The Blog Is BACK!

Through temporary madness/depression, I took the blog down. I am unclear myself why I did this. I woke up this saturday morning with a clear head trying to remember what I was doing this time last year. It took a while to work it out and caused a mild headache. It was at this point that I realised my insanity.......THE BLOG SHOULD BE SET FREE! FOR EVERYBODY TO READ. There is no point in denying our memories, the blog shouldn't be a myth, a ledgend that happened once. It should be there for the whole world to enjoy, roll around in and smother yourself in its happy memories!

Chris & Sam

The Last Post

We were going to write something very profound and emotional, but we just decided to say it has been the best year of our lives. Our heads are full of amazing memories and inside we feel warm and content.

The blog has been a big part of the trip, not only to keep you informed but also for ourselves as a diary. It will be printed, bound and sat on our coffee table forever more.

It wouldn't have been the same without your fantastic comments, it has helped us not miss you so much. This is the final post for Escapeuk but it certainly isn't the end, instead of ticking places off our list it has shown us new places to add.

To wrap it up here are a few stats we worked out in our spare time:

Different Beds Slept In	107
Total Hours on Buses	338
Hours on Aeroplanes	92
Number Of Native Languages	13
Number Of Countries Visited	16
Number Of Marital Arguments	5
Number Of Beaches Set Foot On	98
Kilometers Driven (By Chris)	11,520
Number Of Ski Resorts Ridden	6
Modes Of Transport Used	16
Number Of Timezones Crossed	34
Number Of Near Death Experiences	7
Number Of Different Beers Drank	53
Number Of Days Away	365
Number Of Blog Posts	446

Big love, Sam & Chris

PS Check back from time to time, as we haven't quite escaped the UK yet...

Frisco!

Of all the places we have seen in the states there are 2 we could see ourselves living in, one was Santa Barbara and the other, San Francisco. It is a great city with lots of atmosphere, leafy streets, plenty of night life, and hills that get you huffing and puffing harder than a...sorry I can only think of rude stuff now so forget it!

On our last day we hired a tandem and rode over the Golden Gate bridge, we watched the sun set, threw pennies into the water and wished we could start our journey all over again.
In the evening we caught a ferry, ate chinese, rode a tram and got drunk in a Jazz Bar (well, Chris did).
Here is the last photo of our trip, taken from the Golden Gate bridge.

Broke Down Mustang

So yesterday the car broke. We were driving through Yosemite and the lights went out, milage counter reset itself, revs, speedo clock, fuel, everything shut down. Luckily the power assisted steering and brakes still worked, so we drive to a resturant/lodge and dug in for the night.
The tow truck was called. There had been a landslide so it would be a 4 hour wait. The guy who was loading our new car onto the truck sliped and broke his wrist, so we would have to wait longer.
We checked into the lodge and finally at 8pm our new HUGE Rolls Royce looking car turned up on the back of the truck. The lady unloaded it, and then locked the keys in the car.
We waited for a while before she was given permission to break into the car. She managed to get in using a coat hanger !!! Very impressive.
Anyway, we got a new car. We felt about 50 driving it!

Who Reads This Blog?

We have had some hilarious comments recently, and in the past have been stoked to see that we have some readers who we dont know. Its nice to know its not only our parents that read the blog.
I`m not sure whether you all know, but our trip temporarily comes to a halt for a while on Saturday when we come home. The blog will end.
We have had nearly 10,000 hits over the last year and are curious to know who reads the blog.
So whether you have read it once in a while, weekly, or daily can everybody leave a comment. You can still use anonymous, just give us a holler to say "hi I read it".
No bitching this time eh!

Chris & Sam

P.S Does Gloria Hunniford live in Slough? Yogi Bear lives in Yellow stone park. We have been laughing all day long at your comments on the last entry. Peace out guys!

