Rob was gracious enough to give Vero and I a lift to the Ottawa airport on Monday morning. Checking in was simple enough, even with the supposed extreme security measures being in effect due to some terrorist. I was surprised to see that YOW offered up free wifi, so I took complete advantage of that for the next hour trying to set up my blog to allow for email submissions. Alas, it did not work so I will have to remember to set that up before I leave on my next trip.
Vero had bought a neck pillow which straps around your neck so you can sleep. I had used one in Uncle Greg’s car once and I must admit it was kind of neat. I put it on for show in the waiting area and Vero had a good laugh as I appeared as a man with no neck…The Necklace/Neckless Man! A great name for a superhero!
When we arrived in Philadelphia a few hours later, the first mission of the day was to acquire the fabled Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. We settled into a nice airport restaurant where I ordered an excellent hoppy beer (which, let me tell you, they weren’t lying about!). The cheese steak sandwich suspiciously came with cheese whiz and it cost extra to put on things like green peppers and onions. Strange? It wasn’t all that it’s cracked up to be…I preferred the cheese steak from Broadway’s with the hot banana peppers, but at the same time, I realize that an airport restaurant may not be the best place to dine so I maintain optimism that the next time I hit up Philly, there will be an authentic steak sandwich in my hand. I did notice that Paul mentioned that supposedly the cheese whiz *is* authentic. Interesting. Speaking about the restaurant, that beer was quite expensive. In the end, the beer cost $9.24 and the sandwich cost $9!
I’m writing this entry from bullet points in my journal and it took me a second to realize what the heck the ‘keyboard cat youtube’ meant! We were watching the news in the airport and they showed us some hilarious phenomenon on Youtube where people tack on this cat playing keyboard at the end of a youtube video. Mildly hilarious after hearing the tune a dozen times.
After Philly, we hit up Charlotte, North Carolina which I heard is home of NASCAR. There were enough posters of NASCAR around the airport to make us believe in it. The cool part about the airport is that Google was providing free wifi! Sweet!
11PM and our final plane of the trip left for Rio. Let’s recap, shall we? We had already been on the road for 12 hours and still have yet to leave the United States. Bah. The flight was…interesting. It took forever for a movie to start. An hour into the flight, we ended up watching Four Christmases with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughan. A funny movie, but it’s no National Lampoon’s. They left the lights on in the cabin and served a hot meal after midnight. Is that normal? Here I am trying to sleep, but it just wasn’t happening. I finally pulled the small blanket they provide me over my head to block out the light. Sometime into my sleep, they turned off the lights which was nice. I’m going to assume this happened around 3AM.
All in al, an awkward sleep but I think I had better one than Vero. She lent me her neck pillow which probably saved me. During the trip I listened to a St.Vincent album (Actor) which I didn’t feel fit the mood of a ten hour flight. I also finished a Sudoku game from the in-flight magazine much quicker than the day before. I hadn’t done one in years so it took me awhile to get the hang of it again. Brain must be well rested and processed patterns to look for!
Upon arriving in Rio, it took one hour through immigration/customs but finally we emerged to find Erica waiting for us. She haggled with the taxi drivers ($50R) and we were off. Vero and I thought we could bus it but after the trek through town we realized it would have been a LONG trip!
Distinction between rich & poor very apparent. We started out by driving through some slums (favela), went through a tunnel and emerged into rich man’s land; Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon. We arrived and had a hard time finding Apartment 101 within the building. They sent us to the 6th, 4th, and 2nd floor. The guard kept reading 101 as 404 and didn’t understand our broken Portuguese when we were saying “um cero um”.
Finally, Philipp, Audrey & Florent found us! Sure enough, we were directly behind the guard’s desk on the first floor. The apartment is nice. Two rooms, kitchen, back patio with a fire pit. Also, three separate doors, a security guard, three separate locks on the last door, and a high fence to our backyard. While this place seems safe, it also looks like there needs to be a lot of measures in place to ensure that safety.
After a few beer and hanging out, we walked five minutes to the beach. Beautiful…mountain to our right, islands out in the sea, warm water…this is what we needed after a long flight! Philipp was excited to be here for a few months…Rio has now become Philippsville! We also drank some agua de coco coco (coconut water, yum!).
Returned home, Ericas showed up after work and we went for some authentic Brazilian cuisine…at the Australian Outback Steakhouse in the mall! Because it was raining, we could not go to the other place she had in mind.
After appetizers and beer, we returned home after a walk by the beach, bought some Itaipava and Skol beer (both worthy beers), and settled in for the night.
Before I forget..it’s REALLY strange to see Santa Claus around town in +30 degree weather!
