”, it was a beautiful sight. Even more exciting is that I found out shortly afterwards that Table Mountain was pronounced (provisionally) as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. [Thanks to everyone who voted!]

Some people asked us what the first thing we wanted to do when we got home was, but once we were home, it wasn’t long before we were back to our old habits, like sitting on the couch catching up on TV and Playstation games! It was definitely a treat to sleep in our own beds once again and to still be sleeping in our own beds three days later. We had a fantastic evening on Saturday night with a few friends doing the traditional South African thing, a braai (that’s a barbeque), and since then, we have been doing washing-or throwing out clothes no longer suitable to be worn-and doing admin like banking and making appointments for the dentist!

One thing in particular that we have realised is that when you have been living for six months with just the belongings in the backpack on your back, and you arrive home to a room full of things and clothes, you begin to feel like life is too cluttered. I, in particular, really missed my clothes and shoes, but now that I know that I can go six months wearing the combination of about 10 items of clothing and 2 pairs of shoes, my large wardrobe now seems like an utter waste of space.  However, saying that, I don’t have the willpower to get rid of it all so I will have to just get used to it!

There have been a few common questions from friends and family since we have been back and so I thought we would answer some of them here:

1. What was our favourite place?

Our common and easiest response to this question was Thailand but to be very honest, it is a very difficult question, considering the number of places we visited on the trip. The best way to answer this, although not something you will want to hear, is that each place has its unique qualities and every place that we visited gave us new memories and adventures. To break it down though, our favourite landscape had to be Lake Pangong; our favourite holiday destination was definitely Thailand, with its relaxing beaches and beautiful islands; our favourite futuristic city was Singapore, living in the future; our favourite place most like home was Sydney but Brisbane and Melbourne are a close runner up; our favourite natural wonder in America was Antelope Canyon; and our favourite American city…now that’s a hard one…San Diego? Austin? New Orleans? New York?

2. Best travel experience?

Driving the RV across Mid-West America!

3. Worst travel experience?

Getting sick in Mumbai on our second night in India!

4. Time when we were the most scared?

Various times driving through India on non-existent ‘highways’ and on the edges of mountains.

5. Best food?

This would definitely be the cuisine of Thailand – from Pad Thai to fried bananas and fruit smoothies! But special mention to New Orlean’s southern cooking, like Jambalaya, and Asheville’s Shrimp and Gritz! Apart from the fact that we got so sick, most of the Indian food was also pretty good – although spicy food for breakfast can get a bit much!

6. A place that we could see ourselves moving to if the opportunity arose?

This is also a difficult one, as so many places have different opportunities and attractions. Places like Brisbane and Australia in general caught our eye because of the similar climate and friendly people. There were some other places for various reasons, like Singapore, Asheville, San Diego…but in the end they all still pale in comparison to Cape Town!

Those are the usual questions but if anyone has anything in particular to ask us, leave us a comment or send us an email through our Contact Us page!

We would like to send a special thank you to each and every one of these people who hosted us along the way and took care of us. Bear with us there are a lot of people to thank. Firstly in the UK, Dorothy and Keith Baldwin for putting us up and even taking us to the airport at some unearthly hour! In Europe, big thanks to Chrissie to hosting us in Schape and showing us around Berlin. To Trevor for spoiling us in Geneva, it was lovely to see your beautiful apartment and to spend time with you in your new city. In India, our very generous friend Praveen Kumar who not only helped us to find our feet but also looked after us while we were ill in Mumbai. To Ali and Nigel for the most unexpected luxurious experience of our trip in Agra, letting us stay in the Oberoi and treating us like their own children! To Marion and Jade who came to visit in Thailand, this really made it one of the most special places we visited. Also to Lindsay and Hayley in Phuket, two extremely fun girls Then to Karen and Ronan for inviting us to stay with them in Singapore and for the fun week we had there. To our Aussie family Lee, Rob, Claire, Glen and Kyle in Melbourne, Jeanne and Edwin in Sydney, and Robs and Dean in Brizzy, you guys made our stay in the land Down Under really memorable and really comfortable after the trials in India.

