We travelled to the good ol' US of A for business and pleasure. And lucky for us, business was also pleasure. Some things I can talk about, others I can't. But, here's a short tour diary of what Mundi and I got up to.

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Day One:

We landed in San Francisco a bit blurry-eyed, greeted by a welcoming video from Obama himself, and a TSA agent who loved, yet hated his job very much. After jumping on the BART, we managed to find our hotel and dropped off our luggage. Then, STRAIGHT TO A BAR we went. I ate tater tots for the first time. I felt like Napoleon Dynamite. Mundi ate pizza. He felt like trash.

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Day Two:

Tuesday morning we woke up at about 6 AM, and stupidly watched the horrors of Fox News. We made our way to Mel's Drive-In to console ourselves with bottomless coffee, eggs, and FREEDOM. 

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Mundi and I were invited to the Zynga headquarters in the SoMA district to check out the building and say hi to the fam. All I can say is "CHRIST ON A BIKE" that building is insane; is like the UN. They had a huge TV, made up of about twenty TVs. I mean, that was not the only impressive thing about our visit, but it was certainly up there. We then went to drink a few beers and get out of the SF sun. This was around noon.

That evening, we met up with friends for beer and tacos...or should I say tacos, beer, then multiple gin and tonics. However, the switch in time zones was getting the better of me, so I had to flee back to the hotel. 

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Day Three:

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Wednesday started with omelettes and hash browns, with Mundi going for the all-American pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I realise that I've spoken a bunch about food, but, so what; if you want the good stuff, read some Shakespeare.

We spent the majority of the day doing business-type stuff, spreading the good word of ReRunners and Klang, until we had to check in to our second hotel of the trip.

Shout out to the Handlery Union Square Hotel for having the most beautiful hotel rooms. This is not a sponsored post, by the way.

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In the evening, we met up with friends for more drinks and Mexican food (surprise, surprise). We were graced with the presence of Maria Essig, Google's Indie Dev guardian angel, and all-around wonderful person. It was great to meet up with her, discuss ReRunners, music, Belarus, and VR. Admittedly, I don't know jack about VR, I just watched Mundi and Maria get deep about it and I nodded occasionally.

I blame you for my blinding hangover, Maria.

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Day Four:

Okay, so Thursday was TOP SECRET. I wish I could tell ya'll more, but I don't want to get into trouble. Thursday was make it or break it day. All I can say is that it was a great day, with some great people...and I was a bit too hungover. 

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Day Five:

Friday was flight home day, but before that, we visited the Double Fine studio, hosted by the fabulous Anna Kipnis. Double Fine's studio was such an inspiration; we desperately need to upgrade the Klang studio and give it some more flair, Office Space-style.

We had the amazing opportunity to check out the post-E3 build of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, which looks incredible. Plus, it was inspiring to watch the Double Fine guys and gals work, as well as see all the behind-the-scenes action. Oh, and thanks for the swag!

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On that note, big thanks to Anna Kipnis, Maria Essig, Greg Essig, Flour + Water, Drew Smith, and the Tilting Point crew: David Hague, Jerome Sudan, Samir El Agili, Dan Sherman.

It was a mind-blowing trip, let's do it again sometime!