Algiers Point is a neighbourhood which is a free, short ferry ride across the Mississippi River from New Orleans riverside. We wandered around the area and it was one of my favourite parts of New Orleans. 

To a tourist wanting to see attractions and get a party vibe, there is nothing to see here. But if you are interested in getting a feel for how people live  and see some casually weird stuff, I think you’d love it. I sure did.

My first impressions were that there are lots of displays of pride in the area, nationalist and other. The inhabitants of Algiers Point seem to have a penchant for displaying objects, flags and bumper stickers to express their opinions out the front of their houses and on their cars. 

Many houses had Christmas decorations, some looking a bit worse for wear after the rainy weather. Others still had pumpkins out. 

Others had permanent decorations, such as the house that was covered in pictures, flags and objects. This house also happened to have a pet turkey fenced in a front area of the front yard. Amongst the paraphernalia, there was a veteran flag and a wheelchair assist machine for the small set of stairs. I can only imagine the character that lives there.

Another house had a plastic duck, large enough for a child to ride, on the front porch and not much else.  A friendly cat from the house came over to say hello, and followed us for a while. 

We hesitated outside the church for a moment, and on deciding to look inside, a young man walking by called out his support. “God lets everyone in,” he shouted as he swaggered by.

An old biker in a leather jacket stopped outside the Mother Mary shrine outside the church and said some private words. A few kids raced around the park, some of them kitted out entirely in Saints clothing. We came to a big structure that resembled a theatre and seemed closed. Abandoned buildings are common in New Orleans, but this one looked well kept. We peered through the dark glass and could just make out sculpted arms holding torches that extended from the walls. 

We followed the disused railway tracks for a while and came across a huge statue of an eagle, and another of a crocodile. 

We turned back when we were nearly at the stationary train, feeling the number of abandoned houses around us growing. 

Cutting around the back of the buildings to walk along the water, we found an enormous female head with her hair frozen, flowing to the side. Staring straight ahead into her eyes was surprisingly unnerving. We realised that the head was out the back of a business called Mardi Gras World which makes floats for the world-renowned festival. 

As the light faded, we made our way back to the ferry terminal.

If you visit New Orleans, I recommend that you take a break from sculling hand grenades and check out the mysterious and wonderful neighbourhood across the Mississippi.

Been there? Let me know what you thought of it below.

I have always found abandoned places fascinating, and beautiful in their own way. There’s something meaningful in what you can tell from the debris left behind by previous inhabitants. Exploring these places usually creates more questions than answers, and inspires in me a stirring of the imagination that is harder to find the further I get from childhood.

When I was living in Sydney, I walked past an abandoned house on my way to work, and knew I wanted to take a look. So I told Tom, always up for an adventure, and we checked it out. It didn’t disappoint. An overgrown lawn, a wooden heart-shaped decoration amongst the rubble, a broken mirror. Room after room of crumbled memories.

So when I heard that there was an abandoned hospital in the middle of NYC on an easily accessible island, I was immediately curious. 

Roosevelt Island is a narrow piece of land, about 2 miles long, between Manhattan and Queens. You can easily get the subway or an amazing view from the aerial cable car to it from Manhattan. The cable car is the same cost as a subway ride, or free if you have an unlimited metrocard. Incredibly, no one had mentioned this hidden gem to us before. 

Roosevelt Island has always been used for public services: a jail, a lunatic asylum, hospitals. But now, the last public building, the former Coler-Goldwater Hospital, has been sold off. We were lucky enough to see it before it is demolished. More on that later.

During the 1800s, the island was known as Blackwell’s Island and there was a mental asylum there known as the New York City Lunatic Asylum. At this time, an intriguing journalist named Elizabeth Cochrane (pen name Nellie Bly) feigned insanity in order to report first-hand on the poor treatment of women in the facility. She spent ten days there, and her eye-opening article (read from Chapter VIII on about the asylum), published in World, led to New York City spending a million dollars more each year on ‘the insane’.  She wrote:

“The insane asylum on Blackwell's Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there it is impossible to get out.”

Luckily, she did get out. Unfortunately, the women she met (many of whom she felt were as sane as she was) were not so lucky. Her account of life in the asylum is horrific. Charles Dickens, who visited Roosevelt Island in 1842, said of it:

“everything had a lounging, listless, madhouse air, which was very painful”

While nothing of the asylum still stands except for the Octagon Tower, we were able to walk around the abandoned hospital, most recently known as Coler-Goldwater Hospital undisturbed. 

