Wham, bam - thank you Van!

Well here it is...my last blog in foreign climes! I left Bellingham and the great new friends I made there, and hopped on the Greyhound across the border to Canada. At said border, a dodgy guy in a cap like mine tried to sneak across, so we had six or so border police run onto the bus and arrest him. That was fun. Then we breezed through to Vancouver, the mountains a great backdrop. In fact, it looks a lot like Seattle. I rambled around looking for a hostel for the last time (sob) and found it.

In said hostel I also found my first Geordie of the trip - lad called Paul - so the pub crawl was obligatory. Met some interesting folk as well: a few Irish girls, a Chicago musician called Gabriel and a few Glaswegians. It was a good night...but probably not the best preparation for the 'Grouse Grind' hike I undertook with Alec and Rachel's friend, Brittany early the next morning. It's stupidly steep, it was stupidly wet, and I was stupidly dressed in skinny jeans and Lacoste trainers. I was also stupidly rough. But we did it and it was a great feeling to reach the top in 1.32, a solid time. The fact an elderly man who had recently had a double knee replacement beat my time by two minutes takes nothing away from my achievement.

At the top we also found a grizzly bear enclosure with a couple of the big guys oblivious to the snow and seriously cold temperatures. I caught the seabus back to the hostel, slept, and then went to a great sushi place with Brittany called 'Tanpopo.' Then I dragged Paul out of bed for a few last night pints to see out my trip. My final day has been spent rushing around at supersonic speed to get myself sorted, though I did find twenty minutes to try the Canadian speciality poutine. For those who don't know, it's chips, gravy, cheese curds (plus smoked meat in my case), and it was as healthy as it sounds.

So here I am, just about to leave on the Canada line to the airport and the end of my trip. It has been incredible and I hope you've enjoyed reading about it, looking at my pictures, and speculating how damaged my stomach/liver are after more than two months away. I also hope that my flight to Manchester via Frankfurt isn't the disaster I envisage it being. So you should hear from me soon, possibly from Germany when I miss my flight, preferably from sunny Chesterfield when I'll need moral support to get through my return. Here's a picture at the top of the Grind - so long!

Seattle/"The 'Ham"

The last leg is upon us - I am waking up in Bellingham, north of Seattle and a two hour Greyhound away from my final stop, Vancouver, BC. It has been a typically busy few days since I last checked in, so busy I've not even taken many pictures. I should have something pretty to use for this blog though, and something that beats pictures of beer bottles or rucksacks.

On Friday in Seattle, I breakfasted with Ryan at Cafe Besalu, a pastry shop where my contact Alec is a chef. It's an incredible little place - very popular locally - and the apricot tart and croissant I had were both out of this world. We agreed to meet later so me and Ryan explored a little, attempting to visit the aquarium but it was shut, eating an incredible slice of pizza, and trying out my new dream guitar in a cool little music shop in Pioneer Square.

Alec picked me up from Ryan's that evening and we were soon on an ale trail. Just like my Eugene experience, I was meeting some ale experts (his girlfriend Rachel is also a huge beer fan), so I got to try some great stuff. We also popped in to Seattle burger institution, 'Dick's,' and ate something beautiful and calorific. Then we headed to meet some of their friends close by and drank some more before a well-earned sleep.

Saturday began in earnest with a beer or two with Rachel, before Alec joined us after work and we had some more. I even tried the legendary 'Pliny the Elder,' a beer first mentioned to me in Eugene and just about living up to the expectations. We had some amazing souvlaki and garlic fries at a Greek place and then stocked up on beerat a very cool beer shop-cum-bar and headed back to Rachel's place via Alec's. The latter took me down to the water to check out the odd fish making the pilgrimage down stream (see picture), before settling down to beers, pizza, 'Archer' and bed.

Sunday morning involved a good breakfast, meeting Rachel's worse-for-wear but funny flatmate and hitting the road for Bellingham. I got some news that Ash was ill which was hard: she's planning to visit and photograph England so I hope this doesn't affect that. We travelled on though and halfway to the 'Ham - as Alec affectionately called it - we were met by Barbara and Bruce, Alec's parents, who took me the scenic way home and pointed out local points of interest. We got back to theirs and I met Phil, a sharp guy like his son indeed, and we went for a brisk stroll around the local woods before tucking into a great bbq.

Soon after we were on our way to local beer institution 'Boundary Bay,' where we met Ramon and Vicky, Rachel's parents. Their daughter Alex also joined us later and we all shared stories and some laughs. They are all such great people, a wonderful family and it has been a fitting end to a trip of meeting and staying with lovely, welcoming folks. From Ben in New York, to Tim in Seattle, to Ibrahim in Portland, to Terry and Jan in Eugene and these guys - it has warmed my old English cockles. I was treated to beer, a pub t-shirt, lavender and raspberry cheesecake ice-cream and more. I then had Alex show me another great pub and shared some of my funnier travel experiences before heading to sleep.

So today I'm off on the bus to Vancouver! It's such a shame that I have to leave these guys so early, just as it was a shame to say goodbye to Alec and Rachel so soon. However, I just accumulated some more good reasons to come and visit the Northwest again. Two brief nights in this hyped-up Canadian city will follow, and then it's all aboard and England bound. I'll speak soon!

Deja Vu, via Phoenix

A second goodbye to Chicago, and just as hard as the first. After a night dancing to the Human League with Dan and Mark (you can take the boy out of northern England...), I packed up for the final leg of my American adventure. I've finally had a haircut, so now I finally don't have to explain that mullets aren't big in England - it's just me. I splurged some of my last Yankee dollars on clothes and I ate ribs in the rain to say goodbye to my favourite city.

There was stress as well: the rain was so heavy that just about all my belongings got soaked. I then dropped my boarding pass in O'Hare airport, and inexplicably found it on the floor by retracing my steps. Then there was the flights themselves, the first being shared with a stocktrader who loved money and Texas apparently (yee ha), plus a rather large, Indian nerd who worked for IBM. At Phoenix I nearly snagged an amazing offer: to get on a flight the next day, including free hotel and transport, plus a voucher for more free flights. Annoyingly, some fat couple got it instead, probably because they would have made the plane list.

I will say that Phoenix as a view to look out on was pretty incredible. I've never seen real desert, and the mountains are spectacular. I heard some northern accents talking about not getting the free stuff and it turned out to be a lovely couple from Manchester called Paul and Francesca. I ended up walking them to their hostel - the one I stayed at - before I got a taxi from a really friendly Punjabi man to Ryan's. After catching up with him over homemade beef jerky, and feeling terrible guilt over inadvertently stealing toothpaste from Dan, I hit the sack. I'll tell you what happens in Seattle (stays in Seattle).