Roy (Lloyd) Jones

Having recently seen the remake of the film “Alfie” starring Jude Law (and I must admit, loving it) I have just thought of the title for this entry.

Whats it all about then? Well if you will allow me to explain without thinking that I have really bad taste in films, the purpose of this blog will eventually be to convey my travelling stories and diary in a fashionable, witty and charming manner. Hence the ultra modern blog, and off-the-wall writing style. Well I have got the modern blog part up and running, the off-the-wall writing style is something I hope to develop at some point in the future!

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Thursday night drinking is for winners. Friday morning hangovers are for losers. I was both a winner and a loser last week.

Around came Thursday, and it was decided that Godders, Godders Jnr, Smithy and myself would head on into territories unexplored and discover the delights of Braintree, and more precisely, Chicago Rock Cafe. Godders decided he would drive over and allow the rest of us to partake in some alcohol. I think this was mainly due to his upcoming break in the sunnier climate of Gran Canaria, and his desire to actually have some spending money whilst there!

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I have got some of the links up and running (top right hand side of the page), which I hope will give more of an insight into the plans and preparations for my little trip. I’ve also been trying to the make picture above randomly generated, and hence different, everytime someone visits the site, but I haven’t quite got that one worked out yet. No matter, I will in time.

I will be posting some pictures up soon so readers are able see who the man behind the blog is, but I haven’t got any recent ones, so you will have to wait until I take some. When I start travelling, I will try and incorporate the pictures I take into the entries as I go along.

Thats about it for now. (read more…)

No entries for the last few weeks, had a lot going on which really made me think about writing, and putting ones thoughts and feelings into words. I did plan to write about these last two weeks but I have decided not to.

Thanks for the support of my friends. You know who you are. (read more…)

I booked my flight to start the big trip last night. I now depart on 20th September, rather than the 15th which I had originally planned. No problem. What’s five days between friends!

London to New York. Heathrow to JFK. Kuwait Airlines. £230 return. I won’t use the return flight as I will be heading into Mexico, but it is a ticket out of the country, which is required for US Immigration and saves me having to go through the rigmorole of buying a Visa (I can now be a part of the Visa Waiver Programme). Besides I dont think I could get a one-way ticket for that kind of money anyway. (read more…)

I don’t want to carry a laptop with me everywhere I go, and as a result I’ve been thinking about the best way of updating the site by using internet cafes and I think I have come up with a decent idea. Typing what I have written is pretty straightfoward, but I think inserting the photos and links into the writing (as well as uploading the photos in the first place) is going to be the time consuming thing, especially on dial-up connections.

Here’s my idea….

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Got a few little bits and pieces done, I’m now immune to Yellow Fever after having the jab on Saturday morning, cost a cool £65 for the jab and initial consulation. I’m going to get as many as possible done on the NHS as it will work out a lot cheaper, like FREE cheaper.

Also have got the backpack I’m gonna be carting my worldly possessions around in, well my sister and brother-in-law got it for me as a birthday present. Thanks again Ian & Roz.

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A couple of weeks ago I recieved a phone call from an employment agency specialising in international recruitment. They had an interesting position in Dubai for someone of my age and experience. Excellent I said, lets give it a whirl, see what they’re offering. Anyway to cut a long story short, I went for an interview and have been offered the job.

What shall I do?

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I decided to take option b) and turn down the job.

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There have been changes to the plan. I am to be joined in the US by at least one, and possibly three mates. We are going to fly to New York, spend four nights there (frequenting a club named PopBurger), then its off to Las Vegas for three nights, staying in the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino. From Vegas its a 4/5/6 hour drive in a rental car to Los Angeles, where we’ll spend two nights before heading down to San Diego for another two nights. I think thats 11 nights in all. From San Diego the lads will head back to New York to fly home and I will catch a bus down into Baja Califonia.

Roll on September…… (read more…)

Although I haven’t posted anything on here in a while, the trip is still going to happen.

This is my last full week at work. I handed my notice in at the start of the month and my last working day is the 1st Sept. Work were pretty cool about the whole thing and have said that when I get back, I should give them a call and if there are any jobs available they may be able to sort me out with something, which is a bonus. Its an option anyway.

Its less than a month until the whole thing kicks off, and ever more increasingly I seem to be awake at 3am, worrying about stupid little things, but I’m putting all those nerves down to an eager anticipation, rather than dread.

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I am officially unemployed. I finished last Thursday, and I must say that after two working days of being unemployed, its great!

We leave two weeks tomorrow, I’ve just ordered my malaria drugs, and I’m working out what other things I need but haven’t got. No last minute panics just yet, but to be honest, it isn’t really the last minute.

Thats all I have to say for the moment, thought I’d post just to keep things ticking over. (read more…)

I’m packed and ready to go!

Here’s what I’m taking

The list is as follows….

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Its about two and a half hours before I leave to go to the airport. Didn’t sleep too well last night, and feel quite nervous!

The leaving party on Friday evening went well, thanks to Mum, Dad and Roz for organising it – and no Roz, I won’t forget you!

Thanks also to the boys (Pete, Rowlands, Bucko, Ballsy, Sam, Flan and Lego Man, a.k.a Thomo) for a top quality evening out in London on Saturday.

Thats about it for now. Stay tuned. (read more…)

Day 1 – 20th September 2005

The four of us arrived in New York after our flight, checked into our hostel and promptly went straight out to explore. Having arrived at 8pm it was out to sample the nightlife rather than do any sightseeing.

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Day 2: 21 September 2005

Waking up refreshed and full of beans, we were ready to see the sights. Breakfast was taken at an all-American diner, then it was first stop Empire State Building to get a birds eye view of all that lay before us. Fortunately it was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, so visibility was perfect – we could see for miles in all directions. It is amazing to see how built up New York is, every available space is taken up by buildings of at least 6 or 7 storeys, and the southern end of Manhattan is nothing short of spectacular.

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Day 3: 22nd September 2005

After all the events of the previous day we were not up quite as early as expected, but once we were up, we decided to go up to Central Park and have a wander. After brunch (yes, we did brunch) we hailed a cab, whcih took us to the southern end of central park.

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The previous evening, whilst on our quest to find where New York’s beautiful girls went in the evening, we had stumbled into the San Gennaro street festival in Little Italy. This was a huge street festival which consisted mainly of every type of food you can imagine. As it was held in Little Italy, it was a meatball sub for me.

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With a 13.45 flight from JFK to Las Vegas, wechecked out of the hostel and headed straight to the airport. I thought our airline, JetBlue, would be a small outfit but they had their own terminal with excellent facilities.

The only bad thing I can say about the airline was due to the incident I had read about in the New York Post a few days before when having breakfast.

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Sunday was a bit of a write off sue to our lack of sleep Saturday night. I layed in until around 2 when I got up and went to the pool for an hour. I then got Sam and we went to a Nascar themed diner for Chilli Dogs. I dont think Dave and Flan managed to get out of bed until we got back when they went for McDonalds.

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