Backpack Europe 2010 Rough Draft

DAY ONE - Depart Houston 6:45am

Total trip cost $401.97 USD

Friday, May 14, 2010
Aer Lingus 6089 Operated by: UNITED AIRLINES • Economy
• Boeing 737
• 2hr 32min
• 935 miles
Depart: 6:45am morning Houston, TX Houston George Bush Intercntl. (IAH) 1 stop
Arrive: 9:17am morning Chicago, IL Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)
Change planes. Time between flights: 9hr 33min
Aer Lingus 122 • Economy
• Airbus A330
• 7hr 40min
• 3663 miles
Depart: 6:50pm evening Chicago, IL Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)
Arrive: 8:30am morning Dublin, Ireland Dublin (DUB)
This is an overnight flight.
Total duration: 19hr 45min Total miles: 4598 miles

DAY TWO - Arrive in Dublin, Ireland Saturday morning (8:30am)
• Have a beer in an Irish Pub
• Explore the National Museums of Ireland (free museums for visitors)
• Phoenix Park /see St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Dublin Castle http://goireland.about.com/od/parksandgardens/qt/phoenix_park.htm
• Walk downtown Dublin http://goireland.about.com/od/dublinandleinster/ss/walkdublin.htm

DAY THREE and FOUR - Rosslare Ferry to Hollyhead, England (1.40 hours)
Eurail from Hollyhead, England to London, England (3.5 hours)
• Queen Mary’s Rose Garden in Regent’s Park
• Buckingham Palace
• Westminster Abbey
• Big Ben clock tower
• Windsor Castle
• Stonehenge

DAY FIVE - Eurostar from London , England to Paris, France (4.50 hours)
• The Eiffel Tower
• Notre Dame Cathedral
• Perfume Museum
• Eat a Crepe.
• The Seine River
• Louvre Museum (Not free)

DAY SIX - Eurail from Paris, France to Amsterdam, Netherlands (5.20 hours)
• Begijnhof http://www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl/index_engels.html
• Rijksmuseum Gardens http://goamsterdam.about.com/od/whattodoinamsterdam/p/vg_rijksmuseum.htm
• Eat brownies.
• Have a beer at Café Chris (Bloemstraat 42) which opened in 1642.
• Vondelpark
• Heineken Brewery

DAY SEVEN - Eurail from Amsterdam , Netherlands to Berlin, Germany (6.10 hours)
• Holocaust Memorial
• Tiergarten in Berlin
• Memorial Church in Berlin
• East Side Gallery Berlin
• Brandenburg Gate
Eurail from Berlin, Germany to Munich (Munchen), Germany (5.45 hours)
• Royal Castles of Neuschwanstein and Linderhof Day Tour (Not Free either) Couldn’t find anything free – Kari, any suggestions for Munich?

DAY EIGHT- Eurail from Munich (Munchen), Germany to Prague (Praha), Czech Republic (6.5 hours)
• Old Town Square – see the astronomical clock
• Charles Bridge
• Prague Castle Grounds and Gardens
• Prague churches

DAY NINE - Eurail from Prague (Praha), Czech Republic to Vienna (Wien), Austria (4.5 hours)
• Hofburg Palace
• Hapsburg grounds
• The Danube River

DAY TEN - Eurail from Vienna (Wien), Austria to Venice (Venezia, Italy) (7 hours)
• Get lost in Venice
• St. Mark’s Basilica
• Traghetto ride across Grand Canal (sub for the expensive Gondola ride)
• Rialto Bridge

DAY ELEVEN- Eurail from Venice (Venezia), Italy to Rome (Roma) Italy (4.15 hours)
• Pitch 3 coins into the Trevi Fountain
• Scale the Spanish Steps
• See the Vatican
• Sistine Chapel

Eurail from Rome (Roma) Italy to Florence (Firenze), Italy (1.35 hours)
• The Duomo
• Piazza Signoria
• Chiesa di Santa Croce

DAY TWELEVE AND THIRTEEN - Eurail from Florence (Firenze) to Barcelona, Spain(18.2)
• Visit Karina’s friend
• Guadi’s La Sagrada Familia
• Ramblas, Boqueria market and Placa Reial
• Find a Sustaita
• Parc Guell
• Barceloneta Beach

