Cruisin'

3 JUNE 2009 - MILWAUKEE region.

As well as admiring the Miata yesterday, we were allowed to borrow it today! We were intending to go back around and have morning tea, but there was a slight emergency with a flooded apartment. So the morning tea was postponed, but we still got the car.

Driving around on the highway with the top down and music blaring was a lot of fun. The sun was warm but the wind was a bit chilly – it was still worth it. We drove to Pike Lake and (after putting the top back down) went on a nature walk around the lake. I saw chipmunks, squirrels, frogs, and strange insects including a lot of small grey/green/brown grasshoppers that jumped away from our feet as we walked along the path.

The breeze was cut by the trees so it was really nice to be walking around, and we also climbed Powder Hill.



The wooden viewing tower, which looked a bit like a fort, gave us a great view of the surrounding area. Far in the distance was a church with several spires – our next destination.



After some confusion over the iPhone GPS not correctly determining where the car was while it was stationary and not being able to tell the direction we were facing, we were on our way.

The church in the distance was the Basilica at Holy Hill. It's built on the point of highest elevation in the area and apparently people visit almost as a pilgrimage. As we were walking up the stairs to the basilica we heard some music. As we got closer, we saw that there was a lady (presumably a visitor) standing at the top of some stairs singing opera. The acoustics in the area were fantastic with the stone buildings and courtyard so I’m sure she just couldn’t resist.

We looked around at the stained-glass windows and stonework; I felt weird taking pictures in a church but did it anyway. Then we climbed up the scenic tower. The view certainly was amazing and at one point, climbing all the stairs, the windows in the room we were in had no glass, just open stone windows. That made it a little scary, climbing up stairs and you can see you are high out the window and you can feel the wind because there’s no glass. We made it all the way up to the top, past some other visitors who seemed to be having more trouble with the height.

After all that walking around the lake and climbing towers it was time for some food – but the Church café had already closed.

The next stop was Cedarburg, a historic town. We navigated there successfully despite me having the map yet again and went about finding some food. Who thought it could be so difficult finding a place to eat on a Wednesday afternoon? We eventually asked around and got directed to a pizza shop. The pepperoni pizza was good – but so bad. And I got a combo with a drink and garlic roll as well because I felt so hungry. Turns out we probably could have split one combo and still had enough!

We waddled around the town a bit, looked in a candy shop and one with things for making cookies; shaped cutters and whatnot. They had a lot of cookie cutters in dog shapes, but no Newfie. It was getting a bit chilly at that point so we decided it was time to head back and drop off the Miata - so sad.

I had a go at baking some vanilla biscuits to take to “morning tea”, whenever that ended up happening. It’s always a challenge finding equipment and ingredients in someone else’s kitchen but most things weren’t too difficult. I found that the butter didn’t really cream properly, which could have been down to the mixer I was using. It was quite a heavy-duty mixer which came with a bread hook and other similar attachments.

The attachment I used looked a bit like a large whisk, so rather different from the beaters on our hand-mixer at home. I think that must have had something to do with it, because the butter was quite warm so should have creamed easily. The other thing that wasn’t quite the same was the vanilla extract. It’s quite a bit stronger than the essence I use at home. I didn’t even think to check until after it was in the bowl and the smell of vanilla was diffusing through the room.

So the biscuits were certainly vanilla flavoured, but didn’t turn out as crispy as I would have liked. They still went down well and I almost lost one to the dog while they were cooling. I’m only used to keeping a vigilant eye out for my brother around food, and he’s usually quite well behaved!

So after food and food, it was of course time for more food at The Cheesecake Factory! I ordered an Asian-style salad, which was really tall with rice noodles. Unfortunately it was covered in a sweet sauce that wasn’t to my taste that evening. And I was so full from the unfortunate pizza meal. So I ate some of my friend’s salmon because he didn’t like it, and we took the leftovers away in boxes.

