diamondlife: (Fly - stardustmajick)
OK, so after a conversation with expedia.com (man, I'm going to die when I get my phone bills!) I leanrt that the reason I couldn't pay for my flight is that my credit card has a non-US billing address. -_- Hence, I had to book through expedia.co.uk, and pay at least 3 times the price I would've done if I could've bought it from the US site. Rrrr. Still - I now do at least have a flight home! So, I'm leaving Chicago O'Hare airport at 6.30pm tomorrow evening, and arriving back at Manchester at about 8am Tuesday morning. So, now I've got to fit in lots of fear before then! ^^;; Please send me some more of those good vibes, cos I'm going to be even more a bundle of nerves than when I came. -_-

But anyway. A nice man brought me into Chicago from the miles-away motel that Amtrak put us in, because I couldn't be arsed leaving at 11am when I didn't want to go to New York, but also didn't have a flight. *cough* Cost me $60, but hey, I'm saving the cash on a room for tonight, because I'm staying in another hostel! The nice ( and good-looking) check-in guy let me print my e-ticket too, so that's another worry gone. Phew! Though, scarily, most of the toilets here don't appear to have locks. or, in one case, doors. o.o The dorm also looks how I imagined hostels to look before I started staying in them - a big room, full of about 20 bunk beds. It's a little bleak, but it's in the most wonderful area - Lincoln Park, ironically enough. It's a university district, and it's lovely and cosy with big brick townhouses and trees and students everywhere. I found the most fantastic* teashop (called the Bourgeousie Pig XD) that serves a huge range of teas and plays great music (Pixies, Smiths, Beatles when I was there, and I went twice!). Then I thought, well, I'm in Chicago, I should listen to some jazz! So I went and found a jazz club downtown, and the music was cool, but they charged me $8.50 for a glass of wine and $18 for a salmon salad, so I nearly collapsed. -_- In the absence of $1 bills, I'd left them a $7 tip before I realised, after I'd left, that I'd already paid $5 to get in, so probably not my most successful venture, bearing in mind I still have to get to the airport and buy lunch tomorrow, and I'll have $12 left when I get my deposit back. x_o I was going to attempt the journey on the L (I love the L!) but the nearest station is too far to drag my 29kg, 1-wheeled case, so I'm probably going to have to get a taxi downtown, at least. *sigh*

But anyway, I should have time to do something cool tomorrow, like look at the zoo and other cool stuff in Lincoln Park. It really is a lovely area (I do always feel kind of at home in uni areas, even when the students are wanky, and the ones I've seen here don't seem to be), and Chicago actually seems even cooler on second viewing. Plus, I've written about another 1000 words of my yaoi_challenge fic (in the jazz club and the tea shop and on the train yesterday XD), and I'm pretty pleased with it! :D (Probably won't be when I read it back. But then, I was reading over my long-abandoned Saiyuki high school reinc fic of deathly cliche, and even that didn't seem too bad today. o.o Maybe I'm feeling charitable... or deluded. ^^;;)

*Well, aside from Applesauce, Flagstaff, but that was... the weirdest teashop too. ^^'
diamondlife: (Sunflower - psycho_shoelace)
Err... I'm in Chicago! Totally unintentionally, but hey, I have a real bed and a shower and I don't have to pay for it cos it's Amtrak's responsibility! :D If any of my British friends complain about train delays, I now have a story to top yours - 8 1/2 hour delay, woo! Luckily I was on the train from start to finish, so I didn't have to stand around a station in the arse end of nowhere for 8 hours, but it did mean I missed my connection to NY. Which doesn't bother me in the slightest, as I hadn't booked my flight in the end anyway, so now I'm very glad I didn't! ^^' And it also leaves the possibility of flying from here, too, if I don't want to chance Amtrak again! XD

I'm really glad I did the journey, though - the scenery from San Francisco to, well, Denver or so, is just unbelievable. First you have the Sierra Nevada, then the Rockies (which, sadly, we went through overnight :() and then, uh, Utah and Colorado (sorry, don't know all the specific names!). It was like riding through the Grand Canyon! It was amazing, going from dry, yellow California up the mountains till there was snow right beside the tracks, and then back again to the red rocks in Utah and then the salt flats (which I saw the sun set over, which was something). So yeah, well worth the $147 and 56 hours (well, I guess it'd be 64, with the delay). Plus, because we all missed out connections, Amtrak are putting us up in a motel, and they gave us free leftovers for dinner and $30 for food, so I think I turned a profit! XD ...Except I probably spent that on tea and food on the train, but still. *cough*. (The lamb I had on the first night was delicious, especially for a pre-packed microwaved meal! ^^;;)