DAY FOURTEEN - Fly home from Barcelona, Spain
Orbitz $542.00 $206.99 $748.99
Go


Flight Information – Thu May 27 2010
SWISS
Flight 1953 Departs: 9:45a
Barcelona (BCN) Arrives: 11:40a
Zurich Intl (ZRH)
Coach | Airbus A321-100/200 (Narrow-body Jet) | 1h 55m
Layover in Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) for 1h 15m
SWISS
Flight 8 Departs: 12:55p
Zurich Intl (ZRH) Arrives: 3:35p
O'Hare Inter¬national (ORD)
Coach | Airbus A340-300 (Wide-body Jet) | 9h 40m
Layover in Chicago, IL (ORD) for 4h 45m
United
Flight 703 Departs: 8:20p
O'Hare Inter¬national (ORD) Arrives: 11:06p
George Bush Intcntl (IAH)
Coach | Airbus A319 (Narrow-body Jet) | 2h 46m

San Francisco, Summer 2009

San Francisco 2009

I had a hella good time in California! Right now, I am in the air flying over the desert, headed to Phoenix, Arizona where I’ll have to jump on another plane to Houston. The scenery is breath-taking. Aside from the mountains and plateaus, terrain looks like it has a circulatory system with veins. There is not a cloud in the sky. It is awesome to look down at this and realize exactly how much of the US is uninhabited.

Anyhow, all flights went smoothly. I met an interesting character who was my neighbor on the plane. Her name was Leilani and lives in River Oaks. She lost 50 lbs doing Jazzercise, has fake eyelash extensions, and was traveling to LA to visit her old best friend/hot bodybuilder guy who does not know she has transformed herself..ha ha. I wish her luck with that one. Anyhow, after stopping at LAX, I arrived to the airport in Oakland, CA. The weather was unbelievable! I looked a bit ridiculous wearing shorts while everyone was wearing layers, coats and scarves.

The BART/bus system was a bit tricky – especially since my only experience riding in public transportation of that sort was in Miami. I ended up going 20 minutes the wrong way while trying to find Karina’s job. What a great place to people watch – lots of interesting-ness going on in that city. It is very busy and incredibly noisy! I find San Franciscan housing fascinating! You won’t find your average Texan neighborhood or apartment complex there!

After arriving to Karina’s job, we at lunch at a small café on Laguna were we ordered pizza. By this time, I was dead tired, way too full and freezing in my shorts. After lunch, I got lost again on the bus, but eventually found Karina’s house where I met her really cool roommate, Whitney, then passed out…

I was surprised I was able to sleep so well because her room is located above a dentist’s office on Geary (a pretty busy street). You can hear people’s conversations, yelling, alarms, honking, busses, you name it. Weird, but it was actually calming. That I can’t explain.

Once Karina arrived home from work, we went to Ross and I bought a killer pair of shoes. They are so pretty – but killed my feet. We then ate dinner at this awesome Thai restaurant where I had the best vegetable fried rice of my life. Afterwards, we shopped at a 3 story Forever 21, then met up with her friends at a bar called Chug Pub. The pear cider was pretty good there. It was funny because her friends were shocked that I own a gun and pay what I do for my 1 bedroom apartment – and live in it alone. Guess there are some perks to living in Texas.

On Friday, I spent the most of the day by myself since Karina had to work. I - now feeling more proficient with the bus system, traversed to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was fun playing tourist with all the foreigners. I walked across the bridge and back - taking a million photos of the absolutely beautiful scenery of the mountains, the bay and fog.

Afterwards, I visited Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. There was so much to see and lots of street people trying to make tip money doing random things such as being painted like a statue, impersonating Michael Jackson and holding a sign stating, "Take your stress out! Yell at me for $1.00 or best offer!". Also on Pier 39, I got a great view of Alcatraz and saw the stinky sea lions. I ate chocolate at Ghiradelli Square and walked around in the bay until I couldn't feel my toes any longer. Lastly, I filled out about 19 post cards while sitting on a bench facing the bay with Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge in the horizon.

I then took a bus to Little Italy where I had the best Soy Macchiato of my life and bought 2 cannolis for Karina and I from the cutest Italian guy I have ever seen! I jumped back on the bus and met Karina at her job, then we rode the bus back to her apartment.

At Karina's, we enjoyed our Cannoli and got pretty for the night. It was her her roommate, Whitney and friend, Hanna's 30th birthday bash that night. The party was a blast and all of Karina's friends were so friendly. It was an amazing time!

Saturday, Karina and I woke up early and ate Breakfast with Paul and Ryan at Eat Toast. It was awesome. We visited the farmer's market and a garage sale. After they departed, Karina and I took a drive to Sausalito and drove up a mountain and back down towards Stinson Beach. The beach was beautiful but very cold. It was strange seeing people in their bathing suits and laying out on such a cold day! Not one bush went unphotographed. (ha - thats for you, Kari).

