Abandoning the car in Hull meant that for the next two days I didn’t need to drive anywhere and could visualise the Pimms as we boarded the boat.  Unfortunately Pimms wasn’t on the menu but plenty of other delights were.  We had a great first night and enjoying catching up and singing along, rather too loud on my part, with the on board entertainment. Oh well, at least it gave us and the bar staff a bit of a laugh!  The next morning the hours’ time difference meant we had very little sleep before the 6.30am wakeup call ‘Good morning ladies and gentlemen, the Four Seasons buffet restaurant is serving……’ Not for me, a shower and an extra half hour in bed will do me fine.  We dragged ourselves onto the bus and by the time we arrived in Amsterdam we were ready to go.  Again, we couldn’t have asked for better weather.  We spend the day wondering round some shops and markets down quiet side streets and along more touristy routes.  We both managed to be very restraint about purchasing anything, which I am positive, was much harder for Helen than me.  We did find a great stall at the flea market where I picked up a leather bag which I adore and is now in constant use and has left me wondering how I ever managed without it.

Beer on the side of the canals with the gentle hum of boat engines going past, animated conversation at the next table and the ringing of bicycle bells kept us captivated for a couple of hours and I was well and truly in my element.  I love it when you are on holiday and time has no meaning what so ever.  I think I can got lost in that idea far too easily now and it was Helen that was telling me it was time to go.  After one final look round we went back the central station to get back on the bus still looking forward to the night ahead.

The second night was very much like the first and regaining the hour back had very little effect and I still wanted to hunt down the Four Seasons multi lingual lady and throw her over the side of the boat in the morning.  I didn’t, and made it through customs unscathed.  By lunchtime we had been to Lincolnshire to collect the hoover, had a cuppa with my Nan, Helen had made her Dad a coffee and we were back in York sitting in a pub garden and walking through the museum grounds soaking up the vitamin D.  What an amazing few days we had.

Essentially life has been very chilled here, aside from the fact that I have been woken every morning at 6am!  I must explain that the lifestyle here is somewhat different to the one that I chose to live.  I wouldn’t necessarily classify myself as a night owl or an early bird.  But it is totally alien to me that people would choose to be out walking at 6am and be in bed at 9pm but my parents have adjusted to this quite well (my mum really didn’t have any adjusting to do, she always fell asleep at 9pm on the sofa anyway!).  Most people work from 7 or 8 till 3.30 or 4 but the bakery in Ganges opens at 4am so you can start your day with bread and coffee in the middle of the night, like I said totally alien to me.

I have walked down to the main Ganges Fulford road a few times and hitched a lift into the town to explore or go for a coffee.  I have been on the ferry over to Victoria for the day a couple of times and explored round there, found some great book shops, walked up to Craigdorrach Castle and deliberated over a new laptop bag and managed to resist.  I have been out into Ganges to Moby’s pub/seafood restaurant and to Auntie Pesto’s for meals out and have generally been enjoying the company and the situation.  Last weekend we venture off island again to go over to Vancouver this time.  I have to admit this was a bit of a disaster for me.  I got up (earlier again on Saturday mornings!) and wasn’t feeling great and it got worse from there on really.  We got the ferry over to Swartz Bay and then got in the queue for the ferry over to Vancouver from there which was over booked so waited for the next one 2 hours later and by the time we got on the boat I was feeling awful.  I was eventually sick and things seems to be alot better till I nearly fainted in Granville market and had to make a not so hasty retreat back to the hotel where I proceeded to sleep for the next 17hours whilst my parents went exploring round Vancouver and had dinner at the Spagetti Factory in Gastown. I was gutted to have missed out on one of the highlights of the trip.  Feeling a little better the following day we went back to Granville Island and I got to explore a little more this time.  From there we went up to went up the coastal drive up to Horseshoe Bay to get a ferry over to Nanaimo and then another one back to Salt Spring. The coastal drive was lovely and reminded me of bits of the Great Ocean Road in Australia and also the road from Picton to Nelson through the hills in New Zealand. I am pleased to report that by the time we got on the ferries I was feeling quite a bit brighter and there was no vomitting on the return journey, just fantastic scenery and although a little misty still great.  We went up to the top deck and got some great photographs.

Well thats it for now, going to get some washing done and then I suppose I should really pack.  On second thoughts I might leave that till tomorrow and just enjoy the last night!

The first couple of days I settled into holiday mode and only had minor problems wanting to go to sleep at 9pm on the second day here, but I blame that on altitude aclimatization here on the mountain side, rather than jetlag!  Snow followed for the next few days and I quite enjoyed being stranded at the house with mum and dad not able to make it down to work. We set to making bread, marmalade and muffins and watched a number of DVD’s but I was relieved to see the snow retreating the following day before cabin fever really set in.

At the weekend we headed over to Vancouver Island on the early ferry and stopped for quintessential canadian breakfast of pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup. We ventured round the shops in Victoria and I bought a few absolute essentials! The really started to make its presents felt so we got in the car and drove up the Malahat to Nanaimo.  Originally heading to Tofino we realised that the weather was going to put a real downer on the trip and fact that we had to be back on Salt spring for Monday morning meant that most of the weekend would be spent driving in awful weather so time for plan b again and Nanaimo was our destination.  Called the ‘Harbour city’ Nanaimo is Vancouver Islands second largest city after Victoria and renowned for its outdoor culture.  It has fantastic scenery, parklands and would be a great place to explore on a dry day.  It was dark when we arrived so we settled into the hotel and walked down to a great little Greek restaurant just down from the hotel.  I know they say you should never judge a place from the outside and that is certain true in this case. From the outside it looked really dark and there was the obligatory blue and white flag restaurant board.  We walked in the door and I was amazed it was like a mini greek palace in a conservatory.  The food was amazing an we were all stuffed when we left.  I also got to sample a Greek red and I definitely approve.

On Sunday we started the day with wafel making at the hotel and then went out round Nanaimo.  After a brief drive round the city, which was really more a town, we went to Chemanius.  Chemanius is the town that is home to the world famous wall painting.  I was here 20 years ago and when we arrived memories of certain areas came flooding back.  We walked round the wall paintings, which are far more extensive then they were all those years ago.  The skies had cleared and the sun was out and it felt lovely walking around taking photographs. 

After Chemanuis we went to Duncan and we went for coffee at an organic cafe and then took the Totem tour.  Basically, the Totem tour is a series of yellow footsteps painted on the pavements that guided you a round the40 plus Totem poles around the town, each one unique on its colours and carvings. A quick visit to Maple bay for a walk on the beach and more photo opportunities, although I didn’t manage to get one of the man falling out of his canoe, before returning to Salt spring on the ferry from Crofton.

Since returning I quickly settled back into a routine at work and it became very apparent that not much has changed back here but so much had shifted in my mind.  I moved in with Wil in Jesmond and continue to rent my flat out to tenants that thankfully, I haven’t had too many problems with (so far!).  I love living here and honestly think that I would have found it extremely difficult going back into a flat on my own after 6 months of dorm rooms and loads of other people around.  The one major thing about  living with Wil is that my alcohol intake has significantly increased to the the point where Helen thinks I should be going to AA meetings.  I am enjoying it and do try to have the  odd day without a glass of wine now and then!

I have had a few trips down to Helens since my return with highlights from these trips being The National gig at Brixton Academy, audience participation at  the filming of The Hairy Bikers cook off, free tickets to see Phantom of the Opera and various nights out including the TVC bar, Wahaca and The Bull.  I have been down to Oxford to house sit for Gregg and Andrea whilst they were away in New Zealand.  The highlight of that trip being the free tickets to the England vs. Samoa rugby match at Twickenham, courtesy of Catherine and Brita. All those bears in one place was quite something.  I have to say that the low point of that particular expedition with having to leave the car behind and get the overnight bus back to Newcastle, which, in itself was not a major task.  It was the hours wait outside in the freezing cold at Milton Keynes at midnight that was the problem.  But I survived and I am here to travel on National Express buses once more!

I got a new car.  A black Peugoet 207 that I have decided to call Patrick. In his short life has been through quite a bit.  At only 7 miles old he got a piece of metal stuck in one of his tyres which deflated in a matter of minutes.  The AA man came out and prompted started to jack the car up in the wrong place. I was positively wincing hearing the crunching coming from the body, and again when he realised those weren’t healthy noises so started kicking the jack further under the car. Just about over that ordeal then the snow came and he was subjected to -8 degrees and copious amount of snow.  I am happy to report he is managing well and seems to be taking it all in his stride.

I keep getting waves of things that I must do and the ESTA for America was one of those things that has been coming into my head and then going again.  Although the ESTA itself in valid for 2 years from the first application (and I managed to get that in well before they started to charge for it) you have to update the details everytime you enter the country.  I updated this today for the trip to Canada in five weeks time and that prompted me to start thinking about blogging again.

