Coffee here is stronger. EVERYTHING here is sweeter. My gods. Seriously. One pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks and I saw stars and the event horizon and my brain fell out. Halfway through. Soooo sweet and coffee strong. Nice spicy flavor but too sweet. Worked out why Starbucks never really took off in Australia.
Serving sizes – epic. An entree would feed my family for a week. This is hyperbole, yes, but I cannot finish an entree myself. A small salad side serving is a meal. Admittedly, not a big appetite at best, but even the guys on the project (including my clever engineer husband) would struggle, and these are some serious trenchermen.
People are so nice. Really nice. Sweet and friendly and, I think, genuine about it. Yes I am in a hotel and they are serving me as a job, but the niceness is not required in job description, just politeness. All the way through, airports, planes, fellow passengers, non stop.
Met a bunch of the nicest people traveling.
Best two : 91 year old Polly, an amazing woman coming to Atlanta from Dallas to spend the holidays with her son’s family (note to self, this would be thanksgiving?). She was a doll in a wheelchair, a frail bird with bright eyes, a god fearing woman who was sweet and kind to every person she encountered, with dignity grave and kindness. Yay her. She is going to write to me she says, hope so!
The other was the most wonderful fun guy from Atlanta. Sat next to him on way rom Dallas. He has been to Australia, and is smart funny and the acerbic observational humor type that I click with. He has an office close by hotel and popped in the other day to say hi. Exchanged emails, hope he stays in touch too! Atlanta is on IEEE schedule next year again, so having friend who knows way around city always nice:)
Reconnected with some wonderful people from Okinawa, and met some new ones. Really great group here. Will write up the IEEE convention properly when home, but it was really much more successful than hoped. Put it this way, if they debating you passionately, they are listening. And they want to continue debating me next time…I think that’s good;) have one friend here, and he is a source of tips and reinforcement, introductions and information. Taking him to dinner tonight to say mega thanks from whole project. He would fit in really well, so hoping some others of team get to come over and hang with him too at some point.
Business class is wildly expensive, and made me feel guilty. Business class is also wildly necessary for my disability, and is the reason I haven’t fallen over in a screaming bundle of pain yet. Remembering to rest a lot between sessions. They tend to start at 7:30am, and go until 6, with a few evening events too. Evil back starting to get cranky at long sessions, and I suspect I will be in for a few ‘interesting’ days when I. Return, but flying business class will mitigate a lot of potential issues. A lot of the problem is waiting around for flights, so it can be a long time between spine flattening our – gravity being my enemy. But I am having such a huge adventure, none of this is complaint, more observation. One has to observe and plan with both a disability and with chronic pain. I do think business class is a bit of a hooey on the smaller flights in the states, but it allows access to business lounges which do provide a bit of a haven.
I am uncomfortable with this much service. I make the bed each day – the staff must think I am nuts! I also leave my room very tidy, I hate making work for anyone!!
How does anyone live with the tipping system? Tipping as a bonus, nice, but tipping as something you have to hope to count on, with minimum wage not livable? So many have two jobs to survive, and some can work many hours, and with tax etc get barely anything at end. The US is bleeding to death silently, for all the protesting, i think it is worse than anyone realizes. There is an air of quiet desperation. Of suppressed panic. We think we have it bad in Australia, hell no, not compared to here. Ymmv. The middle class is vanishing. Yet it remains a driven to consume society. The advertising here on tv is frenetic and forceful. Pushy and blatant Ina way Australians would loathe. Medical advertising and legal advertising quite a shock here.
People are uniformly shocked I am traveling alone in a wheelchair. And that it is not motorized. And they all keep saying I am an ‘inspiration for doing this’. Dammit I am not particularly brave, I have even given amazing opportunities. I am lucky, not inspirational. These feet, they are clay. Pedestals give me the heebies, scared of heights. So not an inspiration, just ‘zaphod is some guy,you know?’ level.
Btw, the wheelchairs in the airport are all HUGE, barbaric ones. You can fit a suitcase sideways in those suckers. Scary, I would be dwarfed! See sweet things, serving sizes.
Atlanta city centre has buildings linked by a series of covered walkways three or four stories up. Amazing things, one feels quite a scifi take of a city on a planet with no safe outside atmosphere;) but it is gorgeous crisp autumn outside, with tumbling colours on unfamiliar trees. Very much like parts of the Adelaide Hills in autumn. Sorry, Fall.
TSA nowhere near as scary as I thought, and I got a gentle pat down by a nice lady. No machine for this wheelchair lady! Unfortunately, over zealous helping stuff pulled the two zips on my backpack up as they replaced for me despite protests (one does get that over helpful stiff a lot when one is disabled, they mean so well it is mean to protest, but one tries to gently point out one is capable. One tries, one does;) occasionally, one puts ones foot – wheel – something down.). Naturally,MIT broke due to unfamiliarity and rushing attitude. So I had to buy new bag, and only place with a bag of same size but not backpack, which is annoying cause backpacks go so well on wheelchair, messenger type doesn’t sit well, but I have some Velcro straps at home that help. And new bag wildly expensive *and* leather. Three things I didn’t want. But grudgingly, looking on bright side, it is damn robust, so should cope with travel better. Hoping to fix backpack zipper with tools at home (sewing machine replace), and will give to ms almost 17. Because oddly enough it is bag I got to replace one that broke in airport on way to Okinawa, and it is one that was admired by her, so that works. Just wildly expensive in a three days of per diem way – exorbitant state taxes and sales taxes here just make things so dear! But I am not really chewing through per diem, so won’t be too bad, as project agree to wear cost. Nice of them.
My flight has been changed by travel angel at home – STA Flinders University, general public can use, cannot say enough good things about their service and ongoing support. Use them – they care so much about their clients, and Rebecca could not do more to ensure each trip has provision and ease for this disabled type of nuisance client – this she organized trip home two days early, now Atlanta -> Dallas -> Brisbane -> home, instead of Atlanta -> Dallas -> Los Angeles -> Sydney -> home, and two days earlier. So am leaving tomorrow night. Two days of traveling later, I will be with my lovely family again yay! Leave 11th, home in 13th. No 12th November 2011 for me. Ever. Time traveling oddness:)
I think that is all. Going to pack my bag and see how much room is left tonight, to make sure I can fit in a few trinkets for family.
