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.