Once I arrived at the airport my rushed packing turned around and bit me in the bum, I was 2kg over my allowance, but after discovering the faulty weighing scale was to blame my panic was over and I was free to go and raid duty free. If going on holiday isn't enough of a reason to be excited to be in a airport duty free is my cherry on top. This is because my favourite perfume 'Escada' is not available ANYWHERE at home so every time I go on holiday I stock up. It used to be super expensive and was my guilty pleasure but it was super cheap this time. I would have bought more than one bottle but I thought seen as Im going to be in a airport again in less than 40 days (SOOO EXCITED) I only bought one.
I've always enjoyed flying, I find it really exciting and I even like a bit of turbulence. But what I'm still not 100% keen on is the food. Its definitely getting better but it's still so touch and go that I always worry I'll starve so always always buy some sweeties to see me through. I was also very relieved my TV screen worked! After enduring a 9 hour flight before without a TV I am now very grateful every time it works. The flight went quite quickly. I watched 2 films: The Family Stone and The Help. They were both really good, I recommend watching them both, especially The Help. Its about black maids in the 1960's and the posh, rich white ladies who hire them and how the maids are treated. One of the upper class white ladies is a budding journalist who decides to interview the maids and try to get their voices heard and get equal rights for them. The maids are the ladies who raise the white children as their mum's are always too busy to do it. My favourite part of the movie was when one particular maid told the little girl she looked after everyday 'You is kind. You is smart. You is important.' I thought it was such a simple but effective and important thing to do. I absolutely loved the film and am so glad I got the chance to watch it. Being the big baby I am, I embarrassingly cried watching both. I didn't have a full blown break down, I covered it quite well but if I had been watching it in private the tears would have been flowing.
I spent a lot of the flight talking to my new friend who was an elderly gentleman sat next to me. Normally I dont talk to people on flights but this gentleman was amazing and we talked for ages. He was flying out to spend 6 months in Florida to 'escape' the British winter. I do not blame him. He was such a sweetie, we both raised our eyebrows and poked and prodded our food as it was placed infront of us then swapped between ourselves what we liked and didn't like. Then for desert we shared my sweets. While I was watching The Big Bang Theory, he started to play solitaire on his TV, I quickly noticed he did not know how he play. By the time we landed he was a pro, we played together then when he picked it up I left him too it, but every now and then he would tap me on my shoulder and ask for help. He just reinforced how much I love elderly people.
I had to catch a connecting flight from Charlotte in North Carolina. After saying goodbye to my new friend I quickly made a new one in the queue for customs. He was a 25yr old aspiring actor who was on his way to Vegas to shoot a show called 'Smoke'. He was also in a long distance relationship with a girl who lives in California. Its so nice being able to talk to someone in the same situation as me. Even though I can talk to my family, friends and of course Mike its nice to know that I'm not weird in some of the things I think and feel. It made the queue go super quick and after a few questions from the immigration officer, correctly finding my baggage and putting it on the right carousel for my next flight I was on the plane getting closer to Mike.
I cant even explain how nice a feeling it is to see and hug Mike again after being apart for so long. Its THE best feeling. If I could bottle up that feeling that would be incredible. I was absolutely starving so we made a quick little detour to Wendy's. Im not used to having so many Fast Food Restaurant options I'm used to only having 3. So I'm working my way through them all. And so far, I think Wendy's nuggets are my favourite. The rest of the evening was just going back, getting unpacked and having a well earned early night.
Day 2: I tried frozen yoghurt for the first time. Well actually not the first time I have tried it before and not liked it one bit, it's got a weird after taste. But Mike promised me that this yoghurt was different and it was. It was okay but still not as good as proper ice cream. I did like that you could put any toppings on it you wanted. Obviously I went for brownie and chocolate chips. A bit more chocolate wont hurt surely. Later that day Mike's basketball team he coaches had an away game so I started to work through my to watch list of films. I started off with Ted and The Inbetweeners. Not the greatest movies ever but easy watches and I did giggle quite a lot throughout them.
Day 3: I got to meet Mike's roommate, Mal in the morning. He's this super tall athletic guy, who's quite intimidating, but he's super super nice. I had a really hard time understanding him at first and was worried I'd freak him out by staring at his mouth to try and understand him, but once I got used to it I was fine. He's super funny and is not afraid to speak his mind. He also has the biggest TV in his living room I have ever seen in my life (that's not in the cinema). Its mahoosive!!
