| Introduction |
| Boston |
| Williamstown |
| Grove City |
| Louisville |
| Calgary / Banff |
| Prince George |
| Vancouver |
|---|
| San Francisco |
| Las Vegas |
| Los Angeles |
| New Zealand |
| Thailand |
| Rome |
| Venice |
| Vienna |
| Berlin |
| Oslo |
Vancouver
25th October - 28th October
Vancouver was a brief stop so that I could wake up for an early morning train down to California. In the mean time, I managed to have fun. I was staying in the heart of the entertainment district, so there was plenty to do. I spent some time exploring the city, and was quite surprised to discover an Indian district, which tends to be unusual in North America. That was when I got a little lost and walked about three miles the wrong way down Main Street. Still, I found some interesting things, like the last remaining 35mm porn cinema in North America.
I spent some time at the Science World. They had all sorts of hands-on exhibits aimed at children, which is what science museums ought to be like. They also had an IMAX theatre there which was showing Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure, which I had to go to, seeing as Sir Ernst Shackleton has been a hero of mine ever since I found out who he was. Once scene that stuck in my mind was getting three of the best mountaineers in the world to duplicate his journey across Elephant Island, but with modern gear. As the set out they were saying "Yeah, it should be easy enough. I mean, Shackleton did it in 36 hours with hand made equipment", but when they finished four days later they were saying it was the hardest thing they'd ever done. The museum also had an exhibit of turn of the century Antarctic survival gear as a tie in.
I went to see Jackass: The Movie one evening. It might not be to everyone's taste, but I thought it was very funny. And I spent some time in bars chatting to random strangers which is always fun. There was one Scottish ex-pat in particular that I got on well with, but I've forgotten his name.
I left Vancouver at about 6am, by bus to Seattle, and by train from there to San Francisco. When we reached the US border (the first time I've ever crossed a national border on land), I was expecting the same customs rigmarole that I'd had at Boston and Calgary, but there was just one half-awake official who didn't even collect the visa exemption forms like he was meant to. So that took about 10 minutes.