13 posts tagged “vacation with mom”
Auf wiedersehen, Wien!
The opera was fantastic last night. I never thought I would care to sit through five hours of Wagner, but the story was great (Siegfried) and the music amazing. The time flew by.
We're having a great time.
Someone just asked me at breakfast what there was unique to see or do in Prague.
Beer.
Czech beer on tap.
I'm so excited.
Ciao!
Here we are in Vienna, the city of chocolate and wine. And hangovers. Ugh. We went to a little town last night to partake in a Heurigen dinner, full of food, wine and song. Super fun but I'm moving reallllly slow today.
Anyhoo, MomH is waiting for me so we can start our day so I need to be boring and cut this short. Besides, my brain isn't terribly functional at the moment.
Headed to the opera tonight for some Wagner at the Vienna Opera House. Today will be some museum-ing and sitting at a cafe for some coffee and chocolate cake.
Life is good.
I hope all is well with everyone!
It's 6:30 a.m. local time and I'm up and at 'em! I wish I were still sleeping but well, let's say my bunk mate can be a bit on the loud side when it comes to snoring. >:-(
It's all good for now. We'll see how chipper I can be if this keeps up for longer.
Budapest is lovely. We're headed to the countryside to see some more of Hungary before we depart for Vienna.
But let's start at the beginning. I met up with MomH with no problems in Detroit. Brother Ray and DadH were there to see us off. How sweet!
Upon loading the plane, it's discovered that my seat is double booked with an occupant in it already. So MomH sits down and I'm in the back galley chatting with the gals in German (on Lufthansa). No biggie to wait, since I'm already on the plane so I can't imagine they'll kick me off. After a long wait and much discussion, they haven't figured out what to do with me as they want to keep Mom and I together. I see an open seat, on the aisle, next to a really cute age-appropriate guy in a Detroit ball cap. "Why, hello there - how 'bout them Tigers?"
I'm ready to be told to sit there, looking forward to it, when I'm told - MomH and I are headed to business class.
That's right, mofos. Business class. The booze tray came by every five minutes and seats were fully reclinable. Awesome. So long to those suckers in steerage!
What a great time. The gals in the back came up to say goodbye to me before we landed and my attendant in front came by and gave me some daisies and a piece of chocolate. Super fun! I'm going to write the airline when I get back and thank them for such a wonderful experience. The staff went out of their way to be nice. Mom said it was probably because I was being pleasant about the whole deal and not getting irritated by not having a seat. Well, what good would that have done? No reason to get all worked up before an eight hour flight. Sitting up front in semi-luxury with MomH was much better than sitting next to the cute guy, even though that would have been fun. :-D
I'm pretty much over the jet lag and looking forward to some great euro coffee as soon as the dining room opens.
We did some sightseeing yesterday, did a little shopping (expensive! Damn useless American dollar!) rode the subway and went to the art museum. I wanted to go to the hot baths/spas but Mom forgot to pack her swimsuit. Last night we did a river cruise to see the lights of all the amazing buildings lining the Danube.
Our group is full of really nice people. So far no one seems to win the award of Most Irritating. Yet. I need to have more patience, I'm working on it. There are a couple of people who will ask questions about something random while the guide is talking about something else. Or they'll ask a question but keep talking without listening for an answer. It's rude in any situation, as far as I'm concerned.
But that's the drama as it stands today. All in all, I'm excited to be here and can't wait to see more of the region.
Hope all is well! Ciao!
Last post before I hit the road. Nothing really to say but adios! Ciao! Auf Wiederschreiben! Adieu! Cheerio! Later gators!
6:00 a.m. flight manana. Blech.
I'll try to pop in and say 'hi' when possible. I'm trusting everyone to hold down the Vox fort in my absence. Don't have too much fun without me! :-P
What are you most looking forward to this weekend?
PACKING!!11!! w00t!
I'm feeling pretty good about being ahead of the game this time. When I was booking my flight out to Detroit where I'm meeting up with MomH, I thought about flying out tomorrow so I could see the family for a day and a half. As much as that would be, I'm really really glad I have all weekend to wrap everything up.
I'm headed out tonight to the fun that is First Friday, where thousands of people descend on dowtown Phoenix for one of the country's largest art walks. It's full of crazy fun artists, musicians, street performers and a stop at some of the coolest new bars and restaurants around. I usually get asked by First Friday newbies to give my patented AmyH Tour. I know a lot of the artists and the spaces and can give more background than you would get wandering around on your own. I really should start my own tour service one of these days.
