Yeah, I know I’ve been hinting on it since last year, but it was only last week when we put some money down for our trip? “Our” you ask? It’s my mom and I that’s going. But yeah, I didn’t want to say anything about it before because I didn’t want to get my hopes up of going till I knew for sure I was going.

We plan on going in April and we’ll be stopping by more than a handful of countries, namely: England, France, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein (if you count that as a country), Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium. Phew! Yes it’s a lot of countries, but the downside to it all is that the whole trip is only for 2 weeks. Say it isn’t so! Well it is so. So while we do get to see several countries, we’ll only be in each one for a day or 2. But hey, the idea was to figure out which countries to focus on the next time around. Yes, there will be a next time!!!

On a side note, I’ve been taking French classes since last August. It’s going quite well and I think I can get by when I get to France… besides, a lot of people speak English in Paris anyway.

Anyway, things aren’t all rosy yet. I still need to get visas! I’m not as lucky as some of you who just have to wave their passport to get in the country. Me? I gotta fill out applications, get bank statements, get employment verification letters, show the itinerary, then pray my visa gets approved before actually going to Europe. Tomorrow, my mom and I are heading to the German Consulate to get the first of two visas for the trip. I gotta wake up early because they only accept applications from 8-11a Anyway, wish us luck!

But fuck it… if I don’t go now I never will! I owe it to my mom to take just take her out since.. umm.. she’s normally stuck at home most of the time… cleaning… and cooking. HAHA. oh i’m so bad.

On another note, earlier I spoke to Joyce and lucky her, she got her green card. So grats to her on that one! YAY! And because of her green card, she mentioned something that made my eyes go wide open: España. O_O OMG she said that Juno and her might go for New Years and I was like.. I want to go but I’m gonna be really really broke if I do (especially with my other trip following a few months later). Besides I need to save up my vacation time!

So yeah, that’s my life right now.. europe and becoming a flight attendant. God, I actually cringe everytime I think about being a flight attendant. It’s just so.. GAY.. like wtf to the max. -.-

At this point you’re probably wondering why not just become a pilot.. I still get to travel but without the bitchy customers. Alas, I’m after the cool looking uniforms. The pilot uniform is.. how shall I say.. not tres tres chic. (Yes, I can be that shallow!) Besides, it seems like flight attendants have more fun than pilots… case in point (jump to 3.02):

Anyway, I really doubt I’d ever become a flight attendant. As you may know, there are sooooo many things I want to be and this is just one of those things. But hey, I’m still young (26 is still young right?!) and maybe I’m really meant to fly the friendly skies.

I leave you now with this.. another hot flight attendant, Celine Dion, and lots of awesome pictures!

Sure I could do either of the last two but mind you, the price jumps up almost $1.5k compared to the London-Paris hybrid! Ugh but I’m going nuts, because even if I decide to do the three city tour I don’t know if I should do Nice or Amsterdam. Actually just thinking about it now, Amsterdam seems like the better choice.. seems like it’s for a much younger crowd and I’m in a totally different country!

Also I decided to take a tour instead of winging it on my own. If I was with my friends I wouldn’t mind winging it, but I’m with my mom and I think she’d prefer to be escorted around. What’s also great is that the tour (from Monogram Travel) actually gives you days to roam around on your own. So in a way it’s structured but with a certain degree of freedom.

What I’m also excited about this London-Paris thing is that we get to ride the Eurostar. I’ve always liked trains as a kid so taking the Eurostar is important. And if I decide to go to Amsterdam, then I get to ride on the Thalys. Going to Nice would mean I’d take the TGV.

Now is it just me or am I really pushing this 3 city thing? lol Argh! It sounds super awesome but I’m not sure I wanna spend so much money for it. =\

Anyway, we’re still thinking of going on March or April so it’s still far away. As you know from my post about New York, I have a habit of planning things way way way in advance. It’s so far in advance that the tours I’ve been looking at don’t have prices for next year yet.. and I’ve been basing my estimates on this year’s prices.

