My trip to NE USA will take my from NYC to Buffalo via Rochester NY, Buffalo to Chicago IL, then Cleveland OH, before coming back through Niagara Falls, and Toronto.
I seem to be writing quite a bit for each day, so use the Prev and Next links to go from day to day
I got a copy of all the photos taken on Coriander's camera, these can be viewed here.
having spent last night trying to get my pictures on to allo's computer then on to my site, i ended up sleeping very late in to the day. this made brunch even more appropriate!
i enjoyed what can only be described as a full english breakfast, which laura also had, while james had a giant pancake.
we meandered back to the apartment, and slowly organised my packing.
laura had the bright idea of making sure my flight wasn't delayed, which allowed me to discover it left from a different airport than the one we had assumed! good thing we checked.
this of course led to a radical rethink of transport strategy, and we tried in vain to find public transport.
we then attempted to find a place that would have a rental car, again to no avail. laura ended up calling her dad, for us to borrow his car. this achieved we sighed in relief and ordered chinese for dinner.
that arrived just in time, as we had to dash. i said my goodbyes to laura and hopped in the car (not before trying to get in on the driver side!)
we got a fantastic lightening storm on the way to hamilton, but this was accompanied by a torrent of water falling so hard the road was practically invisible. rather than the estimated 40 mins it took us over an hour to make the terminal.
fortunately i have become adept at the whole airport malarky and so got through check-in and security quickly.
i enjoyed a final alexander keith's and waited to board the plane.
40 minutes before the flight, the airport has been put on red alert. sitting under the skylight i can see frequent lightening. i had just sent a text advising that we were about to board. the storm is 3-4 miles away still, though i have to admit i've never taken off during a storm before!
they start pre boarding at 2330h
runway put on red alert again. we are now delayed beyond departure time. the staff have pre checked us in the lounge, i suspect this is the last flight to leave this airport tonight.
midnight comes and we get called to the plane, but half way to the plane we are all called back in to the departure lounge.
we await the removal of the red alert again! most exciting departure ever!
neighbour donates his wine to me. they are doing tour of europe, london amsterdam paris venice rome.
other neighbour makes good joke about the chicken curry we had for midnight meal... like the west coast of usa... hot and dry
the flight arrived at the new time, and I hopped on the 747 bus. Home sweet home!
Thankyou to everyone who made this trip such an enjoyable experience. It was great meeting everyone, I'm sure I'll be stateside again :-)