TravelStream™ news feed for member kenpeterson on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kenpeterson en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:31:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213262160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213262160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213262160/tpod.html Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:31:41 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Alicante, Spain and Canary Islands

Well we awoke and paid the driver another 50€ to drive us into Alicante. Joe made a fantastic find of a hostal (not hostel - just a room with private bath, TV and bed...like a Motel 6, except clean) only 30€ each and we each get our own room. nice! The only bad part is that it is literally between two brothels, but there wasn't much noise so it was ok. You just have to fight your way through working girls wanting you to come into the bar in order to get to the hostal. I had some paella and some sangria and of course we watched some soccer. The next day another adventure....the boys went to the beach (I don't like the sand, and topless girls are a click away on the internet if I want them, so why bother?) and I wanted to go to the bullfighting museum. I asked the cabbie to take me to the "museo de toreros".... he asks me "y caballos?" (and horses?). I say yes, and before I know what is happening he drives me to the suburbs to the expo center, drops me off at the horse exposition and drives off. If I wannted to buy a horse, riding boots, or saddle I would be in heaven, but other than that....it took me 45 min to get a cab out of there.....oh well. My crummy Spanish strikes again...

That night Richard and I enjoyed a fine meal in the pnthouse restraunt of the highest buidling in town. Nice views of the city and the Mediterranean...then we met for a night out in old town. Joe and Chris needed to get up at 430 to catch a flight to Zurich and the next game, but there is no stopping Joe when he is on the prowl.... I left them at 2...fought through the hookers and made it to the room and got 4 hours of sleep before waking to fly to Barcelona!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1215884100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1215884100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1215884100/tpod.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:09:01 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Marinette, Wisconsin, United States

Well, finally got some rest and have more or less adjusted to life in the MidWest. Amazing. 90% of the people here couldn't tell you what country Amsterdam or Zurich are in, much less point to it on a map. No conception of cultures other than their own. Mostly the opposite is true over there. When I was in a cab to go to the station to take the bus from Constanta back to Bucharest, the cabbie spoke not a word of English, but he had his radio on, and in a tiny little Dacia cab, 100 meters from the Black Sea in a little Romania town not one person in 1000 has ever heard of in the USA, on comes the Eagles, of all bands - "One of these Nights". I'm not a huge Eagles fan, but anyone growing up in the 70's in California knows every word and chord by heart from having it drummed into you 20,000 times. Well, what do you know, the cab driver speaks not a word of English, but he knows every word to that song. He has no damn idea who Glenn Frey or Don Henley is or what any of the words mean, but he sure likes the song "Ooh, comin' right behind you, swear I'm gonna find you, one of these nights" he sings, and not too badly. What can you do, we had our little Almost Famous scene, and I tipped him $10 on a $3 ride....they still love America some places...

So back to the reason for the entry...my photos from the trip are at:

euro08.shutterfly.com

It's an open compilation album, so I will add other photos as I receive them from the guys.

Noroc!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214355060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214355060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214355060/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:35:07 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Marinette, Wisconsin, United States

