45 days until we leave Canberra

45 days to go, still working on the little things.
Picked up our $US cash from Travelex yesterday. I know we'll have to use ATMs with the usual horrendous fees once this lot runs out, but we wanted to start with some cash on hand. And in any case, we're going to need some small notes for tips within minutes of getting there. I don't know how anyone actually plans anything money-wise in the US - nothing actually costs what it says it will once you add on taxes, tips etc. Never mind, we'll survive.
As I said earlier, I'm checking out the blogs of people already on the cruise - it makes it feel closer and it's good (in a sad sort of a way) to hear about all the stuff we're missing. Amazing to see the different views people get of the same places though - they've just left India and some people seem to have been far more affected by the poverty and overcrowding than others.
Also on the blogs, someone posted in the last couple of days that she heard an American lady loudly complaining about the disgracefully casual dress standards of the Australians on board. Now, I've seen photos on a number of these blogs, and they're showing me what I think of as typical cruise dressing - fancy dresses and suits for formal nights but otherwise mostly casual shirts and shorts/capris etc. For heaven's sake, they're in the tropics, in summertime. If that lady is still on board when we leave Los Angeles, I'm afraid there'll just be two more disgracefully dressed Australians for her to look at :-) Specially if, as I suspect, by the time we get on board the first thing I'm going to have to do is find the laundry and do a load of washing!
To change the subject back to the coach tour in the US - I've found out that my cousin has already done a Cosmos tour in the US, similar but not the same as ours. I'm going to interrogate her at length about a couple of things I haven't been able to find out - the practical stuff like how hard was it to find laundries (yes, I know, every hotel we stay at will have a laundry service but you can double the cost of your holiday if you have to completely rely on the hotel laundry.)