(written in the early hours of Monday 11th January)
Well I can safely say that this trip has been fantastic. For those of you have read my blog up till now, I hope it's come across how great this trip has been.
Yesterday we changed gears slightly. We visited a mall area close to the airport (as Dan was flying back on Sunday,) that had a slight European feel to it because of it's layout and the use of street lighting on the pavement which isn't commonly used in N.Carolina. Prior to that, we did indulge in breakfast in a diner where, lets just say some shenanigans were taking place involving a side dish called 'Grits' (which is essentially porrige with no taste whatsoever), adding lots of different flavours to it (such as Hot sauce and syrup) and then eating it. (Well, Dan and Hugo tried a bit, and let's just say they'll never be the same again!)
Following that, for dinner in the evening, we went to a place that Hugo had mentioned quite a few time to us, Red Hot & Blue, a BBQ style establishment where for the first time on this trip, I ate a burger! (Took me long enough.)
Again, almost another chill out night, similar to Saturday night. A very relaxed time, and great way to spend our final evening in N.Carolina.
At the time of writing this, it's just gone 7am (local time) on Monday morning. We fly back home at 8pm (Red eye flight, yay~!). So I believe the plan is that it' just going to be perhaps going to a few other places including possibly a museum!
This could be last blog regarding this holiday. I'm sure there'll be more blogs in the future, but unless something very eventful occurs today, perhaps don't expect another. But, you never know!
Take care everyone, and thanks for reading~!
Monday, 11 January 2010
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Part 4 - We are gathered here today...
(Written on January 9th)
Today (the big day,) began in an unexpected way, with me lying in bed and seeing Hugo trying to do something to the alarm clock by the bedside table. I was literally lost in thinking what he was doing, and just as he walked away moments later, what sound like the loudest ticking time bomb ever, began to make a horrible noise. But of course, it was the alarm clock that Hugo had set literally only moments earlier.
(To say there were a few expletives being bellowed out at just after 7am when this happened could be called an understatement.)
Following this charade, we went and had what would be the final breakfast in the life of Hugo as an unmarried man! We then began getting ready for our departure time to the venue of 10.30am.
There genuinely were no problems with any of us getting ready. At 10.30 we did get a phone call explaining that there was apparenty a marathon taking place very close to the venue, and that we might need to be let through a police blokade!
Luckilly for us, this marathon didn't affect our journey at all.
When we arrived at the venue (Second Empire) it was quite simply, a fantastic place! It was beautiful, had won so many awards for it excellence service over the years according to the many plaques being displayed, it's phenominal interia design, basically it was brilliant!
We were greeted by the our reverend Kayelilly Middleton for the service and also given a run through as to what will be happeneing during the ceremony. The ceremony began at midday, and lasted for around 20 minutes. Vows were exchanged, and There was a reading from the the happy couple by Kayelilly using the lyrics of a Willie Nelson song, and an extract from the Japanese manga 'Bleach' expressing the devotion they have for each other. It was a really touching service, with aproximately 20 people (including the gromsmen) in attendance. I really did start welling up towards the end. It was a service that really touched me, mainly because it included content (for lack of a better word,) they wanted that had a strong conection with them. To know that they both got the service they were truely happy with added even more emotion to it in my opinion.
Another great thing about the service is that we were able to get Hugo's younger sister venetia on the phone to listen in for the whole ceremony through skype on my iPhone! There was no Internet available at the venue, but there was an unprotected wifi signal from the building next door! So I used that to get Venetia to listen in through skype (for free as she was using skype at home in the UK! I know they wished they could have streamed it live over the net (be it audio or video,) but given I only discovered this wifi connection 30 minutes before the ceremony began, it couldn't have been sorted.)
(I would also like to point out that Kayelilly actually keeps an ongoing blog about the weddings she reverends. Although at the time of writing this blog she has not updated with this one, her blog can be found at http://raleighweddingblog.blogspot.com )
Following the service, we went outside to take the photos, and afterwards headed downstairs inside Second Empire, for food. The quality of food was phenomenal. The starter was a salad that was very nice that I believe had a vinegar style dressing on. For my main course I selected to have a chicken pasta with vegetables. This so so nice, but honestly, after all the food I've indulged in over the past few days, I just couldn't finish it. But I can safely say it's perhaps the best pasta I've err had! And for desert we had cake (which was awesome), but not before the speech from the best man (Dan) gave his speech! It was a really good speech that painted a picture of the great man that Hugo is and how truely lucky Madison is to be married to him, and a funny story from their childhood which showed a 'cheating' side of Hugo in a game of pin the tail on the donkey.
