HEV ON TOUR. DAY 17, 18, 19, 20 & 21.

OOPS.

I went 5 whole days without blogging! In my defence, I'm in New York and I have literally just got the chance.

I'm going to split this off into days rather than just diving in, give everyone a bit of structure for this about-to-be mammoth of a blog post.

DAY 17

I had about 2 hours sleep in a hotel at Montreal airport and caught my flight to NYC.

The flight was delayed, but it actually worked better for me because I was able to check in to my hotel shortly after arriving instead of having to wait!

England were playing in the World Cup semi-final at 7pm, but I had a ticket for Billy Joel's record breaking show at Madison Square Garden - with doors at 8. So I found a sports bar across the street to watch the first half, after having my first Chipotle of 2015.

If you remember back to Day 2, Chipotle is my top ranking of burrito places, so I was happy. I also had sweetcorn for the first time on a burrito, which was interesting. I don't think I'd go for that again, in a burrito bowl - yes, in a burrito wrap - no.

During the first half Japan took the lead, before FARA WILLIAMS equalised with a penalty. The score was tied at half-time, I paid my bar bill and heading into MSG to watch the show. (I bought a data package for my phone so I could check the score during the second half)

Billy took to the stage, after no support act, about half 8. He was boss. Like really, really good. I'll admit I went just because it was Billy Joel, at Madison Square Garden but I walked away a big fan. I knew almost all the songs anyway, he even covered my favourite Elton John song 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' which was amazing.

By time he sung 'Piano Man' I was an emotional wreck, I adore that song and hearing it live, there, with the massive crowd singing along. It hit right in the feels.

I should also mention the people I was sitting with, a guy further up the row bought everyone on our row a drink before the show started and the two sets of people sitting either side of me were chatting away to me. Which was nice, travelling solo is cool, but sometimes it's just nice to have a conversation and from this part of my trip I have learnt that Americans/ New Yorkers are a lot friendlier than Canadians.

The encore was about 4-5 songs long, I was beginning to think he was never leaving the stage and that was that.

DAY 18

Now, I had a long, long lie in on Thursday morning. I was shattered so caught up on the sleep I'd missed the previous night.

At lunch time, I'm unashamed to say I had a burrito at Chipotle and headed to... wait for it.... A HUNGER GAMES EXHIBITION. Yes, in Times Square they have a whole section of a museum stocked with costumes, props, set designs, and just everything Hunger Games. For a huge fan, like me, it was amazing. I spent a good 2 hours nosing around at everything they had, my favourite was the final section where they had 4 Katniss costumes in a row, with video clips of her playing and a Mockingjay pin in the centre - oh and the part where you could get a picture taken with Caeser Flickerman, as if he was interviewing you before you went into the games, oh and the hologram, and the part where you could make your own propo film. I just loved it all, ok!

Following this I went to the TKTS booth and bought a ticket for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I don't know if I've put the caps in the right place there or not, but I'm tired and I'm not googling it.

I had about 2 hours until the show started, so I grabbed some dinner at MY FAVOURITE FALAFEL PLACE IN THE WORLD and went back to my hotel to eat and get changed. I also skyped my mum and dad and Quinn.

The play was so good. I didn't know anything about it before going, other than it had just won the Tony for Best Play. The staging was fascinating, the script emotional and beautiful and Alex Sharp as the lead was simply outstanding - you couldn't take your eyes off him.

DAY 19

I had a train to catch at 7:15am... yes 7:15 AM and that train was 7 hours long. God it was long.

Day 19 was Friday 3rd July and I was off to upstate New York to watch WNY Flash play Seattle Reign. I will never again complain about getting the train to Widnes to watch Liverpool play.

Anyway, as you may recall from twitter/ facebook/ my blog last year, my NWSL team is Washington Spirit. But disappointingly my dates here this year did not coincide with one of their home games, next year I'm going to plan a trip around one of their home games because I had the best time there last year.

WNY Flash, did coincide with my dates. They also happen to be the team where my favourite player - Whitney Engen - now plays her club football, of course she wasn't there on the 3rd because she was still in Canada at the World Cup. But the Flash have Chantel Jones, Ashley Nick and Sam Mewis, while Seattle have Kim Little, Jess Fishlock and Keelin Winters so I was excited to watch the sides play.

Admittedly, it's hard at times to follow the NWSL from the UK. As such the team I've watched most are Spirit, 2nd probably being Reign and I did not know a whole lot about the Flash.