Then I carried on working my way through the fast food chains and tried a Carl's Jnr. It was pretty nice, I would definitely go back. Im still not used to ordering food there. In fast food places here you just say what you want, but out there they have numbers for things and then they say combo's instead of meals. And I still also forget how GINORMOUS their size's are. Here I order a medium but out there if I ordered that I'd have enough food for 2 meals. The cups are like buckets! So I will remember to just order a small. I'd probably order a child's meal if I was allowed. Mike was working that afternoon and evening so I spent my night watching the Expendables 2 and I decided to re watch all of the Twilight films in preparation for the new one. So I watched Twilight and the beginning of New Moon.
Day 4: In the morning I got to meet one of Mike's best friends Pitto. I was super nervous, its a scary situation. He's a bit part of Mike's life so I hoped I made a god impression. They went and played volleyball in Stanford University, so I went along and watched. Volleyball is a very new sport for me. I have never played apart from a tiny bit down the beach in the summer but really thats just a game of keepy uppy. No way competitive and with no real rules. Its turns out there are a lot of rules in volleyball and is quite tactical. You have to hit the ball in certain ways with certain parts of your fingers or hands for certain shots. I dont have any real interests in playing, purely because I am probably the worst jumper ever so would not be great. I would give it a go but wouldn't get my hopes up of being any good. I think they won their first game, then as they were about to start their next game it started raining. So I left them to carry on in the rain and I went and sheltered in the car. In the evening Mike's basketball team had a home game, so I went and watched them. It was super cute, little kids playing basketball. They aren't the most athletic kids but they have great heart and all pulled together and ended up with a convincing win.
Day 5: Mike's school is based in the middle of a Valley which has some beautiful scenery and open countryside. So we went for a little walk around one of the nearby reserves. Mike's map reading skills made sure the walk was interesting. He's got a habit of getting us very lost. Last time we went on a walk around some waterfalls in Wales, we got so lost we had to crawl on our hands and knees up a steep hill, hop over a few fences then just hope we were walking the right way. It was an adventure and made it a whole lot funnier. When we got home, Mike had to work so I continued to work my way through the Twilight films and then watched Taken 2.
Day 6: This day was super fun! I got to watch my first NBA game, and even got to go to a meet and great with the players afterwards. All of this was possible due to one of Mikes friends who is best friends with one of the players on the Denver Nuggets team. So we went and watched them narrowly beat Golden State Warriors. I was super excited to see the half time show. I had a dream a few days before going out to California that I got called out to take part in the half time shoot out. You had to shoot the ball from the half way line and if it went in the basket you won some money. The only way I could ever throw the ball that far is by throwing it over my head. So in my dream thats what I did, and it went in.... obviously! So I won the money, much to Mikes embarrassment who was sat in the crowd with his head in his hands trying to hide. Unfortunately that did not happen, instead we were treated to one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. It was a Chinese dance performed by children, none of whom looked even remotely happy to be there. I dont know if they had to look sad or keep a straight face, but they just looked miserable. Before we went to the game, I had a life changing food experience. I had my first Chipotle's, which is a Mexican restaurant. I had a chicken and steak burrito. It was soooo good! Then we headed down to Pier 39 and walked around there for a while before making a quick stop off at the Golden Gate Bridge then drove to the game. It was such a nice day, and was lovely to spend time with Mike's friends too.
