Recap - Lessons Learned

With two more months of travel behind me, I look back now at the little things that 'made' the trip what it was. OK, so I went back over old ground, which I tend to do a lot, but in my mind its the different situations in old places that makes the experience that much more enjoyable.
Here are a few little tid bits that I picked up over the last few months ....

- Bathrooms will fill up with water when the shower curtain is left on the outside of the shower.
- Despite being warm in late November, LA is still dark at 4:45pm
- Calgarians have to put up with the local council dumping tons of little rocks on the road during snow. It's kinda weird because the rest of the country uses salt or sand ... Calgary uses rocks ... and it doesn't work nearly as well as the sand or salt.
- Vancouver doesn't cope well with snow ... not well at all.
- I can now put snow chains on a car ... that should be a useful skill out here in Broken Hill
- General Tao's Chicken is still the nicest Chinese dish ever made (and is best at the Garden Restaurant on Bloor in Toronto)
- Las Vegas is amazing ... in small doses
- I don't fit into size 13 ice skates
- Flyers given to you on the street in Vegas 'can' be useful!
- 14 hours is a long time to sit in one place watching bad movies and eating crap food.
- I have a new appreciation for cold weather. -40C is ridiculously cold
- Carrying a baby through airport security will afford you a little leeway ... it helps if the kid is kinda cute.
- Mirrors on your hotel room ceiling are just a little off putting.
- Never 'hit' on 19 when playing Blackjack ... no matter how big the dealers chest is!
- The new check in procedures in US airports is confusing and I pray that Australia doesn't follow suit (although I see that JetStar are going to trial it in '09)
- If the rate is cheap ... there is a better than average chance, so is the room.
- 'Tangerine Red Fanta' is the shizzle ... so tasty
- Role Models is a good movie ... go watch it when it hits Australia.
- LA is the hamburger capital of the world ... no, wait ... Universe.
- In a cab in the US, the quick way is never the cheapest. The GPS units in cabs are there purely for ornamental purposes too.