Cork On the Ocean
directionally challenged
OK, here goes gulls! First, let me say that it was an absolute blast the first time I did it with you allifunn and it's even more fun reading your very accurate and very amusing report. OK, here's my 2 cent:
I never said I was a good planner
I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal so natch, I get ready for a trip like this the night before leaving. And I was sooooo proud that I sent weather reports, IMPORTANT packing tips (perhaps Ali should have read that one), etc the day before we left. Who knew she was already packed and ready to go 
Have to say that Allifunn is one cool lady, if she wasn't a cork on the ocean before she left, she sure did a good impersonation of one while we were overseas :clap_1:
It appears that my journal indicates that I arrived at Tampa International airport 20 minutes before takeoff (not boarding) but takeoff. No worries though, I even had time to grab a chic-fillet and go potty before they closed the doors behind me.
Alli did forget one very important thing. We DiD NOT check any luggage. Carry on only! This was an issue initially with all the restrictions of liquids for carry ons because Alli thought she needed a Sally's beauty supply full of toiletries and grooming items but she worked it out and neither of us had any bags to get lost or wait for upon touch down. I even had a bunch of soap and shampoo and stuff left over in my still unpacked bag.
Was this because I took no showers :rofl: ? OK, I did but not as many as ali. Boy, the single guys must be waiting to snatch me right up, huh? The female Oscar. 
That is so Cork, isn't it? Alli on the other hand brings a cell phone to Europe, as if she's going to be able to use it. She did get plenty of use out of it at the airports, though. Isn't young love
wonderful 
Natch!
I have to say that I totally screwed up our seats. I had alli sitting 2 rows in front of me I bugged her come back and sit next to me. I could tell she was nervous about not being in her assigned seat. It was so decadent 
. The plane was PACKED but somehow she held her ground and we got to sit next to each other for the international flight.
And inquisitive sowallers might ask, "Why does cork need a Cook book?"
A Cook Book is actually a comprehensive compendium of ALL train schedues throughout Europe by Thomas Cook. When you buy a railpass, all you get is this out of date, piece of $hit booklet with a few of the most popular train routes. It is basically useless. I had mentioned that we needed a cook book from the start but wasn't able to get one before leaving and couldn't find any Thomas Cook shops over there except for one that I'll mention later. We managed but I could have definitely done better with a Cook Book!
Ali's accounting of this one is right on the money but unless you
were there, you can't imagine how funny these announcements were when they were coming over the loud speakers. This is pretty unusual for a train to go down and other than the Italians going on strike, I can only remember two other times in hundreds (probably thousands) of trains that that I've been on where this happened.
Apparently, Allifunn wasn't so impressed by the stretch of Rhine and the castles that stud it because that was an important part of the plan. We went to Amsterdam from our Frankfurt arrival point because I hate Frankfurt and there is a very scenic rail trip north up the Rhine towards Cologne which we took. We were both beat and the broke train kind of overshadowed the scenery of this route I guess. Actually, the train was towed into Ultrech, Netherlands where we had to switch trains to get to Amsterdam.
We didn't really go to a travel agency for the room. Most large stations have a TI or Tourist Information. The will book a room (no affiliations with any) for a few Euros fee. They also have maps, free info etc.
Important safety tip: NEVER get on the buses in Amsterdam without a ticket. They almost never check them but I have been on one when they were checked and all I heard on the crowded bus was: No Ticket? No Money? No Passport? and the police were waiting at the other end and arrested the guy for not having a bus ticket. Always get a bus ticket!
You think? :rofl:
Prinzengracht was the street that our hotel was on but it's a semi circular street around the city so it's long and the busses only go down the main streets so it was quite a trek to our hotel WITH THE BAGS.
I LOVE the redlight district. What a hoot. Ali was less than impressed and favored flower markets and such. Give me good old sex and drugs and rocking roll anyday
I might add that it was nearly 11PM and our choices were pretty limited on what was available and since I KNEW allifunn didn't want to eat in the redlight district (eeewwwweee
) we stayed on the main drag Damrak near the station.
This is where I have to say Allifunn is the coolest spirit. Most people (believe me, I know from experience) would have pi$$ed and moaned and biotched about their bags for 15 days. Granted, Allifun didn't listen to big daddy, toots and cork BUT when she realized it was a BIG thing, she didn't waste ONE minute taking care of business. She dumped the $hit and we were on her way as if it never existed. Maybe if I had done that with shoes on day one, My feet wouldn't have hurt for 10 days
so grasshopper taught me an important lesson.
OK, so I stayed a little long at the brown/internet cafe and I think Allifunn thought I was just there for the "food" and got impatient with me but this was a very important meeting of the minds for both of us to just chill and enjoy it. One of the great things about my job is that I can do it from anywhere, even Europe. It was our first day in Europe and I know how anxious Alli was to see as much as possible. I hope I didn't let you down in the end baby
One of my favorite things is eating gourmet food on a train whisking through Europe with a full glass of Vino and can you imagine doing it with a food [SIZE=-1]officionato[/SIZE] ? It was wonderful, Meats, salads, fruits crepes and vino mmmmmmmmmm!
OK, It's tomorrow :clap_1:
That alli is such a lady. You too can get your hair to grow that fast. They're extensions ! Going light brown and curly soon
You know Mango, we were talking about the same thing and as many times as I've been there, it's the first time I ever noticed that there's no Dutch cuisine in Amsterdam. We did remedy that l"no Dutch" food later in the trip.
