Enjoying New York

Sorry to leave several people in suspense for a few days after my last post. Only just managed to get connected to the hostel's wireless connection. The later flight turned out to be a blessing in disguise - I got a window seat instead of being stuck in the middle, and there was an empty seat next to me.

New York is living up to expectations, and I'm exhausted trying to fit everything in at the same time as adjusting to the time difference. Today has included Grand Central Station, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Museum of Natural History for an exhibition about Scott and Amundsen's race to the South Pole, Penn Station to book my ticket to Montreal (I'm advised there'll be a rail replacement bus service for half the journey -seriously!) and the Empire State building at sunset (well just after sunset, after all the queues, but there was still a red glow in the sky). Spectacular!

Yesterday I walked about 10 miles down Broadway and up 5th Avenue, taking in Columbus Circle, Time Square, etc, and finishing up with a stroll thought Central Park. Tomorrow I'm going on a tour of Brooklyn organised by the hostel. The weather was glorious - great for photos, but I'm showing the only one that has me on it, taken in Times Square.

On my way

I'm on my way at last and it looks like I'm getting the glitches over with early. The flight from Manchester was so late I missed my connection and am now booked on to a later flight. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to see what it feels like to use an internet cafe to update my blog.
I hope next time I'm on line it'll be with more positive news to report.

Keeping in Touch

A last posting before I go, just to remind followers that I won't be taking my mobile phone with me. It will be quite a novelty to see what life is like without something we have all become very dependent on. So please keep in touch on email. I will phone family members from time to time.

One week to go

Definitely into final countdown now. I really feel ready to set off, and just want to get going at this stage. Not much to say in this post, but I wanted to check if people who have registered as "followers" get an email alert when I do a new entry.

Itinerary

Just so visitors get an idea of where I will be when, here's a brief run down :

Some dates and locations may change, especially after New Year.

1st to 6th October - New York
6th to 12th Oct - Montreal and Toronto
12th to 16th October - trans-Canadian rail journey
16 to 22nd Oct - Vancouver
22nd - 25th Oct - Vancouver Island
25th to 29th Oct - Seattle
29th to 30th Oct - Coast Starlight rail journey
30th Oct to 11th Nov – West Coast USA, including San Fransisco and Los Angeles
12th to 23rd Nov - Organised trip to Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, setting off from, and arriving back at, Las Vegas
23rd to 29th Nov - Honolulu, Hawaii
30th Nov to 8th Dec - New Zealand, North Island
8th to 19th Dec – New Zealand, South Island
19th Dec to 5th Jan – Australia, including Sydney and Blue Mountains
5th Jan to 8th Jan - Singapore
8th to 14th Jan - Kuala Lumpur
14th Jan to 1st Feb – Thailand, including Bangkok and beach
2nd to 15th Feb – India, including Mumbai and Kerala
16th Feb - Arrive home

The final few weeks

PACKING

It's not long now, and the number of lists I am working through just seems to keep growing. I now have a packing list as well as all the "things to do" lists, and have done a trial pack; it all fits in, but weighs a lot, so I am trying to whittle it down even further, but it's hard. I'm sure I've not included anything that isn't on every list of essentials for a round the world backpacking trip which includes trekking. (I've included a picture - more to test whether I can, than because anyone would be interested in a picture of my case and contents.)

There's a special "final countdown" list for what to do in the last few days before setting off : doing the Off Road Notice for the car, setting the central heating timer, mowing the lawn, loaning out my house plants, clearing the fridge and freezer, getting a very short haircut and so on.
Looks like I may be too busy for many blog entries till I land in New York!
It all feels much more real and less like a day dream. At some point I know I'll start having nightmares about impossible packing challenges and getting lost in airports - so long as it's only nightmares not reality, that's OK.

Progress

I'm a few steps closer to being ready. Bought some useful kit yesterday - including new boots which will need to be broken in. And had a really useful chat with the nurse at the Nomad travel clinic. Looks like I can get away without any extra vaccinations - having already had all the ones I can get for free on the NHS. And I'm not even going to need any malaria tablets as the areas I'm going to are all low risk. That's a relief; my recollection is that malaria tablets are the most foul-tasting tablets ever.
The India visa is on its way, so only the Thailand one to sort now - and that's free at the moment.
And I've finally started doing some work on my novel - so far just typing up the handwritten notes I'd already made, but at least there is now a file on the net-book called "chapter one".