In terms of the arrangement of guests, Madison and younger sister Morgan arrange it all. I was sat next to a man by the name of steve (who was a long tim friend of Ray, Madison's dad) along with sitting across from Taner (the official photographer) and Nicole (the wife of Steve). It almost felt like we were the wild card section of guests but this turned out not to be the case when it turned out Taner was a big football (soccer) fan, particularly European football (I'm an Arsenal fan). Nicole like American tv shows (amongst other subjects) and Steve, was a big fan of pro wrestling dating back to the 1980's with the legendary Jim Crockett promotions based in the Carolinas, as well as current pro wrestling also! I mentioned to Steve I hosted Dropkick Radio, and before you knew it we were talking wrestling non-stop for at least 20 to 30 minutes. He was testing me on my knowledge from the 1980's and I did not dissapoint!
(Honestly, the last thing I expected to be doing at Hugo's wedding was talking 1980's pro wrestling in depth with a close family friend of Madison! You can't predict things like that!)
From there myself, Lawrence and Dan departed back to the hotel and the happy newlyweds also did the same in their own vehicle. However it didn't take them long to end up in our room to finish an epic battle of... 4 WAY CHESS! Yes it does exsit and it's quite different to say the least!
It's a battle that went right down to the wire, with many occasions where someone (*cough* Hugo) forgot when his go was, it ended up being a stale mate, where there were laughs, tempers flared, and lots of strategy to be had in a game I actually wished I had played as it does seem quite brain teasing to say the least. They were planning on playing Risk! But we had to head to Madison's house for dinner. Now that last sentance may have sounded like I wasn't looking forward to it, but quite the opposite! I was really looking forward to it! I get on really well with all of Madison's family that I've met, so this was sure to be a fun evening... and that it was!
We essentially just chilled out with some finger food, some ice cold drinks (beer for me,) and some fun casual conversations! Most of the food we got in was from a fast food outlet called 'Bojangles' which is prodominantly chicken (like KFC) but in many ways better. And we just sat around and chatted about a whole variety of subjects. In fairness probably what we all needed really. It just a really fun evening, however I
starting to think that I'm getting acustomed to Budweiser/Bud Light. I've had a fair amount by my standards over the the last few days.
Tomorrow it's a brunch at 9.30am, Dan flies home at about 6pm, and who knows what else could happen!
Until then, take care!
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Part 3 - the last day before the big day!
Today (Friday) began for me at about 6am local time. I just sat in bed and awaited for the others to awake from their slumber which didn't take very long. We indulged in the complimentary breakfast featuring cereal, yoghurt, bread/toast, bagels and waffels.
Today we'd planned to visit a local mall at Crabtree. Because of the time difference (I.E. us waking up early,) we actually arrived at the mall earlier than practically every shops opening time. So we just wandered around and stopped by the Barnes & Nobel book store, where they had tons of manga and some great novelties item plus board games including Nintendo franchised Monopoly! I ended up not buying it today, but you never know, If I find it again, I might just have to!
After this stop, we ventured into a fantastic shop called Best Buy. A store that sells all kinds of DVDs, phones, electronics, gaming systems, ect.
There were tons of DVDs that were tempting to buy, but only one made the cut this time around... The second movie relating to the anime 'Bleach'.
I ventured round to the games section and proceeded to find a DJ Hero display model! So I played on that, but it did feel like this version (for playststion 3) wasn't as smooth as the xbox version. Following this I found Rock Band on demo! But not just one part, the whole band! 2 x guitars, vocals and drums! At first I played 'eye of the tiger' with Dan on drums (who had never ever played it before) and myself on guitar. Unfotunatley the sound was really low on the tv, so it very difficult to play when we were meant to be playing. The next round featured another customer (who we didn't know at all) joining in, and him wanting to play the same song just did. ) except he knew how the tv worked, so he turned up the volume and we played the same song once again! Midway through this guy got a phone call and had to depart, so Lawrence took over and we finished the song. after this, we drafted Hugo into the mix who went on vocals, as we turned up the volume once again for a song which everyone can enjoy... 'Livin' on a prayer' by Bon jovi!
To say this was fun, is an understatment! This was bloody awesome! Dan had never played the game, let alone the drums before, and he loved and really got into it! If you can just imagine us all to rocking out and singing to that song, it was quite a site! We decided we'd have a go at one more that was a bit challenging, so I chose 'Let there be rock' by ACDC! This was fun!!!! Dan got so into the drums, I was headbanging, Lawrence was bass grooving and Hugo was proudly blagging the vocals, and the had a creschendo where we play whatever we wanted for a few minutes, and it amazing how we all just went out on this and Dan was doing so much that he just on the floor in a heap, lol.
