Two days and counting.
Until I'll touch down in San Francisco, I mean (and a week until I'm going to meet mackenziesmomma \o/). I'll set off first to Heathrow and then on to SFO on Monday morning and touch down on late Monday afternoon at SFO. I don't want to think about the jetlag yet but it'll be total fun, just like it was last time (2009, Seattle and Vancouver)... oh, okay, the jetlag in the US was a lot less bad than the one I had when getting back (but then again, I'd been awake for 36 hours and had to spend a couple of them at fucking Charles de Gaulle which is, I'm sorry, probable the most terrible airport of the entire western world when I arrived back home...) but... err... let's really not think about any of that yet.
However, do any of you US citizens know what fun things us non-US citizen have to do when we want to visit your beautiful country? No? Check this out.
I'm especially fond of these three questions that we all have to answer (sometimes even twice, depending on whether the respective airlines are part of the programme or not... if they aren't, we have to do this in hard copy, too...):
A) Do you have a communicable disease; physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser or addict?
B) Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance; or have been arrested or convicted for two or more offenses for which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five years or more; or have been a controlled substance trafficker; or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?
C) Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?
Who, in their goddamn right mind, would ever answer any of those questions with yes? Seriously. Anyone? Also, on an even funnier note, that entire thing now costs $14. $14 so that the Department of Homeland Security (thank you, Stargate, for making me always start typing Homeworld Security) can grab all our data and hog it to do things I honestly don't want to think about. Yippy.
Oh, and before I forget it: don't worry about the big bang story. I'll take my mom's netbook with me and I think the hostel has free wi fi (otherwise, there will be thousands of coffee shops) so I'll be good. I'll also be available, so if any of my flisters are in the vicinity, just drop me a comment or a message :) And if there are any of the European flisters interested in anything US they'd like to have - small, non-electronic, non-perishable stuff - just do the same. I'll see what I can do :)
However, do any of you US citizens know what fun things us non-US citizen have to do when we want to visit your beautiful country? No? Check this out.
I'm especially fond of these three questions that we all have to answer (sometimes even twice, depending on whether the respective airlines are part of the programme or not... if they aren't, we have to do this in hard copy, too...):
A) Do you have a communicable disease; physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser or addict?
B) Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance; or have been arrested or convicted for two or more offenses for which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five years or more; or have been a controlled substance trafficker; or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?
C) Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?
Who, in their goddamn right mind, would ever answer any of those questions with yes? Seriously. Anyone? Also, on an even funnier note, that entire thing now costs $14. $14 so that the Department of Homeland Security (thank you, Stargate, for making me always start typing Homeworld Security) can grab all our data and hog it to do things I honestly don't want to think about. Yippy.
Oh, and before I forget it: don't worry about the big bang story. I'll take my mom's netbook with me and I think the hostel has free wi fi (otherwise, there will be thousands of coffee shops) so I'll be good. I'll also be available, so if any of my flisters are in the vicinity, just drop me a comment or a message :) And if there are any of the European flisters interested in anything US they'd like to have - small, non-electronic, non-perishable stuff - just do the same. I'll see what I can do :)