Miami

After a four hour bus ride between Orlando and Miami, we arrived to a very warm and cloudy Miami, making our way to the very Miami-esque named Bikini Hostel. For whatever reason, they couldn't put us all in the same dormitory, but before we had the opportunity to mention to them that we weren't bothered about being split up, they upgraded us to a Deluxe King Apartment. Not a bad start.

We'd opted to stay in South Beach, which is undoubtedly one of the best beach/tourist scenes in we've come across this trip. I have no doubt the place is usually teeming with tourists, but due to our September arrival (it's officially 'Fall' here now, and school/college has resumed), the crowds have distinctively died down. An amble along Ocean Drive and a walk along the impressively pristine beach itself was all the more enjoyable by not having to avoid swathes of tourists as we had done a couple of months ago in the very crowded (albeit entertaining) Venice Beach.

With palm trees, art deco buildings and neon lights lining the streets, the general look of South Beach still feels very Miami Vice orientated (or Grand Theft Auto IV).With several days of what was perhaps one of the most relaxing periods on our holiday, soaking up the Florida rays, swimming at the beach and in our hotel pool, playing table tennis and pool, we're leaving Miami for a week thoroughly recharged and acclimatized to our next adventure - a week long cruise through the Carribean.

Orlando

After a casual week in Nashville our attitude towards booking onward travelling followed suit, as we left it to the last minute, and were unable to book a sub-$400 (!) flight for the day we had intended to leave. With the benefit of staying at Rob's house, we booked our flight for a day later, which was still much more expensive than it should have been. In addition to paying more than we had planned, we also had to endure the dreaded extremely early morning (in this case, 4am) taxi flight to catch an extremely early flight. Our Nashville body-clock schedule didn't help the situation, as we ended up with less than an hour or two of sleep before we were on our way to the airport.

A flight in the opposite direction to Houston, a three hour layover, and a further flight, and we were Orlando waiting for our bags. And waiting. You know how every time you wait a while for your bags, and time seems to drag on, as you become increasingly frustrated? Then the thought pops into your head that maybe your bags won't arrive? 'That won't happen to me', you say. Well, it did.

After seeing the same bags come around a couple of times, and mine not arriving, I made my way over to the baggage counter to find out my bags were on their way.... from another state. Washington, or Texas, I couldn't tell you, I just know it wasn in another state, and more importantly, where it shouldn't have been. It'll be dropped off at 8pm, I was told. At 3pm, this prospect isn't so bad, but when it eventually arrives at 2:30am, it's safe to say it's a little worse. Thanks, United Airlines, for ensuring I never fly with you again.

Annoying transport issues aside, Orlando had some of the most enjoyable weather thus far. The humid heat of the mid-east had become a much dryer heat, reminscent of a day in the late spring of Australia. We made our way from our bargain bin priced hotel (half the price of some of the hostels we'd paid for a month or two earlier -thank-you shoulder season pricing), passing under blue skies and palm trees, to 'Islands of Adventure', one half of the sprawling Universal Studios resort.

The recreated Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, key locations in the Harry Potter Series were a 'magical' start to the day, as the extremely detail and extravagant trips, rides and buildings gave a brilliant Harry Potter experience. As a side note, chocolate milk and energy drinks do not combine well as a breakfast option prior to riding rollercoasters.

An amazing day of rollercoasters, water rides and perhaps some of the best theme park food ever (the award winning Mythos Restaurant), was topped off by a cheeky 18 holes of mini golf. As for the result, well, it doesn't really matter who won or lost, but I will say that we all had a good time.

A week in Music City

Nashville provided us with our first insight into the true south, and we weren't disappointed. From the cowboys walking around the airport (I'm not even kidding), to the extremely endearing southern accents (think a less irritating Jessica Simpson), to our first taste of amazing southern fried chicken (definitely spicy, definitely unhealthy, but so tasty).

Downtown (read: touristy) Nashville was as one would expect - plenty of bars with country music blaring out the door, plenty of buskers trying to get their big break, and a plentiful amount of stores selling Elvis memorabilia as well as cowboy hats and boots. As a whole, Nashville was not without its charm, and every person we met came across as the most laid back and friendly people we had met all trip.

Much of our time in Nashville involved relaxing at our friend Rob's house and tagging along to the various Lacey media appearances, recording sessions, film clip filmings and concerts. A small gig on our first night in a venue called the Basement provided us with a glimpse of the musical talent in this city (of a non-country nature, at that). A dance/club night on the Friday gave me my first glimpse into the world of event photography, which I've heard before is like herding cattle, a reference which I now  understand.