I think I may have forgotten to mention that my parents finally managed to emigrate in early October after over a years battling with Canadian immigration they gave them the go ahead and they left 2 days after my brothers 30th birthday.  They seem to be adapting to their new life well, although there was a lot of moaning about the price of cheese in the early days, that seems to have settled now.

Thats all for now, let the countdown begin.  Canada 8th January 2011.

New York was a success and Helen managed to find shoes in Macy’s after her previous ones snapped in the coke trap in the back of the bus and I got to visit Central Park in the summer, which was my main objective for going to New York in the first place.  It was lovely to see people taking boats out onto the lake, others sitting and sunning themselves on the grass and the gulable tourists that paid ridiculous amounts to ride round on horse and cart.  It was a beautiful day and magical to explore the depths of the park knowing that the hustle and bustle of New York life was still happening outside its protective shield. 

Helen managed to tear me away and back to the hostel and collect our bags to go to Boston.  The final Greyhound bus journey was disappointingly uneventful after the ordeals we had endured along the way, from tramps to toothless drunks and from randy french couples to guitar playing bears, we had seen a great cross section of american society, a cultural melting pot of chemical toilet scented life.

Boston went by in a haze of being stuck somewhere between longing to travel for all eternity and mentally trying to prepare for my trip back to reality and the obligatory argument and misunderstanding that no Helen and Ruth trip would be complete without.  Having done something to one my photograph SD cards in Toronto I was frantically hoping that someone knew how to retrieve the 3000 photographs I had taken and potentially lost on this.  After 6 months of not really allowing myself to consider emotions about friends and family, I was longing to see them all and talk about my adventures. 

I left Helen at the airport and my favourite fatface jacket on the plane.  Gregg picked me up and took me back to Lincolnshire.  I just felt numb.  I couldn’t quite believe how nervous I felt about seeing everyone and wandering if they had changed, them thinking I had changed and how I would feel about being back. 

So that brings me to now, I took my card to someone as soon as I got back and got a phone call today to say they had managed to retrieve the images.  I went for lunch with the girls before starting back at work  and I am camping on the floor of my flat before new tenants move in in a couple of weeks.  The main objective over the next few weeks is to find somewhere to live and start to pay back some of my debts to the credit card companies.

I need to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me along the way and especially to those who have provided beds, hospitality and a friendly face in the sea of unfamiliar. I woudl like to think that I will keep this site going and there will be many more adventures to come.  Once I have some time in front of a computer editing images Iwill add more pictures of the journey (especially the last bit when I was constantly on the go and got very bad at blogging).

I would appreciate you questions and comments about the blog and photographs posted.  Below is a selection of the questions so far:

Where did you like the best?   New Zealand, particularly the south island

Would you like to go back to anywhere?  I loved New Zealand and definitely want to spend more time exploring both islands, but also want to go back to Australia so I can do Tasmania and Queensland and I would love to spend some chillin time on Portland again.

When did you feel most scared? Tie between being locked in a taxi in Bangkok and walking round Washington DC after midnight.

What was your best memory?  Whenever anybody asks me this question I get a photo montage pop up in my head of all the beaches I have sat on and all the sunsets I have seen whilst sitting there so I guess collectively Rhawi beach- Pucket, Langkawi-Malaysia, Margaret river -West Australia, Port Fairy- South Australia, Port Elliott- South Australia, Great Ocean Rd- South Australia and many more.

Is there  anywhere you didn’t like?  I really didn’t get a good vibe from Calgary, Alberta  but I didn’t hate it.

We caught a shuttle bus from Dulles International to the hostel only to find that 2 minutes after we arrived, a photo of us was posted on twitter.  Helen has already touched on the subject of the conversation with a probable murderer at the Petrol station so I won’t go into that.

The following morning we got the underground to Union Square and walked around all the major landmarks of Washington including the Jefferson, Lincoln and Vietnam Vets Memorials and the White House where Helen started singing ‘Oh say can you see, we’re in Washington DC’ to a load of tourists.  Unfortunately the President wasn’t accepting visitors so discussion of nurses pay and the oil spill were off the agenda.

A few hours later we collected our bags and headed for the Greyhound terminal to go to Baltimore.  We managed to get a private room but on arrival found that it was a double bed.  Unable to switch rooms and Helen being concerned she might smother me in the night I volunteered to sleep on the floor, which was surprisingly comfortable with a few blankets. We spent 2 nights in Baltimore exploring both the Charles street area where we were based, and with the use of the free buses, Market Street and the inner harbour area.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous without the humidity of neighbouring Washington.

