Ugly Americans Abroad

Epilogue

Date:    1/25/07
Place:    San Francisco, California

I feel good to have finally finished the write up of this trip.  Mike and I have both said that now that we’ve had some time back in the U.S. and have seen our family and friends, we really want to head out again.  This trip allowed us to find out about all the places we haven’t seen yet.  So we are working on saving up some more money for our next trip.

I wanted to thank a few people for making this trip fantastic.  I wanted to thank my sister and her roommates; my Uncle Chip and Aunt Irina; Kevin; Mark; my Uncle Butch and Aunt Peg; Josh and his roommates; and my Aunt Trudy for letting us stay at their places during the trip and its aftermath.  I wanted to thank James; Major McCoy; Piers, David, and Rennike; Lee and Emily; and Charlie for showing me around their hometowns, as well as the others I met who offered.  I wanted to thank Archana, Sooketoo, Vinay, Ed, Caroline, Lin, Lara, Jim, James, John, Guy, Trudy, and others for their advice on cool places to see and how to go about getting there.  I wanted to thank Kathleen Rush at AAA Travel for setting up our around the world ticket.  Finally, I wanted to thank Luis, Noelia and Nahuel, Carlos, Landscape Tours, Surf Camp, Sompop, Monkey Business Tours,  Wen, Sercan, Ali, the Venus Hotel, and Wandar for showing us their part of the world with such aplomb.

So for those that are missing older posts, here is a table of contents for you.  Remember, the chronology is blog-style (newest first).

March Posts: 2/25 (San Francisco, California, USA) – 3/12 (La Paz, Bolivia)
April Posts: 3/13 (La Paz, Bolivia) – 3/16 (Cuzco, Peru)
May Posts: 3/17 (Cuzco, Peru) – 5/2 (Sydney, Australia)
June Posts: 5/9 (St. Louis, Missouri, USA) – 5/29 (Delhi, India)
July Posts: 5/30 (Delhi, India) – 6/24 (Guilin, China)
August Posts: 6/25 (Guilin, China)
September Posts: 6/26 (Guilin, China) – 7/27 (Athens, Greece)
October Posts: 7/28 (Athens, Greece) – 8/10 (Dahab, Egypt)
November Posts: 8/11 (Dahab, Egypt) – 8/14 (Cairo, Egypt)
December Posts: 8/15 (Cairo, Egypt)
January Posts: 8/16 (Nairobi, Kenya) – 9/30 (San Francisco, California, USA)

California Here We Come, Right Back Where We Started From

Date:    9/30/06
Place:    Reno, Nevada
    San Francisco, California

The next morning we finish the drive to San Francisco.  We manage to call up Phantom Planet on the iTrip just as we cross over in to California.

We cross the Bay Bridge and drive to Jill’s birthday party near Golden Gate Bridge, catching the tail end.  That night we stay at Mike’s friend Josh’s place.

Rocky Mountain High

Dates: 9/28/06-9/29/30
Place:    Davenport, Iowa
    Longmont, Colorado
    Reno, Nevada

We head out around noon to cross the Rockies.  We are supposed to go stay with my friend Jeff, but his father-in-law is ill and we haven’t heard from him in a while.  We are staying instead with my aunt Peg and Uncle Butch in Longmont.

We manage to safely cross Nebraska without falling asleep at the wheel, no mean feat.  We spend the night at Peg and Butch’s.  The next morning I get a hold of Jeff and find out that his father-in-law died the night before and he is therefore in Kansas with his wife’s family.

We go to breakfast with Butch, then meet Peg at the church she works at for lunch.  I show them some of the pictures from the trip.  We then go back to the house, where Butch and Mike work on Gladys’s passenger window, which has been acting up.  My cousin Denny stops by with her brood as well.  I’d met most of Denny’s kids at Grandma’s funeral in May.

In the afternoon, we jump in the car and drive back up to 80 and take it across through Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. 

We stop at a casino in Nevada and spend the night.

