Day 13: Europe Trip: Almost 2008

Skip and I hung out around Gouda while Marco helped his sister buy a new phone. After lunch we all met up and made our way to a local Chinese restaurant for an early dinner and then to Marco’s mom’s house. I got a chance to take a little nap since I knew I would have a long night. After my nap we went to Jacky’s (Marco’s oldest sister) house. We hung out, lit a few fireworks before midnight and had a little bit to eat.

Day 12: Europe Trip: Goodbye Budapest

Today I left my room in Budapest pretty early. I caught the metro and bus back to the airport and checked in with WizzAir. May flight only takes just over 2 hours to get to Holland so don’t expect they will give us anything on the flight since. I have prepared by buying myself a bottle of water and once I get to Holland I’ll eat some lunch with Marco and Skip. WooHoo, I’m excited to see my hubby again! This trip went by pretty quickly for me, but it is nice to go “home” to faces I know.

Question 1:
So, the big question at the start of my trip was whether I prefer traveling alone and booking my own trip or if I prefer going on a Contiki Tour. After this trip I think that I prefer booking my own itinerary. I found that on this trip I had the opportunity to meet more people, see more of the things I wanted to see, and I didn’t really have to worry about sticking to a schedule. I am glad I had booked several tours on my own before I left the States. It was on these tours that I had the opportunity to meet people.
The pitfalls of booking everything myself are:
It’s a lot of work. I didn’t get a chance to go to all the restaurants I wanted. I did have to keep track of the time (since it gets dark early during the winter) since I was traveling alone.

Question 2:
The other question before leaving the States was whether staying at a hostel was going to be a good idea or not.
This one is pretty easy to answer! I LOVED staying at the hostels! I especially had a nice time in Prague because of the friends that I made there. The hostel allows you to interact with others and exchange stories. I would definitely stay at hostels in the future! It’s a cheap and fun way to stay while traveling. But as I mentioned before, I would do some research before booking your stay at a hostel since I did hear some horror stories. Lucky for me, the Old Prague Hostel in Prague was lovely!
I did enjoy staying with Maria and Istvan (Bed and Breakfast) in Budapest. They were super sweet and helpful and it was more like staying with relatives than anything else. Every morning they had tea and cookies for me, they were ready to answer any questions I had, and were always there to give me suggestions on what I should see next.
I had a great time traveling around. Now I look forward to spending some time with my family in Holland and hopefully get a chance to visit some friends.

Day 12: Europe Trip: Evening Update

My flight was delayed by 2 hours so I got to Holland a little later than expected. It was nice to see Marco and Skip waiting for me when I got off the plane. After picking me up we went to Skip’s house and ordered some yummy suarma for dinner. We ended up renting a few films and had a relaxing afternoon. It’s nice to be back in Holland where the weather isn’t as crazy cold. Wow, I never thought I’d say that. LoL!

Day 11: Europe Trip: Budapest & Szentendre

I did a lot on my last day in Budapest! I was up early and got picked up for my tour to Szentendre. The town of Szentendre is an artist town. Our tour included an awesome trip through a diamond manufacturer, a full tour of the town, and a nice coffee break. Our tour guide, George, was pretty awesome. While on the tour I met a sweet Italian couple from Naples (Gianfranco & Liliana). They ended up inviting me to visit their home in Naples where Liliana is going to teach me how to cook real Italian food. YUMMY!!

I also ended up buying a Russian type hat while on my tour today. WooHoo! I have wanted one of these for years. It is made out of muskrat and it kept by head super nice and warm. I needed something real warm because it was very cold today and snowing most of the time.

After the tour I spent 4 hours exploring the rest of the city. I covered a lot of ground by taking public transportation everywhere. Just like Prague, Budapest has an awesome public transportation system. I wish I had more time to explore Budapest, but I think I got a pretty good idea of the city. Tomorrow I fly to Eindhoven, The Netherlands to meet Marco and Skip. Goodbye Budapest, you’re beautiful! A special thanks to Maria and Istvan for allowing me to stay in their home. I had a lovely time here!

Day 10: Europe Trip: Evening Update

I had a fabulous time at my dinner/folk dancing event. I dined at the fancy Kiraly Etterem Restaurant. The food was amazing and the entertainment was superb! For our first course we had a pasta type thing stuffed with meat and topped with paprika sauce. It turns out paprika is very popular here in Hungry because for the main course we had a beef with potato dish topped again with a type of paprika sauce. Then for dessert we had a delicious bread pudding type of dish filled with custard and topped with chocolate sauce and whip cream Yum-Yum! Man, when I get back home I’ll have to hit the gym double time!! LOL! I was also given some alcoholic drink I can’t name and some red wine. Yes, I actually drank it…not all of course LOL, just a few sips.

