Thursday 16 April 2009

America day 1

4:30 in the morning is wrong just plain wrong, whatever your motivation may be for getting up at that ridiclous time in the morning.

This may not make sense as I'm very tired, excited and wired on bad American sugar products (which were delicious).

The taxi was early picking us up and we weren't totally ready. Did I mention it was 4:30 AM? The trip to the airport was enlivened by Llion describing a particular adult practice in graphic detail, with hand gestures, in front of the very straightlaced taxi driver. And then realising his faux-par.

Manchester airport was busy, noisy and full of that airport smell, the mixture of duty free perfume, boredom and fear.

The flights were nondescript. To be fair to the travel industry everything works really rather well and routinely now. I could moan about bratty kids, crying babies and food so bland it was indistuingishable from the container it came in but really, what would be the point?

If you've ever flown you've expereienced the same or similar and me bitching about it won't be enlightening or funny in any way.

What I can say is Logan airport in Boston is one of the nicest and quickest entries to the US that I've ever had. From touchdown to car rental place in less than 20 minutes. Heaven. After some of the nightmares I've had in Atlanta it was a blessed relief!

So from the airport theres a specfic car rental bus that will take you to your assigned vehicle (If you're a member of the elite prefferred gold standard car rental service.) If you're a pleb like what we is then they drop you off at the shack and you have to fend for yourself!

We got there to find we hadn't hired an actual car, its not even a mini-van, its what can only be described as a maxi-Van. Its like an entire continent on wheels, with shag pile carpet so thick there are lost pygmy tribes somewhere around the boot (trunk).

The glaring white paint job doesn't really help it blend in any better and gave birth to its nickname "Moby" as in Moby Dick rather than that very nice purveyor of crossover dance music.

We headed out on the massetucets turnkpike with the wind at our back the sun oin the air and nothing to stop us but an endless line of tollbooths streching ahead into the distance.

We stopped for a traditional american meal (McDonalds) at a place that housed a statue of what seemed to be a cross between Ronald McDonald and the T1000.

We didn't linger.

We made it to steve and karas for about 5-ish. They have this gorgeous three level townhouse in a leafy suburb equipped with all the geek stuf one could ever dream of and the comfyest of comfy beds. We already knew their cat Sasha but when Em took one look at their hypoalergenic dog Bridie I knew it was love!

After a stunning gnocchi and salad meal it was time for a few rounds of Soul calibur 4 before bed. Button mashing techniques were in full effect and we retired happy after a solid 24 hours on the go.

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