Lacey's performance on college radio

Lacey video clip shoot

Lacey

Lacey

Lacey

Lacey

Washington DC

The bus journey to Washington was extremely event free, mainly because I napped most of it and, much to Mike's annoyance, kept leaning on his shoulder whilst doing so. DC was also a super short stay, we were there for less than 48 hours. Thankfully, all the usual sites were within a close proximity to another, so we managed to hit them all up in a short period of time.

The White House

Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument

Lincoln and WW2 Memorials

The whole time I was at the Lincoln memorial I just kept thinking about Forrest Gump's speech, and at the White House I kept thinking about Independence Day. Clearly the 1990's was a pivotal movie watching stage in my life. The Holocaust Museum was far and away the most eye opening and interesting of the free (thank you Smithsonian Institution) museums we visited, and has made me even more excited about heading to Poland and Germany in the next couple of months.

Natural History Museum

Capitol Hill and National Mall

Stupidly I booked my flight out of Baltimore (much cheaper than DC, and about 45 minutes away) at 6:30am the next morning, so starting at 3:00am, I was on my way to the airport, firstly via taxi, then train, then bus. A delayed flight was only more irritable on a couple of hours sleep, as my plane was diverted to go via Atlanta to Nashville, instead of Cincinnati, but I eventually got into Nashville about 10:00am, ready to get acquainted with the South.

It's always (cheese steak time) in Philadelphia

As amazing as New York had been, after nine days I was enthusiastic about moving on to a new city. That city being Philadelphia. Home of Rocky, tv show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia  and uh... some other things I'd brush up on during the two and a half hour bus drive from New York. The same bus ride that we arrived for a little too close for comfort for departure time, but that's another story (it's really not interesting).

Upon arrival in Philly, and dropping our stuff off, we set off on a mission to indulge in one of the city's greatest delicacies. The Philadelphia Cheese Steak. We ended up on South Street at Jim's Steak, reputably the place to get the best cheese steak sandwiches in the city, and in turn, the world. After ordering and 'American wit peppers n onion', Mike and I were transported to food heaven, as the combination of melted cheese, soft bun, grilled onions and peppers, with the sliced and diced steak combined for an amazing taste experience.

Magic Garden, South Street

After a detour to a more historical cultural experience (The Liberty Bell), Mike and myself headed to 'Mac's Bar' - a bar opened up by one of the stars of  the aforementioned 'It's Always Sunny..' before heading back to the quaint little apartment we're staying at for the next couple of nights, to plan for a massive following day, and more importantly, play with the kittens Hannah, our couchsurfing host was looking after.

With only one whole day in Philly, we were up and out early, although I did managed to sneak in yet another bagel with cream cheese (amazing things, they are). First item on the agenda, was the iconic Rocky Steps, or the steps to the Philadelphia Art Musem. After running, jumping, posing and all manner of activity, we headed down Benjamin Franklin Parkway (the main road that stretches from the Art Museum all the way to City Hall), checking out the Franklin Institute and 'Love Park' before arriving at the extravagant and impressive City Hall.

Rocky Steps, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Love Park

Rocky Statue, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Eastern State Penitentiary, built in 1829 and closed in 1971, lays claim to being the worlds first penitentiary and housed inmates such as the infamous Al Capone. Now in a state of semi-ruin, it was an amazing insight into prison life, and as we wondered through the walls of the prison, I was extremely thankful that the organisation looking after the prison had opted not to restore it, as if often the case. If I never have to hear the phrase "This is a reproduction of just how it looked 200 years ago", it will be too soon. The peeling paint, collapsing and crumbling walls, and musty damp odour that accompanied many of the corridors was much better to look at, and much more interesting that a 21st century reproduction of an 19th century building.

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary 

Al Capone's room Eastern State Penitentiary (the only real 'reconstruction')

Eastern State Penitentiary 

Eastern State Penitentiary 

 After a lazy evening stroll through Fairmount Park we indulged once more in Philly's greatest export - the cheese steak sandwich. Tired and full, we retreated back to Hannah's house to indulge in some great Trappist ales before getting our belongings ready for our trip to the nation's capital the next morning. As short and sweet as our stay in Philly was, I definitely found it to be  city I'd like to go back and spend more time in one day.

Boathouse Row

Fairmount Park

New York, New York!

I arrived into a bustling Chinatown, dodging through hoardes of sales people, cars and other tourists, before eventually making it to one of the multitude of subway stations, and heading south to Brooklyn. I made my way through the much grittier streets of Brooklyn, to the home of Alexis and Lauren, an extremely friendly couple I befriended in Montreal.

