Rhod and Anna's World Adventure

2 travellers;
303 days;
10 countries;
7 hire cars;
121 different beds;
42 postcards;
117 blogs;
£**,*** spent
later...
we arrived back at a very foggy Heathrow at 9.30 on 19th December (1 hour late.)

It's been an adventure and to everyone we met who entertained us, thanks for making the trip so great. If you fed us or housed us as we passed by (Jon and Janine, Lyndon and Sheryl, Brenda, Geoff and Jennie, Jim, Carone, Jakob and Siena, Mr and Mrs Dutz, the Duquettes and Claire and Joe) then a very very big thank you for your generosity. For those who kept us informed about events on the home front, thank you for keeping our home sickness at bay.

Oh and if anyone wants to sit through 6000 photos then just drop us an email and we can arrange a time for the slide show.

We hope you've electronically enjoyed our holiday as much as we have. It's been truly amazing.

We've made it to the Big Apple which means only one thing...it's the last week of our holiday. We could never have envisaged the end but you know what they say about all things good...

Instead of moping, we've been making the most of our time we have left. On Wednesday we managed to get $10 tickets to see the New York Knicks v Atlanta Hawks at the impressive Madison Square Gardens venue. The Knicks won but neither team were as skilful as the game we saw in LA a month ago. Earlier in the day we wandered through 9 floors of Macys department store which looks stunning at Christmas time. Luckily for the kids of New York, they don't have to go far for lunch as there is a McDonalds right in the middle of the kids clothing department! Shocking.

Yesterday we walked about an hour to get down to Lower Manhatten. You kind of arrive at Ground Zero and just stop in your tracks. You can walk right around the perimeter looking in at the developments that are going on. No picture can really get across the scale of the area. It was great though to see normal people going about their daily lives getting on with things knowing what had happened 5 years ago. We visited the NY Police Museum and that had further photos and artefacts about September 11th. It brought back sad memories for us; I can't imagine what it must have been like for New Yorkers. In the evening we went out in Chelsea to some bars and a great Mexican restaurant.

Today we are trying to get tickets for a show on Braodway and we still have so much to do...Empire State Building, Statten Island ferry, 5th Avenue shops, ice-skating and whatever else we can fit in.

I love this city - it's the perfect end to our holiday.

On the 11th of December in LA we went to see the filming of some "live" TV. The programme is called Jimmy Kimmel Live and is shown every weekday night. It's filmed in the El Capitan theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

So how live is live TV. I knew not to expect real time as the show needs to be filmed in LA to be broadcast at midnight on the East Coast. So with the three hour time change we guessed it would start around 7.30, be done by 8.30 and get edited and pumped out on the east coast at midnight their time, 9pm LA time.

WRONG! We joined the queue and got our seats. Not bad seats. We could see all we wanted. It was then we were told what we would be watching. On the 11th of September we saw Jimmy film the monologue for the show on the 21st December. We then waited whilst they removed all the Christmas decorations and watched him interview Ryan Seacrest (host of American Idol plus other American based TV and radio things) which was due for airing on the 14th December. We then went out side to the car park to watch the live concert by Gnarls Barkley which will also air on the 21st December. So we are part fo the audience for the 14th (we watched it last night and didn't see ourselves) and the part I find most interesting is that we have the potential to appear live on US national TV on the 21st December when we are already back in the UK! That's pretty clever of us I'm sure you will agree. We have a better chance of being on TV for this as we are stood near to him when he does his link for the Gnarls Barkley concert.

It was very funny and very interesting but I don't really understand the live part of it. I would go and see it again and if you are ever in LA it is a very good freebie and very funny.

http://www.jimmykimmellive.net

Where would you expect a couple to buy an engagement ring when they have negative funds, no jobs and are at the end of a 10 month holiday? Elizabeth Duke, Croydon High Street maybe? Wrong. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills! (You've got to take advantage of the exchange rate right now!)

