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During late 2008 and early 2009 - Janet had visited USA (on business) a couple of times, each stay was about 3 weeks long...
Then it was requested that she work there for a 9 week period - and she was getting tired of the travelling (so didn't fancy the 3 weekly return trips), and didn't like the idea of being away from Asia (family etc..) for a 9 week period... so - I went along to keep her company.....
A synopsis of the trip.....times are all "local"... and all flights were on-time or early - amazing!!
22/02/2009 - 06:00 Changi Singapore to Narita, Tokyo - Northwest NW0020 22/02/2009 - 15:15 Narita, Tokyo to Minneapolis - Northwest NW0020 22/02/2009 - 13:10 Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Northwest NW1514 08/03/2009 - 14:30 Fort Lauderdale to Houston - Continental CO149 14/03/2009 - 15:15 Houston to Fort Lauderdale - Continental CO1648 26/03/2009 - 14:40 Fort Lauderdale to Houston - Continental CO149 30/04/2009 - 07:00 Houston (Hobby) to Atlanta - Northwest NW4793 30/04/2009 - 12:35 Atlanta to Minneapolis - Northwest NW4805 30/04/2009 - 15:00 Minneapolis to Narita, Tokyo - Northwest NW0019 30/04/2009 - 18:45 Narita, Tokyo to Changi, Singapore - Northwest NW0019
More detail....
22/02/2009 - Up early and we both flew to Tokyo on the same flight although Janet was in Business and I in Economy.... At Narita we got split up - Janet flying either direct to Fort L - or via Houston. I arrive in Fort L 35U$ Taxi to Sheraton Suites at 311 North University Drive - Plantation district.. Zip 33321 Tel: 9544243300 unpack fall asleep and a couple of hours later (20:00) Janet arrives... downstairs to coffee shop - Mexican Fejitas and red wine - to bed and a good sleep... 23/02/2009 - Off to the airport to pick up a hire-car - had to queue for 1+ hours (very slow) - got a Hyundai ?? - and our first experience of GPS....
Eventually found a WalMart - got stacked up with Voddie, food, drinks etc.. then at 18:00 a trip out to (Indian Traces) and the home of Janet's eldest Brother's (Andy) daughter (Debbie) and her husband (Chris) and their lovely daughters. Straight out to a Cuban restaurant - very enjoyable - bananas seemed to be a major ingredient - and our first experience of "driving to a restaurant" - which - if you were in Singapore - you would have driven into a different country (Malaysia and/or Indonesia) - Singapore is only about 50 miles long by 30 miles wide!! 24/02/2009 - The start of the "routine"... Up at 07:00 - drive Janet to work... Turn right out of Hotel onto University Drive South... until Peters Road on right (after about 1 mile), turn right on Peters, continue for half a mile - DHL on left... less than 5 minutes ideally... Get little Acer PC up and running.. Peanut Butter sandwiches for lunch in room.. pick up Janet from work at 18:00 - she to gym, me to Voddie, out to Indian - Chicken Madras with too much coconut flavouring - and no "heat" - more like a Korma!! 25/02/2009 - Ditto - dinner Chilis 26/02/2009 - Ditto - but also - lunch with Janet in Sweet Potatoes - very veggie - excellent buffet.. dinner was Thai 27/02/2009 - Ditto - lunch at Subway - dinner ?? 28/02/2009 - Saturday - Marshalls and Ross' - looking for a jacket for me.. then a walk around Sheraton area... lunch/dinner ?? 01/03/2009 - Sunday - Drive to Fort Meyers on Gulf side of Florida across Everglades... very flat, and not much to see - good road... "continue for 150 miles" - to Sanibel island - very swanky in some places - lunch at stand-up hamburger shack.. we drive to Wulfert.. go out on beach - very bright, very windy - and COLD!! maybe only 55/60F
We drove back to the other (Eastern) end of Sanibel to the Sanibel Island Lighthouse...