Following this epic 30 mins that it was, we payed for our things and ventured into a few more shops including the utter greatness that is/was... THE LEGO STORE!!!!!
This place... this place was great! Just packed to the rafters with Lego includng their awesome star wars range! How on earth somone will pay $500 for a huge Lego Millenium Falcon I'll never know!
Plus they had this really cool feature involving their Lego city range, where you could hold a box of one of the products in front of a camera mounted in a monitor, and the actual finaihed model would appear on top of the box on the tv! It was cool!!!!!!!
After (eventually) leaving that fantastic shop, we headed to another mall where we met up with the others to indulge in lunch plus more venturing!
The resteraunt we went to was named 'Champs'. It's a sports bar style resteraunt with a lot of TV sets to watch sport on! I was able to indulge in something I'd been craving for since my last trip... PHILLY CHEESE STEAK SANDWICH!!!!!!!!
(and it was good!!!!!!)
We then proceeded to take some photos of random things (which will eventually see the light of day,) and have a mosey into a few more shops including FYE which is a music/DVD/games/ect outlet. I purchased something called a snuggy, which is basically a giant blanket with arm holes! It's great, lol
We visited a few more outlets including Hudson & Beck. We ended up downstairs in the Pro Golf Tour clothing section adjacent to a section where Lawrence was looking for some clothing. Upon paying, the cashier who goes by the name Joseph, enquirer where we were from, and he proceeded to tell us about his trip to London with his wife some 40 years ago! And how it was mainly on a business venture, but he also went to some shows in the west end and attended a lunch The Dorchester hotel! He told is how when he sat at the table he couldn't understand why there were 3 or 4 sets of knives and forks, and the waiter to help him I using the right ones, by coughing when he was about to pick up the wrong one. By the end of the night, waiter had quite a horse voice!
Joseph was speaking to us for about 30 minutes, not just on London but also wishing Hugo and Madison all the best (jospeh enquirer why we were in N.Carolina), it was quite the story and being honest, you don't hear stories like that, especially when it's sparked over Lawrence buying a jumper, lol.
We then visited one more shop before heading to another place know as Target (kind like their equivilent of a huge Tesco) to look for a few bits and bobs for tomorrow.
However, upon leaving the car, Dan couldn't find his wallet! We looked all over the car, and could find it! Following our quick venture round Target, we headed back to Macy's (the place we were in before leaving, and was also the last place Dan purchased something,) and luckilly it had been handed in with all the contents intact. Phew.
We then headed to another restaraunt. This time it was mexican, again was a great meal, and from this I can officially say I've never eaten so much in a 2 day period, lol.
And to wind down the evening, the lads took Hugo out for a few drinks to a local sports bar where alchoholic bevereges were had. From there this brings us to just before 10am local time Saturday 9th January 2010. The day that Hugo Jackson is getting married! The ceremony begins at 12pm (5pm GMT).
So when you next read my blog, Hugo will be a married man.
Take care everyone, and speak to you soon.
Today we'd planned to visit a local mall at Crabtree. Because of the time difference (I.E. us waking up early,) we actually arrived at the mall earlier than practically every shops opening time. So we just wandered around and stopped by the Barnes & Nobel book store, where they had tons of manga and some great novelties item plus board games including Nintendo franchised Monopoly! I ended up not buying it today, but you never know, If I find it again, I might just have to!
After this stop, we ventured into a fantastic shop called Best Buy. A store that sells all kinds of DVDs, phones, electronics, gaming systems, ect.
There were tons of DVDs that were tempting to buy, but only one made the cut this time around... The second movie relating to the anime 'Bleach'.
I ventured round to the games section and proceeded to find a DJ Hero display model! So I played on that, but it did feel like this version (for playststion 3) wasn't as smooth as the xbox version. Following this I found Rock Band on demo! But not just one part, the whole band! 2 x guitars, vocals and drums! At first I played 'eye of the tiger' with Dan on drums (who had never ever played it before) and myself on guitar. Unfotunatley the sound was really low on the tv, so it very difficult to play when we were meant to be playing. The next round featured another customer (who we didn't know at all) joining in, and him wanting to play the same song just did. ) except he knew how the tv worked, so he turned up the volume and we played the same song once again! Midway through this guy got a phone call and had to depart, so Lawrence took over and we finished the song. after this, we drafted Hugo into the mix who went on vocals, as we turned up the volume once again for a song which everyone can enjoy... 'Livin' on a prayer' by Bon jovi!
