USA '09 - The East Coast

USA trip follow up, Reading Festival, End of my summer of Music and STA Travel Buzz events!!

2009-09-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

A Summer of Travels and Music

Unpacking Memento's

So its been a while since I last post, but here we go it's going to be a long one!! I only just finished unpacking from my USA Trip, I found all of these "memento's" I had picked up on the way which took me all the way back to remembering my epic trip! See Picture below!

From this collection, i was taken back to memories of some of the best memorable concert's i have been to with signed tickets :) some of the most fascinating museums in the world (smithsonian, washington dc) and some unique events in chicago and north carolina!! I found the USA Today I had bought the day Michael Jackson died, something to keep, something to remind me of listening to Michael Jackson on the radio for a good 6 weeks in America's mourn to the pop legend!

So now I'm home, I'm working getting some money to arrange my next trip. Next summer my friend Stu and I have a brief plan: this is largely subject to change.. We're thinking hitchhiking (still need to double check the laws on this) Cape Cod to Boston to Connecticut to New York to Washington DC to Virginia to North Carolina/ South Carolina to Georgia to Florida... We will then fly to San Francisco, to the Burning Man Festival to Los Angeles (to sell our script to some producers [in production]) to Tijuana (maybe a bit more of mexico) and then to Las Vegas (to celebrate our 21st).. I can't wait, it will be a trip of a lifetime... ohh and we're going to make a film to go with it...

So I should probably update what i have been up to for the past couple of months.

Reading Festival 2009!!!

A week after I arrived home, I had organized to work at Reading Festival which had an amazing lineup this year! It was absolutely epic! I had to work three 8 hour shift in order to earn myself a free reading ticket. I knew quite a few people going to reading so we managed to meetup for most of the bands! Reading Festival for me was really one week long party, I think i slept for about 12 hours the whole 4 days we were there.. The bands were absolutely amazing with Radiohead, Streetlight Manifesto and 3OH!3 being the massive highlights for me!!

Working as an Oxfam special was an amazing experience, Im always going to do this now for festivals!! We raised £70,000 for Oxfam for working at the festival so it was a massive achievement! Everyone we met working for oxfam were awesome, we had a good laugh and were still in contact with most of them!! We ended up welcoming people to the festival and putting out fires in the arena!! On the saturday night after prodigy we were unfortunate to deal with 5 unconscious girls who had overdosed on drugs or alcohol and had to call to medical attention.. apart from these instances it was a truly special weekend!

My Second Trip around the World ..... In London... with STA Travel Buzz on the STATravelBus...

all photos courtesy of Chris Stevens surf and camera legend [http://www.cstevensphotography.co.uk/]

So two days ago (not really knowing what was going to happen) we set our sights on India (Prithi Resturant, Brick Lane, London) to learn how to cook indian style! I arrived to India passing through the British rain to meet 4 other STA Travelers and the awesome STA Travel Buzz staff Camilla, Michelle and Sam. Chris, Alice and Marianne who are all off to Oz in a month or two!! Marianne and Alice we're lucky enough to be part of the £10 POM deal that STA were offering, £10 to australia, how can you turn that one down.. Inside of Prithi Restaurant we were taken into the small kitchen to join the restaurant staff (who were already cooking away for the customers) to learn how to cook Onion Bhaji's (no camilla not "barjeez", i guess we all learnt something)... The recipe if I remember it is a follows...

Authentic (Brick Lane) Indian Bhaji Recipe

Step 1 - Chop a Whole Onion and put in mixing bowl

Step 2 - Chop a couple of handfuls of coriander and put in mixing bowl

Step 3 - Chop a couple of raw green chillis (dont touch the eyes) place in the bowl.

Step 4 - Pour some Chick Pea (papa) flour into the mix and add a cup of water.

