this is the end...

these are gonna be my final posts...

i really need to cover the last couple of days in the usa as they were slightly fraught with problems and difficulties...

my last day in san francisco passed uneventfully, went and had a massive lunch at a cute diner then pottered around the city all day, bit of shopping, but what i was really looking for was a crazy little bookshop/museum that i found last time i was in the city, but couldn't remember its name or which area it was in - hmmm, not surprisingly, i didn't find it!

had contacted lovely chad via email, hoping to meet up with him for a drink before i left, but it all got too difficult, couldn't get through to his cell, etc. so it didn't happen. so i got an early night and sorted out my suitcase ready for the morning...

so i get up and get ready and off i go to the train which is supposed to take 30 minutes to get to the airport (well, it did last time...) and waited 30 minutes for a train. i got on the train which went one stop and then developed a fault and went out of service... another 30 minutes later and i'm on the train on the way - knowing in my heart that i've missed my plane to new york...

after freaking out and being told that i can't get another flight until 11.45pm (it was 11am) or pay for a direct flight for $800 - i get a grip and decide to stay with the airline i booked and they rearranged my flights at no extra charge, but it meant that i had to wait for 11 hours in the airport...

inertia set in but the time passed quickly enough i suppose. i read a lot of shantaram and did a bit of surfing... but i think i went into a semi-coma...

so i get on the first plane to milwaukee where i wait for around two hours before catching my connecting flight to newark - i really haven't had any sleep and time seems irrelevant

arrive at newark at around 11am and head over the hotel where zoe and i are staying but they wont let me in the room as i have no printed confirmation. so i throw a bit of strop, get out my laptop and show her the email... thank god she lets me up to the room where i throw myself onto the bed for 5 whole minutes, before jumping in the shower and getting ready to head into the city - which takes another 2 hours from newark...

head up to the meeting that had obviously finished hours before, but dinushka was there and so we had a bit of a catch-up and then i headed up to 86th street to pick up my other suitcase from robin's. i knew she wouldn't be there as she had a busy day planned at search and care - but i hoped that i might catch her. i spent a while around my old neighbourhood, couldn't bring myself to get on the subway away from my new home...

finally made it back to the hotel to find a note from zoe saying that she was in the bar with steve! went there but couldn't find them... went back to the room and re-read the note and then went back down and bumped into them coming out of the lift! a lot of cuddling later, we went back to the bar and i got some food and we had a bit of a catch-up. i fell into bed to the sounds of zoe sorting out her suitcase!

we both woke with a start to the sound of our alarm call at 4.30am... not enough sleep! taxi to the airport booked at 5.30am but it didn't turn up until 6am and then charged us $35! what a total rip-off!

we meet up with the others and get coffee and bagels for breakfast and then we all pile onto the plane to find that we're all sat together... fine for most of us, but not so great for the 3 in the group who decided early on to segregate themselves from everyone else and then had a big falling out during their vacation... they're all sitting in a row pretending they don't know each other - was quite funny - except that i'm sitting next to them. you could feel the tension! oh well, most of us thought they deserved it!

so, that was it... best summer i ever had...