This morning started off with pancakes, chatting and the internet. I ventured out around the Gaslamp Quarter and found Horton Plaza that the shuttle driver pointed out to me (last night in the rain). I wandered and purchased some pretty hair thingees, a mud mask, foot thingee and grape flavoured water.

The highlight of my day was finding Ralphs. Those of you who know me best will know that I would much rather walk around a foreign supermarket for an hour than some museum. Foreign supermarkets are like Disneyland to me! I wandered around and found discounted sparkling water, Hostess cakes, green prawns and best of all, veges! I couldn’t sleep last night. My thoughts were alternating between moving to Prague, moving to Guadalajara and the fact that I wanted stir-fried chicken and vegetables. I think the lack of proper cooking facilities in my Lake Tahoe hostel has given me a craving for a decent cooked meal. So tonight it’s stir-fried veges, prawns and noodles. Don’t even get me started on why I’m not having chicken! I couldn’t just buy one piece of chicken…it had to be like $7 worth and I don’t think I could possibly eat that much (given I hardly eat meat at all).
On the plus side I managed to track down some Hostess Sno Balls as seen on Overnight Delivery starring Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd before they were famous (can anyone spell geek?)

I seem to be thinking more about moving to Prague than I am about moving to Guadalajara (which comes first chronologically)…probably because I know that I’m being picked up from the airport, accommodation is sorted, two meals a day are sorted and my days are filled from 9 til 6 every weekday.

Well tomorrow I’m gonna head down to Tijuana and see what they’re up to down there. For tonight I’m going to tap away on my laptop. And you can all thank Jas for me changing my photos posts. The photos are now clickable and take you through to the source image If anyone wants anything larger than a 1400 x 1050 let me know before I upload all of them

Only 8:30pm and I’m already sleepy…sigh…

From Reno Airport:

Well today started off with a sleep in then some reruns on tv. I packed up the rest of my things and finally decided to venture outside. I opened the door and it was snowing!! Beautiful snow!! So I went out like a retard and smiled and took photos. I also saw my very first live squirrel ever

I managed to load my 30kg pack onto my back, grab my laptop and snow gear and check out. The manager called a taxi for me but when I realised he wasn’t coming to pick me up I reloaded my pack on my back (by the way, it is NOT an easy task getting a 30kg pack from the ground onto your back on your own! Then I schlepped all the aforementioned gear one and a half blocks to Harveys where my bus to the airport was running late. Now you’re probably thinking that I should just suck it up and quit whining…well you try lugging 40-plus kg worth of crap one and a half blocks in 6 inches of snow while it’s snowing and there is no footpath so you have to walk on the road and dodge the ski resort buses! THEN you can call me a cry baby!!

On a happier note I’ve been wearing the same clothes for three days now (underwear not included). I’ve got layer upon layer on and have slept fully clothed with a beanie on as my room did not have decent heating…for $19 a night I’m NOT complaining!

So it’s off to San Diego now where I’m sure it’s not as cold, but I’m sure my luggage will be just as heavy. I can’t wait to get rid of the snowboard and boots at least!

From Los Angeles Airport:

Well I just completed my first lone American dining experience. That includes ordering, eating, paying and leaving a tip. Of course I sat there for ages watching how other people did it…perhaps something I should have checked with Kat before I got here
In any case I think I did it correctly and am well on my way to becoming American-ised (ay dios mio).

Good thing my flight has been delayed as well coz I lost track of time while watching people getting the check and arrived at the gate (right opposite where I was eating) when my flight was due to depart. But now I have an opportunity to add to today’s post
I think I’ve got to get my randomness in check…must be old age that’s making me slip

Good news is that after my mushroom swiss burger and fries I am stuffed! So no need to hunt out somewhere for dinner when I get to San Diego. I can just find my room and crash…and wake up to a complimentary all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast!

Note to travellers: cherry (and I’m sure all other flavours) poptarts do not travel well…they end up crushed beyond all recognition.

From my hostel in San Diego:

I made it! It’s raining and the plane was delayed twice but I still made it!! If you ever travel into San Diego via plane don’t bother trying to call a shuttle like I did, just walk straight outside and a nice lady in a blue jacket will radio one for you