Step 5 - Get stuck in and mix with your hands... Grab handfuls and place in hot oil.. sorted :P

An hour or so later we departed India in our very own Double Decker bus sipping champagne (thats how to travel in style, london style) excited for our next destination America [maybe I could re-live my summer trip!! :).. ]

After a couple of bottles of champagne, partying (balloons and everything [Happy Birthday STA!!] at the top of the double decker we arrived in the USA.. a bowling alley called All Star! We had an awesome game of bowling, guys vs girls (guys won of corse.. rematch sometime?). Bowling is a lot harder than I remember after a few drinks and a good old american cocktail!

After our game we got back on the STA Travel Bus animated about what Ireland would bring! On the bus we "visited" England briefly as we all had Fish and Chips in transit to Ireland which was a great plan!

Soon after we arrived in Ireland [the London Irish Center] expecting a pint of Guinness instead we met with Aiden (an expert in Irish Dancing) who was extremely patient in giving us lessons! I'm really not much of a dancer (as you may see from the video's) but I really enjoyed it. Another tick in a box!

Check out the Video :P

We finally finished in an Irish bar with a pint of Guinness, what better way to finish our trip! It was a very surreal and unique experience and I can't thank STA Travel Buzz :: Camilla, Sam and Michelle for organizing it all. Bring on the next event!!

Richmond, Reel Big Fish and Surfing with Dolphins!

2009-07-22T05:21:00.001-07:00

What an awesome couple of days! Two days ago I left for Richmond, VA the state capital! I arrived around 10am and had a lot of time to kill before the Reel Big Fish concert at the National Theatre that evening. So I decided to head over to the Canal Walk and the American Civil War Museum which I found very interesting! I think its good to know a bit more about a history of a place before you explore it. After I took a wander over the the "Fan" area of the city which was a historic part of town, this is where the main university is located. Unfortunately there was a rain storm so I was stuck inside for the rest of the day, however due to this I managed to find some pretty cool Student Cafe's in the area! That evening I headed over to the National Theatre on Broadway to see Reel Big Fish. I was a couple of hours early so I decided to grab some dinner at the place next door. To my surprise Aaron Barrett (the lead singer and guitarist for the band) walked in!!! It was pretty awesome to meet him as the band has been one of my favorite bands ever since I was 12!! :):) The concert started around 8 and what a concert it was! There was a big age range of people at the gig, from little 11 year olds to 40 something year olds! I always find it interesting to go to concerts in different countries, the crowd acts in a completely different way here. The crowd back home I think is more willing to dance and move about in the pit. It was an awesome gig all in all, the support bands were amazing also which included The Supervillans and English Beat! I met some pretty awesome people that night which made it a good laugh. The following morning I made my way to the Greyhound Station to make my way back to Virginia Beach, at the station something must have happened as I was taken outside of the station by undercover cops, questioned and searched to find out that they had made a mistake. I was pretty scared! Undercover police wouldn't question and search you about nothing. 3 hours later I returned back to Virginia Beach and check the surf reports! :) The surf looked great! So I quickly got my board an d everything together and headed down to the beach for probably the best surf of the trip. I was out there until about 9pm, The waves were nice and regular and when they came they were most powerful than previous surf days and about 3ft in height! It was awesome. At points there were Dolphins enjoying the waves only 20-30m away it was pretty amazing! I didn't want to go too close.. So today is another day and I've got tickets to the Warped Tour! It starts at 11am so I better get ready for a day of music. Soo many of my favorite bands are playing so I'm pretty excited. See Lineup Below! 3oh!3 A Day To Remember A Skylit Drive Aiden Alana Grace Alexisonfire All Time Low Anti-Flag Bad Religion Bayside Big D and the Kids Table Black Tide Bouncing Souls Breathe Carolina Brokencyde Chiodos Dance Gavin Dance Dear and the Headlights Devil Wears Prada Dirty Heads Escape the Fate Forever the Sickest Kids Foundation Gallows Hit the Lights I Set My Friends On Fire Ice Nine Kills In This Moment Innerpartysystem Jeffree Star Jet Lag Gemini Less Than Jake Lights Longway Madina Lake Meg & Dia Mercy Mercedes Middle Finger Salute Millionaires Monty Are I NOFX P.O.S. Saosin Scary Kids Scaring Kids Senses Fail Settings Shad Shooter Jennings Sing It Loud Streetlight Manifesto TAT The A.K.A.S The Architects The Maine The White Tie Affair There For Tomorrow Therefore I Am TV/TV Underoath VersaEmerge Westbound Train Band's in Bold I'm very excited about and the rest i look forward to checking out!