To say this was fun, is an understatment! This was bloody awesome! Dan had never played the game, let alone the drums before, and he loved and really got into it! If you can just imagine us all to rocking out and singing to that song, it was quite a site! We decided we'd have a go at one more that was a bit challenging, so I chose 'Let there be rock' by ACDC! This was fun!!!! Dan got so into the drums, I was headbanging, Lawrence was bass grooving and Hugo was proudly blagging the vocals, and the had a creschendo where we play whatever we wanted for a few minutes, and it amazing how we all just went out on this and Dan was doing so much that he just on the floor in a heap, lol.
Following this epic 30 mins that it was, we payed for our things and ventured into a few more shops including the utter greatness that is/was... THE LEGO STORE!!!!!
This place... this place was great! Just packed to the rafters with Lego includng their awesome star wars range! How on earth somone will pay $500 for a huge Lego Millenium Falcon I'll never know!
Plus they had this really cool feature involving their Lego city range, where you could hold a box of one of the products in front of a camera mounted in a monitor, and the actual finaihed model would appear on top of the box on the tv! It was cool!!!!!!!
After (eventually) leaving that fantastic shop, we headed to another mall where we met up with the others to indulge in lunch plus more venturing!
The resteraunt we went to was named 'Champs'. It's a sports bar style resteraunt with a lot of TV sets to watch sport on! I was able to indulge in something I'd been craving for since my last trip... PHILLY CHEESE STEAK SANDWICH!!!!!!!!
(and it was good!!!!!!)
We then proceeded to take some photos of random things (which will eventually see the light of day,) and have a mosey into a few more shops including FYE which is a music/DVD/games/ect outlet. I purchased something called a snuggy, which is basically a giant blanket with arm holes! It's great, lol
We visited a few more outlets including Hudson & Beck. We ended up downstairs in the Pro Golf Tour clothing section adjacent to a section where Lawrence was looking for some clothing. Upon paying, the cashier who goes by the name Joseph, enquirer where we were from, and he proceeded to tell us about his trip to London with his wife some 40 years ago! And how it was mainly on a business venture, but he also went to some shows in the west end and attended a lunch The Dorchester hotel! He told is how when he sat at the table he couldn't understand why there were 3 or 4 sets of knives and forks, and the waiter to help him I using the right ones, by coughing when he was about to pick up the wrong one. By the end of the night, waiter had quite a horse voice!
Joseph was speaking to us for about 30 minutes, not just on London but also wishing Hugo and Madison all the best (jospeh enquirer why we were in N.Carolina), it was quite the story and being honest, you don't hear stories like that, especially when it's sparked over Lawrence buying a jumper, lol.
We then visited one more shop before heading to another place know as Target (kind like their equivilent of a huge Tesco) to look for a few bits and bobs for tomorrow.
However, upon leaving the car, Dan couldn't find his wallet! We looked all over the car, and could find it! Following our quick venture round Target, we headed back to Macy's (the place we were in before leaving, and was also the last place Dan purchased something,) and luckilly it had been handed in with all the contents intact. Phew.
We then headed to another restaraunt. This time it was mexican, again was a great meal, and from this I can officially say I've never eaten so much in a 2 day period, lol.
And to wind down the evening, the lads took Hugo out for a few drinks to a local sports bar where alchoholic bevereges were had. From there this brings us to just before 10am local time Saturday 9th January 2010. The day that Hugo Jackson is getting married! The ceremony begins at 12pm (5pm GMT).
So when you next read my blog, Hugo will be a married man.
Take care everyone, and speak to you soon.
Friday, 8 January 2010
Part 2 - a long time ago in a galaxy far far away...
(Before you start Reading, I just want to point out that this is quite a long read, so grab a coffee or something. Also. I'll try and add some pictures to these blogs when I can access it on my laptop, and when I can transfer the pics from my phone also.)
(Written on Thursday 7th January 2010)
Since I last wrote at about half eleven last night (Wednesday) I can safely say I probably got about an hour (2 hours tops) of sleep. I was certainly an interesting experince sleeping on the floor of an airport with what appeared to be at least a hundred people. There were some characters about the place too during the night, including a very drunk man who was drinking tons of Tesco value lager!
I think Lawrence summed it up best when saying that last night was almost similar to the Tom Hanks film 'The Terminal'. Except we could get out if we wanted.
When morning came (5am), my day began by waiting for the slumbering giant that was lying on the marble floor next to me all night, Lawrence, to awake (which of course he eventually did. He somehow managed to get 5 hours of sleep... lucky bugger) and from there we treated ourselves to an energy drink to see if the caffine could make either of us reletively coherant.
