USA roadtrip recap - Part 1

I have now finished my whirlwind road trip of the States. We did 21 states, 2 Canadian Provinces and Washington DC in 5 weeks travelling in the big V8 Ford van. We started in New York City with 7 of us - Kiwis: Me, Tim and Jess, the owners of the van. Aussies: Rees and Leah. Poms: Ady and Jay.

Over the weeks people left to go their own ways and Tim, Jess and I carried on for the last three weeks before I departed in Vancouver and they carried on to Big White.

In a condensed version of the trip here goes:

New York, NY - After camp we went to New York city where a large group of counsellors stayed in the Portland Square hotel, which is 50 metres from Times Square. We spent a couple of days walking around and having parties on the roof of the hotel. Then the road trip in the van started, kind of, 'cos it took us a couple of hours trying to get out of Manhattan via Harlem.



Niagara Falls, NY and Ontario - We arrived late at night on a Friday in Buffalo and looked for the street with the pubs which was dead. Supposedly the night to go out was Saturday. Then whilst looking for accommodation we ended up in the ghetto area. At one stage we had a a van pull up next to us at some lights with the door open and some dodgy looking dudes looking like they were about to carjack us. We quickly made our way out of there. The next day was rainy so we mucked around in the town and had a few bevies in the motel before heading for a night out in Niagara Falls town on the US side. By the way the US side sux compared to the Canadian side. If anyone else goes there, do it from the Canadian side.



We then spent the next day viewing the Niagara Falls from both sides and down below in the Maid in the Mist before heading down to Philadelphia that night.

Philadelphia, PA - We arrived in Philly at 4:30 am so we parked up in the town centre and slept on the Streets of Philadelphia. It wasn't too comfy with 7 of us trying to sleep in a van with all our gear. We did the tourist sights and walked around the CBD before having a Monday night out in Philly. Jay left us for New York and we were down to 6.



Wildwood and Atlantic City, NJ - Wanting to go to the beach after not seeing the ocean since we arrived in the US, we headed to Wildwood with the intention of staying a night or two because it is known as a party town. There were motels everywhere but they were all booked out or overly expensive so we went for a swim, walked along the boardwalk and then headed to Atlantic City to find somewhere cheaper to stay. The next day was a beautiful day in Atlantic City so we headed off to the beach again.



As we got into town we noticed that there was a massive airshow going on and it took us 2 hours to find a carpark. It turned out the airshow was over the beach, so we went and set up our possie and lay in the sun watching many different planes doing stunts 50m above our heads. Even better was that it was free. I got a little sunburned and after several hours we went back, got ready and went out on the town again. Ady and I went to Hooters while the rest went to a buffet. It was well worth it, especially after we had been to the one in New York which was not very good.

Washington DC - Next stop was DC where we did all the major sights. Luckily most of them are free. We went out on Friday night up near U street and had a bit of bother getting in a couple of clubs because some only accepted passports, however we made it into a couple of decent ones and had a good night out. I definitely recommend DC as a place to go out.



After spending a couple of days in DC, Rees and Ady stayed behind so they could head to Las Vegas and the other 4 of us headed towards North Carolina.