In the USA, Dave Nadelberg in Los Angeles who graciously gave us a place to sleep even though he didn’t know us from a bar of soap. In Phoenix, Bret and MJ, not only did they give us a place to stay, they also made sure that we had a tent for our trip to the canyon-lands and let us borrow the blow up mattress! To Adriano and the rest of the gang at Newport Place in San Diego, thanks for a great week and a lot of laughs! To our couch surfing host in Daytona Beach, David, you are a lifesaver, thank you so much! To Veenen for taking us flying in Daytona Beach! To the Gurney family in Asheville, who made us feel quite at home and took care of us so well. Getting to the end now, to Renee and Vincent in Cary, who gave us the good stuff-their homemade boerewors-and showed us the most authentic Southern experience, a corn maze! To Jean-Pierre who let us stay in his spectacular apartment in DC, for taking us out for dinner and for treating us to great South African wine-we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. To Helen and Judy in New York for completely spoiling us, and for driving us through snow storms-and spoiling Trist on his birthday in the Big Apple!

Back in the UK, to Ang, Grant and Ethan for letting us recover from our jet-lag and for the late night karaoke session To Ailsa and the Briggs’ for spoiling us in Worcester, taking us flying, and to Jonathan for the fantastic Roast lunch! To Michael for putting up with us both at the beginning and the end of the trip, and giving us his bed while he slept on the floor. To Rich for having us in London in the beginning of our trip and for taking us out in Notting Hill at the end. And last but not least, to Amandine and Barry for the last minute hosting, in London and in Dublin and for celebrating our last couple of days on the URT with us!

Finally, to our families and friends back home for all the support and love, and to all of our followers for keeping up with our travels along the way. We will continue to write about the planning and the stories of the Ultimate Round Trip so continue to visit the site when you can, or if you haven’t already, subscribe to the emails on the home page!

D & T x

Tagged: budget backpacking, Cape Town, India, round the world, Thailand, the Ultimate round trip, travel blog, URT, USA ]]> http://theultimateroundtrip.com/2011/11/15/cape-town-the-most-beautiful-place-in-the-world/feed/ 2 theultimateroundtrip http://theultimateroundtrip.com/2011/11/09/the-countdown-begins/ http://theultimateroundtrip.com/2011/11/09/the-countdown-begins/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:42:01 +0000 theultimateroundtrip http://theultimateroundtrip.com/?p=1180 Continue reading →]]> As our trip winds down to the end, we start to tick off all of the last little things we want to do before we head home this weekend. We arrived in London on Wednesday last week and we were hit by a wave of jet lag, something we have managed to avoid for the past five and a bit months by some miracle. As it is coming to the end of our six month trip, I feel like my body has been beaten and my mind is exhausted. I wonder how on earth some people travel for years at a time, but then I think we may have pushed the boundaries a little by visiting over 45 places in just 180 days. Thats a new place every 3 days, on average. When I see that I realise why I am so drained!

Trist and Ethan playing trains

What better way to recover from a tired mind and body than with a comforting home of family and friends and thats what we have been enjoying for the past week or so. It started with a two day stay in Knapp Hill, in the cosy English home of T’s cousins, Angela and Grant, and their adorable four-year-old son, Ethan. We spent the entire two days at home, sleeping, playing trains, and listening to Ethan sprout about his dinosaur collection, the this-asaurus and that-iraptor, words I could not even pronounce but that he said with ease. It was great to catch up with T’s family again, having dinner with his aunt Rita and uncle Ian, as there is nothing better than hearing family stories straight from the source I must admit, I also rekindled my love for Singstar Karaoke in a late night session with A and G! What fun!

Next we were off to Worcester to visit long time family friends, The Briggs’. We were really excited to see the whole family as I feel like they have become a special part of our family over the years. To put it into perspective, the Briggs’ lived in Cape Town for many years when Jonathan and Ailsa Briggs and my parents were at school together, so the connection goes back a generation or so and we have grown up pretty close (thanks to a good few visits and lots of Facebooking!) [On a side note: I always find it funny that this special part of our family live in Worcestershire, United Kingdom and I was born in Worcester, South Africa.]

Anyway, I digress, we arrived in Worcester on Friday afternoon after a 3-hour train journey from Woking to Worcester (via London) and Ailsa was there on the platform to give us a much needed cheery hug. Still tired, slightly flu-ish and after losing my iPod on the train, we were ready for a cuppa tea and a good sleep. We had a relaxed afternoon at Ailsa’s, catching up with Jonathan’s son Jamie when he came over and going for a pint or two at the pub down the road. When Ailsa and Amelia, her six-year-old daughter, met us after work/school, we went home to have some delicious traditional fish and chips for dinner and a long catch up with Ailsa while playing hairdresser with Amelia before crashing.

