A Long Time Coming

Having been intensely busy over the past few months it has been hard to find time to write. However, now the Winter Olympics are over, I can finally take stock of what has happened. Much skiing, working and drinking has past and as February draws to a close and just a couple of short months remain until the end of the season, the close of the Winter Olympics reflects my feelings.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to see some events (Men's Downhill, Men's Two-Man Bobsleigh and Men's Team Large Hill Ski Jumping). Now, Australians are known for being passionately patriotic when it comes to sport but I think we have been top-trumped by the Canadians. Perhaps I was too you to remember the atmosphere of Sydney but to be in Whistler, indeed Canada, for the duration of the Games, it was hard not to get swept up in the euphoria. Many problems arose before and during the first few days of the Games (death of the Georgian luger, ticketing bungles, no snow at Cypress and Canada's failure to make an impact in the first week) but it all melted away and the nation has been spellbound throughout.

Not only that but the Canadians also cheer loud for the underdog, much like Australians. The highlight though has to be Canada's win in the Hockey. One of the greatest games in history, a nail-biting pulsating match that had everything. And Sidney Crosby's winner in overtime will go down in history.

Having had the opportunity to experience the Olympics first hand, I have to concede its something that I want to do again. It is one of life's great experiences. I really hope that Australia puts in a bid to host an Olympics and wins in my lifetime.

Welcome to Whistler-Blackcomb, where all it does is snow.....

Well, as you may have guessed by my lack of posts, the last 2 weeks have been pretty hectic. Let me sum up in a nutshell as best as I can:
     -The trip on The Canadian was pretty awesome, great sights, particularly on the last day as we travelled through the Rockies.
     -2 nights in Vancouver provided a time to mix with some great people and make some fantastic friends.
     -Arrival and the subsequent 16 days have been nothing short of spectacular. Rain promptly turned into snow and Whistler mountian opened just under 2 weeks earlier than planned. There is already more snow base now than there was at any time last season! Over 500cm of snow has fallen so far in November, the most EVER!
     -8th day in a row of skiing done as of today. Snow is amazing, as stated earlier.

Whistler is a fantastic town, the people are friendly, the atmosphere is relaxed and there are plenty of things to keep you occupied.
On a side note, a few friends have been nutting out an idea to put together a band, having found out that there is some quite good musical talent floating around. We're still yet to kit ourselves out and practice but an aspiration would be to get a gig somewhere in the town.

Bienvenue au Canada

Wow, 2 days is not long enough to do Washington D.C.
Tip No. 2: Don't try doing Washington D.C. in two days, it's not long enough.

Seriously though, despite being smaller and much more spacious than New York, it's easy to spend months here and still not see everything. Here is the writer's guide to D.C. if you want to do a whirlwind tour:
     -Get up early, have breakfast and a coffee and get on a Metro (tickets are pretty expensive considering that you can get a daily back home for around $6, you can easily spend that in a day in D.C.). My local station was Metro Center which is on the Red, Blue and Orange lines.
     -Catch the train to Capitol South which is on the Orange and Blue lines as well. Jump off and take in the Library of Congress from the outside before heading into the Supreme Court of the United States (its an incredibly building).
     - Walk past the Capitol Building through the surrounding gardens and stop to take some photos from the Reflection Pool. On a nice day, the views from there, right up the mall to the Washington Monument and back to Capitol would be great (typically it was cloudy and raining when I was there).
     -If you stick to the south side of the mall, the first building you see will look like a giant carved tree stump. This is the National Museum of the American Indian and is well worth a visit.
     -Jaunt across to the north side and you will enter the eastern wing of the National Gallery of Art. You can walk all the way through to the western wing via a tunnel.
     -Walk back south the the Air and Space Museum. This is the best, most popular attraction of the all the Smithsonian Institutions. Grab a bite to eat from the food court and spend a couple of hours transfixed by the amazing technology and artifacts from the USA's conquest of the skies.
     - Continue heading west towards the National Museum of Natural History (on the north side). This is also a place where you can spend many hours looking at all the different exhibits.
     -Once the sun begins to descend, head to the Washington Monument. If you want to go to the top, you have to buy tickets in advance and tickets for the evening are usually sold out so take it in from ground level.
     -Take in the White House at night under illumination. Jump on the Federal Triangle Metro back to wherever you are staying.
     -It's worth also taking a trip to Georgetown to look at the university and the surrounding neighbourhood and also into Chinatown which is a big district in D.C.

