Travelling part 2
Well, I have come to the conclusion that I am truly horrible at keeping
my LJ up to date. At one point I was faintly hoping to make
semi-regular posts during my trip, but that didn't happen. At this
stage, my trip is very nearly over. I am sitting here right now in
Taipei Airport waiting for my flight to Australia, and after that it is
just a short hop across the ditch, home.
I have had a wonderful trip, but to bring everyone up to date I'll start where I left off from the previous post:
TheVixen and I spent a lot of time together at home during the weekdays, although we did go out to dinner a lot with other people in the evenings. The sushi restaurant was fun, especially watching thevixen and Cadetdru blow their minds, overdosing on wasabi. Mmm... wasabi. The sushi was very good.
The second weekend I was there, thevixen, rozberk and I met with roofae at the Mongolian BBQ to celebrate the roo's birthday on Friday night. We all had fun, and I think Roofus was especially glad that there was no BBQ roo on the menu (although I'm not sure if he liked the card I made). On Saturday, thevixen, valorion (her flatmate) and I went back to the Ren Faire. I got to see a lot more the second time, although I wasn't able to find any kilts in my clan tartan (clan Macpherson if anyone was curious). That night I was feeling a little off colour, so I let the vixen head off to the OSPRI meeting alone. In hindsight I wish I could have made it, as I heard that the people I had met the previous week asked about me. Sunday was very lazy, laying in bed and watching anime for most of the day.
The next week, Roofus took me for a ride out to Lawrence, KS. That was a nice diversion. After lunch at a lovely little Vietnamese place, we did a little went for a little drive around the KU campus and then out to a little lake (Lake Clinton, IIRC). On the way back I was treated to an interesting lightning storm. I'm always impressed by the lightning storms in the US. As I tried to tell The Vixen, lightning simply isn't as spectacular back in NZ. Anyway, back in Lawrence we played leapfrog from store to store, to avoid the rain. We both got soaked, but at least I managed to buy a few things (namely some more crystals for my collection).
I made a new friend while I was in KC. Stick. She is a little black and white cat that found us outside The Vixen's apartment one day. She was extremely skinny and had been neglected for some time, but she wasn't feral. Far from it. She was very affectionate, rubbing around our legs and nuzzling us. We set up a box for her and gave her a huge bowl of food. We kept feeding her every night after that, and she was visibly bigger by the time I left. I wish I could have done more for her.
My last week in KC was reasonably quiet. The vixen and I spent a lot of time together, although we did venture out together a few times (like the night we went to see "Corpse Bride" with Roofus). I think the vixen enjoyed having me there. We had a lot of fun together, and I am so glad I had the chance to return to KC to see her. It had been over 4 years since we first met in person. Even back then I think we both realised there was something between us. I can only hope that I can convince her to make it down to NZ some day. Somehow I don't think that will be terribly hard. I do know that by the time I had to leave KC, there were tears from both of us. During my plane trips back to Sacramento, I felt an emptiness inside.
Arriving in Sacramento to see my sister was actually a bit of a relief. It was a good to see her again and to have a chat about things as we drove to her house. It was a good distraction from the way I was feeling at the time. That night I didn't sleep too well, although I did cuddle a plushie the vixen had given me.
The following day, bright and early, I was met by notbandia. After chatting with her for 9 months online, it was great to finally meet her in person. We went to Apple Hill together and spent the day hopping from orchard to orchard, sampling apple cider (yes I am a cider addict), checking out the local arts and crafts and tasting apple pies. At one place I brought a pie for my sister and the saleswoman liked my accent so much she gave me a free pot of apple cider sauce (both the pie and the sauce were extremely tasty). Another place sold apple pie by the slice: their definition of slice was a quarter of the pie. I manage to get a little bottle of port at a winery there. I'm not a port drinker, but this stuff was pretty tasty. There was a distinct lack of squirrels though, but that didn't stop us from having a good time. notbandia returned me home later that evening, with pie, port and a DVD box set to deliver to her son (who happens to be in NZ).
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful, and consisted mostly of hanging out with my sister, my brother-in-law and my nephews. Two of my nephews, Andrew and Hamish, were both in school so I didn't see them much during the day. However, I did get to have fun with my other nephew, Logan. He is two (nearly three), so he was sometimes a bit of a handful.