The entertainment was great! I loved it so much I ended up buying two CDs. One for my mother –in-law and one for my mommy. It’s a great souvenir from Budapest.

Day 10: Europe Trip: Tour of Budapest

Today I didn’t get up as early as I have been on this trip. My city tour wasn’t scheduled until 10:30am so I took the opportunity to sleep in a little bit. The tour turned out to be a wonderful idea. Budapest is a huge city, so it was nice to take a bus around the city that drove by all the major monuments with commentary. I saw a bit of castle hill and later got a tour of parliament. There are so many beautiful building to see in Budapest! During the trip I sat next to a sweet German girl named Angela. I gave her my email address since she wanted a copy of my pictures.

After the tour I walked around the center for a little while and took pictures. I got back to my room early since it was about -5 below and it was snowing. After a short nap I’m going to get ready for my dinner and show scheduled for tonight. That should be fun.

Day 9: Europe Trip: Budapest at Last

My flight to Budapest was short and pleasant. Getting to my accommodations was easy and I was very happy after meeting my hosts at the door. I am staying with an older couple who run a bed-and-breakfast in Budapest. They were waiting for me at the door, gave me a tour of the house and my room and met me in the living room where they spent some time giving me helpful information about the city. I’m so glad I decided to stay here. The room is cheap, it’s close to the metro and city center, and the hospitality is great.

After quickly settling into my room I took the metro to Pier 7 where I took a sightseeing Danube river cruise. While on my cruise I met a Dutch couple who also happen to live in the next town from where Marco is from. What a small world! They kept me company during the cruise and after exchanging emails I agreed to send them my pictures since they had forgotten their camera at their hotel.
The city looked amazing at night. I can’t wait to get started tomorrow morning. I can already tell that 2 days isn’t going to be nearly enough time to really see the city but I’ll get a pretty good idea of it. LoL. After the cruise I stopped by a Christmas market and had a nice sausage for dinner. Yum!

I got back to my room pretty early and decided to watch a little CNN since I haven’t watched TV in over a week. I was sad to see that a few moments before I turned the TV on the prime minister of Pakistan (Benazir Bhutto) had been killed. Yikes! That’s very bad news for that region!

Day 9: Europe Trip: Going to Budapest

This morning I said goodbye to my roommates and took the metro and bus to the airport. I love that public transportation is Prague is so easy! I had no troubles getting to the airport, and once I arrived I had time to get lunch and mail the postcards I had filled out so far. I can’t wait to get to Budapest. Cynthia (one of the girls from UCLA) told me good things about Budapest so I’m going with an open mind. Who knows, it might turn out to be nicer than Prague…Nah! LOL!

Day 8: Europe Trip: Evening Update

When I got back to my room I found my new roommates, who surprisingly enough were from California, two girls (Chelle and Cynthia) who grew up in Palo Alto. They were really sweet. Both of them attended UCLA so they were familiar with the Los Angeles area. It turned out they had just flown in from Paris (another one of my top cities in Europe) and after Prague they will be spending New Years in Barcelona. I really like staying at hostels. I got the opportunity to meet all kinds of people on this trip. I would definitely recommend staying in hostels while traveling through Europe. Don’t forget to do some research first though. Make sure the hostels you stay at get good reviews from past visitors.

Day 8: Europe Trip: Last Full Day in Prague, Wa!

This morning I said goodbye to my three roommates since they had to go back to the UK to finish their semester final exams. I will miss them!

After getting myself ready, I took the metro to the National Museum where I met with a group for the “Ultimate Prague Tour.” The tour was awesome! We visited all the major parts of Prague and got loads of information from our tour guide. The tour also included a boat ride along the Vltava River and lunch at a beautiful restaurant. I finally got a chance to try the Beef Goulash and it was delicious! I also met a few awesome people on the tour. I met a couple from New York City and two girls from Australia. After the tour, we exchanged emails and hopefully will keep in touch.

I finished my day by going to the top of the clock tower to take pictures of the Old Town Square and doing some last minute shopping. Tomorrow I fly to Budapest. Awww, I’m going to miss Prague! I have completely fallen in love with this city and hope I can return very soon.

