Trip Update - Atlanta, Virginia and DC
Aug. 11th, 2007 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenepelNOTE: So I wrote this at work on Thursday but since I still haven’t looked up how to email an entry in I just emailed it to my home address…which means I’m not posting it until now. So it’s a bit out of date, but still a trip update, so whatever…
It’s already Thursday – I just can’t believe that! I meant to write this entry on Tuesday right after I got back (or even start on the plane Monday and then post it afterwards) but other things just got in the way. I’ve actually been pretty exhausted ever since I got back – whether it’s jetlag (which I never like to admit to) or just the fact that my body is tired after all the activity and lack of sleep on the trip, I’m not sure. I got in around 11PM on Monday, left the flat at 7AM Tuesday for work, got home at 6PM and went straight to bed. Last night I lasted until 8PM before I crashed, so I guess that’s an improvement. Maybe tonight I can make it till 10PM?! [NOTE: didn't happen!]
Anyhow, I want to at least write a little about my trip, so a quick run-thru is under the cut…
ATLANTA
I was actually a complete bum for almost all of this part of the trip. Trevor (my bro) and I just stayed up late, slept in late and then hung around the house, went to the park, went out for lunch or dinner, went out a few nights, etc. The main reason for the trip was just to see Trev (and of course Sean and Lauren) and get some quality time. He did have to work, but he managed to get a lot of time off while I was there, so that was great. I didn’t really want to do any tourist stuff because I’ve been there before and also am trying to save money. I didn’t want to shop too much (even though everything is SO CHEAP) because of money again, so I just bought a few gifts. I did go to the Apple store and extend the warranty on my MacBookPro – something I have been fighting with myself about ever since I bought it. So that’s a nice chunk of money that I could have spent on a new ipod instead!
We did manage to go to a few concerts while I was there – it was just luck really as far as timing went. Unfortunately (not a strong enough word!) the Morrissey concert was the week before, so I just missed it. Which SUCKED! I can’t believe I have never seen him. They said it was incredible (no gloating, really). So whatever. We went to see Tokyo Police Club in a small venue and they were decent, but I actually enjoyed one of their opening bands more. They were called Ra Ra Riot and they had a cellist and a violinist (both playing electric) as well as guitars. Very cool. We also went to a Travis concert, which was pretty funny since I just saw them over here. The concert in Atlanta was better though – the crowd was really into it and they just completely rocked out. (Yes, Travis rocked out!) I think they were really enjoying themselves; they played for almost two hours and even added some songs on the end after they had done the obligatory encores. ALSO (and this was very exciting for me) for the first time ever in RL I saw someone wearing a Glarkware shirt. Some guy on the other side (up in the balcony) had on the “Pants!” Shirt. I was also wearing Glarkware (“Always take Backup”) and I so wanted to go over and say hi, just on the basis of our shared shopping! I might have if we were any closer, but I didn’t see him anywhere after we all filed out. Too bad.
All in all it was a great visit, but it of course really brought home how much I miss Trev. It just is completely crap that he had to move back to the States. I’m glad that he is enjoying Atlanta (or at least seems to like it okay) but it’s just not the same when we don’t get to hang out all the time. My brother is one of my favorite people in the world, and we have always been so close. Talking on the phone just doesn’t cut it. We caught up a lot on this trip, but now we won’t see each other again until Christmas. SUCKS. The week was over so soon, and then there we were saying goodbye again. I’m glad that I did the trip, but it always makes the leaving harder. And my parents are probably moving back to the States in two years or so when they retire. So then what am I going to do? It was bad enough being all alone in the US when I went to Uni – now it’s just going to be the other way around with me over here and them all over there. I guess I am borrowing trouble, but it is something I think about a lot. I’m just still not sure what country I’m going to be living in (or want to be living in) permanently.
Riiiight – so about the rest of the trip…
CHICAGO LAYOVER
So the best part about flying through Chicago is that Drew works at the airport. I emailed him to say I was coming through, and so he met me for lunch, which was awesome. When I can do things like that it makes it feel like I don’t live so far away from people after all. So the biggest news is that they have set a date for the wedding – April 12th 2008. Which means I will probably be in Chicago April of next year. I have done so well with weddings this year, but it means that I feel like I’ve been going back to the States constantly – NOT good for my finances. And D’s wedding is in November in Texas. I REALLY want to go, but we’ll see. I looked at flights this week and they are about £400, which isn’t horrible, but isn’t great either. Based on past experience though, I’ll probably talk myself into going! The best thing about Drew and Maggie’s wedding though, is that he gets almost free flights, and he said he would give me one to go to the wedding if I can manage to come. So I’ll have to pay airport taxes, but it would be substantially cheaper. It means a lot that he wants me to come enough to do that, so that’s very cool.
