Round the world trip

[Philipkee]

bro, can share how many bag/luggage you carry along?

how do you carry and look after the bag while travelling on long haul buses and trains?

 

and when you explore a city/town where do you keep the bag/luggage before check in to hotel?

I carry one small day bag and one suitcase.

 

Just carry lor. If I need to secure the suitcase for a short while like in a moving bus, boat or when I go toilet, the bicycle lock comes on handy. It's combination lock also so no need to worry about key.

 

When I explore city I usually leave suitcase in the hostel but I secure it if possible with the bicycle lock. Normally just the day pack but if I don't feel like carrying it, i secure the day pack to the suitcase which is secured to my bed (lock is long enough).

 

But if like now, one a five hour layover in salt Lake City then I carry everything. So a suitcase helps cos I can just roll it along the road.

[Adrianli]

Wow. I actually love watching Pawn Stars and Count Customs!!! I recognise both the bearded knowledge guy and Chum Lee. Chum Lee looks skinnier than on tv!

 

Do you have to pay to visit Count Customs car gallery?

[Philipkee]

Wow. I actually love watching Pawn Stars and Count Customs!!! I recognise both the bearded knowledge guy and Chum Lee. Chum Lee looks skinnier than on tv!

 

Do you have to pay to visit Count Customs car gallery?

It's all free. Only thing is cos chum Lee owns a candy store and there is a long queue of people lining up to go in, and the store is small, it is kind of like you should buy something inside.

 

I bought a chocolate bar for $3 and it ended up being my lunch....

 

Counts Kustoms tours are free but of cos restricted to where you can go. You can go to the display area but not the workshop. I heard they used to allow that but people keep getting injured while walking there while touching the equipment so they stopped it.

 

Oh and a bit wasted cos I went on Sunday. The man told me Danny and the rest don't work on Sundays (yea, they have their off days on weekends) but I left las Vegas already....

 

Oh and insider info is that what you see on the show is real as in their real life personas are the same as what you see on TV. They did not act just for the cameras.

 

Correction on the free tour. There is a PAID tour but I dunno what they show cos it was free on weekends when I went so I never asked about the paid tour if it covers more.

 

One more tidbit. If you see some of my photos you see there is a curtain behind the display cars. It is actually covering up a workshop. That is where the action is and of cos I am not allowed to even peek inside. It leads to the garage door where in the tv show Danny will shout to bring the vehicle out.

Edited July 31, 2018 by Philipkee

[Philipkee]

Salt Lake City reminds me of charlottesville and adelaide. It's Monday morning and the streets are so quiet. Many shops do not open until 1000 or 1100.

 

Now in Seattle

Remembering the Nisei. They are Americans of Japanese descent who were interned after the pearl harbour attacks. Many of them went on to serve the American forces in Europe.

 

Some of the streets of Seattle remind me of San Francisco.

 

And my accommodation.

[Philipkee]

Basically went to the pike fish market today and walked along the shoreline. I cannot say it's by the sea side cos the location of seattle is such that one side faces the Pacific ocean and one side faces lake Washington.

Pike fish market

 

Fish throwing. I couldn't get a good picture of the fish throwing cos it's so fast and the camera could not focus on it when the fish is in midair. End up in took a video but I could not upload it on Mcf so I took a screenshot of the video. :Do

 

Facing the Pacific ocean

 

Facing lake Washington.

 

Tomorrow I aim to go to museums but weather forecast says it might rain so it's really see how.

[Philipkee]

Had a walk to the space needle and took the monorail back to town

 

Went for a walk cum drinking session with the hostel so saw some scenery

 

 

And a segment of the Berlin Wall in seattle.

 

Today much in terms of plans. OMG. I drank dunno what stout with peanut butter flavour when I went back to hostel in was properly knocked out. Lucky I had only one glass cos felt woozy after that. Otherwise people might have to carry my back hahaha.

 

Guess I getting too old liao. Drink one glass and that's the limit.

[kdash]

many uncles here will scold you for saying yourself old

[Philipkee]

Took the subway today. Did not realise that subways and bus can run together underground. Maybe an idea for our transport ministry when they start digging for the next round of mrt construction. Run bus during off peak hour and mrt during peak hour.....

[Davidklt]

YOLO!

[Philipkee]

Finally made it to my last stop in USA. Los Angeles.

 

Some little adventure. Nearly watch a fight happen in my public transit bus when a drunk man started approaching a woman screaming racist vulgarities when a man stood up to block him. Eventually the drunk passenger was thrown out of the bus. Me? I was just sitting less than 2 feet away, watching the show serenely.