True to their name, they have a list of about 30 different kinds of cheesecake. I had so much trouble choosing that I had to flip a coin! I can’t exactly remember what I got, but it had chocolate and peanut butter and was so good. We ordered that to-go as well, even my dessert stomach was chocka-full.

Was that it? No! The evening was still young! We headed to a movie theatre to watch UP! in 3D. The theatre was very strongly art-deco themed, with disaffected teenagers in tuxedos. I found that extremely amusing because apart from the tuxs they were all emo. Emo penguins. I would have taken a picture but they might have swarmed and infected me with something. Like emo-cooties.

Now, something traditional in US movie theatres is butter popcorn. Not just the butter powder stuff that coats the standard NZ movie popcorn, but actual butter. I believe the popcorn starts out powdery, like ours, but then you pump melted butter all over it too. Mmmm cholesteriffic. We were all so darn full that there was no way we’d eat any, so I had to forego that experience.

We got good seats for the movie, there were no annoying kids, and the 3D glasses worked really well with my contacts. The movie was good and three-dimensional. I found that I noticed it more to begin with, and then my eyes and brain got used to the effect and it became normal. I still love 3D movies though! Good old Pixar, they had a short cartoon before the feature presentation which reminded me of movies from when I was very young. I enjoyed the movie a lot, it had good emotional appeal and had some very funny moments.

Finally, it was time to sleep and digest all the food I’d consumed. The end (for now).

Hanging around

2 JUNE 2009 - MILWAUKEE

Part of the reason that I'm getting such a good tour here is that one of my friends is currently between jobs. Obviously that's no good for him and he is still looking for jobs.

So this morning while he had an interview, I slept in and then sat around the house blogging. I know, it was a while ago now... I thank you for your patience and loyalty! (Also, I don't have any of the photos I took at this time with me, so I can't include any in my posts.)

I think the interview went ok, but I don't think he's had an offer yet. Anyway, after he got back we went into Milwaukee to see the Domes, which are domed conservatories with plants inside. We got slightly lost on the way due to my navigation, but got there in the end. There are three domes, only two of which were open at the time (and no, we didn't get a discount because of it).

The first dome we went into was the tropical dome with orchids and banana plants and all kinds of other things that thrive in hot, humid environments. Next was the arid dome, with cacti and other succulents. Big, small, hairy, weird-looking and spiky, all were represented.

The third dome was the floral show dome, which they change on a regular basis to have a different theme. It was being changed when we visited, but I poked my head in the doors anyway. It looked like it was going to be similar to a fancy garden with different flowers, so maybe not as interesting as the other domes.

After looking at plants for entirely too long, we went back into town via the Ghetto. It was a predominantly Hispanic area - I thought I saw one white lady there but she was apparently delivering the mail and didn't count. I didn't see anyone get shot or stabbed (thank goodness) but there were a lot of people loitering around on the footpath with nothing to do. Maybe they were pushing drugs or trying to score some, I didn't ask them to find out.

Once in the city we went to Usingers, which is a butchery. We really only went in because we parked in their "customers only" carpark. Had a look around inside and bought a couple of sausage things to eat, one plain and one spicy. The difference was rather noticeable and they were both tasty.

Then we headed across the street to The Spice House which is exactly what it sounds, literally. No hidden meanings. There are jars of all kinds of spices and herbs with little testers next to them. I tried a bunch of things I can't remember, but there was a spiced chai mix to put in a cup or tea which smelled really good. I also discovered the reason American "cinnamon" candy tastes so strange and burning.

Apparently "cinnamon" in America is actually "cassia", which has a bit of that funny taste at the end if you eat some. I haven't tried any "cinnamon-sugar" here (like for pancakes) but I guess that would taste odd and strong too.

We walked down the street and I decided I wanted to look in a german-style beer hall we went past (please note that the link goes to a website using flash animation). There were stein-looking beer mugs, stuffed goats and boars on the walls, and a nail-game down the back. I thought the nail-game was the most interesting part because I'd never seen it before.

