From San Juan to St. Croix

Date: 08.03.2014

It was time to move again. This time we were using a small airline company called Cape Air. I was just barely surviving standing up and walking after last night's migraine, and it almost hit back when we were standing in the line at the package drop/check in. Fortunately I had some painkillers inside my bag, so I managed to kill the oncoming storm before it was too late.

Airport terminal in San Juan

We did know that our aircraft would be small, and it was confirmed at the check-in when they weighted our hand luggage and asked about our weights. It was really interesting, because hell do I know my weight in imperial scale; something from "a lot" to "too freakin' much" :D.

Our "tour guide" talking with our captain

Almost in St. Croix

We were escorted to the aircraft and all our personal luggage was put to the space in front of the aircraft or inside it's wing. I will never get used to the american way that people talk to you and say your name when they are addressing to you, I heard my name during the walk and going inside the plane more times than I hear my name said in a month back in Finland. Yet I can say that it's pretty nice custom, and makes the service / conversation a lot more personal than "yeah you, you there" -yelling and pointing :). And it's also cool that people say my name usually right on the first time, even though some people from the main land first try to make me "Maya" before they start to use the correct pronunciation "Mia". Puerto Ricans seem to get it right on the first time :).

At the St. Croix airport

Stnz managed to fail our car rental and we ended up with more expensive premium level car. Well, the only problem is that it's not a car, it's a Ford. Ford's aren't cars. And this one (Taurus) has some odd level of accessories; it has bluetooth, computer, but no park assistance or turning assistance lights.

Spotting hydroplanes

Our apartment wasn't ready before 15, so we headed to the marina and stumbled upon another airline, which made its flights using hydroplanes. While the guys were photographing the plane, I started talking with a stranger who said he had adoptive parents from Sweden / Denmark and stuff. This was the second person in an hour who just came to me and started talking with me about random stuff about their lives - I think I'm gonna like this place :D.

All the artwork is for sale from a local artist

Finally some real food!

It was time to EAT, and I chose us to go to Angry Nate's seafood restaurant which was close by.  Finally I got a real salad when I ordered one, which wasn't coleslaw or some iceberg lettuce inside a bagel. The smoked salmon was nice, but for a northerner like me the salmon should be more.. fatty and the.. uhmm.. ..smokening could be stronger :).

After we were done, it was time to head to our apartment. Next to it, I found one of the many of the town's ruins, and of course I had to go inside (yes, I still have a huge problem staying away from places which seem interesting enough and worth the risks :D). I found some old machines inside of it, which seemed to have something to do with printing.

Our apartment is looking really nice, and from all the places we've stayed so far, it's the one which reminds me of our building standards the most. It seems to be a solid build, and even the tiles on the kitchen or bathroom walls don't make my eye twitch and make me want to scrape all the plaster out and do the tile work again properly.. It's also cleanest one so far, in a way that you could do the "Scandinavian" way of being indoors and leave your shoes off all the time. I could see myself living in this kind of apartment on here, or in Vieques, or on some other neighboring island :).

This time I won the bed lottery, because the guys thought it was "too gay" to sleep on the queen bed together, so I got the bedroom to myself and they shared the couch in the living room :). I'm not complaining!

From the living room to the kitchen

The beautiful little kitchen

Timo in his bed, stnz's bed on the floor (pic by stnz)

And me in my own private bedroom, doing the exactly same thing in same position as what I'm doing now :) (pic by stnz)

Day 3: NOLA-MIA-SJU

Date: 24.2.2014

Before we left, we visited a local dive shop because stnz wanted to buy his own diving computer and missed  the store in NYC. The store didn't have the right computer so we left empty handed. We stopped in a nearby gas station (BTW, the gas is annoyingly cheap here). I managed to see the local newspaper and it had a suitable front page for me, on the day of my b-day; Banksy! I had to buy the paper, and I'll frame it at home :).

We got to the airport on time and returning the car was hilarious because we changed the car's units to real ones. The person checking our car asked us where did we drove with it? Then it came clear that she was overwhelmed of the mileage we got into the car in 2 days, she calculated them to be 15 000 :D. We realized that she didn't see that we had changed the car off from the miles and into kilometers so the conversion from the mileage when we got the car and the amount in kilometers afterwards didn't add up.

Time to head out of NOLA and change scenery somewhere even more warmer from the ~20C weather.
Yesterday it rained but today it was beautiful (of course).

The long ass Causeway

New Orleans from the sky

Miami

At San Juan, we waited for our rental car bus to pick us up for 45 minutes, and made 3 phone calls. It felt like the Hertz-people taunted us, because they passed by us 6 times. Stnz rented our car from some small place instead of the big ones we usually use, so this wasn't really a good start.

After a while, the guy picked us up, saying that they didn't know someone was coming. Funny, we called 40 minutes earlier and they said someone was "right there picking us up"..

While driving to the company, there were two big collisions on the highway, fortunately the cars were new, so it seemed that everyone escaped without major injuries.

The car was basic bulk, but it was cheap. Good enough for our purpose. Waiting for the car and problems with their printer I gave up on anything fun happening on my bday. Sucks ass. Well, the weather was nice.

