In T-minus 3 days at this time I’ll either still be in the air en-route or on the ground at the airport in Paris. My Mom and I are headed off on a cruise and start our epic journey in Budapest where we’ll be spending 2 days before meeting up with the Viking River Cruise line to start our almost two week excursion.

I don’t think there are words enough to really describe what I’m feeling right now. Stress? since I haven’t really packed that much. Elation? I haven’t been out of the country (minus Canada but that doesn’t count) since I was living in Japan so I’m psyched to be checking out the world again! Supreme happiness and/or giddiness? You bet!

The last time I was in Europe was a visit to England and Scotland in 1997. My brother Mark was doing a semester abroad over there and my parents latched onto the opportunity to visit and show their supremely picky daughter a little culture.

Oh boy you can imagine how pissed I was when I found out ketchup (one of my main food sources at the time) tasted funny and not right. Don’t worry though: I’ve since developed taste and an enjoyment of food. Being an exchange student does that to you real fast since you don’t really want to offend your host family… that and you just learn not to ask what they are feeding you.

The past few weeks this trip has kind of been a dull roar on my radar of things to do. I started a contract position a week and a half ago (finally! A source of income!) so I’ve been adjusting to 40-hour weeks again and actually commuting to a job which I haven’t done since early 2009.

I know, such a spoiled girl I was.

While I’ve been gathering stuff that I will need in Europe (read: memory cards for my camera) I think the whole concept of this trip has just been that: a vague notion of an event to come that will happen sometime in the future. Mom and I have been talking about it for a year now and have had the tickets for eight months. This cruise has always been something to look forward to and way down the line in my scope of time.

And now? Now I leave Wednesday early afternoon and am gone the rest of August. Yikes!

The panic really started to set in today as to all I need to get done. I told Person X I’d do this project for them, Person Y I’d do this other project for them, and Person Z is expecting a, b, and c before I leave the country. This is on top of the packing and prep work and everything else that must get done.

Must… breathe…

I’ve been told that the cruise will have Wifi and I’m planning on taking my laptop so that I can do daily (or every-few-days with the promise of more when I’m back state side) posts with a few pictures with, again, the promise of a lot more to come when I have high speed internet and aren’t in awe of the majestic sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences that my journey is going to take me on. So, please, check here through the end of the month as I share my journey, stories, and pictures of this wonderful opportunity and experience I’m going on with my Mom as we take on Europe and all the sights to see!

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I know the writing is bad and the relationships in the books are unhealthy at best but you know what? It’s good escape literature that you love to hate. I also hate to love it.

What’d I tell you? It’s complex.

Last week Hayley text me and asked me if I would want to take an epic journey to Forks, WA next (now this) week. “Heck yes!” I replied. “It’s not like I have a job or anything going on in my life!”

That’s my typical response now: “It’s not like I have a job or anything happening.”

Wednesday morning came and Hayley showed up at the ridiculous hour of 7:30am. Doesn’t she know I have no job thus like to sleep till noon? (I’m half-joking!). She patiently waited until after I had a phone interview for a (potential) contract job and then we loaded up into the car and hit the road.

Oh boy can you sense the excitement?

After two hours of driving through the Olympic Peninsula and a whole lot of nature we hit Port Angeles and knew we were getting close.

And if Super 8 wasn’t helpful enough there was always road signs:

About 45 miles outside of Forks we hit some epic road construction by a lake that had us sitting there for 20 minutes. It was all fine and dandy since hey, at least we had a view! We managed to eventually escape that joy and within another fifty minutes we hit Tourist Spot #1:

I won’t tell you how many tourists were gathered around to pose by the sign but at this point I started loudly proclaiming “I have no shame” and “I embarrass myself.”

Driving through Forks itself was very… interesting since obviously their sole purpose is now catering to the rabid fans who descend in masses to be somehow apart of the series.

And I’m not even talking to the specific areas of town specifically catered to objects/places in the books.

Yes, that includes the Visiter Center.

This was just awesome: capitalizing on the madness:

“Twilight firewood”. Yes. I’m sure it’s wood from trees the Cullens broke while playing vampire baseball. I had to give whoever did that props since I’m sure someone will buy it since it’s from Forks and has Twilight written above it.

Even heading out to the reservation they got into the Twilight madness:

Here’s some overcast beach shots for those who are under the misconception that Washington state only has grey skies:

Overall I have to say that I had a good time but it was kind of sad how tourist trap the town now is. Like, you couldn’t walk down the main drag without Twilight being shoved into your face… especially as you go by the store Dazzled which, of course, sells only Twilight related apparel.

If you’re a hardcore fan who wants to go “experience” Twilight I’d say make the trip to Forks, WA since they cater to making the fans happy. I enjoyed my time with Hayley (despite a few times of refusing to get out of the car to take pictures due to embarrassment). Now when I tell people that I live in Washington state I can tell them yes, I have been to Forks, WA, and hopefully watch them explode in a dazzling display of diamonds.

Or whatever those vampires do.