There was a large lump of wood (tree-stump?) with a mallet chained to it and instructions on the wall. You have a group of people drinking, who each buy a large nail from the bar for a quarter. Then you stand in a circle around the stamp and each hit your nail once before passing the mallet on. The last person to hit the head of their nail flush with the surface of the stump has to buy a round. The stump was pretty full of nails already so it looks like it would be pretty challenging now.

The best part of the game instructions was the disclaimer at the end. I don't have it to quote exactly, but it was basically this:

If you drink and play this game, we take no responsibility for any injuries you may sustain. This includes hitting yourself in the thumb, and walking up behind your drunk girlfriend who is holding the mallet while talking and getting smashed in the mouth.

Keeping in line with looking at things, we went back to the Calatrava art museum again. By this time it was 4.30pm so they were only open for half an hour – not worth the $12 admission fee. Someone mentioned afterwards that sometimes museums will let you look around for free when it gets close to closing, but we didn’t think of that and the lady on the desk didn’t mention it.

We looked around the main part of the building, I tried to take some pictures without being too obvious and then we went outside. There were gardens outside with fountains, wooden benches with mallets attached to make “music” and also some metal sculptures with holes in the side and metal pins in them so it made a sound almost like rain when you dropped gravel in the side. Then it got cool again and time to move on.

In NZ I usually have a weekly dinner with my grandparents; it’s really lovely to see them and my Nana’s cooking is so good. In the evening, I got the chance to have dinner with my friend’s grandparents! Her grandmother’s cooking was really good, I’m pretty sure she did bratwursts because I was coming. Along with dinner I tried a Miller beer (which I didn't enjoy that much) and a Samuel Adams ale which was honey flavoured and rather pleasant. Under the bottle cap it also said something like rated #6 NZ beer in 2002?? I thought it was crazy so I kept it but now it has disappeared into my piles of junk.

Her grandfather is a bit of a hard case. Actually, I don’t think I’ve met any grandfather who isn’t. He has a “petrified Idaho potato” that he keeps on one of the dressers in the dining room, and it’s obviously a conversation piece. Apparently it was found on a farm in the area, but it’s kind of confusing how it got there because it was an Idaho potato. I secretly think that it’s just an oval rock, but don’t tell anyone...

I got a tour around the house which was extremely tidy and well-presented with the décor matching the furniture and each room having a theme. After that it was out to the garage to check out the convertible Miata (Mazda MX-5)!

“Children’s hour” was over and so we all went home. The huge Newfoundland “Kiwi” was due a walk so we took her out. We just walked around the neighbourhood, but the suburb had no footpaths and no street lights so it felt like I was walking down a country road. Fortunately we didn’t get run over, the drivers seemed to be quite considerate. I guess they’re used to it with the lack of footpaths being relatively common in suburban areas.

It was the end of my day and as per usual, time to sleep. Ahh, what fun.

SUPERmarket

1 JUNE 2009 - MILWAUKEE

I slept until 8am - a new achievement!

It was time for one of the boring household chores - doing laundry. It was made slightly more exciting by the metallic red washing machine and dryer (both front loading).

Then we headed out for one of the serious tourist destinations - the pet store. Warning: boring animal list coming up.

• Fish (too many to list!)


• Freshwater eel


• Turtles and tortoises


• Freshwater alligators (not for sale)


• Kittens


• Guinea pigs


• Hamsters


• Gerbils


• Rats


• Rabbits


• Chinchillas


• Birds (cockatiel, canary, budgie, finch, lovebird, also a small green parrot)


• Lizards


• Spiders


• Snakes


• Scorpions

That list gives you some idea of how long I spent looking around! It was almost as good as a zoo, but free.

Lunch was a Sicilian pizza at Californian Pizza Kitchen (CPK). It was good, thin crust with tasty sauce, cheese and different meats on it.

A short trip through a local mall found a games store (I didn't get anything because I wasn't sure of the comparative prices), Barnes and Noble which didn't have a copy of the book I was looking for, and a lady at a jewellery store who guessed I was from Ireland and gave advice on things to visit in Chicago.