Ailsa and I in the back of the Cessna

Saturday morning it was a delicious bacon breakfast before heading out to meet Ailsa’s friend who took us up in his four-seater Cessna plane over

A beautiful view of Worcester Cathedral

Worcestershire and Herefordshire! This is the second opportunity we have had to go for a ‘spin’ in a small plane and I’m starting to get quite used to it I was slightly ill on the way up as I’m not very good with motion at the best of times, but sitting in the front on the way back I was able to concentrate more on the beautiful scenery rather than on my stomach! And beautiful scenery it was! We took off from a little grass runway in a farmer’s field somewhere, and flew over the city of Worcester, the beautiful Worcester cathedral and the river running through quilts of brown and green fields. Our pilot, Clive, is a very experienced flyer and he knows the area really well so he was really good in explaining the history of the area to us. We flew over the Malvern Hills and over Jontahan’s house in Cradley and after a good while, landed on a small airfield to have some tea. It was a nice day for a change, no rain and the sun was peeping through the clouds to catch on all of the lakes in the area. The trip back to the farm was quicker as we didn’t do as much of a loop around, but watching the fields below me fly by I realised the scenery was quite different from last time we flew, over Daytona, but just as beautiful. England has a different feeling about it from the USA, theres a history that comes through and you realise how old the farmlands and the castles below you really are. Landing was a breeze for Clive, even on grass, and then we were back at the hanger pushing the plane into its designated spot.

The CessnaPitchcroft Fireworks

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Mr and Mrs Briggs, and having another restful afternoon. Luckily for us, Saturday night was Guy Fawkes, or bonfire night as it is also known here. So after dinner we all headed out to the Pitchcroft Racetrack where they had set up a fair and a massive bonfire ready to be lit. It was a great evening, Amelia draggin Trist and Jamie onto the rides and Jonathan and I enjoying watching the people. Finally it was time to light the bonfire and everyone stood mesmorised watching the massive pile of junk burst into flames. It was pretty amazing actually, and the heat it gave off was impressive, it definitely warmed up the chilly Worcester evening. Shortly after the bonfire reached full blazing potential, the fireworks began, and they were spectacular-although I must admit I have seen a few incredible fireworks displays as my uncle Viv is a pretty amazing pyrotechnist!

The Bonfire starting out

Us at Pitchcroft fireworks

Sunday we all went out to Jonathan’s for a Sunday Roast. Wow, and what a roast it was. I guess it is a pretty traditional thing to do here in the UK, but at home we rarely do  such a spectacular meal unless its someones birthday. The whole family was there, well almost, but the best for me was to see Jonathan’s daughter, Jenny, handle her three little boys with ease. With four generations in one household and a house full of children’s laughter, it reminded me a lot of my family back home and the big family gatherings we have. Jonathan outdid himself, doing all the cooking, and producing a feast of roast lamb and pork, roast veggies of all kinds and even a dessert or three, all topped off with some great South African wine. Ailsa, Jenny and I took all four kids off to the park between courses as they needed a run and we needed to work off some lunch so we could have dessert! I had so much fun running around with the kids and enjoying the sunny but crisp weather.

Sunday Roast at Jonathan's House

Soon though, after a few hours sitting around chatting, it was time to head back to Ailsa’s house. Aaron, Ailsa’s older son, was there on his way out to work, so we caught up and then watched a movie before bed. It was a great weekend, so nice to pick up where we left off with all of the family and really looking forward to seeing them all in Cape Town soon.

From Worcester we took a train to Nottingham for one reason, to see T’s favourite band Incubus live at the Capital FM Arena! I bought tickets for us for his birthday but the only place we could see them was in Nottingham, so off we went. It was pretty miserable when we arrived but after dragging our bags a good few kilometres, we found the Arena and a few hundred metres down the road, the hostel. It was a quick change because we wanted to get in to the arena early to secure a decent spot at the front of the crowd so we stood in the queue from about 5pm. Doors opened at 6:30 and the show only started at 7:30 so it was quite a bit of standing. We had to push through though and I’m so glad we did because the concert was incredible. The opening act, Fin, wasn’t amazing but they really weren’t going to be much in comparison to Incubus anyway!

They just blew us away, the front man Brandon has an incredible voice and all the other members rocked out. We sang along and enjoyed songs from all the way through their discography, incorporating their older stuff with the new album. It was phenomenal!