I also, by lucky chance, got the seat by the socket, so while we were going through flat Nebraska and Iowa, I managed to finish watching JuuOuSei (oh my lord, what a series! The turns kept coming!) and Tactics (...wasted. Wasted, I tells ya!). Then I wrote some porn. *cough*

Well, even with daylight savings it's 1am, and my throat is killing me - I'm hoping it's just the effects of 3 days of recycled air. ^^;; Better start looking at flights... Oh, and [livejournal.com profile] hikariblue - you busy tomorrow? ;)
diamondlife: (Mine - peach_ponta)
Or rather: Boston-Washington-Chicago-Albuquerque. The last time you saw the intrepid [livejournal.com profile] elyndys, she was waiting for a train. While in Boston I somehow ended up going to church, then eating a delicious meal at the Happy Buddha vegetarian resaurant (highly recommended - I had the Happy Buddha's Feast. :9 It was Buddelicious!). Then I had to get up at 5 in order to catch my 6am train, had a bit of a run-in with an arsey taxi driver (yes, I know I should've tipped him right off the bat, but I didn't have any dollar bills!), but then enjoyed the best hot chocolate I've had in a very long time, if not ever, from Au Bon Pain (who also do a refreshingly good range of teas. Don't know if they're just an Eastern thing, cos I haven't seen one since Washington. ;_;)

I then had to get the train to Washington. It wasn't a great train, and it was quite full, but there was an electric socket so I was able to listen to some music and watch some Juu-Ou-Sei on the journey! (Juu-Ou-Sei, btw, is brilliant. Seen 5 eps now!) And it only took, like, 6 hours. Which is peanuts compared to the rest of my journey.

I just had time for a slice of pizza and a cuppa in Washington Station (the only station I've been in that was rammed with people) before it was back on the train for Chicago. This one took 18 hours and got me in at around 10am. As I had about 5 hours to spare, I decided to visit the Field Museum (someone I'd met in the church told me it was good). So I walked part of the way, subway'd the rest, and spent a fascinating few hours looking at the artefacts. They had a large collection of Native American exhibits, but the thing I spent most time on was an absolutely vast display of Pacific island artefacts. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before - it was fantastic. (Note to self: Google the Noisy Boys. Though I reckon Sancho won't get many results for a 1940s Tok Pisin group...) There was also a smaller, though no less absorbing, exhibition of Tibetan things, and also a "Hall of Jades" ([livejournal.com profile] nichaedemus, don't go there!!).

It was a glorious day in Chicago - bright sunshine, random accordian players, and an absolutely classic American skyline viewed from the harbour. Though Chicago itself seemed like any other city, I'm sure it's worth revisiting, if only to look at the rest of the museums.

So, from Chicago was the *long* leg - 26 hours, with no battery on my laptop and nowhere (except the toilet) to plug it in. @_@ Luckily, especially as we started to get further west, the scenery was fairly interesting, though a lot of Colorado-New Mexico reminded me of going up to Holme Moss ([livejournal.com profile] zalia is the only person who might understand what I mean by that!). When I said I was going to Albuquerque, people kept wondering why, but when we were getting close, passing the pueblos and the mountains, I was thinking "Yeah, this is what I came for".

Albuquerque itself seems like a pretty decent place! I managed to get a motel room, which wasn't cheap, but I hadn't realised it was the balloon festival until I was on the train! Still, it's a nice motel, even if the promised wireless doesn't seem to work - though they do have ethernet too, so it's all OK. :3 I had a meal at a nice place on Old Town Plaza called La Plancita (I think!) - had a Negra Modelo (it was very good :9) and carne asada, which was also very good. I also was introduced to sopaipillas, which are, like, the nicest things ever (though I used the first one to mop my plate, before the guy pointed out to me you were meant to put honey on).

All this Mexican-type stuff is making me miss [livejournal.com profile] davechan more. ;_; Sorry I didn't call, but by the time I got in here it was after midnight!

Tomorrow I'm going to check out the museums and the aquarium. :D Will probably stay here tomorrow night too, before heading to Santa Fe... Then I might take a look at Taos, but I want to call into Durango, Colorado, as it seems to make a good base for Mesa Verde. (Though I'm rapidly losing faith in my guidebook - one of the hotels it recommends here has shut down, and it still goes on about "modems" and "internet cafes" *guffaw*.) [livejournal.com profile] caerfree - how far into Colorado do you live, exactly...?

Friends page = probably lost cause, so if there's anything in particular (fics especially ;) please link me! :D

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