Bike ride! I miss my morning bikes to work (in nice weather) so it was time to try to recapture the feeling. I didn't have to adjust too much on the bike but the seat just uses a clip anyway, so it was pretty easy. Getting the bike pump to work was a bit more challenging but eventually we prevailed and were ready to go. Riding was a little more difficult as the bike balanced much more differently than mine. It may have been because it was a hybrid and acted a more like a road bike than the fake-mountain-bike I usually ride.

Being on the right-hand side of the road was definitely an odd experience, particularly while feeling wobbly and having a truck go past! Eventually we made it to the local park and saw some geese, and looked off the edge of a cliff down to the lake.

More chores - time to go to the supermarket! We went to Costco which is definitely a SUPERmarket! It reminded me of Pak 'n Save but with commercial-sized packs of everything, and you need a membership card to get in. I also discovered there is another supermarket called Pick 'n Save which sounds to me like people are saying Pak 'n Save with an accent.

There are a lot more food samples in US stores than in NZ, I wonder why it hasn't caught on back home yet. If you're hungry and shopping it's bound to increase the number of impulse purchases you make. They had a lady giving out samples of Pepsi Natural (which has cane and beet sugars to sweeten it instead of corn syrup) and the lady was convinced that it was much, much healthier for you. While that may or may not be the case regarding the change in sweetener, it's still a soft drink with around the same number of kJ - flavoured, fizzy sugar-water.

This store also had a kitchen where they sold snacks and small meals. I got a churro which is a long, fried pastry covered in cinnamon and sugar. Mmm. Talk about kJs!

Finally home time for a lovely dinner (stir fried beef I think? I just remember it tasted good) and some Krod Mandoon on the DVR(digital video recorder).

Still Sunday

I haven't been doing a particularly good job of making it clear which days the events actually happened on. Today is Sunday 31 May 2009. I am still in Milwaukee.

The main highlights in this update are: food, beer, and also some insights into Wisconsin.

Mmmm, food.

I was passed from parents to friends, who promptly decided it was time to show me the high life. So it was off to the trashiest food chain they could think of; George Webbs. Think of it as "one step down from McDonalds".

We got there and my first impression was that apart from the two skinny old men sitting at the counter, everyone in there was fat. The one of the ladies working there seemed pretty white-trash (maybe 40?) and the other one was a black lady with pretty much only 1 tooth left. What a great first impression.

But the fun didn't stop there. One of the old men started complaining to the waitress about how long his food was taking.

"Why's my food taking so long?"
"There are other people who have ordered food too, sir."
"He got his order already." (Indicating other old man sitting at counter)
"He ordered a coffee, sir."
"I ordered my food first."
"He ordered a coffee, did you want me to brew him a new pot?"
"Why's it take so long to just cook me a burger?"
"The food is cooked in order, we don't do the short orders first."

It eventually ended up with the old man going off in a grump without any food, and moaning about being told that he could phone in first next time so his food could be ready when he arrived.

The entire time, my hosts were cracking up, telling me that this was even better than they expected and for me to enjoy the full Webbs experience.

I ordered a water and a bacon double cheeseburger with fries. The water came in a large glass with ice, and a straw (a theme to become recurring). The burger was fantastic!


The bun didn't even pretend to be real bread, practically melting away and leaving the crispy fried bacon, "meat patties" and "cheese". The lettuce was pretty crisp too, and made me feel better about the nutritional content of my meal. Green cancels cholesterol and calories, right?

At the end of the meal I was taking some photos of the place and the waitress asked me where I was from, and to wait for a minute. She looked around under the counters and produced a little polystyrene pot with the name and logo on it for me to have! I thought that was really nice of her and I can stuff it with socks or something to take home and clutter my room up more.

Mmm, beer.

After that fine meal it was time to find one of the "dumpiest" bars in the suburb. Unfortuantely it was sunday evening, so most of Milwaukee was closed. We eventually found one and shared a pitcher of Spotted Cow, a local beer they had on tap. It was pretty good but apparently not quite right. I felt ok the next day though, so there can't have been anything too wrong with it.