We went straight to bed and straight back to the station in the morning, and that was the end of the short trip to Nottingham. Since we arrived back in London, we have been chilling out with our great friend Mike down in Walton-on-Thames. We’re getting ready to go home on Friday evening, only three more sleeps so it is starting to get quite real now. I guess the next post you will get will be when we touch down in Cape Town on Saturday!

Until then! D& T

Tagged: budget backpacking, London, Malvern, round the world, the Ultimate round trip, travel photos, UK, Worcester, World trip ]]> http://theultimateroundtrip.com/2011/11/09/the-countdown-begins/feed/ 2 theultimateroundtrip Playing trains with Ethan Flying with Ailsa Worcester Cathedral from the Air The Cessna and us Bonfire at Pitchcroft Racetrack Enjoying the evening out at Pitchcroft Sunday Roast at Jonathan's http://theultimateroundtrip.com/2011/11/08/vote-for-your-new-7-wonders/ http://theultimateroundtrip.com/2011/11/08/vote-for-your-new-7-wonders/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:36:09 +0000 theultimateroundtrip http://theultimateroundtrip.com/?p=1173 Continue reading →]]> Being a traveller and a proud Capetownian, I feel like I have a duty to tell you about this vote to create the New 7 Wonders of the world. So go and vote here for 7 of the 28 finalists and have your say – and you only have 2 more days to do it, so go now!

Obviously Table Mountain is definitely my favourite World Wonder, but I’m only a little biased! Check out this fab article from Dumirocks on our beautiful mountain.

Photo from fellow blogger Dumisani M

D x

PS: Don’t worry, we’re working on a post soon!

Chrysler Building, lit up at night

As with Washington D.C, New York City was a place that we had previously spent some time and thus had already seen many of the more touristy sights. Well, as many as possible in the sub-zero temperatures that the city was experiencing at the time. The difference between then and now was stark, all of the trees still had their leaves and were slowly changing to the oranges and yellows of the fall, there was a chill in the air but not the nose and toe numbing cold that we walked around in and lastly the incredibly obvious thing was that there wasn’t snow and ice around everywhere, well for a while anyway until the snowstorm hit and everything went pear-shaped. New York is a great big city, with Manhattan only one of the 5 boroughs, and you feel this as soon as you arrive, it is as if you have stepped into a special place that has so much more to offer. It’s a strange feeling, similar to the one I felt when first visiting London and there is a lot of novelty value with new experiences to be had around every corner.

We had booked ourselves into probably the least expensive hostel in the city for two nights to be right in NYC and all of the action before we headed out to stay with some friends who live in the Bronx. The Tone Hostel on Lexington (that was actually closer to 3^rd) was decent, clean and they had free breakfast and wifi… Champion find! And although some of the guests were complaining of bed bugs, we didn’t experience anything of the sort and would really recommend it to anybody visiting NYC on a budget as it was a mere 25 bucks a night. That’ not India or Thailand cheap but when the local Holiday Inn is already charging upwards of $200 a night for a standard room, this find was a great one. There are also a number of Tone Hostels around the city if you would prefer to stay in a different area.

Times Square, the chaos of inner Manhattan

Helen and Judy, our family friends from Cape Town, took us in and spoiled me rotten on my birthday with an awesome roast for dinner and we chilled with them for the weekend up in the Bronx.

Here are some of the memorable moments of New York City… in no particular order!

Brooklyn Bridge connects Manhattan with New York’s largest borough, Brooklyn, with a myriad of cables and some pretty impressive double arched pylons. The roadway runs underneath a pedestrian boardwalk, and a rent-a-cop with a whistle patrols his turf with vigour.It was hilarious watching him trying to warn foreign tourist of oncoming bicycle traffic… waving his hands about and blowing sharp trills on that infernal whistle!

Billionaires in the 30's certainly knew how to deck out a lobby properly, far more specced than any of Donald "Toupe" Trump's creations! - Empire State Building lobby

We took the plunge and forked out the cash to visit the observatory on the top of the Empire State Building only to find out that they don’t take you to the top anymore… Well not unless you double up on your donation to the great city of NYC! But we were still quite chuffed with the 86th floor and had a great view out over all of Manhattan’s tallest buildings and out to the neighbouring boroughs too.

