The city that never sleeps

Nathan at the U.N
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And neither did we thanks to the thermostat in our room being set to at least 100 degrees the whole week! For a moment it felt like we were back in Cuba again, but this time without the tropical beaches and Cuba Libres at sunset! Anyway, we made the most of it and stayed out as late as we could most nights, soaking up the sights of this great city!

There is so much to do in New York and even though we were here for five days I think we barely even scraped the surface. We managed to tick off all the main attractions, including the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Top of the Rock (at the top of the Rockefeller Centre), walking over the Brooklyn Bridge and, of course, doing a bit of shopping on 5th Avenue.

Nathan in front of general assembly
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We were also lucky enough to be be in town for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. The Thanksgiving Day Parade was fun but didn't really live up to the hype that surrounded it, although we had been spoilt the last couple of months with the thousand or so seemingly impromptu parades we saw in South America. Definitely worth the money that the advertisers spend on the giant balloons though, as all the kids scream out the names of the companies that they represent as they float by: "McDonalds! McDonalds! M&M's! Macys! Macys!!' Great bit of brainwashing!

Nathan in front of the Times Square ball!
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The Christmas Spectacular was just that though, SPECTACULAR! I am a bit of a sucker when it comes to Christmas spectaculars though, so I'm probably being a little biased. How can you go wrong though when the show involves wearing 3-D glasses, and fireworks, and let's not forget the twenty or so dancers doing high kicks in Mrs Clause costumes! Don't worry though, they do manage to fit the most authentic nativity scene I have seen in the middle of all this, complete with live camels and sheep!!

The Empire State Building
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We also managed to eat our way around most of the city, getting good practice making our way around on the subway in preparation for the tube system in London! Before we knew it our five days were up and we were at the end of our whirlwind (if you can call 3 months a whirlwind) adventure!

It's hard to pick out a highlight as the two legs of our trips were so different. South America was definitely an adventure, a sometimes scary (flashbacks to first night in Caracas) but awesome adventure and I wouldn't have missed it for the world! Whilst the US leg was just as entertaining but definitely more of a holiday!

View from the top
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So after travelling through 7 countries (including transfers), climbing God knows how many mountains, trekking what felt like a thousand miles, dodging death countless times (ok, that was for dramatic effect), driving 3500 miles on the right (wrong) side of the road and having probably as many arguments along the way, we (and our relationship) have come through unscathed and we've had the time of our lives along the way! But all good things must come to an end and now unfortunately it's back to work to pay for this adventure of a lifetime and fund the next one, wherever and whatever that may be! Thanks to all that have tuned in along the way!

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So from me and the international woman of mystery, it's 'adios amigos, we'll be seeing y'all!'