The next morning we were on the move again back on the greyhound for a very complex transfer schedule to get to Niagara Falls.  We were late for all 3 transfers but by some miracle managed to catch all the buses but to the detriment of our stomachs because by 8pm we had had nothing to eat all day and Helen was seeing the ground move.  We got to Niagara at 9.40pm having managed to eat a disgusting microwaved spring roll burrito myself and a rather non-descript meat burger for Helen, further enforcing the point that greyhoung bus stations are not exactly conducive to a healthy balanced diet.

The next day started with a walk down to the falls.  The weather was again beautifully sunny and we knew we were nearly there when we heard the roar of the water and felt the vapour in the air.  We walked past the American falls on the opposite side and round to get a better view of the Canadian side. Deciding this was still not close enough we donned our very sexy blue hooded bin bags and took to the water on the ‘Maid of the mist’ into the falls. This was great but I didn’t see an awful lot after the first deluge of water across my glasses.

Back on dry land we continued walking and found ourselves at the gift shops and the top of the falls.  I was mesmerised by the water torrents falling over the edge, which is receding up to 2 meters per year in places, and into the abyss below to get carried down to Lake Ontario. Nestled on the shores of Lake Ontario sat our next destination, Toronto and by 6pm we had dumped our bags at the hostel (university halls of residents) and we were walking back to Yonge Street and to the cinema.

1. I happened to notice the wanking tramp first, felt that we were interrupting his obviously practiced routine so went to buy tickets for bus journey to Vegas.

2. The cockroach thing was hilarious and I nearly wet myself watching Helen dancing around the cockroaches in the middle of the street.

3. I actually told Helen that I would abandon here in Washington if she decided to lay the stripper cards out on the kitchen table and select the best ones for the stripper wall in her journal but she has them stashed in a bag and I am sure she will bring them out in Boston when she knows we are all our final destination.

4. Mum, Dad please don’t worry about the murderer and to coke at the petrol station, it really wasn’t as dramatic as that and I am old enough and stupid enough to make it this far around the world.  I am not going to let a murderer stop me from getting back to the UK to pay off my debits.

5. Ruth said nothing of the sort about Chinese girls and doesn’t wish to piss off a large proportion of people.  I just made an observation that some of the Asian girls that I had shared rooms with had a very different view of quiet time to myself.

After having a maximum of 2 hours of sleep on the bus we arrived in San Francisco totally shattered.   We got on the bus to Union Square and walked up to the hostel.  The Adelaide hostel was really nice and has great meal deals and breakfast included, which we took advantage of.  On Friday we spent the day exploring San Francisco.  We caught the cable car over to Fisherman’s Wharf and walked around the bay area.  We both got caricatures pictures of ourselves by an art student and basked in the glorious sunshine before going for Clam Chowder and a boat trip to Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge.  We had a great trip around the bay and soaked up the sun before walking back along Fisherman’s Wharf and up to the crooked section of Lombard Street and arrived back at Westfield Centre at 7.30pm not believing where the day had gone.

Saturday involved another long bus journey (after meeting the wanking tramp) arriving in Las Vegas in the dark to appreciate the strip in its full glory.  Our hotel was nice, really great value and on the strip so a great location.  We explored the hotel and then went to bed. I had a great nights sleep significantly enhanced by the fact that I has a double bed to myself again for the next 3 nights and only Helen’s snoring to contend with in the bed next to me.

I woke up on my birthday and had phone calls from home, which is always nice but even better on your birthday.  We caught the bus down to the end of the strip and walked to the famous Las Vegas sign for photo opportunities. Throughout the day we walked back in the direction of the hotel stopping off at numerous hotels along the way including Luxor to see the pyramid, Excalibur, New York New York, The Bellagio for the fountains and the botanical gardens, Caesars Palace, The Venetian, The Mirage and Treasure Island for a birthday dinner at Kahunaville.  We had a great dinner with cocktails and birthday cake, then back to our hotel for more drinks, rides in the amusement park and losing at Roulette (last of the big spenders I bet $10).  All in all a great birthday.

