The US of A

 

Right now, we are sitting on a Shinkansen high speed train from Tokyo to Okayama (yes, Japan) and have some time to kill - the ideal opportunity to provide you with an update about our recent stay in the USA.

Essentially, we only had two short but great stops while in the US. The first one was with my former host family in Las Vegas, and the second one was with the family of Judith's cousin in San Francisco.  

When we left San José in Costa Rica some two weeks ago, we flew to Las Vegas via Houston. In Houston, we had a problem (this definitely is my worst joke yet - apologies to you, dear reader, and to NASA). Thanks to the highly efficient US immigration procedures, we missed our connecting flight, but were able to hop on the last one that night a few hours later. Having finally arrived in LV after midnight, we rented a car. Without a car, you cannot go anywhere in LV because public transport doesn't exist there. I faintly remember seeing a single public bus once, but that might as well have been a product of my imagination. The "cars" in Las Vegas are huuuuge: an average SUV there roughly has the size of a standard 2 bedroom apartment in Tokyo. Come to think of it, a lot of things are big in size in Las Vegas: hotels, highways, strawberries, onions, steaks, water melons, buffets, service mentality, shampoo bottles... big is beautiful.

We stayed with my former host family, whom I had lived with when I was an exchange student in high school. That, however, was a shockingly long time ago (in 1997/1998).* And yes, there are regular families living in Las Vegas, it's not just gambling and hotels. Gina & David and their family were very, very welcoming and fun hosts, and it felt great to reconnect again. They also truly spoiled us: Judith & I both gained a few kilos in just 5 days. Maybe beef steaks for breakfast shouldn't become part of our regular diet.

LV has changed quite a bit since I have last seen it. The city has almost doubled in size since, as has the number of mega-hotels and casinos. We spent several days just exploring the Venetian, the Paris, the New York New York, and many others. Her first time gambling, Judith won ~60$ playing blackjack. I managed to lose it all again over the following days, though. So much for my finance background. 

We also did a two day trip to the Grand Canyon, passing via Hover Dam and Route 66 on the way. The Canyon itself of course is a must-see, but the road-tripping there was fun, too.

Unfortunately, it soon was time to say farewell to some great people to move on to San Francisco.

As mentioned, we stayed there with Judith's cousin, who had emigrated to the USA several years back. Now, he lives in the IT-Bermuda triangle (next to Google, Apple, and Oracle) with his wife and their son. Their house is built on a hill overlooking the Bay and the SF skyline. Wow! While we were there, Judith's aunt & uncle were visiting at the same time. This made us miss out on the fancy separate guest floor but resulted  in a fun medium-sized family reunion. 

San Francisco and the Bay Area have the reputation of being one of the most sought-after spots in the US for a reason. We enjoyed the truly international mix in the region, the stunning settings & landscapes, and the good vibe in SF itself. People in SF seem to love arts - they even put up colourful rainbow flags everywhere to enhance the beauty of their street lamps. While in the city, we met up with Travis (whom I had studied with in London) and his wife, who showed us around a cool organic food market which you probably wouldn't find in a lot of other US places.

Again, all good things come to / have an end (only a sausage has two, as a German saying goes**).  After only a few days, we had to say goodbye to Judith's family, San Francisco & the USA to continue with our travel plans. Nächster Halt: Japan, the land of the rising sun. Thank you, come again.

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* Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. Think about it.
** That's Judith's joke. I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted.