Purchased.

Today I paid for my nice new Rockport snow boots, an absolute steal at only £70. And seen as they were from Peterlee, there is a moderately high probability that they are stolen! But anyway at £150 RRP I don't really care. They are very warm, very comfortable and perfect for trekking around Aspen in.

I also just purchased my ski jacket for the Winter season. I managed to find the Burton Arctic Jacket that I wanted on a website in the US, which saves me money as I am just getting them shipped to the address I will be staying at when I'm out there! Also saves space in my suitcase.

Ski Jackets, Again.

I have started a new search for the perfect ski jacket now. Although I do like my previous find. The Grenade Astro Jacket, my contacts in Aspen recommend a better quality jacket that will last the whole season. I've turned my attention to the Burton Snowboard Brand. My first love on this website was the Heritage Ranger Snowboard jacket. The colour combination and style attracted my eye, the £250 price tag however provided the contrasting view. As did the difficulty of finding "brick" coloured snow pants!

Next was the Burton Restricted 3L Sentry Jacket, A much less conventional Ski jacket but a very unique look that I can bet nobody else on the slope will have! What I like about the jacket is that it could be used for everyday things both in Aspen and when back home. The "Technical Faux" Leather is apparently very waterproof.

Finally, what is probably going to be the most likely candidate, the Burton Arctic Jacket, although very similar to the Heritage jacket, the price tag is a little closer to home, especially on last seasons jackets which are closer to the £100 mark than the £300. However after finding the perfect jacket on Ebay USA, they didn't have my size!! Leaving me to have to select the same jacket from this seasons line! which has switched the colour scheme from mainly red to mainly beige, annoying as beige pants are much easier to red than red.

Flights.

Well last night I officially started the process of buying everything I'm going to need for my winter season, starting with flights. After hours sat with STA travel, who are very helpful by the way, I decided to look directly through Virgin Atlantic's website where I found it was hugely cheaper! I decided on Virgin for their amazing policy on sporting equipment which they carry for free! Unlike American Airways which used an external company to transfer excess baggage at a huge cost!

However before I get excited to by skiing up in Aspen, I must remind myself of the hell i must go through in order to get there:
3.5 hour train journey from Durham to London Kings Cross
1 hour tube ride to Heathrow
8 hour flight to New York JFK Airport
4 hour wait in JFK
5 hour flight from New York to Denver International
3.5 hour drive from Denver to Basalt where I will be staying!

So in total a nice 25 hour trip. WOOO.

Confirmation.

Well today I received my passport back, and with it my lovely B1 Visa!! My proposal for the Royal Geographical Society has also been read over and apart from a few minor details to be changed, it looks like I may by buying flights, insurance and other critical things very soon!!!

American Visa Day.

Well today can only be described as THE most stressful day of my entire life! My day started at 7. This is because the blinds in my room don't quite fully close, and I need to be in pitch black to sleep!! Anyway I set off at 8.20, and headed straight into morning rush-hour on the tube! To even get onto the train I basically had to rugby tackle a women to move further into the carriage. The journey on to Leicester Square was like being in Hell, if Hell is a hot, sweaty and cramped place and in a suit believe me it was Hell. From Leicester Square it was onto South Kensington, This was because the US Embassy will not allow anything electronic into the building and I had a meeting about my gap year after my visa interview. So I underestimated the walk to the RGS. which didn't take 2 minutes, but more like 10, so I was stressing out as I made my way back to the tube to then get to Marble Arch, again I underestimated the distance from the tube and arrived at the embassy. Which with it being 9/11 was surrounded by men with guns, not the little ones you usually see, but big, huge machine gun rifle things!! So I was a little nervous.

Getting into the embassy is weird, You are made to stand outside the huge fence that surrounds the building until exactly your appointment time, which for me was 2 minutes away. Talk about cutting it close! Only one person is allowed to enter at a time, so going through security was fine, belt off, watch off, empty pockets. However you have to put your things back on once into the embassy, which is about a 100m walk, which sounds easy but with belt, watch, wallet and documents all in one hand while the other keeps your trousers up is not dignified!

Once in you have to sit and stare at these big screens waiting for your number to be called. The whole visa process was not what I thought at all! No interrogation rooms, just windows like I was in the post office. First up was a preliminary thing, showing the correct paper work and giving them fingerprints and your passport, no questions, then back to the waiting. Called again, I thought this was the interrogation part, but no, yet another window, fingerprints again and with a few more questions. However after stressing about confirmation letters from my placements, university and others, no proof of what I was saying was needed at all. I could have been making it all up!
Then the inevitable, them wanting more money from me. £14 to get my bloody passport back!! Bringing the total I paid them up £150! But on the plus side, I'm one step closer to America!

Royal Geographical Society Celebration Day.

This weekend was pretty crucial for my whole gap year plans. Yesterday was the Celebration Day at the RGS, which entailed the previous years scholars giving presentations about their Gap experience. I couldn't believe the complete contrast between them!! The more adventurous ones had some amazing stories, one guy travelled the whole of South America by himself, learning Spanish as he went along?! Another girl went off into the Bolivia forest for 2 months to research insects and monkeys! However the undisputed highlights of the day was meeting Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and by meeting what I mean is that he smiled and said Hi as I stood frozen Hah! Oh and also the food at the RGS is top-notch accompanied by the ever amazing open Bar!

Skiing Goggles.

Well recently I have been searching for some Goggles that are good enough to last the whole Ski season in Aspen Snowmass. So I thought I would share some of the best Goggles I have found so far. At the moment I'm using some that I got for like £5 from Lidl that have done amazingly well and look the part. I really am a fan of the black and orange, and also the mirror lens, but I can't see the orange going with the bright blue coat I'm going to purchase soon.