Here are a few tips for those who want to visit Prague:
1. Watch your step! There’s dog poop everywhere so be careful and look where you’re stepping.
2. Use public transportation! Try to avoid taxis because they’re way over priced. Prague has excellent public transportation so don’t be afraid to use it.
3. Wake up early! The best pictures I got in Prague were taken early in the morning (8-10am). Prague is always busy so try to avoid having tons of people in your pictures by going to the sites nice and early. And,
4. Take tours! Getting an inside view of the country from a local guide is a great idea. I learned stuff about Prague that you would never find in guide books.

Day 7: Europe Trip: Czesky Krumlov

Today I went on a full day tour to Czesky Krumlov which turned out to be spectacular. The weather was a bit colder than in Prague but there was snow everywhere which made the town even prettier. Pablo and I climbed up to the castle, walked around town, had a lovely lunch with the tour group, and did some shopping. As part of the tour, we also spent a few minutes in the town of Ceske Budejovice and visited the oldest bridge in the town of Pisek.

Day 6: Europe Trip: Evening Update

My hostel roommates and I had Christmas Eve dinner together. They were sweet enough to invite me to eat with them the spaghetti they had prepared. We had yummy food with sparkling wine to celebrate. This turned out to be a fabulous Christmas Eve!

Day 6: Europe Trip: I <3 Prague

The more time I spend in Prague, the more I love this city!
I got an early start this morning. I was up by 7am and out the door by 8am. I spent the entire day exploring the old town square, the little quarter, and the castle quarter. I’m glad I got up early because I was able to take some spectacular pictures without the crowds getting in the way. By the time I made my way back from the castle quarter, the city was packed with tourists. I thought maybe the city might stay calm considering its Christmas Eve, it’s about -5 degrees, and shops are closing early…but NOPE, the city was packed with tourists! I guess Prague is in season year around. I could see why, this city is amazing! I think this is by far one of the nicest cities in Europe. The people are generally friendly, most speak English, their food is yummy, and the views are beautiful.

The hostel situation turned out good. Thank goodness! I’m sharing a room with three international students who are studying in the UK but are originally from Malaysia. We had a nice time talking last night, and sharing travel stories. They even gave me a few tips for my stay in Budapest. I’m glad I won’t be spending Christmas in a room alone. I really like the hostel (Old Prague Hostel) I choose to stay at. It’s very close to the city, it’s nice and quiet, it’s clean, you get free breakfast, the staff is super helpful, and they have wireless internet throughout the building. Yay hostels!

Day 5: Europe Trip: Evening Update

Czech it out, I made it to Prague! When I got to the station I bought myself a 3 day transportation card and called my hostel to find out how to get there from the station. I took three metro stops and I was there! Wow, the transportation system is easy to figure out. Once at the hostel I quickly checked in and put my stuff in the room locker. I got my stuff ready and out the door I went. I went shopping, took some pretty pictures, and got myself a super big and juicy sausage…yum yum! After 3.5 hours of walking around town I came back to the hostel. I have just enough time to download my pictures into my laptop, post something on my blog and get ready for the dinner cruise I have scheduled tonight. Woo-hoo! I am LOVING Prague!!! I will be sharing a room with 3 other people tonight and I see their stuff is here but I have yet to meet them. I’m curious, hehehe.

Day 5: Europe Trip: Ass on the Train

So today was my first bad experience on this trip so far. Well, it wasn’t all bad, in fact it was kind of funny, just not for the other person. Let me explain:
I was up early and made in to the train station in time to have some breakfast and relax a little bit. The train was running a little late so when it got there, everyone rushed in at once. I knew that I was sitting in seat #75 so as soon as I saw it, I jumped right in. Getting to our seats was a nightmare because the train was all compartments on one side with a small isle on the other. People were shoving and pushing just to get by. I got settled, and a nice little lady helped me put my bag on the overhead compartment. Then 5 minutes later a man with his wife and kid came screaming in my compartment. He looked at me and pointed to three seats and yelled “reserved” and pointed to himself. The ladies in the compartment stood up and I think they told him to calm down…it was all in German so I’m not sure what their exact words were. The guy kept screaming so I busted out my ticket. The nice ladies in the compartment looked at it and one of them explained to me that I needed to go two train cars down and I would find my #75. Ugh! I tried to apologize to the screaming guy but he wouldn’t even look at me. He went for my bags and took them out of the overhead compartment. “What an ASS”, I was thought to myself. The ladies got pissed and started screaming at him LOL. I finally just left and let them battle it out. I’m sure they’re giving the guy a real hard time right now. Ha-Ha, he has to sit in a compartment with 3 older ladies that hate him already. I kina laughed about it on my way out. I finally found my seat and now I get to relax while we make our way to Prague. I’m excited!