Finally made it home. I have traveled home from Bucharest before. Each time I swear never again. let me explain it to you. First of all, all the connecting flights to Europe's hub airports, be it Frankfurt, heathrow, Paris or Amsterdam leave at the crack of dawn...allowing you to catch mid-day connecting flights anywhere in the world. Classic hub and spoke airline system. So STEP 1: Wake at 3:30 in the morning after 1 or 2 hours of sleep (because you NEVER go to bed early your last night in Europe). Remember...3:30 AM is 7:30 PM local time in Wisconsin. Quickly shower and leave for the airport at 4 to catch a 6AM flight. Otopeni airport is about 15 miles from downtown Bucharest, but even at 4 in the morning the traffic is unreliable...so you MUST leave by 4..and that is pushing it...rookies should leave by 3. So leave at 4...arrive airport at 5 or earlier...wait in line forever as the airport is packed with flights to all over Europe leaving between 6 and 7. Make your way through dodgy customs and passport control. Then usually take a bus to the plane. Then fly to your Europe hub...for me this time it is a 2.5 hour flight to Amsterdam and a 3 hour layover there. KLM stewardesses not so nice (no one is at 6AM). Bumble around Schiphol airport for a while. Too early for a beer, and don't want any caffeine to keep me from sleeping on the flight to the US. The airport is HUGE, and of course my gates are as far apart as physically possible (my poor feet and knees). Then through customs (again) and onto my Northwest Airlines flight to Minneapolis. Ugh. I had flown European airlines now 4 or 5 times since my last US air carrier flight and I forgot how crummy they are by comparison. The plane was an Airbus, which are usually nice, but too many seats packed inside. Squished into a seat for 8.5 hours :(. The food was surprisingly OK though. And the service was decent for a US carrier. This is how it goes. You take off...you sleep two hours. You eat something, you watch a movie (The Counterfeiters - GOOD MOVIE), you sleep a little..then you wake up. Still 4 hours left?!?!?! UGH>you watch another movie (Solaris...so and so, but I like Clooney so it was OK), eat again...still 2 hours left. Read and sleep until the ordeal is over....all the time limiting yourself to only 1 bathroom break at the halfway point because you have to crawl over everyone to get out. The you Land at Detroit for another 3 hour layover. I confess...the first thing I did after landing at Detroit after getting my luggage, clearing customs, and rechecking my luggage (did I mention I was running on 2 hours of sleep plus bad sitting-up airplane sleep) was head to Burger King. I loathe fast food and haven't had burger King in a year, but I got me a Whopper - it just tastes like home. That's the last beef I will eat for a while. I also experienced a nice episode in Detroit customs, as the customs agent saw me tired after the long walk from the gate and pulled me out of line and put me into the Express line, in front...where a stewardess asked "Aren't you going to let the flight crew go first?" in a snotty voice. The customs agent told her, "I'm in charge here and the crew can wait. This gentleman goes first." NICE! There are not many forms of life lower than a customs agent, but a (US Carrier) stewardess is one of them. Nice to see one getting put in her place. Not to go off on a rant here, but remember when they were all sweet young girls in the 60's thru 80's? the job didn't pay well, but you got some travel perks and was not that hard and was a bit glamorous. Then the unions took over. Now the senior attendants make almost as much as the pilots. no wonder the airlines are all going under. The job isn't that tough, the training program is 6 weeks of school, and you want to get $100K a year? They claim to be part of the "flight crew" but they aren't exactly taking over the plane if the pilot has a stroke. They are bad waitresses who know CPR in a bad restaurant at 30,000 feet. Is there anything meaner than the 55 year old Delta stewardess on the LAX to Cleveland route...never married a pilot, bad feet and slinging peanuts for a living? Mean as a pit viper! Anyway, I have said my piece as a pretty seasoned traveler. Actually this trip put me over 60 airports I have flown into or out of worldwide...I think that is pretty cool. Now on to step 3. STEP 3: Detroit to Green Bay - only a 1 hour flight in a mini plane. Squished. STEP 4: Then drive the 1 hour from green bay to Marinette. Arrival time: 7:30 PM. 24 hours from when I woke and 23.5 hours of travel. Thanks to Stephanie for collecting my car from the airport at Green Bay and saving me $150 in parking fees. Parking scoundrels.