Day 7: Mike had to work all day so I was left to fend for myself. The school where Mike works is in the middle of a valley, so is surrounded by 2 big hills. The bigger of the 2 is called Windy Hill. From the top there are beautiful views of California and can see for miles to San Francisco. I have been up there twice before but drove up. So I decided I would be adventurous and walk up. I knew it wasn't going to be a easy walk, but I actually really enjoyed the walk up. It was a cool afternoon so the temperature was perfect. I made it to the top in just over a hour, then decided to make the most of the views at the top so sat down, read a bit of my book, took some pictures and then ate my apple. I have a hard time eating apples, I have quite a small mouth and so every time I bite into a apple I get the juice all over my face. So I now eat apples with a knife which is weird and posh I know. But I dont think I could have been more thankful for my weirdness about half a hour later, when I found myself running back down the hill. I completely mis-timed my walk and forgot how early it got dark in the evening. So just as I began my walk back down the sun disappeared behind the hill leaving me in the dark walking down little dirt tracks under tree's. I have a fear of the dark as it is, but being completely alone in a strange place ad in the middle of nowhere allowed my brain to go into overdrive. And I freaked myself out. I was so scared I even got the knife out of my backpack and help onto it inside my coat pocket. I knew it was craxy and dangerous seen as I couldnt see where I was putting my feet when I was running with only my ipod as a light, but it made me feel a tiny bit safer. What did not help my nerves was the 3 deer that darted across the path in front of me, who then stopped and just stared at me. It really was one of, if not the scariest experience of my life. I was so relieved to see the street lights and get back onto the main road. By the time I got back to the school and Mike saw me I was a huge red sweaty nervous wreck. But still I managed to run down the hill in 35 minutes. It was an interesting 6 miles walk/run but next time I will definitely drive up! To calm myself down I finished my night off watching one of my favourite Christmas films....ELF!! I absolutely love it, it's so funny. I only watched if for the first time about 3 years ago and since then it has been one of my most watched christmas films.
"I just like to smile, smiling's my favourite"
Day 8: I had another first today, I went to Dairy Queen. After seeing TV adverts for Blizzard Cakes, when I was in America in 2010 it has been on my 'To Do' list. However once we got there I realised I had got it very wrong and was thinking of something completely different. The Blizzard is more like a McFlurry not a cake. So after eating a chicken basket which was REAL nice we went to Baskin Robbins to try find a cake for me. It turns out they only sell whole cakes, and even though I think I could have given it a good go I decided against it and settles for a ince cream sundae with brownie, chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce. After about 10 spoonfuls I was ready to burst. It was waaay too much, the portions were huge. Mike then had an away basketball game so I sat down and watched some trash TV and Mr and Mrs Smith. In the evening we went for a yummy meal in Chili's, one of Mike's favourite restaurants.
Day 9: My brother is a keen wannabe body builder and so his wardrobe comprises of workout clothes. He orders a lot of his clothes from America and in order to save on the very expensive postage fee's, he ordered clothes to Mike's for me to bring home in my suitcase. But after unsuccessfully being able to pack light there was no room for me to fit his clothes in so we had to take a trip to the post office and send them from there. Then we went to buy some groceries in Mike's super healthy shop, where we had a lesson/teling off from the lady in front of us in the queue about eating almonds with the skin's on. It was a very strange situation, neither of us knew how to respond, if she wanted us to take them back or pinky promise to never eat them again. After a quick stop in Chipotle's (I had to have another burrito) we went back to Mike's as Mike had an away basketball game. When he got back, I had packed my suitcase and then we set up his new clothes hanger/wardrobe/closet. We did a good job and it looked really good. One last thing I HAD to do before I left was have the best ice cream in America. So off we went to Coldstones. It was soo good, if I ever live in America I am probably going to be their more regular customer.
Day 10: Home time :( After a short night I had to get up at 5am in order to get to the airport for my 8am flight. I was so tired I was looking forward to getting on the plane and hopefully getting some sleep. What I did not expect was to be sat next to the most loved up couple I have seen. The could not keep their hands off each other. Normally it wouldn't bother me but after just having to say goodbye to Mike for 6 weeks it took all of my strength not to cry. I did manage to get a little sleep though but not much, at least I had the window seat to stare out of to try and distract myself from the flirting and giggling from next to me. Then I had a 5 hour lay over in Philidelphia. It was the biggest airport, it was a maze! Thankfully I had so long to waste, I would not want to be in a rush there. To pass the time I went and got myself some food but they gave me the wrong order, and I am not one of those people who complains, I dont have the confidence too so I just ate what I could and threw the rest away.
When I got onto the plane it was half empty so I had 2 seats to myself, it was lovely! The 3 back rows of the plane were empty so it was really nice to be back there, it felt really roomie and spacious. I would say it was quiet if it wasnt for the group of Americans infront of me who had apparently never been taught how to whisper to even talk quietly. But by this time I was too tired to even care and slept for practically the whole flight.
I was a perfect 10 days. I am so so glad I had the chance to go out there. One of the positives of being in a long distance relationship is how much you treasure the time you manage to have together. Now I only have to wait a little over a month to see him again which is so exciting.
Flossy x
