Alan's Travel Blog
Rambling and nonsense from the road

There’s not really a lot left to say about Philadelphia, other than to reiterate how beautiful and artistic it is.  I should mention the Magic Garden, a huge maze-like mosaic made from broken glass and other trash made by artist Isaiah Zagar, whose words “Art should not be segregated in museums; it needs to live [...]

Went out today determined to just explore Philadelphia and get a really good look at the place, and I went a bit crazy with the camera.  There’s just so many inspirational, artistic and creative sights here.

I must have seen more sculptures in one city here than ever before – ranging from classic depictions of generals [...]

I’m going to just admit it up front: I just had a Philly Cheesesteak for the first time, and neither I nor my insides are quite sure what just happened.  The concept of combining cheese and steak is so strange that it doesn’t even make sense post-consumption.

Still, Philadelphia is a beautiful city.  I was really [...]

Have made it to Philadelphia, alive and unharmed.
Unsurprisingly, this city is a bit of a downer coming from NYC – although there’s little signs here and there that it might share Boston’s quaint American charm, the hostel is definitely of the less-equipped and more down-to-earth variety, and finding local entertainment will likely take a bit [...]

I took the Staten Island Ferry back and forth this morning.  I did this partly because it was a cheap (free) way to get a good view of the Statue of Liberty, and partly because it was the only activity I could think of where my giant, unwieldy backpack wouldn’t get in the way – [...]

This was the perfect little “only in New York” moment – an art installation in Times Square called “Theatre For One“.  The cardboard mock-up on the left shows the details pretty well – you enter one side of the booth, a performer enters the other, and you get a 5-7 minute intimate, personal show.  I [...]

I almost feel like I should be complaining about the past few days in New York – very little has gone to plan, I’ve been ill, I’ve been down, I’ve been scared, I’ve been lost and I’ve been thoroughly confused.
Yet even unplanned misadventures in the American medical care system are fun in New York. [...]

They say you can find anything in New York City any time you want. In my experience, there’s two exceptions to that rule – public bathrooms and reliable, high-speed wifi.

I took another swing at the Times Square/Upper-Lower-Manhattan area, and took in the Empire State Building’s rooftop tour.

I have to say that, on reflection, I [...]

This, my friends, is Central Park.  Central Park is much like taking your favourite park in the entire world, cleaning it up a bit, and expanding it to the size of an entire city.  I kid you not, Central Park is HUGE.  You could live in it for a year and never be found.

Times Square, [...]

This post comes to you LIVE from Bryant Park.  Outdoor WiFi is fun, but so slow that I’ll have to leave out pictures until my next update!
So I arrived in New York yesterday, and I can tell you one thing for certain – Home Alone 2 was terribly misleading about how much fun being lost [...]