Travel – Page 9 – Made by Mikal

Arrived yesterday

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 20, 2005
Post category:Travel

So, Andrew and I arrive in Santa Clara from Canberra yesterday. It took about 24 hours of travelling, and a lot of queueing to make that happen, but we're here finally. I must admit I'm really liking things so far, I was a bit worried about the expense of rent until we went and saw am apartment complex this morning, and I'm not worried about that now. The mall is nice (the local one that is), the temporary apartment is nice (photos soon), and the rental car is crap, but that's ok. On a musical note I only just recently discovered the Black Eyes Peas, so I picked up Elephunk this morning. Damn that's a good album -- it's rare for me to find a disc that I like every track on, but this is one of them. Anyways, here. Alive. In Santa Clara for now. Must wander off now...

Packing

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 13, 2005
Post category:Travel

It's time for Catherine and I to start thinking of packing for the move, and as ever it's a barrel of laughs. We've made the decision that there is a bunch of stuff which we're not going to bother to take with us... Mainly things like reference books which I haven't used in years, but can't bear parting with. We've therefore entered the exciting world of boxing and listing everything which we're leaving. We're also doing something similar for the things with a lot of value which we're moving to the US. I decided that it was time to roll out an official stillhq wiki to hold this sort of documentation, as well as other things which seem like they should be documented over time. This is the first time that Catherine has used a wiki, and so far it's working well.

Underground Kent

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 8, 2005
Post category:Travel

An excellent site for urban exploration in Kent.

All airline tickets now booked…

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 25, 2005
Post category:Travel

Not that it was such a pain that I now feel I've really achieved something or anything.

So, how am I getting to the US?

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 22, 2005
Post category:Travel

Well, I just booked my flights to the US... The flight there is on 18 November 2005, and goes from Canberra, to Sydney, to Los Angeles, to San Francisco with Qantas. At least I get club access along the way.

What are we doing with the pets?

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 20, 2005
Post category:Travel

We own a dog and a cat. We've had the cat, Taffy, for a long time and he's quite old now. The dog, Spike, on the other hand hasn't been with us for very long. So, when we move to the US, what are we going to do with the pets? Well, the cat is relatively easy, as he's too old to cope with a move, and is quite attached to my father. He'll be staying in our current house, which dad will be renting from me. The dog, Spike is harder. The kids are now quite attached to him, having been initially scared of him (we got him as a puppy, and the kids didn't like that puppy phase too much). He's now a year old or so. On the other hand, he didn't like the flight from Sydney to Canberra when we acquired him, so a 14 hour flight to the US is too much for him. If we don't like the US and want to come home really, soon then he would also end up in quarantine, a four hour drive away from us, for a very long time (around three months I believe). Worse than that,…

Winchester Mystery House

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 6, 2005
Post category:Travel

When Andrew and I were in San Francisco recently we ran out of time to see the Winchester Mystery House, a mansion built by the widow of the dude who invested the Winchester rifle. She was convinced that the ghosts of Indians killed by Winchester rifles were haunting her, and modified the mansion to confuse them. Then Boing Boing pointed to this blog about the house which has some interesting photos online. I really must try to make it there sometime.

Frank Arrigo discovers Steve Walsh’s free wireless

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 3, 2005
Post category:Travel

Steve Walsh from CLUG is associated with the free Internet access at the Pancake Parlour in Canberra. It's a small planet.

This looks handy, subway maps for mobile devices

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 3, 2005
Post category:Travel

Subway maps formatted for Playstation Portable.

Back from Perth

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 11, 2005
Post category:Travel

The Vines resort (where the Jonny Walker Classic is played) is nice, if you like early 1990 architecture, and golf. Just don't try to have a shower in your unit, as the hot water system is the size of a thimble. Hire cars are good, because they take you away from the Vines. Freemantle and Perth are both good, with the Halo resturant in Perth being the producer of one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Photos online soo...