My first night in New York was completed with the amazing combination of Buffalo Wings, Pepperoni Pizza and mozzarella sticks. For New Yorkers, a standard weekend meal, but for an enthusiastic Australian, chomping down on that thinly sliced, evenly distributed pepperoni pizza was years of pop culture at once, starting from my first viewings of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Franchise in the early 90's.

With so many distinct districts and boroughs in New York, and being the obsessively organised person I am, I systematically opted to look into the Financial District first, at the southern end of Manhattan - but not without walking the Brooklyn Bridge first. An amble down Wall Street and past the stock exchange was more interesting for the amount of expensive suits and 'American Psycho' types than the buildings/street itself. I continued on my culinary escapades as I tucked into a cream cheese bagel and also a pastrami bagel. Once more, New York delivered (metaphorically, in this instance), albeit slightly more pricy than in previous cities.

Brooklyn Bridge

Wall Street

The afternoon was spent avoiding the drizzle, as Alexis and I checked out Battery Park and The Sphere (a now heavily damaged sculpture previously situated between the Twin Towers) and Soho, before opting for the drier sights of the Apple Store (an interesting architectural sight in itself - the store is completely underground, with only a glass cube visible from the street), FAO Schwarz (the toy store to end all toy stores) and Grand Central Station.

Grand Central Station

My final night in Brooklyn was finished off with some more amazing pizza at a local Brooklyn Italian restaurant (if I knew my diet for the next week would consist of predominately pizza, I probably would have opted for something different) and a Brooklyn Lager, yet another east-coast beverage I'd taken a liking to.

Times Square

After accidentally arriving in Times Square the previous day (I thought I'd gotten off a station past it, but lo and behold it was right in the middle of it), and wading through the crowds of people, I went to two New York food landmarks (for me, at least). I started off with a sandwich from Rupert's Deli (of David Letterman fame), before heading up a few blocks to the Original Soup Man, the inspiration behind Seinfeld's famous Soup Nazi character and episode.

Ed Sullivan Theatre

With Mike and Harry arriving in from Boston with our friend Bryan who had recently joined us from Australia, I headed back to Brooklyn to gather my stuff, said my farewells to Alexis and ventured back into Manhattan, circumnavigating the busy streets with all my bags. We had managed to pick up an apartment in an amazing location just off Times Square through AirBnB, and were making ourselves comfortable very early on in the piece. Tom, Harry's bandmate, arrived  from Australia to join us in the apartment, and with Bryan's birthday the next day, we celebrated into the next morning in a New York Bar which did not appreciate us taking over the jukebox and playing nostalgic songs from early last decade.

Breakfast turned lunch the next morning at Tom's Diner in the upper west side prepared us for a day exploring the more affluent areas of Manhattan.  On our way to Central Park, we walked past the apartment that John Lennon had been shot in front of some 32 years earlier. As we wandered up Madison Avenue through the upper west side, we came to a corner with massive crowds of people, and were quickly ushered away without knowing why. As it turned out, Gossip Girl was being filmed about 30 metres away, and we had started walking into a closed set. After a few papparazzi shots and we were on our way.

Gossip Girl Filming

The sporting landscape in New York is as grand as the city itself, and I'd been lucky to pick up tickets to a New York Giants vs New York Jets NFL game. A train ride out to Jersey with 1000's of New Yorkers was an experience in itself, as was making our way to our seats in the gigantuan and masssivel impressive Metlife Stadium. The most expensive NFL stadium in the country (and that's saying something), Metlife Stadium opened in 2010, with a construction cost of $1.6 billion and a capacity of over 82,000 and was a sight to behold. If the new Perth stadium comes even close in terms of atmosphere and facilities I'll be extremely happy.

The game itself, while exciting, is only enhanced by the American sporting theatre and spectacle, with  70,000 supporters, music blasting, cheerleaders, announcers, replays and big screens aplenty, all of which combined to be one of the best sporting experiences of my life (and it was only a pre-season game!)

Metlife Stadium

The amazing sporting spectacle continued the next day as I made my way to Yankee Stadium to watch Major League Baseball's and possibly America's biggest sporting rivalry - the New York Yankees vs the Boston Red Sox. Pre-game I opted to make my way to the outfield stand to mix amongst a few hundred other fans trying to catch a home-run hit struck by the batters in their warmup. With the warm up all but complete, and the crowd dispersing, one of the Red Sox batsmen timed one sweetly and it rose before coming down directly towards me. Despite the ball flying through the air and being the only one without a glove, I reached up and stuck one hand up in the air to try and snaffle a catch, only for the ball to brush against my fingers and be pouched upon by fans who lept over seats and dived along the concrete to get their mitts on it, literally.