When I arrived in Rochester I got to the hotel and half skyped my bestie back home, hi Sian! I say half, because it connected for 5 minutes and then cut out. Which was sad because after almost 3 weeks away now I am really missing my mates back home!

I met up with Chrissy who I met via my LFCladiesfans blog and we went the game.

Expectations, blown out the water.

So I bought a shirt, they printed 'Engen 3' on it there and then for me which was pretty cool and I also bought a scarf.

The game started and at first Reign were on top, their passing in the final 3rd between an interchanging front 4 was great to watch.

However as the half went on, Flash got more and more into it. Sam Mewis was everywhere, Ashley Nick was clearing up in front of the back 4 - dealt with probably the toughest task of the game facing Kim Little while Jaelene Hinkle became my new favourite player, I love full-backs anyway and she was great bombing up and down the wing all game.

It was goalless at the break but Reign scored from a penalty shortly into the second half, Flash did equalise - Elizabeth Eddy with a brilliant run and cut back to Lynn Williams who smashed the ball home.

The game finished 1-1, but Flash really deserved to, and probably should have taken all 3 points.

After the game, the players all go down what is called 'Autograph Alley' so they all signed my programme, I took a lot of selfies and even managed to get pics with some Seattle players - Fishlock, Little and Steph Cox!

I joked afterwards that they're my new team, while I will definitely be looking out for their results and following them more closely. Spirit still remain my #1 US team, because you have to be loyal to your side.. yada, yada.

Also, Seattle Reign were in the same hotel. I got a funny look with my new shirt on.

DAY 20

This blog is so long, but hey, this is almost the final one! We're nearly there!

After getting to Rochester on a 7 hour train, of course we had to go back on a 7 hour train. This time the train had wifi, which made the journey go a little faster. Althought Netflix would not work, which was sad.

When we got back in NYC, it was just in time for the Women's World Cup 3rd place play off.. England v Germany. It was great, from the second half onwards. England's defence was throwing themselves in front of every ball.

Then, FARA WILLIAMS scored the winner in extra time. Which was pretty boss and I was made up and proud. Hopefully England's performance at the World Cup has actually inspired the nation, and we see an increase in attendances across the league.

Next! This day was of course 4th July, America's celebration of independence so we headed over to the East River and watched the fireworks. Also boss.

DAY 21

I was planning on going down to the World Trade Center & up to the observation deck there. But again, I slept in a little and didn't fancy going so far downtown when I wanted to watch the World Cup final.

Instead I headed across town and then up towards Central Park. I decided to go find Strawberry Fields and then go up a tall building, debating between Top of the Rock or the Empire State.

I stopped for lunch at an Irish bar, the girl there immediately spotted my accent and asked if I was from Liverpool! Which was weird, I've gotten "English?" a lot, but she's the first to get the specific place. I had a nice chicken and cheese burger there, watched the 99ers documentary on the last USWNT to win the World Cup and logged into the wifi. (the password was 'drinkmorebeer).

Sending a few messages, first to my dad who panics if I don't message back within seconds and then to Katie and Nic... now Katie here comes up with a great idea, which I never thought of. Go to the Nike store on 5th Avenue and see what USWNT stuff they have!

I was on 57th already so just head to walk a couple of streets across to find it and WOW. It was a-mazing! They have USWNT everywhere - none of the USMNT! The shirts line the wall, there's posters of Alex Morgan everywhere. I think I totally bought into the subliminal marketing as well because I bought an Alex Morgan away shirt. I'm going back tomorrow to buy the home, I couldn't decide which name while there - do I go with Whitney, again, as normal or Krieger, O'Hara, Heath?? I just can't decide so I'm sleeping on it.

From there I walked up to Central Park, bought a lolly ice and just had a nice walk up and across the park. I found Strawberry Fields, which had been closed the first time I visited NYC and then me and Louise completely missed it last summer while cycling round so I was happy to finally get to see the peace garden.

One of the problems with travelling alone, apart from the lack of conversation, is that there's no one to take a photo for you, of you. I was standing looking at the Imagine mosaic and about to walk away, when a girl next to me - also alone - asked me to take a picture of her, and said she'd take one for me! So that was really cool, I know I probably should have asked someone anyway, but it was cool that she offered!

It was almost 5pm now, kick off in the WC final was at 7 so I decided I didn't have the time to go up the Empire State and headed to Top of the Rock - detouring majorly to the Port Authority bus terminal to check where I get my bus to the airport tomorrow.

