The Trip

Background
I had no plans whatsoever for a holiday at any point in the near future, being both povvo and saddled with two dogs that I am loathe to leave for any length of time. Then my cousin in LA decided to get married, my sister and I decided to go, and we decided that since we were forking up for the airfares, we may as well make a holiday out of it.

The Plan
LA - San Diego - Denver - Memphis - NYC - Boston.

Why these cities?
LA: Wedding and family will be there.

San Diego: A good friend from High School lives there. I imposed upon his hospitality in Boston to cap off my European sojourn in 2003 and had a good time, so why not mooch off him again? Also, the prospect of authentic Mexican food (which growing up in Seoul and Sydney, I have never before experienced) calls to me like the finest Dutch Double Bubble calls to a university pothead.

Denver: Wait. Why the fuck am I going to Denver? Oh that's right, *grumble something about sister being a one-eyed Broncos fan grumble*

Memphis: If you thought we were hitting Memphis for the music, then you'd be WRONG. I'm going to eat BBQ, bitches. I've been obsessed about BBQ since I was introduced to it by a combination of a shitty chain restaurant in LA and internet message board posters from the South. What we Aussies call BBQ, Seppos* call "Cooking outside". True BBQ means horrendously gristly, cheap cuts of meat transformed into ambrosia by the judicious application of spices and hours upon hours of slow smoking. I am going to eat lunch here every day. Probably have dinner here once or twice as well. Obviously we'll catch some music as well. (Old Crow Medicine Show is playing in the area but we miss them by a matter of days. FAIL.)

NYC: It's NYC, you don't need an excuse to go there. We're going to eat pizza (if the pizza is not floppy like it is in the Ninja Turtles movies, then we're demaning our money back). Also planning on spending a good day at the Met gawking at art (Degas is my homie) and annoying Jo by stopping before every still life from Cezanne's final period and saying "ZOMG I SAW THOSE APPLES FOR REALS!!!! LOLOLOL!!!!!1111one"** General sight seeing and unfunny in-jokes about NYC localities featured in Beastie Boys and Wu-Tang Clan lyrics are a given.

Boston: A very good friend of mine is currently doing his Masters at Harvard, no less. Found it to be a fun town, and Mass. is almost single handedly responsible for the revival of American Heavy Metal, so it holds a fond place in my heart. I am pretty much going to take up residence here for the duration of the Boston stay.

I created this blog as a joint effort between me and Jo, so between the two of us it should get updated at least a few times during the month-long trip, limited only by our access to a computer.

Last one to suffer a major coronary episode loses. Bring it on.

* Septic Tank, rhymes with Yank.

** Atelier Cézanne is a tourist attraction in Aix-en-Provence, and was a major highlight of my 2003 backpacker tour of Western Europe.