Day 4: Europe Trip: Evening Update

Evening Update:
I made it to my hostel in no time by taking a cab over. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I had never stayed at a hostel before. When I got there, my room wasn’t ready yet so I waited in the lobby and spent some time on the internet. I started to get a little worried when I noticed a Hostel movie poster posted in the lobby. Yikes! I haven’t seen the movie, but I know enough about it that it makes me a little nervous to see the poster there, LoL. When my room was ready the guy was kind enough to “lend” me my key for a 10 euro deposit of course. LoL! The room was nice, basic, but nice. Most importantly, it was warm! When it’s -2 degrees outside, warm is important! When I got settled in I went back downstairs because I had not eaten anything since my Snickers bar on the train. The guys at the front desk pointed me in the right direction and just a block away I found a real nice supermarket. With just under 5 Euros I was able to buy myself all kinds of goodies. Enough for dinner, breakfast, and a snack for my train ride tomorrow. While I was out and about I decided to walk a couple blocks and explore a little bit of Berlin. It was nice, but it was starting to get dark so I quickly got back to my hostel.
After a nice hot shower, I washed a few articles of clothing and ate an early dinner. My body is clearly still on California time because I was nodding off by 5:30 pm. I decided to call it a night and was in bed by 6pm. Tomorrow I have to get up early once again. I plan on taking a cab over to the central station in Berlin and take the 8:45am train to Prague. I think this time my train ride will be a little more pleasant since I have a seat reservation and snacks in my bag. I can’t wait to see Prague! It’s a shame I didn’t get to see Berlin, but there’s always next year. It’s only a 6 hour train ride from Holland.

Day 4: Europe Trip: Made it to Berlin

Today I had to get up super early in order to catch the train to Berlin, Germany. I was up by 4:20am and was on the train around 6:48am. We had to wait in line to make sure that I would still be able to ride the train even though my reservations were for 2 days ago. The guy at the counter said I would be able to sit in any seat that was empty so that’s what I did. It was super cold outside and everything was covered in snow on the ride over. Lucky for me, the train was warm and very comfortable. It wasn’t long before I found out how important reservations are! I was kicked out of my seat several times within the first 2 hours and I finally just got up, and made my way to cart 11 where I could get something to eat. After munching on a Snickers, I settled down in the bike area where I could plug in my laptop and just relax and enjoy the snowy scenery. A girl with a kitty came to sit next to me and the next few hours several kids came up to her to pet the kitty that sat quietly on her lap. I arrived in Berlin before 1:30 pm and got to my hostel in no time. I am feeling tired and I think I will turn in early today since it will be getting dark out soon. Thank you Continental for screwing up my chance to see beautiful Berlin! Tomorrow morning I will be taking a very early train ride to Prague…I can’t wait!

Day 3: Europe Trip: Evening Update

Evening Update:
Marco and I finally made it to Skip’s house a little before 8 pm because my bag was not delivered until 7:15 due to bad traffic on the highways. At first, I was a little upset that they were late with my bag, but when it finally arrived I was just glad to see my stuff was all there. Yay, clean underwear once again!
It was good to see Skip again! I can’t believe it’s already been a year since we last hung out with our buddy. We were all starving when we got to his place, so we put on winter gear on and walked over to Gouda’s center. Our favorite Shuarma place is located just a block from Gouda’s city hall. When we walked in, the owner quickly recognized Marco and said, “Wow, has it been a year already? You’re from American, right? I remember you from last year.” That kind of stuff always happens to Marco. I guess he just has that memorable type of face. The same thing happened to him when we went to city hall before we got married. We had to go in and meet the judge that was going to marry us. This lady walked out with a giant book in her hand, and when she saw Marco she quickly lit up and said: “Marco? Marco B? Wow, it has been a long time! Do you remember me? I was your elementary school teacher!?” Yup, this was Marco’s first grade teacher and she quickly recognized him. I thought to myself: “WTF?!? She had not seen him since he was 6 years old and there she was recognizing him! Wow! I know he grew up in a small town but dang!”
Anyway, after a lovely dinner, we got to Skip’s house and the boys got on the internet to figure out what time I would have to be at the airport for my early train. Things are starting to look better for my trip. Thank goodness!

Day 3: Europe Trip: My bag at last!

