Well we can't believe a month has come and gone so quickly...... we made it home following enjoying a last couple of days in Santa Monica before the long flight home. Unfortunately we had no such luck as to be upgraded for that final and most crucial leg, so after enjoying the luxuries of business and premium economy seats you can well imagine our chargrin as we squeezed into our little seats like battery hens and suffered 14 hours (13 in the air plus 1 on the tarmac) of noise, cramps and restless interrupted sleep.....all we can say is thank God for noise cancelling headphones! We have just finished checking out how many frequent flyer points we need to geta premium economy flight to Asia.....we must be getting soft in our old age!
And so now we have finished unpacking, washing, balancing the bank books and bills etc and preparing to slot back into reality when we have to go to work tomorrow, it is time for a few short reflections of the month that was our trip in America.
As always - a review of lost and found:
Lost = Stacey won this category for the first time, Jeff was unusally fastidious in accounting for his belongings, as afar as we can see, lost items included, keys, a pad lock for the luggage and the money belt with travel documents, both of which diasappeared in the same hostel room moments asfter having them in our hand...that room was dubbed 'the Bemuda triangle' as our things seemed to randomly appear and disappear at will. The good news is as they all reappeared they can be counted in the 'found' category as well!
Other lost things - a pair of sunglasses, computer and ipod cables, and some jewellery (earings and necklace) bought as a present for Susan from the Navajo Indians, plus we returned with several partnerless socks. Just how does that happen? Socks seem to be particulary skilled at escaping!
Found = not sure if technically speaking purchases can be included as 'found' items......but given we have just visited the spiritual home of capitalism we felt it only appropriate to partake in consumerist activities. And some of our shopping did involve a bit of searching! We did find a piece of volcanic rock after taking a slight detour off the highway through paddocks (if the car rental company ask, we NEVER took the car off-road), finding our way out of some of the more dubious parts of San Fracisco with our lives intact was also a particular achievement! We found a shop in Vegas where you can hire a gun, and at the time we found that both amusing and strange- but after visiting San Fran we began to think that perhaps the idea had some merits. A bit of orienteering was involved in finding "Fruity Pebbles" (think fruit loops on drugs) to bring home for Mindy, especially as we were searching in hoity toity Santa Monica where all the grocery stores were 'organic Wholefood markets!'
Favourite Sayings:
We always like to pick up a few words or phrases of the local lingo, and America was no different - our number one favourite would have to be about 'rooting in the stands' at the baseball - it brought us many minutes of laughter! as did if we said 'thank you' we were often treated to a response of 'uhhh hu' - first truly experienced from the good folk of Tonapah. We quickly learnt to modify our own speech after we were greeted with a few blank expressions when we asked for 'the bill', or when Jeff mentioned something a bout a 'bloke' to a perplexed fellow in a clothes shop as they both waited for their respective spouses to try on more and more clothes and when Stacey requested 'wholemeal' bread. But we got into the spirit of things and found ourselves asking where the 'restrooms were' ordered 'cawfee', enjoyed a 'soda' and declined some 'cotton candy'.
Favourite TV Programs = Well America is the home of over 500 cable tv channels---- did you expect that we wouldn't watch any tv?? We limited ourselves to only quality programs - a documentary on Schappelle Corby, episodes of Jerry Springer and the spin off show hosted by his bodyguard Steve, Judge Joe Brown, and for most creative fiction our favourite show award goes to Fox News.
Oh well, it's not going to be as interesting as trying to understand the japanese and their crazy tv shows on our next trip!!
Hope you enjoyed the blog - apprently it is too boring and will be receiving a makeover so watch this space!
Cheers
Stacey and Jeff - happy to be home to the sleepy dog...7pm, must be bed time!
