TravelinGirl

Saturday, October 01, 2005

The capper to the story

So I was cleaning out my purse today and found something interesting. Apparently I am now an (inadvertent) international drug smuggler.

I ended my adventures in Europe in Amsterdam. I took the attitude of "when in Rome...", and partook of the various opportunities that were available to me in Amsterdam (no, I did not go to a hooker or get a tattoo) meaning that I smoked some pot. Now I'm never going to be able to run for public office (but that fate was actually sealed a number of years earlier, this is merely the public confession of one of my transgressions). Oh damn, I had had such high hopes of being mayor or governor or something.

I had bought a couple of pre-rolled joints when I got into Amsterdam. I bought them pre-rolled as I didn't have a pipe or other paraphenalia, and don't know how to roll a joint, so there we go. I enjoyed one of them over the course of my time in Amsterdam. For the other one they gave me a clear plastic cylinder to put it into (similar to the things they put a single rose in to give them some water.) I also later bought a pipe so that I could try other "flavors" too. Since I had the pipe, I forgot that I'd bought the joint (which I'd put into my purse). I forgot about it so well that I found it today when cleaning out my purse. I was moving stuff around to switch from one purse to another, and reached in and felt something sorta round. I thought it was going to be lip gloss or something, , but nope. I found a joint. Yeesh.

I'm amazed for a couple of reasons. 1) I was being so careful to make sure that I didn't bring anything back. I threw away the pipe and the left over pot. 2) How the hell did I make it through customs and at least 2 sets of x-ray machines, as well as the fruit/veggie scanner thing with a damned joint in my purse????

In any case, I think I used up a bunch of luck on that one. I have now officially learned my lesson - no more smuggling drugs (on purpose or accidentally) for me.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Pictures!!

Ok folks, I have uploaded my photos to Flickr. If you didn't get an email from me already from Flickr, and you want to see the photos, email me and I'll send you an invitation. Otherwise, if you're already signed up on Flickr, go there and look at the pics already!

I think I set a personal speed record for getting them posted, given that there were just a bit more than 700 photos, and I put tags and titles on all of them, and some explanations on some of them too.

Not sure exactly how I'll pull it off right now, but I'm working on a blog that incorporates some narrative with the appropriate pictures, as well as any other links or info that might make the story come alive a bit more.

Monday, September 26, 2005

I'm home
I'm happy to announce that I'm home. Have been for a number of hours. Just enjoying my house, going through email, remembering that I own other clothes/shoes, etc. Haven't tackled regular snail mail yet - it's just too much. I'll deal with it tomorrow. I'm trying to stay up (sorta) late enough to get back on local time. I have the pictures uploaded to my computer, and I'll let it run to update to flickr overnight. Then I'll probably work on the tags/descriptions over the next couple of days. I'll update when the pictures are available - but be warned - there are 700ish. (Certainly folks will not want to look at ALL of them - I'm working on how to make it easier for folks to digest.)

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Last Day
So it's my last day of "vacation" (in quotes because it's my last day to be away from home, but I don't have to go back to work for a while after I get back). Why am I spending it in an internet cafe instead of out in the world? Because I'm on overload. I had a lovely morning sitting in a cafe (not a coffeeshop) having a croissant and tea and watching the tourists go by, reading and writing in my journal.

I feel like there is no way to do justice to what I've experienced over the last few weeks. I've had my senses bombarded every day for weeks now, and I'm not sure how to really sort that stuff out into something coherent to tell stories about when I get back. I mean, there are a few ready-packaged stories (the luge runs, impressions of tour members, favorites of various things - food, architecture, music, stupid tourist tricks, etc.). But much of the stuff I've seen, done, tasted and experienced has really just been piling up in my brain. I feel like a sponge that's been overwhelmed by the deluge it's trying to absorb - there's just no more space in my brain for more stuff.

