Monday, September 7th, 1998
Tomorrow, one of my dreams will come true. I will go to the USA.
I work as an IT specialist for a bank and because we will start using a new
e-mail system soon, a collegue and I go to a conference about it in Boston.
Because my plane leaves on Tuesday early in the morning, I have to spend the
night in the Mercure hotel on Schiphol Airport.
After dinner I leave home to take a train to Schiphol and when I'm on Schiphol
Airport, I pass the passport control and go to my hotel room.
It is hardly a room, it's more like a closet. It is very small with no windows
but I just have to sleep there so who cares. I set my alarmclock at four
o'clock in the morning and go to sleep.
Tuesday, September 8, 1998,
At four I wake up and take a shower. Then I pack and check out. First I walk to
the Burger King for a cheeseburger for breakfast and then I walk to the British
Airways check-in desk. I was checked in and waiting at five AM.
Half an hour later, my college, Stanley, arrived. Boarding was at half past six
and soon we were on our way to the US of A.
Because we were flying British Airways, we had to change planes on Heathrow.
It was nice to see London from the air and then we touched down on Heathrow.
The Thames in London
After sightseeing the taxfree zone of Heathrow, our plane to Boston left at half
past nine.
While we taxied to the runway, I saw a Concorde. A beautiful airplane. Later I
saw the Airforce One parked at Heathrow too, so I think Bill Clinton was visiting
England.
It is around noon when we arrive on Logan International Airport in Boston. We have
to wait a long time for the immigration desk. When someone asks why we have to wait
that long, the answer is that they first do their "own people"........and then the
foreigners.
"Our" 747 on Logan International Airport in Boston
From the airport, we take a taxi to the World Trade Center to register for the
conference. There is some misunderstanding about the payment of our pre-registration
but nothing a credit card can not resolve so after a while we are back on the street
with a very nice shoulderbag with the conference program and a lot of CD's and
documentation.
The first think you notice as an European in the USA are the cars. There are a lot
more big cars on the road. What we consider a "big" car is average here.
The World Trade Center in Boston
We get another taxi to go to the hotel we booked. The Days Inn "On the Charles River"
When we checked in, the lady at the desk thought we reserved one room for the two of us
so now we had to explain thet we really wanted a room each but fortunately there was
another room available so that was solved.
The Days Inn "On the Charles River"
My room in the Days Inn
We go to our rooms to unpack and call home to tell our families we arrived safe and
then we have the rest of the day to explore the neighbourhood.
First we go to our first real American MacDonalds for a milkshake and then we walk
to Harvard Square, that is where the Harvard University is. We have a map of Boston
from the hotel and it very easy to find.
For the first time in my life I walk on the street in America :-)
We cross a bridge over the Charles River and then we enter Cambridge.
The Charles River
J.F.Kennedy street
Most buildings are English colonial style with shopsfronts, just like you see in
villages in England. There are also lots of more "American" wooden houses and we
visit the "First Church", a very old wooden church.
First Church
A nice university building
We walk in the park, admire the nice buildings, we visit the "one dollar bookstore"
buy postcards and go to a postoffice to send them home.
Then we are hungry so we look for a nice restaurant. On 114 Mount Auburn Street we
go to Chili's Grill & Bar.
We both have Country Fried Chicken and a Budweiser. For desert we have an icecream.
Country Fried Chicken
On our way back to the hotel we walk past the Harvard Stadium. It looks like a Roman
Theatre, very nice.
Harvard Stadium
In the hotel bar we have one more beer and then it's time to go to sleep. It is
eight PM local time but for us it's two o'clock at night!
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