I like the view from the Top of the Rock, that sounds daft doesn't it. But the Empire State is cool because it's the Empire State but TOTR you can see the Empire State, and I don't know, I just prefer it! I spent ages walking around the top.

Final stop of the day came when I went to find a bar to watch the game in, I swear on my walking around earlier I stumbled upon hundreds of sports bars and now, when it came to almost time for the game I couldn't find one. There were a couple of bars/ restaurants I walked past, I even waited at the door of one waiting for the guy to come back to sit me down at a table but he didn't come back and their screens didn't look great so I moved on.

It was now 5 to and I was starting to worry thinking I'd miss kick off, when I walked past Ruby Tuesday's and they had a massive screen behind the bar showing the national anthems. I didn't want food so I was worried I wouldn't be able to go in, but I asked the guy at the door and he said I could sit at the bar to watch it so I had a prime spec!

Lucky I did catch the start because USA went full-on beast mode. Carli Lloyd playing the game of her life with the fastest WC hat trick in history - her third and USA's 4th was just a player absolutely high of confidence and probably one of my favourite goals ever.

Say what you like about USA, they certainly peaked at the right time. 5-2 the final score, USA are 3 times World Cup champions & what a tournament it had been!



 So tomorrow I fly home, I'm aiming to get the bus to JFK around 4, I have to be there for 6:30 and the guy at the bus terminal said it takes around an hour so I'm giving myself plenty of time but I worry so bad that I'm going to miss my flight so I'd rather get there early!

My friend Jack lands at 12:15, so hopefully we'll have a chance to meet up quickly. I want to introduce him to Chipotle because we go to Barburrito all the time in Liverpool.

 Over and out! The next blog I write will likely be when I'm home, I'll round everything up/ summarize it. I'm sad this trip is coming to an end, but I'm really excited to see my family, friends and Quinn! It's been an epic 3 weeks.

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 14, 15 & 16.

LOOK

WE'VE PEAKED

No excuses, no denying going on here.

Hev on tour has peaked.

In the last blog I wrote "I'm now convinced the footballing Gods are just out to finish me off."

I wrote that after, in the space of a week, Fara scored a winning goal from the penalty spot, Lucy Bronze scored 2 winning goals, Jodie Taylor was Jodie Taylor, Jill was Jill and the USWNT were in Montreal.

I now realise that comment was naive.

The footballing Gods are out to annihilate me.

So day 14, I went to the cinema, day 15, I climbed a hill.

Today. Today. Day 16.

I woke, I showered, I ate, I ironed, I packed.

I checked out my hotel at 12.

I had 4 hours to kill before meeting my friends (who follow @LFCladiesfans!)

So, I bought an iPod. I ate a Mexican. I went into HMV to purchase some earphones to match my new iPod.

I left HMV.

I'm walking along St Catherine.

I still have 2 1/2 hours to kill.

St Catherine is very busy. I decide to detour, I turn right then left to go along the street below St Catherine.

There are a lot, a lot of people wearing US Soccer apparel.

I get to crossing the road, the yellowly orange man is on so I wait. I wait.

& I look across the street.

& there's someone wearing a blue US Soccer shirt!

I'm like, another US Soccer fan. My brain does a double take.

It's Whitney.

Whitney is waiting to cross the street, the other side of the road.

Let's take a break. Whitney Engen is my favourite footballer, she played for Liverpool in 2013 (at the end of the season completely taking me by surprise and giving me a pair of signed boots), then moved to Tyreso (where I seen her play in a Champions League quarter-final against Birmingham), then to Houston Dash & now she's at WNY Flash. She's in a USWNT World Cup squad for the first time ever right now.

I had a panic. I was like, do I carry on walking, do I turn around, do I run. All these thoughts are going through my head.

& I thought, if she sees me and lets on, she sees me and lets on, if she doesn't, she doesn't.

She seen me.

Probably the most surreal thing of my life, stood chatting to her on the middle section of the crossing.

We talked about England, she said it was good to see me, and I got to wish her good luck in person.

I'm trying to process how in the whole of Montreal, my favourite footballer is crossing the street I'm crossing at that exact second in time.

I sat on a bench and flailed.

I met my friends .

USA won.

That's it.

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 11 & 12 & 13.

We started well with daily blogs, then we went to every other day and now have somehow landed on every 3 days.

  I'm using the royal 'we' there.

  & I actually don't know where to begin, I'm pretty sure the world is ending because I just watched England get to a World Cup semi-final and the USWNT are in town. Life's gotten really weird since I last blogged.