Also part of the Chicago layover was me scaring myself silly watching Supernatural. I’m such a wuss! I just got the first few eps and have been meaning to watch some for ages to try the show out. Somehow I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so scary. I mean the thing is that I don’t watch horror/ghost movies, so why would I watch it on TV?! I guess I kind of thought I had hardened through watching Buffy and Angel – but I have a feeling most people wouldn’t really consider them that scary! Seriously, you wouldn’t think I was a grown-up at all. The stupid thing is that I had the first four eps and I only watched the first two, and I just know I won’t manage to refrain from watching those others since I have them. I don’t have the willpower. So it remains to be seen if I’m done with that show for good or not.
DC / VIRGINIA
The wedding was really great, mostly because we used it as an excuse for a big ole reunion. The girl who got married is a friend of mine from Japan who now works at the Japanese Embassy in DC. So a bunch of people I hadn’t seen since I left Japan were at the wedding. It was so nice to catch up and see what everyone was doing now, who had new partners, new jobs, lived in new places, etc. And we danced! I basically judge a wedding by how much dancing there is, so on my scale this one was pretty good.
The day after the wedding we went to Colonial Williamsburg, which turned out to be much more interesting then I thought it would. The last time I had been was when I was pretty young (9 or so?) and I couldn’t really remember what it was like. I was a bit worried it would be cheesy and kind of Disney-worldesque, but it wasn’t at all. It was really nicely done, and the people working there were knowledgeable and quite willing to talk. Plus, there weren’t crazy crowds or anything, so we were able to stay back and ask all the questions we wanted to. Well worth a visit. It was horribly hot though.
One last thing I just thought of. I had such good food while I was there. There were a few things I wanted to eat that are hard to get here, and I think I ticked all the boxes. Best of all, the night before I left, we had BBQ. Pulled pork sandwiches, brisket, fried okra, baked beans – YUM. That’s nearly impossible to get in London. Go figure!
So now I’m back at home, and back at work, and that’s fine. I do enjoy the States, but it was SO NICE to get back home to England. I was only away for a week and a half, but I missed it. Plus, it’s always a little bit of a relief to end a trip and get back to normal life. And there is a lot going on in the next month or so – I’m already trying to plan out my weekends to see when I’ll stay in London and when I’ll go to my parents and when people are going to be visiting, etc. So yes, life goes on.
But I still miss Trevor!
It’s already Thursday – I just can’t believe that! I meant to write this entry on Tuesday right after I got back (or even start on the plane Monday and then post it afterwards) but other things just got in the way. I’ve actually been pretty exhausted ever since I got back – whether it’s jetlag (which I never like to admit to) or just the fact that my body is tired after all the activity and lack of sleep on the trip, I’m not sure. I got in around 11PM on Monday, left the flat at 7AM Tuesday for work, got home at 6PM and went straight to bed. Last night I lasted until 8PM before I crashed, so I guess that’s an improvement. Maybe tonight I can make it till 10PM?! [NOTE: didn't happen!]
Anyhow, I want to at least write a little about my trip, so a quick run-thru is under the cut…
ATLANTA
I was actually a complete bum for almost all of this part of the trip. Trevor (my bro) and I just stayed up late, slept in late and then hung around the house, went to the park, went out for lunch or dinner, went out a few nights, etc. The main reason for the trip was just to see Trev (and of course Sean and Lauren) and get some quality time. He did have to work, but he managed to get a lot of time off while I was there, so that was great. I didn’t really want to do any tourist stuff because I’ve been there before and also am trying to save money. I didn’t want to shop too much (even though everything is SO CHEAP) because of money again, so I just bought a few gifts. I did go to the Apple store and extend the warranty on my MacBookPro – something I have been fighting with myself about ever since I bought it. So that’s a nice chunk of money that I could have spent on a new ipod instead!
We did manage to go to a few concerts while I was there – it was just luck really as far as timing went. Unfortunately (not a strong enough word!) the Morrissey concert was the week before, so I just missed it. Which SUCKED! I can’t believe I have never seen him. They said it was incredible (no gloating, really). So whatever. We went to see Tokyo Police Club in a small venue and they were decent, but I actually enjoyed one of their opening bands more. They were called Ra Ra Riot and they had a cellist and a violinist (both playing electric) as well as guitars. Very cool. We also went to a Travis concert, which was pretty funny since I just saw them over here. The concert in Atlanta was better though – the crowd was really into it and they just completely rocked out. (Yes, Travis rocked out!) I think they were really enjoying themselves; they played for almost two hours and even added some songs on the end after they had done the obligatory encores. ALSO (and this was very exciting for me) for the first time ever in RL I saw someone wearing a Glarkware shirt. Some guy on the other side (up in the balcony) had on the “Pants!” Shirt. I was also wearing Glarkware (“Always take Backup”) and I so wanted to go over and say hi, just on the basis of our shared shopping! I might have if we were any closer, but I didn’t see him anywhere after we all filed out. Too bad.