The early starts are not funny anymore, 5am and I am in the shower getting ready for our trip to the Grand Canyon.  We took the bus to the Grand Canyon stopping at the Hoover dam along the way.  On arrival at Mathers Point we walked along the South rim to the Yavapii Visitors Centre taking loads of photographs along the way and climbing over the rocks to get a better vantage point.  At Yavapii we watched three Elks walking across the car park and took loads of photo’s of them too.   Then on to Bright Angel Lodge for Helen to do some souvenir shopping and more photographs.  We had a very uneventful journey back to the hotel and neither of us could really believe how amazing the Grand Canyon is.  It is definitely one of the top natural wonders of the world.  It was so beautiful and I was amazed.

We are on a very, very tight budget, and I’m not quite sure how Ruth has survived this far. I’m wearing these horrible sandals that just seem to rub on/trap dirt. I have constantly mucky feet – thanks Mum… Anyway, normally I would have got these cheap but awesome shoes, but I didn’t. Unfortunate, as they’re really painful and I’ve walked miles and miles now. Very ouchy.

Anyway. Notable things about our trip so far, since I notice different things to Ruth. She notices the beauty and wonder of nature. I notice freaky weird things like wanking tramps.

1. A wanking tramp: we saw a tramp gleefully pleasuring himself whilst standing in San Francisco bus station and yelling, at 6am in the morning.

2. Cockroaches: Washington DC at night = millions and millions of cockroaches, all ready to chase Helens down the street.

3. Giant Vegas cocktails: I wish we’d had one of these. They drink cocktails out of plastic guitars and stuff. Unfortunately our book of Vegas vouchers only let us have medium-sized ones. But I suppose drinking out of guitars is mostly for teenagers and crazy desperate cougar women. Although Ruth is 27 now, which is kind of old I suppose.

4. Chinese girls: every Chinese girl I’ve shared a dorm room with/sat next to on aeroplanes etc has been so, so selfish. Only Chinese girls. It’s super-weird. Making loads of noise at night when everyone’s trying to sleep, putting their bags everywhere, secretly using their phones when cabin crew say to turn them off, getting into my space all the time, generally being bitches. Maybe it’s just been the ones we’ve been hanging out with, but Ruth says it’s a cultural thing.

5. Buses: dear god, Greyhound buses are full of freaks. Seriously. I mean, our ticket was great value, but stinky drunk people, chemical toilets etc etc etc? Character forming, I suppose.

6. American food: our old rule still applies. If you don’t know what something you’re eating is, it’s cheese. If it definitely, definitely isn’t cheese, it’s bread. Everything has bread and cheese in it. I swear I’ve gained SO MUCH WEIGHT.

7. Stripper cards: Vegas is full to bursting with stripper cards. I collected some, but Ruth said it was probably socially unacceptable to stick them into my notebook in the public kitchen of the hostel.

I can’t think of anything else frankly. Ruth will have to fill you in on the rest. She says I shouldn’t write about the thing with the murderer and the coke at the petrol station, because her parents will freak out.

Sunday and we went on the bus to the Convention Centre to see about the Discovery passes at the Greyhound depot.  We both purchased a 15 day pass and this would take us up to 2 days before our departure back to London and get us safely to Boston, with a bit of look.  Monday we would depart to Portland on the way to San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Back in Seattle we walked to the Space Needle and went on the 360 degree walk around the top. The day started off a damp but soon brightened up and the cloud lifted to reveal the mountain Rainier on the Seattle skyline.  After the obligatory walk around the gift shop we walked to Pike Place market with a fair bit of ‘are we nearly there yet’ on Helen’s part.  After a good look round and some late lunch we went looking round the shops and to a free demonstration of the new cirque de sol show that is in town.   Then back to the hostel with a selection of food from the international district food court and settled in for movie night.

Monday with are discovery passes in hand we went to the greyhound depot again and got the bus to Portland, Oregon and actually arrived 10 minutes early, which is completely unheard of.  A bit more moaning from Helen to get to the hostel we dropped off our bags and headed straight for the Blue Moon brewpub up the road.  A few pints down and conversation turned to trying to organise a few things for the days to come and working out what we were going to do and where.  Tuesday morning we got up a little later, trying to avoid the lovely old lady from Bristol who spent hours talking at us last night. We walked straight to Powell’s books where I traded in my old book for credit towards two new ones.  We spent a long time in there trawling through bookcase after bookcase of romantic fiction (unfortunately we are both addicted to the happy ever after) and had coffee. From here we decided to brave the shops and see if we could stick to the no spending rule.  I managed to only buy a t shirt so I was very pleased with myself.