After our excursion, we returned home to take a nap and facebook. Around 5pm, we headed back out to the city and visited the painted ladies (the full house-house). We ate dinner at a chinese restaurant then walked about 10 or so blocks to this cool place called Genki where we had these yummy crepes filled with Nutella and ice cream. We then headed back home and crashed. We had intentions on going out on this Saturday night, but were too tired to even get out of bed : )

Sunday was my final day in San Francisco. I went with Kari to the Dolores Park Cafe and had coffee before going to her church. I absolutely LOVED her church! Great message, Great worship, Great people! After church, I had lunch with Kari, Nita and their friend from Germany - I think her name was spelled Anka or something like that??? Kari then dropped me off at the airport and I headed on my journey home.

I met this awesome 9 year old boy who sat near me on the plane. His name was JJ and this was his first time flying alone. He was flying to Orange County to meet his mom and go to Disney Land. He promised me he would give Mickey a high five for me : ) He is going to be one of our future pilots! Really cool kid who loves peanuts and Sprite Zero : ) He asked me if I was a mom...that kinda hit a weird spot....Anyhow, I stopped in Phoenix before arriving in Houston.

All in all, I had such a fun time! I was sure disgusted to walk outside the next day for work and feel the heat! It was really nice wearing layers and scarves! I would love to move there.... but I say that about everywhere I go. But I think I'm serious this time : ) I have totally fallen in love with Brunch and omlets which seems to be a huge thing to do in SF!

Me, Whitney and Karina at Whitney and Hanna's 30th Birthday Bash.
Lots of awesome people!

Cannoli = tasty

My feet freezing in the Pacific!

Stinky but adorable sea lions at Pier 39

China Town. If I lived in SF, I'd live here! Fisherman's Wharf
Crepes from Genki
The Bay
Kari and Sara

Me in front of the Golden Gate Bridge!

Full House!
What ever happened to predictability,
the milk man,
the paper boy,
evening TV,
But did I get to live it here,
somebody tell me please,
this whole world,
confusing me,
Clouds as mean as you ever seen,
in a bird who knows your tune,
then a little voice thats inside you whispers:,
kid don't sell your dreams so soon!

Everywhere you look, everywhere you go
There's a heart, (There's a heart),
a hand to hold on to
Everywhere you look, everywhere you go
There's a face,
of somebody who needs you,
Everywhere you look

When you're lost out there,
and you're all alone,
a life is waiting to carry you home,
Every where you look

Union Square

Leilani, my neighbor on the plane (the Jazzercise lady)


Nice photography there, Karina, ha ha. This was at Stinson Beach.

Karina and I by the Golden Gate Bridge

A beautiful view of the city.

New Orleans

I went to New Orleans to help out with the grand re-opening of their Lakeside and Esplanade stores. After working insane hours, on our last day, several of the other surrounding Loss Prevention Managers went out to Bourbon Street.
It was one crazy experience. It was comparable to 6th street in Austin x 10! The crazy thing about Bourbon is the bars don't close! Ever! Several bars do not even have locks on their front doors.
The night started off a bit scary. I was staying in a different hotel than the rest of the crew, therefore I had called a taxi to meet up with the rest of the Mgrs. That was almost the worst mistake of my life! Never take taxi #A-167 in New Orleans! The driver looked like a hippie going through heroin withdrawals. He had an array of angel trinkets on his dash board and continued to tell me all about his gay experiences in the military and how his best friend is hairdresser - etc. He pointed out several "bad" neighborhoods and proceeded to take the turns into them. He had me locked in and I already scoped out the door and there was no way for me to open the door - even if I had to. I was freaking out big time! I called a co-worker who is from NO and started reading out street names to him. He was like - where the heck is he taking you! That's not the right way!! Once the driver figured out what I was up to - he made a u-turn and did take me to the hotel. I don't know what in the world was going to happen - or if I was just paranoid, but I was glad to see all my co-workers waiting outside the hotel to get me outta there!!! Whew!
Bourbon Street was awesome - very historic - beautiful architecture, but smelled like pee. It was a crazy and unforgettable night. Especially waking up in a co-workers extra bed in their hotel room - not realizing where I am - then realizing my flight leaves in 1 hour and I am neither packed OR at my hotel. Needless to say..I barely made my flight and all was good : ) I don't think I can hang with NO!

At a sports bar near Esplanade.

Yeah - I wasn't too good at this!

Hanging out at Pat O' Briens having those killer Hurricanes.
The group with that famous sign!
First group shot.
Pat O'Brien's Hurricane
Crowded street.

