Getting there

Phew, a much needed update. I'll try seperate it where possible. Downloading T2 in the background to play on my flashy new edocs supplied laptop :D

8000ish miles to go....

Welcome to South Africa, or rather, you'll remember us when you're gone, if you can get out. In typical South African fashion inefficiency reeks in the customs department. I queued for 30 mins after checking in baggage, sorry for you if you're slightly late. 8 cubicles manned by one seriously old man and 2 women. The international visitors now departing our wonderfully useless country are left with a bitter taste in their mouths. We waited in the business class lounge just long enough to finish a free beer or two and chat to the other snobs. Anyway, that was all before 7PM on thursday night (20^th). After the last boarding queue, we had to step outside and get on a bus. The bus waited for a good 5 minutes before we almost collapsed from breathing in too much diesel. The cranky internationals were now getting vocal about the bad service. Gareth and I just grinned and beared it like South Africans I guess.

And that was that, we turned our backs on Jozy and boarded the shiny new SAA Airbus A340 600. This plane was the shit! Naturally it was 100 times better in business class. The seats were incredibly comfortable even after 11 hours of flying. Theres a retractable and adjustable light just above your right shoulder. A 13" monitor folds neatly out of your right armrest. On the left you've got your tray which folds into the armrest too, and the controls for the chairs just below it. Yes, electric motors to adjust your seat. I felt like a true rich bastid. After take off, one of the Air Stewarts (Not stewards, Gareth and I joked about how all the male flight attendants are queens) or flight attendants come by, set up your tray table with a table cloth, pass you a heated towel (what the hell?) and ask you what you want for supper. Gareth ordered the merlot and the cute air-hostess that served him. I had the seasonal salad and skipped on the air-hostess. She was all bitchy and stuff. I ordered the fillet and a few beers, oh my, melt-in-the-mouth beef, garlic rolls and good beer. Once supper was trying to settle it was DVD time! Mystic River, Along Came Polly to name a few and on the circuit they had Frasier (amongst others) which was good. Next thing I know Gareth has passed out from too much wine and I'm fading fast too. Didn't sleep well but within no time we were greeted with a traditional south african breakfast followed by our descent into Frankfurt.

What am I doing here?

Let me just state categorically that Frankfurt is a terrible airport. Imagine a socialist / industrialist setting, 70's style abuse of metal with no taste for interiors, whiffs of cigarette smoke on the fan. For 4 hours we abused the Lufthansa Business Class Lounge's coffee supply and biscuits. German males are an interesting crossbreed of up-and-coming east-randers and intellectual businessmen. Women, like the men. (harsh? :D) Paging thru german magazines is like reading a user-manual for a complicated household appliance. Lets just say, its 4 hours of my life spent in total fascination in the clothing styles of the germans, daziness and that feeling you're sleeping with your eyes open. Now, boarding was a breeze. South Africa, take note, they might have bad taste, but they're orderly. They even have automated toilet seat cleaners. Pity about the US customs, removing shoes, getting felt up by the sweaty german guards.

Following Columbus, sorta.

This time we boarded a Lufthansa Airbus A340 200, an older model, with older decor. Gareth and I agreed that business class on that flight was like economy class on SAA. (Hmm, maybe we are becoming snobs - All it takes is one flight in business class and everything else pales in comparison) At this stage I've got a sore stomach from being so lethargic for the last 15 hours. Not pleasant. At least our air hostess was more accommodating. The food was better. 8 hours later and we touched down to a beautiful spring day in Boston.

The U.S. of A, after a day.

After filling out all the paperwork, being interviewed again and fingerprinted we were in the US! Avis sent a bus over to come pick us up. (I'm still trying to get used to their weird sense of styles in motor vehicles.) After arguing with their sales rep and watching Gareth's credit card bounce we finally picked up a Ford Freestar "mini-van" (pretty similar to a Chrysler Voyager) and tried to navigate the maze of highways and routes out of Logan Internationl into Natick. All I can say is WOW. I've never seen so many leafy green maples in my life before. The Boston Reseroirs are all full, giving the area a calm lake district feel. There are no flies or gnats, plenty of sparrows and crows and these amazing trees. Drunken with fatigue we actually made it thru to the offices there and introduced ourselves around (nuts?). On the way home we picked up some pre-paid sim cards from T-Mobile (bad choice in the end, we have to pay for all incoming calls and the coverage is useless! Americans are so backwards when it comes to cellphones) Then we actually made it thru to the suites in Westborough. Boston to Natick: 50 miles. Natick to Westboroguh: 10 miles. It felt far too long. I unpacked and crashed.

The first saturday

Woke up about 4 times during the night and then got up at about 9. We did some much needed shopping. Um, food? We stopped by a um, Super Stop & Shop, similar to a Pick and Pay. The first isle was whacked. We found muesli and soups and stuff, but my word it was expensive. We frowned upon the lack of cereals. Then we found the other isles. FOOD! They had one isle dedicated to cereals. Heart Attack flavour, High Cholestorol flavour, Guilt with a smile flavour. My word, FOOOOOOD! Interestingly enough, all the healthy stuff was like double the price, wholewheat bread is like rye bread and twice the price of white bread. If the american government wanted to cure obesity, I reckon they should tax all the bad-for-you stuff and lift the taxes on the good-for-you stuff. :D After buying some authentic american ice cream and the usual stuff we were out of there. It takes a while to get used to driving in the USA, especially if there are no cars around. Gareth almost slipped up once, driving down the wrong side of the road. Then got a chance to catch up on more sleep and check what the suites had to offer. Kitchenette, bathroom, couch and double bed each. What more could a bachelor want? Oh, wireless internet access, room service and a TV thats what. Saturday's supper was spent at a local friendlies, a kiddies restaurant. Don't ask. :D The best chocolate shake I've ever tasted and a toasted chicken sandwich from hell, it rocked.

Sleepy Sunday

Sunday was true R&R, lazing around, reading, watching TV. That evening we took a walk thru to the local pub and learnt that baseball is an OK game, and not all americans are rude and arrogant. :P Their beers suck though. We'll make plans to go check out the Redsox kick more ass sometime. Ice Hockey and Football are not happening round this time of the year, so we won't be able to see them in action. Dunno about Basketball.

Welcome to Corporate America.

"Office space" and "Dead like me" come to mind when describing edocs' offices. Cubicles, water machines, some irriating types, but wait, they have FREE vending machines with snacks and sodas. Sekz! They have this weird coffee machine that you put a special filter cup into place and it sorts you out. edocs had arranged two brand spanking new Dell Latitude D600's for gareth and I, with everything installed. Efficiency! Everything just works here, no failed traffic lights, bad networking etc. Wireless pwns, No hassles networking. Anyway, Gareth and I are gonna be working on a dog-ugly project, fixing bugs and adding improvements where possible. Home from home :D

Back to the usual

Its now the end of day 4, and we're settling into a routine. I've arranged with Gareth to go to the local gym and work on a fitness reginme. 2 months is more than enough time to see results, especially with such a motivated fitness fanatic watching my progress. Watch this space.

I'm going to try arrange a rental mountain bike and investigate the local woodlands with my awesome little camera. Anton should hopefully be setting up the Consology Vhost for me, so I can stick up a whole lot of photos soon.

Bandwidth Sponsored by Wayport Cable (135k/s to SA, 5ms ping to first hop - can't wait to give T2 a shot on this spiffy new laptop!)

Cheers,
nD