 Let's start with... Thursday? It's Saturday today, I think. I'm quite mixed up with my days.

 Thursday there was no football... zero, na-da. So I headed to the cinema, I watched a reaaally depressing film first of all called Me & Earl & the Dying Girl and it was basically a better, arguably more realistic, version of The Fault In Our Stars.

 The deal with both those books-turned-into-films is you know someone's dying at the end, so how you get there is important. I tried reading TFIOS and found it unbearable (and I really wanted to like it because the author supports Liverpool). I really didn't like the dialogue of the main guy - Gus? So when I bought M&E&TDG because it had a 'Heather's pick' sticker on the front, I got on the bus and read the back and groaned. But it's nothing like TFIOS, I much preferred it. It felt more 'real', for lack of a better phrase. The characters are more likable, there's no grand love story.... and then *SPOILER* the girl dies at the end. Although that shouldn't be a spoiler because it tells you in the title in black and white.

 I'm going off on a tangent, where was I..

 While in the queue to buy my cinema ticket, I noticed Pitch Perfect 2 was also on with a showing starting an hour after the Earl film was finishing - and it would be rude not to!

 In between films I found a supermarket, I'd come to the conclusion there was no such thing as a supermarket here and then I stumbled upon one and spent an unhealthy amount of time wandering around Canada's version of Sainsbury's. In even more exciting news just outside this supermarket was a Subway-esque sandwich place called Dagwood's, I had a grilled chicken sandwich (there was a sandwich called 'Le Bam' on the menu which I really wanted but I couldn't work up the courage to ask for a large Le Bam so grilled chicken it was) and it was well nicer than the subways that I've had over here.

 I've seen Pitch Perfect 2 3 times already, but I still loved seeing it again on the big screen and it turned out to be a good choice to watch that after watching the incredibly depressing Earl film.

 So Thursday was basically like a regular day back home in Liverpool.

 Friday was better, I went to watch Germany v France at the stadium and WOW. Just wow, I need to write my report on it but I just have no idea how to do it justice. Hands down the best game of football I have ever watched in person. I was expecting to be all for Germany during the game, but France were excellent and I don't think Germany quite knew how to handle them. France should have been 2-0 ahead at half time and even after Germany tied the score (SASIC), France continued to be the better team, with more opportunities to win the game. I was so gutted for them to go out on penalties.

 France also have my favourite player I've watched at this tournament so far in Wendie Renard, like she's literally a brick wall and her penalty in the shoot out and reaction afterwards.. that's a captain! After watching them in the quarters I'm actually disappointed I won't get to watch France again but................

 THE USA ARE HERE IN MONTREAL!

 After the first quarter final we headed to a bar to watch the second, USA v China and the winner comes here to Montreal to play Germany.

 Whitney still hasn't played - now the only outfield US player not to feature at all, but this just makes me hold out hope that she's going to make her World Cup debut here on Tuesday.

 I'm having trouble processing the fact I'm going to watch the US in a World Cup semi final, and then tonight England go and beat Canada 2-1 (Lucy Bronze Bronze Bronze) and I'm now convinced the footballing Gods are just out to finish me off.

 Today I pretty much just went for a walk - there was some protest going on a few streets down from my hotel - and then watched England. I also bought some lucky charms cereal and milk and have ate 3 bowls already.

 Tomorrow, tomorrow.. I think I'm going to explore the hill behind my hotel. That's if I can get any sleep at all, I'm on a footballing high.

 Answers on a postcard, are England going to win the World Cup?

 & where by Madison Square Garden can I watch the semi-final?

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 8 & 9 (&10)

DAD CLINK THIS LINK

OOPS. I forgot to blog yesterday, sorry sorry and all that.

It's been a busy few days, today I'm taking the time out to (finally) write my reports for LFCLF from the France and the England game, and might go see a film later.

Going back to Monday, and an early start to catch the bus to Ottawa for the England game! England kicked off at 5pm, the bus was at 9am and we arrived in Canada's capital around half 11.

I had to collect my ticket from the team hotel so we headed straight there and immediately bumped into Lianne Sanderson. I got my ticket, we dropped stuff off at the hotel and had some lunch.

We got to the ground around 2 hours before kick off, and met with some others for a pre-match drink before heading into the stadium - a PROPER stadium might I add. The one here in Montreal is odd, it's completely indoors, seating goes around only 3/4 of the ground, it's old and they've tried to cover it up by pinning huge banners over the crumbling parts. Ottawa's stadium was nice, 2 stands along either touchline - no stands behind the goal, as yet. Talking to an Ottawa native before the game the football team that plays there has only been in existence for ~18 months so I suppose they will end up building on it.