So here's the rest of my weekend:
Saturday:
7:30 a.m. Hair appointment
11:30 a.m. Baby Shower
afternoon - return books to library, stop by bookstore for Rick Steves' travel book (I've been reading an old copy and must have it for the trip), clean house, create currency conversion cheat sheets, print out addresses.
Hoodies - if you want a postcard - PM with an address! Sometimes I'm good about sending them out, sometimes I just buy them and send them when I get home. But I promise to try and be good! I heart postcards, both sending and recieving. See? (I have a new, naked fridge right now. I'm going to start fresh with new cards so feel free to send any my way as well!)
The rest of the time will be spent getting my crap together and lovin' on Elvis. No last minute running around in the foreseeable future!
Except for today at work. Yikes - I forgot I had meetings all day Gotta run!
I think I did everything I needed to last week, which really came down to finishing my leadership application. Done and turned in. Whew. One monkey off my back.
Now I'm getting down to crunch time with work and with trip preparation. I'm set with clothes after a trip to Target. My current wardrobe is woefully inadequate for casual out and about clothes. It's 90% suits/work outfits and heels, 7% workout gear and 3% other stuff. It's also hard packing for anything other than really hot or really cold. So I'm going in lots of layers and now just need a good pair of city strolling shoes that don't scream "AMERICAN TOURIST".
So here goes my list for the week:
1. Confirm cat-watchers
2. Alert credit/bank cards to my itinerary. It would suck to have my cards shut down while away. This is something I highly recommend anyone doing if you are going to be traveling. Although I didn't have a problem buying tequila in Tijuana one morning and wine in the San Diego vicinity that same afternoon. Hmm. Maybe they recognize a pattern with me.
3. Buy baby shower gifts. Should have done this during my Target trip. Duh
4. Hold on mail and newspapers.
5. Read up on travel books, decide if I need to buy a book for Vienna/Poland. I have my Prague and Budapest guidebooks already.
6. Check out exchange rate info and create cheat sheets for each country. These are vital to international shoppers/hagglers like my mother and me.
7. Go to REI and buy shoes.
I know there's a lot more I need to do, but I feel like I'm ahead of the game by getting the clothes part done and out of the way. Despite having my helper provide Feline Assistance, of course.
I've been practicing my Deutsch to get ready for my upcoming Eastern European trip. MomH was going to ask my SIL's Polish stepfather for some practical words - hello, thank you and all that. Then I realized I can ask for 'one beer, please' and toast to your health in Czech, but not hello or thank you. Priorities, my friends, priorities.
So much to do around here. I'm almost done with my Leadership Institute application. I spent most of the weekend on it but I need to tweak it a bit before turning it in on Friday. Writing about how great I am is harder than you would think. Ha. :-P
I also need to get on my road bike to prep for the triathlon relay I talked my friends into doing with me in July. I'm hanging up the running shoes (my hip joints are thanking me already) and getting back up on two wheels. I rode my mountain bike to the library and around the 'hood this weekend to get reacquainted with my cycling muscles - and with the feeling of being attached to the machinery. I tend to crash a lot on my road bike because of the wicked clips. When I'm underway, it's fine (except shifting gears - they are old-style on the frame) but stopping is a bitch. The last triathlon I did saw me skidding, bike and all, into the transition area. Luckily (or not?) I was fine enough to do the run. I just need to make friends with the equipment again and figure out how not to get myself killed.
The race is also at 9,000 feet elevation, so those 26 (24?) miles are going to suck. Suck wind. Gah. Why do I keep signing up for these things? Because otherwise I would be a lazy slug. I need the motivation.
DadH goes in for cardiac catheterization tomorrow. Fun stuff. He was pretty upset about it last week ("I was sputtering all the way home from the doctor") to being depressed and resigned to it as of yesterday. He comes from a family with bad tickers and isn't known for a preventative health lifestyle. But as MomH told him, it's better to get everything checked out before it's an emergency at midnight. They live out in the sticks so emergency medical care isn't exactly close by. FamilyH heart/health problems are another motivation to stay in shape.
Other than that, all is well in H-ville. Elvis is doing better than he has in a long time. Feely spunky and being silly like the good kitty he is. The concert outside at the Tempe Town Lake was fantastic. Other than airplanes overhead and trains rolling by, it was a perfect setting. One of the city council members asked our director if we should have a band shell for next year. Um, yeah! So hopefully that will be in the works. Even a temporary shell would be fantastic.