The hospital opened in 1939, originally as the Welfare Hospital for Chronic Disease. We learned, while researching online. that it was a dismal place that people only went as a last resort. It is likely that people came here not expecting to leave, and with no money to support themselves if they did. 

We had the opportunity to walk around the grounds and take photos undisturbed.

At this point, we ran into a security guard who had been hired by a company that had recently bought the land. He explained that they are planning to knock it down soon, and build a medical research facility. 

The guard told us it's extremely unnerving to be there at night, especially with the mortuary down in the basement. 

"My boss sometimes calls me up to do a double shift and I hang up on him. It's creepy as hell here at night."

We tried our best to convince him to let us inside, but he said he was under strict orders to keep everyone out. Furthermore, he couldn't fathom why we would want to spend any time in such a miserable place. Fortunately for us, he hadn't seen us earlier trying our best to get a window open and get inside (we failed).

I'm glad I got to see this place before it's demolished. 

We checked out the memorial for F. D. Roosevelt, and the wind nearly sent us into the East River. Shivering with cold, we made our way to the cable car.

There is a lot of history on this island. Although some terrible things happened here, or perhaps because of this, I think it should be remembered.

What do you think of abandoned places? Creepy as hell or fascinating? Share your thoughts below.

While it is possible to fly from Sydney, Australia to New York, USA in 20 hours (still a long haul), Tom and I managed to do it in more than 32. Yes, 32+ hours of transit.

Luckily, we are still together and like each other somewhat. Want to know how we survived? 

1.       Water. Drink at least twice as much water as you normally do, and say no to the alcohol unless you’re willing to drink three times as much water to counteract the dehydration it will bring.The air dries you out, and water will make you feel a little bit more human, and less mummified corpse. Lip balm helps with this too.

2.       If you have two long haul flights and a decent stopover in between, consider getting basic lounge access. We had a fourteen hour flight, a four hour stopover, and then another fourteen hour flight before navigating USA customs and the subway. Don’t underestimate the moral boost a hot shower and some real food (not airline food!) can give you! 

We drank peppermint tea, ate some flat bread with boiled eggs, feta, hummus and tomatoes and had private hot showers with provided shower gel and shampoo. It was heaven. 

Make sure you pack a change of clothes in your day pack if you have more than carry-on:  it’s good practice anyway in case your luggage is lost!

3.    Listen to your body. Or Ipod. Do you want to watch a movie, or would you rather just sit there staring into space, or writing in your journal? Long transit days can be an opportunity to do whatever you want: you could be very productive or get nothing done, and that’s okay. Be nice to yourself. Though you may want to watch at least one movie to get your brother off your back.

4.       If you see a row of empty seats before take-off, QUICK! Throw a book or sweater over them. As soon as the seat belt sign goes off, get your lucky self to your bed for the rest of the trip! There’s nothing like the wonderful feeling of making a bed out of all the extra blankets and pillows and stretching out for a glorious nap. Sleeping also passes the time a lot quicker than blearily staring into space.  I should know, I did both.

5.       Be wary of talking to the person next to you. While some great conversations happen on planes, and I have gotten job offers that way, just be aware that you’re going to be next to that person the entire flight. Smile at them, hand them the peanuts and share the armrest. But please, for your own sanity, do not turn it into a full on social interaction. 

You cannot leave. 

I once had an eager man engage me in conversation at the gate, despite my obvious indications that I wasn't interested in talking. When we boarded the plane, I thought “Whew, finally I can relax.” Except that guess who was in the seat next to mine? In these situations, take out a book or earphones and politely tell the person that you just want to read/listen to music. In this case, he was asking me lots of personal questions and I just wasn't in the mood. 

A friend of mine had a guy she'd just met suggest they watch a movie together by pressing play at the same time. Don’t be afraid to assert yourself. If worst comes to worst, just imitate this cat.

6.       Bring healthy food. I have pretty much failed at this so far, partially due to my confusion about when you can bring your own food and water onto flights. But foods like bananas, nuts and apples are a lifesaver when you are sick of those weird TV dinner meals at random times. I once got served breakfast on a flight for three meals in a row. Not cool.

7.       It’s not over when you land. It sure is a relief when you get to your destination. But you still have to get through a few more obstacles, such as people being unfathomably slow at getting their bags out and bored customs officials. A few years ago, after a failed attempt at a routine fingerprint scan, I was asked by an annoyed official in a ‘damn, girlfriend’ tone whether I had a sweating problem. Since then, I don’t really get fazed by grumpy officials but I do play a game where I try to get a smile out of them.  Yes, I tend to lose that game but so what.