The afternoon sun was absolutely baking, my seat was amazing - very close to the touchline and right behind the England bench. I had a quick chat with a very proud Siobhan Chamberlain's mum before the woman to my right kindly offered me some suncream. I think she probably saved my life, or at least my arms and legs and nose from being frazzled to a crisp.

THE GAME. At half time, England drew some criticism for taking seemingly the same approach as the France game. While not the best football to watch, for me it was understandable with the heat. I thought we were being clever and standing off Norway, letting them play and tire themselves out in the unbearable heat. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't - I'm not a football manager! But when the teams emerged for the second half, and Norway went a goal up before England pulled one back through Steph Houghton and then Lucy Bronze scored the goal of the tournament to put us 2-1 ahead, the Norwegians looked absolutely knackered, they had nothing left to give.

Full-time whistle goes and England are into the quarter-finals! To face host nation Canada in Vancouver no less,  me I'll be watching in a bar in Montreal somewhere, unless I find a money tree between now and Saturday. I'll be watching France v Germany on Friday night and then hopefully, HOPEFULLY (like please pray for me) watching the winner of that tie take on the USA before flying to NYC a week today.

I'm gutted I won't get to see England again on this trip, but I've seen Fara Williams score the winning goal against Colombia, Lucy Bronze score an absolute belter and Jill Scott boss it after coming on as a sub against Norway. My favourite England players, so I'm happy with my lot there.

After the game we cheered the team back into their hotel, and Lucy, Jill, Karen Bardsley and Mark Sampson arrived a little later and came over to shake our hands. Which was cool. We then went to watch the second half of the USA - Colombia game, arriving just as Abby Wambach missed her penalty.

The following day, I explored Ottawa a little. Taking the long way around to walk to the museum of Canadian history, I didn't get to take in the whole museum. The part I did see was pretty interesting, call me naive but I learnt a lot about the first humans in Canada - the aboriginals and it was fascinating to learn about their way of life, which still continues in parts of Canada today! Mainly on the west coach but also over here on the east.

Before getting the bus back to Montreal, I went into a book shop and there was a whole section of books with 'Heather's Pick' stickers on. This amused me greatly and I ended up buying 3 more books. Bringing the total bought on this trip to 10, my luggage is going to be heaaaavy.

This morning the power went in my hotel, so I took a walk to get some food. The power is back now but keeps going on and off. There's a documentary on the Canadian national team on the tv, am I the only English person to like John Herdman?

I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow yet, but I'm hoping to go to some more museums!

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 6 & 7

Another double day because all I've pretty much done for the last 2 days is watch football, football and some more football. 5 games in 2 days, 1 in person. It's been great. A whole trip just watching football, I could do this every year.

I'm currently writing this blog from the laundry room in my hotel, I've put a wash on - England play tomorrow and my shirt needs washing so here I am. It's sweltering hot in here, but I'm scared to just leave them.

So, yesterday: I met up with everyone and we got the metro down to the Old Port, had a walk around, some lunch before heading to a sports bar for a few drinks, some food and to watch Germany become the first team into the Quarter-Finals as they beat Sweden 4-1. Sweden just haven't shown up this tournament, biggest disappointment.

There was roughly a 90 minute break between the games yesterday so we stayed in the same bar, ate some food and then watched China v Cameroon. It wasn't a great game, as I think back on it now the only thing that really stands out is the Cameroon player with the crazy blonde hair that flopped backwards and got progressively worse towards the end of the game. China won by 1 goal to nil, scoring from a corner which wasn't really a corner.

Then today, I overslept massively. I hadn't set an alarm due to the fact I've been waking up so early each day, so of course today would be the day my body decided it wanted some sleep. 10:41 I woke up, I showered, ate lunch in my room and headed out to meet back up with everyone. I missed the first 40 minutes of the Australia v Brazil game, Australia beat Brazil 1-0 - scoring in the second half so I didn't miss that. Lisa De Vanna (who I seen play in Washington last summer) almost scored the winner, but the keeper punched her shot into the path of substitute Kyah Simon to score the winning goal and send the Aussies into the quarters.

The second game today I went to! It was my first time watching France in person and it was great. It was hard not to fangirl, especially after they went 2-0 up within 10 minutes. They sealed the 3-0 win minutes into the second half with Le Sommer, who scored the winner against England, putting the ball on a plate for Delie to smash home her second of the game. France will now play Germany in the quarter-final here in Montreal later this week - I think it's on either the 26th or 27th and I cannot wait!!