One night, there was a huge thunderstorm over my sister's house. The lightning was truly impressive and I managed to get some really good shots on video tape. The storms didn't stop the following day from being sunny and hot. But I guess that is typical for California.
notbandia picked me up on the following night and we went out to dinner. The dinner was very tasty, although I suspect notbandia found hers a little spicy (well, she did ask for the spice). After dinner we wandered around Folsom Outlet Mall, and I finally managed to find a squirrel. It was actually a pair of squirrels on an ornamental rain gauge. Yay, squirrels!
Shortly after I got back, I began feeling a little off colour. It started with a headache and then my whole body started to ache. I went to bed early, but the next day I was feeling pretty horrible. I had all the classic flu symptoms. That worried me a bit. I have had true influenza once before and that knocked me down for three weeks (I can understand how people died from it). I was due to catch a train to San Jose the following day. I managed to get plenty of rest, and I was feeling a bit better that evening, so I went to see "Serenity". I had been planning on seeing it for a long time, so I was pretty determined to catch it. That may not have been the best idea. I really enjoyed the movie, but that night I was really bad. The fever hit. I think I may have had one or two hours of sleep that night. The following morning I called Amtrak and cancelled my tickets. There was no way I could travel like that, so I spent the rest of the day in bed.
skylerbunny arranged to fly over and pick me up the next day. I think my nephews really enjoyed the adventure to the airfield (Cameron Park) to see me go flying. The flight to San Jose was a little different than my earlier flight with Findra. We flew a slightly more indirect route, but I really enjoyed the flight. I hope I get the chance to learn to fly soon.
When we arrived at Findra's place, Findra, Spaceroo and Portia_lee were waiting for me. We all went out for Italian, followed by a return to Findra's place to watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Sunday was a pretty lazy day, although we managed to find a nice store in Japantown in San Jose that had a nice selection of Anime, Manga and other bits and pieces. I spent far too much, but that is normal for me and anime. Findra and I then went to see Skylerbunny and Spaceroo, where we subjected them to Hand Maid May. Following that, we went in search of Suhsi. It is a pity we didn't go to the $400 suhsi bar. I'd imagine the sushi would have been fantastic, but my credit card may not have liked it so much.
On the Monday, Findra took the day off and drove me down to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was actually pretty chilly down there which I wasn't really expecting. I had a wonderful time, first wandering around the aquarium and then going out to the coast so I could dip my toes in the Pacific. After returning to Findra's that night I finished packing everything, ready to return home.
Skyler and Spaceroo arrived early on Tuesday morning to pick me up. The plan was to spend the morning at work with them and then head to the airport for my flight at 4pm. Everything went well in the morning, I signed in to the building and settled down in a cubicle. It felt a little odd, and at least one time I heard someone ask 'who is the new guy'. I had a bit of a chuckle at that. When lunchtime rolled around, Skyler and Spaceroo took me to Joe's Cable Car Restaurant (the original - accept no imitations). The burgers were expensive but very good. At one point, Joe himself came over and had a chat to us. After that, they took me to CompUSA before dropping me out at the airport.
The last leg of my trip wouldn't be complete without a bit of drama. I arrived at the airport three hours before my flight, so I had plenty of time to check in. When I went to the counter, noone was there. I thought I might just be too early, so I found a quite spot to sit and read a book. After an hour I went back: still noone. I waited another half hour and still noone. At this point I began to panic, I rummaged through all my documents to make sure I was there at the right time on the right day. There was nothing wrong when I had confirmed my flight a couple of days beforehand. I went to the Airport Information Desk, and they had no clue. I felt a deep knot building inside.
Eventually I managed to call the local office of the airline directly. They were surprised that my travel agent hadn't been in contact, as they had to cancel the flight at the last minute (I found out later it was because of another typhoon, and the plane didn't leave Taiwan). The next flight was going to be at 1am. It was nearly 3pm by that point. After some calling about I managed to get in touch with Skyler and they picked me up from the airport when they finished work. We did a huge search for the mystery yum char restaurant, and after doing a rather bizarre loop we found it, only to find out that they only did yum char for lunch. We ate there anyway, and then headed off to the cinema to go and see Serenity. I think Skyler really enjoyed it, even though he has never seen Firefly. I certainly enjoyed seeing it again. After all of that, they dropped me back at the airport.