Miami/South Beach/Key West, Florida

Our trip was AMAZING! The only bad thing is..I think I'm still drunk... So, we arrived to Miami Int. Airport Monday morning around 9:30. My mom and I were so tired because we were too excited to sleep the night before our flight. The airport in Miami makes no sense whatsoever. You have to walk about two miles and go down several stories to get to your baggage.
We took a taxi to the Palms at South Beach, where we called home for a few days. We checked in around 10am, but were unable to get our room until 3pm. We thought we were going to die without any sleep, so with a failed attempt to nap in the hotel lobby, we decided to go shopping.
We took a bus to Lincoln Rd. The bus was disgusting, and we both looked like idiots because we had never taken public transportation by ourselves before and did not know how the bus system worked. We eventually figured it out though and arrived to Lincoln Rd. Lincoln Rd. is a street full of shops, restaurants, bars, etc. I guess it is kind of like the riverwalk in San Antonio. There were people EVERYWHERE and no matter where you were in Miami/South Beach/Miami Beach, there was about 10 different languages being spoken around you. Lincoln Rd. is in South Beach and we stayed in the art deco district of SoBe so every building looked really cool. Lots of tall, square, white and glass buildings with purple, teal and pink lighting. We ate lunch at The Van Dyke on Lincoln Rd. and I had the best veggie burger ever! Service sucks everywhere in Miami/SoBe because they add an 18% gratuity on everything already. Trying to get a refill on your tea was impossible. It was incredibly hot and we were extremely tired, so we took a taxi back to the hotel, where we waited another 1 1/2 hours for our room.
Our room was really nice and although we did not have an "oceanview" room, you could still see the ocean quite well. Our room was beige, white and spa blue. It was very pretty and relaxing. We took a two hour nap and woke up around 5ish. We then walked to the beach area at the hotel. The hotel was beautiful from the outside, but the beach area wasn't so pretty. The water was great, but the sand had lots of debris in it, and it was very open and lacked the tropical feeling. The "cabana boys" were great though and kept the mojitos coming! They were $12 mojitos by the way! Their drinks are way different from the drinks in Houston. Where we usually get just one shot in a drink, they poured the hell out of some liquor into your glass. It was really hard to drink. But I handled it quite well I think.
For dinner on our first night, we wanted to try Cuban food. My mom did some research before we left and found an inexpensive Cuban restaurant she wanted to try. So, we took a taxi to this place. It was gross. More like a roach coach you would find on Navigation. We were like, hell no, so we walked a few blocks to Lincoln Rd, and ate at Jerry's Famous Deli. This place had a menu the size of a freakn book. They had everything. We literally read the menu for about 30 minutes. The food was good there, especially the cocunut cake my mom and I shared. We people watched for about an hour after we ate and it was definately a bit of a culture shock. I felt a little "behind the times" or maybe I just felt old. We took a taxi back to the hotel and while my mom got ready for bed, I went down to the hotel bar/veranda. This is where I visited every night drinking a $12 glass of chardonnay, rocking in a chair outside. It was relaxing, but kind of boring. This is where I also went through my phone book calling everyone I knew, every night.
The next day, our wake up call didn't come, but we woke up anyway around 6:30. Our shuttle picked us up at 7am for Key West. Our tour guide sucked. He kind of looked like a lion and spoke English, but with a horrible spanish accent. He also sounded like a sports announcer, and tried to sound fun and draw his words out, but it wasn't working for him. All I got out of his little speeches was "Welcome to the Key West of!" Our bus ride through the keys was okay. We got to drive over the longest bridge over water in the world, the 7 mile bridge. We drove through the Keys to Key West, the southern most city of the US.
Key West was really old, and very busy. We had planned to take a tour, but didn't. We spent the day walking around, shopping and sweating to death. The highlight of my trip was Margaritaville. We ate lunch there and I had a landshark. It was great! We only got to stay in Key West for 5 hours, so we felt limited to what we could do. I suggest to anyone going there to plan at least two days there. Snorkeling (asnorka as our tour guide said) is supposed to be great there, and I wish we had time for that. There is also many things we didn't have time to do such as the pirates museum, Ernest Hemmingway's house, taking photos in front of the southern most tip of the US marker, etc. The sunset at Key West is supposed to be spectacular. The whole town gathers every night and there is music, etc, all for the sunset. Unfortunatley we didn't get to see it. The next time I go there, I will definately be staying for a few more days. On our way back, we stopped for hamburgers at McDonalds in Key Largo. I hate fast food.
We finally got back to our hotel around 8:30. My mom got ready for bed (It was a very long, hot day) and I had to go buy another $12 glass of vino. It seemed like everyone at the hotel were either couples, or didn't know English.
Our third day, we woke up and spent a couple of hours on the beach. My mom stayed under the umbrella reading her books, I on the other hand didn't get out of the water. Mom and I then ate breakfast at the hotel which was $50, and remember I'm a vegetarian, so its not like I ordered steak. We then took a 45 minute nap then spent a few more hours baking poolside in the hammocks and listening to the reggae band sing "happy birthday" to "dat girl". It was so relaxing. We also had dinner at the hotel for free! Several things went wrong, including our hotel room door being open when we arrived back from Key West (thanks housekeeping). Luckily, nothing was missing and I guess it was worth it for the free dinner. My mom ordered the French onion soup and I had the Tomato-basil cream soup. We both ordered this awesome linguine with garlic olive oil sauce. It was loaded with garlic, tomato, basil and spinach. That was the best meal I had on our trip. We then walked along the boardwalk (runs between the beachs and hotels all the way down), then back to the room. Mom again got ready for bed, and I went to the veranda bar to have this time, two $6 Bud Lites.
So, I'm rocking in my chair, going through my phone when this girl sits by herself in the table next to mine. We started talking (IN ENGLISH!) and she was 25 from Canada. AND...She was in Miami with her mom too!!!! And like my mom, her mom doesn't drink and was already in bed!!! Therefore, we decided to go out! She was really cool and her name was Jenn. We took a taxi to Ocean Drive (where all the bars are). We found this really cool place called Mangos. They played alot of salsa, and some hip hop. The bartenders, took turns dancing on the stage, guys one song, girls the next. It was more like stripping, but with their clothes on, ha ha. We met this guy from Phoenix, AZ. He was older, but he was HILARIOUS! He told us his descendants were vikings, so we dubbed him "The Viking of the Desert". It was too funny! We had about 5 Jager bombs each and about 10 beers. The clubs/bars in SoBe didn't close until 5/6am, and they don't call last call at 1:45!! We convinced the Viking to switch shirts with our bartender, Douglas (who was totally into him). Douglas went upstairs and got the viking a vest, which he actually put on for our photo op. It was so much fun! It was like everyone in there was from somewhere different. The viking asked Jenn and I if we were like childhood friends who met up for vacation in Miami! We were like..um, no, I just met her 30 minutes ago at the hotel bar! It was really cool. I'm glad I met her and got to go out!
Our last day in Miami, we ate breakfast at the hotel again, took a nap in the lobby, where I was still spinning and very drunk from Mangos. Luckily I didn't throw up or anything. We then got on our very delayed plane to Houston.
That was my trip to SoBe! I'm really sick now though....dang Miami germs!!