Back to Fort L for Thai dinner... 02/03/2009 - Spoke with Clive Lewis on the dog and bone... good to chat after 30+ years.. he lives in Miami now - but alas he was off on a trip to Europe and South Africa.. so no chance of meeting up... lots of chatting about Fred and his (Clive's) kids (including Megan of course)... 03/03/2009 - Lunch with Janet - met up with Steve Wells in the bar at DHL campus - we all then went to Thai for dinner (again!!) 04/03/2009 - routine - Italian dinner.. 05/03/2009 - routine dinner at Dennys - no wine!! 06/03/2009 - routine until 22:00 when I'd seen in the news that there was to be a rocket launch (not the shuttle) from Cape Canaveral. Which is about 200 miles north of Fort L... but I still reckoned we'd see something.... and sure enough we did (on-time launch at 22:49:57.. very exciting.... Janet and I went up onto the roof and looked north - and there it was... an orangey/red fire pushing up (not vertical but arching over) into the sky over the Atlantic until (after about 40 seconds) it went into the clouds.... 07/03/2009 - Drove down to Miami to snoop around... went on the cruise around the port/luxury homes etc.. all a bit "fairgroundish"..
thereafter... getting ready to fly to Houston tomorrow.... 08/03/2009 - Sunday - With Laurie we fly to Houston, both get hire-cars (a Pontiac Sebring for Janet), and into Sheraton Suites, Brookhollow Hotel, 3000 North Loop west Freeway, Houston, Texas, 77092 09/03/2009 - New routine.. the drive to work (515, Westgreens Rd., Suite 1000 Houston, Texas, 77067) was much further than the easy Fort L trip... suffice to say it was about 4 miles East then 9 miles North and prone to delays... taking 30 minutes at best - and 2 hours at worst... (from hotel - onto I610 East then after 4 miles - left (North) onto I45 (this was difficult because it was a "left exit" off - then 8 miles to exit 60B, thenleft, right, right and right - to DHL..... This hotel was fine enough but miles from any shopping/restaurants... so it got changed for the next visit... 10/03/2009 - to 13/03/2009 - routine.. except to note that the hotel got very busy on the Friday (13th.. when hundreds of "line-dancers" arrived for an all night bash.. they looked pretty jaded the next morning... 14/03/2009 - Saturday - Janet and I to Fort L. where we rented a Kia ?? and drove back to Sheraton Suites at Plantation. 15/03/2009 - Sunday routine 16/03/2009 - Got the workers to work then took a trip...East into Fort Lauderdale (on 842 Broward) - then - by the ocean, left/north up A1A which runs directly next to the beach.... First few miles - getting out of Fort L and Fort L by the Sea, pretty average.. lots of hotels/condos, cars parked everywhere, to get a place on the beach you'd have to get there early and find a decent car park.... From Hillsboro Lighthouse, through Hillsboro Beach.... very, very nice houses with ocean vistas out East, and their Gin Palaces parked at the bottom of their gardens, just over A1A... amazing wealth!! The Ocean one side (right East) and Inland Waterway the other (left West) continues for some miles through Boca Raton where (at Highland Beach) it starts to get very wealthy again but I have to turn back - getting late..... All this way (20 to 30 miles) it has been a pleasant 2 lane road... but lots of traffic lights and speed restrictions.. and I decide to head home on the expressway.. At Briny Breezes I turn left (west) and left again, onto I95 South... which is just crammed full (6 lanes) of traffic moving at about 30 moles per hour.... Only get back (just) in time to pick up the workers... 17/03/2009 - After worker drop-off - I walk from hotel south along University Drive, turn right at Peters Road, up past DHL on left, turn right on Flamingo Road, right on Broward, left on University, back to Hotel on left - 1 hour 10 minutes, first bit of exercise for a couple of weeks!! brilliant sunny days!! About 75F. 18/03/2009 - routine - did the walk again.... 19/03/2009 to 25/03/2009 - routine 26/03/2009 - bye-bye Fort L - we fly to Houston - whilst flying we get diverted to Austin because of a big storm in Houston, whilst diverting - Houston clears... so we revert to there..... pick up a Nissan Rogue SUV (good - except noisy in back). Into Sheraton Suites, 2400 West Loop South, Houston, Texas, 77027 Tel: 7135862444 right near The Galleria and Westheimer road.. 27/03/2009 - routine but an ever longer commute into work.. from hotel, push over 3 lanes and do a U-Turn underneath I610 then up ramp (North) onto I610 and just where it merges with I10 East ....... the "old route from Brookhollow" starts... 