I am SOOOOOO loving New York!! I *heart* NY.
Who says dreams don't come true????? I've got a few that came true - ticks off my wishlist!! Which items did you say? Well, you will have to wait until I get home and upload the photos of my NY loot!!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Out of Africa: Port Harcourt - Lagos - Dubai - NY - D.C.
Haven't posted for quite a while now. I've been busy tying up loose ends in Nigeria. I keep telling Laukong that I can't seem to get out of the country soon enough. The past 2 weeks have been a lot of close calls. We managed to fly out of Port Harcourt a few days before the airline industry went on strike. We flew out of Lagos a day before the union threatened to go on strike - but we had to make a pitstop in one of the Northerm State, Kano to refuel. No fuel available in Lagos apparently.
But at least we managed to get a few things sorted out before we left Nigeria which is a big achievement by Nigerian proportions - got my airfreight packed, moved our personal effects to Lagos and found our new apartment (well, Laukong's now).
Then, farewell Nigeria. It was good while it lasted....
....right enough of the grieving. However, boy am I now out of Africa...I am in D.C. as in Washington D.C.!!!! After an 8-hour flight from Lagos to Dubai; 14-hour flight (it felt like FOREVER - I thought I'd left my butt in Lagos) to New York plus 7 hours transit; we FINALLY arrived in D.C. after an hour's flight last night. I have never travelled for over 24-hours round the clock in my life - I doubt I will be in a hurry to do any repeat performances.
Today we shamelessly did the touristy stuff - Laukong absolutely looking the part with his SLR camera hanging round his neck (could have sworn I told him to leave the bulky camera). We went on a tour of the World Bank, courtesy of Laukong's aunt who works there (I'm so sending my CV already). Absolutely loving my pictured day pass - talk about a personalised piece of souvenir.
Then the White House which is only a few blocks away. Because we only went out around 2pm (plus spent about 30mins trying to figure how to buy 2 Metro tickets simultaneously from the ticket machine - the darn thing doesn't change of more than 5 bucks and we didn't have small change) that was the end of our tour for the day. But tomorrow we're booked for a proper tour in one of them tour buses.
In true Bruneian-style, we ended the day shopping at Costco (for those familiar with UK, this is like Makro is to the UK). Of course, all sakai-ness broke loose and we ended up spending a fortune buying things that we all of a sudden realise we need (iTV - so you can beam your iPod video onto your TV; pack of 15 solar-powered garden lamp; scrapbooking paper - 360pcs for 15 bucks!!; Samsonite luggage - for more shopping; plus plenty more I don't even remember top of my head). Suffice to say we all lived up to the Bruneian berangkutness-syndrome.
Oh well, tomorrow is another day...
But at least we managed to get a few things sorted out before we left Nigeria which is a big achievement by Nigerian proportions - got my airfreight packed, moved our personal effects to Lagos and found our new apartment (well, Laukong's now).
Then, farewell Nigeria. It was good while it lasted....
....right enough of the grieving. However, boy am I now out of Africa...I am in D.C. as in Washington D.C.!!!! After an 8-hour flight from Lagos to Dubai; 14-hour flight (it felt like FOREVER - I thought I'd left my butt in Lagos) to New York plus 7 hours transit; we FINALLY arrived in D.C. after an hour's flight last night. I have never travelled for over 24-hours round the clock in my life - I doubt I will be in a hurry to do any repeat performances.
Today we shamelessly did the touristy stuff - Laukong absolutely looking the part with his SLR camera hanging round his neck (could have sworn I told him to leave the bulky camera). We went on a tour of the World Bank, courtesy of Laukong's aunt who works there (I'm so sending my CV already). Absolutely loving my pictured day pass - talk about a personalised piece of souvenir.
Then the White House which is only a few blocks away. Because we only went out around 2pm (plus spent about 30mins trying to figure how to buy 2 Metro tickets simultaneously from the ticket machine - the darn thing doesn't change of more than 5 bucks and we didn't have small change) that was the end of our tour for the day. But tomorrow we're booked for a proper tour in one of them tour buses.
In true Bruneian-style, we ended the day shopping at Costco (for those familiar with UK, this is like Makro is to the UK). Of course, all sakai-ness broke loose and we ended up spending a fortune buying things that we all of a sudden realise we need (iTV - so you can beam your iPod video onto your TV; pack of 15 solar-powered garden lamp; scrapbooking paper - 360pcs for 15 bucks!!; Samsonite luggage - for more shopping; plus plenty more I don't even remember top of my head). Suffice to say we all lived up to the Bruneian berangkutness-syndrome.
Oh well, tomorrow is another day...
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