11 - Europe

After our magnificent time spent in Iceland we had another early morning flight and we were on our way to Norway. Neither Bryce (my brother) or myself had been before so we were looking forward to entering the first of a few mainland Scandinavian countries. Once we had cleared baggage and customs, we boarded the train bound for downtown Oslo. One of my brothers friends had generously offered us to stay at her place but she was at work so we had to wait until later in the afternoon to go over. So we ended up stowing out bags away at the train station and explored around Oslo. The highlight that day was definitely visiting the Oslo Opera House which is situated right on the water with majestic views of the bay and islands contained within it. It's an amazing piece of architectural design with beautiful white sandstone which is blinding at times.

The rest of the day was spent eating found and taking advantage of whatever wifi was around. We then made the trek to Linda's house where we indulged in a few fireballs before meeting up with her friends for a night out. Eventually we made it back to her house around 6am the next morning totally exhausted (almost 24 hours since I had proper sleep and 48 hours for my brother). The following day was a rest day and our last day in Oslo as it was only a short stay. So we packed our bags and jumped on the bus headed south towards Malmo in Sweden.

Arriving in Malmo in the evening, we choose to stay there at another Marriott hotel. Once again we got a great deal through our friend Cori. It always nice to change it up while travelling and having a nice, clean and comfortable hotel room is something to cherish. The next day we caught the train to Lund to meet up with our friend Tim Lusch (Luschy). Luschy is guy we went to high school with and had spent a year living in Sweden during 2005. He had decided to go back for a visit during 2013 so we met up while we were are there.

After meeting him at the station Luschy took us back to Bjarred, a small town about 20 mins by bus. It's a cute little town that's right on the water in the Danish straits, between Sweden and Denmark. Once we dropped our bags off, we went for a walk down to the water and got some great photos along the pier. We then stayed for two nights at Luschy's former family hosts house taking it easy. The three of us then hoped on to a train and headed over the water bound for Copenhagen.

Oslo, Norway & Bjarred, Sweden

What can I say about Copenhagen, it's just the best! A beautiful. modern city with a bicycle culture fully integrated into it's layout. We managed to catch up with our Danish friends Patricia and Mark and went over to Patricia's parents house for Bryce's birthday. We were greeted with a monumental and delicious feast with the inclusion of cognac, schnapps and coffee. Definitely the best feed for the three months we had been travelling. We also took in a game of AFL with a mixture of Danish people and Aussie expats playing. On top of that, we explored all the sights to see around Copenhagen including Nyhavn and the Rosenborg Castle. We then caught another bus and headed south towards Berlin. 

Copehagen, Denmark

Berlin was a city that I had been wanting to visit for sometime. We spent about 4 - 5 days here exploring. The first night Bryce and I went to a gig for two Australian bands, The Amity Affliction and In Hearts Wake which was great. For the remaining few days we went out and checked out the rich history of the city from the architecture to the somber war memorial from the atrocities of World War 2. Our cousin Andrew also joined us again to travel after we spent time together in Iceland. Unfortunately during that time, I was bitten by an insect of some sort during the night and had my right eye swell up making my appearance like more like Quasimodo. Nonetheless we had a fantastic time and I can't wait to go back and see more of that amazing city.

Berlin, Germany

The final stop for me on the European trip was Prague. The four of us arrived after catching a bus from Berlin and headed towards our apartment we rented from Airbnb. It was awesome, a massive place that seemed to good to be true for what the cost was and a nice change from a cramped dorm room in a hostel that you had to share with fellow travellers. We spent the next few days taking in the sites and fantastic former soviet history of Prague and the wonderful old architecture. We also consumed far too much delicious Czech beer, which is some of the best I've ever had. Finally the day had come when I had to leave so after saying my goodbyes to the lads, who were travelling to Vienna, I headed to the airport bound for my next adventure. Back to the real world and to live and work in London.

Prague, Czech Republic

Shot on a Mamiya 7, 80mm f4.0 lens and Kodak  film. Developed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab in California.

