Apples on the Road

Well today is the day...... Julia, Pam and I are all ready to leave for New Jersey. We are driving to London Heathrow today and flying first thing tomorrow morning.

We are all SO excited (and a bit apprehensive). Julia has never flown before, Pam has flown twice and me just a few more times.... but never so far as the States!

The next time I write in here will be from the other side of the pond!

It really is interesting, before connecting with Johanna through iChat I would never have considered flying to the States, let alone staying for a holiday of 2 months!

What is the difference? The difference is that with iChat I have seen where I'm going to go, I have met many people who I will now see in "real life" And it all now feels so familiar. It will be so interesting to actually be there and see how well I really know where I'm going to go!!

Ohoowoohoowor!! We are off!!

See you State Side!

I am so lucky to have just gotten the Mobile broadband card from Sprint when I did!!

In the past preparing to leave for a trip of 2 months would have entailed making sure you had organised everything at home so that you could be away for several weeks. You might be busily writing lists of who you need to speak to before you go, organising your finances so that you had money for the trip and pay the bills at home, making sure you pet-care is adequate etc etc.

Not so in this New World..........

It began to dawn on me as I have been preparing to leave for New York in 4 days time...... oh this is different. I don't have to sort finance anymore than to have a linked PayPal account, I don't need to say my last good-byes to the lodgers as I will see them on iChat not long after I land in the States, I don't have to worry about what might come in the post because, Vic and David - the lodgers will just scan our post in everyday and upload it to my .Mac Account!! Superb!!

But most of all... I have never really contemplated an extended trip anywhere because I have dogs!! And I would find it very difficult to be away from my dogs for so long. (Don't worry - they are awaiting their Pets Passport!!) However, this time of course I will still be able to see them and hear them. I can check out in real time how their health is and actually see them as they go about their lives.

So for this trip, rather than put "this life" on hold for 2 months I just need to press a couple of links and it's all organised - here and there!!

And of course, there is also the people that are left at home. Now, instead of worrying if you are ok or not having any idea of where you are or what you are doing... there is iChat. Via iChat or Skype, our loved ones can share the trip with you and know what you are doing and that you are safe. You can send back data and information in real time as it happens.

Ummm... did I say that I think this technology is changing the world.

Well it has certainly changed my world. I have a completely different perspective about this planet now compared to even 2 years ago. Going to the USA would have seemed like something other people did - not me! The whole world now seems close and accessible, first through a video cam and then in reality! And the absolute wonder of this is that all you need is a computer a microphone, speakers, a web cam and a broadband connection....... the rest is free. The calls/connection over iChat is free!!



Who and where will be next after the US? Is it you and your home - where did you say it was in the world?

We are off!!! After meeting me outside of the baggage pickup, we went for the car. It was wonderful to be together, laughing and hugging and falling back into our silliness from my last visit a few weeks ago!! I had missed them so much, even though Alix and I spent so many hours on line, it isn't the same as being able to reach over and hug in person.

I was on a magical mystery tour... these amazing women had planned the way home to include a sightseeing tour of places that they thought I would love... and they were so right!

Our first stop was Hebden Bridge. It is a lovely little town about 45 minutes from Manchester Airport. It reminded me of New Hope, Pennsylvania USA. Alix drove us through a few neighborhoods that she knew from the past, and then parked the car so that we could enjoy strolling around in the lovely air. The town is very hilly and had quaint, (to me), brick and stone walkways. ... and lots of beautiful homes tucked away among the steep alleyways. Stone is used for homes and walkways so very much more here than it is at home in the States. I love the feeling it generates in me... somehow deeply rooted, like an old and proud tree among the saplings that surround it.

We ate lunch outside of a sweet little coffee shop at the edge of a stream that runs through this section of town. It was so lovely catching up with each other, feeling the breeze, and sharing different foods. The parade of people going by was eclectically varied, and great fun to watch. It is a town I could easily see myself living in.

After we explored a few more streets, we went back to the car and on to my next surprise... we were heading for Blackpool, UK. It's a well known seaside resort in Britain and a must-see destination for this American!! I love my friends. The care and thought that had been put into planning the day's events was so touching. I always know I am blessed with amazing people in my life and days like this fill me with gratitude and appreciation.