Good luck!

 Did I miss any of your favourite tips? Disagree? Let me know below!

Okay, so we survived our first day of hitchhiking and were feeling pretty good about the next leg of the trip. In the morning, we walked directly out of the inn we’d slept at, held up our signs and put our thumbs out. It was exciting not knowing who we would meet that day.

After about ten minutes, a rental car with two guys pulled over: Nick and Jake.

Nick, who lives in Massachusetts, had surprised his son Jake that morning with a last minute father-son road trip. Jake had thrown some clothes in a bag and jumped into the car. They hadn't been driving long when they saw us.

“You guys just look like normal people,” Jake said. “That’s why we picked you up.”

We felt at home with them right away, passing around the maps to discuss where we all wanted to go. Nick stopped often to check out views of the beautiful coastline. 

Nick talked about his views on karma and quirks of fate. 

"I like to pay it forward," he said. 

He’d pull over and we’d all take pictures and soak up the stunning views.

The car was comfortable and they were friendly. Tom and I didn't realise that things were about to get better… way better. 

Mid-conversation, Jake pointed out a sign for dune buggies and quad bikes. He suggested we check it out, and Nick agreeably swung the car around and drove into the place. We soon learned that there were some huge sand dunes nearby. Jake was really excited about the prospect of quad biking the dunes.

“Dad, let’s do it!” 

Nick shrugged and the two of them got out of the car to speak to the manager. 

Out of sight, Tom and I looked at each other. “I guess we’ll just hang around and wait while they do it,” I whispered. We figured it was worth it to wait and get a guaranteed ride south, even if we did lose some time. 

Nick stuck his head back into the car. 

“Want to do it, guys? I’ll pay.”

We were flabbergasted. 
“We can’t let you do that,” Tom protested. 

“Come on, I’m generous,” Nick replied. 

We didn't need much encouragement. We got some helmets, jumped on a bike and rode them around the back to the dunes!

The dunes were huge, and to get up to the top you had to get a good run up, and then keep increasing speed until you were full throttle. If you eased off at all on your steep ride up, you wouldn't make it to the top: you had to really commit. 

It was seriously exhilarating!

Going down the steep faces of the dunes felt like going on a waterfall ride at a theme park… except that it’s sand, and you’re somewhat in control. I felt the adrenaline rush through me and grinned like a maniac.

Nick was wonderful. He treated me like a favourite niece, zooming around me and offering helpful suggestions. When I nailed it, he gave me a thumbs up. Jake showed us how to do doughnuts in the sand and raced around like a pro.

It was difficult to keep the handles still as my bike jumped along bumps at full throttle, and up a particularly steep dune, I could feel the handlebars moving a lot. I gritted my teeth and stayed at full throttle. 

Unfortunately, I flipped the bike and it landed on my leg. Oops.

But rather than scaring me, I felt relieved. What I'd feared had happened and all I had was a few bruises. Nick, Tom and Jake sped over to help lift the bike off me and checked I hadn't broken anything: human or mechanical. Apart from the little flag that shows where you are to other bikers, I was good to go. So I got back on, rode down the dune, and swung around to try again.

Except this time, I made it.

So, what do you think? Have we convinced you that it's worth it to trust people and say yes to adventure yet? Leave a comment! We would also love to hear about adventures that you've had when you put yourself out there.

So there we were, at the side of the 101. We’d chosen a spot that was easy for people to read our sign and they could pull over if they wanted to offer us a ride. People driving past mainly smiled and lots of them waved. We got the impression here (and the rest of our trip down the coast) that people were reminiscing about their own days past, of being young and carefree. A few grumpy old people looked cranky, craning to read our sign. We joked and laughed with each other to ease the slight feeling of self-consciousness, and we were feeling comfortable in no time.

Ride 1: Jesse/Ghazi  (“Kah-zee”)

Less than ten minutes had passed when Jesse pulled over and began rearranging his car to let us in. He was our first ride, and he was a friendly man from Jerusalem who had lived in California for eight years. He told us about his involvement in peace talks held all over the world and about the time he met the late Pope.

“What kind of a guy was he?” Tom wondered.

Jesse replied that he didn’t really know, he’d just been blessed by him. But he did say “I don’t think God needs a middle man or a postman.”

When he dropped us off, Jesse generously gave us his phone number in case we got stuck, saying that he would be in the area waiting for a call about work. We thanked him, shook hands and went on our way.