Yosemite Park and Crazy Election Party

We arrived late last night and booked into a cheap hotel in a small town just outside the park. The woman behind the counter told us that there was going to be an earthquake in San Francisco soon. She could tell because everytime it gets that hot in November there is an earthquake. Great.
We popped into the slightly scary small redneckish town to find some food. The only place that was still open was a small bar next called Jade. We nervously stuck our heads through the door only to be met by a MASSIVE guy who drags us in to a Karaoke crazed drunked brawl of a party to celebrate the local supervisor winning election.
As we walk fully into the bar everybody turns to look. After looking us up and down twice they turn back to thier beers. I can hear squeeling pigs and banjos in my head.
The bar is full of men with baseball caps, no teeth, spitting tabaco, and tattoos of the American flags on thier arms.
There is a free buffet which we get 'told' to eat. We relectantly eat some food only to recieve some more deathly looks from mad old haggered ladies at the bar. We later learnt that everybody had made their own food and bought it to the bar.
I ordered a Bud and settled down only for some caos at the Karaoke machine. A rough looking girl jumps up to the mike and shouts "I F##KING HATE YOU JENNA, GET OUT OF MY LIFE" Everybody in the bar starts hollering at her so she runs out the back door. I'm bursting with laughter loving every minute of it. Next the big guy who dragged us in comes and talks to Sam. He tells her to try one of the cookies. Sam politely replies "Thankyou - yes i already had a few, they were lovely" He roars with laughter telling her that he made them himself and stuffed them full of "them magic mushrooms". Sams face drains and she suddenly comes over dizzy. We prop her against the bar and I order another beer. Next an obviosly very popular contry song come on called 'Sroke me'. All the girls in the bar rush to the front to give the best display of line dancing ever witnessed.
This is one of the cool things about travelling, you can suddenly end up in the craziest situations, and because you are so relaxed, you dont care but just get into it and have a wicked laugh.
Next we meet Ron the texan. We have learnt that Texans are the dangerous ones, they are the ones with the guys who only care about how big stuff is. Texas even has a sign at their state border saying "Dont Mess with Texas!". Anyway, Ron staggers up to Sam and starts telling her that Texas is "Abat one 'undred time bigga dan inglaaand", and that its "900 miles lung 'an 900 mile wide a' its narrowest point" and how we would be able to afford a house there, "arr built forty hauses last year".
My sides are splitting still, get me another beer.
Finally the big man himself walks in to cheers. Tom Wheeler an old guy with a moustach, cowboy neck tie and cowboy boots under his pin stripe suit. He has rudely interupted a massive short haired blond girl with boob tube and skin tight jeans from singing Stupid Cupid and dancing to an imaginary pole.
WE finally decide it is best to leave before guns get drawn. We were belly laughing all the way back to the hotel at the surreal experience.
What a night! We love America, and especially the Americans. They ROCK!

Oh yeah then we came to Yosemite. We reckon it would be nice if we could see through the clouds and rain. We did see some giant trees.

P.S We are stranded as the mustang just broke down. However we did manage to break down by a resturant with internet station. We have 4 hours to wait for the tow truck as there has been a landslide (perhaps due to the imminent earthquake)

Santa Barbara

This place is stunning. The town is full of small white washed spanish architecture buildings, surronded by palm trees. The resturants are amazing and so are the beaches. Sam used to watch a dodgy soap called Santa Barbara, so she was worried it wouldnt be quite as good as she expected. She was happy to find that it was just as she had imagined.
We had two of the hottest days ever in November, 88 degrees Farenhiet (whatever that is in centigrade).
Thumbs up to Santa Barbara, add this to your list of places to see on your States visit.

Mailbu Beach

I had high expectations as driving up Pacific Highway 1 from L.A. It was a baking day and we drove with the top down. Arriving at Malibu was a bit dissapointing. You cant see the beach because of the houses. So we parked up and walked to a beach which was dirty with a sign saying "Do not swim, contact with Sewage can cause fatal disease". Dispite the sign there were about 50 old timers surfing a small 2 foot swell. It was the wackiest surfing I have ever seen. They all ride malibu boards (obviously) but they all drop in on each other. At some points there were about 6 guys on the same wave. Bizarre.
Anyway, not impressed, next please.

Back In Vegas

Our gambling addiction dragged us back to Vegas for one more night. We stayed in the 'Tropicana' hotel which had palm tree wallpaper and mirrored walls and ceilings (not sure why ;).
We had another massive night out, and this time actually won some money. GET IN!
VEGAS BABY!

Zion

Zion is wicked. Its a national park in Utah, and has the big red sandstone monuments, steep cliffs, gorges etc. Also because its autumn the trees were bright red and yellow. We took a hike to some waterfalls called the 'Emerald Pools'. Defo recommended for anyone going to see the canyon. This is a less touristy prettier place to see.
On a more exciting note we stayed in our first roadside motel called 'The Sun and Sea Motel' It had a disused pool with peeling paint, broken swings and an owner who used to throw darts in Vegas against Bristo and all the other British dart greats.

Navajo Bridge

We decided to take a trip around the Grand Canyon to a place called Zion which had been recommended to us by a Calafornian couple in a bar on Venice Beach.
On the way we crossed the Navajo Bridges at the beginning of the Grand Canyon. We arrived at sunset when all the red colours we coming out of the rocks around. The road was deserted and the moon was rising and full in the mirrors of the mustang. We got the feeling we had been expecting when stood on the rim of the deepest part of the canton. It was beautiful.

