T minus 88 Days & Counting

I am becoming obsessed with watching the currency markets and the state of the US Economy, trying to work out how the fluctuations in the value of the dollar against the pound will work to my advantage. Will the dollar fall to the mythical value of £0.50 effectively doubling my money? Will there be a dramatic recovery in the economy in the two and a bit months before I go which will mean that the pound drops like a stone? Will I be taking enough disposal cash to cover my stay?

Then the anxiety kicks in and I being to wonder if I will have enough money to spend and buy presents. All the people who have been to NYC keep telling me how cheap clothes and electrical goods are to buy in comparison to the UK, why I should only take a few clothes with me initially and buy the rest over there... although I do fancy a nice pair of Timberland Boots. Something a bit sturdier than the training shoes I normally wear but not as robust as my hiking boots, I'm looking for a happy medium. But that's it, what do I do?

... here's my latest predicament: Luggage;

I need at least two pieces of luggage to take with me, one carry on (which should also be able to handle my MacBook on the way there and my MacBook Air on the way back!) and then my clothes luggage case. I am only going for 10 days so I should not need to take my whole wardrobe with me - not that I have that many clothes - and I am judging what I'm going to take on the weather reports I am receiving from Diane every so often. If the weather warms up then I don't need to take my big coats - just my jackets will do. I'm tempted to buy a businessman's style carry-on bag I saw in PC World and then try to match up my main case to it. I do know that I need something robust and I cannot scrimp on the cost, having seen what can happen to suitcases in the baggage handling section (Die Hard II anyone?).

Am I being sad? Not only am I updating my Blog in work time but i am also searching the net for suitable luggage and accessories. Antler luggage looks good and has the carry-on case I want although it seems a tad expensive for me, do I go the whole hog and buy Louis Vuitton luggage at £1,100.00 for a carry-on case? Actually, I don't think so. It looks extremely vulgar to me and I would probably have some idiot come over to me at claim that the bag is a fake, I wouldn't want to cause a scene in the airport.

Speaking of which I'd better remember to change my SMS alert tone on my mobile. I don't think it would go down too well with airport security if I get a text message and Gene Hunt shouts "Drop your weapons! You are surrounded by armed bastards!" That may just be a one way trip to the anti-terrorist arrivals lounge courtesy of MI5 & New Scotland Yard. Is there a de rigueur for text message alerts in the USA? I understand now that SMS has caught on over there, although in a country of 250 million plus there are less mobile telephones per head of population that in the UK and we still send more SMS each year. I remember Daine's mobile (cell) phone she used a couple of years ago - it was about 9 years out of date in the UK with digital watch style display and no facility to SMS. It was a brick too. But what is acceptable as a tone for the SMS? I have a few of at the moment that I mix and match according to my moods but they can be broken down as follows:

• R2D2
• Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park
• Velocoraptor from Jurassic Park
• Homer Simpson
• Marilyn Monroe
• Gene Hunt from Life on Mars

I know the BBC America shows Life on Mars but will the Gene Genie be acceptable saying "A course in applied bollocks" or "Supa Dupa" or even "You great, soft, sissy, girlie, nancy, French, bender, Man United supporting puff.", these are the questions that need asking. I think I'll arrange for someone to text me when I am in the lift going up the Empire State Building, see what reaction I get.

Anyway, I'm rambling again. Better get back to doing some work. Where's the number for Louis Vuitton...

T minus 90 Days & Counting

The problem of my passport has been sorted out now and I do qualify for the Visa Waiver Programme, so that is one thing ticked off my "to do" list. I now have tickets and passport and the only remaining item of any significance is money and I can't decided on how much I should take with me. At the current rate of exchange £1.00 will buy me $1.95 - to put this in perspective, if I was to buy the new MacBook Air in the USA at a cost of $1,799.00 at the current rate of exchange it would cost me £925.00 as opposed to the £1,299.00 if I bought one in the Apple Store in the Trafford Centre. Now I am very tempted with the MacBook Air and the not-so-subtle hints I have been dropping to friends about what I want for my birthday do not seem to be working to well, but I live in hope.

I also want to have a look at the CSI franchise store in New York. I'm a big fan of the shows and when my parents visited Las Vegas they bought me a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation baseball cap and my (ex-)wife bought me a pair of shades worn by Horaitio Cane in CSI@ Miami, so now I want a CSI:NY baseball cap. This means I will probably spend one day walking around the whole of Manhattan looking for one shop and wasting what could be a glorious sightseeing day. Also being a fan of the show means that I know that New York, along with Las Vegas and Maimi, is the grusome murder capital of the world - a title that used to be held by Oxford and Denton (where Frost was based - but is actually Leeds and the surrounding areas) - and I may become one of the poor victims that are accidently killed is an ingenious and extremely gory way. 

