The Freefaller

The date looks really odd when you write it like that.

It’s been a while since I ranted on here about my daily whereabouts. I begun writing about my huge roadtrip last year and simply haven’t found time to publish it yet, but more exists so that will be going online soon.

In the meantime I’m very busy working on The Freefall Music Co. and working most nights into the early hours getting the project off the ground.

I’ll write back when I’ve got something slightly more interesting to say. Oh, I’ve also named the blog now, in reference to the piece of work that swallows most of my time!

PS - My God, the new Arcade Fire album is something else. The CD player in my car refuses to spit it out - not that I’m complaining!

Woke up this morning at about 10:30am feeling totally refreshed. I was energised and ready for a good healthy breakfast but we headed down to a chicken place in the hotel. It was crap and I begun to feel just as bad as before. I’m beginning to feel a little ill to be honest. American food is very salty, very sugary and very fatty. This seems to be the fuel a lot of the country runs on. It’s ridiculously unhealthy.

Today we headed out to Lake Mead. Wow that place is huge. Can’t believe it’s man made - it’s gigantic! We headed down to a beach type area at the Lake and could have stayed there all day. Somehow we’ve missed that it’s Labour Day Weekend over here, the equivalent to our Bank Holiday. (Though how you can have a Day Weekend is confusing). After, we went down to Hoover Dam. They’re building a new road there and shutting the current one down - the new road is quite a sight! We grabbed an ice cream at the dam, which was well needed! It was windy and hot. We went on the engine room tour of Hoover Dam which I thoroughly enjoyed and I picked up a cool mug from the gift shop. I have far too many mugs but oh well.

I grabbed a McDonalds in the hotel as we got back from Hoover Dam really late and had to get to the concert we’d booked. I’m really feeling the effect of not eating properly. Steven can seem to manage it, but I can’t, which makes it pretty difficult. I’m pining for some decent meat or fish, with some vegetables. But even that seems like a task in itself to find. Everything seems to be processed. Steven grabbed a fruit juice earlier in the day and there was only 3% orange juice in it. I mean, c’mon - at least give us a chance!

So we rushed out to Nickelback and because we were late we completely missed Saving Abel, Papa Roach and most of Hinder. Steven and I were separated throughout the gig and I got sat next to a guy who just wouldn’t shut up. He was completely drunk. He asked me where I was from. I told him England. He said he hated England and hated London. We were off to a good start. He said he’d been to England twice before - once to Morocco and the second time to France. Hmm, geography is not his strong point then. I tried to explain I lived about 200 miles north of London and he said “well that’s not really England, is it!?” He said he was Scottish, because his surname was McDonald. (Obviously). He then offered me a drink, I politely declined. He returned 15 minutes later, smelling suspiciously of sick and with no drink. I saw him wretch 5 minutes later and he disappeared, stumbling up the arena steps never to be seen again.

Despite the constant interruptions, Nickelback were good. I was surprised. Chad is full of himself and alcohol references were never far away. That didn’t appeal very much. The gig was so loud. I mean really loud. In fact, a kid left early with his hands cupped over his ears as he found it unbearable.

After the gig we grabbed a taxi over to the Hard Rock Casino and placed some small bets on the machines. I drank Jameson’s and wore my gambling shirt. I felt less ‘in the moment’ than I thought I would. I could have been in any casino, in any hotel, in any part of the world. They’re all the same. Time seems endless in casinos (there are no clocks or windows anywhere) and before long it was nearly 3am. We walked back to our hotel (only a couple of blocks away but took 45 mins!) and slobbed on the bed. I’m pretty tired.

I’m finding Las Vegas expensive. The place feels plasticy and hard to describe. Where else would you find vending machines with iPods in them? I know it’s cliché but I guess you just have to see it to know what I mean.

Right now I’m sat on my bed in what’s probably going to be the nicest hotel of the trip - we’re in the Luxor, Las Vegas. Woke up this morning at a grotty Travelodge in San Bernardino and after a ropey breakfast begun the drive to Las Vegas. Before setting off we stopped off at a gas station around the corner and were constantly pestered by a beggar. It reminds you that a large bulk of America is like a third world country. You don’t expect it, but it is.

The drive was amazing. Never has 222 miles gone so quick! We stopped off at a couple of cool random places and grabbed a crappy Burger King to get us through the drive. Spent ages taking photos and videos of the journey, and with good reason - the views were staggering and although I knew we were going to be driving through the desert I didn’t expect it to look as stunning as it was.

