bicrom abroad

the first world as a holiday destination was a step into the unknown for us. the main negatives were the disappointments of uncooperative canadian wildlife and the ease of haemorrhaging cash. more generally, in the first world you tend to go from sight to tour to attraction, with the time in between being dead space; you simply do not get all the random sights and sounds that you would see in asia or south america, the smoking monks, barking dogs or propositioning hookers.
the major positives would be the ability to rent and drive cars without running the risk of careering into auto rickshaws/cows and the corresponding road trip opportunities. some of the drives we did were experiences in their own right and it is comforting to be able to toss your bags into the trunk of a car rather than some dusty train or coach luggage rack.it's also an unusual, and not unpleasant, sensation to finish a holiday not feeling like you immediately need another one, and we will be going back to work more refreshed than usual.
as such, this will not be our last trip to the first world: having said that, i'm not ready to hang up my backpack quite yet...

best sight: the picture postcard view from the top of the empire state building as dusk turned into night.

most disappointing sight: ground zero was plain odd, with grinning camera snapping tourists morbidly rendering what should be a place of sombre reflection into just another visitor attraction. has to be niagara though, nowhere near as impressive as its reputation suggests.

best journey: toss up between the drive up vancouver island and the sea to sky highway between vancouver and whistler, the latter wins because of the mode of transport.

best car: marvin the mustang (of course...)

biggest rush: should have been watching a bear snapping at salmon right in front of us but, as that is not an option, easing down on marvin's accelerator, hearing the growl of the V8 and watching the trees on either side morph into a blur.

biggest disappointment: only one bear was disappointing but no orcas at all was heartbreaking. damn you wildlife.

best food: a surprisingly great holiday for eating. scaramouche in toronto for some fancy anniversary dining, hot kati rolls in new york for a taste of home but my favourite was probably japanese tapas in hapa izakaya in vancouver. i didn't even know what an izakaya was before this holiday but i'll definitely be looking out for them going forward.

best city: new york, up there with the londons, paris' and rios of the world.


most expensive place: new york, unadulterated temptation on every corner.

most expensive purchase: vicki knows. woof.