OK, on to Paris Alli. I can't wait for this one
I never said I was a good planner
I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal so natch, I get ready for a trip like this the night before leaving. And I was sooooo proud that I sent weather reports, IMPORTANT packing tips (perhaps Ali should have read that one), etc the day before we left. Who knew she was already packed and ready to go Have to say that Allifunn is one cool lady, if she wasn't a cork on the ocean before she left, she sure did a good impersonation of one while we were overseas :clap_1: It appears that my journal indicates that I arrived at Tampa International airport 20 minutes before takeoff (not boarding) but takeoff. No worries though, I even had time to grab a chic-fillet and go potty before they closed the doors behind me.
Alli did forget one very important thing. We DiD NOT check any luggage. Carry on only! This was an issue initially with all the restrictions of liquids for carry ons because Alli thought she needed a Sally's beauty supply full of toiletries and grooming items but she worked it out and neither of us had any bags to get lost or wait for upon touch down. I even had a bunch of soap and shampoo and stuff left over in my still unpacked bag.
Was this because I took no showers :rofl: ? OK, I did but not as many as ali.
Boy, the single guys must be waiting to snatch me right up, huh? The female Oscar. That is so Cork, isn't it? Alli on the other hand brings a cell phone to Europe, as if she's going to be able to use it. She did get plenty of use out of it at the airports, though. Isn't young love
wonderful Natch!
I have to say that I totally screwed up our seats. I had alli sitting 2 rows in front of me
I bugged her come back and sit next to me. I could tell she was nervous about not being in her assigned seat. It was so decadent . The plane was PACKED but somehow she held her ground and we got to sit next to each other for the international flight.And inquisitive sowallers might ask, "Why does cork need a Cook book?"
A Cook Book is actually a comprehensive compendium of ALL train schedues throughout Europe by Thomas Cook. When you buy a railpass, all you get is this out of date, piece of $hit booklet with a few of the most popular train routes. It is basically useless. I had mentioned that we needed a cook book from the start but wasn't able to get one before leaving and couldn't find any Thomas Cook shops over there except for one that I'll mention later. We managed but I could have definitely done better with a Cook Book!
Ali's accounting of this one is right on the money but unless you
were there, you can't imagine how funny these announcements were when they were coming over the loud speakers. This is pretty unusual for a train to go down and other than the Italians going on strike, I can only remember two other times in hundreds (probably thousands) of trains that that I've been on where this happened.
Apparently, Allifunn wasn't so impressed by the stretch of Rhine and the castles that stud it because that was an important part of the plan. We went to Amsterdam from our Frankfurt arrival point because I hate Frankfurt and there is a very scenic rail trip north up the Rhine towards Cologne which we took. We were both beat and the broke train kind of overshadowed the scenery of this route I guess. Actually, the train was towed into Ultrech, Netherlands where we had to switch trains to get to Amsterdam.
We didn't really go to a travel agency for the room. Most large stations have a TI or Tourist Information. The will book a room (no affiliations with any) for a few Euros fee. They also have maps, free info etc.
Important safety tip: NEVER get on the buses in Amsterdam without a ticket. They almost never check them but I have been on one when they were checked and all I heard on the crowded bus was: No Ticket? No Money? No Passport? and the police were waiting at the other end and arrested the guy for not having a bus ticket. Always get a bus ticket!
You think? :rofl:
Prinzengracht was the street that our hotel was on but it's a semi circular street around the city so it's long and the busses only go down the main streets so it was quite a trek to our hotel WITH THE BAGS.
I LOVE the redlight district. What a hoot. Ali was less than impressed and favored flower markets and such. Give me good old sex and drugs and rocking roll anyday
I might add that it was nearly 11PM and our choices were pretty limited on what was available and since I KNEW allifunn didn't want to eat in the redlight district (eeewwwweee
) we stayed on the main drag Damrak near the station.This is where I have to say Allifunn is the coolest spirit. Most people (believe me, I know from experience) would have pi$$ed and moaned and biotched about their bags for 15 days. Granted, Allifun didn't listen to big daddy, toots and cork BUT when she realized it was a BIG thing, she didn't waste ONE minute taking care of business. She dumped the $hit and we were on her way as if it never existed. Maybe if I had done that with shoes on day one, My feet wouldn't have hurt for 10 days
so grasshopper taught me an important lesson. OK, so I stayed a little long at the brown/internet cafe and I think Allifunn thought I was just there for the "food" and got impatient with me but this was a very important meeting of the minds for both of us to just chill and enjoy it. One of the great things about my job is that I can do it from anywhere, even Europe. It was our first day in Europe and I know how anxious Alli was to see as much as possible. I hope I didn't let you down in the end baby
One of my favorite things is eating gourmet food on a train whisking through Europe with a full glass of Vino and can you imagine doing it with a food [SIZE=-1]officionato[/SIZE] ? It was wonderful, Meats, salads, fruits crepes and vino mmmmmmmmmm!
OK, It's tomorrow :clap_1:
That alli is such a lady. You too can get your hair to grow that fast. They're extensions ! Going light brown and curly soon
You know Mango, we were talking about the same thing and as many times as I've been there, it's the first time I ever noticed that there's no Dutch cuisine in Amsterdam. We did remedy that l"no Dutch" food later in the trip.
OK, on to Paris Alli. I can't wait for this one
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