In the meantime, I’ve been watching way too much YouTube videos of airplanes, airports, and now trains just to satiate myself. Now who can forget Top Gear’s Aston Martin vs Train race! For the train, they actually took the Eurostar and the TGV! OMG, this could be my trip right here (sans Aston Martin)!

I really don’t know why it’s taken me 18 years to go back… but yeah I’m finally going back!

I already bought plane tickets, booked some nice hotels in the heart of NYC, and even got Broadway tickets. And guess what show I’m watching! Hint: I spoke about this show a while back. Give up??

It’s Equus! And Harry Fucking Potter is going to be in it! w00t w00t! <( ^.^<) <( ^.^ )> (> ^.^ )>

But can you believe it… all of this is 6 months from now! I definitely cannot wait!

Actually wait... I take that back. The hot guy sitting next to me was during a flight from Hong Kong to SFO. Since I was only 15 and still new to the whole gay thing, and that it was a trip to SFO I immediately assumed the guy next to me was gay. So stupid!!! But hey the dude was also wearing this tight black shirt, so maybe he's gay. lol. As for the Lufthansa flight, I remember the guy wasn't next to me, but across the aisle from me. It was 1998 so I was only 16 and I was already trying to hit on the guy who was probably about 25+... he had was reading Wired and I asked if I could borrow it. Then I even followed when he got up to walk around the cabin. When we landed I asked if I could get his email address and he actually gave it. It turns out he's a web designer and was currently working in Denmark. He was straight.. oh well.

Ok I swear it's like I had bigger cojones back then. And now my life is completely devoid of anything gay related. What happened to me? Sheiße

BTW anyone still remember being asked if you wanted to be seated in the smoking or non-smoking section??

Oh and lastly, I was reading an article on Travel + Leisure today which talked about how the water they serve on planes isn’t that safe. Well the water they serve early in the flight is better since it’s bottled… but pretty soon they start taking water from the tanks which has been known to have some pretty dangerous bacteria. So insist on bottled water, and if that’s not available then request juice or cola the next time you fly!

I just miss the whole flying experience from those little travel packets that you get, to the food, massagers, and the tv. But then there was stuff like the seats working properly, the fact that they looked nice and that you weren’t squished to the person beside you. I remember as a kid that I would always beg my mom to pick to longer flights because I had a an awesome time in the plane. The fact that I was really small helped a lot since I could easily sleep in any seat. That and ummm… cuz I was in business class. HAHA

Morning: Madonna Inn

We woke up a bit later today, around 8:30 am. We took our time since we didn’t really have anything planned today. There was talk about visiting a wine tasting place on the way back, but I think we were all eager to get back since here was work tomorrow. Then again, there was talk about checking out the college nightlife in SLO last night, but we were all too tired to do that. Man, we’re getting old, lol.

After checking out and packing all our stuff up, we headed to the Madonna Inn. I heard of this place from Globe Trekker, and they showed a few of their themed rooms. There are a hundred and nine total. Juno and I considered staying here, but the price and the overall tackiness turned us off. Ninny heard from a co-worker that the place is a great place to have breakfast though, so that’s a great reason to go visit.

I guess the day before worked up an appetite for everybody. Juno had the eggs & sirloin patty breakfast; Ninny had the breakfast steak & eggs; Pip had Belgian waffles and the sausage & eggs; and I just had the Belgian waffles. I had eggs yesterday, and I didn’t want to load up. The food was great, and this time I shamed everyone else. I finished my waffles in no time flat. Yeah I know, the rest of them had more food so it doesn’t really count -_-

We headed to the gift shop afterwards. Ninny wanted to buy the Madonna Inn goblets. The inn had these special goblets that they use in their restaurants. Apparently it is unique to the place, so they sell them as souvenirs as well. Ninny had a good pick, she got the nice opaque white ones. It’s just too bad they didn’t come in black.

We stopped by for gas and water before heading back.

Afternoon: The Beach

We dropped by the beach on the drive back. We just stopped by to eat some chips, take in the scenery and enjoy the breeze. Juno and I got a couple of stones to bring back with us. After that, it was all smooth driving from there.

// side note: Indi forgot to mention the traffic accident down the 405 after dropping Ninny home so it wasn’t exactly smooth driving from there. lol