It was time for "curds" from A&W but they weren't open so I've been told to make sure I get some from there or Saz's. So back home and watched a DVD; 1900. I can't seem to describe what kind of movie, maybe a drama? But not a romance. It was pretty good and complimented the home-made pomegranate margarita nicely (recipe = 1:1 ratio of vodka to pomegranate syrup. Mmm.)

What a great way to finish up the evening!

Things I have noticed about Wisconsin
It isn't compulsory to wear a helmet while on a motorcycle. That really freaked me out the first time I saw it, but I haven't been quick enough to catch a photo of any of the men on Harleys with fringed leather jackets and their handlebar mustaches blowing in the wind.

The other thing is smoking. It isn't illegal to smoke inside yet. The bill has just been passed, but they are still in the waiting period before it's actually implemented and enforced. It makes me realise how much I take our smoke-free bars and restaurants for granted ("Smoking or non-smoking?") and also saves on having to wash all your clothes and jacket after going out for a drink.

Sleeping Beauty in Milwaukee

30 MAY 2009 - MILWAUKEE

I woke up and noticed that the room seemed rather bright already - it was noon!

Unpacking my luggage I found that my conditioner had leaked out, but only into my sponge bag so that was easy to clean up. I also realised that I left a t-shirt on the domestic flight so I found out how to contact the airline and sent them an email to check if they had it in their lost property. I had rolled the shirt up and was using it as a neck-pillow for sleeping. At least one time I thought "I'm probably going to leave this behind" so it was annoying that I didn't remember to put it back in my bag.

I bought the shirt online so I could easily find a picture to include in the email, but the shirt isn't in stock for me to buy a new one. I hope I hear back from the airline "within 10 business days" to tell me they found it.

Then (hours later in the day, after much complaining about being tired) there was a mission to pick up a car with a roof-rack so a canoe could be taken back to the house. The canoe was still at the old house (as opposed to the new house) so needed to be taken out of the way of the new people at the old house.


The mission was successful, and the canoe was subsequently hidden in the weeds so as to not breach any of the condo homeowner association rules.

Some viewing of town sights ensued - the lake front, the coffee shop in an old water pump building, the north point lighthouse, and the art museum designed by Santiago Calatrava.

The cafe was also interesting besides the machinery in the building because the coffee seemed to be pre-made and kept in a urn. If a coffee was ordered, it would be put into the take away cup, then given to the customer to go over to the condiment table and add their own milk/sweetener/spice sprinkles and put the lid on.

My hot chocolate was made normally and pretty good. We also had a cran/date bar and a huge, solid square of fudge brownie.

Dinner time came afterwards but not long enough afterwards for me to get more than a salad. We ate at Applebees and it was pretty good. As the interesting, new person I was answering a lot of questions and I think it actually took me at least an hour to eat my dinner. It had a lot of toasted slivered almonds which were really good, and also some chicken along with the lettuce and coleslaw.

Then it was home to bed and a weird night of four hours sleep, four hours awake and four more hours of sleep again.

All during the day I was in a bit of pain walking around. I couldn't figure out why to start with, but my calf muscles were really cramped, quite sore and made me feel like I was hobbling when I walked. I finally remembered that when I started work the day before, I arrived before anyone else but didn't have a key to get in. To kill a bit of time until someone arrived, I walked up the stairs to the top level of our building. I think there are 7 or 8 levels.

I'm pretty sure it was a combination of the unusual exercise and then being stuck sitting in cramped seats for hours at a time that added up to one unpleasant experience. Luckily it was really only painful for a day or two and the went away.

The Longest Day (part 1)

29 MAY 2009 - NZ

Who works half a day before spending an entire day on planes and in airports? That's me! The sucker for punishment.

I had lovely farewells from family and friends during the day, and my brother even turned up to the airport to see me off! He wasn't feeling well and spent some time making it clear to everyone (hope you are feeling better now).