I went through some of my pictures last night. It was wonderful to re-see some of the places I've been, relive some of the conversations. I feel like I didn't capture the other tour members as much as I would have liked so that I can illustrate stories about them for the blog. But I have lots of categories for keywords for flickr (which is likely where I'll be posting them - not sure if I'll sort them all first or put them all up and sort and create groupings by keywords or what). When I don't have to pay for my internet access, I'll put all my impressions into a blog entry so you guys can maybe get a feel for some of the stuff I experienced. When I sat down in the cafe to think about things, it was actually rather apparent that I have lots of impressions that come down to my senses - how I experienced things. For instance under the category of sounds - there were a ton of things that came up just in regard to thinking about the sound of the streetcars in Berlin (the rumble along the street, the sound of the validation machine {kachunk}, the announcements about the next stop {imagine the Peanuts cartoons' teacher voice in German}, conversations in the train, etc.). I think with more time to think things through, I can come up with interesting lists for all the senses (sights obviously dominating with architecture, art, graffitti, people interactions, food, etc.; smells having interesting stuff like old library smells, old church smells, piss on the side of buildings smells, fresh-baked pastries smells, schnitzel smells, etc.; feeling/touch - brushing past people in crowded tourist areas, big hugs from tour folks, the feel of a warm comforter on a cold night, etc.; tastes were oddly not as varied as I'd have guessed - lots of schnitzel, apple streudel, some Indonesian food, a Czech cola, etc.)

But how do you capture your impressions? About how nice it was to see Meta (someone from home right when I was feeling homesick), about how overwhelmed I was by everyone's kindnesses on the tour, about how awesome it was to sit over food and have great conversations with people, about how it's so broadening to travel because it makes you start challenging some of your assumptions, about how easy it is to both let things go past you, and to wish that they hadn't slipped by, about how incredibly lucky I am to have had this opportunity, and how excited I am to try to tell my friends all about my adventures when I get home. I'm trying to figure out how to do a travelogue that involves my descriptions of my adventures illustrated with select pictures from the 700+ from this trip. I have ideas, but not sure how to implement them. Will be asking for help/suggestions when I return.

To bring you up to date with what Meta and I got up to - in short, not much. We hung out. Then we hung out at a different place. And then we hung out and read. And then we ate. And then we hung out and read and listened to tv. And that was just fine with both of us. We did not even get around to either the redlight district or the sex museum. (I've seen both before, and Meta wasn't interested, so we had a wonderfully veg-tastic day.)

Can't wait to see everyone again! Call me at home on Monday evening or Tuesday if you want voice confirmation that I made it back. Hopefully I'll have an uneventful (and not full!) flight back home. Ciao!

Friday, September 23, 2005

Good news/Bad news

The good news for all of you travel fans is that you'll have me back in your midst sooner than I thought. Instead of coming back next Friday the 30th, I'll be coming home on the 26th instead. Why would I come back sooner and skip beautiful Paris? Because I'm getting tired and homesick, and while I'm much better now, the stomach thing really wiped me out. I'd like to get home to my own bed (no snoring roommate), my own shower (consistent water pressure and temperature), and my normal clothes (i.e. anything other than the shoes I brought with me). Besides, that means that I can then get my pictures online sooner, and get my little travel adventure stories put together with the pics.

The bad news is that there will be fewer updates from the road (although blogging stoned may be entertaining for the masses). The really bad news is that I need to beg a ride home from SFO. My flight gets into SFO at 1:55PM on Sept. 26 (Monday).

Ok, with that bit of business out of the way, I'm here in Amsterdam. I have not yet done anything other than drop my stuff off at my hotel (can't get into the room til after 2:00 local time), and come here to check email. I'm going to go back to the hotel, leave a note for Meta (which was my only reason for checking email now), going in search of lunch and an English language bookstore. After lunch will wander around taking pictures (this place is insanely cute - even in a trip filled with insanely cute places). Will find a nice coffeeshop in which to ensconce myself, and will hang out there til Meta shows up. Then we shall see what hilarity will ensue (I'm pretty sure that the Sex Museum, and a tour of the redlight district will be part of the itinerary.)