That's it for now. Arrived in Toronto today and jump on The Canadian tomorrow for the epic 3.5 day ride across to Vancouver. Until then, a bid you adieu and will see you on the other side!

HIBC

New York, New York

Whatever anyone tells you about the Big Apple, don't believe a word of it. It's bigger, louder and more astonishing than anything else in the world. The people, the parks, the buildings, everything about it is big, bigger, biggest.

Tip No. 1: If you are spending a descent amount of time in New York (i.e. >3 days), I suggest you buy an unlimited ride MetroCard. If you buy one loaded with a certain amount of money (i.e. $20), you can easily exhaust it in less than 2 days. Also, invest in a descent map of the subway.

Arriving in Los Angeles was easily the best experience I've ever had at an airport. Literally, the first person to walk off the plane and through customs, I had my bags re-checked and was in the gate lounge for my flight to JFK within 40 mins of disembarking the plane from Auckland.

After arriving at the hostel, I signed on for a tour the next day, lead by a fantastic older guy called Jerry. As it turns out, we travelled through Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn Bridge, took in Wall Street, Broadway, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Staten Island, Chinatown, 23rd St and Times Square in an epic 13 hour tour, meeting some fantastic people along the way. If you are in New York, I can thoroughly recommend it to you. He leads them every Tuesday departing at 11am and Saturday departing at 10am from the foyer of the Hostel (891 Amsterdam Ave at West 103rd Street).

The last two days have mainly been hanging with some friends made from the tour and discovering Central Park, Grand Central Station, Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden and Little Italy. We tried to get some tickets to see the ice hockey but, alas, we were unsuccessful.

That about wraps it up for now. Two more full days in New York will be filled with plenty, including a revisiting of Times Square and heading to the Empire State Building.  I will file my next update from Washington DC sometime next week.

Last day in the country

Well, it is finally here: my final day in Australia for a long time. Typical of Melbourne, tomorrow, when I leave, it will be sunny and warm. Weather doesn't look so bad in New York or Washington though, so I hope it wont be too cold.

Mixed emotions of leaving: the excitement of embarking on something completely new and foreign to me is there, mixed with the apprehension of not packing properly or forgetting something and the sadness of leaving behind all my mate, family and particularly my dog, Ash.

Too many things to do today: say goodbye to grandparents, more friends and family and continue to pack, organise all my paperwork and continue to worry that I've forgotten something hugely important.
Anyway, enough time wasted while I wait for things to print. Keep up-to-date for updates to this blog or short messages of various happenings from my twitter (http://twitter.com/NicHamley) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/nic.hamley).

Happy reading,

HIBC

6 Days to Go

My distant optimism, as I had been experiencing for a few weeks, was replaced late last week with  a genuine excitement as I realised I had just a matter of days left until departure. Not Months, not Weeks, but Days... I had my first sleepless night in living memory due to this excitement. However, I do have a few hints of apprehension, particularly in my packing ability. 

I have this irrational fear that I will forget vital items, such as a jacket or phone charger. I'm sure that a number of other emotions will enter my head over the next 6 days before my departure but, for now, I'm content with the euphoric excitement of the imminent departure.

11 Days to Go

Being a little kid at heart, I have to concede that over the past couple of days, I have had little or no sleep. This is quite unusual for me as I am by far and away the best sleeper I know: takes me no time to get to sleep and its nigh on impossible to wake me up.

Reflecting upon this, I have come to the conclusion that this has only happened to me when 2 different situations have been approaching quickly:

1. A big or important moment in my life to date is approaching.
2. It's Christmas eve or the day before my birthday and I want my new Playstation game.

Seriously though, it has me absolutely intoxicatedly excited that I'm doing something that I've never done before. New York will be amazing, Washington DC fascinating and Whistler epic, I'm sure. So in some ways, I have both above bases covered: this will be a massively important thing for me and seeing as I am spending Christmas over there, I have No.2 done as well (although perhaps I will take a day in the snow in exchange for my Playstation game).