As for the resolution challenge, it's all about the application and getting ready for my trip. It seemed so far away and here we are, two weeks out. Yipes.
Have a good one, peeps!
Before I get into my real post - has anyone noticed their comment options are getting automatically/mistakenly shut off? In my ohsogreat Napkin Chicken post, I noticed no one was saying anything other than under the nekkid chicken picture. Then I saw there was no option for commenting on the post and upon further discovery "nobody" was allowed to comment. Huh. This is the third time that's happened to me in the last week. Because I KNOW everyone wants to say something about everything I write.
Moving on - to Eastern Europe! Apparently no one but Mom and me want to visit Croatia in March or early May. Screw those lame people. Now we're going to Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and Krakow (Krakow! Krakow! Two direct hits!).
I've already been to Vienna but only spent a day there, back during my college days. I had just spent a week in Berlin, where I was accosted in the women's shower room by a guy off the street, pickpocketed and generally sick of the big cities. The best part of Vienna was hanging around with a hot guy from Pitt and running into a group of Australians.
Leo was their leader and convinced me to meet up with his group, a group of college kids on a pilgramage to see the pope up in Poland. Not to go with them, but to be their German translator so they could have some fun at a local Biergarten. Later that evening I waited for them in the lobby of their hotel until they snuck out from under the watchful eyes of their priest. We hit the town and tore it up. Good times! I should find those pictures.
I crashed that night in the girls' room but they had to be up and out by 5:00 a.m. They gave me the name of the priest in case the hotel questioned me (security always on the lookout for sneaky backpackers) and I went back to bed. If you've ever spent time backpacking through Europe, sleeping on trains and staying in youth hostels, you know that a hotel bed and a real shower are wonderful treats.
After freshening up, I tried to leave but security was watching me pretty closely when I stepped out of the elevator. Since I didn't want to just walk out, I plopped down in the lobby, looked at my watch and read a magazine until Herr Guard was called away. Then I walked calmly out of the hotel and straight to the train stop across the road and I was on my way to Salzburg.
Where I partied with a crazy group of Tasmanians. Those Down Under types are teh bomb.
I have been super swamped with work and whatnot (sometimes more whatnot than work, but still busy) so I haven't been seen much in these parts.
At least that sounds better than I haven't done anything worth blobbing about lately.
So a quick update.
My friend Scott from the ski bus accident is home. He has a broken nose and will start therapy on his shoulder blade in 10 days. Thank God he's alive and recuperating. My heart breaks for those who are not and to the families that are grieving.
BDG and I have Date #2 on Saturday. He's coming to pick me up and then we are going for Japanese food. I suppose I could get all chicky and start pre-analyzing everything, but I just don't feel like it. I think he's fun and good guy, so we'll see how this goes. I guess this is the attitude you get when you are looking forward to having your life to yourself and then a relationship possibility comes along out of the blue.
MomH called yesterday and our Croatia trip is off for March. The tour company didn't have enough people to go when it was cold so we may hop on the May 1 date. It'll cost more but it's still before the crush of summer vacationing Eurotrash take over the country. She was also going to check on other trips available for what we were going to pay. It's all up in the air right now, which is fine. The number one rule of being a traveler is to be open to changes. Being rigid in schedules and plans will suck all the fun out of the experience because rarely do things go exactly as you expect. This is the joy and fun of getting out there and exploring.
Hmm...What else? Elvis goes directly under the bed after his morning shot and breakfast. He's exactly in the middle where I can't reach him. I'm going to start gradually moving the crap on the one side toward the center so by the time I have to take him back to the vet, he'll be reachable.
I wonder if RHG will be at the vet the next time I go...Sigh... If he is I'll probably get so nervous I'll drop the cat.
Now the Call of the Work is beckoning. Catch ya on the flip side!
I just came back from having beers with my old boss from Megacorp. Instead of posting about how it feels to be told if I don't get my ass in gear I'll be aging myself out of a real career faster than I'll be infertile, I'm going to post about happier things.
Like my recent trip to NYC.
While in the big city, MomH and I found our very own versions of Nirvana.
This is a portion of the cheese counter at Zabar's, the Upper West Side "Gourmet Epicurian Emporium". Yummers.
I never thought MomH would ever again see the light of day when we stumbled across the Harry Zarin Fabric Warehouse on the Lower East Side.
As I'm sure someone once said, if you can't find it in New York, you don't need it.