A great trip all in alll. Met a lot of great people. Apartment managers, businessmen, scoundrels, bankers, two pilots, chocolatiers, brewers, beer lovers, football fans of all nations, taxi drivers, even a pretty gypsy princess! But after all that, nice to sleep in my own bed. Nice to be able to speak without trying to decipher an accent or use another language. Sooo nice to be cool. Fun to drive a car again after two weeks. A lot of travel...maybe 13 cities in 8 countries in 18 days...exhausting. Anyway...I will load all the pics from the trip this week and post a link here. I write these blogs somewhat for me, to print them out and have a memory of the trip years down the road, but also to let friends and family know where I am and what i am up to (although if you just assume I am in a pub somewhere hoisting a great European beer and ogling girls way out of my league then you will likely be right). Thanks to Suze and the Harrisons for leaving a comment or two and letting me know I'm not playing to an empty room. The toggle says that the blog has been accessed 400 times, so I know someone is reading it. if i talk to you in the coming weeks, let me know you took a look. Thanks again to Richard, Chris and Joe...we didn't always do it right, but you guys were great to travel with (sorry about the snoring in Zurich and Barcelona and sorry about moving so slow). Thanks to Wayne C...my boss, Stephanie, Cubby, Quigley, AnaMaria, Alex, Paula, Chistian, PJ, and especially Laura (Pea!) for helping out along the way. See ya again in two years for World Cup 2010 in South Africa!!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214340120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214340120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214340120/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:50:46 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Just wanted this on the map. 3 hour layover in Amsterdam. Not enough time to catch the train into the city. The custom agent asked why I spoke my 10 words of emergency Dutch. I told him that when traveling to another country, you should at least know how to say hello, please and thank you...even in France. he liked that.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214279760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214279760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214279760/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:41:08 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Bucharest, Romania

The last day in Europe. I have a lunch date with Laura...where does she want to go? UGGGGHH...The Brand New Hard Rock Cafe in Bucharest. YUK!
Actually, during the day, not crowded and the music not so loud, it was not so bad. Just awfully expensive and full of crap memorobilia ike Rod Stewart's and Steve Tyler's stage outfits. Personally, I think Steve Tyler should be drowned to death in an outhouse in front of his children if he ever sings another crummy ballad, but there is no accounting for taste..I guess. My $14 cub sandwich wasn't horrible, and I HAD been missing Heinz real ketchup. The catsup in Europe is all the bitter thin runny stuff like you get at COSTCO by the gallon. It's amazing what you miss after 3 weeks out of the country. I like the fries in Romania and Belgium but next time I come, I am bringing a bottle of Hienz..how is that for product endorsement? If it hadn't been my last day in town I would have had Laura put the bottle in her purse. So it wasn't a total loss...at least the place was air conditioned, as it was 35 outside...even though I know what prices should be in Bucharest, and I knew I was getting swindled. $8 for a margarita in Eastern Europe, indeed! Anyway, after such a great time the night before, I could have sworn I made arrnagements to meet up with the Romanians and the French guy the following night for the game. So i show up fat and happy at the bar for my last night in Europe, only to discover...there is no game! Ugggh. Whose mistake? probably mine, I think. Anyway...I chat with some cute bartenders and some expats (brits again!) for a while and then make my way back to the hotel to pack I was gonna go to the casino and just leave for the airport from there, since I had such an early flight...but I was out of it from too many Ursus beers ($2 for 500ml...yaaaaaa Romania!!!). The casinos in Romania are great. The blackjack dealers actually know how to count (who hasn't had a dealer in Vegas or Laughlin who can't seem to do math...lots of times when you bust, if u just say "20" they will take your word for it and pay you). Everyone in a tuxedo...no free drinks, but plenty of waiters and cute waitresses hovering. The minimum bet is 5 RON, which is about $2. I don't know about you, but just following the rules playing basic blackjack at a $2 table...I can make $20 last about 3 hours at worst. Sometimes I win enough to go over and lose the house's money playing craps (craps is my personal curse...I can't win and I can't stay away). Once the dealer establishes that I'm not a moron, and know how to double, split and hit we get along swimmingly. One thing to note is they don't understand the blackjack hand signals, that i thought were universal. Vegas always wants you to use the hand signals for the cameras, but Europe (Bucharest anyway) always needs to hear the words...and only in English or Romanian...no German or Russian allowed, as I found out from the Russian mafia guy next to me the last time I was at a casino (the diamond on his pinkie ring was the size of Liechtenstein, and his girlfriend, was...stunning is the only word that comes to mind..picture Heidi Klum with long red hair)....even though he kept hitting 16 against a 5.