I saw two groups of people I know at Palmy airport, Rebekah's parents and younger sister, and Karen from youth group! My brother actually noticed her first and I got a little chat to her as we sat near to each other on the plane. She's engaged to Reuben! She was also talking to an American girl who I met up with later.

I discovered that I still had my cellphone in my pocket when I got onto the plane - it will be well travelled by the time I get home. It's far too expensive to have it running while I'm over here (and I can't charge it).

I sat next to a quality manager for Fonterra, going back home. He only travels to Palmy/Paraparaumu once a month generally, but it's still enough to not be interested in the plane trip anymore. I asked a bunch of questions and found out more than I will ever need to know about cheese. Most of the time we were flying between two cloud layers so I couldn't see much of the country, apart from Mt Taranaki which was sticking up through the lower level. Ruapehu may have been as well, but I was one to wrong side of the plane.

Once in Auckland I walked to the international terminal and did some duty window-shopping. No drama, no purchases. The afore-mentioned American chick turned up at the gate while I was waiting to board the flight to San Francisco so we had a good chat about things to see and do there. (The Academy of Science Museum, a Tower called Quoits or something, China Town, Little Italy and the gay area for an interesting experience, I can't remember what she said it was called either.)

We lined up to board (2 queues) and then the computer of the line I was in froze just before I was cleared to board. So people in the other queue kindly let me push in, and I was finally on my way!

To be continued...

The Longest Day - part 2

29 MAY 2009 - NZ/US

I was a bit nervous when I boarded the plane for my flight from Auckland to San Francisco. Would I sleep on the plane? Would I be able to find my way around and find things to do and not miss my plane from San Francisco to Chicago?

I was in seat C, which is at the aisle on the left-hand section of seats (ABC_DEFG_HIJ). The flight was very full and I was sitting by a man who works for the US Immigration service. He had just deported someone from the US to Fiji and was flying back via Auckland. We talked quite a lot for the rest of boarding and then over takeoff as well because I thought his job was pretty interesting. Despite the flight being full, we had one of the only spare seats free between us! No one was sitting in seat B so we had space to put things on the chair and on the tray too.

Unfortunately there were a couple with a small child sitting in front of us (maybe 2 or 3 years old) who was quite active and noisy. I was talking to Immigration Guy and happened to be pointing at the seat with the kid and making a face when one of the flight attendants was standing near. He happened to turn up shortly afterward with some of the sound-reducing headsets for us! They worked rather well and I think I will try to acquire some on my next long flight too.

I had lamb casserole for dinner, but Immigration Guy didn't eat anything for dinner or breakfast. His excuse was that he ate two "Burger Kings", but considering the amount of time he spends travelling I wonder if that's a secret for minimising jetlag. I watched Scarfies and managed to sleep for a few hours. I watched a few episodes of Flight of the Conchords Season Two and then we were landing!

My bag came out really quickly so I picked that up, got through Customs and Immigration really quickly. I think I was finished all that and had re-checked my luggage within 20mins of landing. It was too long until my connecting flight for it to be listed on the boards yet, and I spied a convenient airport information desk. It was being manned by pleasant looking elderly men, who gave me a little map of the airport and told me where to get the Airtrain that goes between the terminals, and of the airport museum.

I spent some time riding the airtrain just looking at the planes and stuff, then I went to the museum - room which was semi-interesting. It was made in a spanish-style like the airport used to be, and had examples of different flight attendant outfits, planes, and luggage stickers. There was also a library with books in atmospherically stable cases which had an actual librarian to look after.

There were also a lovely couple at the desk - Ed and Arleen. They volunteer there, so I suspect that the people on the information desks do as well. I talked to them for a very long time about NZ, the USA, travelling and all sorts of things. They were wonderfully friendly and it helped me pass the time. They asked how long I had in town and offered to show me around if I'm ever back again! The reception I keep getting everywhere really does make it easy to want to come back again (and again).