To cap it off, Steven spotted a small twister as we approached Vegas! It quickly doubled in size and I managed to get a few shots of it whilst it grew. Luckily it didn’t turn into anything major.

So we got to Vegas around 4pm. My first impressions of Vegas aren’t good. It feels oversized, claustrophobic and intimidating. Happy to put these feelings aside and give the place a shot but I’d feared this. We checked in and went for some food in the Luxor café. To say it’s a café is an understatement - it’s basically a fully blown restaurant. I got steak, which came with vegetables (the first I’d seen all holiday - do they exist over here?) and gobbled it down.

We decided to head over to the MGM Grand Garden Arena to see if we could bag tickets for the Def Leppard show. It seemed a typically Vegas-style thing to do off the cuff. We managed to grab some good tickets totally central on the upper tier. We caught the last couple of songs from Cheap Trick and was I disappointed by the Poison set, although my favourite Poison track, ‘Something to Believe In’, was played and dedicated to the troops abroad. Interesting acts to chose as openers - it worked!

Def Leppard gave a fantastic performance. I’ve seen them twice before and loved both shows, but unfortunately this time Joe Elliot had lost his voice (too much touring recently?) so the rest of the band had to constantly back him up. It didn’t matter much but the sound was pretty poor too.

My eyes were drooping shut throughout the whole gig - the lights were blinding. It was a cocktail for sleep and as a result we’ve slumped back to the hotel room, even though Steven could have stayed out the rest of the night, and this is where we are now. It’s about 12.30am. I feel as though I’ve kinda ruined the first night in Vegas but the combination of tiredness and a stomach full of crap foodstuffs has left me completely bogged down. My ears are ringing too. I’m going to give Vegas a fresh start tomorrow.

So it’s 2am and we’ve had a really long day. Woke up this morning and it was 6:30am. Jetlag fixed? Pretty much. Watched a bit of “Days of Our Lives - Yesterday”, which must be old re-runs of the show. Some American TV is awful and they put these horrible string sounds behind every soap scene.

The shower in the Ramada was interesting. It had a little motor in the head which spun to give you a massage as well as a wash. It was a bit like a gypsy spitting on you - i.e., not nice nor wanted. We were supposed to be going to Hollywood today and we kinda did. We went to Universal Studios instead and diverted the plan. Hopefully we’ll see Hollywood itself later in the trip but I don’t know if we’ve got time.

Only got to Universal at 1pm because of some awful LA traffic - but we made the most of it! We were straight onto the studio tour and saw some awesome set pieces, including the “War of the Worlds” plane crash and Norman Bates mansion from “Psycho”. After some lunch (a turkey leg the size of my arm!) I managed to drag Steven, Barry and Nic onto the “Jurassic Park” ride (a big achievement!) and we all got soaked. Steven got drenched. I legged it onto “The Mummy” ride, an indoor coaster that plays with your mind, and we all went on the Special Effects Tour as well as Backdraft.

After leaving, Baz and Nic went to find a hotel to kip for the night, whilst me and Steven headed off to the Hollywood Bowl for John Williams. We were so scruffy from a sweaty day at the theme park so got changed in the car park. Is that legal? I bought a great conductors baton I’m going to give as a gift. I picked up a pretzel, cookies and a drink for my dinner. Yum.

The concert was good but the music was extremely quiet. Turn the PA on for goodness sake. The first half was a full “Harry Potter” showcase, with some videos, and the second half was a kind of ‘best of’. There was some boring jazz from “Catch Me If You Can” before a great encore of stuff like “E.T.”, Superman and of course, “Star Wars”.

After the gig we drove 60 miles or so to San Bernardino, after going the wrong way to begin with. My fault. Barry and Nic got us sorted at a Travelodge out here so that’s where we are now. The area we’re in looks a bit dodgy! Got here late but we’re clear of LA ready for the big drive to Las Vegas in the morning. That’s one hell of a journey so I need to sleep now.

Woke up this morning feeling surprisingly refreshed after accidentally falling asleep in the Ramada last night. As we both fell asleep we didn’t end up eating, so this morning we devoured a traditional American breakfast of toast, jelly and honey bagels downstairs in the lobby. Blurgh.

After a shower, me and Steve headed out to take a walk around Redondo and the pier. We walked a few miles and came back to get changed for the beach. We walked through lots of fish markets, all of which were closed, so it felt a little strange and the town definitely felt as though it was shut down. It was a little ghostly but there is no denying where we are - LA fever has set in and I’m finding myself feeling strangely attached to the place, which is bizarre for me because I generally hate city life and I’ve only been here a day.