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Ok, maybe I'lll have a bit more time to post today. Everyone has either gone home already, or are out and about today, so I don't have anyone breathing down my neck to get to the internet.

Last night was our last night as a group. We had a big going away dinner at a heurigen (kind of a winery, but like for new wines? there is some subtlety there that I don't understand.) Anyway, it was lots of fun (free wine for the group), but also sort of sad. I'm sad to have said goodbye to people that I've spend lots of time with over the last 2 weeks or so. Everyone was really cool and nice and interesting in different ways. I loved meeting each and every one, and each person really added something special and unique to the tour (smartass comments, sincere concern for my welfare, different perspectives on the world, interesting questions and viewpoints, and overall just lots of fun, outgoing, loving personalities). I now have friends from all over the country (and am praying for Bonnie and Jim and their house in Galveston).

I think my favorite person was Christoph. How do you not love someone that you have a common link with (his fiance was my guide on the Italy tour - Taunya), someone that I got lost in Berlin with, someone that has snarky commentary to make me laugh, took me to the Czech hospital, and always had a smile or a wink for me? Propbably next on the list was Kathy - as my roommate we got to bond, and she's a really sweet lady. I also really liked our guide Ben - he's a white guy with no rhythm, a very dry but quick-witted sense of humor and a heroin problem (inside joke). How do you not like someone who makes jokes about the state of your bowels in front of the whole group on the last night?? Everyone else was great too, and I'll be able to tell you all more about them when I get my pictures uploaded and a better version of this blog finished.

Some of my favorite moments: doing the luge runs (even if I was sick as a dog), walking across the Charles bridge at dusk with the group, any group meal, walking through Cesky Krumlov with Warren, any time after Berlin that I wasn't thinking about my intestines, listening to Richard's jokes and generally funny patter about anything, dozing on the bus when I should have been listening to Ben's history lectures, looking at the bus windows to see the dancing girls and then back at the expressions on Bonnie and Jim's faces, looking at the beautiful Czech countryside from the bus windows, being in the museums when it was rainy and miserable out.

I have had so much fun and so many great memories, that I don't know how to capture it all and share with you guys how awesome it was. By the time I get back, I'll have had some of it worn off by being in a new place (Amsterdam) with an old friend (Meta), but I wanted to try. Every single person on the trip has touched me in some way, and I hope that I've touched them and made an impression too. If travel does nothing else for you than let you know it's really quite a small world and there are really no differences between people anywhere, and if it gives you the hunger to learn more, to put yourself in the shoes of other people, then it's so helpful. I come away from the trip feeling stuffed to the gills with new knowledge, information - full of art and music and new sensual experiences and feel so very happy and lucky to have been able to experience this. Can't wait to get home and share this with you guys and maybe make this website come alive a bit more with my experiences.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Greetings from Vienna. This may be a short post - this keyboard makes me nuts. The y and z are swapped. Doh!!

Anyway, I'm on the road to recovery. I'm still not 100% by any means, but I'm definitely feeling better now. Still being careful about what I eat, and bummed to not be able to realllllllly sample the great food-beer-wines they have to offer here. Will have to have some cake and coffee, apparently fun thing to do in Vienna.

The city is lovely, and for some reason the word that comes to mind is 'old world'. I feel like I should be waltzing through the palaces we've seen. We saw Melk Abbey yesterday that has a crazy amount of gilding and gold on every conceivable surface, and weirdly posed bones of saints (don't worry, I have photos - up to 667 now...). Tonight I am going to see some opera (the guide has agreed to take me - I suggested that it was like in Pretty Woman except without me being a whore.) I have managed to buy insane amounts of presents considering everything has to be flat-light or unbreakable.

I'll fill in more details when I return, others are waiting for the computer, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm on the mend, having fun and still alive and kicking.