Due to popular demand (mainly pressure from my Mum and Jamie), here is the thrilling conclusion to Brady’s travel blog. Sorry it’s been such a long time coming. The last few legs of our trip were quite draining, and by the time we got home the last thing we wanted to do was jump on the computer and type things. And after that.. well, I just got lazy.

So anyway, we left Washington DC after an early morning wake up. Trudy flew to California, Marcella caught the bus back to London and Casey and I were off to Florida! We arrived in Orlando and got a car, which by this time Casey was quite comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road. So we were off. We went to Cape Canaveral where the rocket ships take off, then we spent a night in Palm Bay, and then we were off to Miami. It was a great city - very similar to the Gold Coast. I even did some illegal underage drinking! Whoo! We went to this funky club called Twist and a had a great dinner by the beach. So we spent a few days in Miami, then we drove down the keys. It was a bit overcast, but it was still a great drive. Key West is an amazing town too - only 90 miles from Cuba, you can really feel the influence there. Roosters and chickens wandering the streets, people rolling cigars all over the place, alcohol stands as abundant as hot dog stands in New York! It was a great place. We even met this crazy Australian lady who started travelling the States in ‘67 and was still there!

After staying there overnight, we drove back to Miami and hopped on an aeroplane to San Francisco. The plane went via Atlanta, but was delayed for like an hour because the door wouldn’t close! Way to instill confidence in your passengers. Anyway, we passed the time by playing that trivia game they have built into the back of the seats. However, this game was distinctly geared towards the American players with 50% of the questions about baseball, American football and American states! But we struggled through. Casey managed to win one round.

So eventually we arrived in San Francisco. It was a great city, one of my favourtie. We spent a few nights there. Drove and walked over the Golden Gate Bridge, went to the MOMA, did a bit of shopping, caught a tram they call a ‘trolley’, went on the compulsary pilgrimage to the Castro, and we even went on a bushwalk through some creepy and enchanted sea side forrest thing. Jesus Octavio Rodriguez, we will never forget you.

Next up was Vancouver. Met up with a few more internet friends there; had burgers and beers with Jesse and Andrew. We also saw the Da Vinci code, did some more shopping, and spent a unique evening in a sports bar that was filled exclusively with a horde of dancing Asian kareoke singers. It was fantastic! A great way to end our trip. The next few days were spent wandering airports, trying to sleep on planes and a mind spinning time warp. We were in Taipei for a while, and the next thing we knew we were greeted at Brisbane airport by some familiar faces with banners and big hugs.

It’s great to be home. I think I’m still taking in the trip, and getting used to slowing down my daily routine a little. Back to work soon, and Uni after that. Now it’s up to all our Canadian friends to mosey on down to meet us! That means you Jamie. Michael and Kenny are on track to be down here for New Years Eve, so that’ll be fun. I hope everyone is well! Photos soon, I promise. They’re all still on Casey’s computer.