Last Monday we spent a sunny December morning strolling between Tiffanys, Cartier and De Beers looking for the perfect ring. We had done our homework in other shops so we looked like we knew what we were talking about. Our friend Simon recently compared ring shopping to house buying. You are an expert in it for about 5 minutes then you forget all about it afterwards! A very apt description I think. We talked our way through and didn't even cringe when some extortionately out-of-our-budget rocks were presented to us in Cartier! The phrase, "We've got a lot to think about!" was used frequently to get us out of situations with our prides still intact.

After emerging from Tiffanys (feeling unsatisfied) and Cartier (feeling poor) we went into De Beers on the off-chance. An hour later, after perusing through the rings the lady kept bringing out from their elaborate walk-in safe and sipping water brought out to us by the security guard, (Evian, if you don't mind!) I had fallen in love. As soon as we can find a computer that will let us put photos on, you will get to see it. I could certainly get used to this jewellery shopping lark.

Thank you Rhod!

Death Valley is a low point of our holiday. To be precise it is 282 feet below sea level at its lowest point. Due to road closures because of snow in the mountains Death Valley was a bit of a detour for us. We drove about 800 miles in 3 days in order to visit.

The place is great. Because of the time of year, we had it virtually to ourselves. At the valley overlook point there was just us and a film crew packing up after filming a BMW commercial. At Badwater Basin we had the salt flats all to ourselves as the sun was setting. For some reason I had the childish urge to do some cartwheels on the salt flats. I soon regretted it when I looked back at the photos and saw not the straight-legged straight-backed 9 year old I used to be, but a bundling hunched-over mess . Cartwheels shouldn't be attempted after childhood. It's not like riding a bike - you do forget how to do them properly and you end up pulling muscles you never even knew you had.

We went for a bit of a hike. 3 miles was tough going even at this time of year. I wouldn't want to try it during July when the average daily temperature is 45 deg C!

Imagine a big tree. You are going to have to imagine it because despite visting San Diego, Los Angeles and New York in the last week we have been unable to find a computer that will allow us to put photos on the blog. So the pictures will be added when we get home. I know the pictures are the best part but for the moment you will just have to make do with the words and your own imagination.

Remember to think big.

This tree which probably looks so tiny in this picture is not only the largest tree in the world but also the largest living thing in the world! I doubt any of our pictures do its size justice but believe me it was massive!

We were in Sequoia National Park where giant sequoia trees grow at an altitude of 5000 - 7000 ft.

The largest living thing in the world is called the General Sherman. This is not to be confused with Colonel Sanders whose range of chicken products is slowly ensuring that people are in line to give this tree a run for it's money on the size front.

General Sherman Facts:
Age: 2300-2700 Years
Max diameter at base: 36.5 feet
Circumference at base: 102.6 feet
Height: 274.9 feet

The tree is still growing.

Frosty Yosemite Valley:

Yosemite valley from above

We have been ticking off the National Parks at a rate of knots and seeing as an annual pass for the two of us was a mere $50 I think we have got our money's worth.

There have been advantages and disadvantages to visiting them at this time of year. The disadvantages have been that some of the facilities inside the parks have been closed and this has meant that we have had to drive out of the park to find accommodation and have maybe not spent as long as we would have hoped in each one. Also some smaller roads get closed after the first snowfall and remain closed until April.

However the advantages are that the parks have been far less crowded and sometimes we have been hiking for a couple of hours without seeing anyone. (I thought travelling made people more tolerant of one another but in my case I seem to have become less tolerant so this has been a big plus!) Also the wintery weather makes the parks more picturesque in my view and the skies are clearer and less hazy than in summer.

So my advice to anyone thinking of visiting the national parks in the USA is to come in the Autumn time. You'll be amazed.

We are back in the snow again. (I didn't think it snowed in California but there you go.) We are at Lake Tahoe on the border with Nevada. This is great because should we be getting withdrawal symptoms from Vegas all we need to do is cross the border and we'll be faced with a mini Vegas full of casinos.

By the way, do you like our new car?