Gingerbeard USA

but all i need is a fucking ciggie

Dear Friends, 

this is to be one of my final posts on the country I have come to to enjoy so much.

as a lowly little 5 year old back in 1994 when I first saw the move ghostbusters i had wanted to come see this country, its cultures and its people. 

I have learnt a lot on this trip, we jump to the conclusion that American people are ignorant I have been subject to this myself but we have also been falling under the banner of this ignorance. 

We do only see the small portion of this country that we see on the t.v and movies, yes some of the stuff we see is accurate but not a proper description. 

Everyone i met here has been so warm and welcoming, from when we met a Dallas local in vegas named Gilbert not 10 minutes of talking at 2am in a Vegas diner he offered to show us around when we got to Dallas, to two young Australians one that has never stepped foot out of the country, he went out of his way to show us around his lovely city. from an awesome deli for lunch then off to Cowboy stadium. I am grateful to his hospitality.

then we drove. and drove a lot. We reached Savannah GA, and we were to stay at the Catholic cathedral courtesy of Sara’s cousin. it was a beautiful place to stay with wonderful people. the Msnr of the church (sarahs cousin) showed us around the city and give us a bed to sleep and took us out to lunch and dinners without letting us pay for anything. it was unnatural for me but a very lovely thing to do. i would like to personally thank Msnr Willie O’Neill for the time spent in savannah. 

skip ahead a fair amount of time to new york, where i was sitting in a park where i met two lovely Manhattan locals. Gerry and Aileen. This was my first morning in the city and we spoke for 2 1/2 hours about everything, on American customs and politics and Australian ways of life and how they differ, on New York histories and places to visit. it was outstanding and I thank you two for killing some time with me whilst I had to wait to check into my room. then one monday afternoon i decided i wanted to go get drunk, so i hoped in a taxi and went to a bar, where i met JP the bartender who’s best mate is from Melbourne so we talked about random shit and got really drunk so thanks for not allowing me to drink alone JP.

Then I was in Boston-

it was freezing cold in Boston but i loved it. My hotel was in Newton, a suburb 25 mins away from downtown. I went to a pub across the road from my room, it was so awesome, it was cozy and the food was great, the beer was cheap. but it was a cash only place. they allowed me to go out and find an ATM and come back to pay. that honour of trust you don’t find very often. 

Then St. Patricks day came along, so i wore my Boston Red Sox hat and my Paddies day shirt and went downtown. I went down to Fenway park and almost cried at how beautiful it was, the crushed brick of the infield and the lush green grass in outfield, the green monster really is a monster! the history the ground brings is only rivalled by the city itself. 

It was time to drink. the cask n’ flagon was my first stop a boston sports bar, its amazing to be in a bar where everyone is supporting the one team. the boston bruins beat the philly fliers 4-3 so everyone wanted to let loose even more. I met some Local bostonians who wanted me to join their party. so we went to our next stop, feeling drunk on an empty stomach we reached a bar. the beer was flowing and the people were crowing. thats where i lost my 5 new friends. but met some sailors who had heard that Aussie sailors can drink and wanted to see a mainlander drink. so i showed them how we do it, when they finished up i went to my third destination. Clarke’s was packed. full of people not much older than myself due to the laws of drinking. i met 4 people one of which was living in sydney for school but was back home now. i’m a little fuzzy on the details but all i know is we had about 9 soco and limes which are quite tasty shots. then all i can remember after that is being forced to leave the bar because it was closing. it was a great night that lasted 16 hours and no food! i felt fine the next day.

This leads me to my final hours in America, i have had the time of my life, I will be sure to visit again very soon. I would like to give Sarah a massive thank you, first for giving me the opportunity to come but also driving around and planning about 95% of the trip. i would like to thank all the people that i have met for either directions or just for a conversation. I would like to thank Gilbert for advising me of the best night out i had in Dallas at the metal gig. I would like to thank Gerry and Aileen. I would like to thank Gabe and Ruby, Matt and Claire and Tim for starting off my St Patricks Adventures.