We walked a long the water front and back to stand in the queue for the Voodoo Doughnuts. Helen purchased a selection to take video footage of and I got one called Captain my captain with multicoloured cereal on top, it did taste better than it sounded.  Both pretty tired after a full day we had an early night and I settled down to one of my new books. I keep smiling at how comfortable I feel with everything and how simple things seem, that is until I start to thing about money, but I am happily in denial for at least 2 more weeks.

Portland’s café culture suites me down to the ground and we walked up to 23^rd St with a lot of little boutique style shops interspersed with coffee shops and tea houses on a tree lined streets.  We set up camp in a lovely little tea house with Helen discovering the merits of bubble tea and me getting the chance to read out of date UK magazines and discover that 6 months doesn’t change things at all in the celebrity media world.  Later we started the bus journey to San Francisco travelling through the night and arriving in Sacramento for breakfast and San Francisco around lunchtime.  We were both completely shattered. Neither of us got much sleep and I looked like shit. The first thing I did in the hostel was have a shower to wake up and so that I didn’t scare the other guests.  The hostel seems nice, it really big and has a cosy sitting area and free breakfast to start the day right.

So after spending a couple of days in Banff seeing the wonderful landscape and the snow each morning and managing to upload loads of backdated photo’s onto the blog I walked back to the bus station and took thebus to Calgary.  The hostel was nice but my first walk around the city left the feeling a bit empty.  It was a sunday but there wasn’t may people around and everyone that I saw looked like they were a chronic alcoholic or that they were totally dependant on crack or crystal meth.

I picked up some dinner and with positive thoughts that Calgary would have more appeal tomorrow I went back to the hostel and watched Nacho Libre with a guy from Australia and one from New Zealand.  I have learnt a lot about where different countries travel to, here is what I have found so far:

British: Europe, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand

Americans: England, Australia, New Zealand (sometimes), Canada and America

Australians: England, Europe, America and Canada (if they haven’t had a drink driving conviction)

New Zealanders: Canada and America

French: America and Canada (although some of these could be french canadian but don’t converse with many people as they refuse to speak in English)

German and Irish: Everywhere!

Monday in Calgary was a little more promising.  I found the main street and visited  few shops and galleries. One thing that really stands out is that the whole city is like one big construction site.  I really didn’t expect this only a couple of months after the winter olypmics because nearly all the jump events were in Calgary and you would have thought this would be the time they where basking in the afterglow of there efforts pre olympics, but no.  Maybe it has just made them more determined to expand the city.

I went to the library, sent emails recieved multiple messages from Helen that flight was confirmed depite BA strike and threfore organised tickets back to Vancouver (if flight was cancelled with going to fly to Toronto from there).  Tuesday and a another long bus jpurney back to Vancouver in the rain and running to the hostel before checkin closed at 11pm.

I needed to plan how I was going to spend my last few days alone so I went to the bus station and asked what bus wwas leaving next.  The lady obviously didn’t get that I wasn’t bothered where I was  going to end up but gave me a list of place names and I said yes to Portland.  So there it was, I was crossing the border back into America and passing through Washington state to go the Portland, Oregon.  I was excited again, I had heard a lot of good things about Portland and it was a new place to explore.

Back on the greyhound and before I knew it we were pulling up at the border.  The guy was really tough and every question I answered seemed to dig me into a deeper hole.  The worse part being that I knew that I know that I had done nothing wrong but I felt I needed to confess something.  The bus driver must have read the confusion on my face and went on the explain that this guy wasn’t the worse one! After that I just felt like shouting not everyone wants to stay in you land of the free!

Summary of conversation:

‘Where are you from?’

‘The UK’

‘The UK, why are you coming to America?’

‘For a holiday’

‘What holiday?’

‘Sorry?’

‘What holiday?’

‘Oh sorry, a vacation’

‘Vacation. Are you travelling alone?’

‘I am meeting my friend in Seattle’

‘Who is this friend and how do you know them?’

‘A friend from England, I have known her since school’

‘Why isn’t she with you now?’

‘I have been travelling for a few months and she could only get 3 weeks of work’

‘What do you do in the UK?’

‘I am a nurse’

‘A nurse.  I am not saying that nurses don’t earn much, but how are you funding this trip?’

‘I have saved some, I worked a bit in Australia and the rest is going on credit cards’

‘Do you have a ticket to leave?’

‘Yes we fly out of Boston on the 24th of June’

‘June 24th. How are you getting to Boston?’

‘I don’t know yet’

‘Oh, Take your things to the scan over there’

‘Thanks’ (for the interrogation)