Finally we headed back to the sports bar to watch the final game of today, hosts Canada taking on Switzerland. Josee Belanger scored the one and only goal as Canada booked their place in the next round, they could face England if England beat Norway tomorrow in Ottawa.

That's where I'm headed tomorrow! Ottawa, 9am coach, should be there for 11ish.. game at 4pm.. then the USA play Colombia at 7:30pm so I'll hopefully find somewhere to watch that.

Since I last blogged I have sat down and worked out that I could actually see the US play if they make it to the semi-finals, they would face either Germany or France and I'm pretty excited to get to see my favourite player Whitney Engen if that is the case, along with Ali Krieger, Kelley O'Hara.. Ashlyn Harris.. Hope Solo (who didn't play against England in February for reasons!!).. just everyone really!!

I hope my wash is nearly done, match report from today's France game will either be up in an hour or 2 or in the morning. Night!!!!

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 4 & 5.

Good morning, good evening to followers of 'HEV ON TOUR' & first of all apologies for the lack of day 4 last night. I was at Niagara Falls with the worst wireless internet connection known to man and just about managed to upload my match report on LFCLF before it gave up for the night.

Here's a double header then, day 4 & 5 rolled into one mammoth blog, over the last 2 days I'd estimate that I've spent about 16 hours if not 17/18 on a coach travelling from Montreal to Toronto to Niagara Falls and back to Montreal.

Yesterday morning I boarded the bus at 7am, after piggybacking onto Ley & Oonagh's trip and somehow ending up paying only $45.. mad!

The first stop on this bus tour was a boat cruise of the '1000 Islands', straight away this was revealed to be a lie as there are allegedly 1863 (or something like that - this is off the top of my head) islands, not 1000 and even then you should have seen some of the 'islands' - MOUNDS OF DIRT FLOATING ON WATER. I realise this makes it sound like I didn't enjoy it, I did, it was great, the houses on the real islands were amazing and I've decided when I'm proper rich one day I will buy a holiday home there.

Back on the bus, a quick stop for lunch and we were in Toronto! I really wish we'd had longer there to look around, there was a Blue Jays game on and I'd have liked to have gone in the shop at the stadium but there just wasn't enough time.

What we did do was go up the CN Tower - one of the 7 wonders of the world apparently! The views from the top were boss, you could see a runway with planes taking off and then got to walk on glass floor. The glass floor was 1,122 feet in the air, really strange feeling standing on it and being able to see right down the tower to the ground below.

Back on the bus again with a lightning fast tour round downtown Toronto and onto the next and final stop - Niagara Falls. We arrived there late, dumped our stuff in the room and I bought myself and Louise a Hard Rock Cafe t shirt each.

Niagara Falls the town is a weird place, nothing like I'd expected at all. I expected it to be kind of the West Kirby of Canada for some reason, the place where your nan goes for the charity shops kind of place but it was more Blackpool with the buildings on one road lit up, arcades and amusement centres lining either side and even a waxwork museum and a Guinness World Record museum.

The following day (today) we had to be up early to get on the bus again, first stop this morning was a tower with views overlooking the falls, then a cinema to watch a film on the history of it all - which I assume would have been very interesting had it not been in French and all the headphones for the translation not all be broke. That said on this trip so far I have learnt more French than I ever did at school.

The final stop was of course, the boat trip out to the waterfalls themselves, you stick a poncho on, board the boat. Now the first waterfall it comes to gives you a light dusting of water, at the time I was like wow, so this is why they hand the ponchos out. It's not, that simply lures you into a fall sense of security. The second waterfall you come to is like being in a power shower, but the water isn't just coming from above, it somehow comes at you from all angles completely smothering you and if, like me, you didn't tie your poncho correctly - you get absolutely drenched. Probably the most insane thing I've ever experienced. It's what I imagine it would feel like if you were to walk through a car wash.

For the rest of the day it was just bus, bus, bus, bus and more bus - a quick stop at Walmart, where I bought a book and finished it before we got back to Montreal. Not a small book either.

So that's that, day 4 & 5.. I'm back in my room in Montreal now. I had another subway, tried a different cheese and have come to the conclusion it is the BBQ sauce I'm not a fan of.

Tomorrow I don't have any plans as yet until 4ish when the Women's World Cup starts back up and I'll be finding a bar to find Germany v Sweden. While I'd love to see the Germans in Montreal (the winner of this tie plays here on... I want to say the 26th June) I really want Sweden to win because SEGER. That is all. Night.