It was cold last night but we slept well. We didn’t wake up until late this morning when Marco’s mother woke us up to let us know that the airport had called and would be delivering my luggage this afternoon before 6pm. This was good news. Last night I had checked the internet and found that I could take a 6:45am train to Berlin tomorrow and still be on time to take another train to Prague and get back on track with my scheduled activities.

Today I had a wonderful lunch prepared by Marco’s mom, and I was able to go out and walk around town to take pictures. Marco will be visiting his old co-workers today since everyone goes on vacation for 2 weeks starting tomorrow. After my luggage arrives we will be going to visit our good friend Skippy and have dinner in Gouda. We can’t stay up too late tonight because I have to be on that early train tomorrow morning. Yikes! Let’s hope the rest of my trip goes as planned.

Day 2: Europe Trip: Things gone to hell!

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we quickly made our way to the belts where our luggage was to appear. Marco’s luggage was one of the first to get off the plane and we expected mine would follow shortly afterwards. We waited and waited and then reality hit that my bag was not on the plane with all of the others. I waited in line at the complaint desk only to find out that my bag missed the flight from New York to Amsterdam and was therefore put on a flight to Manchester instead that would then catch a flight on KLM to Amsterdam. The guy at the counter asked me to stay in the airport for a few more hours while the flight from Manchester arrived so that I would get my luggage today. Marco’s sister was kind enough to keep me company at the airport while we waited for the Manchester flight. In all of this time, I missed the 2 trains that were headed toward Berlin so I had to think about what was going to happen to the trip I had planned.
The Manchester flight came in and again I waited at the belt for all of the luggage to be unloaded. After almost 35 minutes of waiting I again came to realize my bag was not going to be arriving today. I went back to the complaint counter where I found out that my bag made it to Manchester alright but missed the flight to Amsterdam, and due to the bad weather in Manchester my bag would not be making it to Amsterdam tonight.
I left the airport and while on my way to Bodegraven (the town I used to live in while in Holland) I called Expedia to explain why I would not be able to attend the activities I had booked. The first person I talked to quickly cancelled my activities and then stated I would have to pay full price anyway. Of course he mentioned the non-refundable stuff after he had cancelled it all. I was so upset I started to cry.
We made it to Bodegraven where we quickly went to the stores that were still open to by a few necessities since everything I needed was in the bag that was now stranded in Manchester. After our little shopping trip I went to my sister-in-law’s house where I was able to hook up to their wireless internet and call Expedia back to see what they could do for me. After talking to someone helpful at Expedia, they decided to give me a full refund on all Berlin activities. I was also able to cancel my hotel stay in Berlin for the first 2 nights. It has been a long day but I am happy that I have a place to always come to in the Netherlands. Tonight Marco and I will be staying with his mom in two very warm beds although it’s -5 degrees outside, and snowing.

Day 1: Europe Trip: Flight to Amsterdam

Today I started my vacation. It started out well since Marco and I got to the airport early and had plenty of time to check in and eat something before our flight. Our flight was running a little bit late so we arrived a little later to New York than expected. Once in New York, we found out that our flight from New York to Amsterdam was also running late. Marco and I got a steak sandwich at the airport and waited to hear more about our flight. Once we boarded the plane we were asked to wait longer while the busy runways cleared. We ended up leaving over an hour later than scheduled but were promised that the time would be made up once in the air. We did make up some time by arriving to Amsterdam only 1 hour later than scheduled. Then things got bad…

Dinner & A Movie

We had dinner with Allan, Karla, and Thomas today which was a real treat since we haven’t had a chance to hang out with anyone for a while. We had a nice meal at El Torito and later went to the theater to see “I am Legend.” The movie was good but a little too scary for me LOL.

FADCSSE

Today we celebrated our First Annual DRI Chick Secret Santa Exchange. We invited our delivery Santa (Joe) to join us in our lunch/movie celebration followed by gift opening under our little Christmas tree. We had a nice time.

L.A. in the Morning

I don’t mind waiting in traffic when I have a view like this to admire.

Tree/Nemo/Snoopy/Lights

Lots to talk about today:

1. Manda and I decorated our office Christmas tree today. We made it a little extra special by adding our Happy Meal/Wendy’s Kid’s Meal toys to it.

2. The last surviving ant (Nemo) was released today. Kevin stepped in and released him into the wild. Good luck Nemo!



3. I got tears in my eyes when I saw this at Macy's!! Could it be? Is that the Snoopy Snow Cone Machine I used to have when I was a kid?? Yes! OMG I hope Santa brings me one!

4. Someone needs to tell this person it’s time to stop! This house practically blinds you when you pass by. I just had to pull over and take a picture.