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Post by LaFille on Aug 30, 2008 3:29:04 GMT
Ooooh how nice! Thanks for the news and glad you're all having a blast! Yeah, 7 AM is early for me too... ;D
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Post by cleglaw on Aug 30, 2008 11:19:19 GMT
Sounds great. I'd like to see that speed week myself. Yellowstone is indeed a fascinating place.
If you are flying out of New Orleans, you had better check on your reservations as Hurricane Gustav seems to be heading that way; an alternate route would be preferable.
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Post by Hildor on Sept 7, 2008 9:28:46 GMT
Houston, this is Tranquillity Base. The Eagle has landed. Yup, I'm back ;D Let me just continue where I ended my report The last day of driving around with the Jeep in Moab started as great as the days before, but it ended up in a half disaster. When we took a break at noon to eat we saw a large front of rainclouds coming our way. And when we arrived at the top of a small mountain/hill a real thunderstorm broke loose. Well as rain is quite dangerous on normal roads, it's extremely dangerous on 4WD mountaintrails. The top of that mountain was covered in some sort of clay, which got wet and extremely slippery soon. My dad was driving the Jeep at the moment and he just slipped off the road. We were lucky we weren't climbing the mountain any more on that point because if we would've slipped off a cliff I wouldn't be typing this message right now... We waited for about an hour on top of the hill but the weather didn't seem to get any better so we decided to take the risk and turn back again. Very reluctantly and careful we made it to less slipier soil so we could descend from the mountain and drive the car back. It was a good experience but actually, we would have been in life threatening danger... The next day we drove off to the south. After a day of driving we spent the night in Albuquerque and continued the next day to arrive in El Paso. El Paso is a city on the Mexicon border that lies right next to the Mexican city Juarez. Because of the border passing right in between those cities it looked a bit like a Berlin wall. Or a Berlin river, because the US-Mexican border is formed by a river there. There are a few bridges that cross the border there and we went to take a short trip into Mexico. And I have to say you: what is sh*tcountry is that! Sorry for the cursing, but really, what is that thing? Poor, irritating hot, dirty and it stinks! It literally stinks, at least Juarez did. And I only saw two beautiful Mexicana's. Only two?! What is wrong there? I really don't like that sort of southern countries and I was happy to be back in the US again. We expected quite some thorough controls when passing into US territory, just like at the airport, but it went quite well. Again this time the 'borderdudes' were impressed by our brand new hightech Belgian passports. "For such a small country" ;D. After El Paso we continued in the direction of Houston. Spent the night in a little something (town? city? no idea) called Van Horn and arrived there the next day. We went to visit the Houston Space Center and I have seen the famous control center where the famous words like "Houston, we've had a problem", "Houston, this is Tranquility Base. The eagle has landed" and "Small stap for (a) man, giant leap for mankind" have been heard. Very cool to see a real Saturn type rocket (the one that were used on the Apollo missions) too. After Houston we headed for our last stop which had to be New Orleans. Unfortunately the Gustav got in our way, like we expected. We arrived in the evening at a town that was a small hour away from New Orleans and there we already got into "trouble." You could see the effects of the wind there, like blown off rooftops, cracked trees and things like that. All the motels were full booked because of the people returning to New Orleans, restaurants were closed and gas stations were out of gas. Now tháts a problem when you have no gas in your tank left, you're hungry and it's evening. Eventually we found one of the last rooms in a motel (which was a single person room where we had to sleep with two persons). We waited in the queue in front of Shell station that still had some gas, and we were even able to get some gas eventually. And I was able to buy some of the last readymade-tasting-like-nothing-and-plastic sandwhiches in another gas station. We spent the night as good as we could and made the wise decision to not continue to New Orleans Int. Airport, but to rebook our flight and depart from Houston instead. While driving back to Houston we made a little detour near the Gulf of Mexico and then spent our final night in a hotel near the airport. This saterday-sunday consisted only of sitting in a plane. First from Houston to Chicago and then from Chicago to Brussels. We arrived in Brussels at about 1am Chicago time. So I still have to spend this day awake, which will likely give me a jetlag, but meh...who cares ;D I've had a great trip, with great experiences and some small adventures. I do really like the US and all the single-minded "I think Bush sucks, so whole America sucks too. They're fat and they suck because they are Bush" people should jump off the bandwagon and visit the country some day. Life in the US surely has lots of minor sides. But every life in every country has that, so think before you speak. I'm happy to be back in Belgium, but America, don't think you can relax now because I'll be back.