08 - USA 01

So after our amazing road trip through Arizona, Utah and Nevada we packed up the hire car and drove back to Vegas. We then dropped the car off and jumped on the greyhound bus to our next destination, San Francisco. Now for anyone that hasn’t caught a greyhound bus before, well it’s very basic. Uncomfortable seats, power outlets in awkward spots and pretty terrible wifi if you are lucky to be on a bus with one. We had decided to catch a bus instead of flying to SF to save money ($40 compared to $150). The compromise was travelling 14 hours via LA and catching two buses. So leaving LV around 4pm with a quick stop in San Bernadino to change buses, we eventually made it to SF by about 7am the next morning. Absolutely shattered, we made our way to the hostel before catching up and some well needed rest.

We then proceeded to stay in San Francisco for the next five days wondering the streets, seeing the sights and catching up with friends. So waking up around 4am on our last day, we packed the last of our things and headed to the airport bound for Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

San Francisco

So after spending just over three weeks in Canada, we hopped on a late night bus out of Toronto bound for Buffalo. We were heading to Buffalo to catch a the train to NYC as it was again a cheap option to get to our next destination. We ended up waiting on an abandoned train platform in the early hours of the morning before our train eventually arrived and we were headed to NYC. Arriving in Manhattan, we then hopped on another bus to go across the bridge to New Jersey for the night. One of my brothers friends works for the Marriott in the US and could get us cheap deals every now and again on rooms in Marriott's across the country. This one happened to be just over the other side of the Hudson River in NJ. So after a quiet night in our hotel, we headed back to Manhattan to catch a bus seven hours south to visit our friend in North Carolina.

Finally we arrived in Norfolk, Virginia and were greeted with our friend Lindsey who came to pick us up. We then jumped in her car and drove about 45 mins south to Outer Banks. Outer Banks is a 200-mile stretch of peninsulas and barrier islands separating the Atlantic Ocean from mainland North Carolina. It's a quaint part of NC with lots of holiday beach houses and a small local population. But come summertime, the population surges with lots of people staying during their summer break. There is also a lot of history in the area with the Wright Brothers first ever flight occurring in the Outer Banks.

We only had a weekend here but we saw as much as as we could. This included exploring the sand dunes of Kill Devil Hills and a small road trip down the coast to Hatteras to check out some of many lighthouses plus some cool small towns with lots of abandoned buildings from past times when many more people use to choose Outer Banks as the holiday destination of choice. Lindsey then droves us back up to Norfolk early on the Monday morning and we jumped on the bus, heading north to Philadelphia.

Outer Banks, North Carolina

Philadelphia is somewhere neither Bryce or myself had been before considering the amount of travelling we had done throughout the USA. It's a very cool city with a lot of history, being one of the first cities founded in the late 1600's after the British first colonised the country. Again our time exploring was very minimal (two days) but I managed to walk around most of downtown taking photos on Mamiya 7 of anything interesting I could find. We then jumped on the MegaBus and took the four journey to our finally destination of the USA leg of our trip, NYC.

Philadelphia

New York City is huge. There is so much to see, do and places to drink and eat. It's of course a must to visit if you have never been to the USA before. But for us, it was more stop over on our way to Iceland and Europe. Nonetheless, I took full advantage of being there again (previously visited in 2010) and relentlessly journey around the city with my camera in tow. Visiting iconic locations like Central Park, the amazing view of Manhattan from Rockefeller centre and admiring the view from Brooklyn looking across the East River at sunset. But I also explored the lesser known places including streets of Bushwick, Green Point and East Williamsburg and Coney Island seeing some amazing street art, cars and meeting the colourful characters of such a great city. We ended up staying pretty far out in Brooklyn, not far from Coney Island, in predominately asian community which was an interesting experience. But finally after spending just over week, we headed to JFK airport and flew to one of my favourite places on earth, Iceland.

New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn & Coney Island)

All images shot on a Mamiya 7, 80mm f4.0 lens and Kodak Portra 160 and 400 film. Developed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab in Los Angeles, California.