I had some beef and broccoli with steamed rice for... I guess it was afternoon tea around 4pm, but really felt like a late dinner with how fatigued I was starting to feel. I went to check the departure boards and found that my flight was delayed from 5.30om to 7.05pm. It ended up being delayed until 7.20pm in the end, waiting for a connecting flight to come through from Las Vegas or somewhere.

Once again I was counting on the kindness of strangers (ok, you caught me, I constantly impose myself on people). While standing at the departure boards a lady (wearing pink) came up and exclaimed about the delayed flight. I somehow managed to get to borrow her cellphone to call my friend's mum who was going to meet me, to let them know about the delayed flight.

I talked with Pink Lady for a while, looked after her bags when she went to the bathroom and then also sat with her at the departure gate while waiting to board. In the bathroom, when I mentioned I'd look after her bags she said "I guess I can trust a Kiwi". Well, I hadn't even thought of doing a runner with her things (or just her wallet and cellphone) - I'm fantastically naive, no wonder my friends and family worry when I take off overseas!

So the flight finally arrived, and we boarded and took off. This plane was entirely full so there was no chance of an empty seat. (People on stand-by had been complaining and hanging around the gate before boarding. They kept asking the staff questions so the staff kept making announcements that the plane was very full with the hopes that people would stop bothering them. I don't think it helped much.

This flight there were only the central monitors and they played the movies Bride Snores, I mean Bride Wars. I napped for maybe two hours at the start of the flight and then was pretty awake. I read a little, was bored a lot and when the movie finished they played one episode of the US version of the Office which was pretty funny; the first episode I've seen.

I had a window seat and started talking to the guy sitting next to me towards the end of the flight; when we could see the lights of Chicago out the window. Those lights went as far as I could see, orange and white in grid-lines for suburbs with thicker lines between them showing the main roads. There were a bunch of tall high-rise buildings showing downtown, apparently one with a red blinking light was the Sears Tower. The things he recommended I do in Chicago was eat deep-dish pizza (already on my agenda) and also go up the Sears Tower and be amazed at the size of the city.

In Chicago airport I found and recognised my friend's dad easily, and then my bag came through quickly as well! It was so late, 2.35am in the morning, but that meant the airport was so quiet that my friend's mom was sitting in one of the loading zones right outside the terminal and wasn't told to move. The drive up to Milwaukee was quite a blur for me and then I had a shower and went to bed.

I'm in America! I'm finished travelling (for the meantime)! I can have a shower and sleep in a bed, lying down. That was the very welcome ending to the longest day I've had in months.

Official count-down and weigh-in

It is officially time for me to head to the airport, however I am taking a moment or two out for the sake of my dedicated audience *cough*.

Official weigh in:

• My change in weight = 0kg


• My carry-on luggage = 5kg


• My hold luggage = 15kg

That's quite a bit of weight to lug around, fortunately it isn't over the standard pack:body mass ratio. I feel confident I can manage.

I'm also feeling incredibly excited and nervous! Eeeeeee!

I have to go now, catch you all on the other side!

Steady progress

8 sleeps to go! It's coming up really fast now! I've got my pack, my credit card, my tickets, some foreign cash, some gifts (thanks Mum and Nana) and a whole heap of anticipation.

I also have someone (fairly reliable) to keep me company in San Francisco; my stop-over there is about 4 hours long. Hopefully I'll be awake enough to make conversation.

Credit card issues

It's one drama after another...why do I like travelling again?

Last time I went overseas I had a credit card (as you do). I figured I never really use a credit card apart from that, so I just got one that was convenient at the time and then cancelled it when I got back.

So now, going away again I need a new one. I wanted to shop around a bit this time, to make sure that it was a good deal so I could keep it once I got back. A credit card is a useful thing to have in this internet shopping age and I'm probably overdue to have one.

I found that the best deal was with TSB bank. I phoned up and true to their customer service claims, I spoke with a real person who was extremely helpful and even gave me her name if I wanted to call back and talk with her again.