Just before 6am we headed downstairs to the check in area for American Airlines. There was already a huge cue of people for the regular check in method, but the self service was not being used as much. (I guess the concept is still quite foreign to some.) Whilst navigating that, who should show up, but one Mr. Daniel Hill (Hugo's best man). He managed to get here with no problems at all following the affect the weather may of had on the roads. (Irony, eh!)
We then proceded to the security check/departure lounge section of Terminal 3. When it came to the checks, I had no problem, but both Dan and Lawrence got patted down after walking through the metal detector. Then next on call was, you guessed it, the pub! We got some breakfast and proceeded to quite simply, hang about for hours (our flight was until midday,) until Hugo's parents made it (which they did, but not until after an interesting tale at check in! And it wasn't to do with being on the wrong flight or anything like that!) and waiting for our flight. All went according to plan on that front. When Coral and Rob arrived with Dulcee (Hugo's older sister) her boyfriend Matt, they didn't have any bags with them, just plastic wallets with some things like books and laptops in?!?
Basically what had happened is, sometime between us going thrugh to the departure lounge and them arriving at check in, the allowance for hand luggage had been dramatically reduced! Meaning they could essentially take nothing with them apart from a few items like a book, and origjnally intended items of hand luggage had to be placed in your other bags that were going into the hold! I find it amazing how much they've had to battle to get to this point, but the main thing is that they made it!
When it came time to boarding the plane, that's a whole other story entirely!
Because of the attempted airplane bombing on Christmas day, there were now VERY tight security checks at the gate!
Basically, a pat down, search through all your hand luggage while cross questioning you about certain items in my possesion like my lap top "when did you last use it?" I had a bottle of water that bought earlier in the departure lounge and she said to me "take a sip of your water!" (this to make sure it hadn't been tampered with in any way.) They also checked my jacket, my scarf, and my giant shoes (to make sure they were the same size and that, again, they didn't appear tampered with.)
In many ways quite a stressful experience! As you probably guessed from all this happening, our flight was delayed. And once we were onboard we had to wait and extra hour and and a half half or so, because whilst talking on the tannoy to the passengers, the captain informed us the fuel pump wasn't working properly!
Note,- This can't be detected until the plane is about to be towed. (just what we wanted to hear, lol)
Also, at this point, because I was so tired I actually just fell asleep at that point,lol. (Lawrence and Dan tell me I was out for about half an hour or so.)
During the flight itself, I managed gain a few more hours sleep as did Lawrence. We were able to secure emergancy exit seats so we had 'slightly' more leg room. It was a very long flight, but had very good service by the cabin crew, food was ok, and the toilets are more crampt me trying to wear a size 10 shoe when I'm size 15! (tried to think of something funny there, and I failed, I know.)
Following the flight, passport control wasn't an issue, just bit of a wait. And it finally came to meeting the bride and groom! As we filtered out of baggage control one by one, Hugo's face told the story. He couldn't believe that, 1) this new world he's been venturing in for the past year finally had us gate crashing it, and 2) that we actually made it out here!
Madison is a really great person. And although the entire situation is still slightly surreal, I know Hugo has made the right and great decision about getting married. She's a really kind person and that was made obvious to me from the first initial couple of minutes if meeting her.
From there, we got a rental car which Hugo and Dan can drive, and headed to the hotel!
It's a pretty big hotel room (it needed to be with four us staying in it,) and the first order of business for myself and Lawrence... have a shower! (Remember, we'd been in the same clothes for around 36 hours straight, having spent the night in heathrow and, been sitting on a plane for about 10 hours. It's fair to say it we needed it, lol.)
Following a quick clean up, we then ventured to a Japanese resteraunt called Kanki. This wasn't just any Japanese reteraunt though! To paint a quick picutre of what we were in for, in movies or tv shows there are some resteraunts where the food is prepared in front of you, whilst seeing lots of fire, and tricks with cooking equipment... well that's exactly what we had! A incredibly nice dinner that was literally prepared in front if us! We had rice, shrimp, chicken (which the chef launched a piece in the air and I caught it in my mouth), stir fried vegies... OH MY GOD, it was so damn good! And seeing as I was on very little sleep, I indulged in a few pints of Budweiser to help the conversation part of my brain to work!
At the dinner we were all joined by Madison's parents (Dion & Ray) and sister Morgan! They were so awesome! This entire dinner experience was awesome. Didn't really get a chance to speak to ray to much, but both Morgan and Dion are great!
Another interesting tale is from desert. I was the only one who ordered something, and they asked me if it was my birthday. For some reason I had to think about my answer but said no. Dan and Lawrence jokingly said "might as well be". Suddenly my desert was brought over to me, and I was having happy birthday sang to me! Quite surreal but very funny. (Desert was great too by the way.)