This time there were people at the check in counter. Part of me was really annoyed, but the other part just wanted to get it over with. I found out that there was no immediate connecting flight for me in Taipei, and that I would have a 16 hour layover in Taipei airport. I wasn't happy, but I said nothing and took my boarding pass. The flight to Taipei was uneventful. The food was good, and I managed to sleep most of the way.
I arrived in Taipei very early in the morning (5am), and was directed to the Transit counter to get the boarding pass for my next flight. While waiting, I noticed other people curled in chairs, sleeping. It looked as if they had been there a long time. I thought that I was going to be like that too for the next 16 hours.
When the Transit desk finally opened, I was given a boarding pass, some vouchers, a customs and immigration form and told that there was a bus waiting for me outside. I headed out, along with a woman who was in the same situation. We were the only two to pass through immigration (which caught the immigration officer off-guard), and then we found the bus (after a couple of taxi drivers offered to take us for $1000TW - about $40NZ). We arrived at the hotel and checked in. We given vouchers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I skipped breakfast. When I got to my room I had a nice long shower and slept for around 5 hours. I had another shower, changed (I'm so glad I had some clothes in my carryon) and went down for lunch.
After lunch I went out and wandered the streets of Taipei. I didn't go too far from the hotel, but I had a lovely time. I hadn't planned to stay in Taipei, but the flight cancellation meant that I got to visit without paying for it. Despite my initial feeling of anger at my situation, it turned out for the best in the end. I'm not exactly happy how it happened, but I am glad it happened. The rest of the day was lovely. I had dinner and another shower (Taipei was quite hot an humid) before heading back to the airport.
EDIT:
I haven't had chance to post this before now (there was a lack of internet access in Taipei airport), so I am posting it now and post dating it. I have added a couple of bits and pieces since originally writing it. The rest of my trip back home was uneventful. I do wish I could have stayed longer. It would have been nice to visit more people. I just hope that the people I didn't manage to visit will understand.
I have had a wonderful trip, but to bring everyone up to date I'll start where I left off from the previous post:
TheVixen and I spent a lot of time together at home during the weekdays, although we did go out to dinner a lot with other people in the evenings. The sushi restaurant was fun, especially watching thevixen and Cadetdru blow their minds, overdosing on wasabi. Mmm... wasabi. The sushi was very good.
The second weekend I was there, thevixen, rozberk and I met with roofae at the Mongolian BBQ to celebrate the roo's birthday on Friday night. We all had fun, and I think Roofus was especially glad that there was no BBQ roo on the menu (although I'm not sure if he liked the card I made). On Saturday, thevixen, valorion (her flatmate) and I went back to the Ren Faire. I got to see a lot more the second time, although I wasn't able to find any kilts in my clan tartan (clan Macpherson if anyone was curious). That night I was feeling a little off colour, so I let the vixen head off to the OSPRI meeting alone. In hindsight I wish I could have made it, as I heard that the people I had met the previous week asked about me. Sunday was very lazy, laying in bed and watching anime for most of the day.
The next week, Roofus took me for a ride out to Lawrence, KS. That was a nice diversion. After lunch at a lovely little Vietnamese place, we did a little went for a little drive around the KU campus and then out to a little lake (Lake Clinton, IIRC). On the way back I was treated to an interesting lightning storm. I'm always impressed by the lightning storms in the US. As I tried to tell The Vixen, lightning simply isn't as spectacular back in NZ. Anyway, back in Lawrence we played leapfrog from store to store, to avoid the rain. We both got soaked, but at least I managed to buy a few things (namely some more crystals for my collection).
I made a new friend while I was in KC. Stick. She is a little black and white cat that found us outside The Vixen's apartment one day. She was extremely skinny and had been neglected for some time, but she wasn't feral. Far from it. She was very affectionate, rubbing around our legs and nuzzling us. We set up a box for her and gave her a huge bowl of food. We kept feeding her every night after that, and she was visibly bigger by the time I left. I wish I could have done more for her.
