Pretty Woman Austria Style

Today we had more adventures in the Austrian countryside. We rode a gondola up the mountain to almost the top of the Kitzbuheler Horn. The weather was not as clear as yesterday but it was still pleasant. There was a slight chill. We had lunch up at the Alpenhaus restaurant and I had some soup with these dumplings Knudel(?) and then this mixed salad with some pickled carrots, radishes and potato salad. It was alright but kinda random.

After returning home we were going to go into town to do a little shopping. The town is really cute. Very picturesque. It has all these different little boutiques and cafes. I heard that it gets really crowded during the winter season.

We had a very Pretty Woman moment today during our shopping. Fritzi called a friend of his to "dress" us for Oktoberfest. We were just planning on going to the Goodwill version of Austria to go buy a second hand outfit. However, with his call, the people in this totally authentic high end shop to just give us outfits. Seriously...these things were like 500 € each which works out roughly to about 750 bucks US....dude....each of us got one. and there were 5 of us. Holy bejesus!!

But the people were super nice, took us upstairs and individually fitted each of us in the traditional Austrian dirndl, apron and blouse. HELLO. I am a St. Pauli Girl come to life. It was SO cool!!!! Mine is light blue with a white blouse and a red apron. It actually kinda looks like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. fantastic really.

Tomorrow we head off to Oktoberfest. We're in the wine tent...don't worry, I will be drinkingbeer!! Wish me luck! I'll be back with stories!!

We have arrived in Europe!!!

Hello Friends,
We have arrived safely in Austria. After many hours on the plane, we got to Germany and travelled to Kitzbühel--it took us about 2 hours to get there in rush hour so it really wasn't too bad. The countryside is amazing here. Looks like something straight out of a postcard. So lovely. It's a fair bit cooler here than it was at home.

on the flight from SFO to DC Tracy and I sat near each other and Rachel was up in the middle of the plane...next to a little girl that kept throwing up and MISSING THE BARF BAG. OOH NO.

On the DC to Munich flight Rachel and I sat near eachother and Tracy sat on the other side. On that flight the girl next to me was really nice except she kept fidgeting the entire flight. bogus...get it together lady.

After arriving at Haus Gita in Kitzbühel, we walked into town and then drove up the Kitzbühler Horn--we're so in the alps right now. You know where we're not? At work! woo hoo!!

We ate lunch outside at this cute little chalet restaurant that is adjacent to the ski slopes and had weinersnitzel...a fried pork cutlet...yummy! We also ate some Austrian desserts--something with blueberries and then this cheesecake mousse thing. Delicious.

We also stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food. It was nice to see the foods of Austria. Milk not in the fridge...strange. Oh wait...I just got breaking news that it was actually refridgerated...that was evaporated milk--crisis averted.


After grocery shopping, we went to pick some apples at Belli's friend Fritz's place...can we just say that it was the Austrian version of Cribs....it was where the magic happens. However I'd now like to discuss a segment which I will call Fritzi's Big Five. Fritz is a serious hunter so when we got into the house...which is ginormous by the way. It was cute from the outside, but didn't look overwhelmingly large...ummm there were 3 subterranean levels and two levels above ground.

The Big Five:
5) Zebra (qty 3 -- different "rugs" in the house)
4) Leopard (qty 1 --mounted on wall near staircase)
3) Crocodile (qty 1 -- mounted next to the tub in the sauna...yes I said sauna)
2) Elephant Tusks (qty 4 -- 8 tusks total. deposited throughout the property)
and the number one big animal in the five...
1) Siberian grizzly bear from Russia (qty 1 --mounted on the wall in the solarium/penthouse)

There were other assorted antlers distributed throughout the house. Don't worry friends. I will post photos upon my return to the mother country. The animals although cool, were a little bit creepy, and some of them made me sad. But I was going around taking photos like I was in the museum. We've got rams, birds, hella deer, and the above mentioned animals...it was like the BBC in Menlo Park, except all the animals were real and caught by Fritzi.

Now we're reclining in the house trying to get acclimated to the time.

Until tomorrow, may all your hunting expeditions be fruitful.
xoxo.
Lu

Less than 24 til we hit the trail.

Hot damn, we leave TOMORROW!!!
Bag is getting packed...I told you I was a procrastinator.
Camera, check.
Video camera, check.
PASSPORT, CHECK!!!
Tsa-locks, hotel confirmations and travel adapters, check!