It looks like Hugo's been mentioning to Dion that i've been involved in a few musicals, including Guys And Dolls (which appears to be a favourite of hers). So providing I can get my voice feeling and sounding ok, I might be singing whilst I'm out here!
Now, to give an idea of the time frame of when this night concluded. We didn't get back to the hotel room until around 4am on Friday 8th! Damn was I tired. And kind of still am. For some reason I woke up at around 10.30am GMT. No idea why, but used the time to finish this blog! (most of which I wrote on the plane while we were flying over the east cost of the US.)
(NOTE - for anyone wanting to keep track, we're 5 hours behind the UK out here.)
And I've had about 9 or 10 hours of sleep (tops) over the past few days now while changing time zones as well! (hopefully it won't affect me to much!)
Until next time (which will more than likely feature talk on THE LEGO STORE, and the game Risk!) take care everyone!
(Written on Thursday 7th January 2010)
Since I last wrote at about half eleven last night (Wednesday) I can safely say I probably got about an hour (2 hours tops) of sleep. I was certainly an interesting experince sleeping on the floor of an airport with what appeared to be at least a hundred people. There were some characters about the place too during the night, including a very drunk man who was drinking tons of Tesco value lager!
I think Lawrence summed it up best when saying that last night was almost similar to the Tom Hanks film 'The Terminal'. Except we could get out if we wanted.
When morning came (5am), my day began by waiting for the slumbering giant that was lying on the marble floor next to me all night, Lawrence, to awake (which of course he eventually did. He somehow managed to get 5 hours of sleep... lucky bugger) and from there we treated ourselves to an energy drink to see if the caffine could make either of us reletively coherant.
Just before 6am we headed downstairs to the check in area for American Airlines. There was already a huge cue of people for the regular check in method, but the self service was not being used as much. (I guess the concept is still quite foreign to some.) Whilst navigating that, who should show up, but one Mr. Daniel Hill (Hugo's best man). He managed to get here with no problems at all following the affect the weather may of had on the roads. (Irony, eh!)
We then proceded to the security check/departure lounge section of Terminal 3. When it came to the checks, I had no problem, but both Dan and Lawrence got patted down after walking through the metal detector. Then next on call was, you guessed it, the pub! We got some breakfast and proceeded to quite simply, hang about for hours (our flight was until midday,) until Hugo's parents made it (which they did, but not until after an interesting tale at check in! And it wasn't to do with being on the wrong flight or anything like that!) and waiting for our flight. All went according to plan on that front. When Coral and Rob arrived with Dulcee (Hugo's older sister) her boyfriend Matt, they didn't have any bags with them, just plastic wallets with some things like books and laptops in?!?
Basically what had happened is, sometime between us going thrugh to the departure lounge and them arriving at check in, the allowance for hand luggage had been dramatically reduced! Meaning they could essentially take nothing with them apart from a few items like a book, and origjnally intended items of hand luggage had to be placed in your other bags that were going into the hold! I find it amazing how much they've had to battle to get to this point, but the main thing is that they made it!
When it came time to boarding the plane, that's a whole other story entirely!
Because of the attempted airplane bombing on Christmas day, there were now VERY tight security checks at the gate!
Basically, a pat down, search through all your hand luggage while cross questioning you about certain items in my possesion like my lap top "when did you last use it?" I had a bottle of water that bought earlier in the departure lounge and she said to me "take a sip of your water!" (this to make sure it hadn't been tampered with in any way.) They also checked my jacket, my scarf, and my giant shoes (to make sure they were the same size and that, again, they didn't appear tampered with.)
In many ways quite a stressful experience! As you probably guessed from all this happening, our flight was delayed. And once we were onboard we had to wait and extra hour and and a half half or so, because whilst talking on the tannoy to the passengers, the captain informed us the fuel pump wasn't working properly!
Note,- This can't be detected until the plane is about to be towed. (just what we wanted to hear, lol)
Also, at this point, because I was so tired I actually just fell asleep at that point,lol. (Lawrence and Dan tell me I was out for about half an hour or so.)
During the flight itself, I managed gain a few more hours sleep as did Lawrence. We were able to secure emergancy exit seats so we had 'slightly' more leg room. It was a very long flight, but had very good service by the cabin crew, food was ok, and the toilets are more crampt me trying to wear a size 10 shoe when I'm size 15! (tried to think of something funny there, and I failed, I know.)
Following the flight, passport control wasn't an issue, just bit of a wait. And it finally came to meeting the bride and groom! As we filtered out of baggage control one by one, Hugo's face told the story. He couldn't believe that, 1) this new world he's been venturing in for the past year finally had us gate crashing it, and 2) that we actually made it out here!