28/03/2009 Saturday - settling in.. 29/03/2009 Sunday - we explore - Galveston (30/35 miles south)... Had heard that it was badly hit by Hurricane Ike in September 2008, but found ourselves driving into something of a war-zone.... Lots of wreckage and destroyed houses etc... lots of people trying to rebuild/renew etc.. found the "beach" - it had been destroyed... trucks bringing in sand from elsewhere - to dump it where the beach used to be... the Flagship Hotel (on the pier) was open to the elements and the ramps for cars arriving had been smashed so nothing could venture onto the pier. we had lunch in Fish Tails/Tales (its spelled both ways) directly opposite the pier - and they reported only 3 broken windows... compared to devastation on the pier and elsewhere... Drove across Galveston island to the cruise centre/port/Strand area... very old/nice architecture - but..... devastated... there is a mark on a building about 10 feet up the wall identifying the depth of water in that central business district so most of the buildings have been invaded by water.. what to do with them?? 30/03/2009 - Routine - but for some reason I note that out of our hotel window - we look down on 15 lanes of traffic!! 31/03/2009 - routine except for... I allow 1 hour to drive to or from the office... quickest has been 30 minutes, average was 50 minutes... but this day.. big crash (not me) when going to pick the workers up, had caused massive traffic jams, I drove off the expressway trying to circle round the area of congestion... but lots of others were doing this....AND of course - GPS was continually trying to divert me back onto the expressway, AND I didn't have a map - to show me where roads I perhaps could take.... went to.... got to the DHL office 1 hour late - but they'd heard the news of the crash and were expecting a delay... trip home was easy.... they clear the jams up very quickly!! 01/04/2009 to 06/04/2009 - routine 07/04/2009 - Bill Henderson (William Skougal Henderson III) comes to the hotel for a day of reminiscing (old wives.... 11:00 to 19:00)... good chat - would have easily recognised him on the street.. and I am very annoyed - because he drives a Mercedes 500SLR!! Bill thanks for coming round..... Janet picks Marga up from the airport and brings her to the hotel... - a different routine begins... 08/04/2009 - Marga jet-lags out of bed around 13:30 - but I'd taken the workers in already... 09/04/2009 to 10/04/2009 - routine 11/04/2009 Saturday - With Janet, Marga and Laurie we go to Kemah (its something of a fairground and residential (alas also badly hit by Ike) "must-see place")
Then drove to Nasa Mission Control.... we drove to a gate and asked if we were allowed in?? The guards said "sure - park over there" - which we did and walked in (what turned out to be) the back door of the Saturn C5 exhibit...
Unknown to us... we had joined a "route" around Nasa.. partway through.. and kept running up against... "where do we go now" decisions - but only much later did we realise we had not paid the $20 entrance fee (each) and we were going "backwards"....
We then drove to the Strand Area of town... and into a Surf & Turf restaurant - swish and nice...
back to Houston by 22:00.
12/04/2009 Sunday - Raining, I took Margs and Janet to church, then they went shopping... 13/04/2009 to 15/04/2009 - routine except.. 14th - I decide to try a new route to the office - via Route 8 the Beltway - load of rubbish.. we were about 1 hour late.. not happy - I blame Marga!! 16/04/2009 - routine until 15:00 - when we picked Janet up from work and drove up I45 to Dallas/Fort Worth. First 20/30 miles was all expressway road works, heavy traffic - but then in the Houston Hills (Sam Houston National Forest) it all started to get lovely... rolling hills, very green (not for long - summer's coming), easy traffic.... lovely country.. GPS was working well (not much to do except "stay on I45 for 100+ miles")... but it then started directing us off towards Fort Worth across country.. we gave up with it for about 20 minutes - then suddenly it "re-connected" and took us straight to.. Casey and Brian, Madison and Grayson, Doris and Howard.. all of whom were at Casey and Brian's lovely house in Beddington. Doris is Janet's sister. Howard is her husband. Casey is Doris' daughter, Brian is her husband, and the 2 kiddie-winks are their children. Tremendous house - 10 foot ceilings and all on 1 level... Great to see Casey again after about 15 years... Brian is a very welcoming and enjoyable man, of course the kiddie-winks were great.. and super to see Doris and Howard on "home-turf". 17/04/2009 - to 18/04/2009 - a new routine... the ladies would go off shopping - all day until about 18:00... Brian would work, the kiddie-winks would be at school/play-group, Casey would work or shop.. whilst Howard cooked and he and I jawed all day long!! Soup for dinner the first arrival night then.. Pot Roast the next night, then Spag Bol. Home coking after weeks of eating out - fantastic!! Picture roundup........