I was going to bring my DS to rep work on the road, but I need to travel light. My animal crossing town will have to be neglected for 2 weeks :).

Weather report...check...ooh wait, gotta repack. apparently it's cold in dem there hills.

We just returned from Cinco de Ryan, and it was a blast to see all the peeps. And, I am going to try to bring some food on the plane. Heck yes!

Alright now to finish up the remaining items on the to do list, get about 5 hours of sleep and start this all over again.

I just checked in online and printed my boarding passes and it's go time.

Chat with you in Europe!

Ciao Ciao.
Lu

On the horizon

Hello friends,
The trip is now really on the horizon. I left work about 8 this evening trying to wrap a bunch of things up...I don't know why I always do that to myself...I should do things a bit at a time so I don't have this mad dash at the end. However I think it's how I am wired. Procrastinator to the core. Oh well. Like now, I SHOULD be packing but nope...I am sitting blogging, and doing 5 million other things instead of packing.

I am so excited that the trip is finally here though. Today I thought it would be a good idea to buy a rolling duffle rather than my big suitcase (Big Red) or my little suitcase (little red) I figured that it would be good to have something in btwn both sizes. So I buy this bag, bring it home...only to discover it's somehow larger than Big Red. Um, that's not gonna work. I am taking it back but will do so after the trip. I don't have time to return it tomorrow before we leave.

After all the hiccups getting to this trip...well really just the whole losing the passport thing. It really is great to be finally heading out. It seems like ages ago that we planned the trip and now we're off.

Our first stop is Dulles Airport (Washington DC) and then on to Munich where we'll be heading out to Belli's house in Kitzbuhel...Freaking Austrian village. Can you stand it??

I am going to try to update this on the way, but similar to last trip I won't be able to add in photos until the end of the journey. Buckle up kids, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Auf Weidersehen.
Lu

It's almost here!

So today I booked our hotel for our last night in Munich. I am a little peeved because United changed our return flight home so now we have a 3 hour layover in LA which sucks because at that point, I just want to go home. Bad enough we have to change flights. sucks.

Hopefully it will change back to a direct flight from Chicago to SFO.

We've got our reservations for our Oktoberfest tent, as well as our hotel for Prague. The only thing we're missing right now are our train tickets. Which we can probably just get there. We should determine that I suppose.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in, and let everyone know the trip is coming up fast and furious.

Mic Check 1-2-1-2

Hey Peeps.
I am resurrecting the travel blog before we head to Germany/Austria.

Currently the agenda includes Rachel, Tracy and I and perhaps Eileen and her friend Emily will be globetrotting with us.

Anyway, not sure if anyone is still out there reading, but maybe you can enjoy the blog ride for our next trip.

Trip begins Sept 28. Be there. Watch this space for updates.

Keep it real.
Lu

The Final Stretch

There really is no place like home. Thanks Gavin, it's good to be back.

So I have been slow as molasses recapping this trip....I do apologize. I have not even sent out the photo album. With all the commotion that occurred upon my return, it's been tough to get some time just to recap what we did while we were away. So luckily I am sitting in a hotel room in Redmond, typing out what I think is the final wrap up of this trip. So funny, I haven't even been back a month yet but it seems like a lifetime ago. Strange how time does that.

The last day of our trip was basically a travel triathalon. I use the term "last day" loosely as the travels covered 2 days and about 4 time zones (and that's just the time zones we stopped in, who knows how many we actually crossed over.)

We started off leaving Istanbul...once again, it was a cloudy sky, and we were oh so happy to be heading home. We had our final breakfast at the Oran, said farewell to our favorite hotel worker--He told us that the weather was bad because Turkey was upset that we were leaving. All over the world we are still loved and adored! haha.

We got to the airport and we were pretty early. Surprisingly they are a lot more lax about the whole carry on liquid thing in Istanbul. They just ask you if you have something larger than 3 ounces. I said no, but then realized I had a bottle of water...however I figured there would be another check point, but there was not! YES! taking it back to the old school with some contraband bottled water.

Rachel and I tried to shop, found out that they would charge us $11 US dollars for an imported copy of People magazine--we declined. But we did stay in the magazine store for quite awhile soaking up some good old fashioned American tabloid trash. We found out that Halle Berry was pregnant and saw some pics of Britney Spears from the VMAs. Awesome.