Grand Canyon

This was the big one. Our last wonder of the world. The one people had been telling us was going to be the most breath taking view of all.
We arrived in a seemingly flat landscape and parked our cars amongst the Japanese tour busses. We held our breaths as we approached the first view point.... then WOW, there it was, gouging its way through the Arizonan desert was an 8.6 mile wide Canyon made up of hundreds of different layers, colours and gorges. It was MASSIVE! Apparently the visibility on the day we saw it was excellent, 69 miles.
As we walked along the rim we both started to have a sinking feeling. It wasn't quite as good as we had imagined. It was definatly huge but it wasnt having the same effect as other things we have seen in the last year. We decided that it most probably has something to do with the big build up, and our intense beauty blindness we have developed.

Beauty blindness occurs when you continuosly see amazing things, gradually things need to be bigger, better, and more and more different or amazing to catch your attention. For example, having just done our trip across the Attacama desert and Bolivian salt flats we were on a bus which drove around Lake Titicaca, Sam and I barely lifted our heads from our books to look out of the window. You could spot the other backpackers on the bus because they were either reading or sleeping, but the toursist that had just arrived had their chins on the floor, dribbling at the amazing view out the window.
All the same we did manage to appreciate the Canyon for being utterly stunning, and although we would love to say it was one of the most amazing things we have ever seen, we can't. This is just our opinion on the day though, we both think that anyone visiting America should definatly make it part of their visit as I'm sure everyone will be gob smacked by it.

Hoover Dam

Big wall. Nuff said. Next please

Halloween Vegas Style

What kind of outfits do you imagine people to wear on Holloween in the states?
I thought Halloween was about wearing scary spooky outfits, dressing up as a witch, a ghost, a mummy, a vampire or at a stretch a pumpkin (which for some reason is considered a scary vegetable).
Well not in VEGAS BABY! In Vegas really anything kinky goes. During the day we started to notice something was up when we repeatedly got invited to rubber and leather parties by lesbians in the street. Wanting to get into the spirit of things we went to a few fancy dress shops. Again we notice something is rotten in Denmark. All the 'fancy dress' shops appear to be 'Sex shops'. The only things you can buy are fake leather or pvc skirts, trousers, vests, whips, handcuffs, lace tights etc etc...
I'm not sure weather it was the Nevada heat that got to us but without having a single drop to drink we walked out of the shop having spent 70 dollars on pvc goods.
After our buffet dinner and show that night we retired to the bedroom for a quick nap before a big night out. We awoke at 11pm and dressed into our 'costumes'.
Our brains had obviously cooled when sleeping and on looking at each other and ourselves in the mirror we both hit the deck in manic laughter.
Chris is dressed in his white trainers, black PVC drain pipe trousers, black t-shirt and bat wings. I'm dressed in knee high boots, black thigh high stockings with white laces ups down the back, a miniscule black PVC skirt and PVC/lace corset. We look like whores, sanity prevails and we both put on our jeans and hit the strip (Chris still has his bat wings, and I my corset). We will never forget the looks on each others faces when we first tried on those costumes.
As it turns out we wouldn't have looked out of place had we not got changed. The Strip was full of girls and boys dressed in the kinkiest of outfits that you would only usually see in porn movies. It turned out to be a great Haloween with Chris winning 30 dollars on the roulette (only then to loose it). We did break even over the night though.

Time on Your Hands

Whenb you are backpacking you have no plans, no money, but lots of spare time and would do anything for a free meal. So when a pigtailed lady named Connie approached us in one of the casinos with an offer for free show and dinner we paid attention.
The MArriot chain have gone into timeshares and for a couple of hours of our time they would reward us. They painted a picture of a conference room full of up to 150 people listening to a lecture by a sales professional. We imagined ourselves sitting at the back nodding off for two hours recovering from last nights early morning.
We were picked up, alone, by a massive blacked out van with stereo, wrap around leather sofas, television and drinks cabinet. We were then taken to meet Bill. He would talk to us privatley for no less than 2 hours !! OH HELL! Before we met him we had decided upon a few descreet signals to give to each other to make it more interesting. Example; scratch your chin when you hear some sales bulls**t. We spend the next two hours pulling our ears, rubbing our stomachs and everything else just to entertain ourselevs while Bill bored the hell out of us about timeshares. After 2 hours we politley said no thanks, and picked up our all you can eat buffet tickets, and American Stars concert tickets. We then had great night out in Vegas with full stomachs.

Casinos

The strip has the biggest hotels in the world. Its AMAZING, they have a mock up of New York City, Venice, Excalibur Castle, and Paris.

Rollercoasters wind themselves around the hotels and along the strip. Hotels have volcanoes that erupt every 90 minutes, full size pirate ships, lions, sharks, dolphins, crocodiles and Celine Dion. Five story waterfalls and the best of all the Bellagio fountains (1000 of them jet up to about 50 meters high in time to music).