Wilmington, Cape Fear, North Carolina!

2009-07-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

From Beautfort we headed further down the coast to Wilmingon, NC where we had booked 3 nights at the days inn.

Here I managed to catch some surf at Carolina Beach which was located next to a nice little town with a couple of restaurants and typical seaside attractions and rides. One of the days we spent in Wilmington we visited Wrightsville Beach, here there were very clean waves around 2ft tall which was great fun. I was probably in for around 5 hours, I loved it. I have never surfed in a place where the water was soo clear! A beautiful day!

The following day there was a storm so we couldn't do all that much, we managed to find a great bar in town called "The Reel Cafe" which we hung around in for most of the day.

Our last day in Wilmington we visited the Cape Fear museum which outlined the History of the area, I found this very interesting. Michael Jordan (World Famous Basketball Player) infact has his very own section in the museum as he had grown up in the area.

On the road again.. the Outerbanks!

2009-07-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ok I haven't had the chance to update this for a while so here it goes....

Posidon - Located on the Virginia Beach, Ocean Front.

On the 10th July we headed back on the road again to the Outerbanks, a three hour drive out of town on the East Coast. The outerbanks is the home of the pioneers of flight the Wright Brothers! On our way to our first destination KOA (Kamp of America) we stopped off in Kitty Hawk (where the first powered flight took place) t0 visit the Wright Brothers Memorial and Museum. I really enjoyed this visit, I found it truly special to visit this historical place.

That night we stayed at the KOA on the Outerbanks in a log cabin located only seconds away from the beach. Here I spent the majority of my time in the water. The conditions here were more tricky than Virginia Beach, there were strong rip currents that would pull you quite far out which I was struggling with at first, eventually I found a great spot where I could continually catch some bigger waves which was great fun! (Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as I was riding solo.. :( )

Sunset Over the Campsite

The following day we headed to a town called Beaufort (the third oldest town in Northern Carolina). We were visiting a family friend of Andrea's called Jimmy. We were lucky enough to be invited onto Jimmy's boat for the afternoon, we headed to go and checkout the Cape Lookout lighthouse located at the very southern part of the enormous sandbar!

Sea Monkey

Cape Lookout

That evening we all went out for a delicious meal, I was lucky enough to try some fresh Shrimp from North Carolina. :) After the meal we went out to a bar and experienced some live reggae on the water front. I found Beaufort to be a lovely small port town with a very chilled local atmosphere!

4th July - Independence Day

2009-07-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

Independence Day is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Yesterday during the day RJ came to pick me up in his jeep and we strapped my surfboard to the roof-bars and we headed to Croatan again via an awesome Irish bar close to the beach called "Murphys" where the food was excellent. (Good food is important before and after all trips to the beach).

The red flags were up at the beach, which meant we could surf anywhere (not just at the surfing only spots - these are sectioned off to avoid the surfer - swimmer collisions). Croatan beach is a great place to surf although It is very unpredictable, at some points the surf is completely flat although at other times there is a set of 3 waves ranging at about 2-3ft which are perfectly surf-able, however you really do have to figure out where they are going to break. As I travel down the east coast the waves will become more distinct, regular and bigger due to better breaks.

After the beach I headed back to the house for the 4th of July celebrations. Andrea and her family had invited family friends over for a "cookout" which we call a BBQ which was great. Out here people celebrate their holidays down to the fine detail, we even had red, white and blue M&M's and Jelly beans to eat! 4th of July food mainly consists of Hotdog's and Burgers, I had seen earlier on in the day a Hotdog eating competition on the TV (this is a big sport here on Independence Day), the winner managed to eat 68 hotdogs in 10 minutes!

