So, how am I getting to the US?
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?
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
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.
Andrew is a loony
He hasn't slept in something like 48 hours now. He's a loony. On of the funnier parts of the trip over was listening to the Channel 9 "from the flight deck". Before they could take of the United plane insisted on burning off 1,000 pounds of fuel. How long did it take? 5 minutes of idling and driving around in circles. The airline was fairly ordinary though -- no screens in the back of seats. 5 inches of extra leg room for premium economy, but that only put them about 2 inches ahead of Qantas. Catering was nothing special. No little care package for during the flight. No face mask. I'd fly United again, but only if I didn't get to chose the airline. [tags: airline united]
Hotel Avante
Well, I got here. Nice hotel, nice staff on check in. Easy drive from the San Francisco airport for us foreigners. The San Francisco airport seems a lot nicer than the one in Los Angeles as well. [tags: hotel, avante]