 

Due to delay in greyhound I reached Los Angeles late in the evening (1930) instead of around 1530 as planned. Anyway, not taking greyhound anymore. This is my last stop in USA before going to Japan.

 

I plan to go to the beach and tour Los Angeles here. Take it easy.

[Philipkee]

Philipkee I am not making fun of you but seriously wondered to know if you did entertain the thought

 

fear of being raped in a hostel or going to the wrong pub/bar

Very tricky question..... which is an answer by itself Notice I never outrightly say no

 

Well, I don't fear bring raped but I do worry about going to a wrong pub/bar cos I am alone and might not be know where to avoid. So as a matter of principle, I don't go to pubs or bars when I backpack. I did go when the hostel organised an outing or got stoned at the trans siberian (which is not recommended).

 

But I have also done things that I can only say "what happened during my backpacking trip, stays during my backpacking trip."

 

When I travelled and stayed in places where girls really dress in NSFW ways and it's really NSFW,I did wonder if anything will happen and if I will be caught up with it unwittingly.

 

So to answer your question directly, it's NO but I gave the long answer cos the NO is full of caveats

[Wt_know]

btw, dont you worried kena mugged?

even you dont go NSFW places ... any place can be targeted kena mugged especially you travel alone backpack

Edited August 7, 2018 by Wt_know

[inlinesix]

Very tricky question..... which is an answer by itself Notice I never outrightly say no

 

Well, I don't fear bring raped but I do worry about going to a wrong pub/bar cos I am alone and might not be know where to avoid. So as a matter of principle, I don't go to pubs or bars when I backpack. I did go when the hostel organised an outing or got stoned at the trans siberian (which is not recommended).

 

But I have also done things that I can only say "what happened during my backpacking trip, stays during my backpacking trip."

 

When I travelled and stayed in places where girls really dress in NSFW ways and it's really NSFW,I did wonder if anything will happen and if I will be caught up with it unwittingly.

 

So to answer your question directly, it's NO but I gave the long answer cos the NO is full of caveats

 

No wonder you like hostel.

[Philipkee]

btw, dont you worried kena mugged?

even you dont go NSFW places ... any place can be targeted kena mugged especially you travel alone backpack

Not really. I mean just be alert and on the lookout. Of course don't go to deserted areas at night (day time usually not so bad). That's y I don't really like it when there is delay on greyhound and I reach a city at night.

 

There are many many things to worry about. Like driving in USA roads at night (American drivers are xxxxx). Drunkards accosting you.

 

Try to stay in groups. Years ago I had to cross a dangerous patch of ground (according to lonely planet) between greyhound station in Washington DC and the Union station. It was still early dawn when I had to walk. I waited for everyone in the bus to be walking in that direction before I walked and blended in among the group.

 

Another time I slept in the greyhound station until sun up before I walked.

 

In my life I have only had my money stolen once and it was from a fellow hostelite whom we even planned to go on a trip together so never been mugged.

 

One thing is you must be able to run and fight (basic). Meaning your luggage should not have anything really valuable, meaning if it is really absolutely necessary, drop everything and run. And be prepared to fight meaning you CANNOT be half drunk wandering down the streets alone.

 

If one is always fearful, one will never see the world. But one must always have a proper risk assessment done. Weigh the risk and make a decision based on risk and ability to mitigate it. NOT weigh the risk, dunno how to mitigate, but YOLO.

No wonder you like hostel.

Hahaha hahaha. Not really. It's more for costs. The others are just "collateral damage".

[Philipkee]

Spent my day at the beach today.

 

 

 

And somehow this sign seems to reflect my feelings. Yeah, this is a tourist site but it also reflects my thinking. That this will be my last time budget travelling or backpacking. From this trip on I will travel like the "normal people" instead of budget travelling like hitching and hostelling on dorms. It's end of the trail for the backpacker part of my life. Time to start a new phase.

 

And somewhere beyond the horizon, is home.

 

Some sign on the beach and surprisingly there was a debate on marijuana on santa Monica pier today

 

Edited August 7, 2018 by Philipkee

[Kezg1]

....thanks Phillip for the write up..enjoy reading all about it...Cheers

[Philipkee]

Hollywood.

 

Whoever punched him, before anyone asks, it wasn't me.

 

@throttle2 is that you?

 

@RadX is that you?

 

Beverly Hills.

 

Beach from my hop on hop off bus.

 

Tomorrow I leave usa for japan to decompress and relax and slowly move back into the real world.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Philipkee

[Mockngbrd]

Still waiting for amdl xiong