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 3.

 Hello!

 Something strange has happened - I have become a full on England supporter. Now, don't get me wrong here, I've always 'supported' England in the sense that I like to see Liverpool players do well. I think it's a general 'scouse' feeling about the national team, as one banner unfurled on the Kop once read 'We're not English, we're Scouse'.

 But here, in Montreal earlier tonight, I genuinely had the BEST experience of my life supporting England as they beat Colombia 2-1 to progress to the World Cup Round of 16 in 2nd place in their group.

 Let's go back to the start of the day first, up early, fruit loops for breakfast before - you guessed it - Netflix in my room for a few hours. I met up with Nic, Mosh, Soph, Rachel & Bec for lunch and then we got the metro to the game.

 On our train there was a couple of Colombian supporters, upon getting off the train there was hundreds of them. I have no idea where they all came from but suffice to say we were greatly outnumbered.

 Face paint on & into the stadium, Montreal's Olympic Stadium has a roof - which creates a strange sort of atmosphere. Anthems sung, Colombia's support sounding fantastic on theirs.

  We take the lead around 15 minutes in, through Karen Carney then Fara Williams made it 2-0 from the penalty spot - I'm going to leave the football stuff for the match report that will be on the blog tomorrow at some point.

 The atmosphere was mad, the Colombians were loud but for the second half we sang and sang and sang, around 80 minutes our voices began to crack but we soldiered onto full-time! I can barely talk right now, my throat is that sore.

 We cheered the team bus out afterwards and went for food. Class day, class night, great company.

 Finding it hard to put it into words the feeling of how proud I was of the England performance. I thought we were great, Fara was excellent (official FIFA Player of the Match!!), Karen Bardsley was strong - a shame to concede in the last minute - Carney & Jade Moore were tireless, as was Fran Kirby, Toni Duggan, Alex Greenwod... Steph Houghton solid - I don't have a bad word to say about any player. They were boss.

 With finishing second in the group, England now face Norway in Ottawa on Monday so that's where I'll be headed! Before then I have an action-packed few days, tomorrow it's Toronto & the CN Tower, Friday Niagara Falls and then Sunday watching France v Korea here in Montreal before getting the train to Ottawa on Monday to cheer on the mighty Lionesses! Bring. It. On.

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 2.

Well today turned out to be a damp squib initially, it rained and rained and rained. I woke up at 4am which was odd, then couldn't go back to sleep so I did the honourable thing and watched Canadian Netflix for a few hours until it was a respectable time to get up.

I went to breakfast in the hotel just after they opened at 6:30am, unpacked all my stuff and then watched some more Canadian Netflix.

Then after a good few hours of watching films, I headed out into the town, with all directions for the places I'd sussed out on google maps written down in my notebook. I have this great fear of getting lost here and suddenly wish I'd worked harder on my French GCSE.

First stop was a supermarket, but Google was lying to me and there was no supermarket just a guy sitting on a bin waving a plastic cup around so I kept walking and went to my second shop - a sports shop. I was looking for a Canada football shirt, and quickly realised I should call it a soccer shirt here after the guy in the shop gave me a funny look. They'd sold out alas and sent me towards another shop, that I decided was too far away in the rain.

Two stops down and nothing to show for it, next up I went to the tourist information place like any good tourist, grabbed some free maps and asked them where I'd get a shirt from. They directed me back to the same shop the previous guy had so I'm thinking I could be onto a winner there.

Final stop of the afternoon came as I went to get some lunch at a burrito place, on a scale of Tortilla to Chipotle (Tortilla being bad, Chipotle being immense) it was Barburrito (a solid 5) minus 1. So better than Tortilla, not as good or reliable as Barburrito and certainly no Chipotle. It at least wasn't as bad as this small place I went in Sheffield a couple of years ago - sour cream and salsa OUTSIDE the tortilla. Wrong.

Right, I'm suddenly lost in a wave of burritos.. where was I.. oh yeah, back I went to my hotel, burrito in hand, to settle down and watch some more Canadian Netflix. I am having a ball over here. Louise, my mum, dad and Quinn skyped me, my mum was shouting loud enough for my entire floor to hear.

So that's today so far, it's 4pm here now and I'm headed to a sports bar to watch Switzerland v Cameroon.. I think that's the 5pm game anyway. I got my times mixed up yesterday and will miss the USA - Nigeria game due to see U2 tonight. Will finish this blog off later!