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Post by cleglaw on Sept 7, 2008 10:39:16 GMT
I have never liked northern Mexico. It is very hot, dry, flat, poor, and has little to recommend it. But there are many very beautiful places deeper in Mexico that make it a wonderful country to travel in. Flash flooding has killed more than one unwary traveller. Glad to have you with us still. Welcome back!
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Post by Elliot Kane on Sept 7, 2008 15:17:39 GMT
Sounds like you had a terrrific time there, Hildor, which is great! Welcome back *** Your point on Americans is one I wish more people would understand. You only have to talk to a few to realise they are just like every other member of the human race. Hating an entire population is just... well, 'ignorant' would be the polite word...
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Post by cleglaw on Sept 7, 2008 18:25:36 GMT
I am just like every other member of the human race?
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Post by Elliot Kane on Sept 7, 2008 18:32:41 GMT
What can I say, Cleg? It's a scary race! ;D
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Post by Galadriel on Sept 8, 2008 14:03:42 GMT
Glad you had such a great time in the US Hildor but even better that you're back. And about your student home, I wish I had met Geert sooner, he has about 400 student homes for rent in Leuven, would've been an idea if you were still looking for a place.
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Post by Hildor on Sept 8, 2008 21:08:42 GMT
Well Leuven would've been a little bit too far away from my school in Antwerp Two weeks to go until the academy year starts by the way. Two weeks of pure relaxing and not thinking about anything related to school that is.
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Post by LaFille on Sept 9, 2008 3:02:18 GMT
Welcome back; glad you had a good rest of trip, safe return and thank you for sharing your stories and impressions!! All those experiences are priceless, good for you!
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Post by Hildor on Sept 22, 2008 7:23:48 GMT
Here is the official Hello from Hildor at his student room ;D I moved in yesterday and I already had a good time. I went to say hello to the parents of the housekeeper (who wasn't at home) and her children. Then I got to know of few of my fellow students a little better when we were fixing my broken internet connection.
And now I'm chilling behind my pc since I don't have any lessons before 1pm on monday ;D
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Post by Elliot Kane on Sept 22, 2008 7:38:46 GMT
Welcome back, Student! Good luck at school
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Post by LaFille on Sept 24, 2008 5:04:35 GMT
That's great, a Monday morning where you don't have to wake up early. Hope you have a good time in your new settings.
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Post by Galadriel on Sept 24, 2008 17:59:38 GMT
Hey Hildor, don't forget to pay the Irish Times pub a visit (close to the Brabo statue), if you see Michael the waiter tell him i'll be back ;D
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Post by Hildor on Sept 25, 2008 8:52:29 GMT
I was quite close to that pub yesterday, but we went to a party in Café d'Anvers. Very nice place and great music, I have to say. And no, we didn't pay the prostitutes a visit before. ;D
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Post by peterh on Sept 25, 2008 11:30:32 GMT
Can I Call you Hildör? Everythings cooler with an umlaut
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Post by cleglaw on Sept 25, 2008 14:31:16 GMT
..
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Post by Hildor on Sept 25, 2008 16:48:26 GMT
You really did lose your wisdom ay? ;D
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Post by Galadriel on Sept 25, 2008 17:16:18 GMT
You really did lose your wisdom ay? ;D You mean the one braincell he had before? Was just good enough so he would not pee in the kitchen
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Post by cleglaw on Sept 25, 2008 20:41:42 GMT
.................. ......... ....... .... ........... Everythings cooler with an umlaut.
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