Later on the evening we headed out to watch the local celebrations which included a big fireworks display :)

Today, I think I need a rest...

Back at Virginia Beach

2009-07-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

My Board and Surfing Kit - They'll be photo's of me surfin it soon!

RJ on his Skimboard

The wonderful Croatan Beach, VA

So ive been back in my temporary home Virginia Beach now for almost a week and I really have been making most of being able to take a rest. The highlights of the past week have been attempting to catch some surf down at the local beach Croatan! (I have a pretty sweet setup as a friend has a house right by it so we've got easy parking and a shower!) This has been awesome.

The days where the surf has been flat I have attempted to Skimboard which is much harder than it looks. Every time so far I have fallen over in every possible way, I may eventually get it. A friend who i have been introduced to here called RJ who's skim-boarding in the photo above has been hanging with me at the beach most days. It's been a pretty cool week. It's 4th of July - Independence Day tomorrow! I'm very excited.

A Taste of Chicago

2009-07-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

So the last day in Chicago, we decided to do some sight seeing! We fist headed to Grant Park to check out the Taste of Chicago festival which you can buy tickets to try loads of great food from stands located all over the park, we ate nothing else all day!

After the Taste we headed to the Hancock Tower which cost $15 to get to the viewing deck and free to get to the Resturant/Bar (the better option although you cant take too many pics here). We tried a couple of the speciality skyscraper cocktails! We chilled here for a good 2 hours overlooking the magnificent city!

We also headed to the Millennium Park. The sculpture in the photo above is called cloud gate located within the impressive park. I found this to be pretty damn awesome, we had some fun taking photos of this. I really didn't get how you could make this look so rounded and perfect! (I later used Wikipedia to find out - Invisible Welds!)

That evening Taste of Chicago were offering a free concert! Counting Crows which I was very excited about as I am a fairly big fan. It was soo nice to just chill in the park with good food, friends and some live music watching the sunset over the skyscrapers of this awesome city.

Chicago was amazing! Probably one of the most "happening" and most cultural cities I have been to! I would definitely suggest a visit to anyone. Something seems to happen every weekend and even most weekdays!

A night in Chicago and then to Grand Haven, MI

2009-07-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

From Washington DC we flew to Chicago and arrived tired from the day of museums. As I looked out of the window of the plane just before landing, I had never seen soo many lights extending into every possible horizon, It was insane! We were picked up by a friend of mine called Collin. Collin was a housemate of mine a couple of months back at University and had only just moved to Chicago to start his internship. We stayed in Collins top floor apartment, which he had recently moved into. The was no air conditioning and that particular night in Chicago was surprisingly extremely hot. So hot you really didn't want to move! We left around 7am that morning to catch the early trains.

From Chicago we took a train journey up through Indiana to Michigan City using Southern Trains ($14 single). Andrea's grandmother picked us up from the station there and we headed to a small lakeside town called Grand Haven. Grand Haven seemed a pleasant and friendly town. Grand Haven is home of the American Coast Guard, down by the riverside I got to ring one of the bells on one of the original "bouys" (which are said differently out here it sounds like "boo--eys").

We arrived late in the afternoon at the grandparents house, which (in my opinion) is situated in a very "American Idyllic" neighborhood with the perfect lawns and the postboxes next to the road at the end of the front garden (garden = yard here apparently). We spent most of the evening listening to stories from Andrea's grandfather sharing a bottle on Cognac. It was great to just chill out for an evening and take some drunk advice from a wise old man who managed to introduce me to a book about Thomas Crapper (the guy who invented the toilet).

The following day we decided to head to the beach (i know a beach on a lake!) without my surfboard this time :( to check out the magnificent lake and catch some sun which inevitably led to myself falling asleep in the sun and getting burnt (wear sunscreen here, trust me!). It was beautiful I wont look at a lake in the same way again, it really just seemed like we were at the seaside as all you could see for miles was water. I have read that the Lake itself covers 58,000km^2 in total and can get to depth of atleast 2km! Impressive.