Madison is a really great person. And although the entire situation is still slightly surreal, I know Hugo has made the right and great decision about getting married. She's a really kind person and that was made obvious to me from the first initial couple of minutes if meeting her.
From there, we got a rental car which Hugo and Dan can drive, and headed to the hotel!
It's a pretty big hotel room (it needed to be with four us staying in it,) and the first order of business for myself and Lawrence... have a shower! (Remember, we'd been in the same clothes for around 36 hours straight, having spent the night in heathrow and, been sitting on a plane for about 10 hours. It's fair to say it we needed it, lol.)
Following a quick clean up, we then ventured to a Japanese resteraunt called Kanki. This wasn't just any Japanese reteraunt though! To paint a quick picutre of what we were in for, in movies or tv shows there are some resteraunts where the food is prepared in front of you, whilst seeing lots of fire, and tricks with cooking equipment... well that's exactly what we had! A incredibly nice dinner that was literally prepared in front if us! We had rice, shrimp, chicken (which the chef launched a piece in the air and I caught it in my mouth), stir fried vegies... OH MY GOD, it was so damn good! And seeing as I was on very little sleep, I indulged in a few pints of Budweiser to help the conversation part of my brain to work!
At the dinner we were all joined by Madison's parents (Dion & Ray) and sister Morgan! They were so awesome! This entire dinner experience was awesome. Didn't really get a chance to speak to ray to much, but both Morgan and Dion are great!
Another interesting tale is from desert. I was the only one who ordered something, and they asked me if it was my birthday. For some reason I had to think about my answer but said no. Dan and Lawrence jokingly said "might as well be". Suddenly my desert was brought over to me, and I was having happy birthday sang to me! Quite surreal but very funny. (Desert was great too by the way.)
It looks like Hugo's been mentioning to Dion that i've been involved in a few musicals, including Guys And Dolls (which appears to be a favourite of hers). So providing I can get my voice feeling and sounding ok, I might be singing whilst I'm out here!
Now, to give an idea of the time frame of when this night concluded. We didn't get back to the hotel room until around 4am on Friday 8th! Damn was I tired. And kind of still am. For some reason I woke up at around 10.30am GMT. No idea why, but used the time to finish this blog! (most of which I wrote on the plane while we were flying over the east cost of the US.)
(NOTE - for anyone wanting to keep track, we're 5 hours behind the UK out here.)
And I've had about 9 or 10 hours of sleep (tops) over the past few days now while changing time zones as well! (hopefully it won't affect me to much!)
Until next time (which will more than likely feature talk on THE LEGO STORE, and the game Risk!) take care everyone!
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
My trip to North Carolina (Part 1)
Part 1- Expect The Unexpected!
Well, I figured this was as good as time as any to start a new blog on international endeavours, this time focusing on the impending wedding of one Mr. Hugo Jackson! The wedding takes place on Saturday in the good ol' US of A, in the state of North Carolina!
This was to be a very simple trip/wedding/holiday (whatever you want to call it,) but, one simple word cause a complete change of plans for this trip... Snow! (or 'weather', it works either way).
I awoke this morning (Wednesday 6th) with not much planned other than preparing for my trip to Carolina, catching up on some wrestling prior to the return of my weekly Internet radio show, Dropkick Radio! (cheap plug - www.DropkickRadio.com for more info) I say return as it would be the first live broadcast of the year, and the first live show for 2 weeks!
At about 11am I got a phone call from the groom (Hugo,) in North Carolina. Basically checking in to make sure all was well and, revealing that the weather had already had a big impact on perhaps the biggest day in life!
His parents left for Heathrow airport on Tuesday evening (to goto a hotel) and catch a flight on Wednesday, which would take them to Carolina. Well, Hugo revealed that his parents had been stuck on the A3 (a pretty important and busy road in South England,) for 16 hours, and had yet to arrive at the airport! I couldn't believe what I was told! Consequently they missed their flight and as far as I'm aware (NOTE- I'm writing this at about 11pm on Jan 6th,) they have been able to get transfered onto the flight Lawrence and I are due to be on.
This information instantly made me/family decide to alter plans and make my way up to the airport today in case it was just utterly impossible to get there tomorrow.
It was decided that the best method to get to Heathrow would be to get a train from Chichester station to Southampton Central station. From there we (Lawrence and I) would then get on a train to London Waterloo and from there get on the Heathrow Express service to the airport and hang around in the airport until the morning!
