My flight from England to Chicago went fine, was on time and lasted a little over 8 hours. Jay was there waiting for me. We drove back to his house, and chatted for a good few hours. I was feeling pretty tired once we got back to his place, but I stayed awake till about 11. I slept till about 9:30 the next day.

Jay and I went to TGI Fridays for lunch, the service was incredible. Our server was really friendly and helpful. Our food arrived really quick, and we got our drinks refilled without having to demand them! This might not be unusual for Americans, but it is for someone from England. I'm just not used to it.

After lunch we went to the Indianapolis Speedway, where they hold the Indy 500 and the USA F1 Grand Prix and looked around the Museum. It's full of old Indy 500 cars, from the first ever back in 1911 to the modern cars. Then we took a tour around the in-field of the track (they were resurfacing the actual track so we couldn't do that tour) and saw the F1 track, the golf course, all the stands and Gasoline Alley. It was really interesting.

Later on that day Jay dropped me at Indy airport, and I hopped on a plane to DC, then another to Raleigh airport. I guess it took about 4 hours in total to get from Indy to Raleigh. As I walked from the gate to the baggage claim, I rang Bonnie on my phone to find out where she was... suddenly I turned a corner and there she was. She ran straight for me shouting ALEX!! and hugged me tightly. :)

We picked up my bag from the baggage claim, and walked outside to find her car; then we drove to my hotel, the Mariott Courtyard in North Raleigh. The room is fantastic! I love this place. I'll have to take some pics and post them later.

We've got 2 queen-size beds, a TV with cable, high speed internet, a balcony, access to a pool and hottub, and an en-suite bathroom. Plus access to a microwave down in reception. I am so glad this place got picked at random by Priceline.co.uk - I could've ended up somewhere REALLY horrible! Bonita-ta-ta loves the room too :P

Yesterday I met Suzy and Mark, the 2 people Bonnie lives with. Mark is Scottish, and we got on pretty well talking about football and British politics. Suzy and Bonnie made homemade pizzas for dinner, one was veggies, the other had taco flavoured beef - they were DELICIOUS!! Then we watched 2 movies, Real Genius and something else (I forgot what it was!!)

We went over to their place today as well and I had a good chat with Suzy about Scotland (my only time there, for just 3 hours) and some of her photos she'd taken there.

Bonnie, her mum and I went to Walmart today, and I bought 2 new pairs of jeans. Why are America and Canada the only decent places to buy clothes that actually fit?? Grrrr!!

Bonnie's got school and work tomorrow, so it'll probably be pretty boring a day for me as I'll be stuck here alone. :( At least there are shops pretty close by, I may go wander around them for a bit.

Bonnie really is great fun to be with. I'm so glad I decided to come here. It's a shame I've got to leave on Saturday. She's very funny to be around. I wish I had a friend like her back home. I wonder if I can kidnap her and take her back with me. ;)

More to come.