USA Trip '05 - Part One

Then, less than three weeks later, I was boarding a plane bound for San Francisco, and ultimately London. You may recall that I had handed in my notice at work a few weeks prior, so the future was definitely still uncertain. However, I managed to gather the courage to go back to the boss, and grovel for my job back (actually, grovelling didn’t turn out to be necessary – he welcomed me back gladly, which was very reassuring).

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the trip, and even less sure about what I was going to do once I came to the end of my time in North America. But I made it to San Fran alright, and met up with Chris at the Hotel. Not before spending a couple of hours wandering SF airport waiting for him to turn up, though! The BART deposited me Market Street station, which was just around the corner from the Mosser hotel I had booked. In my haste to get out of the station, dump my bag, have a rest and a loooong, hot shower, I didn’t check the map closely anough, and ended up walking in completely the wrong direction through a less desirable part of town. I made it to the Mosser a few minutes later, slightly wiser, and found Chris in the foyer. It was good to see a familiar face in such unfamiliar surroundings. That wasn’t the end of the challenges for the day though. We attempted top check in, only to find that the ‘twin’ room I had booked was actually a single room with a double bed. We had to upgrade (for an extra $30/day) to a ‘double’ room, which had two twin beds. Crazy! I tried to argue, but my heart wasn’t in it as I really just wanted to get to the room and relax. The room was, after all, quite pleasant and comfortable, if a little noisy. We went out a little later to explore and find some food – mercifully, the hotel was near Union Square, the major shopping area of San Francisco, so there was no shortage of choice.

We actually stumbled upon what I found out later to be one of the best and most popular pizza parlours in SF, Blondies. I’d been hanging out for a good American-style pizza since I got back from Vail, and it was just as good as I remembered. I don’t know how they manage to get so much flavour into a pizza with so few toppings. American food was going to feature prominently on this trip! I spent some time in the Virgin Store listening to music, and came away with three new CDs. Spent plenty of time in the Apple store as well, on this day buying a PowerPod and iTrip for the iPod. We were almost ready for the road trip!

how engaging!

OK, as promised, here’s the update:

Turbulent times, they were. Victoria went overseas on business for a couple of weeks, and I finally realised that I couldn’t stand to be apart from her. So when she arrived back in the country, I had organized a special weekend away to Waiheke Island.

We stayed at Villa Pacifica at the east end of the island. Although it was quite a long way from the main built up areas of Waiheke, the views and tranquility more thjan made up for the remoteness. Our room overlooked three small bays, with Auckland city as just a hazy shadow in the background. We were treated to the best of Auckland autumn weather all weekend – beautifully sunny, but crisp in the morning and not too hot during the day.

On Saturday (the 7^th of May), we had a lazy morning, but managed to make it to lunch at Te Whau vineyard, where we were treated to the most divine food I have ever tasted. The chef was on loan from O’Connell Street Brasserie for a couple of weekends, and I knew that Victoria had wanted to go there for years. We ordered Tempura Squid and a Wild Mushroom Risotto as an entrée; the squid was beautifully fragrant, and melted in your mouth, and the risotto (with which I have had bad experiences in the past) was perfectly cooked. We both chose Papardelle of Wild Hare as a main course, which tasted absolutely sensational. What could possibly be better than the spectacular views from Te Whau coupled with amazing food and superb wine!

After lunch we drove to Onetangi beach, and decided to take a walk along the beach to help digest the fabulous (and somewhat rich) food. As we walked, I realised that there would never be a better time than this, so I dropped to one knee, and as the waves lapped around us, I proposed. The rest of the weekend was a bit of a blur, but needless to say, I sit here writing this as a happily engaged man.

where to start?

Where to start indeed?

To cut a long story (very) short, I proposed to Victoria before I left NZ, she accepted, I went away to USA and Mexico, then came back to NZ rather than continue on to the UK.

So here I am, sitting back in the test lab at my old job, wondering how exactly I came to be here again.

So it's true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I'm now engaged to be married in March 2006, I'm working at the same job, and I still feel the inescapable desire to travel.

Stay tuned, more will follow.