visited New York and Boston

So having decided to give up our jobs and move into the world of unknown, we boarded the plane to our first destination New York.

New York
Not being avid travellers, rather holidaymakers, we were not really aware of the traveller way including the likes of hostels and so our first stay was in a hotel, if you could call it that, which we paid over the odds for and which wasn't really worth a penny.  We had carefully budgeted for each country, and you will notice over our first few days and weeks in North America we start to realise how our way of travelling needs to change sooner rather than later.

Whilst the hotel was damp, basic and dirty, the city of New York captured our imagination.  The hustle and bustle of the city, the skyscrapers, the yellow cabs, the paralleled streets....Standing at the top of the Empire State Building we were consumed with the size of this beautiful city.  As I stood there taking photographs, my thoughts went to the twin towers of The World Trade Centre....back in 1996 I had taken the exact same photograph but with the twin towers on it.  You just can't imagine how these things happen and the lives that are affected.

Our first day of travelling we spent 11 hours trekking around New York, visiting as many tourist attractions as possible but also trying to see some of the real everyday New York.  It was a day well spent and although we missed our family and friends, we couldn't have asked for a better start to our trip away, and promised ourselves that we would be visiting New York again in the future - perhaps next time with a little extra cash in our back pocket!! Our next destination via Greyhound Bus was to be Boston.

Boston
We spent 4 and a half hours on the Greyhound travelling from New York to Boston.  That drive was out of this world: the autumn colours, the lakes, the rivers.  Some people chose to watch the film on the bus - but for me the film was outside the window, although I have to admit my eyelids did close on occasion - the jet lag, and the carrying of my backpack was finally catching up on me!!

On arrival into Boston, we had to find somewhere to stay - there was a room at a hostel but I was still not quite in traveller mode, and so the thought of sharing a room with two other couples was not my idea of fun.  I can laugh at myself now, thinking back to the start of our trip, and how fussy I was at first, and really how much nicer the hostels would have been than some of the hotels we ended up staying in.

Two and a half hours later, we finally found a room for the night! As a career, my work involved project management, and yet I had not particularly project managed this trip.  We knew where we were heading, but through our naivety many of the basics had not been organised believing that this could be done on arrival into the country.  A lesson to be learnt from this - if you are planning a world wide trip - make sure you have thought through where you will be staying as whilst flexibility is great you do not want to consume your time with trying to find somewhere, anywhere..to stay!!

Our first day in Boston was spent much as the same as in New York, trapsing the streets seeing as much as we possibly could.  We visited Chinatown, Boston Common, The Financial and Theatre district, the Government Centre, Little Italy, followed the Freedom Trail which took us past a Holocaust Exhibit, the old North Church, the Boston Inner Harbour, a USS Constitution ship and then finally to the Faneuil Hall and it's North and South marketplaces.  Here we dined like Kings for just less than US$8!!

Early the following morning, we joined the commuters on the subway heading for Boston Downtown and North Station, from where we caught the train to Salem, further up the coast.  This place was steeped in a history of witchcraft and maritime.  We visited the museum to learn more about the witch hunt stories and spent time relaxing by the boats.

It was then that we decided we had to plan more, know where we were going and where we were staying.  So like two naughty schoolchildren we spent considerable time in the travel section of a bookstore, writing down as many telephone numbers and addresses for future potential accommodation.  Then with dollar bills exchanged for coins we called as many places as we could until we had finally sorted our next few days, and could then relax back at Faneuil Hall watching street performers, and the what seemed to us now as aristocracy dining at the many restaurants and bars, whilst we looked on with mouths watering and finally gave in to treating ourselves to a pizza - one slice only though....that was all our North American budget would allow us!!!

At just after midnight, we boarded the Vermont Transit Greyhound ready for the long journey to Montreal and then onwards to Quebec City and Canada.