A week in Chicago and Michigan (The Wedding!)

Tuesday 30 September

If anything was going to go wrong, this day would have been it, with three flights – the first departing from London at 6am and transferring through Frankfurt and New York to eventually arrive at Chicago at 8pm. Had a bit of time to chill in New York as I didn’t want to miss my connection (the plane ended up being a little delayed anyway) but all in all a pretty good day finished up with quesadilla’s from Taco Bell for dinner – welcome back to America!!










Wednesday 1 October

We were up bright and early to head up north – unfortunately our start was delayed a couple of hours by Mick locking her keys in the car which meant we didn’t have time for the Wisconsin Cheese Castle. She had organised a crossing of Lake Michigan for us so that I could see a bit more of the country rather than just driving straight up. The ride started off great, we watched them back a huge semi with a wide load on, played bingo, got colouring in books and decorated paper pirate ships all before the waves got too big and everyone wasn’t feeling too well so we just chilled and watched Indiana Jones. Had our appetite back by the time we got to the other side so grabbed something to eat and then continued the drive, arriving at the Lynch’s at around 1am

Thursday 2 October

Pretty awesome to be back here in Rogers City – love the Lynch’s and their gorgeous house and there were a few bits and pieces we had to put together before the wedding. Headed out mid morning to pick up Mariko (a friend of Michaela’s from her time at high school in Japan) and got to check out the amazing autumn colours. Spent the afternoon putting together “order of service” booklets, putting labels on water bottles and doing up welcome bags for those staying in hotels. Took some time out to make some jewellery and had dinner with everyone before an early-ish night

Friday 3 October

The day before the wedding so there was quite a lot to do. The morning was busied with sorting out table settings and tying ribbons around chocolates. That afternoon we had the rehearsal at the church which went pretty smoothly and good to have a run through. We had a dinner with everyone at a local sports café afterwards so it was great to get to know some of the guests before the big day and then finished off the night at Greeka’s – a smoky but very local bar with 40oz beers – interesting night

Saturday 4 October

Finally the day that this whole trip eventuated from. Started off with getting Mick’s hair done which took the whole morning, sandwiches for lunch and a bit of a flurry getting dressed so we could be at the church by 1:30 and have Mick in one of the side rooms before all the guests arrived. The service itself was lovely with some readings and nice words from the Reverend, Mick looked amazing and Joe very happy to be there! Photos at the church and home for a little before the pre-reception cocktails kicked off at 4:30. Mick and Joe did their first dance to a sweet song, dinner was delicious and got to catch up with Jonathan (a mate we’d hung out with in Texas a few years back) the night wound down with drinking and dancing – a great day all around.

Sunday 5 October

Up and dressed to go to church for 9:30am mass – was gorgeous that the church smelt like lavender as we walked inside. Big brunch with everyone calling by the house to say goodbye as they headed home and then it was present opening time. We left at 5ish to drive to Beaverton to spend the night with Joe’s family – which was a very different cultural experience to Mick’s place as Joe’s family are Hmong

Monday 6 October

Huge breakie at Joe’s families’ restaurant to start the day off and then we drove to Holland, MI. Had a pretty interesting chat on the drive yesterday but Mick was tired this morning so continued chatting about cultural differences with Joe. The dropped me at Holland and headed back to Chicago, I had a cool time chatting with Don over lunch at an Irish pub, meeting his wife and catching up with his family in Muskegon

Tuesday 7 October

Today was awesome, great to make the most out of it! Started off shopping at an outlet mall in Indiana and then trained to Chicago to meet Mick in town and she’d organised a great afternoon/evening for us!

Started out shopping around and picked up a bunch of cute summer tops (end of season over there), had leftover pizza for lunch and ate chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick – sonly in America! That night we went to the Unearthed gig at House of Blues which was amazing before seeing Wicked – amazing show, its become quite a tradition for Mick and I to watch a show from the nosebleed seats each time we’re together and really enjoyed this one. Spent the evening snacking away on cheese and goodies at home and got a good sleep before my 10am flight to San Fran on Wednesday morning

Long weekend in London

Friday 26 September, 2008

Arrived in from Munich late afternoon after a gorgeous flight over, topped up my Oyster card and rode the Piccadilly line into town just like I’d just come back from a long weekend away not a year! Found my way to Gosia’s place alright and we ended up at the Slug that night, it wasn’t very busy but we enjoyed dancing to the old classics with jugs of snakebites and randomly ran into my old flatmate Adam there too! Finished the night up with a stint at Belushis and Sugar Hut before walking back to West Kensington











