Letters from Base Camp 16
11th July 2007

The great-tit has landed! San Fracisco baby yeah!!

Exhausted but very happy :) what feels like several days travelling and several flights, is actually only 1 day and 2 flights. Still i'm convinced it's been several days since I left. My brain just can't get round that just yet, and who am I to argue? ... actually... who am I? Brain... still... not... functioning.... doolally.... yet.

So I finally arrived about 8pm San Francisco time (-8hrs GMT) Monday night. It was 6am GMT when I got up to start the journey on Monday... prizes to the first one who can work out how long i've actually been travelling for! And thanks to the genius 'Wilky' packing I didn't have to hang around for my luggage, brilliant... as long as my laptop didn''t implode from the pressure in my hand-luggage! Luckily I am writing this on my baby (or laptop) now, so that was another 'what if' that didn't happen. phew!

Best things about my journey...

1. Met lovely girl called Rosie who helped the first flight go quickly... Hi Rosie, Lost you at customs! Hope you're having a great time in Seattle! :)

2. Watched 'Blades of Steel' new Will Ferrell film. I think it was the guy from Napoleon Dynamite too? made me laugh out loud several times!

3. Girl's suitcase fell open while wating for connecting flight. I managed to get her attention before her pants flew out everywhere! Could've been very embarrassing! (not sure how to spell that word? bit like 'neccessary') But then my 'zone' gets called to board and as I get up I find her camera on the floor! Looked around for her, went to hand it in, huge queue, no-one to help, had to board, hoped she was on same flight, turns out she wasn't, so I get free digital camera woo hoo! Then when I get back to my hotel and unpack (several hours later!) I check out my find. It's old so I don't feel too bad. And of course it's got loads of sexy pictures on! ha ha brilliant.

4. On my 2nd flight is the first ever straight-looking, almost butch, and quite sexy, male flight attendant i've ever seen! I'm mesmerized!

5. I have a window seat and we fly over the Rockies. There aren't even words to describe how amazingly beautiful it is. Breath taking.

6. I'm sat next to this really sweet Italian couple who have been asleep on each other most of the way aaaawww. Turns out they're on their honeymoon aaaawww! So I do my good deed for the day and give up my window seat. Turns out it's her first flight too, so she's very grateful. They don't speak much English, so I ask the attendant what free things they can get! Turns out they could have had Champagne if they'd known. So I tell them it's a thing we do here, tell everyone you're on honeymoon, get loads of free stuff. They seem to think it's a great idea!

I get out the Airport, turn on my mobile. Got several messages from Mum (who has organised and packed everything for this entire trip - even though that's not what I told them checking in;) She texts asking me why am I so late? I'm not I'm actually early. We can't seem to get this time difference right! So she's texted Pete saying i'm late. Meanwhile, i've texted him saying i've arrived and on my way to the hotel. He's confused and goes to eat expecting me to be much later. So I arrive and get a phonecall from Pete. Who's shocked to hear I'm actually at the hotel! So I go and meet him at the restaurant. Which was cool, wandering through San Francisco on my own. Actually I ran a bit cos I was so excited! And I'm finally re-united with dad after 4 months! Was lovely bear-hug-in-middle-of-restaurant moment aah.

Slept like a baby and was up early today... believe it or not! Luckily my body clock seems to be perfectly in sync with this time-zone. Yay for me!

We went to this cool 50's diner for breakfast. I had pancakes and maple syrup, which I've been craving for a while now! managed about half before feeling very sicky. Then we walked to the Baseball grounds, I got dad a free All-Stars blanket by signing up for i don't know what, (not that he's ever cold! I just can't help myself when it comes to free stuff) watched the players arrive on the Red Carpet and we were on live TV! Then had drink together before going our seperate ways. Pete went to the All-Stars game while I went off, touristy map in hand, to work out the Tram system. No probs. Straight into H&M. Bargains galore. Didn't find anything I actually needed but got some really cute shorts! Then found Walgreens, where I spent most of my afternoon buying everything a girl needs to look and feel human while away from home. Which turns out is ALOT. Spent a small fortune! My work is done. Get back to the hotel absolutely shattered, manage to stay awake by amusing myself by playing around online and annoying my friends on facebook, until Pete's return.

Early start tomorrow as Pete has another eye appointment. So this is the great-tit signing out x