OMG RICK STEVES!

Rick Steves is coming to Austin in November!! As some of you know, I am a Rick Steves nut - I love him, I love his show, I love his sense of humor, I love his guidebooks, I love his blog, etc. etc. etc. I really do think he's part of that traveling spirit that Ryan and I try to embody - go local, be an explorer, and budget doesn't mean staying in a hostel. It's about being smart and balancing priorities.

He's coming to Austin, TX and will be at Bookpeople on November 16th. This is so great! How neat!!

Tschüß!

Milan Hotels

Been looking at a couple hotels online:

Hotel Milan (http://www.hotel-london-milan.com/) It's pretty utilitarian, only about 100 euros, and I e-mailed them to find out the exact rate and availability.

Hotel Raffaello (link) is a bit further out, a good price, more of a business hotel, but right next to a tram station.

Hotel Spadari al Duomo (link) has a name that means it's right near the Duomo...really funky and fun...just pricey. Hrmph.

I guess I should probably get a guidebook? :) Seems like a lot of neat things to do. You can even pre-reserve a viewing of The Last Supper fresco! They have dates through the end of November...so I suppose I'll have to wait a little bit...

The planning continues...!

Tschüß!

Luggage and Travel Books

In 2006, our travel philosophy of "packing lite" was still in its infancy. I think we did an amazing job and only had a Victorianox rolling Duffel, a large backpack, and our own travel purses. We also stowed two duffelbags inside that we gradually pulled out for gifts and keepsakes. By the time we got to Berlin and then to Düsseldorf it was pretty ridiculous how much crap we were carrying around.



Scott lugging clothes up to the castle in Oberwesel, Oct. 2006



Ryan with our multitude of bags in Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Oct. 2006. Moments before this photo, Scott had realized that we were standing on the wrong platform (Gleiß) and we scurried to not miss our reservation on the train to Düsseldorf...and broke the strap on one bag. Uggh!

At one point in Frankfurt, the duffel was so full and we were walking to a train station (something we'll be doing more of during this trip because we won't have a beautiful car to ferry us around) and it literally started dragging on the ground. I thought that I was just getting weak, but the wheels had heated up and started loosening the bearings! There were lots of angry threats to that bag...even though it was awesome in every other aspect.



Scott with the amount of bags mid-way and just before our walk to the train station, Frankfurt, Oct. 2006

This time, our strategy will be to ship things home when appropriate, reduce the number of clothes and outfit options, stick with one pair of shoes, and go with a new backpack. We looked at some at REI yesterday and found one we both really liked. It has a day-pack attached so when on an airplane or train, you can stow your luggage and have your daypack with iPod, travel guides, journals, lipbalm, etc.



Eagle Creek Switchback Max 22", purchased from www.irvsluggage.com

We'll be able to test them out on our vacation to...Cancun!! I finally told Ryan the surprise, so in two weeks we'll be leaving for Cancun and a five-day relaxing vacation of NOTHING but celebrating Ryan's foray into his thirties. Woot! He's super excited and it certainly means the 2nd half of 2008 is in support of the motto we developed in Stuttgart back in 2006: "Less Work, More Travel."

Last night, on our way back from luggage shopping, I popped into Half Price Books and picked up a little guidebook to Cancun and Amsterdam.

Tschüß!!

Milan: Aperitivo

Great post on two of my favorite topics: saving money while drinking!

http://www.eurocheapo.com/blog/milan-aperitivo-bars-offer-delicious-dining-cheapo-style.html

Deutschland 2008: Travel Notes

Couple of notes on the trip planning so far...proposed itinerary:

Milan - Zurich - Lindau - München - Nürnberg - Rothenberg ob der Tauber - Stuttgart - Bad Wimpfen? - Amsterdam

Sounds like a lot and we'll have to really scrub it down if needed...Rothenberg might drop off the list if the hotel situation isn't the best...or it might be a stop-over on the way to Stuttgart.

When you think about it, our last trip was just as aggressive.

Stuttgart - München - Freising - Oberammergau - Lindau - Baden-Baden - Oberwesel - Berlin - Düsseldorf

But our CTQs are at least 2 days in Stuttgart and 2 days in München. We might even move that to 3, we liked München so much and really missed a lot of things on the menu.

1: Flying
2: Milan - tour - sleep in Milan
3: Train to Zurich (3.5 hours) - tour Zurich - sleep in Zurich
4: Train to Stuttgart (2:45 hours) - sleep in Stuttgart
5: Tour Stuttgart - sleep in Stuttgart
6: Train to Lindau (2:45 hours) - sleep in Lindau
7: Train to München (2:42 hours) - sleep in München
(Note: This train is ALX or the Allgau Express a direct to München!)
8: Tour München - sleep in München
9: Train to Nürnberg (78 minutes) - sleep in Nürnberg
10: Train to Rothenberg (1:30 hours) - tour Rothenberg - sleep in Rothenberg
11:
12:
13: Tour Amsterdam - sleep in Amsterdam
14: Fly out of Amsterdam

Hmmm this is working out pretty well and actually is opening up more days. In 2006, we ended up driving for several hours per day...but using the trains will get us from point-to-point faster, although we will have to make up spontaneity in other ways. :)

OK, more to come later.

Tschüß!!

