The trip
I'm hoping to head stateside in March, for roughly three months. I want to see what the country is like, but there's a lot of planning to do:
- So far I've only figured out three places in the US I definitely want to visit:
- SXSW 2005 in Austin, Texas: where web-nerds flaunt their geekdom. Music festival there seems pretty cool too.
- New York, New York.
- San Francisco. I've been told by some friends who've been that I'd love it, because it's full of lefty hippies
- I need to raise roughly seven thousand euro, for the cost of my stay and flights... ten if I expect to buy a laptop over there. This is possible, but I suspect I'll have to take out a loan. I would like to be able to do some contract work in Ireland remotely... hopefully this can be arranged. It's certainly possible to work on a cool project while in a different time-zone.
- Logistics. My mobility will be restricted by any luggage I bring. If I'm going for three months, I'll have a lot of clothes with me... certainly more than I can carry around all the time. I need to figure out where I can safely stash stuff and what I can safely bring.
- I'm debating whether or not it's a good idea to wear a “This is an insult to my dignity” tshirt for government mandated photoshoot at border control.
Any friends, or otherwise, who can give me advice are asked to post it in the comments.
Comments
Des:
For New York...
a) Empire States Building. (you can look down on helicopters!)
b) Times Square (you feel like you're in a movie)
c) Broadway ( go to anything, its all good)
d) Coney Island (home of the cyclone , oldest + scariest rollercoaster I've been on)
e) I suggest walking Brooklyn bridge, with a camera, you get great shots of the new york skyline.
f) Statue of Liberty (its just weird to be so close to it, its not that interesting)
g) If you get a chance go on a speed boat tour of the island of manhattan, its really really cool fun. Plus you get to hear a reasonable history of the city.
h) If you like pizza , goto to Little Italy (shouldnt be hard to notice , its beside china town and every street is coloured with italian flags). Look for a place called Lombardis (its at Spring St. & Mulberry). They do World famous pizza. Its... sacred.
i) If you get a chance call into this kip (www.eamonns.net) . Its my brothers pub, he's a nice bloke , he'll tell you anything you need to know about the city.
Des:
Pffft, bloody old married couples. Probably just sit at home watching countdown with their false teeth in a glass.
By the way, get a blog, and tell kev to get back to work on his .
Ray:
I'll recommend you traveling to Charleston, South Carolina. It's the third most visited city in the US. The downtown area is great for seeing history. Historical buildings abound. You can visit The Battery, The Market, even Ft. Sumter. And they've got some great restaurants downtown as well. And did I mention there's a college in town? So there will always be plenty of females to admire.
My wife and I just got back from vacation there. Wherever you end up visiting, I hope you enjoy your stay and the people are friendly.
Simon:
Go to the Grand Canyon if you get a chance, so worth it. Driving thru the Rockies in Colorado is also amazing.
Sidebar
About this entry
Dave posted this entry at 01:39 AM on October 11, 2004. This entry was posted in the category Meta .
Phil:
I wouldn't be too concerned about where to go, but I'll still get that issue out of the way first:
1) The whole bay area is good.
2) Travel the entire west coast, and travel as far east as the hoover dam. visit all the national parks in this region as well. At a proper pace, this will take you quite a while.
3) I'd say the bible belt will be fairly interesting as well, though you will have to keep your trap shut a bit to stay alive :)
4) New York and SF are both great places, speaking from experience, but you will need to think carefully how you will stay economically there. I'd suggest trying to find Irish people who have visas, and see if you can arrange to stay with them for a while. Otherwise, hostels are ~$20 a night. There seem to be some people living in SF who post on intersocs.
5) Vancouver - even though half of my designer clothes were stolen there, its still a very cool place.
Regarding cash, well you can find decent apple powerbooks for under 3 grand, you don't need to be lugging a 17" widescreen laptop around with you all the time. Spend the money on something thin and light that you can do your work on.
Clothes: I'd suggest bringing a small amount of comfortable clothes, and then living out of thrift shops ( like Ross Dress for Less ), buying jeans and tshirts for $5 a go, give the clothes to homeless people when yo don't want them any more. I suppose you could just post clothes home either.
Stupid t-shirt: No.