Anyway I digress...I got back to the room and got about 2 hours of Air Conditioned sleep before hitting the airport.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214189520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214189520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214189520/tpod.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:57:45 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Bucharest, Romania

After the onc night in Constanta headed back to Bucharest...for reasons beyond my control, I have to eliminate Croatia from my itinerary...next time...

Caught the bus instead of the train back to Buc; quicker, cheaper and has A/C, but definitely not as safe. Then to a bar to watch the games. Met up with a couple of locals and a guy from Paris and had a great time rooting for Spain over Italy...except for the drunk Irishman who wandered in. Uff...what a mess as we got into a huge argument. But I won money from him, so I guess I'm ahead. it takes a hell of a drunk paddy to get me to team up with a frenchman! But we got along swimmmingly. Good times. Then a decent night sleep before my ast day in Europe...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214157780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214157780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1214157780/tpod.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:33:45 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Constanta, Romania

Woke early Saturday to catch an early train to the Black Sea resorts in Constanta. You have to catch an early train this time of year coz the trains are 40 years old and have no AC, so in the afternoon they are brutal. Met up with some friends and went out on the town. Notthing too exciting to report...good food and a good time, but I was too tired and heated to really go out and blow it up, so we had a nice dinner and I hit the rack early. We did get some mititei, which is my favorite Romanian food...little lamb, pork and beef sausages with no skins, grilled over an open flame. German sausage pales in comparison. Starting to drag a little now...something like 11 cities in 15 days...

The Black Sea is beautiful and the resorts are inexpensive...the Brits are starting to discover the place and are everywhere. I didn't get my feet into the Black Sea this time, but they have been there before. I rarely swim in California coz I don't like not being able to see what is beneath me, but since there are no harmful fish in the Black...and no tides, I like swimming there. The water temp was just 19 tho, too cold.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213983060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213983060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213983060/tpod.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:43:51 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Bucharest, Romania

Ahhh...back in Eastern Europe...where the dollar is still worth a little bit. Too bad it is sooo damn HOT here. As the plane landed at 7PM, instantly the outside of the plane gets covered in condensation so thick you can't see out the windows, due to the difference between the cool air conditioned air inside and the hellish heat and humidity outside. It's like Houston in July, except in Houston, all the cars, businesses and houses have AC. No such animal here. You just learn to deal with it. I change my shirt 3 times per day. Friday's temp....32. Uggh. Sad to see all the Romanian football banners and celebration areas set up around the city looking empty. Anyway..spent Friday doing some shopping and connecting with old friends...three cheers for AnaMaria for letting me use her apartment while she is out of town. She is spoiled from living in London, so she has A/C...its like Nirvana. It's just that she is on the 10th floor, and Romanian elevators are an experience.....I felt embarrassed all day coz I let a cabbie from the airport rip me off. I should be moore on the ball than that...grrrr. Oh well, I only paid $55 for a $25 ride...

A few Carlsbergs at night and then an early start the next day on the train to the Black Sea...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213804860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213804860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213804860/tpod.html Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:24:41 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Brussels, Belgium

