USA 2024

Quelle Surprise, I went to America Again. If you are an ever faithful then you will know that my brother, Sam, now lives in Boston, MA. If you are new to me and my blog, welcome, get comfy, have a look through the other posts, no pressure, its all free and there are no adverts that you have to watch at least five seconds of before you get to the good stuff... 'side eye emoji' Sorry for https://www.my11yearplan.com/post/_1986 I know it is a tough read, but I had to get it down. Read it and you'll see why. You'll also soon realise I go off on tangents, my private and professional lives are exactly the same. Tangents. Sam works for Lindt and has done for ten years or so, he spent time in London and then Switzerland before being headhunted, internally, for his current role in America, moving there in August 2022. Sam's birthday is the day after mine and it was perfect timing for me to be Stateside for my 50th as written here https://www.my11yearplan.com/post/america-f-ck-yeah

We had his birthday in Canada at our very dear friends and it is safe to say our livers checked out. I met 'The Canadian' https://www.my11yearplan.com/post/golly-thunderbolt-city and we all know how that turned out, as in it bloody didn't, in fact it got a bit weird this time last year and that was the last ever contact.

Oh well. As per my last post, where I state that planning is not in my make up, and then I go on to show how much I do plan. Oosh, moment of clarity and as I endeavour to never edit posts once submitted I'll explain here, it isn't me that is doing the planning is it, it is those most dear to me, they plan and I get involved. BOOM! My status as a non planner is restored. Tangents. I started 2024 thinking that I would not go to the USA this year, I had visited three times since September 2022 and seen a lot of it, lets go somewhere else. If you are along this journey with me you'll know that 2024 started off weird and thoughts of some sun and poolside time soon fell away.

Ibiza was already planned (not by me) as was Isle of Man, (also not my doing). Wait, I am not saying I am not grateful for those events, because I am, truly, I am just cementing my 'not a planner persona' Decisions, decisions. I have Italian heritage, or so those of us on my mothers side of the family believe we do, which is a complicated and delicate subject and not for here, well, not this post anyway. So maybe a road trip down through France and into Italy might be a good idea, of course I then had the second Jaaag issues and that made me nervous about taking the new one anywhere where the AA/RAC couldn't reach me. I have European break down cover, but we all remember that scene from Top Gear where Richard Hamond gets abandoned by the first Italian recovery driver and then has a tortuous journey with the second. Did anybody else think that the first guy looked like the character from Jurassic Park, Dennis Nedry, played by the superb William Knight, yes, yes I hear you, 'TANGENTS' but it is how my brain works, suck it up buttercups, 'heart emoji' you know I love you really x. I have yet to visit Italy. Winter soon led to spring, summer was knocking on the door and I was yet to decide what to do with annual leave. Sam and I rarely call each other, when we do it is normally for at least three hours, on one call this year he detailed how he had been to San Francisco for work and also visited some local National Parks and that I needed to see them. Decision made, I am going to the US again. Now, I have gone to great lengths to dispel the myth that I am a planner, however in 2023 I was going to the US and we decided to visit Nashville, but didn't put anything in place and only started to look at options once I had arrived.

We went to Miami.

Nashville suddenly became expensive, not out of reach, just not of value. This time we need to actually plan and we even had a spreadsheet on One Drive that we could both see and edit, I know, next level geekiness, even for me. The Plan. Paul to Boston San Francisco Hire Car Pacific Coast Highway Santa Cruz (Lost Boys geekiness for me) Big Sur Sequoia Trees Yosemite Las Vegas Grand Canyon And, we booked it all, all of it(!) before I even got to Heathrow. Sam, for someone who lives on his phones is bloody terrible at replying to messages, five weeks ago he said he might be over for Christmas, I asked him last week if that was still the case, I am still waiting on a reply, love the silly sod with all my heart. As we were planning, and it took a lot for me to be that way, I did ask that he respond to messages with some urgency and to his credit he did. I have been to America a few times, but always east coast and I have pretty much been to either end, but I had not been to the west, I was looking forward to it. I have never had a hankering for LA or Hollywood, and if I am honest the same for Las Vegas. I have a funny story about that town, and I am not sure if I should share it, but I am in the Loopy Shrew and on my second Malbec Flavoured Bravery Juice. This is a risky tangent. Fuck it. It's factual and history. Be kind and keep it between us. My ex wife always joked that she wanted us to go to Vegas for our 20th Wedding anniversary and renew our vows in front of 'Elvis' at the famous venue. Ok, now neither of us are big Elvis fans and we never really showed huge interest in visiting Vegas so I always was a bit non-committal, not saying no, but equally not really asking where the idea came from. Clearly we didn't make the 20th, all my doing, I take full responsibility, I was the bad man, or as our lovely neighbours at the time once said, 'here comes the bastard', so it never happened. What did happen is she remarried, to a Paul, in Vegas, by Elvis, very close to the day we married... I will leave that there. I hired a Mustang, $300 for three days, I know cliché but they are lovely and fun to drive. When we landed in San Fran' I went to the Sixt desk to pick the car up and was immediately offered an upgrade, interesting. They first offered me a 4 Series BMW, I have owned numerous Beemer's and they are great cars, but this is California, do better. OK, how about a drophead Bentley Continental. Sam was a few feet away and I looked at him and imagined the look on his face when we walked to the car. Expecting there to be an increase in price, I asked what it would be. $1800 for the three days, without insurance and you need to ask your own personal car insurance to cover it. We took the Mustang. San Francisco is amazing, you cannot comprehend the steepness of the streets until you pull up to a junction in a Mustang that has a bonnet of about thirty feet long and stops you seeing the roads either side, you just have to give it a boot full and hope. Lombard Street is also a great drive, as is crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. The redwood trees are huge, Yosemite is stunning as are the roads leading to it. Santa Cruz is my 'home', I want to live there, I was struck and not just because of The Lost Boys locations, it is just very me, fairground, beach, golden sands and sunshine. Las Vegas. What a place. I will happily never go there again. It is nuts, expensive and will do everything it can to get the dollar out of your pocket. I am not saying don't go, you should because until you are there you cannot comprehend what it is like. Fremont Street is amazing, mad, but amazing. The Grand Canyon. Stunning. I will be back, I want to be on the Colorado River, I need to see much more of this region. There you go. USA 2024. I really should go somewhere else next year...