Although we missed the celebrations for her 125th Birthday, we managed to sail straight past her Ladyship on our (free) trip out to Staten Island. Apparently there were massive fireworks and all the hoo haa’s going on but due to lack of advertising… the most important guests (us South Africans) were not invited. The ferry to Staten Island is free of charge and is a great alternative to getting up close and personal with the Statue without forking out masses of dollars to actually ferry to the Liberty Island. The authorities swiftly closed her off for renovation that evening so even if you did want to visit… she’ll be closed for a year whilst they give her a change of clothes… anyway oxidised copper green is so last century.

Sunset from Battery Park looking out towards Lady Liberty.

After dragging ourselves through the security and queues to get into the recently opened September 11th memorial park at the site of “Ground Zero” we were pleasantly surprised by a moving (in motion and emotionally) tribute to the memory of those lost on that fateful day in 2011. We visited another memorial for the lost Staten Island residents, they’ve done well to create some very beautiful and impressive monuments.

Parading revellers filled the streets of Greenwich Village on the Lower West Side, from eyeballs to skeletons and everything in between. The only thing more impressive were the everyday people who turned up in their thousands to spectate. Easily the biggest fancy-dress party we’ve ever been to.

Greenwich Village was running amok with all sorts of ghoulish characters, at one point we even saw The Incredible Hulk but that may have been the costume that he wears most days… There are all sorts down there…

It was our first proper Halloween and I’d made it a personal mission to carve a pumpkin. After missioning about in the crowded streets of the Village we managed to find this squash at Wholefoods and he turned out to be a fairly cheerful chap. So we named him Jedidiah!

And so with a couple of days left of the URT we head back to the original Empire and to Family and friends in Knapp Hill, London and Worcester… so close! 6 months has disappeared!

T & D

Click to view slideshow.

Jean Pierre, a friend of my dad, let us stay in his immaculate apartment in NW and right on New York Avenue with views to the Capitol and the Washington Monument. A surreal feeling of “you’ve arrived” fell over us and we almost forgot that we were two backpackers travelling around the world on a shoestring.

After extending our stay by an extra night, because MEGABUS is so organised, we had two full days in the city and were resolved to make the best of it!

There were a few things that we had planned to do, including some of the Smithsonian Museums and also made a turn at the Hirshhorn Museumon the mall.

The gallery, if you are not familiar, is a rotunda with a hollow centre, allowing for three levels with two circular walls open for their exhibits. This provides the best possible space to view Andy Warhol’s Shadows that is on exhibition for the first time in it’s entirety until the end of January next year. My explanation of the gallery makes sense when you see this mega artwork in the flesh. He (Andy) referred to it as one painting, made up of 102 pieces, and it encircles about ¾ of the gallery space, almost 140 meters (that’s the artwork, not the gallery). It is a reproduction of shadows in his studio and is once again reproduced in hand painted and silkscreened images in the bright colours that he is known for. It seems pretty simple at first and then you realise how much work must have gone into producing art of this magnitude. And it just looks pretty cool too!

The Air and Space Museum didn’t disappoint either with a new exhibit (since we were last there) of the Hubble Space Telescope and many of the images that were captured by its deep field imager. Spectacular!

We wandered from Dupont circle, having beers at Afterwords Café in Kramer Books – to Georgetown and the many shops of M Street. We people watched at the front gate of the White House and we sat in the sun at the steps of the Capitol, enjoying the fact that it was still in the plusses and not as unbearably cold as last time! And we ate Mussels and drank South African wine at a beautiful Belgian restaurant with Jean Pierre. He really looked after us and let our travel wary bodies relax a bit.

One more thing worth telling y’all about was a photographic exhibition at the National Geographic Society’s M Street gallery. The photographer, Brian Skerry, is a marine photographer with a career spanning 30+ years. I will let the photos on his website do the talking but if you are in DC soon, make a beeline for 17th Street Northwest and have a look at these unbelievable shots.

Although we did manage to fit quite a lot in, we left DC with a longing to spend some more time there. We would have loved to see the snow, the leaves falling off the trees and the Christmas lights. But New York doesn’t wait for anybody, and Halloween this year is going to be a definite TREAT!