The seven mile bridge to Key West.
Pirates!
The beach at our resort.
My $12 Mojito that was ALMOST too strong to drink!
Mama
Me chillin' on a hammock.
Margaritaville!
Momzie.
Having my first Landshark at Margaritaville in Key West.
Key West.
Duval St.
I'm there!
Ahhh...
Beautiful.
The Palms at South Beach

San Antonio - Valentine's Day 2004

7 day vacation with Frank in Cozumel/Playa del Carmen/Xcaret/Xel Ha/Tulum. July 2005

Frank and I.

This was taken in Xel Ha. Parts of this river was underground. It was freezing cold, but we tubed it anyway.

The lobby at the Park Royal in Cozumel. This was home for 7 days.
A Barracuda. This one was fairly small. We encountered larger ones. I believe we saw a total of 4 of these guys. It is creepy how they stay so still. Luckily we didn't encounter their teeth!
A Starfish.
Iguanas were everywhere!! There were hundreds of them - some as large as a dog! They were in trees, sidewalks, roads...etc.
In Xcaret.


This was the view from our room.
I was not happy. I had my wisdom teeth removed 1 week prior to this trip. They had to break my jaw bone and insert a bone graft. Eating was painful...

The beach at our resort.
Frank in Tulum.
These guys were doing gymnastics! The shocker was when they lifted off their masks to reveal they were really old men!!
Pretty.

Sea Turtle farm in Xcaret.
This is the Mayan Ruins in Tulum. It was breathtaking - but too hot to enjoy it!
The view of the beach from the cliff in Tulum.
These were the Mariachi's that performed at Xcaret. This show was amazing.
In Xcaret, they showed cultural dances from all regions of Mexico.
On a catamaran. We were so tired...