I would like to thank all the bartenders and food vendors on my drunken nights. 

I would also like to thank everyone for the joint excitement that you have shared with me. The support in fulfilling one of my dreams.

anyway people I’ll be getting home soon so i’ll see ya round.

Peace.

gingerbeard in AUS? lol

so i am finally in boston, after a long tour around the southern parts of the country, and boy do i feel at home, everyone here is so welcoming, i’ve been mistaken as an irish bloke about 2 or 3 times now because of my beard and in true Zane style wearing shorts and t-shirt in 3 degree weather, i don’t think people expect an aussie bloke to be walking around like that. but i am here and the pipes of paddy are calling me. the green beer will be flowing the irish will be crowing.

i will be heading home soon and its safe to say that i am not satisfied that this trip has scratched my American itch. i will be back for sure in my fave cities that i can spend more time in at each place. this isn’t the end but the beginning. i will prob do a couple of more vlogs when i get back home, but i got over filming everything because i didnt want to look at this place through a camera lens i wanted  to experience it with my own eyes.

i will do those videos on that shitty 12 hour flight. 

So we finished our say in Las Angeles. and headed our way to vegas during the night, and being america they need to do everything faster and bigger, so the hwy was the size of our inbound and outbound put together. the speed limit was 60mph but in america you need to travel the speed that others are driving this was 80mph which is close to 140kph. at one point we were driving and sarah decided it would be a great time to have a break and get something to drink, so as we turned off the fwy down Death Valley Road, sarah thought it would be a good idea to turn on the highbeams, this didnt turn out to be a good idea as she actually turned off the headlights thus driving on a desert road…blind, into a corner it was excitingly scary.

We arrived in Vegas and the lights of the city were exactly like you think it would and more…we then checked into the Stratosphere Hotel. which is the massive needle tower 109 floors up we travelled up to the top of the tower which has rides, or you could jump off the edge on the cable. the views from the top of the building were breathtaking seeing the whole of Las Vegas was amazing. 

The next day we did all our shopping at Primm Valley 1hr outside of vegas. in 3 hours i purchased 2 pairs of nikes for $120 a jacket for $50 and a pair of guess (was told they are decent) sunnies for 50 bucks. money well spent!

We checked into the Hooters Restort and it was very very male friendly girls,beers,ribs,bibs and wings. we went down to the casino floor, got some hot buffalo wings and mozzarella sticks it was divine with 1.50 beers. then we just chilled out at the bar watching basketball and drinking our cheap beers and paying for a Johnny Walker Black on the rocks for 8.50. a drink that would be close to 20 bucks back in melbourne.

leaving that Hooters Restort we have checked into the MGM Grand, and holy fuck balls this place is amazingly huge, its a good work out just trying to get somewhere, seeing as this afternoon i’ve spent it in my room I will get back to you with what i do over the next two days….if i’m alive and not trying to marry a stripper. starlight dream will be mine…she just doesnt know it yet. 

THANKS!

Zane.

so as it were it started in melbourne on the 18th of feb 2012. i left melbourne airport in the mid morning to arrive in a slight stopover in New Zealand. After a 12 hour flight and about 3 minutes sleep over that whole time.

we arrive in LA at about 10:30am when by this time i’m very excited. everything at this point was surreal and unusual, it’s quite an odd feeling being in a place where you’re the one with the accent. as we couldn’t check into our room until 2pm we decide to trudge through the unknown, and go to Manhattan Beach, when we arrived we spent quite a lot of time trying to find sim-cards for our phones yet we still didn’t get exactly what we needed, alas we keep pounding through the streets c walking and dougy-ing through el segundo. after all the walking we are finally walking on one of the main roads when we see the 5-0 arresting a mexican bloke at a cafe or something  (this photo will be posted at another time. anyway the beers are calling and the HBO and sport channels WITH LIVE BASKETBALL are beaconing. as things happen i will be posting photos, videos and blogging. so keep checking back to see what i have been up to, cause knowing me when you ask how it was ill just end up saying it was good without going into detail. peace out homies.