Ride 2: Joe

We hadn’t even left the shopping area car park where we’d sourced some more cardboard and written “Florence” before a man pulled over, excitedly shouting “I’m going there!” and we were off on our second ride.

Joe was driving a pick up truck to the next town, and was happy to let us jump in for the ride. Exhilarated at our second consecutive successful hitchhike, we both later reported the experience feeling a little surreal as we drove along the windy coastal track, often exclaiming at its beauty. 

Joe had two plastic skeletons dangling above his steering wheel. Given that he’d just recently recovered from open heart surgery, the skeletons seemed like a poignant symbol of mortality. 

“I bow down to no man,” he told us.

Joe didn't talk much unless he had something to say. He struck us as a very kind man: he didn't have much but was generous. For one thing, he picked us up without a moment’s hesitation despite his natural introversion and asked nothing in return. Second, despite being a local, he stopped at a stunning lookout to show us where the sea lions live. 

Our favourite story that Joe told us was about being a Sacramento ice cream man in his twenties! 

“If the kids could vote, I’d be mayor of that place,” he said.

He dropped us off in Florence and said our goodbyes. He kindly told us that if we couldn’t get a ride that day to the next town, he knew a place we could stay for free. We said thank you for the ride and parted ways.

We wrote a new sign, ambitiously writing a relatively far off town, and tried our luck. Two young guys stopped and offered us a ride part of the way. We declined, both independently sensing that the guys might not be our kind of people. We just told them we wanted to go further South than they were going and thanked them for offering: no hard feelings. 

If anyone reading this is thinking about hitchhiking themselves, remember you can ALWAYS say ‘no’, for any reason you like. Just because someone pulled over, does not mean you've entered into a social contract that you can’t break. Trust your instincts: there will always be another way.

It was afternoon when we had been dropped off, and we realised that most of the traffic was probably not going far: locals returning home from work. We decided to rest in Florence for the night and got a room. Our first day of hitching down the 101 and we’d covered just over 74 miles. Not bad… and it was about to get even better!

Got any questions about our first day of hitching, or want to share a story of your own? Comment below!

A few days ago, we were in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast. We had just taken a couple of buses there from Portland, and had a plan: we would hitchhike down the 101. 

But we were a little nervous. It was our first time, and we had no idea what would happen: would people laugh at us and we'd be stuck there for hours? What would we say if someone offered us a lift but we didn't want to go because they smelled bad? 

But we were determined to at least give it a go. So we bought two large sharpies from Safeway, found a big piece of cardboard, and carefully made our first sign. 

What would make us appealing to passing cars, we wondered. We decided to go for the Aussie angle (they love Australians here!) and wrote 'G'day', followed by our intended destination further down the coast (Newport) and then added 'We're nice' for good measure. We reasoned that a scary murderer hitchhiker probably wouldn't write that on their sign, which might reassure friendly drivers. 

So, what happened next? Stay tuned for Pt 2!

Hi friends and family.
Well, today is the 14th which means it has been exactly one month since we were waved off at the airport by our wonderful families and two special friends, Anni and Maddi. We are thankful for Skype and the internet in general which means we can communicate easily from the other side of the world. So far we've been to New York, New Jersey and Portland, Oregon (and surrounds). Check our our tabs for some New York and Oregon highlights!

I'm writing this from a small motel room in Lincoln City which is on the Oregon Coast. A couple of things went wrong today, but we're taking them in our stride. To elaborate, here are the problems we've encountered today and what we're doing about them:

• We had a ride organised for today in a camper down the 101 which fell through at the last minute. We took a bus to the 101 instead and will be trying to get another ride tomorrow.
  

• Our 2 week house sit in New York has been reduced to one, or possibly cancelled as the couple were going to the Philippines which has been hit by the typhoon. They're scrambling to book a holiday somewhere else for a week. So we're considering making our way across the US by land given that we have more time now to get back to NY.

•  Rain! We bought a lightweight tent this morning in case of being stranded somewhere, but are hoping not to have to use it in rainy, cold conditions as we don't have sleeping mats or bags! As it's drizzling and cold today, we've checked into the cheapest room we could find!
  

We're pretty excited to be on the 101 and heading South... as they say "Driving down the 101, California here we come..." 
That's going to be stuck in your head all day now, sorry! 

Anyway, hope you're having a lovely day. Have you come across any setbacks and had to take them in your stride? Do you have any questions about getting around the Oregon Coast? Leave us a comment below! 
Phoebe