However, it wasn't until I got to the bank that I found out that they don't like to extend credit until you've been a customer with them for six months. What?? I mean, obviously it's their right as a smaller bank yadda-yadda, but why didn't the otherwise-helpful staff member tell me that?? I was hacked off to the extent that I told the person in the branch so. He was very understanding.

So I was annoyed, and walked back across the Square to my usual bank, and got a credit card with them. It's not as good a deal, but I will manage.

The next day, after I'd calmed down a bit, I went back to TSB bank and opened an account so in six months time I can get the cheaper card.

I did it!

At least 80% of it must have been my own stupidity, but I've been having huge issues trying to book domestic US flights online.

There were problems with the credit card mostly.

But the stress is over! I'm sure the universe will come up with more things to make me stress, but at least this one is as finished as I can get it at the moment.

So they are booked. I have the confirmation email and everything.

What else have I achieved trip-wise over the past few weeks?

• I have successfully registered on the website to allow me to board a carrier flight to the US under the visa-waiver scheme. I look forward to filling in all the information again on the green form on the plane. I think it's just another chance for me to accidentally put in the wrong information so they can detain me.


• The pack I referred to earlier was slightly broken. I got it fixed and for a pretty reasonable price! There is a place locally that fixes packs which is better than the other suggestion I was given; to courier it to Christchurch and back for $15 each way.


• I picked up a little USD cash just for emergencies, but at a pretty decent exchange rate.


• I went to my doctor and stocked up on everything I could possibly need for the next few months and the trip.

Well, that's enough for now. I think I injured my back very slightly from jumping around too much in excitement when I actually got the flight confirmation email.

Crisis averted

All is right with the world again. People who know me no longer have to put up with the completely stressed version of me.

Sometimes I forget that my manager isn't my enemy! Sometimes they even act like a real person with feelings... It does me no credit that I forget it.

Anyway, I've been telling people all about how I get to be away for three weeks now, and I was even given permission for an extra day's leave so I can sleep once I get back home.

And my uncle is loaning me an awesome, huge pack to put my things in. I should be able to carry about one-third of my body weight in it. Hopefully it's actually going to only be one-quarter (or a "fourth" as they say) of my weight, otherwise I will get tired too quickly.

I have the idea to fill it up with stuff and carry it around a bit to try and get used to it, but I don't realistically expect to do it often enough for it to make any difference. Hopefully having to carry the extra weight will off-set the amount of junk food I will eat. Yes, I am planning on it.

Michael Finnegan (begin-again)

I'm going overseas again-again - I'm so excited! I enjoyed my last trip to the USA so much that I'm giving it another go.

Last time I went to the West Coast, this time I'm going to be spending time in the Mid-West (yeeha) and the East Coast.

The tickets I bought were on sale in January for a really good price, which was the main draw-card. Darn the sneaky airline. So I bought the tickets and had a bit of stress waiting for my annual leave approved, which it was. So that was all easy and sorted.

Then I realised that I had a bit more annual leave lying around, and I could extend the tickets out for longer. More time overseas is better, right?

I think this is the case once you get there, but at the moment it's being a bit of a nightmare! I talked to my Manager and got the extra leave approved with a little shuffling (I actually don't have enough leave by about 1.45 days, but that's ok) because I wanted to get that confirmed before I changed my tickets.

When I talked to my travel agent about changing the tickets, it turns out that the tickets which would allow me to get back within the current leave I have are all booked. That's the tickets for the same super-low price. I could get other tickets for the right time for about $600 more. Obviously I'm not too keen on that.

So the other option is to go back to my Manager, ask her for one exra day so I can fly in on Monday morning at 9.20am and then go to work on Tuesday. That doesn't sound too appealing, but it will be a four day week and then I can sleep for two days straight.

I'm in an acting-position at work at the moment, so I have two managers. The leave has to be approved by both of them. I feel quite bad asking them to change it again because I think I'm making a lot of work for them.

My fingers are firmly crossed to help this get approved and all sorted out again. Oh and I need to pay for my travel insurance to be extended as well. I mustn't forget that.