I got to the airport, got everything sorted and then had a nice long wait chatting to my grandparents before I fly to Christchurch for just long enough to swap planes. The flight to Auckland was weird. They had a cash food service (I had no cash - and would have been morally opposed anyway). From the air Auckland looked pretty much as expected. My sole experience of the city - walking between the terminals.
In the departure lounge for my flight to San Fran I started chatting up a nice looking stranger. Fortunately, at least when I'm sober, my hitting on people is typically mild enough that no one seems to notice much. There was no comment made about it anyway. Boarding the plane, and we turned out to be across the aisle from each other, which gave me someone to talk to. I had an empty seat beside me, and across that a guy who turned out to know Ackers from my department at home, quite well. The world sometimes seems very small.
The flight was too damn long, and I didn't manage to sleep through enough of it. I did see Pan's Labyrinth, Music and Lyrics, Stranger the Fiction, The Prestige and a few episodes of Extras along the way. After an entirely uneventful trip through customs, where my stuff was entirely ignored, I headed to the BART system to go to San Fran. Here I bumped into someone I'd talked to on my flight, so ended up with a public transport buddy to get me in to town. He even, usefully, knew what was going on and thus could work me through the BART system as if I was a retard. And I've enough sleep deprivation going on, that I sort of was. San Fran was fun for the first wee bit when I was with someone, but after he found his hotel (hidden inside a Betty Boop theme diner), I headed off alone. I rode the cable car to fishermans wharf, got photos of things. That island. That bridge. The windy street. But it rapidly became very not fun. And people were quite unhelpful. I guess they are secure enough in their tourist income to not have to try. Then can be crappy and know people will still come. I got dodgy chinese food at a place using the WWF logo panda - quite shamelessly - and headed back to the airport to work through my conference programme until it was time for my flight to Chicago. I slept through most of that flight, but did notice the main difference between Air New Zealand and United, is that Air New Zealand is cleaner and prettier and tries harder. I seem to be detecting a theme of complacency.
The flight to Kalamazoo, I was sure the air host was taking the Michael. Either that or he was a bit special and a complete fruit. The city it spread out and odd, like it is trying to hide from itself.
The conference accommodation was an unpleasant surprise. After 37 hours travel, when it is sensible hours here by the little hours of the morning at home, I got to the accommodation for a shower. The place is mank. I know dorm rooms are supposed to be simple but I was expected NZ-style hall rooms, not prison cells. And I'm talking Milton Hilton here, I talking concrete boxes with plastic mattresses on chipboard bunk frames and what I'm assuming is supposed to be a blanket (it's a gross brown thing, I assumed was a mattress guard, but then realised it must be intended as a the sole blanket).
I'm not impressed. Which is saying a lot, my standards are pretty low. I just like things to be identifiable.
I am so sleep deprived. Tonight I shall probably sleep well, even though the bed is horrid.
I may also be gibbering like an idiot. It's hard to tell as people can't understand me anyway.
Stupid computer lab doesn't have picasa, or a mail client - and I've never worked out how to make windows auto shrink a picture without a mail client to send it to. So I'll only post a couple, as they'll be huge.