My last week in KC was reasonably quiet. The vixen and I spent a lot of time together, although we did venture out together a few times (like the night we went to see "Corpse Bride" with Roofus). I think the vixen enjoyed having me there. We had a lot of fun together, and I am so glad I had the chance to return to KC to see her. It had been over 4 years since we first met in person. Even back then I think we both realised there was something between us. I can only hope that I can convince her to make it down to NZ some day. Somehow I don't think that will be terribly hard. I do know that by the time I had to leave KC, there were tears from both of us. During my plane trips back to Sacramento, I felt an emptiness inside.
Arriving in Sacramento to see my sister was actually a bit of a relief. It was a good to see her again and to have a chat about things as we drove to her house. It was a good distraction from the way I was feeling at the time. That night I didn't sleep too well, although I did cuddle a plushie the vixen had given me.
The following day, bright and early, I was met by notbandia. After chatting with her for 9 months online, it was great to finally meet her in person. We went to Apple Hill together and spent the day hopping from orchard to orchard, sampling apple cider (yes I am a cider addict), checking out the local arts and crafts and tasting apple pies. At one place I brought a pie for my sister and the saleswoman liked my accent so much she gave me a free pot of apple cider sauce (both the pie and the sauce were extremely tasty). Another place sold apple pie by the slice: their definition of slice was a quarter of the pie. I manage to get a little bottle of port at a winery there. I'm not a port drinker, but this stuff was pretty tasty. There was a distinct lack of squirrels though, but that didn't stop us from having a good time. notbandia returned me home later that evening, with pie, port and a DVD box set to deliver to her son (who happens to be in NZ).
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful, and consisted mostly of hanging out with my sister, my brother-in-law and my nephews. Two of my nephews, Andrew and Hamish, were both in school so I didn't see them much during the day. However, I did get to have fun with my other nephew, Logan. He is two (nearly three), so he was sometimes a bit of a handful.
One night, there was a huge thunderstorm over my sister's house. The lightning was truly impressive and I managed to get some really good shots on video tape. The storms didn't stop the following day from being sunny and hot. But I guess that is typical for California.
notbandia picked me up on the following night and we went out to dinner. The dinner was very tasty, although I suspect notbandia found hers a little spicy (well, she did ask for the spice). After dinner we wandered around Folsom Outlet Mall, and I finally managed to find a squirrel. It was actually a pair of squirrels on an ornamental rain gauge. Yay, squirrels!
Shortly after I got back, I began feeling a little off colour. It started with a headache and then my whole body started to ache. I went to bed early, but the next day I was feeling pretty horrible. I had all the classic flu symptoms. That worried me a bit. I have had true influenza once before and that knocked me down for three weeks (I can understand how people died from it). I was due to catch a train to San Jose the following day. I managed to get plenty of rest, and I was feeling a bit better that evening, so I went to see "Serenity". I had been planning on seeing it for a long time, so I was pretty determined to catch it. That may not have been the best idea. I really enjoyed the movie, but that night I was really bad. The fever hit. I think I may have had one or two hours of sleep that night. The following morning I called Amtrak and cancelled my tickets. There was no way I could travel like that, so I spent the rest of the day in bed.
skylerbunny arranged to fly over and pick me up the next day. I think my nephews really enjoyed the adventure to the airfield (Cameron Park) to see me go flying. The flight to San Jose was a little different than my earlier flight with Findra. We flew a slightly more indirect route, but I really enjoyed the flight. I hope I get the chance to learn to fly soon.
When we arrived at Findra's place, Findra, Spaceroo and Portia_lee were waiting for me. We all went out for Italian, followed by a return to Findra's place to watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Sunday was a pretty lazy day, although we managed to find a nice store in Japantown in San Jose that had a nice selection of Anime, Manga and other bits and pieces. I spent far too much, but that is normal for me and anime. Findra and I then went to see Skylerbunny and Spaceroo, where we subjected them to Hand Maid May. Following that, we went in search of Suhsi. It is a pity we didn't go to the $400 suhsi bar. I'd imagine the sushi would have been fantastic, but my credit card may not have liked it so much.