11:28pm I am back from U2! I have had a few beers so bear with me on this part.

When I left off I was leaving for the sports bar to watch Switzerland v Cameroon, neither of which occurred. The sports bar was closed and the bar we ended up in was showing Ecuador v Japan. I also had to wait about 10 minutes in the lobby for the torrential downpour to end - seriously Canada, I have not packed a brolly or waterproof please do not rain for 2 weeks.

Soo I met Ley & Oonagh my first real human contacts in almost 48 hours, we had tea in a bar and then headed to U2.

I've never seen U2 live before, they were decent. I knew about 6 songs on the setlist. Obvious highlights included Sunday Bloody Sunday, With or Without You, Pride & Where the Streets Have No Name but the rest of them blurred into one. Bono gave some speech about how Canada is ready to rule the world, spoke about people having power and disappeared into a big LED screen for a song and a half.

Tomorrow it's ENGLAND v Colombia, my first ever World Cup game, I'm excited! Good night!

HEV ON TOUR. DAY 1.

HELLO PEOPLE WHO READ BLOGS!

Over the next 21 days I'm using this blog as a means to document my trip to Canada & the US - what else are dormant blogs useful for, hey?

During my time away I'm aiming to write a blog a day/ every other day depending on how much I get sucked into watching Canadian Netflix in my hotel room, I'm seeing 4 (maybe more) World Cup games and one NWSL league game and match reports from all these will be published on @LFCladiesfans. This blog will be just my general witterings on my trip, letting my mum know all is well - she had a bit of a cry dropping me off at the airport earlier.

SO, what's happened today, or yesterday, or today. My laptop says it is 1:42am but I have a sneaky suspicion that is UK time and the time here in Montreal, Canada is half 8ish. I think I'm 5 hours behind, should probably check that.

What I do know for sure is that I have been up a ridiculous amount of time, I've spent ~6 hours in airports and 9 hours on planes and I've just eaten a subway sandwich that did not taste like back home. Trying to figure out exactly which ingredient it is that tastes different, it's either the cheese of the barbecue sauce. Will go back tomorrow for another taste test.

Let's start from the start, I was up at 5:30am for my 11:15am flight from Manchester to JFK beginning with a breakfast-for-one experience at Frankie & Benny's, that was strange without Louise with me (my sister - hi Louise!) then I kind of wandered up and down the gates because I couldn't sit still. Time eventually came to boarding and guess who got to sit next to the young couple with a baby! Yes, of course, yours truly - me! It screamed, it smelt a little half way but overall it wasn't as bad as I initially imagined when I first spotted them.

That first flight was long. Long, long. Being my third time flying to New York I thought it would be easy, I'd be used to it. I hit the 3-hour mark and I was bored out my brain. My choice of in-flight entertainment didn't help, I begun by watching The Maze Runner and 10 minutes in remembered why I hadn't bothered reading the sequels to the novel. I then watched Still Alice, which I'd already seen but not in good quality so I enjoyed that, next up was a film so good I've forgotten it already - and stopped it halfway through - leading to finally watching St Vincent. I cried at the end, cried, on a plane, by myself, living the dream.

Right next came the changeover! The scariest part, that turned out to be not so scary. I got off the plane, I put myself through customs -  new machines mean that you do your photo and fingerprints yourself, the fingerprints part took a while to master - then queued in the longest queue ever to queue for security to go back through to the gates at JFK. At the gate they said they'd oversold the flight and were asking for volunteers to go on the next one. I never understand that, it happens every time I'm in America. How do you oversell a flight? On my plane to Montreal I was sat next to a pilot! He snored for the duration of the flight. Landed at Montreal, had a bit of a joke with customs about the World Cup, he said he wishes England well for Wednesday.

So that all leads to... right now! I'm in my hotel room, swanky place if I do say so myself. Got a little kitchen, table and chairs... CANADIAN NETFLIX... and popcorn! There was a little welcome pack on arrival which included a bag of popcorn that I actually had to make myself and I am proud to announce I made it without burning down the hotel!

I also went to Subway because I could see it from my room window, but as already discussed I'm not sure I enjoyed it.

That's all for today folks! Tomorrow I'm meeting up with everyone, seeing U2 in concert and hopefully finding somewhere to watch Nigeria take on the USA (ps who do I support there, the current Liverpool player or the fave - answers on a postcard).

I'm off to marvel at all the films I won't get to watch on Canadian Netflix, goodnight... or good morning. Zzzzz.