Day 86 - East Greenwich to SoHo, NYC

Bye Rhode Island!

Annie's father Jeff did all the manly things this morning like clearing the snow from the cars and the drive and making cornbread (not that I know that many men who make cornbread but it was darn good and I now wish I did know some!)

I then spent the morning talking to Annie's mum Liz about... I'm not sure exactly really but I definitely came away feeling very at ease with my thoughts. She is an artist and she showed me some of the things she is working on - I feel like making things may be what's missing from my life, she made it seem like a lot of hard work but well worth it in the end. I don't think I'd ever want to sell or show anything but I wonder if it might do my mental peace some good to be making things with my hands, especially when I get back to London and have no job...

Annie's parents and baby bro

Annie's fridge 

Annie's back yard - how cool would it be to grow up with this much snow to your name??

Beeg blue bug

I went out of my way to go see the big blue bug which Annie had insisted I go see. I'm not sure what kind of bug it's supposed to be but it is pretty big and I'd missed it on the way past Providence the first time because of the snow.

Bye bye car!!!

I gave back my car - no, I didn't cry, but... well, I almost did. It's been my travel buddy for 86 days and leaving it behind made the end of my trip feel very real. I was very lucky because they don't seem to have charged me the $250 drop-off fee (which my battered post-trip economy would greatly appreciate) but I will have to see if they chase me for it at a later date.

Hello Isabella! (and New York)

I got to my brother's house in time to see Isabella (my beeeeeautiful niece) before she went to bed and I was impressed that she remembered me! She's ridiculously gorgeous (objectively, honest!) she has huge eyes and looong eyelashes and she TALKS!

Maria is due to give birth any day now so is pretty fed up of being pregnant. She also has a cold so I mostly got to talk to her from a safety distance while she was in bed.

I was happy to get a chance to spend some time with Javi, Maria's brother, who told me all sorts of crazy stories about trips he's been on - I feel very fortunate that I've been so lucky on my trip!

This is a man that has survived many a holiday from hell

I'm staying in a hotel in SoHo which is nothing like London's Soho but is pretty cool. I got back around 1am but felt perfectly safe which was nice.