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Now, originally we were going to catch a ride up to Dallas on Sunday morning with the newly wed couple as they went off to their honeymoon. Saturday night, however, we decided in part due to how stressful Saturday was for everyone and also the want for the newlyweds to have alone time and not have to cart us around to another place we’d find another ride elsewhere. It was suggested we try Enterprise car rentals since hey! They come to where YOU are!

… unless it’s Sunday. Then you’re S.O.L. as we came to find out.

Sunday morning, Mack and I scrambled around our Super 8 hotel room trying to gather stuff and find someone, somewhere, anything??, that was open on Sunday to get us to Dallas where we could rent a car to get up to Oklahoma City, from where we were flying out of Monday afternoon. After about an hour of this we finally decided hey, perhaps another day in Rockwall wouldn’t be all that bad?

Plus we kind of had no other choice.

Luckily, due to all of Mack’s traveling last fall for business, he had earned a substantial amount of Hilton reward points and we were able to use them for a “free” night at the Hilton (only took Mack six-weeks of back and forth travel to earn them!). Now, not to disparage the classiness of the Super 8 but I will have you know I moved the table in from of the door every night just in case.

Paranoid, yes, but justified. Years ago my uncle and aunt woke up in their hotel room to find themselves being robbed.

After all our stuff was haphazardly packed, we made our way to the front office to check out and order a taxi to get across town before we figured out how to get from the Hilton to Dallas the next day. We checked out and the taxi was called (and judgement passed since we had to tell the receptionist where the taxi was to take us) we sat down in the lobby to wait for the taxi to eventually show.

Enter awesome Trucker Dude.

As we were waiting on the couch we watched a semi pull into the parking lot and adjust approximately fifty times. Once satisfied the driver climbed down and lumbered towards the office. Now, the man wasn’t huge or anything but you could tell he was full of life and took no prisoners if you angered him. This, of course, naturally intrigued us as he burst forth into the lobby and demanded the receptionist offer him the best deal he could offer since it was only an overnight stay and he knew people and wasn’t willing to accept anything but the lowest deal. The initial price was offered and Trucker Dude scoffed saying they could do better and he knew it. Another figure was thrown out, five dollars cheaper, and Trucker Dude rolled his eyes and was asked again if that was truly the best deal? A stare-down commenced before declared the deal was the best available, the receptionist cowering(I can only assume). With a huff Trucker Dude turned his heal and said he’d be back but he’d probably find a better deal elsewhere.

At this point Mack was thoroughly impressed with this dudes powers of persuasion and I’m sure took mental notes.

Another twenty-minutes passed before Trucker Dude re-appeared with coffee and a few million more semi adjustments. The whole exchange between him and the receptionist, round two, was equally as amusing.

T.D. (Trucker Dude): Now, I have to have a room where I can see the semi. This is REALLY important.
Receptionist: We will see what we can do.
T.D.: You don’t understand, I must see the semi. I can move it. I can park in your damn swimming pool I’m so skilled at moving that truck! Then I can get it out with no problem.
Receptionist: …
T.D.: Now, do you guys have HBO?
Receptionist: Yes, we have that channel.
T.D.: Well good! True Blood is back on tonight and I gotta watch! … where ya from anyway?
Receptionist: I was born here in Texas.
T.D.: No, I mean, where are you really from? You look like you’re from India.
Receptionist: Yes, my family is from India.
T.D.: Yeah, I knew it. When did you come over from India?

So on and so forth.

As Trucker Dude waited for a room with a view of his semi he spotted Mack and I on the couch carefully avoiding eye contact. Fortunately these things mattered not to him and he started chatting with us, first asking what we were doing there (waiting for a taxi), where we’re from (Seattle, and we’re stranded, thanks), and commenting on my wrist tattoo since people with ink were “cool” and “good people.” His energy and enthusiasm drew us out and I thought damn, does this man have people skills!

We only really talked with him for a few minutes before our taxi finally showed up. As he helped me with my bags (what a gentleman!) he said farewell and that he hoped the rest of our journey was uneventful and we made it home safe.

I can tell you one thing for sure: this random stranger so full of energy and life definitely made our morning and brightened our mood on that difficult day.

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Late last night Mack and I got back from our trip to Texas for my friends wedding. Lots of stories to come about the weekend (like the whole wedding party almost eating boat deck when a strong wave hit during the ceremony) but in the meantime: get a taste of a Texas wedding!

Technorati Tags: texas, weddings, summer, texan wedding, traveling, photography, casual photos

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Also ladies: easy on the perfume when traveling. Had severe allergic reaction due to excess perfume. People might give me wide birth now thinking I have a nasty, icky, dripping cold.

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Again, I call b.s. that we live in Florida since isn’t Florida suppose to be warm and sunny? I realize we’re practically in Georgia but COME ON.

While I was living up in the northwest, I had a habit of layering so I didn’t die. I have a hard time maintaining body heat and typically am cold. This is especially a problem if I have not had food in awhile; my body temperature drops rapidly as a migraine sets in. My body, in other words, hates my guts and wishes it could spit on my grave. So, in anticipation, I put on about four layers on top (a tank-top, a long sleeve shirt, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt). All my bases were covered. I assumed since in general airport travel you get warm from running flight-to-flight I’d warm up and be able to shed layers.

