trinacriabob

I need to wring your neck. You are telepathic. Believe me, that was going through my head OVER and OVER.

I came home a week early. I made it...what an adventure. I had to overnight in London because I came into one major airport (Heathrow) and out of another (Gatwick). At least, I got to see London for an afternoon which normally would have not been part of my plans. It was a likable place, though cleary the most 'EFFIN expensive city I have EVER visited. In short, I had had enough of the heat and humidity, the congestion, the overpriced dinky rental cars and ridiculous gas prices, the fact that I probably spent $ 100 Euros ($ 138 USD) on bottled water in 5 weeks because they don't give you free water in restaurants as you may think, the sensory overload of adjacent cultures and adjacent languages, and the fact that rude customer service goes unchecked. Let's face it, we go to Europe for the cultural and architectonic richness, the fact that 5 countries have vast amounts of beautiful coastline, and, to a point, to get sucked into the cultural differences until we say "that's enough" and want to go home. For some of us, wanting to see relatives compels us to "cross the pond" as well. At any rate, had a miserable flight and New York to Houston and MISCONNECTED due to weather at Newark. I thus spent the night (from 2 am to 8 am) in the Houston Intercontinental airport, joining padded chairs to sleep, as many others had done. Pictures to come.

factory

Philadelphia cheesesteakHow can we forget?

hero

That little $h!.Those sledding breeds are about 50:50...some like people and others are aloof. Which is he?

A trio of site celebrities, indeed. Intrigued, INSTEAD of taking pictures ( :AH-HA_wink:), remember that, from "across the pond" I am asking you NOT to run up a bar tab! Enjoy, guys!

gyro sandwich

Not any more. Is there a web site for ASLA, or a Northern California chapter of it, that could give some supplier references via links? Or other related sites with a link to the area? Also, keep in mind, hanging out in that area is VERY expensive and San Jose is quite ho-hum compared to the city of San Francisco.

Motown cool, cool $h!...and all those sassy black chicks

Remember, you make time coming back. I will be overnighting in London. The net gain is about 5 days. A couple of things have started to wear on me and I want H-O-M-E. Plus, I have been sitting around my relatives' house in Florence for 5 days now, doing nothing, without a car and it is f@#king hot and humid.

Yeah, and I'm sure you're itching for an "invite."

Hasselhoff Where are you, Reg?

It's because it's a non-revenue ticket (freq. flyer) and it's a very late change. I was happy to get it, though.

camel... ...jockey oops, political incorrectness has crept in!

I now have a ticket. This beats my record of 5 segments (occurring in 2002 as well as coming over this time) SIX 'effin segments: 1 Florence - Paris 2 Paris - London 3 London - New York 4 New York - Houston 5 Houston - Seattle 6 Seattle - Portland (*) It's a SkyTeam ticket so the first 2 legs are Air France and the next 3 are Delta/Continental. (*) I then had to ask her to look up Alaska for the last segment as they collaborate with Sky Team and she found me a spot on the puddlejumper between Seattle and Portland. Yahoo. Glad to be going home. I will sleep for a couple of days and also hit some granolafied hot springs somewhere (it's Oregon, after all) to soothe some sore muscles. In the future, there will only be 2 week trips to Europe.

Heehee...I can feel the love between PA and DE. :AH-HA_wink:

The Miragewe're talking Vegas hotels, right?

I'm off the airport just to pick up the ticket because it has to be a PAPER ticket. I'll let you know when I have it in my hands and can believe it.

Can I borrow YOUR legs?

I think the reservations folks must get a kick out of me. I have hub and spoke maps of airline routes in my head, so I suggest what the routing options might be when availability is tight. Another creative and very multi-segmented trip from Florence IT to Portland OR has been put together for me, but I am leaving in a day and a half. It will be nice to be home.

vitamin

Of course, this guy I used to work with was an avid metal fan...he was 2 years younger than me. He thought he was really cool but he was really sort of a geek. Sometimes while we were working, I would wale out that weird refrain from "The Immigrant Song" just to piss him off. People a LOT earlier than "grandpa status" are avid jazz fans. I probably transitioned to jazz several years after The Cure or thereabouts. Basically, I find jazz to be disciplined, sophisticated and tightly constructed, for lack of a better description. So what am I listening to? An Italian stock market report on the news waiting for dinner to be served over here.

Viagra

No, you did good. Who are we trying to kid...French is a beautiful language.