Was a good first night in Brussels, although I have to say Belgium was disappointing. We have basically been on tour of the Garden Spots of Europe - Zurich, Amsterdam, Munich, Barcelona...Belgium was a step back. Really run down and dirty - more so than the Czech Republic even. You would think the center of the EU, with hundreds of millions of inhabitants would not be so unkempt. The EU section in the suburbs was, of course, impeccable, but the rest of Belgium looked like the liberation was 10 years ago instead of 60. What a dump! Anyway Achim took us to a few places and then left us early as he had to fly to Berlin early the next day. He wanted us to come, but it didn't suit our plans, and again, I've already had my dose of Zee Germans on this jaunt. Italy won their game over France and I guess there are more than a couple of Italians in Brussels coz the streets filled up with drunk Italians doing brake stands and waving flags. This seemed to offend Joe, as he happened to scream at every celebrating Italian he could find that they were 1-1-1 in the tournament, had gotten smoked by Holland and couldn't do better than a tie vs. Romania. (interestingly enough- word out of Romania was that Mutu was on the take and missed the kick on purpose - who knows, it looked like a slam dunk). I have avoided much soccer talk in the blog, but even I have to admit the Turkey victory over the Czechs was pretty kool - coming from 2-0 to score 3 unanswered and win 3-2. Nice. Anyway the night ended with a Kabob - a running gag on the trip, and a 3AM taxi ride home.

The next day we awoke at the crack of noon and hopped the train back into the city. We planned on visiting a Trappist Monastery where they brew the beers, but they are all located far outside Brussels, most on the border with France. We hopped on a dodgy tour bus and saw what the city has to offer. My mission was to sample the four things Belgium is famous for: 1) Beer; 2) Chocolate; 3) Fries; and 4) Waffles. After we got off the bus, we got some lunch at a traditional Belgian cafe - TASTY, especially the fries (you have to be sure to order them without mayonnaise or they will come drenched with the stuff), but then....Joe punted on his last night in Europe to go home early!!! Sorry, I have felt off on a couple of days over the past 2 weeks also, but unless I bleed out of my eyes, I can be sick when I get home...
With Joe gone, Chris and I found a chocolate shop and I bought some souvenirs...then we went to a pretty cool Belgian pub and watched the game and had many fine Belgian beers...then on to a late night waffle shop. They were good with the ice cream, but really, I like my waffles next to a couple of fried eggs and some hash browns...
We managed to catch the last train home, avoiding the $40 cab ride. Typhoid Joe and Chris had to wake at five and leave at 6 to catch a train to Dusseldorf and fly home from there...while I got to sleep in, as my flight to Bucharest didn't leave until 5. It was raining cats and dogs, and I had my luggage with me, so I kind of lagged - waking at noon, futilely trying to eat and drink all the food and beer we stocked the apartment with (and somehow I got stuck with the bill for). Then I hopped a cab to the less than impressive Brussels airport to catch my flight (and, of course, overpay for a last Belgian beer and some fries at the airport cafe). Weird to be without Joe and Chris for the first time in two weeks. I will miss them. But it's nice to be on my own itinerary, and not only are they younger than me, they are soccer players and good athletes, so they walk everywhere FAST, leaving it up to me to catch up. My knees are killing me; when I get home I will not walk anywhere for a week! Amsterdam on the bikes was a slight break, but they still bike faster than hell...
Plus I am going to Eastern Europe, where a taxi anywhere is $6, so no more walking. Onto my flight EAST>
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213824540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213824540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kenpeterson/1/1213824540/tpod.html Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:15:30 -0400 Another Euro Soccer Trip! (or How the Falling Dollar in the Bush Economy Cost me my Life Savings)

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Brussels, Belgium

So we woke in the 'Dam and hopped a train to Brussels. Sad to see Rich leave...he had a good week. Having some troubles at home so he was running about 50 text and phone calls a day. I told him to quit dealing with it and turn his phone off, but I understand you can't do that when you have kids with a sitter. Oh well. I wish I could post some pics and comments about the beautiful Dutch and Belgian countrysides I saw during the train ride, but the truth is...I passed out and slept most of the way. We met up with Chris' prep school room mate Achim. Some wierd underlying sexual tension there, when Achim talks about his wife and kid...but I didn't press Chris on it. Don't wanna know. I expect an emergency text message or email from Chris demanding a retraction..but I call 'em like I see 'em...

More on brussels and pics tomorrow...gotta get some zzzzz. Again...comment if you are alive out there!
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