Seeing as I couldn't surf at this waveless beach I looked into Kite Boarding, which is an increasingly popular sport which I have always wanted to try. However the cost was about $500 for a whole day, so that abruptly decided against it.

From here I tried my first even corn-dog which was pretty tasty at a popular plce in town called "Prano-Pop". That evening we headed down to the riverside to grab an Ice Cream and watch the very popular musical fountain. Yes a fountain that plays music and is timed with lights and movements to a different playlist every night. It was different.. and really good fun to just chill by the riverside eating ice cream and watching water dance to the beatles. If you ever take the trip to Grand Haven here's the attractions schedule: Click Here.

The morning after we took the Amtrak train ($80 single) back to Chicago from Holland which was a 30min drive away from Grand Haven.

Once we arrived back in Chicago we took taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe to take away the travel hunger (I strongly suggest the Hard Rock Nachos.. yum). From here we took the tube back to Collins flat and then headed off to a BMX competition that was going on in Grant Park! The BMX competition was amazing, we managed to watch all of the trials and visit alot of the advertisement stand where we managed to pick up all the freebie's and plenty of Mountain Dew to keep us going! One of the stalls at the competition walked us straight into a tv studio where all the BMX comettiton were being interviewed. We managed to get to sit right behind TJ Ellis during an interview which will air on tv here sometime soon! If you're interested atall to see the highlight of that day please click here.

That evening we spent with beer on the top of Collin's roof checking out the Chicago skyline and his naked 50+yr old neighbor by accident (not cool.. but funny).

Road Trip to Washington DC / Maryland

2009-06-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

So on Tuesday morning myself and Andrea headed off on our first leg of our trip to Washington DC. The journey took a good 6 hours traveling mostly through Maryland and over some of the longest bridges interconnecting the states.

I couldn't really get over how much cheaper it is to drive here, we managed to fill Andrea's car up full on about $30 which was only 3/4 gone after a 6 hour journey!

We met with one of Andrea's old friends called Loretta and we parked up at the Greenbelt of Washington and took the Metro into the City. In Washington all the Smithsonian Museums and Galleries were free, we visited the Air and Space Museum (primarily to see the 1903 Wright Brothers Plane), Natural History Museum (The Hope Diamond and many many dinosaurs) and the American History Museum. My favorite of the three was the American History museum which contained the first American Flag (they wouldn't let me take a picture :( ), many American Innovations, Dorothy's Shoes, The Berlin Wall and Kermit the Frog!

See below.

T-Rex in Natural History Museum

First things first...

2009-06-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Last year on my gap year I managed to visit Los Angeles, Tijuana, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, San Francisco, Conneticut and New York. I feel in a way we rushed through the process of visiting some of these places and found it hard to get around without a car (definately essential for seeing most of the US as its insanely big). This time round I'll be seeing different places, staying with people that live here (for the majority of it) and i'll be living america, not just seeing it from a tourist point of view.

I booked my flights yet again through STA Travel who provided me with a cheap flight with United. I chose United because it was cheap to bring a surfboard back from the US - $53 it mentioned on the website.

So I have now been here 2 weeks and I have finally found some time to write about it. I am staying with a friend Andrea and her family in Virginia Beach, this is where I will spend most of my time in between the two main trips I have planned to do while i'm here. The house where I am staying is about a 10 minute drive from the beach which is really useful to catch some surf on days I have nothing planned. A couple of days after I first arrived I went surfboard shopping and visited all the surf shops in the area. I came to a final decision on a board (which I have been wanting for a while now) in the 17th Street Surf Shop. Overall I paid $550 (£330) for a 7"6 Blue Mini-mal Board, Fins, Leash, Board Bag, Car Straps, Wax and a Rash Guard which was an extremely good deal! I expected to pay that just for the board! I will be taking the board with me on my trip down the East Coast all the way to Florida :) hence buying the car straps.