Deustchland 2008: How we got here

In only a few days, we jumped and booked our tickets to Germany for December...but it did take quite some time to get to this two week vacation and fate just needed to nudge a few last details. Last year, when I was in Utah, I talked about returning with their petsitting help sometime in the future. We were at dinner at Market Street Broiler; the meal and atmosphere was fabulous and represented the genesis of the entire idea. They were on board...then, we bought the second rental house, we furnished, added a shed, bought a lawnmower, all of those frills of domestic and thirtysomething bliss. (OK, unfair, since Ryan is still 29...but he'll freely admit he's 29 going on 39 when it comes to his level of responsibility in finance and around the house.)

So, no return was planned. I even wrote about being sad about this.

Last weekend, Ryan traveled to Salt Lake City for a wedding; his dad mentioned it and planted the seed -- why don't we come for Thanksgiving and then you can head off to Germany for a while? -- are you kidding me? -- no, let's plan it. So, a week later, we did and we're ready to go.

Of course, we are using Skymiles - that's the only reason we favor our AMEX. Since our last trip, we've placed everything we can on that card...including expenses for Ryan's salon. Just a few days ago, we hit 192,000 miles...enough for 2 first-class tickets to Europe. Being so close to December, I was worried that seats wouldn't be available and they were certainly sparse. The Delta website looks and feels like it's working for you, but it's utterly frustrating, it changes by the moment, and when a majority of SkySaver seats are on partner airlines that you can't book online...it sucks. So I paid the $50 fee per person to talk to a human and in 40 minutes we had it worked out.

You can't hold tickets over the phone (which is damn stupid because you can do that online - for free - but here I'm paying someone and they won't?) so I had to put her on hold, call Ryan, get the ok, and we booked it. Done. Das Ende.

Why fly into Milan and out of Amsterdam? It's all they had. Back in 2006, our Delta agent could only get us into Stuttgart and out of Düsseldorf...fate meant for it to happen. We wouldn't have met our favorite city Stuttgart, we wouldn't have drank altebier in Düsseldorf, and we would have only been there 10 days since that was the original plan.

So, speaking of plans, we chatted extensively and excitedly last night on the porch (cooler weather finally, rain) and one possibly route would be Milan, then Zürich (expensive), dann München, und Nürnberg, mit Stuttgart, danach Amsterdam. A little city-focused, but with it being the winter it's more reliable.

Wow...viel spaß, wir machen es sehr interessant. Wir sind am Einkaufen interessieren...mit Sights dass wir letztes Zeit nicht gesehen haben. Und ich hoffe, dass mein Deutsch besser über letztes Zeit sein werden. Wow, wann ich mehr Komplexsatz geschreibt habe, dann ich besser bin muß! (Or is the fact that I screwed up my own self-praise something to be worried about?)

Rick Steves, here we come!

Tschüß!

OMG! Deutschland 2008 is on!

AUS > ATL > MXN
AMS > MEM > AUS

Land in Milan, Leave from Amsterdam, lots of Germany in-between. December. 2008. More to come, but the tickets are booked!!!!!!

Tschüß!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Penpal and Chicken Tikka Masala

I have a new penpal in Germany!!! I signed up via www.mylanguageexchange.com and didn't hear anything for a few weeks...then a wonderful e-mail popped into my inbox.

"Hey Scott,
wie geht es dir?
I have just seen your profile and wanted to leave a note."

OMG, can you imagine the look on my face as I pounded out work at the bank??? She is from Hamburg, 30, and just started at an international company. She wants to learn more business english, I want to learn basic and business german, and we've had several days of fun e-mails. It takes me about 1 hour to write to her...I write in German, read her corrections and suggestions, correct her English and teach her new idioms, and we talk back and forth about culture.

She lived in the US for 12 months and loves US culture and wants to return for a visit but is afraid because it might hurt her...

I said: "I guess the grass is always greener on the other side (which means that we always want what we don't have...but once we get it sometimes it's not as super as we thought) because I want to live in Germany so bad! We are taught to be isolated from the rest of the world, to be in charge and cocky - but I don't like that, I want to meet other people and fit into any culture. Sometimes I'm not proud to be an American because of our awful president and some of our stupid politicians. I look at Germany and the pride everyone has...and the traditions...ahhh, everything is so much smarter there! People in the US have too much attitude and are so fake."

She replied, "Ich musste ein paar mal wirklich schmunzeln als ich deine mail las. (I had to smirk a few times while reading your mail.) Your views about Germans or Germany are so twee." (Editors Note: I don't know that word...I suggested to her that she might use "a bit naive instead.)

She went on to explain that there is little pride, mostly because their political history caused German Pride to be used against them by other countries. I meant the pride of traditions is what I'm most interested in -- and she agreed. Another line I love from her: "Die Wirtschaft hat ein Hoch und die Deutschen sind wieder glücklicher als in den letzten Jahren. Aber viele hier haben auch den Traum vom Ausland, von einem besseren Land, einem einfacheren Leben. Included me."

It means that "the economy is on a high and over the past year, the Germans are more happy. But, many here have the dream of going outside of Germany, to a better land, and a more true life."

How fun. OK, back to food news...I made Chicken Tikka Masala last night...I've dreamed of it since Ryan and I both had it at a british pub in Santa Monica. (We had it at separate times...) It turned out soo good. I've never broiled chicken skewers in the oven but it worked out sooo well!







I also watched a fantastic French film on Pay-Per-View. IFC has some amazing selections...this was a 1994 coming-of-age tale in early 1960s rural france, during the French-Algerian conflict. Les Roseaux Sauvages (Wild Reeds).

Off to reheat my leftover Tikka Masala and plop down for either Olympics or another movie. Oh, I also arranged some flowers...I suck at it but I guess it's kinda pretty.



Tschüß!!!