We walked along the beach for a few hours, grabbing some photos, soaking up the atmosphere and beginning the long process of getting a sun tan. Somewhere along the line, I didn’t reapply lotion to my legs. That was a big mistake. Redness ensued and it stings, but only a little bit. We visited a local seafood restaurant and ate deep fried scallops, deep fried cod and deep fried shrimp, all with - yes you guessed it - fries.

Back at the hotel now and about to go and visit the Buffy neighbourhood and get some pics. Steven is a big fan. I haven’t watched a single episode. After we’re going to try and hit Santa Monica. Must go because we’re trying to work out where the hell Cota Avenue is.

That was the longest journey. Tiring but can’t complain, I’m in LA!

Got up at 6:45am. Airport for 8:45am. Virgin Atlantic had an atrocious check in process which took nearly two hours. We were left with minutes to spare after darting through security and WHSmith onto the plane. Got onto plane at 10:45am but a plane baggage problem left us sat on the plane at the gate for 90 minutes. Hard to get annoyed when you’re off to California though.

When we finally took off we flew right over my house, up to Scotland then over to Iceland, Greenland and down Canada. Amazing scenery from the air. I tracked our progress through the inboard navigation thingy. We flew at around 550 mph at around 36,000 feet. We then crossed into the US over the rocky landscape and saw practically no life until the last 15 minutes.

I watched Changeling on the plane (amazing film) and some Top Gear. We got free beer, a great meal, sandwiches, wraps, cereal bars and lots of coffee. Virgin Atlantic you are forgiven. Also got a travel bag with toothpaste, toothbrush, eye sleep things, and socks. Socks? The plane flew hell for leather to get us there. Arrived only 10 minutes later than originally planned.

Filmed the landing even though were told to turn electrics off. God knows how a little digital camera is going to interfere with a commercial plane but whatever. When Steven was at the loo we begun the descent so I stared out of the window and managed to get some great shots. The landscape right until the last 15 minutes was just desert, desert and more desert. It’s amazing how secluded the West Coast seems to be from the air. Out of nowhere LA appeared and the city emerged. As we flew lower the fog was apparent. In between the city and the hills was a thick horizontal layer of it.

We sped through Customs (usually takes forever) into Thrifty car rental. We got completely owned on getting extra insurance - didn’t realise what we were being charged for. It’s a half decent car though - huge and beastly and I’m looking forward to using it. But I hate Thrifty right now!

We then drove through LA rush hour (felt sorry for Steven - he’s doing all the driving on this trip) to the Ramada at Redondo Beach… and here I am typing away. The hotel is a bit dated but not bad for the $, and free wireless! We’re going to get some food in a bit.

Must try and type less, can’t waste the trip typing away on this thing! Seeya!

Made it to London. It’s about 1am now. Had a huge rush getting packed but made it down to Steven’s house only an hour late. Steven wasn’t ready anyway. We left Sheffield at 9pm - hideously late - belted down the M1 and dropped the car off at Karl’s London flat at 11.30pm. Pretty good timing. Karl is very good to us and we’re going to see Coldplay at the end of the holiday with him so it made sense to leave the car there.

Barry took us from Karl’s to our Travelodge at Heathrow. We cheekily booked the room for £25 by telling them three guests were staying rather than two, so we got a cheaper rate. Had to be done. We ate food from a dodgy chicken place on the way to the hotel. It was crap, but well needed.

Time for bed, big day tomorrow… Oops, I mean later today. Night night.

I’m going on a road trip.

It should be quite good, so I’ve decided to write a diary whilst traveling about. There’s a few reasons for this. Firstly, I can’t remember anything I do. Secondly, when I do remember something my memory always ends up tainting the feelings of the day. And thirdly, because I want to.

So we’re off to America. Myself and good pal Steven are heading off to the land of the free, with Steven’s mates Barry and Nicola not far behind. Myself and Steven traveled the East Coast last year, but are determined to make this trip bigger and better so it’s West Coast this time. On paper, the route looks difficult - maybe even slightly impossible. But we’ll give it a go.

It’s about 3pm now on 1 September. We set off tomorrow AM from Heathrow. I still haven’t packed properly (I’ve been at Leeds Festival) and we need to be in London tonight - 200 miles away.

Must finish packing and dash off to Steven’s place. I bet he’s running late. See you in London.