Goodbye London, hello America

After weeks and what seems like months of planning and talking about it all systems are go!! This week (Friday 31st) we depart for America on a 3 month adventure and I shall be blogging these events on this page (and you can now subscribe via the form at the bottom of this post) while hopefully still blogging general photography related articles on the other (link at the side!).

The first month is all planned, booked and paid. We land in Chicago to hopefully temperatures that are warmer than the recent -25, spend 8 days there and then catch the Californian Zephyr (52 hours!) across country to San Francisco where we will be located for 18 days. 

It has been an interesting experience trying to book all this, we have decided to stay in apartments rather than hotels through Airbnb, in the long term for a trip like this it actually works out better as often you have your own kitchen so can cook in rather than constantly having to eat out and has the extra advantage of meeting people who live and work in the city and picking their brains for those real hidden secrets. 

In regards to booking on Airbnb, if you have never done so but are thinking about it my tips are as followed:

1/ Set your budget and location

2/ Shortlist your faves if there is somewhere that is a little more expensive shortlist that too: be advised some include cleaning/Airbnb fees some don't! 

3/ Write to all the shortlisted hosts, introduce yourself with a little bio and ask if there is any chance on reducing the rate or offer them (a reasonable) price. An occupied room is better than one not earning them money so don't be afraid to ask, it is perfectly acceptable. 

4/ When you are ready to book and have (or not) your reduced rate, go on the internet and search for coupon codes, insert and save more money! 

It is as easy as that. It is a bit hit and miss some people just won't reduce the rate which is fair enough but we found one who gave us at least £200 off the total price, the coupons so far have saved us about £100 on top of that! 

And that is it for now, the last post from the UK. If you would like to continue to read and see images from the road please sign up below. 

"I was surprised, as always, how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility" - Jack Kerouac

Mountains past....

Well, the upcoming trip has had a slight hiccup, we had planned to do a trek up to and camp in Base Camp Everest..... alas the site is currently shut down due to an avalanche that trapped 30 people for two days and sadly killed 4 people. So we have had to re-design large amounts of the trip, however nature's unpredictability certainly puts a few things in perspective. The other trek to another mountain is also a non option as that has had an unseasonably large amount of snow and is also out of the question. Never mind, we have a new itinerary that looks pretty interesting and somehow, not sure how,  I will try my hardest to get some astrophotography done!

Anyway, thought I would share our last trekking experience, The Half Dome in Yosemite which stands at 8840+ ft. An 8.5 mile walk to the base of the Dome and then the steep incline up the side using two ropes and planks of wood that have been driven into the side..... this at that time was our Everest! It was also where Ansel Adams took his "Monolith, The Face of Half Dome" photography so obviously I was keen. 

We lost a man on the way to the base due to the height and look downwards to the valley floor, so the two of us, gritted our teeth and followed in the foot steps of many many other climbers. It's steep, it's exposed, it's very high. I was following my friend who had sworn every few seconds on every step from the base to a quarter up, we tried to not look left or right, but its pretty hard not to when theres a sheer drop 8,000 feet down, and then while one other climber gave up and "ran down" alongside us a strong wind rocked us the words "oh F*** this Mark" flew out my mouth in which i heard shouted back at me "thank god, i was only carrying on cause of you"........and we were out of there! 

I have never ever regretted not completing the Half Dome. If anything it became a funny story of that trip, one I, and we all look back on with such fondness. Below are a couple of images of that attempt including friend Mark cowering behind a rock (and hiding from the strong winds) and me trying to put a brave "this ain't gonna stop me" face on!

50,000 people a year climb it, you now have to apply for a permit, and I am sure many don't get as far as us, well, thats what i like to think!