Used Cars

Dates:    9/24/06 – 9/27/06
Place:    Davenport, Iowa

The next morning I watch the Bears game with my father, something we hadn’t done in several years.  I spend the next few days getting my fill of food from home that I haven’t had in a while, particularly Happy Joe’s Pizza.  Mom informs me that I could have gotten some in Cairo, which would have been strange to say the least.

The other thing Dad and I work on is getting me a new car to drive back to San Francisco in.  We go visit with Mom and Dad’s friend Dave at Lujack’s, as well as Dad’s friends at a couple other lots.  We end up finding a white 1990 Cadillac Coupe DeVille with only 30,000 miles on it.  It’s not a convertible like I originally wanted, but it has enough character for my purposes.  I name her Gladys.

The last day, Mike comes down with his brother Dave.  We have dinner at Le Figaro’s in Rock Island across the river.  Mike crashes at our house, while Dave drives back to Chicago.

Homeward Bound

Date:    9/23/06
Place:    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    Davenport, Iowa

I say goodbye to Mark and drive to my parent’s house in Davenport.  Mom takes me to drop the car off at the rental agency to avoid fees.

Three Rivers

Date:    9/22/06
Place:    Washington, DC
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I have lunch with my old boss Shawn the next day.  Shawn now works out of the DC office.

Afterwards I drive to Pittsburgh, where I visit my old roommate Mark.  Mark is getting a doctorate in robotics from Carnegie Mellon.  Mike had been visiting there a few days before I got there.

Known Knowns and Known Unknowns

Date:    9/21/06
Place:    New York, New York
    Washington, DC

I say goodbye to Elizabeth the next morning.  I have rented a car to take me at least as far as Iowa.  Once I pick up the car, I have difficulty leaving the city.  I end up having to cross downtown Manhattan twice.

I eventually make it to DC in the late afternoon.  I get a hold of my friend Charlie.  Charlie was one of my best friends before we went to kindergarten, when he moved to Florida.

I meet Charlie at a mall in Crystal City.  Charlie takes me in to show me around the Pentagon.  He shows me the pressroom where Donald Rumsfield does his press conferences, and the fake pressroom that tourists can have their picture taken with.

He then takes me to see where the plane hit on September 11.  Interestingly, the Ground Zero café, named such because it was first place targeted by the Soviets for nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, is visible from the window.

I get to walk by Rumsfield’s office, but not go in.

We go to California Pizza Kitchens for dinner.

I then drive out to meet with my high school friend Kevin.  We reminisce and have a few beers.

Birthday Girl

Date:    9/20/06
Place:    New York, New York

I take Elizabeth out for lunch for her birthday.  After lunch, I run down to Tower Records to get her a birthday present.

I meet Elizabeth, our cousin Sam, and his wife Tracy for drinks at the Campbell Apartment at Grand Central Station.  Getting a table takes forever, so we go to the Oyster Bar.

Afterwards, we go see the winner of the Tony for the best musical, the Drowsy Chaperone.  The show is funny as long as you’ve seen enough musicals.

Business Lunch

Date:    9/19/06
Place:    New York, New York

I have lunch with my friend John, who used to be a partner at my firm’s San Jose office before transferring to the New York office.

Afterwards, I walk to Elizabeth’s office.  Mom had given her some money to shop for birthday presents for both us.  We hit Macy’s, out of loyalty to Mom’s favorite movie.

We go to Stagedoor Deli for dinner.  I have the Tiger Woods, which replaced the Denzel Washington.  We split a cheesecake.

Going to the Mattresses

Date:    9/18/06
Place:    New York, New York

I meet my friend Carrie for breakfast the next morning.  She moved from San Jose to New Jersey while I was out of the country.

I go to Elizabeth’s office for lunch.  She introduces me to her boss Vicki, who is really attractive.

After lunch I walk back to Harlem to wait at the apartment for Elizabeth’s bed to be delivered.