I was surprised to find out that, instead, I was wishing I had put on more. 

Unfortunately, there is no direct flight from our airport to Seattle so I had a layover in Atlanta, GA. To make matters more of a pain, the lay-over was about 30 minutes before my next flight was set to take off. Awesome. Since I have done a fair bit of traveling through Atlanta to get to Florida, I’m well versed in the airport and had a general idea as to how to navigate it. This did not stop me, however, from changing my seats on the flight the day before to the emergency exit by the door so I could sprint as soon as the doors opened.

The first flight, I was in the aisle and pretty tired and generally miserable. I brought a pillow, which I ended up using as a blanket of sorts. Cuddled up to it, with my scarf wrapped around my head a few times brought a certain degree of warmth, but I was chilled through the flight. When we hit Atlanta, I thought that perhaps the city would be warmer than Jacksonville and in walking from the plane to the terminal I’d warm up…

… not counting on it being 26°F in Atlanta, GA at 8 AM. 

Getting off the plane, I was hit with the Arctic chill which greatly improved my tired state of high agitation to make it to my next flight. Luckily, my next flight was the same terminal and just ten gates down and the run there warmed me up to a degree…

… that is, until it turned out that my ugly unwanted-child of an exit row seat turned out to be by the open door that was left that way for twenty-minutes until everyone got on the plane.

Now, I say I was seated in the “ugly unwanted child of an exit row” since this flight was interesting in how they did the exit row. The two seats in front of me got the benefit of the leg room while me, in the window seat behind, got the “benefit” of if the plane went down I technically would be called to duty to help people and I also got the cold air leaking from the door. 

As I dosed on and off through the flight, I would wake up suddenly, my foot numb and completely without feeling from the cold pouring in the nearby emergency exit. I’d have to stomp my feet, move them, work through the unbearable pain to get them to have some sort of feeling in them. I think I scared the dude next to me in doing all that while seated. I have a huge phobia and dislike of standing up while the plane is in the air. It’s almost as though the simple act of me getting up will make the plane take a nose dive and all of us DIE since I HAD to stand.

(How did I last the flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo? Let’s just say I timed it for the exact middle of the flight as to when to get up and go the bathroom and I was pretty dehydrated upon arrival).

As I stated above, I tend to get really cold when I’m hungry. I ate a bagel before leaving for the airport at 4AM and missed the “snack serve” on both flights, save for the last one an hour before landing. It got to the point with the cold air blowing on my feet and making them numb where I finally had to shove my pillow between my feet and the door just to have some sort of barrier of protection.

When I got to Seattle, I got off the plane and called Mack, willing my feet to get some feeling back in them and having the weirdest sensation of walking yet not feeling it. I guess it brings new meaning to “walking in the air” (or this amazing version too).

Technorati Tags: flight, Seattle, unbearably cold, Florida, Georgia, flight-to-flight, airport, Arctic chill, traveling stories, airports, coldness

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Since Mack was geeking out this weekend at the convention, we figured that there wouldn’t really be a point to renting a car. That was a mistake, since we were in kind of shady part of town (an acquaintance was screaming at some hookers from the roof of the hotel last year if that gives you an idea). Needless to say that, although downtown was probably only a mile walk away, unless we wanted to be shanked or something it wasn’t really an option.

A pleasant solution was found in taking cabs from the hotel to downtown. Now, Mack and I are generally people persons, to an extent. We do get sick of people easily, especially the stupid and annoying, but if they are characters we love hearing all about them. The cab drivers in Nashville were just that: characters.

Our first cab ride with Mack’s coworkers to the hotel, I think the cab driver was afraid of us since the boys were all talking “shop” and hacking and security. On Friday, after a Thursday-evening nasty pizza delivery disaster we (Mack and myself) decided to find food downtown. After having the front desk call for a cab, he arrived our adventures began. 

Ernest is a hard worker who loves getting to know his customers. He asked Mack and I where we were from and gave us wonderful suggestions as to where to eat and what were the best burgers in town (he had the top three suggestions and took us to number two since the BEST burgers in town were a little far away). 

When he dropped us off, he handed us his card to call him after dinner, which we did. And boy, were we glad we did. Did you know the fishing in the winter produces the tastiest fish? Something about the winter makes fish extra tasty. The colder the better, Ernest told us, in his humble opinion. Monday in Nashville was Monday night football. and he was looking forward to a day of fishing before working and shuttling football fans around. 

The other character cab driver was the one who took us from downtown back to our hotel then to the airport Sunday afternoon. He inquired about where we were from and was real interested in what we thought of Nashville and if we had enjoyed our stay. While he was not as talkative as Ernest, he was just as amusing and for that we were glad.

While next year Mack and I will probably do a rental car for the convention, we were really happy for the experience of the colorful characters that drive the cabs in Nashville, Tennessee.

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A few shots from our weekend in Nashville, TN. More can be seen over at my flickr account.

Technorati Tags: nashville, tennessee, Phreaknic, convention, downtown, traveling, photography, the south

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