After boarding the plane we headed to London. We get to London and shop around for a bit. Unfortunately the flight was slightly delayed. It wasn't too bad, but we did manage to squeeze in some time for the Captain.

Finally we got to leave Heathrow, but not before I hear a butchered version of my name being said in a British accent calling me to the counter. What? Um why are you calling me?? Turns out they just wanted to confirm I was on this flight. RANDOM!! The flight to JFK featured a meal of either Indian food or Mincemeat Pie. Jesus...so that for me was like asking if i wanted to cut off either my right foot or my left foot....I didn't want either! However since I was starving I chose the Indian entree called "butter chicken" it didnt taste like butter and I didnt feel so hot after eating it. For once I didnt finish my food. However other than this meal, British Airways had some pretty tasty vittles. I was impressed. They've easily become my favorite international airline.

Also on the flight, Rachel's seatmate initially was this chick who was wearing a gallon of perfume. Honestly, you are in an enclosed space...have some respect for those around you!! Luckily there was a family that wanted to sit together and so the girl moved so the mom could be close to her kids. That was great in theory until the child starts throwing a full on tantrum. Instead of the dad and mom swapping seats to get the kid to stop wailing, they just kept trying to reason with him and coo to him. Dude, you are NOT helping. Switch seats. But once everyone was settled a good flight overall.

After what seemed like forever, we arrived in NYC. Almost HOME!! However, when we got through customs, I got stopped. The official asked me if I had reported my passport lost or stolen. Como? What? Seriously? So I said no, that I had my passport with me the whole time and it hasn't been lost. Then he sent me to this other room to clear my passport with another customs officer. Rachel was already through security and waiting for our luggage. I had to ask the woman why I had been pulled aside, and she told me that a passport number similar to mine had been reported stolen. So that's why they pulled my passport aside. Randomly, this is the second time on our vacation that I have had someone tell me something about my passport. Started off in NYC when the guy said we were on the watch list, and then now this. Oh well, fortunately everything went fine and they stamped my passport and I was back on US soil. Holla.

Our night was far from over. We had to try and catch the shuttle to our hotel near JFK. Unfortunately I was disoriented and gave them the incorrect terminal number so the people were unable to find us. Mother Christ. After 20 minutes Rachel and I give up and just head to the taxi queue. We get to our hotel, and although they were meager accomodations--it was what we were used to at this point. We ordered nachos and hot wings and watched American TV. It was pretty awesome. I fell asleep to Best Week Ever and then awoke about 4 hours later in order to board our flight.

The Holiday Inn was so shifty--we needed a cab, but for some reason they sent us in a Town Car...which happened to cost more than the taxi. Whatevs....we were just trying to get home at this point.

We get to JFK and they had this scale ready for weighing. WHAT? Wouldnt you know that Rachel and were on the floor at JFK unpacking crap from our suitcases. They were going to charge 50 bucks for any luggage over 50lbs. I needed to take out about 5 lbs of crap to make the grade. So i just put it in a plastic bag and chose to have 2 carry ons. Such a pain to have to unpack though. Then they confiscated my toothpaste that i forgot to put in my 50lb luggage in security. Damn it all, can we just get home already???

Drinking some coffee at the crack of dawn on our final flight of the trip.

After getting through the forcefield of security, we got some coffee from Peet's (begrudgingly....I am not a Peet's fan, however this one was good. BUT there were like 5 workers at the kiosk with only 2 of them actually doing any work.) Fortunately the flight was good and we got home pretty early. However, they did not have a movie for our entire 5 hour flight...AND I slept not at all. It was so long. I was trying to read this book that I procured from the Hermes, but even that wasnt helping make the time go by faster.

However we finally returned to San Francisco, and claimed our luggage while we looked on at a warm welcome from my favorite hottie mayor Gavin Newsom. Thank you Gavin, now let's make out.

As for us, this concludes our Greek and Turkish adventure. I really hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I suppose I can still continue to post here, however the blog title won't be so relevant since the trip is now completed. But I am a slave to the people, so if you want me to write more, just name your topics you'd like to read about and I can write about it.

However, if not. It's been real friends. May you have safe travels yourselves.

Logging out.

--Lu