We left at about 2pm for Chichester when we found out the trains were even more screwed up because of things like trees, and... (Oh yeah,) SNOW, so dad drove us to Southampton Airport Parkway station. From there we got on a train to Woking (where it was just snow falling ridiculously hard) and then caught the National Express bus to the airport, arrived just after 6pm, and from there set camp for the night!
(I've never walked through so much snow in my life, lol.)
I'd also like to point out that Dropkick Radio had to be postponed because of the adverse weather affecting very important plans. Apologies to everyone about that.
Myself and Lawrence decided to raid a pub in terminal 3, have copius amounts of food (well, main course and desert,) and beer! (haven't had a Bud in ages). And now, at about 11.20pm on Wednesday 6th January we're both sitting on the ground. I'm stealing the electiricty from Heathrow airport to charge my laptop, phone, ect. And Lawrence is looking farily tired in my opinion, attempting to read 'Dawn Of The Dumb' by Charlie Brooker. And that brings you all reading this, up to speed on the wacky day it has been for all involved.
Our flight is at 12pm tomorrow, we'll be checking in early-ish, and hopefully we'll successfully meet up with Hugo's parents and Dan Hill (who's braving the weather very early tomorrow!) nd, if all goes well, Glazed donuts might be for breakfast! (Yum!)
Here's hoping all goes according to plan!
Until tomorrow everyone, take care!
P.S. Just as I was about to post this, we've each been handed a blanket by staff of the airport! And it feels like a cuddly toy!
Later everyone!
Well, I figured this was as good as time as any to start a new blog on international endeavours, this time focusing on the impending wedding of one Mr. Hugo Jackson! The wedding takes place on Saturday in the good ol' US of A, in the state of North Carolina!
This was to be a very simple trip/wedding/holiday (whatever you want to call it,) but, one simple word cause a complete change of plans for this trip... Snow! (or 'weather', it works either way).
I awoke this morning (Wednesday 6th) with not much planned other than preparing for my trip to Carolina, catching up on some wrestling prior to the return of my weekly Internet radio show, Dropkick Radio! (cheap plug - www.DropkickRadio.com for more info) I say return as it would be the first live broadcast of the year, and the first live show for 2 weeks!
At about 11am I got a phone call from the groom (Hugo,) in North Carolina. Basically checking in to make sure all was well and, revealing that the weather had already had a big impact on perhaps the biggest day in life!
His parents left for Heathrow airport on Tuesday evening (to goto a hotel) and catch a flight on Wednesday, which would take them to Carolina. Well, Hugo revealed that his parents had been stuck on the A3 (a pretty important and busy road in South England,) for 16 hours, and had yet to arrive at the airport! I couldn't believe what I was told! Consequently they missed their flight and as far as I'm aware (NOTE- I'm writing this at about 11pm on Jan 6th,) they have been able to get transfered onto the flight Lawrence and I are due to be on.
This information instantly made me/family decide to alter plans and make my way up to the airport today in case it was just utterly impossible to get there tomorrow.
It was decided that the best method to get to Heathrow would be to get a train from Chichester station to Southampton Central station. From there we (Lawrence and I) would then get on a train to London Waterloo and from there get on the Heathrow Express service to the airport and hang around in the airport until the morning!
We left at about 2pm for Chichester when we found out the trains were even more screwed up because of things like trees, and... (Oh yeah,) SNOW, so dad drove us to Southampton Airport Parkway station. From there we got on a train to Woking (where it was just snow falling ridiculously hard) and then caught the National Express bus to the airport, arrived just after 6pm, and from there set camp for the night!
(I've never walked through so much snow in my life, lol.)
I'd also like to point out that Dropkick Radio had to be postponed because of the adverse weather affecting very important plans. Apologies to everyone about that.
Myself and Lawrence decided to raid a pub in terminal 3, have copius amounts of food (well, main course and desert,) and beer! (haven't had a Bud in ages). And now, at about 11.20pm on Wednesday 6th January we're both sitting on the ground. I'm stealing the electiricty from Heathrow airport to charge my laptop, phone, ect. And Lawrence is looking farily tired in my opinion, attempting to read 'Dawn Of The Dumb' by Charlie Brooker. And that brings you all reading this, up to speed on the wacky day it has been for all involved.
Our flight is at 12pm tomorrow, we'll be checking in early-ish, and hopefully we'll successfully meet up with Hugo's parents and Dan Hill (who's braving the weather very early tomorrow!) nd, if all goes well, Glazed donuts might be for breakfast! (Yum!)
Here's hoping all goes according to plan!
Until tomorrow everyone, take care!
P.S. Just as I was about to post this, we've each been handed a blanket by staff of the airport! And it feels like a cuddly toy!
Later everyone!
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