Yankee Stadium

A trip across to Staten Island on ferry gave us a perfect opportunity to see the Statue of Liberty for free, as opposed to paying for the tourist trap ferrys. Some more New York decadence in the abundantly gold covered Trump Tower Foyer and Barney's gave an insight as to how the other half live an work, as I was cautious to not bump anything or spill my drinks on any of the $900 sweaters,  $175 t-shirts or $50 pairs of socks.

Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry

In keeping with the trips theme of  visiting movie locations for only the most critically renowned films in history, I went to the The Plaza Hotel, where no other than Kevin McAllister stayed in Home Alone 2. My Macaulay Culkin experience was further enriched by another amble into Central Park where I tracked down the bridge from one of the movies most popular closing scenes ('Kevin, you spent $967 on room service?!').

Central Park

With an (Australian immigrant) Englishman amongst our ranks (Bryan), Tom's curry fanaticism and my penchant for spicy food and eating challenges, it was only natural we'd head to the Brick Lane Curry House in East Village, home of reputedly the hottest curry in the world, knowl as Phaal. Made with ghost chillis, upon completion by an individual, the recieves a certificate, a free beer, and enters the 'Phaal of Fame'. With a reputation for being an extremely painful eating experience, and none of us willing to risk having our dinner inedible, we opted to split the Phaal between the the three of us.

After Bryan and Tom took a single mouthful of the deathly concoction, I was incredibly nervous before taking my first bite, so the inital beads of sweat down my forehead may very well have been due to nerves. As I took my first bite, I was slightly disappointed at the amount of heat generated by the world's hottest curry. I took my second and third mouthfuls, and then it hit me. Like a furnace, the temperature started to rapidly rise inside my mouth, as the agonising burning continued out to my lips, in my throat and even into my inner ear.

Thinking that the pain couldn't get any worse (it did), I managed to finish off the rest of the Phaal, as we headed off to a comedy club, a slightly last-minute planned night out. As my stomach started to eat itself, we sat and endured some horrendous comedy, which in hindsight was no great surprise considering it was one of the only places in Manhattan that wasn't sold out. I'm unsure if the pains that I endured well into the early morning, including putting me in periods of lying in the foetal position were caused as a result of the curry, or the pain inducing, awful, awful comedy.

The World Trade Centre sight, and the adjacent St Paul's Chapel combined for an extremely sobering experience. With an overwhelming sense of sadness, I walked through the chapel, which during the attacks, provided a safe haven for rest, sleep, and solace for rescue workers. As I made me way through the chapel, it was made a more intense and stirring experience as grown men surrounding me  were reduced to tears. As I read through letters written by school children to firefighters, and past tables full of missing person posters made up by friends and family of those that worked in the towers, the reality of the attacks hit me like a tonne of bricks. Being in the church, and seeing everything up so close made it that much more real, and something so much more than a news story from the other side of the world. It was a very emotionally heavy experience.

Freedom Tower

Madison Square Garden was underwhelming from the outside, though my time to look around was limited as I made my way back up to Midtown to enter in the lottery for Book of Mormon. The Broadway hit show is booked out until February, but in order to allow every day citizens to attend, every day they have a lottery that anyone can enter in order to win won one of 20 or so tickets fr the show. With several hundred entrants each night, chances of winning are slim, so when Bryan's name was drawn out, we were extremely stoked and happy for him, yet our eyes instantly all met each other as we tried to work out how we would decide who'd go as Bryan's +1. With Tom and myself much less inclined to want to go, we opted to sit out, and it was left to a sudden death battle to decide who out of Mike and Harry would go.

With Harry winning out on the traditional coin toss, Mike and myself headed up the Rockefeller Center just before sunset, allowing us to have full 360 degree views of New York both at day, and during the night. The views were spectacular, and we were treated to a glowing sunset that was cast over the city, whilst also giving us an idea of the scale of the city and how much ground we had covered in the last week or so.

Rockefeller Centre

Views from the Top of the Rockefeller

To finish off our time in New York, Mike and myself picked up some (rather disappointing) lunch from Mendy's the next morning.The disappointment of one of my final meals in New York was softened later in the afternoon as Mike, at the last minute, once more entered the Book of Mormon lottery, on the way to buying tickets to another Broadway Show. With an amazing amount of luck, he managed to have his name drawn. Later that night the two of us would be front centre row for the 9 time Tony Award winning show; the perfect way to end an amazing week.