Stnz at the rental car company

Our little four wheeler

Our aparment is really nice, and there are ACs in the bedrooms. I really love it - and it was our home for 4 days (one day more than we planned, because we don't have any flights reserved and paid).

From New York to New Orleans

Date: 22. 2. 2014

Today it was time to leave New York behind and head to New Orleans.
Our flight took of 13:40, so we had time to sleep relatively long before heading out. Our flight took off from JFK, so we had to drive through Manhattan - fortunately it was Saturday and the traffic wasn't too bad.

Getting our rental car returned was a easy thing, but finding a gas station and using it was another thing. Usually the gas stations are in front of (or before) the rental car places, but in this case we had to drive away from the place to get the car filled. Of course they were all automate-versions, and of course our foreign Visa-cards didn't work without a cashier and of course the cashier went for a break :D. Well, all good and we got the car checked, and straight to the AirTrain.

Waiting for the AirTrain

Inside a train

 During this trip I've noticed that while in Finland I don't look much different from the rest, but in the train some kid reminded me that here I'm an oddball with my piercings and my white & black hair. Of course, using clothes which isn't black, seem to be out of the norm too.

Before security, TSA officer was kind enough to tell us that we were kicking USA's ass in hockey. The game was 4-0 at that point. 

In-Country flights seemed to be much easier to get to, the airport security check was pretty quick and efficient, except that the officers didn't make a move to gather empty trays. 

It was time to get food and finally there was lots to choose from. I almost went to the same chicken-mozzarella bread the guys took, but decided to eat a fruit salad instead. And some mozzarella sticks. Of course they didn't sell them for 2, the smallest amount was 6, so I also had to feed the guys.

The flight to JFK to Charlotte North Carolina was pretty quick, but I managed to catch up going through the images while on board. We had time to go to the airport and stretch our legs, so off we went.

There were rocking chairs, and they were pretty popular :)

In Charlotte, I managed to get the first set of post cards to the mail, and eat (4 spoons) my first frozen yogurt. It was pretty great, cold, but great :)

Next flight to New Orleans was also short, but I noticed a change in the personalities of people who were on board - they make more easily contact to the passengers next to them, started to talk, ask things and kid around. We were clearly heading to South :).

Baggage claim in New Orleans

Oh so futuristic

The sun was going down and the sky was promising rain

More of the fun looking sky

 Stnz ordered a convertible Mustang, but for some reason they didn't have one for us, and it took time before we knew what we'd get. We ended up getting a convertible Camaro, which is pretty ok too.

Waiting for the car

When we arrived to our apartment, something was lost in translation while stnz spoke on the phone with the owner - we ended up going to a wrong apartment with the keys we got, where somebody lived. The place was really unclean and there was no electricity. For a while we were scared that the Airbnb had failed us, and thought of alternate solutions. Fortunately it turned out that we were in the wrong apartment. Phew.

After unpacking, it was time for our first parade. It was really fun and I would've stayed there a lot longer if I had the deciding vote :).

From Newark Liberty Airport to Union City

Date: Thursday 20.2.2014

Our flight from Oslo took off in time. The extra check-in and the questions got me a bit annoyed but I managed to keep my snarky comments to myself. The mandatory questions in the check-in (which are asked to you several times in different stages, starting from the ESTA) really make you feel uncomfortable and in a some way they feel stupid and offensive. I really cannot imagine the situation these questions would prevent any real danger, only make things harder for the honest, normal people.

Landing soon

 The flight went pretty well, except it was pretty dry on the plane, and I didn't drink nearly as much I needed. I felt I was going to die while waiting for the customs because of the dehydration, lack of sleep and neck pain after sitting in a small place for 8 hours.

Our baggage took their sweet time and I saw all kinds of horror images how my new (and little too big) suitcase had broken down and all my stuff would be in a plastic bag. For my suprise - the bag was first on the line and it was completely ok :).

At the airport there was 2 train lines which connected the terminals and the nearby rental car offices, and we got to ride in the first car, the views were quite nice.

On the platforms there was someone yelling to the passengers where the two trains were going, even though there was clear signs which told you which were which and when they arrived. Made me think of how many people had this kind of job descriptions which mostly seemed to be existing because of lack of efficiency, which seem to be a re-occurring theme while I've been observing my surroundings in New York.

Must.. resist.. the button.

Stnz decided we needed a rental car in New York, and it was cheaper than using the public transport, so we headed up to P3, to pick up our car from Herz.

Boys checking out and documenting our beautiful little Yaris

Finally some water, after struggles to get it, it felt like a treasure.

In the next few hours we saw several fender benders - and there are really a lot of cars with broken fenders. And a lot of cars which would've been banned on our roads until they've been proven safe to use on public roads again.

First collision, around 2km from the rental car park

 Here's some images I took while driving from Newark to Union City.

Ahh, the good old greyhound - and jesus.

The second crash, somehow in this case the driver had gotten his car upside down.

More later, now I have to sleep for a while - I've been up over a day with 2 hours of sleep. And according to Fitbit, I've walked over 10 kilometers during this time.