19/04/2009 - We buy lunch in a great swanky Italian restaurant (Brio) in ?Lakeside City?- obviously a wealthy part of the world... the place was full and very busy.. everybody well dressed and prosperous looking.. After lunch we had to say our goodbyes and thankyous and then it was an easy 4+ hours back to Houston... a great break and lovely to see everybody... 20/04/2009 to 29/04/2009 - routine in Houston (except for one day - where around 17:00 Marga and I set off for the evening worker pick-up... straight into the worst weather I have ever driven in.... expressways were full of cars... rain was lashing down - spurred on by high winds that physically moved the car... between 7 and 11 inches of rain within a 3 hour period... we just drove very slowly (5 mph) - Hazzard warning lights on.. and basically followed the tail-lights of the guy in front - this left flooding for the next day - and even one death..... Spoke with Andy etc.. on a group Web-cam call - good to see Brian, Sharon, Carl and Alec (in Wisconsin??) - Marga flew off on 29th to Hong Kong - but - because of the Swine Flu checking at Narita, Tokyo... she missed her connecting flight and was put up in Radisson Hotel... flew on the next day. 30/04/2009 - Me up at 04:00 - down to reception at 04:30 for Booked taxi at 04:40 to 04:55... they phone to say running 30 minutes late.. Arrive at airport (Houston Hobby) around 05:45 - enter terminal... first sign I see "ALL Security Checks"... so I follow.. only to find I must have checked-in first (in Manila Security comes before check-in - also again afterwards)... go back where I came from (carrying 2 big cases and 1 roller).. ask a "helper" lady "where do I check in for NorthWest?" - she says - "Northwest don't fly from here - but I've only been on the job for 2 weeks so go over there"... to a lady who directs me to "Delta Airlines" (bear in mind my flight is NW123 - and that is NorthWest)... so I queue there and a very helpful lady from the adjacent airline SkyBlue asks for my Ticket - which I hand over - and the upshot is... there's been lots of airline takeovers (basically Delta has bought everybody) - so... wanting to get on a Northwest flight... I check-in at Delta and SkyBlue desks, hand over my ticket which also confirms that the first flight is operated by SouthWest Airlines, and they print me a boarding pass which says KLM Royal Dutch Airlines!! Excuse me... could it get more confusing?? And they expect you to do all the checking-in etc... using AutoCheckinMachines!! No way!! Anyway - apart from silly Tokyo where we were told to stay sitting - so that 20 men in goggles and masks and hospital over-garments, could interview us and take "piccies" of us before allowing us off (all the while asking if we'd been in touch with anybody coughing and snorting) - 1 hour delay there - arrived back in Spore - 1 hour after Janet (she flew Houston, Tokyo, Spore - I had to go, Houston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Tokyo, Spore) around midnight Friday night (32 hours travelling)... spent Sat - unpacking and trying to get things to work...
Hooray!! Home.... but what a change - they're building all around us....
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Go to my other Sites: Home Web-Site | Lived | Family | Worked | Schooled | Pools | Computers | OddsnSods | POWWEB-1 | POWWEB-2 | Photos | Christianz Interiors Last update - June16, 2009 - email to djmikecurley@gmail.com - Most pictures/images - Cannot click to enlarge |
Note the new jacket!! if I remember rightly - this was a choppy
day on the Gulf and it was this day that 2 or 3 NFL players were about 20 miles
off the coast when their boat overturned and one or two of them were sadly
lost...
Just
round the corner from the lighthouse... views (across the water) of Fort Meyers
Beach etc..
Here
we just stopped at the water/beach in a suburban area... well messed-up!!
Then
into central Kemah (Pier, restaurants, fairground) and .. a nice lunch in Landrys
The
large Saturn rocket is inside the building at left - we're about to go in there
(the wrong way!!) we'll see the rocket displays when we come out the far end...
You can just see Laurie about to enter (below the NASA sign)...
I
particularly enjoyed the Saturn C5 - massive.. and all that wiring and tubing
etc... around the rockets - I don't reckon that was designed - it just
evolved... or quite possibly "grew" overnight!! That certainly gets into my
Boeing 747 classification of "it'll never get off the ground!!"
Ah
- we're out now - looking at the standing rockets...
Then into the Mission Control building (just one of
lots of building that had no windows) up to the 5th floor - and there it was...
what we see on the News... smaller and less busy than expected.... but - of
course... nothing was going on (except the ISS (space station) and that was all
routine anyway - so there were no people manning the consoles.... 
Lots of buildings with no windows...
Lunar Mission displays...From there - to Galveston...
walked along the front by the pier/hotel (very windy - cool), 
Here's Fish Tales restaurant (we went there a couple of weeks earlier) - why is
it spelled "Tales" but has a Tail out the roof??
This
is the hotel on the pier... look - you can see rooms open to the elements - and
- the drive-in, onto the pier - has been washed away...