Fall in Asheville

When we arrived in Cary on the train on Monday morning, we were picked up by Enterprise Car Rental to go and get our car. We decided to drive the five hours down to Asheville to visit the Gurneys and to see the apparently gorgeous Fall leaves changing colour. It just so happened that the weekend that we arrive in NC, was the best Fall colours that Asheville had had in many years! Finally, we arrived in a city on time

Our little Beetle

Well, they were gorgeous. I am a huge fan of the shades of green, brown, yellow, orange and red that appear in this season and I have always dreamed of walking down the streets lined with big piles of brown leaves and I love the way they fly up and ‘dance’ every time a car drives past. We were so engrossed by the colours and the beauty, we might as well have been one of the Leafers, or Leaf Peepers who travel thousands of miles to follow the Fall foliage right from the Rockys to the South.

The Gurneys welcomed us with open arms and as I have heard is the norm, made us feel right at home straight away. They have two beautiful big Saint Bernard girls, who we immediately fell in love with, especially as we are really missing our canine friends back home! And so began a lovely relaxing and comfortable few days in Asheville. We ate way too much but the food was oh-so-yummy and we were even treated to real home-made boerewors rolls for dinner. That is one thing that no South African can ever forget, proper perfectly spiced sausages cooked on the fire until juicy and served on a roll with tomato sauce.  Both the Gurneys and my family, the Olivers, make their own boerewors, biltong (beef jerky) and droewors (dried sausage) with real South African spices.

Sweet Sophia

Beautiful Bella

While we were in Asheville we had to sample the local fare too, so off we went to Tupelo Honey Café for good ol’ Southern cuisine. And what great cuisine it was. From the shrimp and grits, a maize meal type of starch (much like ‘mielie pap’) but made with goats cheese for extra creamy flavour, to the BBQ pulled pork, the Southerners certainly know how to make comfort food! And to top it all off, they apparently make great beer here too, which T confirmed after a delicious lunch at the local brewery, The Lab.

Lunch with the Gurneys at the Lab

*Side Note: When travelling in the USA, remember that the drinking age of 21 years old is strictly enforced. So much so that using a South African drivers licence as a form of age ID can be refused at certain places, so it is worth carrying your passport around if you’re going to be drinking. But only if you’re responsible enough not to lose it along the way!!!*

Of course, no visit to Asheville would be complete without a trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway, or two. From up on this smooth tarred, cyclist’s mecca, one can see the miles and miles of rolling mountains and the blanket of trees in the shades of Fall colours. Unfortunately for me, the second trip up the Mount Pisgah was detrimental to my already weak ankle. While taking a stroll down ‘Graveyard Fields’ to the lower waterfall, I managed to slip and twist my ankle yet again, which left me squealing in pain and frustration and T trying to help me back up to the car. Nevertheless, an afternoon cuddled up on the couch with my ankle iced and resting did it good and by the time we made it back to Cary on Thursday evening, I was at least hobbling on it.

Fall colours on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Out on the Blue Ridge Parkway!

Cary is a small town, but fairly affluent and beautiful too. The whole town has stuck to the theme of red brick facades and big old Southern structures, which makes for very picturesque scenery. Sadly, I either left my camera at home (Shock and horror!!!) or my camera battery died during the few days in Cary, so I have little to no photos of the actual town.

As the Olivers are my mothers cousins, and the last time we met was when I was just 7 years old, it was fantastic to catch up on their lives and exchange family news. And of course we were treated to delicious home-cooked food, including more boerie rolls, and a warm comfy bed. Being a small town, there really isn’t much to do in the area, and to be honest, we’re a little tired of the Natural History museums now so we spent the day catching up with news, having lattes and pastries and even drove around Raleigh to see the university and the State Capital building.

Saying goodbye to our family in Cary

But… in the evening we ventured out into the cold (me wrapped up in borrowed winter woollies) to experience a Corn Maze! Yes, you read it right, we went out into the corn fields and had to find ten numbers hidden in the maze. It was so much fun! We were hot-footing it in between sheaths of corn 8ft tall, with a torch and a flag in case we lost our way. If you did get lost, you were supposed to hold up your flag and a man perched on the top of a crane in the middle of the field, would point you in the correct direction. I don’t know how much attention he was really paying though, and you had to be a little dim not to be able to follow the sounds of the road to get out of it in any case. Nevertheless, a great time was had by all, and we even went on a tractor ride around the field, now I haven’t done that in years!!!

Dramatic clouds along the road to Cary

Now, we’re on the Megabus up to Washington D.C for a couple of nights and then on Tuesday we hit our last stop on the USA leg of our trip, New York City!

D x