I do know that there is more to New York than television & movies but that is my only frame of reference at the moment. However, as I am not a fan of Sex In The City (being male & straight) I don't think I will be doing the SITC tour as recommended by Gemma - I honestly don't think it would be up my street. I mean, I don't know what Jimmy Choo's are... 

I also think I need to start a list of the presents people want me to bring back; DS Lite; Chloe Bag; Various computing equipment.

Although I do have my eye on the MacBook Air.

T minus 99 Days & Counting

Visa or Visa Waiver Programme? Excuse me? I don't get it...

This has already turned out to be really confusing and I've only just started to looking into the documentation required to enter the country. I know that my passport is not the biometric type because it was renewed just after I got married and went on holiday to my parents apartment in Tenerife - my God was that only 4 years ago? There as been a lot of water under the bridge since then.

But it is an exempt passport with the digital photograph and machine readable zone? I honestly cannot remember, when was the last time you actually looked at your passport? All I can remember about it was that it replaced my original black passport that I had owned since I was 16 and is encased in a leather wallet in the motif of the Flag of St George... that's me English; not British; English and proud of it (check out my birthday, 23rd April. St George's Day). 

But I haven't a clue where it is. I remember that when she decided we were to "split" she kindly went through all the joint paperwork, separated out my Driving License, old savings account book with Nationwide Building Society, pension information and my passport. I did not take much notice of where she stored them because (1) I didn't think she was serious at first (2) You never do, do you?

I presume she has a box file somewhere with "Paul" written on it in her child-handwriting (she is left-handed and prints everything she writes so it looks like a small child had written it - that's not a critique, it's a fact) and contains everything from my birth certificate to my A Level certificates and pictures of when I was a 6 year schoolboy. I'm not going to ask her just yet, the same way I'm not going to ask her about the Visa situation even though she has been twice is six months. I hate having to ask her for anything.

Anyway, I think my passport has the machine readable section & digital photograph, she has not mentioned anything about Visas so I can only assume that she does need one - so neither will I as we both got our passports at the same time. But I will check it out with someone else who knows more than I.

According the the US Government Consulate website I don't need a Visa is I'm a holder of a machine readable passport. But according to the FCO (Foreign & Commonwealth Office) I am going to me murdered, raped, kidnapped for sex tourism, contract malaria/small pox/ HIV & AIDS/ebola and other nasty diseases. I'm going to visit the United States of America NOT ECCLES!

Anyway, I'm going to look for my passport tomorrow, make a list of the other things I will need, review my luggage allowance and price up some cool looking suitcases because I'm going to need a new carry-on bag that I can get my MacBook in as I refuse to be parted from it.

That's the start of my to-do list.

1. Passport - where is it and is it the right one?
2. Luggage - how much can I take over there?
3. Luggage - are my cases cool enough?

And so begins my weekend...

T minus 100 Days & Counting

It took 90 minutes of searching the internet, several attempts to modify the dates, schedules & routes of the flights but eventually we did it. As requested, for my 40th birthday present my parents have bought me return flights to New York from 20th to 30th April 2008. My 40th birthday will be spent in NYC celebrating with Diane, my best friend (and former Best Girl at my Wedding) seeing the sights; taking in the atmosphere; eating until we're sick and getting thrown out of bars because we don't want to drink cat wee out of rusty pipes...

Have I got time to pack? Of course I have, I'm not a woman. Have I got a passport? Hmm... now there's a question. Where I have hidden it for same keeping? Obviously such a safe and secure place that I must have erased the memory of hiding it. Do i need a Visa? Am I going to get in? Have you ever been or are you still active as a communist? Do I think George Bush is a useless idiot?

So, from now on in this little sub-blog I am going to post my thoughts, aspirations and details of the itinerary (as laid down by Diane & Frank). I will also try to update it when I am over there too.

But for now this is what I would like to do: -

• Visit Ground Zero
• Urinate off the top of the Empire State Building
• Visit the Statue of Liberty & ask the curators why isn't she smiling
• Go to a genuine American Bar and take the piss out of colonials
• Handle everything I see in accordance with my Bible: The Pub Landlords Book of British Common Sense, by Al Murray.

For now I am excited... I'm going to visit a city & state that I have seen on the television & in the cinema (usually getting destroyed by aliens, floods, meteors & Godzilla), stand in Times Square, climb the Empire State Building... the list goes on.

One more thing. I hate flying...