On the Monday, Findra took the day off and drove me down to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was actually pretty chilly down there which I wasn't really expecting. I had a wonderful time, first wandering around the aquarium and then going out to the coast so I could dip my toes in the Pacific. After returning to Findra's that night I finished packing everything, ready to return home.
Skyler and Spaceroo arrived early on Tuesday morning to pick me up. The plan was to spend the morning at work with them and then head to the airport for my flight at 4pm. Everything went well in the morning, I signed in to the building and settled down in a cubicle. It felt a little odd, and at least one time I heard someone ask 'who is the new guy'. I had a bit of a chuckle at that. When lunchtime rolled around, Skyler and Spaceroo took me to Joe's Cable Car Restaurant (the original - accept no imitations). The burgers were expensive but very good. At one point, Joe himself came over and had a chat to us. After that, they took me to CompUSA before dropping me out at the airport.
The last leg of my trip wouldn't be complete without a bit of drama. I arrived at the airport three hours before my flight, so I had plenty of time to check in. When I went to the counter, noone was there. I thought I might just be too early, so I found a quite spot to sit and read a book. After an hour I went back: still noone. I waited another half hour and still noone. At this point I began to panic, I rummaged through all my documents to make sure I was there at the right time on the right day. There was nothing wrong when I had confirmed my flight a couple of days beforehand. I went to the Airport Information Desk, and they had no clue. I felt a deep knot building inside.
Eventually I managed to call the local office of the airline directly. They were surprised that my travel agent hadn't been in contact, as they had to cancel the flight at the last minute (I found out later it was because of another typhoon, and the plane didn't leave Taiwan). The next flight was going to be at 1am. It was nearly 3pm by that point. After some calling about I managed to get in touch with Skyler and they picked me up from the airport when they finished work. We did a huge search for the mystery yum char restaurant, and after doing a rather bizarre loop we found it, only to find out that they only did yum char for lunch. We ate there anyway, and then headed off to the cinema to go and see Serenity. I think Skyler really enjoyed it, even though he has never seen Firefly. I certainly enjoyed seeing it again. After all of that, they dropped me back at the airport.
This time there were people at the check in counter. Part of me was really annoyed, but the other part just wanted to get it over with. I found out that there was no immediate connecting flight for me in Taipei, and that I would have a 16 hour layover in Taipei airport. I wasn't happy, but I said nothing and took my boarding pass. The flight to Taipei was uneventful. The food was good, and I managed to sleep most of the way.
I arrived in Taipei very early in the morning (5am), and was directed to the Transit counter to get the boarding pass for my next flight. While waiting, I noticed other people curled in chairs, sleeping. It looked as if they had been there a long time. I thought that I was going to be like that too for the next 16 hours.
When the Transit desk finally opened, I was given a boarding pass, some vouchers, a customs and immigration form and told that there was a bus waiting for me outside. I headed out, along with a woman who was in the same situation. We were the only two to pass through immigration (which caught the immigration officer off-guard), and then we found the bus (after a couple of taxi drivers offered to take us for $1000TW - about $40NZ). We arrived at the hotel and checked in. We given vouchers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I skipped breakfast. When I got to my room I had a nice long shower and slept for around 5 hours. I had another shower, changed (I'm so glad I had some clothes in my carryon) and went down for lunch.
After lunch I went out and wandered the streets of Taipei. I didn't go too far from the hotel, but I had a lovely time. I hadn't planned to stay in Taipei, but the flight cancellation meant that I got to visit without paying for it. Despite my initial feeling of anger at my situation, it turned out for the best in the end. I'm not exactly happy how it happened, but I am glad it happened. The rest of the day was lovely. I had dinner and another shower (Taipei was quite hot an humid) before heading back to the airport.
EDIT:
I haven't had chance to post this before now (there was a lack of internet access in Taipei airport), so I am posting it now and post dating it. I have added a couple of bits and pieces since originally writing it. The rest of my trip back home was uneventful. I do wish I could have stayed longer. It would have been nice to visit more people. I just hope that the people I didn't manage to visit will understand.