On the top of our hotel, the Stratosphere, they have a ride which throws you off the edge of the 1000 foot high tower. I got given a free ticket by a guy who bottled it at the last minute. It was seriously scary.

How To Be A Winner In Vegas....

After watching the old ladies attached to machines endlessly (no joke, we have spotted some actually attached via a wire, we have no idea why but maybe it's in case they fall off their stalls from sleep deprivation!), we decided to have a go ourselves.
First we tried the slot machines. Chris looked a little bewildered so I fed a couple of dollars into the slot of a brightly coloured machine for him, and asked him to press the magic button. After about 3 seconds there was a lot of flashing and beeping the credits screen flashed zero. He turned to me and asked all innocently "What just happenned there then?", so I explanned that he had quickly become a looser!
We decided to extend our fun by playing the five cent machines, and got quite into it. When Chris came back from the rest rooms he found me stooped over the machine, dribbling with a dumb look on my face, with one erect index finger seemingly stuck in a repeptitive loop pressing the spin button.
After loosing a small backpacker fortune we decided to try roulette at the Bellagio. As soon as we joinned the roulette table we instantly had to leave, as we had bet a big backpackers fortune on red...black came up.
Over the night we had lost seventy dollars and were feeling broke and pathetic. But suddenly logic prevailed. For those of you who don't know, drinks in Vegas are FREE! (As long as you are gambling, or in our case very very slowly inserting one cent coins while waiting for the waitress). So we calculated that whilst we had lost seventy dollars, Chris had managed to drink his way through fifty dollars worth of booze! Which meant that we were only down by 20 dollars and had a whole evening of entertainment.
So the moral of the story is: the only way to be a winner in Vegas is to drink more than you gamble. And that's VEGAS LOGIC BABY!

Desert Dreams

I pressed the button above our heads and the soft top retracted from our big bright red 4 litre convertible Mustang.

We left LA behind us on Freeway 15, fulfilling one of my dreams...a Vegas Roadtrip.
Along the way we stopped to do all the things you see in the films. We had a bite to eat at Peggy Sues' 50's dinner to start with, and it had all the things you'd imagine; big guys with checkered shirts and baseball caps munching on cherry pie; Elvis playing on the juke box; and oversized burgers and sodas that made us feel so full we were almost sick.

We also stopped to shoot a guy, bundle him into the boot, and drive into the desert to dispose of the body.
After a 4 hour adventure we arrived at Vegas, it was night time and we drove down "The Strip" being dazzled by the lights. Vegas is all we expected and more, a Disney land for adults.
I love the place and I think Sam does too now that I've finally stopped annoying her by shouting "Vegas Baby!".

Crazies

Venice Beach is hilarious. The people who hang around it are so extreme it would be difficult for normal people to think up the costumes they wear and things they do. As well as the fancy dress people playing guitars, and the guy who wears only black speedos, walking the streets rolling a big silver ball around his hands, neck and arms, you also get some harmless but crazy regular people.
Take this morning for example. We had just walked along the promenade to have breakfast in one of the cafes. It was 9:30am and we were walking back to the hotel. This guy dressed normally in jeans , t-shirt, and wearing heaphones is just in front of us. Along the promenade are black steel bins every 10 meters. The guy starts kicking each one. At each bin his kicks get more fancy. He is laughing to himself having a great time. After about 20 bins Sam and I start giggling aswell, marvelling at how five minutes dont pass in Venice without seeing something different. We decide he may have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He carrys on kicking. We carry on laughing. After about 30 bins, he turns round and sees us smiling. He ever so politely explains in a very strong American accent "I din used to be able t'do this, I'd hurt ma knee real bad, now it feels bedder I can kick this bins here again. I havent bin able to kick bins for two years! I celebratin'". Sam and I p*ss ourselves laughing, so does he, and we all carry on walkin' and kickin'.
Just another day at Venice beach.

Celebrity Stuff..

We are embarrased to admit it, but yesterday we spent the day in a blacked out transit van spying on celebrity homes. We drove through Beverly Hills, and Bel Air to see houses that belonged to Robert Deniro, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Tom Hanks, Nicholas Cage, Tom Cruise, and many many more.
We then went to Rodeo Drive, Farmers Market, Sunset Strip, Hollywood Blvd (the walk of fame, the one with the stars and footprints in the floor). We saw the Hollywood sign, and where the Oscars is held. We also saw the beginning of the premier for Santa Claus 3.
George Clooneys House


We finished the day watching the sunset and drinking beers with two guys at our table. One of which is the brand manager for 24. He is getting his P.A to send us the latest series on DVD. He is personal friends with Kiefer, who apparently is a great guy. Ben has also been to Robert Deniros house to meet him.
Ben is stood next to Sam
It was a very touristy day but a good way to see all the sights without getting lost.