When we arrived, I had to laugh again at how similarly places have evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. Blackpool reminded me so much of Ocean City, NJ USA!!! There were definitely more signs advertising fish and chips, for sure, but if I transposed them with the Pizza signs in Ocean City, I could feel as though I was back at 'the shore' as we call it, in New Jersey!



We walked and prowled along the boardwalk, with Alix, Julia and Pam telling me stories from their past visits to Blackpool. As we rambled, Alix saw the Louis Tussaud wax museum, and bought us all tickets. I haven't ever been in a wax museum...and was amazed at how lifelike a lot of the figures were.... I had to run back to get a disposable camera so that we could have a photo of Pam with "Harry Potter"! Goodness knows I missed my digital camera where I could have just downloaded the photos into my trusty MacBook and printed a copy off for her. Now we have to wait to develop film, which I haven't done in such a long time!

My next cultural experience was after seeing a figure of an older woman outside of what looked like a bar entrance. I was about to enter the world of Coronation Street...a soap opera that has been running in the UK for a very long time! The figure was one of the characters, and the bar a main set where a good deal of the show takes place. I loved the very lifelike wax figure of the bartender and a few other characters. The museum had cleverly set it up so that their snack bar was part of the set, and we had tea in what was set up as one of the booths in the TV show.

Okay, I'm about to make the mouths of a LOT of people water...I had my very first authentic fish and chips!!! We ate it walking along the street, smelling the sea air and laughing and chatting.

I was and still am feeling quite delighted to have this uniquely British experience. Sharing friends, life, caring...and of course, telling you all about it on this blog.

More later...we are off to Scotland again!

From 3333 miles away!

I am consistently fascinated by the Apple computer... As Alix and I are working, I rerun my internal mental tape how we got to the place of working together. When we initially made contact, the first thrill was that of SEEING each other through the I-cam....not only visualising using a photo..or the combination of a photo and voice, but to be able to see another person's expressions, eyes, laugh...certainly brings them to life so much more completely.

As we chatted....and chatted....and chatted more and more, we began videoing some of our exchanges. It was (and still is) great fun to replay them. We were intending to use bits of the video as part of this project, and still may, although the time spent in reviewing the by now hours worth of footage to pick out what we feel are the gems, is a bit daunting.

We now have a video archive of ourselves and four of our very dear friends as we got to meet, bond through laughter and stories, and connect on very deeply personal levels.

We know that this intimate passage into friendship happens in 'real life' when like minded people are fortunate enough to meet. To experience this happening through the magic of a computer and over a vast physical distance is still mind boggling to us all.

We found ourselves spending more and more time connecting through the computer. Both Alix and I are people who spend a good deal of time online anyway, and it became our 'normal' to video chat as we did other work. Once I upgraded to the Leopard operating system, more and more was possible to do and share together.

I am out and about a good deal, and often in coffee shops with wireless access. I would invite Alix into whatever space I was in, delighting in showing off bits of my day to day American life. Her world is so lovely yet so different than mine. We love the connecting and marveling over the similarities and comparing what was not the same, as well.

Of course, a highlight to us both was when I would have my class at the Apple Store and was able to invite her to watch and comment. It is a 160 mile trek for her to get to an Apple Store.
I am spoiled.. I have two within 20 minutes of my house. Since she is physically in Scotland, and I am in the USA, in NJ, we connect with a 5 hour time difference, which I often forget about since there is such immediacy in our connection.

One of my favourite memory-moments was when I was taking a class, and invited her to video chat, forgetting about that time difference. She was in her bed! I was introducing her to the fascinated Apple staff and she blithely commented that she had never had so many men in her bedroom at once! Her humour spiraled through the store, and another, very immediate friendship-connection between Alix and the wonderful Apple Creative staff was born!

Alix just reminded me of another silly story. It is often late in the evening in Scotland when we connect. Alix and several friends were sitting in her living room cuddling in around her lovely fireplace, chatting with three of us in my living room in New Jersey. As the light waned in Scotland, The NJ crew commented on them needing a bit more light to let us see them clearly. They scurried around, moving furniture and lamps. Without really realising what I was saying , I offered to hand her friend Julia one extra lamp I had here! Time, space, distance... electrical current...all of it had not even occurred to me as I reacted literally as though they were all in the same room as I was., and was about to hand it to her....that's how real the connection had become. It has heightened since then.

We are truly inhabiting an alternate yet very real reality of our own, and Apple's creation.