12/06/10

reporting on the 15th

Handing the van back was something I had been dreading since the incident in Florida, but my day of reckoning had arrived. We turned up pretty early with the intention of having any problems sorted before the England USA world cup game started. I was surprised how easy the car return was, no problems with the ding, the insurance pays for it after the excess that I had already paid over a month previously. One frustrating point was the fact that all of the hostels in New York had been fully booked for the night, so we ended up having to stay in a crummy motel just by New York Newark airport in New Jersey. Fortunately the car hire guys did give us a lift over there so we didn't have to buy train tickets or carry our bags, at least for that day.

New Jersey without a car is painful, nothing of note is within walking distance of anything else. After having the van for 2 months, walking was really not a nice experience. The only thing we could find for lunch was Burger King. We decided to get the most calorific thing on the menu as it was going to be one of the final fast food meals of the trip. We each had the Triple Wopper: 3 big burgers and all the toppings in a bun totalling 1250 kcal. I will review it if I get a moment but I was really quite disappointed how hungry I was after eating such a ridiculous number of calories, I could have eaten a second one, but I had self control and instead had an apple when we got back to our room.

To watch the game we found a nearby sports bar that was showing all the games of the World Cup. We strolled in and in my best English accent asked for a bud and a coke to which the response was “depends which side you're supporting”. They all joked about throwing us out when I said that we were English but it turns out that there were a few other brits in the bar as well as us. The bar was actually a great place to watch the game, the people were really friendly and there were big tvs everywhere you looked. It was funny when the first goal went in as the place was silent apart from a couple of English guys at the other side of the bar, but when the US goal was scored the place erupted and the “USA, USA...” chant began. It does seem that the Americans are beginning to get into soccer. I'm sure I don't need to go into the game, but if there is anyone who didn't see it, America won 1 – 1. We spent the remainder of the afternoon repacking our bags trying to fit in all of the stuff we had bought along the way.

Cube out