All in all it was a great visit, but it of course really brought home how much I miss Trev. It just is completely crap that he had to move back to the States. I’m glad that he is enjoying Atlanta (or at least seems to like it okay) but it’s just not the same when we don’t get to hang out all the time. My brother is one of my favorite people in the world, and we have always been so close. Talking on the phone just doesn’t cut it. We caught up a lot on this trip, but now we won’t see each other again until Christmas. SUCKS. The week was over so soon, and then there we were saying goodbye again. I’m glad that I did the trip, but it always makes the leaving harder. And my parents are probably moving back to the States in two years or so when they retire. So then what am I going to do? It was bad enough being all alone in the US when I went to Uni – now it’s just going to be the other way around with me over here and them all over there. I guess I am borrowing trouble, but it is something I think about a lot. I’m just still not sure what country I’m going to be living in (or want to be living in) permanently.
Riiiight – so about the rest of the trip…
CHICAGO LAYOVER
So the best part about flying through Chicago is that Drew works at the airport. I emailed him to say I was coming through, and so he met me for lunch, which was awesome. When I can do things like that it makes it feel like I don’t live so far away from people after all. So the biggest news is that they have set a date for the wedding – April 12th 2008. Which means I will probably be in Chicago April of next year. I have done so well with weddings this year, but it means that I feel like I’ve been going back to the States constantly – NOT good for my finances. And D’s wedding is in November in Texas. I REALLY want to go, but we’ll see. I looked at flights this week and they are about £400, which isn’t horrible, but isn’t great either. Based on past experience though, I’ll probably talk myself into going! The best thing about Drew and Maggie’s wedding though, is that he gets almost free flights, and he said he would give me one to go to the wedding if I can manage to come. So I’ll have to pay airport taxes, but it would be substantially cheaper. It means a lot that he wants me to come enough to do that, so that’s very cool.
Also part of the Chicago layover was me scaring myself silly watching Supernatural. I’m such a wuss! I just got the first few eps and have been meaning to watch some for ages to try the show out. Somehow I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so scary. I mean the thing is that I don’t watch horror/ghost movies, so why would I watch it on TV?! I guess I kind of thought I had hardened through watching Buffy and Angel – but I have a feeling most people wouldn’t really consider them that scary! Seriously, you wouldn’t think I was a grown-up at all. The stupid thing is that I had the first four eps and I only watched the first two, and I just know I won’t manage to refrain from watching those others since I have them. I don’t have the willpower. So it remains to be seen if I’m done with that show for good or not.
DC / VIRGINIA
The wedding was really great, mostly because we used it as an excuse for a big ole reunion. The girl who got married is a friend of mine from Japan who now works at the Japanese Embassy in DC. So a bunch of people I hadn’t seen since I left Japan were at the wedding. It was so nice to catch up and see what everyone was doing now, who had new partners, new jobs, lived in new places, etc. And we danced! I basically judge a wedding by how much dancing there is, so on my scale this one was pretty good.
The day after the wedding we went to Colonial Williamsburg, which turned out to be much more interesting then I thought it would. The last time I had been was when I was pretty young (9 or so?) and I couldn’t really remember what it was like. I was a bit worried it would be cheesy and kind of Disney-worldesque, but it wasn’t at all. It was really nicely done, and the people working there were knowledgeable and quite willing to talk. Plus, there weren’t crazy crowds or anything, so we were able to stay back and ask all the questions we wanted to. Well worth a visit. It was horribly hot though.
One last thing I just thought of. I had such good food while I was there. There were a few things I wanted to eat that are hard to get here, and I think I ticked all the boxes. Best of all, the night before I left, we had BBQ. Pulled pork sandwiches, brisket, fried okra, baked beans – YUM. That’s nearly impossible to get in London. Go figure!
So now I’m back at home, and back at work, and that’s fine. I do enjoy the States, but it was SO NICE to get back home to England. I was only away for a week and a half, but I missed it. Plus, it’s always a little bit of a relief to end a trip and get back to normal life. And there is a lot going on in the next month or so – I’m already trying to plan out my weekends to see when I’ll stay in London and when I’ll go to my parents and when people are going to be visiting, etc. So yes, life goes on.
But I still miss Trevor!
