I don’t think anything can make you prepared for a whole day’s journey on a train ride across two states as far apart as Chicago and Boston are but hey this is a once in a lifetime thing so time to adapt and push myself harder/better/faster/stronger and of course further then ever before ;).

The cue on a hot Sunday night for this particular train is ridiculously long and of course it’s fortunate I actually remembered how lucky I am to even be in this position in first place as I was quite settled in at the previous hostel at the time!

Frustration kicks in when I see that a few people in front have planned in advance and got a huge thick crust pizza takeaway for their journey, I now start to wonder what I’ve got in store to look forward to upon my next long train journey for my trip East! The usual choice of hot foods and sandwiches are available so I need to stock up in advance. Spent bout $20 and I’m now ready to hit the hay to try sleep throughout which is going to feel like an age I’m sure!

I won’t go into too much more detail about the journey as not a lot happened apart from a slight delay along the way and me getting told off for walking into the food carriage with no shoes on lol! Been a while since I had a good telling off so I questioned what the problem was with it and typically enough the stubborn nature of the woman made me not want to bother to take it any further, just get me to Boston love ok.

Finally arrived into Boston Massachusetts and it’s humid as hell. I’m in need of food as the processed sandwiches from the long train journey just really didn’t cut it for me! I attempted a chicken restaurant that seems a bit like nandos but it wasn’t quite as fulfilling but never the less it tasted good! Let’s get to this dam hostel and get some well earned rest as I’m very ratty!

I stayed at the ‘Friend’ hostel instead of the usual HI Hostel as the last minute panic for a cheap hostel took a turn for the worse on my budget so I went with low budget and mixed dorm with some randoms again. This place had a very prententious feel to it as there were a lot of rules to follow instead of normal freedom you get at the usual hostel, one that stood out for me was lighting in the room had to be out by 22:30 and with me rocking up at 22:15 I had to convince the guy sleeping above me that he be understanding of my pretty much whole day journey and that any noise I made for just finally getting some well deserved kip I will make up to him with a pint of the local beer brand here ‘Samuel Adams’ at some point!

So after a nice long well needed sleep it’s time to see what’s happening in ‘Ted’ town Boston! Surely no talking teddy bears like in the movie!? The hostel offered some good advice on what to go and do but quickly I chose first just to get my accommodation all sorted for New York as I’d found a great place to stay at through somebody I met in Toronto at a fantastic price per night! New York is expensive everywhere for accommodation but this place I had found seemed to be at a decent price and close to everything.

Accommodation is booked then I sorted out my bus getting there and I’m finally out the door to see what I can of Boston! The weather is absolutely gorgeous and as I’m passing down the stairs I pass two guys who after brief conversation are both military soldiers and have been given some time off to go see Boston themselves and their idea is to go the Samuel Adams Beer Brewary and Harvard State Uni!

I immediately get the older of the two’s attention by insisting we save some dollars and walk the two mile trip to Harvard and the response from a Sergent Major is ‘I’m starting to like your attitude Will already’. This left me with a great sense of satisfaction and who cares if it’s two miles, it’s a gorgeous hot day and time to earn that cold Boston beer we been chatting about all morning!

Harvard is just like it is in the movies. It’s absolutely beautiful and incredibly green to say the least! A lot of history based here. We have a good look round and take a stack load of photos and think it’s time to head on to to the Sam Adams Brewery tour as throats are dry!

The tour was very in detailed and to be fair by the end of the hour everybody on it was crying out for a thirst quencher! We got to try three diff types of Samuel Adams beer and my favs were the Summer and Amber Brick Red which were only available on tap in Boston, very addictive and my waistline was starting to show!

We decided to carry on drinking elsewhere as we were entitled to a free pint glass at a bar down the road and then eventually went back to our hostel to sober up a little and get changed as it had been a long day! We then went back out and I tried traditional Boston food “Lobster Roll”. Now I’m not too keen on fish to be fair and didn’t know what to make of it but in fairness it wasn’t that bad to eat just wasn’t my ideal meal to chomp on especially when I realised by end of it it’s a type of shellfish! I ate it anyway without any side effects and it was time to head out and see some midweek Boston nightlife! As we left these girls came running into the bar irate at the bar staff for being sprayed with pepper spray by random youths passing in the streets outside where they were drinking. It was fortunate we chose to sit in and eat as it had spread in and amongst everybody else sat outside and left all three of us pondering on finding these terrors or letting the police come tackle the issue! Either way it wasn’t a nice thing to see and I really felt for all that ended up getting it in their eyes. Pepper spray is lethal over in UK so I can only imagine its just as bad here!

The rest of time spent there was literally just chill out time and getting myself ready for the concrete jungle where dreams are made of. Enough waffling, my next chapter is the big Apple itself! Next stop, Brooklyn Brooklyn and Newwwwwww Yorrrrk!