Saturday 27 September, 2008

With only three full days in London I had to make the most of them so we were up early to hunt for a bargain at Primark and TK Max in Hammersmith before everyone else woke up and they got crazy busy. It was a gorgeous day so was stoked we had organised yard (standing) tickets to see Timon of Athens at Shakespeare’s Globe – my favourite way to spend 5 pounds in London! Afterwards we sat down on the grass outside Tate Modern to enjoy the sunshine, southbank and to give our feet a bit of a rest : )

Walked all the way down Southbank (not quite as vibrant with street performers as it is on a Sunday but still a lot of fun) some awesome displays around with some huge lounge furniture made out of artificial grass, people competing in a race around London in dress-up, interactive water art and the biggest guitar class you’ve ever seen : ) Walked across the Thames and through Chinatown to have dinner at Misato – my favourite Japanese restaurant in London – even though we had to wait an hour for a seat it was worth it!

Had organised to meet a bunch of people at Waxy O’Conner’s in Soho from 7pm as I’m here for such a little time so it was great to catch up with heaps of people in one place. Unfortunately some couldn’t make it due to other commitments or having had a pretty busy day already but I still had a great time. A few Magners and catching up with old friends on the other side of the world meant it was always going to be a good night – thanks for making the effort to come guys!

Sunday 28 September, 2008

Started a Sunday off the best way I know how to in London with a cheap and cheerful English breakfast at Lloyds in Fulham before heading north to the Church. Interesting that the music never changes but they had some new entertainers and all the usual boat races etc. Went along with a few of Gosia’s flatmates and had a good time – even got up on the stage at the end for a dance

Wandered through Camden to check out the latest fashion, listen to some live music and enjoy some market food for dinner before finishing up the night with a few Snakies at Shepards Bush Walkies (never my fave place but Gosia said Redback isn’t that good on a Sunday anymore and this was closer to home). Glad I also got the chance to catch up with Te Maari, we chatted over ice-cream in the park

Monday 29 September, 2008

Up bright and early again and headed into to the centre to have a very sophisticated tea and cupcake with Katherine at Liberty, a very wholesome lunch at Leon with Natalie and then visited my old and current offices – everyone was doing really well - so stoked to have the opportunity to catch up.

Extra bonus was that because the office here is in New Zealand House in Haymarket I was able to get a spectacular view from the 18th floor function room out over London. Cruised back home to repack and then Hasan cooked us dinner at Cris and Sara’s flat to great to spend my last evening in London just hanging out with my old roomies.

Got a couple of hours sleep on the sofa at their place before my 3am night bus from Hammersmith to Heathrow for the first of three flights to make my way to Chicago.

Back in Munich for a good time not a long time

Wednesday 24 September

The silver lining to only having 6 hours sleep the last two nights was that I could get some sleep on my 12 hour (day) flight to Germany on Wednesday afternoon . Flying Lufthansa meant no personal entertainment system (so you had to watch what was going) so didn’t mind sleeping quite a bit. But overall good food and great service made for a pretty pleasant flight.

Gow was awesome (as always) and met me at the airport. Really great to catch up with him – planned to have a pretty quiet night seeing as I’d been up since 5am Japan time but a few of his mates were at Oktoberfest so instead we dropped my gear at his house and headed out. Ended up having a great time there and getting home at about 2am after getting chickens from the main station and having a few after party drinks at a hostel somewhere

Thursday 25 September

No matter what time I go to bed I can’t seem to lie in much more than 9am, maybe it’s just because I don’t want to waste time on this crazy high speed world trip, so managed to get a few things done before Gow woke up. Headed into Marienplatz and got delicious bretzen for lunch and were back at Oktoberfest by 3. Managed to get in to Hofbrau and save a table until Gow’s friends (included Anthea so it was awesome to catch up with her again) arrived and hung out with a couple from Berlin who were good quality.

Had a good 8 hours there dancing and drinking the day away before finishing the night off at Ned Kelly’s (an Australian pub in town). I’d hit a wall at about midnight but glad I pushed through it because after a few Red Bulls and some music I could dance to I was back into it and we got home at about 3am – plenty of time to chill before my afternoon flight to London on the Friday.