30 New things I learned in the US

A foot selfie

The list is in chronological order.

1. There are no queens walking the streets of Queens. At least not at seven in the morning.

2. A day in New York can become excrutiatingly long if your shadow is the only companion you have. *insert gesture of sympathy*

3. Some lawns in public parks can be closed by placing a simple little sign which everyone obeys. Amazing.

4. Don’t attempt converting dollars to your local currency when ordering steak. Or beer. You’ll end up only having one and require a second bond on your house to pay the bill.

I’m going to Miami

And now you may thank me for having the Will Smith song stuck in your head.

This is not a mere coincidence. I’m actually going.  For real ya’all. I’m boarding a plane to cross the Atlantic, for the umpteenth time, and dropping down landing safely in the poster-city of all things American Summer.  Even though it seems most of the people over there don’t speak English.  Or American for that matter. I’m travelling for (and not in) business, but I do intend to sneak away and stick my weird looking toes in the sand of South beach.  I don’t know anything about Miami other than what I’ve seen in movies or in rap music video’s.  Based on this limited, one-sided portrayal of the city, you may rest assure that there are certain things I will NOT do whilst exposing myself.  To the sights and sounds of Miami.

To the land of the free…again

Passport…check
Tickets…check
Wallet…check
Luggage…check
Sense of humour…check
Patience…still loading…

All of the above are required to enter the US. Yes my peeps, I am off to the land of the free again.

The road to the Quarterfinal play-offs.

We have this thing.  With “we” I mean my friends and I.   Some people prefer to do their thing in the comfort and privacy of their own home.  Some even do it in the bedroom.  We’ve found the best way to add spice to our thing, is to do it in the company of each other.  It creates more atmosphere, ups the excitement level and it’s always a thrill seeing the expressions of my friends when our thing turns out better than we expected.

If the moment is truly epic, then there’s loud, roaring cheers and high-fives all around.  And why not, most things are simply better when you do it with friends.  Except off course falling out of a window.  That would be bad with or without friends.  Especially if the window is like really high and you end up falling on concrete and… sorry.  That’s not our thing.  Our “thing” is the LOVE of rugby.  Oops.  I meant to say wives, the fact that we love our wives.  And to watch rugby.

8 US Cities in 11 Days (Post Mortem)

Contrary to popular belief, I also had some time to take a few pics of the two landmarks I got to see during my stint in the USA. (All taken with my smart phone, I let you know.) Based on the hundreds of photo’s I took, I consider these 3 to be some of my favourites, so I thought I’d do the decent thing and share them with you.  I wanted to post one of my selfies, but the fact that my face is on it, ruins the whole composition.  And some of you still need to eat today.

Wow, what a pretty, little rainbow…

8 US Cities in 11 Days (Part 1)

(A successful blogger once said that one should never assume that people have read posts already published, so to enlighten those reading this, I suggest the prelude.)

I connected through Atlanta from Johannesburg, which was pretty standard as far as landing and disembarkation goes, only to revel in the patience of custom officials.  There was a queue eleven miles long, some of the people was still standing on the runway.  The officials were extremely unsympathetic towards passengers with connection flights, thereby redefining my understanding of not giving a shit.  We all know that in these frustrating times, the best thing to do is to keep your mouth shut, get that stamp and run like hell to the next terminal.

8 Cities, 11 Days (Prelude)

I was hoping to have more time and write a spectacular post as a preview to my next adventure.  Unfortunately time didn’t do me any favours.  And unlike Matthew in that awfully confusing movie, Interstellar, I don’t stay the same age as days go by.  I only have so much time allocated in the daily 8 hours of work, and sometimes, just sometimes, blogging needs to take a back seat.

I was extremely busy, putting together my itinerary for an unplanned trip.  Or in layman’s terms, I was putting together a ridiculous travel schedule, organising plane tickets that probably makes me the most hated human being in the eyes of my travel agent, planning awkward meeting dates and corresponding hotel bookings, with that inevitable car rental.

Washington Monument

The weather wasn’t great, but at least it didn’t rain.

So they really like their national flag…

Orlando, Florida

I spent most of my times in meeting, so I was fortunate to walk passed an open window and catch the scene on my phone.

At least they have this…

New York – Time Square

This must be the busiest place I know, and I’m convinced the rest of the world was empty on this Saturday morning, for everyone was here.

A place where you can lose yourself